IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD

Much has been said and written about the COMMON GOOD.  I have been having a FACEBOOK conversation with friends about the COMMON GOOD.  What is the COMMON GOOD?  For me, the wide-ranging answer begins with the Holy Bible. Future blogs will focus on a Biblical revelation of the COMMON GOOD. I invite your comments to the conversation.

GENESIS 1-11

The COMMON GOOD is about God creating the world and being very pleased with the result. Chaos ruled before creation.  God created order to tame chaos.  Out of creative order evolved light, sun, moon, plants, water, animals, land, and human beings in the Image of God, male and female.

"And God saw that it was good."

The Biblical word for the place of creation, Eden, was SHALOM, meaning harmony and balance.  Eden and creation were not about war or competition, but living together, co-existing in a oneness of relationship.  Creation is described as being a GARDEN.  Gardens are places of sowing, growing, and harvesting.  Gardens are quiet places which teach patience and need tending.  People are to do the tending.  Hence, within this Eden, human beings were to have "dominion" over everything.  To have dominion is to be "care-givers," not exploiters for our pleasure or progress.    

Human beings were to live in relationship.  We were created for each other so each person would not be alone.  The Image of God is characterized by people living for the other in a relationship of naked trust, meaning no secrets, but transparency.

But we are not to simply do what we want to satisfy our curiosity or feed our appetites.  We are accountable to God.  We are to listen to God and obey God's Word to us.  We have a will, but it is a will bound to obedience which we all too frequently violate.  We tempt each other to violate God's will for us.

The story of Cain and Abel teaches us that we murder or snuff-out life because of jealousy or for what seems reasonable and right at the moment.  We learn that "Yes, we are our brothers and sisters keepers."  We learn that families are indeed imperfect, even families growing up within God's Voice.

Noah teaches us to obey God's Word if we want to survive.  Noah didn't take life, but protected life to insure its longevity. God is pro-life!  Animals are precious gifts.  God wants us to insure the natural world against extinction.  Again, we are the caretakers.  We are accountable to God, to the preservation of life.  Noah also teaches the universality of God's world.  Noah's off-spring populated the world.  We are all related!  All brothers and sisters!  No one is a stranger.

The Tower of Babel teaches us that God's Truth is global in purpose and understanding.  The Tower  teaches us that building towers in commemoration of our egos are gravestones.  The Tower teaches that pride divides and scatters, and is anathema to community.

So what is the COMMON GOOD according to Genesis 1-11? Harmony and balance, living together, caring for creation, valuing relationship, trust and transparency, recognizing that yes we are each others' brothers and sisters keepers, killing is counter to God's will, all the diverse cultures make-up our global family, each equal, welcome all people, celebrate all languages, learn from each other, live for the life of the other.  The COMMON GOOD is trusting that God's grace leads us into the future and we are called to obedience.

The validity of the COMMON GOOD as revealed in the first eleven chapters of Genesis is not lessened by the critical argument that these chapters are only literary creations, borrowed from other traditions.  They reveal THEOLOGICAL TRUTHS validated by God's grace and received in faith. 

Similarly, the COMMON GOOD is given by God's grace which we receive through faith.  Grace and faith define the character and reality of the COMMON GOOD.

Peace!

Ron