Original Journal Posting on: 10.29.2006
I say this as a concerned citizen, Christian & fellow addict waiting for a cure: Today, I have solidified the conviction that this country has an addiction to oil, and we, as a society, are responsible. No man is an island. We as a nation are to blame for the place we have allowed others to put us. If someone sees another do wrong and allows them to do it (assuming they have the power to stop this action), then is the person who allowed misconduct as liable as the one who committed wrong? I think so. In this case, inaction implies consent.
What is the extent of the responsibility of an individual, and when does it pass completely from them to the community? What defines the line that is drawn separating the individual from the community (if you can separate a sheep from the herd)? Paul says (Rom 14:13-15:7, Gal 6:1-10) that we are not to commit an action that allows our brother to fall, yet we are to bear with them in love—we are treated as a member of the community with an obligation to that community. However, in the book of John (one of many places, but this in particular) Jesus talks about us as individuals of a collective placed in the world with opposition to it (John 14-17)—we are treated as if we have a responsibility to uphold our individual Christian convictions God has given us regardless of the world. This is a clear separation of communal and private responsibility.
What then of our submission to our authorities placed over us (Rom 13)? How exactly does that pan-out in a pluralistic democracy with a private-property economy? I cannot completely cut myself off from the use of petroleum products and damn the country for not. I was born into a nation with an addiction and have been supporting that habit the entirety of my life. What Crack is to a Crack-baby oil is to me. Most people would say that I am not to blame for the mistakes of my forefathers (at its very nature a western notion), but I cannot accept that. As an individual, I must act on an obligation of responsibility that I have as a member of the community. Can I wean myself back from this addiction; to what extent? Will that do any good? If I reduce my consumption of petrol products, will that inevitably destroy something greater and be the cause of a grievous sin: to put a lesser good over a greater good? (cf. St. Augustine’s model of sin) I fear that I will never get an answer to satisfy my mind.
I say this as a concerned citizen, Christian & fellow addict waiting for a cure: Today, I have solidified the conviction that this country has an addiction to oil, and we, as a society, are responsible. No man is an island. We as a nation are to blame for the place we have allowed others to put us. If someone sees another do wrong and allows them to do it (assuming they have the power to stop this action), then is the person who allowed misconduct as liable as the one who committed wrong? I think so. In this case, inaction implies consent.
What is the extent of the responsibility of an individual, and when does it pass completely from them to the community? What defines the line that is drawn separating the individual from the community (if you can separate a sheep from the herd)? Paul says (Rom 14:13-15:7, Gal 6:1-10) that we are not to commit an action that allows our brother to fall, yet we are to bear with them in love—we are treated as a member of the community with an obligation to that community. However, in the book of John (one of many places, but this in particular) Jesus talks about us as individuals of a collective placed in the world with opposition to it (John 14-17)—we are treated as if we have a responsibility to uphold our individual Christian convictions God has given us regardless of the world. This is a clear separation of communal and private responsibility.
What then of our submission to our authorities placed over us (Rom 13)? How exactly does that pan-out in a pluralistic democracy with a private-property economy? I cannot completely cut myself off from the use of petroleum products and damn the country for not. I was born into a nation with an addiction and have been supporting that habit the entirety of my life. What Crack is to a Crack-baby oil is to me. Most people would say that I am not to blame for the mistakes of my forefathers (at its very nature a western notion), but I cannot accept that. As an individual, I must act on an obligation of responsibility that I have as a member of the community. Can I wean myself back from this addiction; to what extent? Will that do any good? If I reduce my consumption of petrol products, will that inevitably destroy something greater and be the cause of a grievous sin: to put a lesser good over a greater good? (cf. St. Augustine’s model of sin) I fear that I will never get an answer to satisfy my mind.
