why doesn't the bible speak about equality among people? why didn't christ ever preach this?

-- sdqa (sdqa@sdqa.Com), March 13, 2005

Answers

It does. According to the Bible, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus". (Gal 3:28)

Christ taught that worldly differences are nothing to God. We are all equal in His sight.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), March 13, 2005.

hmmm...well,actually it doesn't...

'It does. According to the Bible, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one IN CHRIST JESUS"'

and outside of christ?

-- sdqa (sdqa@sdqa.Com), March 13, 2005.

Outside of Christ? Look around you. Outside of Christ there is discrimination for all kinds of worldly reasons. But you asked about the biblical view.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), March 13, 2005.

Paul M,

i'm afraid i must disagree. the verse you quoted always seems to me to be about gender, race, and background equality... not PURE equality accross the board.

i think the parable of the talents particularly illustrates that some are given more by God, and from these more is expected.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), March 13, 2005.

Paul,

Of course more is expected from those who are more gifted. However, God does not love or respect the more gifted any more than He loves and respects the less gifted. They are all equal in His eyes. All equal does not mean all identical.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), March 14, 2005.

Answering a question with more questions:

Why should we aspire for an equality among people? What kind of equality are you hoping for? Can it be obtained?

The materialist/Communist view of equality has been attempted and it has failed. That secular ideal quickly turned into the reality in which "some people are more equal than others," to paraphrase Orwell.

There is a spiritual reality which Paul mentioned above. God's love is equally available to all. But, just as parents can have a "favored" son or daughter, our divine Father can favor some of His children more than others.

Only through the loss of our individuality would we have 100% equality. That said, the benefit of individuality is reflected here:

Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 12:12-31

-- anon (anon@y.mous), March 14, 2005.

"But, just as parents can have a "favored" son or daughter, our divine Father can favor some of His children more than others."

A: I disagree. The reason we can love or "favor" one person more than another is that we love all people imperfectly, and there are an infinite number of different levels of imperfection; therefore we can love some people more imperfectly than we love others. God however loves perfectly. There are not multiple levels of perfection. It is an absolute. Therefore if God loves each person perfectly, He cannot love one person more than another. If He did love one person more than another, He would have to be loving at least one of those persons imperfectly, and that is not possible for God.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), March 14, 2005.

i agree with paul m on the issue of God's love. we are all beloved children of the Lord.

HOWEVER, i think, as i have made clear above, that the consideration of equality has alot to do with the exact type of equality we are talking about. in some things all people are equal... in others, they arent and never were meant to be.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), March 14, 2005.

"I disagree. The reason we can love or "favor" one person more than another is that we love all people imperfectly"

I did my best to avoid the term "love" and stick with the term "favor." I would agree with your reasoning--God's love toward each of us is perfect and it's not reasonable to try to measure His love.

With that said, the Holy Bible is full of God showing "favor" toward individuals. For example, St. Paul writes:

Romans 9:13-15 "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'"

Of course, God doesn't "hate" Esau. Instead, this is a literary device to exaggerate the contrast between Jacob and Esau. God showed favor on Jacob. That's my thought--the concept of "favor" is only valid when contrasting God's relationship with two or more people. God showed favor toward Jacob, contrasted with Esau. He showed favor toward Israel, contrasted with everyone else.

-- anon (anon@y.mous), March 15, 2005.