Continuing the Ancient Sermon: Fourth Maccabees
We are looking into the book of Fourth Maccabees, a treatise on the concept of "Inspired Reason" over "the passions". It is a discussion about SELF CONTROL, when it seems impossible to remain self-controlled. The spiritual power of inspired reason - control over all thoughts and actions to remain faithful to the will of God.
We live in an impulsive and hedonistic society, so any self control or "inspired reason" would really stand out. This is what happened in the days leading up to the Macabean revolt, when Jewish citizens stood up to great tyranny and refused to submit.
Thus begins the ancient sermon: Is Inspired Reason Master over the Passions?
How Do Believers Abstain from Unclean Meats?
When we feel a desire to eat water-animals and birds and beasts and meats of every description forbidden to us under the Torah, we abstain through the predominance of Reason, for the propensity of our appetites are checked and inhibited by the temperate mind, and all the movements of the body obey the bridle of Reason.
How Do Believers Abstain from Adultery?
And what is there to be surprised at if the natural desires of the soul to enjoy the fruition of beauty is quenched? This certainly is why we praise the virtuous Joseph, because by his Reason, with a mental effort, he checked the carnal impulse, for he (a young man at the age when physical desire is strong) by his Reason quenched the impulse of his passions.
How Do Believers Abstain from Coveting?
And Reason is proved to subdue the impulse not only of sexual desire, but of all sorts of coveting. For the Torah says:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor anything that is thy neighbor's
So when the Torah orders us to not covet, it should, I think, confirm strongly the argument that Reason is capable of controlling covetous desires, even as it does the passions that militate against justice. How else can a man, naturally gormandizing and greedy and drunken, be taught to change his nature, if Reason be not manifestly the master of the passions?
A Life Ordered by Reason
Certainly, as soon as a man orders his life according to the Torah, if he is miserly, he acts contrary to his nature and lends money to the needy without interest and at the seventh-year periods, he cancels the debt.
And if he is stingy, he is overruled by the Torah, through the action of Reason, and refrains from gleaning his stubbles or picking the last grapes from his vineyards.
And with regard to all the rest, we can recognize that Reason is in the position of master over the passions or affections - for the Torah ranks above affection for parents, so that a man may not surrender his virtue for their sakes, and it overrides love for a wife, so that if she transgress, a man should rebuke her, and it governs love for children, so that if they are naughty a man should punish them, and it controls the claims of friendship, so that a man should reprove his friends if they do evil.
And do not think it a paradoxical thing when Reason through the Torah is able to overcome even hatred, so that a man refrains from cutting down the enemy's orchards and protects the property of the enemy from the spoilers and gathers up their goods that have been scattered.
And the rule of Reason is likewise proved to extend through the more aggressive passions or vices, ambition, vanity, ostentation, pride and backbiting - for the temperate mind repels all these debased passions, even as it does anger, for it conquers even this.
This concludes part three of the Ancient Sermon: Is Reason Master over the Passions?
Bless the Most High!
Teach Your Children Liberty from Sin
We encourage parents to teach their children principles of Godliness, beginning with the Word and an understanding who God is and what His Son has done to form a relationship with us.
No one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 1 Corinthians 3:11-13
Teach Your children Liberty from Tyranny
Second to this is the principle of self-determination and freedom, lest we loose the ability to teach our children the first principle in future generations. Our children read the Tuttle Twin books, specifically to learn libertarian principles, which most people learn later in life. These books are useful for our family, and yours, to teach children concepts that seem complicated, but are made simple in these books.
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I once read that humans are a species that uses reason, but that on many occasions we are not a reasonable species. In short, we have the possibility to use reason and guide ourselves with it, but on many occasions we will not do it, world history has many examples of this and each person can examine their own life and will surely find memories of moments in which it was nothing reasonable.