I was commenting on a post yesterday that was discussing the moral dissonance between Christian missionaries overseas breaking immigration laws in other countries and the condemnation of some Christian communities of refugees fleeing violence and poverty doing the same here (often the same communities supporting the aforementioned missionaries). It was a good reminder that morality, "good and evil," is ultimately arbitrary to the individual expressing it.
It is a known anthropological fact that there are very few moral universals among human cultures including the condemnation of unjustifiable homicide (in some form), incest (in some form), and public nudity (in some form). What can be "good" and honorable in one culture and society is criminal in another, sometimes even within the same society but between two different castes or classes of people.
It has been my opinion that this is due to an inherent neuropsychological malfunction in homo sapiens which occurred about 70,000 years ago due to our ancestors' consumption of a neurotoxic fruit which had severe neurological repercussions for not only themselves but all of their descendants. This is also why ideas about morality and cultural rules and legislation can only at best constrain behavior, and at worst provoke an antithetical response as the individual determines whether or not they agree with or disagree with the arbitrary moral constraint.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with moral constraints. It is not a code or regulation designed to restrain an individual from harming themselves or others, and Paul states in his letter to the Romans that any such constraints only provoke a disordered response from an individual. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about bypassing the malfunctioning part of our neurology altogether through union with and cooperation with Jesus Christ Himself. This requires deliberately suppressing our natural inclination to moral judgment, and deliberately and consistently turning over control of our behaviors to Him on a moment by moment, decision by decision basis, and removing anything from our lives that interferes with this.
Attachments to objects, relationships, ideas, etc. leads to a fear of loss which triggers moral judgment about the loss. Guilt, shame, and grief are produced from this moral judgment. Our self-justifications and falsehoods we tell ourselves about our behaviors are also products of this moral judgment as the psyche attempts to defend itself. We build up illusions about ourselves and the world around us based on these self-justifications. In short, everything which causes us emotional and mental suffering, and almost everything which functions as a root of psychopathy, is directly or indirectly related to this hardwired need to determine that something is "good" or "evil"and to convince one's own psyche that it is not "evil."
Everything Jesus taught, especially his conditions of discipleship, were essentially about letting go of anything which would trigger this, and instead embracing compassion and love for the other person next to you up to and including sacrificing your own life for them just as He did for us. Things like retaliation, judgment, and hatred were prohibited for His disciples. Things like compassion, mercy, kindness, and self-sacrifice were prescribed. Hypocrisy by religious leadership was mocked and ridiculed by Jesus Christ Himself.
These are my thoughts this morning.
