Paradox -- An Essay

CJB

The American Founding Fathers were learned men.  One of the books they were very familiar with was the Bible.

American Common Law is "common" because it is "common sense."  It is also based on common teachings of three major world religions:  Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

The key commonality is The Ten Commandments, specifically the last five (5) of those commandments in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 20...

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  (Exodus 20:13-17 NIV)

The Bible has been driven out of American public schools and most people are ignorant or very confused about it due to fragmentary and disparate teachings across the plethora of institutional churches and faith organizations in the culture.

Public schools do not teach critical thinking either and people have been conditioned to engage in shallow, dual-possibility arguments of right versus wrong, good versus evil, black versus white, Wolverines versus Spartans, etc.  They have lost or were never taught how to think deeply about a subject to mine the nuances and shades of gray in situations and concepts.

For one thing, they do not know how to deal with paradox.

Take the following statement, for example...

You shall not murder. 

Is there a difference between "murder" and "killing?"  When is killing justified?  When is it wrong?

Symptoms of confusion about this in current American culture include:

• The dearth of capital punishment in the de facto justice system.
• The demand for plant-based "burger patties."
• The acceptability and demand for pregnancy termination and advocacy for euthanasia services.
• The saturation of death and destruction in entertainment images.
• The acceptance and casual support for war in seemingly remote parts of the world.
• The prideful and cavalier assassinations of character on social media.
• The reflexive judgments against our neighbors in favor of arbitrary and restrictive rules fomented by a ubiquitous "nanny state." 

According to the Bible, the Israelites were given a command through Moses not to murder, but they were also instructed to completely destroy the people of the land they were being given.  On the surface that is a paradox and cannot be resolved by shallow, abbreviated thinking.

But the Bible explains it all, when it is read in context and contemplated personally.

 

As Americans and others around the world wrest control of their governments from criminals and begin operating their own courts for living people (not corporations), they will need to understand the nuances of paradoxes like this so they can be fair and administer true justice.  Personal study and learning was what the Founding Fathers did, and we must do the same.

It's a lot of work and nobody else can do it for us, but it is exhilarating and satisfying, and it must happen so all people can live in peace and prosperity.