And because of this, they trusted Dunikoski with a kind of trust that is often only extended to those closest to us—family—and called her Auntie to prove it.
Where is the enlightenment in using force to preserve the way of life for a minority that will not espouse these self-evident truths? Where is the justice in allowing this claim of violent righteousness to go unanswered now?
Given their belief in a limited amount of available goods and resources in the world, coupled with the cultural belief that, because everyone was created in the image of God, everyone was entitled to their own fair share of those goods, it was a small step to the conclusion that anyone who accumulated more wealth than others did so by unjustly depriving their neighbors of their own rightful portion.
Violence is a byproduct of victory in the prosperity-scarcity framework, as people are subconsciously taught to seek prosperity at all costs. But seeking justice requires us to lay down our idol of victory.
Scarcity has been the name of the game for far too long in American politics. We are constantly offered a choice between which group of people is forced to go without, in the name of austerity.
Six days a week we struggle for freedom. On the Sabbath, we sit in the liberating truth that we are already free. And as we dwell in Sabbath freedom, the freedom of Sabbath comes to dwell in us.
Although the Law was given specifically to a certain group of people in a certain cultural, political, and historical context, we can still study it to understand and apply what a truly equitable society looks like.