Sovereign Nations?

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I was recently at a family function of my in-laws on my wife’s father’s side. We were discussing the concept of right and wrong in government as it related to sovereign nations. In other words, if a people, say those of France, say capital punishment is wrong, shouldn’t it be wrong everywhere? Should they fight to defend this belief everywhere?

My response was yes and no since other countries are sovereign nations and they have a right to make laws as they see fit, while the moral object can be right or wrong.

It then begged to question what a sovereign nation was. I likened it to accreditation of a university. If a governing body of recognized universities came together to decide what criterion was needed for an applying institution to become a university (or chartered a third party entity), that body could declare what was and was not a university. Likewise, sovereign nations can set criteria by which other countries could be judged as actual sovereign nations.

I was sort of pulling this out from under my seat, so I was wondering what yous guys thought.

Surprise, Surprise

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There is such a thing as a back-handed compliment. They’re not too difficult to spot. Here are a few examples:

"You are a little stupid. But I think everybody else is really stupid, so you’re doing great."

"No, you’re not fat. Last year you were an oil tanker. This is much better."

Compliments designed to make a person feel better by lowering their standing by lowering the baseline even further are not compliments at all. They’re insulting to the person complimented and serve little function save to make the speaker look good.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent: Renunciation of Life and Detachment

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From The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus:

"We should love the Lord as do our friends. Many a time I have seen people bring grief to God, without being bothered about it, and I have seen these very same people resort to every device, plan, pressure, plea from themselves and friends, and every gift, simply to restore an old relationship upset by some monir grievance."

"[L]et no one tell me…that because of his addiction to pleasure he must be excused for remaining stuck in his sin. The more the putrefaction, the greater the need for treatment, if the uncleanness is to be done away with, for the healthy do not make their way to the doctor’s surgery."

"If you truly love God and long to reach the kingdom that is to come, if you are truly pained by your failings and are mindful of punishment and of the eternal judgment, if you are truly afraid to die, then it will not be possible to have an attachment, or anxiety, or concern for money, for possessions, for family relationships, for wordly glory, for love and brotherhood, indeed for anything of earth. All worry about one’s condition, even for one’s body, will be pushed aside as hateful. Stripped of all thought of these, caring nothing about them, one will return freely to Christ. One will look to heav and to the help coming from there, as in the scriptural sayings: ‘I will cling close to you" (Psalm 62:9) and ‘I have not grown tired of following you nor have I longed for the day or the rest that man gives’ (Jeremiah 17:16)."