God as Judge and Redeemer

Jordan Peterson Reads Cardinal Ratzinger - Qualitative Judgement And Aim - God and Judge and Redeemer

“ One of the things that Piaget says about kids is that they first learn to play a game, but they don't know what the rules are. 

Meaning that, if you have a bunch of kids together, they can play a game. 

But if you take one of the kids out of the game when they're young, say six, and say, what are the rules? 

They can only sort of give you a representation. So you take six-year-old one, and he’ll tell you some of the rules, and six-year-old two will tell you different rules, and six-year-old three will tell you different rules. 

But, if you put them all together, they can play. 

They have the knowledge embodied, either individually or in the group. 

The knowledge is there to be extracted. 

Then they get a little older, and they can extract the rule. Then they start to play by the rules. 

Piaget’s last step was that it’s not just that the kids play by the rules: they learn that they can make the rules. 

He thought about that as moral progression. 

First, you can play. 

Then you can play by the rules. 

Then you learn, maybe—because he didn’t think everyone learned this—that you’re actually the master of the rules. 

That doesn’t mean the rules are arbitrary, but it means that you can be the generator of the rules, assuming that you know how to play the game. He thought about that as a moral progression. 

I thought, well, that's exactly what happened to Moses in the story of Exodus. Moses is out there leading all those Israelites around. 

They don't have a law, and they don't have a law-giver. They have a tradition. 

They’re all crabby because they’re in a desert. They were in a tyranny, but now they're in a desert. That's no improvement. 

So they're really getting pretty bitchy about it. They're worshipping false idols, having one catastrophe after another, and they get Moses to judge their conflicts. He does that for God only knows how long—forever. 

Crabby Israelites come to Moses and bitch at him. 

‘He did this, and she did that.’ 

He has to figure out how to make peace. He does that for so long that one of his relatives—I think it’s his father-in-law—tells him he has to stop doing it, because he’s going to exhaust himself. You think, what's happening? 

I’m not assuming that this is a literal, historical story. I think, again, it’s a condensation. Any group has a set of customs, just like a wolf pack does. The customs are being manifest, and someone who’s a genius is watching, and thinking, ok, what's the rule in this situation? What's the rule in this situation? What’s the rule in this situation? And then, in his imagination the rules turn into a hierarchy. He goes up on the mountain and it goes, bang! And he thinks, oh my God! Here’s the rules that we’ve been living by all this time! That's the revelation of the commandments. How else could it be? The rules came first and obeying them came second? No. The actions come first, and then you figure out what everybody’s up to. You say, ‘hey, look, this is what you’ve been up to all along, and everybody goes, oh, yeah, that seems to make sense.’ If it didn't, who would follow them? No one is going to follow them if they don't match what’s already there. You just think about that as unjust. “

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

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For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

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And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

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And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

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And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

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And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

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Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

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And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

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And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

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And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

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His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

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And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

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And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

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And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

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And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

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And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

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That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

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And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

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And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

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And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which swordproceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.