When I was going through Bible College in the 1980's, we were taught that the law of Moses and the prophets was to be somehow dovetailed into the law of Jesus and vis versa. So when my marriage began to have troubles in 1994, I thought I could throw a few zingers of Moses' law at her and she would step back into line. I judged her (guilty of a crime under Moses' law), and I even thought about condemning her (the death penalty), knowing that I was not in a position to cast the first stone.
When we went to marriage counseling, our pastor said to me, "She's scorned." At 28, I had no understanding of what that implied. But after reading Tolstoy, I see now that had I not judged her, it might not have been 19 years since I last saw her, a woman I've loved all these years to no avail.
And like a mirror, she reflected railing for railing, judgement for judgement, until only a sermon from a mountain could ever hope to bring peace between us.
Throw out Moses and the Prophets and contemplate the Sermon on the Mount: judge not, condemn not, render not evil for evil, go not to law, do not take oaths, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, blessed are the peace makers, etc. It might just save your marriage.
Gene Chapman,
Tolstoyan-Gandhian Libertarian for Texas Governor
(Endorsed by Dr. Noam Chomsky)
ChapmanForTexasGovernor2014.com
gkchapman2012@hotmail.com
