To understand why god punished people the way he did, we must first understand that we are functioning at different moral stages. God reach us at the level we are functioning at. I

Kohlberg’s 6 stages

Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience
People are threatened by immediate physical consequence

Theological application -- Rules must be spelled out concretely and in complete details. Since the Israel were functioning at this level, god gave them the 10 commandments and the laws in explicit details. God wouldn’t use Lv.6 reasoning (like that used by Jesus) with them, coz otherwise, they wouldn’t understand!

“Stage one is partly characterized by an inability to generalize from principles to their application. Rules are understood very concretely, so they have to be spelled out in complete detail. An example of such detailed instruction is found in the 2nd, 4th, and especially the 10th Commandments. After God has told the Israelites not to covet their neighbor's house, lest they assume that they are left free to covet his other possessions, the Lord adds, "your neighbor's wife or his manservant." But if God had stopped there, Israel would have concluded that it would be permissible to covet the "maidservant", so God spells that out too, and "his ox, nor his ass." Redundantly He adds "nor anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Stage 2: Instrumental Exchange
Moral is defined as what satisfies his own needs
Justice is do unto others as they do unto you

Theological application -- Conditions are based on exchange. Therefore, god says to the Israels things like, “If you obey me, I would cause you to prosper….:

Stage 3: Interpersonal conformity
Individuals acts to gain approval of others
Forgiveness is preferable to revenge
Punishment acts as deterrence

Theolgical application-- Treating the poor badly was common, therefore everyone was doing it. Therefore, God made laws to promote justice by punishing the law breaker.

Stage 4 Law and Order
Justice demands the defender to pay his “debt to the society”
Authority are seldom questioned
Stage 4.5  Transition stage
Conventional morality is now seen as relative
People have not yet discovered universal ethical principals
Believe in “do your own things”
Can get frustrated if others disrespect their morality

Theological application -- In the parable of the workers, Jesus mentioned that all who worked are paid the same amount. Fairness is promoted

Stage 5: Prior rights and social contact
Believe individual must have rights that should be protected by the society
No longer just follow the rule, but use logical application of universal, abstract, moral principles

Theological application -- Jesus gives principles instead of detailed rules.
E.g. “The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.”
Rules are valid insofar they promote the freedom and value of persons

Stage 6: Universal ethical principles
All human have quality and worth
People are ends to themselves
Everyone is due consideration of his interest in different situation
Therefore, the 10 testament is no longer necessary!!
People now believe that god says what is right because it is right

Theological application  People no longer need explicit rules, but principles. Therefore, Jesus summed up his commandments in 2 statements, “You shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and mind and love your neighobr as yourself” Luke 10”:27
Perfect equivalence of duties and rights Eg: Love your neighbour as yourself.

Extra Stage!!
Stage 7 Self-sacrificing love
Like that of Jesus, you sacrifice yourself to love others!!

-The reason to why some people separate faith and live is because theologiy is highly compartmentalized, they may have not applied the principles in the bible to their other areas of life.

- Arguments could easily broke out between Lv 4 and Lv 6. While Lv 4 are concerned about keeping laws and obeying the authority, the Lv 6 are more focused on liberty. They want to be free of laws because they have the capacity to apply principles in all areas of live.


So how do you meausre on Kohlberg's and god's scale?

For more info, check this article out ^^

http://www.aggelia.com/htdocs/kohlberg.shtml

God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!