"Would 1 Corinthians 5 also apply to those who call themselves 'family' while not acting as such?"
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
0:06 - Introduction to 1 Corinthians 5
2:47 - Understanding Unleavened Bread
4:56 - The Concept of Judgment
9:13 - The Complexity of Truth
16:06 - God’s Omniscience vs Human Judgments
20:15 - The Nature of Fornication
26:51 - Mortification of the Flesh
33:22 - The Responsibility of Judgment
37:42 - Ignorance of the Law
39:10 - Closing Thoughts on Philosophy and Theology
In this episode, I address a question posed on Facebook regarding the implications of 1 Corinthians 5 and its relevance to those who may consider themselves "family" but fail to act in accordance with that designation. I delve into the complexities of the scripture, which discusses a profound issue of immorality within a community, offering an analysis of what it means to hold each other accountable as members of a collective. The passage highlights a bizarre act of fornication that was notable even among non-believers and underscores the need for a collective response from the community.
I explore the opportunity for growth and purification that is presented in the text, notably the metaphor of unleavened bread, which symbolizes a rejection of malice and wickedness in favor of sincerity and truth. By purging the old leaven—negative influences and behaviors—we have the potential to embrace a new entity rooted in virtue. This symbolic act extends beyond dietary laws and digs deep into the moral fabric of relationships and the broader implications of community health.
The scripture delineates the critical distinction between judging those within the community versus those outside of it. I discuss the essence of righteous judgment and the perils associated with rushing to judgment without full understanding or evidence, drawing parallels to modern societal behaviors like digital lynching. The importance of careful consideration and thorough investigation before reaching conclusions is emphasized, contrasting the swift condemnation often seen in today's culture.
As I navigate through the concepts of morality and human judgment, I touch upon the philosophical underpinnings of justice. This includes the inherent difficulties in discerning the truth and the need for evidence-based reasoning. The episode emphasizes that while human judgment is fraught with limitations, divine judgment stands on a foundation of complete and perfect knowledge that we can only hope to approximate through diligent self-examination and contemplation of universal truths.
Finally, I address the practical implications of these teachings in our daily lives, advocating for a sincere quest for truth in all interactions. We should strive to recognize the humanity in others, resisting the urge to categorize individuals based on prejudgments or partial understandings. By fostering an environment where accountability is balanced with empathy, we can cultivate healthier relationships and communities. This endeavor does not only enhance our immediate social circles but echoes a deeper, philosophical commitment to living in alignment with universal virtues that transcend time and cultural confines.
[0:00] Hey everybody, Stefan Molyneux, so this was a question from Facebook that I didn't get to earlier. Thank you for your patience.
[0:07] Here we go, here we go. Satellite radio, you'll get hit with the boom, boom. Would 1 Corinthians 5 also apply to those who call themselves, quote, family, while not acting as such?
[0:21] So, 1 Corinthians 5, I got this, I got you. It says, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him. That hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little even leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, Therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
[1:37] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. For then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, With such an one No, not to eat.
[2:29] For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
[2:47] Well, that's quite a statement.
[2:50] That is quite a statement. Now, I don't think we need to go over this in detail other than to talk about what is meant with regards to unleavened bread, right? So, let's talk about that and figure out what might be going on. So, bread not inflated by yeast or other leaveners. So, there's a bunch of breads you can prepare them without using rising agents like sodium bicarbonate or yeast. The preparation of this non-leavened cooked grain foods is all the way back to ancient times unleavened breads like, roti, tortilla and so on and it has religious, significance so unleavened breads are important in Christianity in Judaism Jews and Christians consume unleavened breads during Passover and Eucharist such as Matzo as commanded there was Exodus 12-18 per the Torah Old Testament they were instructed quote seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses for whosoever eateth that which is leavened even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel whether he is a stranger or born in the land.
[4:09] So, what does this mean? So, with the leavening, it says, Know ye not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. Right, so don't put the rising, if you put a little bit of rising agent into the bread, a little bit of bicarbonate, a little bit of yeast, you put any of that in the bread, it doesn't just raise a small bit, right? It raises the whole bit. It raises it all. A little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. So an ingredient changes the entire dish. A new ingredient changes the entire dish.
[4:56] So the example that is given is obviously fairly horrifying. It says, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. His father's wife. Does that mean stepmother? I assume that means stepmother, since, of course, women died in childbirth in the ancient world. And so, remarriage was quite common. And so, we have stepmother. And then he says, and ye are puffed up, and if not, rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
[5:39] I'm not quite sure what that means and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. So taken away from among you, this could refer to life after death that you get to go to heaven and he doesn't. It says, For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I was present concerning him that has so done this deed. So the whole question of judgment in Christianity is really fascinating. So God is a judge, right? God is a judge. And, you know, the sort of traditional way of looking at life after death is that you get, you go to St. Peter at the pearly gates and you look at the book of your life and, and you are judged. So, God is a judge. Now, God, of course, judges with omniscience, with perfect knowledge. So, what is Jesus talking about when he says, Judge not, lest ye be judged, or that there's this negative view of judgment?
[6:44] Well, there is judgment and there is prejudice. There is judgment beyond a reasonable doubt and then there is the rush to judgment, the snap judgment. And it would be the difference between if there is reports of a crime but without proof of a crime. Let's say some guy is supposed to have raped some woman and rather than go through a trial, that person is hunted down and killed. Now, in a trial where you have reasonable standards and rational standards of defense and proof, in a trial, there is judgment. The judgment and trial is called a verdict. The jury rules you guilty the jury rules you guilty or not guilty. You can't rule someone innocent. Now, let's say that you go through a trial.
[7:42] It is proven beyond reasonable doubt that, let's just say Bob, right? So it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that Bob killed someone. He's a murderer and he gets the death penalty. Let's say you're in the US, right? So he gets the death penalty and he's then killed, so he is judged and then killed through process of law, through process of trial with the defense and the ability to confront witnesses and cross-examine evidence and so on and.
[8:15] Man is judged guilty of a crime and he is killed. Now, that's really the same process, or at least the same outlines of a process that a lynch mob goes through. A lynch mob will judge someone guilty of a crime and kill him, except without reasonable defense, without cross-examining witnesses, without any of the deliberations, without a trial where his defense gets presented and so on, right? So, in both situations, let's say that the guy, Bob, who's supposed to have, raped or killed someone, is killed by 12 people. Well, that's judgment that results in killing Bob. And it's the same thing with the trial. The trial is a jury of 12. They convict him. He goes, after a suitable appeal process, he goes to the chair or the injection site, and he is killed. So in both situations 12 people judge.
[9:13] And the criminal is killed or the barber is killed now these are not the same situations although both involve judgment, so the reason we have complex trials or at least we used to before everyone had to plea out after being bribed with half a decade of their own time back, so the reason we have complex trials is getting to the truth is a difficult and complicated business, all right get into the truth it's difficult and complicated business, that's why we have to have free speech getting to the truth is a difficult and complicated business.
[9:49] So i mean a simple example would be people look like each other right there are twins right so you may have an eyewitness and right you might see someone you think is the person but it's someone who looks like them or is in fact a twin or a doppelganger or something like that so lots of complicated stuff. So the rush to judgment is allowing emotions to overcloud reasonable doubt and to assume a certainty that you do not possess. The rush to judgment, the lynch mob, is bearing false witness. I know this guy did it. I know what the punishment is, and I'm going to go and exact and execute that right away. That is a rush to judgment, a lynch mob this happens all the time now it's a digital reputation lynching is quite common these days so when Jesus says obviously I don't want to speak for the big guy but when Jesus says, judge not lest ye be judged he's saying, don't rush to judgment don't convict without a trial don't lynch people because it could happen to you. Now, why does he not run into all the moral arguments? Because he's trying to make something pithy and succinct to appeal to the mob.
[11:13] Don't convict on incomplete information. Don't rush to judgment. Don't act out brutal, violent vengeance in a situation you are not particularly knowledgeable on. You don't have the counter-arguments. You don't have the physical evidence. You don't have the expert witnesses. There's no cross-examination. You don't know that you've gotten to the truth. So saying, I know Bob is guilty and let's kill Bob is creating a precedent that if you act in a judgment that way, then that judgment could bite you as well. You unleash this vigilante mob justice on the world. At some point, someone's going to get pissed off at you or mistake you for someone else or want vengeance against you or want to punish you or attack you in some way. And then what happens is you get killed. You get tarred and feathered. You get strung up while screaming your innocence. So judge not, lest ye be judged. It means don't join a lynch mob and string someone up, otherwise there's a good chance you or someone you care about is going to end up on the end of that rope.
[12:27] And instead of punishing someone for murder, you might in fact be guilty of murder by killing an innocent man or woman. And given that humanity goes through these regular paroxysms of moral outrage, hysteria, and attack, right? I mean, do you remember if you didn't get the COVID vaccine, right? Do you remember how angry and hysterical and bizarre and aggressive people were towards you? Now they may envy you a little, but they don't hate you in the same way because that moral hysteria has passed by. like a cloud, right? Darkens the sky and then passes away. And the Salem Witch Trials had a lot to do with young girls accusing others of witchcraft. And there was this moral hysteria. Some genuine concerns are passed off as moral hysteria, or they transform into moral hysteria.
[13:35] Then there are some illegitimate concerns, we're all going to die from COVID, that are a kind of moral hysteria. So for instance, of course, I talked about this in The Truth About Joseph McCarthy, but McCarthyism is passed off as false hysteria when in fact there were, he was even more right than he knew with regards to infiltration of the US government, in particular with regards to the disposition of Eastern Europe. Judge not, lest you be judged, means don't rush to judgment. In the same way that you want the right to defend yourself against accusations, you should give other people the right to defend themselves against accusations. Now, why is it wrong to rush to judgment, but it's good for God to judge? Because God is in possession of perfect information. He knows everything. I mean, it's not a very long trial. If there's a confession, three eyewitnesses, video camera, blood on the defendant's clothing, his handprints on the gun, right? I mean, it's not much of a trial. then that's obviously proof beyond reasonable doubt just in the evidence presented. So, God is in possession of perfect knowledge, therefore God can judge. Now, human knowledge can approach the divine, but never, of course, encompass the decline. Divine, sorry.
[14:52] So, God knows that two and two make four, and that is a certainty. Human beings know that two and two make four and that is a certainty, the closer we get to absolute truth and the more we absorb and encompass absolute universal truth the closer we are to the mind of God.
[15:13] Inverse square law, laws of thermodynamics, gases expand when heated. These are all axioms of perfect universal knowledge. Knowledge, right? Objects accelerate to Earth at 9.8 meters per second per second, but there's wind resistance, right? So not perfect manifestation, not perfect empiricism, because it's always going to slightly vary.
[15:36] If your speedometer says you're going 45 miles an hour, you're going around 45 miles an hour. It's not exact, right? But in the concept, we approximate the certainty of God, or we actually don't approximate it. We achieve the certainty of God. God knows for certain that two and two make four, and the more of our mind we can transform into universal absolutes, the closer we come to the mind of God.
[16:06] Now, the mind of God encompasses is empirical absolutism that we cannot achieve due to imprecision in measurements. So to take a silly example, if you are going 45 miles an hour, you say, I'm going 45 miles an hour. Well, the mind of God would know exactly how fast you're going, and it would know it in precision down to the last detail in every microscopic, infinitely small micro slice of milliseconds. Seconds so we have to say 45 miles an hour and the empiricism is not perfect to the measurement but neither is it unrelated so you might be going 45.01 or 44.99 miles an hour but you're not going 20 and you're not going a thousand miles an hour so in the concepts in the conceptions we achieve.
[17:02] Parity with the mind of God And this is not vanity This is submission to absolutes, no such thing as a square circle, is as known to God as it is to man. The fact that gravity causes mass to be attracted to mass, when we understand that and we have a definition of it, then we have merged with the universal. Now, I would say, of course, not being a theologian, I would say that we have taken our mortal minds and merged them with universality and eternity. Two and two make four. It's true everywhere across the universe at all times, no matter what. No matter what.
[17:48] So we join through our universal conceptions. We join in eternity and universality. And this is what is meant by the soul. The soul is the part of our mind that overlaps with the universals. And thus partakes of eternity. I have an idea in my mind that two and two make four. It was true before I was born. It remains true while I'm sleeping. It remains true for an eternity after I'm dead. And therefore, the part of my mind that merges and accepts and absorbs and reproduces universals is the part of my mind that partakes of eternity. It is eternal. Which is why I focus on as many abstract truths and universals as humanly possible, so that in an analogous fashion, we can merge with the mind of God. Now, when it comes to justice, we're not dealing with definitions, we're dealing with empiricism, and empiricism is faulty due to the limitations of our senses and the processing speed of our brains, and so on.
[18:55] If you've ever seen one of those cars with a digital speedometer that's constantly changing, it's like, how fast am I going? Uh, it's changing every half a second or whatever the refresh is. It's changing a lot, right? What are the RPMs? I don't know why I need to know that, but apparently I do. So, nobody is going to say based upon biblical teachings, judge not lest ye be judged, that a math teacher cannot mark a math test correct or false. But the rush to judgment the rush to punish based upon vanity and vengeance is demonic judge not lest ye be judged means lynch not lest ye be lynched but the closer we get, to greater knowledge the closer we get to God who is omniscient clearly right, if you have an expert sprinter who's teaching you how to sprint the faster you get the closer you get to the speed of the expert sprinter knowledge transfer brings you closer to your teacher and the knowledge transfer of infinity and eternity and absolute truth from God to man is the purpose of philosophy, at least, to gain access to and to inhabit universals and thus live forever, at least in the minds of others, though not in your own mind, since I will die and decay.
[20:15] So, this is not shockingly new, is it? I mean there were a lot of many and still are many early scientists and current scientists believe that in studying the universe they are studying the mind of God in other words by gaining absolute universal principles they are merging with the localized omniscience of God omniscience can be true in specific statements right in that, I know with zero doubt whatsoever that two and two make four everywhere at all times and has throughout eternity and.
[20:49] The two and two make four, absolutely and universally is exactly why there's been enough stability in matter to develop these brains that we have.
[20:58] So, judge not lest ye be judged means do not rush to judgment. Do not join the lynch mob. Do not think someone is bad just because someone else says that they're bad. Do not bear false witness. Find out the facts. And through finding out the facts, you get closer to the mind of God. God can judge because he's in possession of all the facts. A lynch mob cannot judge because they're in possession of very few of the facts. A juror or a jury that hears considered evidence from both parties over many weeks is close enough to the facts to be able to judge.
[21:34] No rush to judgment. Don't lie. Don't bear false witness. Don't claim to be in possession of knowledge that you don't have. Yeah, Bob did something terrible. Let's get him. And you just ride up. You're not in possession of knowledge. You don't know. And therefore, what you do is murder. However, if you're on the jury, you've got a month-long trial, everybody gets to present their sides, cross-examine witnesses, get experts, evidence. At that point, you have enough knowledge. You still don't have the perfect knowledge that God has, because these are not principles, but empirical facts. But you have infinitely, well, you have near infinitely more knowledge than the lynch mob. So, with regards to judgment, Do not rush to judgment. That is a sin. Do not lie, bear false witness, and claim to have an order that you don't have. Therefore, don't rush to judge. Don't join a lynch mob. Don't join a gossip mob. Don't repeat things that you can't verify that are negative to other people, so on, right?
[22:29] That is, don't judge. So it says here, For I, verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has so done this deed. So what this means is, judge already as though I were present. So if someone beds his father's wife, his stepmother, he's saying, no, no, I'm judging like I saw it, Like I was there, I have direct empirical evidence, evidence of my senses, I have certainty. I saw this guy bed his stepmother. Absent in body, but present in spirit. Judged already as though I were present. So that is having enough knowledge to be able to judge. So in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in my spirit, the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good, know ye not, that little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is a sacrifice for us.
[23:49] So, to deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. This could be like purge someone, drive them out from your community. I'm not sure if this refers to hurting them, torturing them, imprisoning them or killing them, but there's something to do with mortification of the flesh that it is in the same way that if you had a terminally infected finger that was going to kill you, you'd cut off the finger in order to save your body. That if harm to the flesh saves the soul, well, it is the flesh that yearns for vengeance. It is the flesh that is full of conformity and passion and all of that. So if you wish to achieve virtue, you have to harm the passions. Yeah, of course. Of course. If you wish to achieve virtue, you have to act against the passions. If virtue was the same as the passions, we would be animals we wouldn't have the ability to merge with the divine through the concepts through the ideas through the absolutes through the universals.
[24:56] Flesh, the passions, the animal part of us, which is a necessary and healthy and wonderful part of us, but should not be in charge. It should not be in charge. I mean, thinking with the penis is sort of a well-known trope among men, right? Having a penis is great. Using the penis is great. Sex is great, but you don't want to be ruled by the penis in the same way that we generally have a preference to overeat.
[25:20] Particularly, we have a tendency to overeat because throughout our evolution, food was often uncertain. Didn't know if the hunt was going to work. I didn't know if there'd be animals in the traps, right? And so because food was uncertain, we have a tendency to wish to overeat. But now that food is ever plentiful and very tasty and often engineered for taste, we have to deny the flesh otherwise we get fat having a little bit of extra food like people say well we couldn't really store food until we had fridges or whatever or freezers but that's not true of course we store food in our fat cells our fridges were our asses so we have a tendency to overeat our body wants to overeat i personally i never feel full i never feel full i mean very rarely, like once or twice a year, I'll go to a buffet and just out of curiosity, I'll just eat waiting to feel full. I have to stop. I just don't feel full.
[26:22] So I never feel full. I can always eat more. And that's just my body saying, well, your food is uncertain. And we'd really better hang on to extra calories because if we have to go on a long hunt because the herd has moved, we better have enough energy for that. Like the really skinny guys couldn't go on a long hunt, whereas the guys who were packing a little extra weight could do that because they could eat themselves as they hunted so longevity.
[26:51] Requires the mortification of the flesh we have to say no we have to say no.
[26:57] So to save the soul we have to oppose the flesh that makes sense, so therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaves of malice and wickedness but with the unleaven bread of sincerity and truth so the leaving of malice and wickedness that is the mob malice and wickedness get them get them boys string them up right so, if you mix malice and wickedness into your judgment it corrupts your whole judgment right that's he's saying you can't just leaving up a part of the bread spreads throughout the whole bread, unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sincerity is I want to know the truth. Not, I hate that guy, let's get him. Right? That's demonic. And that's how Satan does his work, is to provoke us to a hatred. This is why PR tends to work so well and I guess why Giapparoni and Lively are assuming each other.
[27:55] So, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So you can only get to the truth if you're sincere about finding the truth. Sincere. Sincere means without prejudging, without prejudice, or with as little as possible. So I believe that the immoral is the impractical. So when I hear universal basic income, which I know is immoral because it's usually government force, if I hear about universal basic income, I have a prejudice that it is going to have negative outcomes, right? It's not going to be that, oh, well, you know, we gave these people their UBI, the Universal Basic Income, and, you know, one of them produced a beautiful play, the other one composed a massively wonderful orchestra, the other one started a multi-million dollar company, and so on, right? But I have to be sincere, at least in the outcomes, and say, okay, what are the actual facts that come out of these studies? The morals don't change, because it's still the initiation of force through the state to fund UBI.
[29:02] So that doesn't change. But the outcomes, if the outcomes are incredibly positive, then I have to revisit the question about the moral is the practical. So, but I have to be sincere. Sincere means when I say I want the truth, I'm not lying. Right? That's what sincere means, as opposed to confirmation bias and just reading people who agree with you and all of that kind of trash, right, that goes on in the world, you know, quite regularly, right?
[29:33] So that's what truth and sincerity mean You can't get to the truth without being sincere about wanting the truth So I wrote to you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, Fornicators are not people who have sex At all, right? Because a husband and wife are not fornicators.
[29:52] Fornicators are those who harm children through sexual activity. When you think about it, right? When you think about it. So a man who's married, who has children, who has an affair, who has a side chick or a mistress, he is harming children through his sexual activity. His sexual activity with his wife doesn't harm his children because it cements the husband-wife bond. But if he fornicates, has sex outside of marriage, then he is harming his marriage. He's harming his children. He's harming their mental stability, their emotional happiness, their pair bonding, their trust, their happiness as a whole, their economic prospects, because it's very expensive to separate into two families and two dwellings and so on. So that's fornication that harms children. People who have sex outside of wedlock when of course preventing pregnancy was pretty tough so people who have sex outside of wedlock are producing families of single mothers which is harmful and destructive to children and it tends to spread, right? So in the past a single mother would very often end up taking up prostitution, prostitution would also spread fornication to other people Right.
[31:12] The OnlyFans sort of thing where there's a lot of married men who watch OnlyFans, right? So fornication is sexual activity in particular that harms children. And of course, it also spreads disease. And of course, most sexually transmitted diseases were not curable in the past, right? Was particularly nasty, it drove you mad over time. There's a theory about that's what happened to Nietzsche, right? So, fornicators are those whose sexual activity harms children, harms society, spreads disease and misery and loss and tragedy and sorrow and all of that. It tempts people with despair, which makes them... The sadder you make people, the more they hunger for artificial highs.
[32:00] So, one of the ways you drive addiction is to make people sad, and one of the ways you make people sad is through fornication. So yet not all together with the fornicators of this world, right? So don't be together with the fornicators or with the covetous or extortioners or with the idolaters, for then must you need to go out of the world, out of the social world. But now I have written to you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. Now, be a, not as suspected to, not as accused of, not, but is, right? That you have knowledge, not a lynch mob but a trial, or a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. With such a one, do not eat, do not break bread with such a one. And of course, I've talked to people about this, like why would you break bread with people who've relentlessly abused you? Now, let me just have a quick look here. A railer Isn't to be railed slang for sexuality? Or I think of Pretty nerdy Rail gun Alright What does this mean? Bible Railer What mean? What is a railer? Let us find out.
[33:18] Is used to describe someone who scoffs, insults, censures, or reproaches with opprobrious language.
[33:23] Okay. Abusive or insulting language reviler. So this is a verbal abuser. Okay. A rail against people, I guess, right? So fornicator harms children. Covetous, the greed for the unearned. The greed for the unearned is a marker of somebody who wants happiness without virtue, love without virtue, income without labor or charity. They want a one-sided thing so covetous means that you desire the unearned which is the root of all evil or an idolater this is people who put people above virtue, idolatry anybody who puts a person above virtue so like the one-eyed thing the stalker, right? The stalker is putting his lust or hunger for the person above a virtue the thief is putting the lust for what he wants above virtue. Or a drunkard, or an extortioner, or such a one not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within. But them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourself that wicked person. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within. Now that seems odd, and I don't want to start projecting, because I'm not sure exactly what this language refers to them.
[34:49] Judge them that are within. What does that mean?
[34:53] That are within.
[34:56] Does that mean inside? You judge them inside based upon their actions outside? Okay, so the responsibility of judging those, oh, within the church community. Okay, okay. So this is a, it is not a responsibility of the speaker to judge those who are outside the church, but judge those within the church community. I see. Okay, that makes sense. But those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from among yourselves the wicked person. Yes. Okay, got it. So what have I to do to judge them that are without or outside the church? Do not. You judge them that are within, but let them who are without outside the church, let God judge them. Okay, that's fair. So, and I have said this, of course, as well, that people are not responsible for obeying moral laws that they have never heard of, right? We don't judge the ancient world for accepting slavery because the entire world in the ancient world accepted slavery and there was virtually no, not even a hint of a thought that we wouldn't do that, right? So that is not to be judged, right? In the same way I've said this from the very beginning of the show, we don't judge a doctor in the 18th century for not prescribing antibiotics because they didn't exist. And morality is a form of technology.
[36:13] Used to be a little bit easier because there were no cell phones. The invention of cell phones has made, you know, you go for help. I'll follow the bloody footprints. Kind of stupid, right? Just call for help. You have to find a way around this as a sort of horror goes. So if people have not heard of the law, they are not subject to the law. Now, this, of course, is changed where ignorance of the law is no excuse. So ignorance of the law is no excuse. And this is an old Steve Martin thing. How many times do we get ourselves in trouble because we don't say, I forgot I forgot our robbery was illegal it's a pretty funny bit, so, good semi-philosophical absurdist humor from the Steve Martin line of tinnitus induced comedy so, ignorance of the law is no excuse, has to be a rule because otherwise everyone would claim that they were ignorant of the law and therefore not bound by it but of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse was, a way of approaching the law when the law was simple. It was common law, right? Don't defraud. Don't initiate the use of force.
[37:22] Right? Respect property. It's pretty hard to say you don't know that, can't understand that, right? So, if you want to be functional within society, you have to at least accept that you're able to understand these rules. Otherwise, if you can't understand these rules, you wouldn't be functional within society. Put in some home for safekeeping or protection.
[37:43] So, sure, I understand that. People have to accept the rules or at least understand the rules before they are responsible for following them, which is why one of the things that I bring about in my call-in shows is to question somebody who was like an adult who's abused by his parents in the past and to say, have a conversation with your parents about it. And there's lots of reasons for that. Lack of fear, growth beyond indicating to your unconscious that you're beyond your parents' power, honesty, directness, facing your fears, that kind of stuff, right? But one of the most important reasons for having conversations with people who've abused you in the past is because you get to see the excuses they make for their bad behavior that they never would have accepted in you, right? You get to see the excuses that they make for their bad behavior.
[38:38] Say, well, we did the best we could with the knowledge we had. Well, and this is all in peaceful parenting, peacefulparenting.com. We did the best we could with the knowledge we had. Well, that was never enough for you as a kid, right? If you failed some exam, right? And you said, well, I did the best I could with the knowledge they had. You say, well, why didn't you study, right? And it's the same thing with parenting, right? So it's a way of getting people away from imagining that the parents are doing anything universal at all. And they're just making up excuses in the moment to get away with the misuse of power.
[39:10] So I appreciate that. If you have any other Bible verses, this is really kicking back to my early life as an altar boy. So if you have any other Bible verses you would like me to check out, you can email them to me. Email them to me. You can email host at freedomand.com, H-O-S-T. If you would like to help out the show, I would super-duper appreciate it. Freedemand.com slash donate. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful opportunity to speak philosophy and I guess in this case, semi-theology with the world. Lots of love up here. Talk to you soon. Bye.
Support the show, using a variety of donation methods
Support the show
