Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Words --- Keeping the law.

In 1931 Kurt Godel published a mathematical proof showing that any set of rules or axioms, which were at least as complex as simple arithmetic, cannot be both complete and consistent.  It cannot be complete because there will exist statements which are true, but unprovable.  Or else it will not be consistent because both a statement and its negation will be proved true, making it contradictory.

I propose the following corollary --- Any sufficiently complex set of laws designed to govern human behavior will be both incomplete and contradictory.  That is, there will eventually occur circumstances which the law does not cover, making it incomplete.  And there will eventually occur circumstances where one law may be kept only at the expense of breaking another law, making it inconsistent.

This was the core of the controversy between Jesus and the legal experts of his day; which law do you keep when faced with keeping one law while breaking another?

* Do you keep God's covenant with Abraham by circumcising a baby boy on the eighth day (Gen. 17:12) while breaking the Sabbath which was instituted by God from the beginning? (Ex 20:11) (Jn 7:22-23)

* Do you keep the Sabbath (Ex 20:8) and break the law which says you shall help even your enemy's animal out from under its load? (Ex 23:4)(Matt 12:11-12)

* Do you keep the Sabbath traditions, or do you allow hungry neighbors to follow the law which lets them eat from the standing grain or grapes in your field or vineyard (as long as they do no wield a sickle or put it in a basket)? (Deut 23:24-25) (Matt 12:1-2)

* Do you untie your ox or donkey and lead them to water on the Sabbath, and yet demand that people who are bound with sickness cannot be released on the Sabbath? (Lk 13:15-16)

Jesus resolved these controversies in the Law by prioritizing the laws. His priorities are as follows:
1. Love the Lord your God. (Deut 6:5)(Matt 22:37)
2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:8)(Matt 22:39)
3. Love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 15:12)
4. Do for others, what you would have others do for you. (Lk 6:31)

Basically, God is first, people are second, maybe animals are third, but other laws, like keeping the Sabbath traditions, are way down the list when they interfere with keeping more important laws.  This is why even those people who lived under the Law of Moses, were not justified by the Law itself, but by their faith in God. (Rom 3:28, Gal 2:16, Heb 11:39)

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