Judeo–christian Values (1)
“What Are Judeo-Christian Values?’ is the title of an article recently posted on Townhall on Valentine’s Day. It was written by Dennis Prager, who usually writes very good articles. This one is thought-provoking; it contains much to agree with and a little to disagree with. Prager is Jewish, yet he shows a great deal of respect for Christianity. In this article he seeks to define what Judeo-Christian values are, along with several insights on the topic.
He suggests that “Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews are aligned on almost every important social issue.” He is being generous to Protestants—many of whom support abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong also champions fornication. Come to think of it, many Jews support abortion, also. What proves interesting is his listing of ten values that he believes we all share.
One God
His first point is that we share the same view of their being one God. He did not mention Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which is the first part of what the Jews call the shema, but we do agree with what the Scriptures teach on the matter. Prager adds that the one God of the Hebrew Bible is “the source of one universal morality.” Although this claim sounds good on the surface, is it really the case?
The fact is that the moral principles of Christianity, although greatly similar to that of Judaism, are not identical. Those in the LGBTQ community are fond of pointing out that Scriptures such as Leviticus 20:13 required the Israelite nation to put to death homosexuals. While homosexuality remains immoral in the New Testament, Christians are not authorized to put its practitioners to death. The same is true of adulterers (Deut. 22:22). And witches (Ex. 22:18).
The LGBTQs proclaim that this is what the Bible teaches, but that view is incorrect. Those commandments were required of the nation of Israel under the covenant Jehovah made with them. Christians are not under that covenant—but under the New Testament of Jesus. In the land of Canaan, the government enforced both spiritual and criminal laws. In Christianity, God’s laws and man’s laws are separate. Secular governments do not have authority to tell the church what to do, and Christians do not enforce God’s spiritual laws on the nation in which we dwell.
Furthermore, the Israelites had an avenger of blood who could put to death a murderer. It was considered moral for him to do so. The nation could and did wage war—by the authority of God. Christians wage a spiritual warfare with the goal of saving souls—not killing them. This is yet another way in which our two moral systems differ.
Under the Law of Moses God permitted some things He was never in favor of—which are not permitted in Christianity. One of those was divorce, which many interpreted as being “for any reason.” Jesus restricts divorce to just one cause—fornication against one’s mate (Matt. 19:9). Another practice that went against God’s original design was polygamy. It was begun by a descendant of Cain (Gen. 4), but even righteous kings like David took more than one wife. Jesus returned to the beginning of humankind’s dwelling on earth as the pattern for Christianity (Matt. 19:4-6). Thus, we see that our moral system differs from the one that existed under Judaism.
God is the Source of Morality
In his second value, Prager points out that Jesus knew only the “Hebrew Bible” and frequently cited it. Jesus did know the first covenant and quoted often from it, but He was speaking the content of the new covenant. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall by no means pass away” (Matt. 24:35). “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Whether spoke or written, the teachings of Jesus and His apostles were the Word of God, which makes up the New Testament (2 Thess. 2:15).
On this point, Prager adds that God is the source of moral standards, and that, without Him, “there is no moral truth,” which is certainly true. If God did not exist, there could be no objective morality; it would become a subjective matter, meaning that there could only be opinions. In fact, as society has increasingly rejected God, that is precisely what has occurred—morality has become just a matter of what anyone thinks about it. God incorporates many moral principles from the Old Testament, but the New Testament (a covenant made with all nations on the earth) is our final and ultimate authority.
Good and Evil
Prager’s third point is his shortest: “Because there are moral truths, good and evil are the same for all people.” This point should be obvious to all. For example, when God teaches that adultery is wrong, no one can say, “Hey! I’m from France. It’s okay for me to commit this sin; it’s a way of life here.” No. God’s law is valid for everyone on the face of the earth—no excuses, no “justifications,” no exceptions.
God is the source of truth, and only He can declare with certainty what is good and what is evil. Man’s definitions will invariably disagree with each other. If we did not have an objective standard, we would continually experience chaos. The Word Jesus spoke will be the standard of judgment on what is moral.
God is the Source of Our Rights
Neither popular opinion nor a democratic vote determines what our rights are, says Prager in his fourth point; even our Declaration of Independence mentions that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Truly, God made man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-28). We were not created by governments. God gave mankind dominion over the earth—not each other. His fifth point acknowledges this truth, and then he draws two conclusions.
“Life is Precious”
Once again, Prager is correct. No other valid conclusion can be drawn from the two facts that: 1) God created us; our very life comes from Him; and 2) Life is in His image. It must, therefore, be regarded as precious. Thus, it can be destroyed only by His authority, as is the case when one person murders another. This point is the same in Judaism and Christianity (Gen. 9: 5-6; Rom. 13:4).
Abortion violates God’s will because: 1) babies’ lives are innocent, unworthy of death; 2) they are created in God’s image; 3) God does not authorize babies to be put to death. Furthermore, under both covenants, it was made known that human life existed in the womb. Rebekah’s twins were alive in the womb (Gen. 25:22-23), and so was John the Baptizer (Luke 1:41, 44). Human life is precious to God.
No Race is Superior
A second conclusion that Prager draws concerning man being in God’s image relates to race. He writes: “Therefore, race is of no significance since we are all created in God’s image, and God has no race.” This conclusion is valid; Paul said of the Creator:
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling (Acts 17:26).
Race and nationality have divided people for generations, but God possesses no specific color and watches what occurs in all nations. He created them all. Racial and national differences disappear in Christ.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27-28).
The church was begun with men from various countries from all over the world; Acts 2:9-11 lists more than a dozen of them. Later, Paul traveled on several missionary journeys; when did he ever tell someone they were the wrong race to hear the gospel—or that their nation was unworthy of salvation? Jesus commissioned the apostles to go to all nations.
Distinctions
The sixth value is that Jews and Christians both believe in a Divine order, God being first, followed by man and woman, which are distinguishable from each other (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3). Humans and animals are two different genres, also (Gen. 1:26-28). Nature was created by God; it is not God (Gen. 1:29). Good and evil are opposites, as are the holy and the profane. The two should not be confused with each other (Isa. 5:20). Modern man, having largely set aside God and the Bible, tends to suffer in many aspects from confusion regarding these matters.
The Nature of Man
Here we differ from the seventh principle, which is: “Man is not basically good.” Prager points out that Christians speak of “original sin.” Many claiming to be Christians do hold that view, but this tenet comes from Calvinism by way of Augustine. It teaches that man is born a sinner, which is not what the Scriptures teach.
Psalm 139:13-16 speaks to the fact that human beings are fearfully and wonderfully made. Zechariah 12:1 declares that the Lord “forms the spirit of man within him.” Yet somehow, with all of these advantages, man is born a sinner? Then, pray tell, whose fault would that be? No, man is not born already depraved and evil.
Is he born good? This was the contention of those in the Age of Enlightenment. But reality tells us that this option cannot be true, either. We are simply born, and what happens after birth depends on our upbringing. In the prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, we read of a time “before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good” (Isa. 7:16). This verse, then implies that a child is born neither inherently evil nor inherently good. What we become depends on our training—and our own free will.
What about Genesis 8:21 that Prager cites? The verse records God as saying that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth….” It does not appear that from birth and from youth have the same meaning. The first one is immediate; the second one comes a little later on. Someone might say, “What about Psalm 58: 3?” David wrote: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”
In literature, this is what is known as a hyperbole, which means that a bit of exaggeration is used. Of a perpetually lazy person, one might say, “He’s never done an honest day’s work in his life.” Probably, he has, but nobody knows when. A child cannot literally go astray as soon as he is born, since he obviously does not possess the linguistic ability to speak lies. However, he can begin to lie just a few years after he is born; the exaggeration is to push the ability to lie all the way back to his birth, which is hyperbole. Although human beings are not born evil, they can choose to practice evil after a very short time (to be continued).