Emily Watson
7:41pmSep 14 at 7:41pm
Matthew 22:36-40 states, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” What would be the implications for nations to follow the above, when considering tariffs, quotas, and embargoes?
For nations to follow the two commandments, there will several implications; some will be positive while others are negative. If we are strictly reading into “love your neighbors as yourself,” we would not want others to impose tariffs, quotas, and embargoes on us, thus we should not be doing so to them. However, we do need to be mindful of how we are treated by others when following, “love your neighbors as yourself.” Some nations will view the kindness of one nation as a weakness, thus taking an advantage. We can view tariffs, quotas, and embargoes as tools to make sure we treat and are treated fairly, these tools can enable us to hold accountability for not only us but others as well. We can obey the greatest commandment, ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’, by being fair to other countries, treat other nations with integrity, and not always see them as competition, but see others as children of God. Proverbs 10:9 states, “people with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.” To be fair, we can make sure we are not putting excessive embargoes on other countries because their views/culture doesn’t align with ours, tariffs shouldn’t be astoundingly high, and quota limits are not distorted. We should never pay evil with evil, Romans 12: 17-18 says, “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do this in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” References: Holy Bible (1996). New Living Translation: NLT Thinline Reference. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers
