Property, Hierarchy, and Authority - Essay Example

17 October Property, Hierarchy, ity The New Law of Righteousness advocates a form of Christian Communism and the basis of the same may be found in the Book of Acts, chapter two. It has been written in the book that at the inception of life, there were people that believed themselves to be affiliated to each other in a strong manner such that they would sell their goods and possessions and distribute ay proceeds that they received to the ones who were in need. This goes to show how people cared about the well being of one another and did not possess high rungs of avarice or greed. Property belongs to individuals as per their inheritance or family possessions. Since times immemorial there have been rules and regulations laid down regarding the rights with respect to property and hierarchy and how authority may be delegated on the basis of the same. Gerrard Winstanley argued in the New Law of Righteousness that "in the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another." According to this, individuals were equal when God created the Earth; thus no man had any sort of authority over the other and did not own any property or ruling hierarchy. However, as times passed and people began to live within the purview of the concept of a State, theories like the Social Contract Theory brought about new thinking regarding how to deal with property and hierarchy as well as authority. The Gospel of John states that, “Indeed, if the thing could only happen once, it is easier to understand it at this juncture, when for the first time Jesus, conscious of Messianic authority, meets the abuses in His Fathers house. He is doubtless well aware that his words and deeds mean the assertion of authority over the Temple worship in opposition to the official ecclesiastics only sufferable in case the usurper should be the Messiah Himself. Certainly Jesus did not look to be that as He came in the garb of a labourer with a whip of cords in His hand.” This passage goes to show how Winstanley talked about authority and was opposed by Biblical references because it talks about how authority should be understood according to God and how the Winstanley wrote: "Seeing the common people of England by joynt consent of person and purse have caste out Charles our Norman oppressour, wee have by this victory recovered ourselves from under his Norman yoake.” He affirmed that all men had risen from a common base and that God was above them all and should be given the utmost level of respect. He preached no masters and no slaves and thus, the equality of everyone on the planet. Therefore, he concluded with the abolition of property and aristocracy or authority. Winstanley stated that all property belonged to a single God and there was no higher authority than that. Thus, there was no question of any sort of hierarchy where property could be distributed after the death or the passing of the higher guardian. However, today, in the modern day and age, people follow passing property from one hand to another as per inheritance or hierarchy; in order from the oldest to the youngest or next in line (male) family members. He wrote against the Gospels that “in the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another." This does not stand in tandem with what was written in the Gospels earlier, as stated in the beginning of this paper, because God was believed to be the supreme authority on whom all property was named after. Men were all to be equals and no property was to be distributed among people without His consent. Winstanley makes a claim against authority stating that God was the highest authority. However, it may be seen that during the inception of theories of the State, Kings were given the status of God; this was known as the Divine Rights Theory where the Kings of the land assumed powers of God which helped them make sovereign and absolute statements without the fear of being disobeyed by the people of the land. In this way it could have been understood how property was a part of man despite being of ‘God’s’. This led to a great upheaval among the poor strata of society where the masses were not able to live within an equitably beneficial societal structure and thus was forced to exile into penury by the Kings or the Gods. Slowly by, as Winstanley has stated, there was a change within society from being only a part of an individual and having an individualistic attitude to a communal mindset where people began thinking about the needs of one another. However, as time passed, the scarcity for resources became an ideology of great squalor among the people as there was great competition to achieve and have more. Thus, people began to shift their views from thinking about a grouped to a personal perspective. Hierarchy constitutes a downward movement of passage of property or possessions from one generation or group of people to another. This was prevalent among a number of tribes and families in the olden days however with time and accordance to the Bible all men have been deemed equal in front of God and all property belongs to God thus may rise no question regarding the authority that one man may have over a certain amount of property and whether or not he should pass it down in a hierarchical manner to his successors. In the Gospel, some have suggested that John presents a hierarchy when he quotes Jesus as saying, "The Father is greater than I". However, Winstanley argues on the same lines stating that hierarchy should not be established in order to let men remain equal. If one begins to understand the similar aspects between God and the world as an audience, there is a vast amount of interconnectedness among biblical references and people because as per the Gospels, the role of God in the world today has been laid down clearly as He is the owner of all property and thus the decider of whether or not the same needs to be distributed among the people. If so, then it must be done in an equitable manner. Winstanley criticized the material aspects of life to a great extent; he stated that these tore people apart and created avarice in the minds of people. As per the Bible and the Gospels men were to live in tandem with one another in an equal manner. No man must have more or less than the other and if he does then he needs to sacrifice the same for the community and needs of other people around him. Every man must be able to understand whether or not he is living in a society where there are other people that require things more than him and he must be in a position to share and care. Thus, no materialism is to come into the picture because as soon as man begins to have material needs or the longing for gaining access to the same, he creates an incremental desire in his mind to have more and more even though he might not need it. In the modern day, this has been termed as the competition for scarce resources. According to Winstanley’s arguments, materialism is the root cause for all evil and pushes man into wanting more than he needs. This creates problems among people and leads them to the path of inequality. In conclusion, Winstanley’s arguments consist of a number of arguments ranging from how property, authority and hierarchy are not necessarily aspects that man needs to live with. He argues that man is not the receiver of all property; it is God that owns everything that belongs to the planet. Furthermore, from the same, it may be ascertained that God is the highest authority and thus no man can assume authority over another and in the same way, no possession may be passed down in a hierarchical manner from one individual to another because it all belongs to God. There have been a number of allegations against these arguments as discussed above; this includes measures from the Bible where Winstanley has been pointed wrong. The Bible preaches the oneness of God and how He is the sole owner of everything. Thus, in the same way, despite the various differences that man may have undergone in the recent past, it must be understood that property, authority and hierarchy belong to God and cannot be torn apart by different men. Works Cited Hill, Christopher (1996) “Gerard Winstanley: 17th Century Communist at Kingston” Sutherland, Donald. “The Religion of Gerrard Winstanley and Digger Communism.” Read More