Responsibilities

Reading through the OT section today, and then extending into the NT reading, I am struck with the balance of personal versus social responsibilities referenced, and how far society seems to be tending away from this balance.

Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19 gives a variety of proscriptions of behavior, and admonishes the society to take care of each other, but also does not neglect to inform the individual of appropriate, and inappropriate behavior. Some of the rules don't make as much sense to us as an audience, because culture has changed so much, but at the end of the reading, one can see that for a society to flourish, both personal and social responsibilities must be heeded. If society tends to far away from either approach, the society will not flourish.

For example, we can all have personal responsibility all day long, but bad things happen to well intentioned people. If a personally responsible individual has an unfortunate accident, and the society does not take social responsibility for that individual, then we see the creation of a severely impoverished lower class being victimized by a class of people whose only real blessing is that nothing bad has happened to them. Life becomes a reflection of chance, and not of Godly intent, in that case.

However, if there is too much social responsibility, and the concept of personal responsibility is left unattended (at best), or ridiculed (at worst), then we have a welfare state where the soul is impoverished by lack of attending to its own growth. I fear we have seen the pendulum swing, in our time (the last 2000 years) to a point where personal responsibility is jeered. Society will take care of those who cannot or will not care for themselves. Those who can will be taxed to take care of those who can't, or won't.

But, what will be the inevitable result of the lack of balance? Both types of civilizations ultimately fail. The best civilization is the type of civilization that encourages both social and personal responsibility, as was demonstrated in the multitude of proscriptions given in the OT reading. People look at some of the non-sensical commands in this section, and use literalism and legalism to denounce the teaching, without getting to the fundamental point of what the teaching is about.

It's about both personal and civic responsibility. Care of each other, and care for one's self. Personal self control and public interest. Without one or the other, the civilization's tendency is downward.

I am saddened by what seems to be a right wing hatred of those who appear to be shiftless and lazy, not working or caring for themselves. I am also saddened by a left-wing rejection of "family values" as cheap, legalistic sentimentality. Both points of view have their merits, but taken without love, taken without earnest prayer and a focus on God, the arguments become messages of despair and selfishness.

God teaches us in the OT, be responsible in your own life, and be responsible for your neighbor. If everyone does this, and keeps his eye on God, we would flourish. It's just sad the world has fallen so far out of balance.