One can show kindness without true affection behind it and harbor affection with no external kindness. As far as Biblically prescribed actions go, not giving someone 200 lashes as opposed to 40 at most is kind in a sense on an outward level, whatever the motivation, but the obligation to never go beyond 40 lashes (Deuteronomy 25:1-3) is not about making other people subjectively gratified in conscience or in terms of how they are treated; it is about treating them justly, no matter what they, oneself, or anyone else wants. Freeing servants of one's own countrypeople every seven years (Exodus 21:2, Deuteronomy 15:12-14, Jeremiah 34:12-16) is kind in a sense, even if it is begrudging despite Deuteronomy 15 condemning this psychological inclination. However, it is what the Bible presents as the just treatment of one's servants from one's own country independent of what anyone prefers.
Helping one's neighbor when his or her animal stumbles can express genuine kindness for both the fellow person and the animal (Deuteronomy 22:4), but this is not kindness for the mere sake of kindness. It is a righteous act that reflects, if Christianity is true, the truth of Yahweh's social justice. It is only if a particular kind of morality exists that kindness even could matter! Giving one's servants and animals rest on a Sabbath day is beneficial to them and can be done out of love, respect, or kindness towards them, and still it is both just to grant them this and it is owed to God separate from the potential kindness of it (Exodus 20:8-10, Deuteronomy 5:12-14). What of theft? The real Biblical emphasis is on how theft is immoral in itself and not strictly on how the opposite of stealing can be kind (Exodus 20:15, 22:1-4, 7-9).
Also, not every possible act of kindness is prescribed on Christianity, meaning kindness is not what the Bible presents as either the core of morality or what it requires in every possible instance (morality would depend on consistency with logical truths anyway and would be about truth moreso than it could ever be about kindness). Furthermore, some of the things that are permitted or prescribed are not aimed at kindness strictly. Exceeding 40 lashes is Biblically unjust and thus condemned: up to 40 lashes are still allowed to be inflicted on men and women when applicable. Though the same verse in Deuteronomy on the maximum extent of corporal punishment is relevant to the sinful nature of artificially prolonged executions by torture, stoning could involve some pain (Numbers 15:32-36, Leviticus 24:10-16), though it could also render people unconscious quickly [1].
Of course, the absence of kindness does not mean there is unkindness involved, and it is only going beyond the prescribed punishments of Yahweh that would be malicious, unjust, dehumanizing, and so on. If Christianity is true, such things are the objective obligations because they are what is righteous and deserved. There are also some forms of kindness that, while they can be morally good, could not possibly be obligatory. Sparing an adulterous person (Deuteronomy 22:22) or a murderer (Exodus 21:12-14) out of mercy can be kind, although a person could do that which is merciful out of a mere desire to manipulate others. Mercy is inherently never obligatory, however, for justice is obligatory and mercy is the suspension of justice.
Even as Yahweh specifically requires things that result in distinctly positive treatment of groups like the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:10-15), foreigners (Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34, 24:22, Deuteronomy 10:19) or even the corpses of capital offenders (Deuteronomy 21:22-23), he also demands things like the deaths of many people, including on the scale of entire cities (Deuteronomy 7:1-6, 13:12-18). There is a form of kindness even in such things, such as how no one is to be tortured in the process of these group killings (Deuteronomy 12:32, not to mention how the very limited but allowed types of torture are given clear contexts), and yet kindness is not the ultimate or primary aim. Truth and justice are: many acts of kindness are not and could not be obligatory, and they are certainly not mandatory on the Biblical worldview, and then there is the fact that kindness can be done with very selfish, superficial, or otherwise irrationalistic intentions.
No comments:
Post a Comment