Clarification...

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith

and pierced themselves with many griefs."

--I Timothy 6:6-10

I just wanted to post this passage of scripture because my post about Plato, that I removed, spurred some debate as to what the purpose was for my post. What I was trying to say is that Socrates observed that when people want more than what they NEED, that is when injustice occurs. And, oddly enough, that is what Paul wrote to Timothy! AMAZING.

I was not trying to analyze or to discuss Plato. To be honest, I just don't care that much. All I was trying to say is that I AGREE that injustice and crime occur most often because of people wanting something they don't have.

I will repost the Plato post--unedited, only to show that I am not advocating Communism or other outlandish things--as has been said. Whatever. I am one of the biggest capitalists around! I was NOT saying that we SHOULD have a land where people only have what they need--but rather, that because we constantly have and are getting more than we need, that we can never have a just society. People have a tendency to read into what I write--incorrectly, so I just wanted to post this for clarity.

"As much as Plato can be confusing
(because of the round-about nature of his
dialogues), he raises some incredible ideas
on justice and on how society should
operate. In my study of "The Republic",
I have been amazed thus far at some of
the points he (well, actually, Socrates) raises.

I'm not going to write about this much now,
because I am still processing all that we have been
discussing in class.

But one thing that came up today,
in Book II of "The Republic" was the
idea that the only way that a society
ould ever be "just" is if the citizens
therein lived with necessities only...
and that it is when you add luxuries
(herein defined as things that you really
don't need whatsoever) that crime and
injustices occur...

In pondering this more and more,
I have come to realize just
how true that is. If people only had the
amount of land or money they needed,
rather than land or money in abundance,
and if they were contented with their
lot, and didn't feel the need to always
have more, then there would be no need
to take from someone else--for example,
taking some of your neighbor's land.
This only leads to war or conflict,
and usually results in injustice.

Interesting...perhaps I'll write more in
the days to come...Amazing how much a
book written over 2500 years ago
can influence our lives today... "