Long Ago

            A long time ago God revealed basic rights to a wise man. God has been revealing these same rights over and over to many holy and wise people, but this is the earliest I am aware of that these were all revealed to the same man at the same time.

And, God speaks:

          “The right to be. The right to exist. The right to life.

          The right to that which you are. The right to yourself. The right to be whatever you are. No one has the right to insist that you are something other than what you are. Whatever your faith is, that too is part of what you are.

          The right to your own destiny. The right to control your own destiny. The right of free will. The right to your own soul.

   ~551 to ~ 479 BC.

In English you would pronounce his name Kong Qiu or Kong-zi. Master Kong. He was also known as K’ung honored teacher or K’ung fu-tzu. Many years after his death Jesuit translators wrote his name as Confucius. He sought order and peace through reverence of custom, concern with human society, and practice of perfect virtue. He claimed that he neither invented nor discovered. He stated that he only heard and repeated. That is all I am doing here.

            You should read what Confucius said in his writings. His book, ‘Analects’ is full of the type of comments that sound a lot like Jesus. If you don’t read it, then you do not know if I am telling the truth. Confucius lived 500 years before Jesus. From the things Jesus said, perhaps He read the writings of Confucius. Or did God send Jesus because we did not listen to these same messages that he already gave to us through Confucius?

            Do you see any similarities between the ideas of Confucius and Jesus?

            What right would you add?

            Remember, nothing can be a right if it infringes on the rights of any other person.

            Maybe then, we do not really have the right of free will. Maybe it is not a right because it is so fraught with responsibilities that it loses the quality of being a right. It is a gift of God. But, we must exercise this gift always/only aware of our responsibility to others.

            Perhaps these rights are the only rights you and I really deserve.

            Perhaps we do not really deserve these rights.

            Free will is not a right. It is a responsibility.

            Should we not respect the honor of receiving these rights by tempering all of them with love?

            Should not our responsibility to ethics, honor, and love enter into everything we do?

            Is it not of primary concern that all others in this world are enabled to exercise these rights?

            A hundred years after Confucius another Chinese philosopher by the name of Mo (Mo-zi or Master Mo) taught universal love, loving others impartially, and working to benefit all rather than just one’s friends or family. “Partiality is the root of all evil.” “Universal love allows humans to imitate Heaven which shines on all equally.” Incidently he is reported to have been a carpenter.

            How many times does God have to speak to us? How many times does God have to attempt to deliver His messages?