My dad sent this verse to me in a text as an explanation for conservatives vs. 'liberals,' right vs. left. I also read further and the following verse is also appropriate.
Ecclesiastes 10:2-3 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are.
This was a bit eye opening to me as some things began to fall into place in my mind about Satan twists whatever is truth into lies. Biblically, the right is the way of wisdom, of following God's laws and statutes which leads to salvation. The left is the way of foolishness and rejecting God's wisdom for the flawed wisdom of man, and Satan, which leads to destruction.
Then, I began to draw further connections about the false chart that's presented in schools and argued about by academia about how fascists are far right and that both the left and the right go around to what is essentially a dictatorship. On face value, I already knew this to be a foolish argument as it presents the argument that those who peruse limited government would suddenly flip in their values to embrace tyranny.
As seen in the founding documents of the United States, a 'right' oriented government is one of limiting the reach of government and preserving the rights of self-determination for citizens and prioritizes the authority of governmental bodies closer to the people than the federal level, ie the State and local governments, so long as the basic rights of the individuals are not violated.
If anything, the accurate chart would look something more like a bar chart that depicts how a government that obtains control can slide leftward toward despotism rather than a circle around. After all, the ultimate end of continuing down a path of limited government would be no government and doing as everyone sees as being right for themselves, which goes back to a 'left' leaning ideology according to the Biblical definition.
The interesting thing about this right vs. left is that it applies to all forms of government. As in, a righteous king with absolute power that rules according to what is 'right' according to the law of God would be better to live under than a representative government (whether legitimate or not) whose hearts have gone to the left.
Just some thoughts I had on it.
I think I mostly agree with this, but I would clarify one thing: "following God's laws and statutes which leads to salvation"
Doing a better job of following God's laws will give salvation from the wrath(or discipline) of God on Earth. We see this type of salvation being talked about in the book of James. Example: James 5:15 "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;"
But no one can ever fully keep the law of God, so no one will be fit for eternal life by keeping it themselves. Jesus Christ fully kept the law for us. His death makes it fully fair for God to pardon forever every person believes in His Son. So every person who believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life, immediately and forever. John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."
Absolutely. Jesus is the only way to salvation. What I found particularly interesting is the interpretation of the scripture and how right and left are used in the context. With that in mind, I don't think there's any coincidence that Leftism refers to ideologies like socialism and supposed equality. Things that are foolish and fail every time.
Just did some research on it and found the potential origin of the political terms left and right. It apparently came from the French during their revolutions periods.
https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-political-labels-left-wing-and-right-wing-originate
I think it's appropriate how it turned out and that the seating assignments weren't reversed or could the right be liberal and the left be conservative? ...Though I get the impression there might have been no coincidence so that the Biblical passage would be so appropriate.
I agree. I think the seating was probably no coincidence, but I can't prove it.