By
Wu Siu Yan
22nd Oct 2004
(In Chinese 孟子："國之本在家,家之本在身.")
Few families gathered together for mutual protection; perhaps they shared common values. This grew to become bigger and bigger, and finally a nation.
A nation is a HUGE collection of families, sharing common values, and for mutual protection.
Take the example of Israel. It originated just from one family -- Abraham. Over the years, his children multiplied, and they eventually became a nation.
China is no different. It originated from a few families that migrated (along the Silk Road) and settled in Sian of China. Over the years, the people grew and they spreaded to all over China.
The families must have common values, or else they wouldn't agree to bond together.
In China, the main bonding values among Chinese, for thousands of years, are those of Confucius
For the Israelites, GOD gave them His laws/commandments, and ever since Moses, these have been their values (Unfortunately today, they follow the "Talmud", a man-made book, and not the Bible).
Personally, I think all nations should take the laws/commandments of GOD as basic, for GOD created us all, and He is our Father in Heaven, and we should keep His laws/commandments.
Since nation comprised of families, therefore, whenever there arose matters affecting them all, it was natural that they discussed and solved the problems themselves.
Elders have a special role. Who among us would not respect our grandfather, would not respect our father or uncles ? Therefore in joint discussion, the voice of elders carried more weight.
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GOD : "You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God." [Lev. 19:32] |
Respect the elderly is the only way to have the wisdom of past generations to perpetuate. A people that do not honor elders will have to start afresh and experience everything afresh, without any time-tested wisdom to guide them. A people that do not honor elders will fall into pitfalls their ancestors already knew from experience.
When people gather, there would arise disputes, crimes. And means must be there to settle disputes, to punish crimes.
For Israelites, the laws/commandments of GOD are their guides.
Elders were natural judges. Ordinary person who showed exceptional sense of justice that people sought him to settle disputes could also be a judge.
Elders settle disputes, even onto today, in some Pacific Islands, or among natives (e.g. native Americans, native Australian aborigines).
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Moses : "Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you." [Deut 16:20] |
In China, Confucius' teachings, e.g. "Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you", serve as guide to settle disputes.
Justice is vital for the freedom, for the productivity of a people. Justice should be dispensed free and prompt. |
There must be means to keep the bond once the population becomes huge, and families grow to tens of thousands, or millions.
In China, New Year is the time to visit family members, to visit friends, all with a view to renewing bonds.
For Israelites, they had many festivals where ALL gathered together [(*) Feast of Passover, (*) Feast of Harvest, (*) Feast of Booth, (*) Atonement Day, ...].
The two festivals, "Feast of Passover" and "Feast of Booth", are each of duration one week. But for the "Festival of Booth", they had to camp in the open, leaving their homes behind. That is to say, the whole population went camping for a whole week!
During this week of camping, they made friends, shared food with the poor, sang and danced. They also gave thanks to GOD, who is the Heavenly Father of us all.
These yearly festivals where all Israelites gather together bond the Israelites very close.
We cannot stop people from being greedy, greedy for land, greedy for cattle, gold, silver, ....
People could also become "beasts" -- lust for rape and killings.
Therefore, there must be defense.
In ancient Israel, all males that reach 20 years of age had to join in wars. The armies were organized according to families (see [Numbers 1]), and Moses led them, because he was the most godly man among them all.
In ancient China, education was moral education -- the teaching of Confucius.
In ancient Israel, about one-tenth of the population were teachers (the "Levites"). They taught the people laws and commandments of GOD.
The "Levites" were under the control of "Priests". As to their wages, people gave tithe (1/10) to Levites (not to the priests!), and the Levites gave tithe of tithe to the "Priests".
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GOD's arrangement is that lower workers decide, and pay, the wages for the management. GOD's arrangement is different from what earthly churches do today |
History of Israel [Old Testament], as well as of China, show that wars/pestilence/famine would come if the people were morally depraved, and prosperity and peace, when the people were morally good.
Therefore moral education is important, as GOD would curse all who break His laws/commandments, and bless all who keep His laws/commandments. Life or death of a people depend on their morality.
As for other education, in the Bible, it was recorded that GOD encouraged them to select people of exceptionally ability in crafts to teach the people in all craftsmanship [Exodus 35:30-34].
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Home schooling is common in USA. Someone advocates that home-schoolers gather together, while their moms are working beside them. Information from the Internet makes teaching materials very accessible. People may still run schools, co-operative workshops, ... |
A people without a system of education is to be pitied. See the aborigines of Australia.
From the above discussion, we can see the system GOD gave the Israelites was a "kingless" system with no government, and no taxation, exception voluntary tithe to the "Levites", those teachers of morals.
Education was done through the "Levites".
Justice was maintained by elders, or people of high sense of sense (For very difficult cases, "priests" came in and became the final judge). All justice was administered FREE, no court fees nor legal fees. And settlement was prompt.
Social welfare was done among themselves. Because of the close bond formed by the yearly Festivals ("Festival of Booth"), through the tradition of honoring elders, and also commandments of GOD demand them to help the poor and needy, welfare was done by themselves.
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Since there is no king, nor government, all land belong to the families that make up the nation. This is not so around the world today, where the governments are the biggest owner of land.
In a society, there are many public works, e.g. building of roads, building of dams to store water, ... Also, there may be affairs pertaining to all, e.g. during time of invasion.
In ancient China, people who had exceptional abilities rose up to serve the people. But they did not regard themselves as "kings", but servants.
In the Bible, in [Book of Judges], many ancient Israelites did the same. They each served their generations, but they never assumed for themselves "kings", nor gave the "throne" to their children.
King came into being when there was someone who put himself above the rest, perhaps because of military might/money, or because of consensus of the population [1 Samuel 8]. Also foreign king may succeed in invading the land and subjugate all.
Then the king has everything, all land are his, and all became his tenants. He can give whatever piece of land to his officers (Cf. ancient England). He can impose tax on all. He can draft men to fight wars for him.
In ancient China, in the period preceding Qin Dynasty, all warlords were greedy for land, greedy for expansion, and they drafted men to fight wars, and would put to death those who disobeyed them. That civil war lasted many years, and millions and millions perished, until Emperor Qin, who built the Great Wall, subdued all the rest, and became the one king over China.
To have king is not for the good of all, for people are "slaves" and not "masters" of themselves anymore.
Modern democracies came from the Romans, who got land by conquest, through military might.
People may think elected officials will serve the people. No. They serve their "secret group". Elections cost money, and they get support from "secret group", and they serve "the group" in return. "Secret group" has pyramid power structure, and for such a structure, there must be one and only one "secret king".
Politics become a road to "power and money", not servants to the people any more.
If you care to read materials that surface on the Internet, you will know that Illuminati rule the world. This is a group that worship Satan, that members swear Oath of Silence (if members betray secrets, they will be put to death - "slit throat"), they have their eyes set on money and power. They believe in "the ends justify the means", and would murder to achieve their purposes.
They follow no laws/commandments whatsoever, lies and lies and deceptions are the rule. Because of this total disregard of laws/commandments, "Secret Alliance" is the most wicked and abominable sin in the eyes of GOD.
Only a system similar to that of ancient Israel would all people be truly free. But people cannot be free if they are unwilling to keep the laws/commandments of GOD, and therefore reject GOD as their GOD. Only a godly people, who fear GOD and keep His laws/commandments can be free. Those who break the laws/commandments are cursed, and will be slaves under a harsh master. Death and calamities will also follow them if they do not repent. |