Chauncey C. Riddle
April 1993
- Contracts are always entered into on the basis of inexact human strength and might languages; redress always involves inexact interpretation of those same inexact transactions by a third party. New and Everlasting (N&E) Covenant transactions are always conducted in three languages simultaneously: heart, mind and strength. The first two provide for the possibility of exact understanding; the third is a witness in case of the default of the human participant. If a human being is not prepared in heart and mind for the covenant, they are apparently held responsible only for the weak strength aspects which their human powers enable them to partake of. But they cannot gain the benefits of the covenant on that basis.
- The essence of contract transaction is consideration, enhancing the might of the parties. The essence of covenant transaction is heart, God sharing his pure heart with the human participant. Thus contract functions to change what a person controls, so that both parties fulfill their desires. Covenant functions first to enhance what a person is, then to enlarge what the person controls.
- The transactions of contract leave the parties unequal, as they began. The transactions of the N&E Covenant bring men to the stature of a god, making men equal with God.
- The transactions of contract are finite in time, space and material consideration, and have no meaning when men are dead. The transactions of the N&E Covenant are infinite in time, space and material consideration, and pertain both to this life and to eternity.
- The transactions of contract make men of ill will enemies, because to the evil, their fair share is never enough. The transactions of the N&E covenant enable participating men and women to become brothers and sisters to all mankind, good and evil alike.
- The remedy for improper transactions of contract is not only insistence on performance but also punitive penalty. Redress for improper transactions by men of the N&E Covenant is also punitive, but only to bring the person to attention; when the person remakes the covenant, the improper transactions are forgiven.
- Contract needs to have all four kinds of language transaction. Heart language would assure bargaining in good faith. Mind language would assure perfect understanding, true meeting of the minds. Strength language would be technical and exact, forming a better record. Might language would result in perfect order and accomplishment for a better world. But contract only enjoys strength and might language functions. Covenant already has all of these four kinds of language transaction in place.
- Contract is the human counterfeit of the covenant. Contract serves well in a fallen world to achieve worldly goals, but only when the participants abide in the light of Christ are contracts enforceable. Where men are wholly given to evil, only the law of the jungle prevails. In Zion and in heaven, covenant will replace contract. Contract is terrestrial, a shield to protect good men from unscrupulous men; covenant is celestial. Telestial and perdition-type persons use contract as a sword, not as a shield.
- Thus the only sure and fully satisfying language transactions which bind men in cooperation are those of the new and everlasting covenant. All other modes of language transaction ultimately fail because the heart and mind language transactions are insufficient.
Language Transactions in Covenant and Contract
Premises:
- Humans have four kinds of language ability: Heart language (love, hate); Mind language (ideas, concepts); Strength language (conventional colloquial and artificial languages); and Might language (dress, furnishings, landscaping, architecture, etc.)
- All four language abilities are in constant use by each normal human being.
Primordial state: Individuals are their powers (each is what he or she does). Each person does what his or her powers enable to fill that person’s desires. Law of the jungle prevails.
| Contract Civil governments are created by men to ease the power struggle of the jungle. Individuals are defined by governments by their rights and residual powers not claimed by government. Rights granted by civil governments enable individuals to exchange rights they have for rights they desire to have. Rights to exchange rights are the laws of contracts. Rights necessary for contracts, granted by governments: Rights to have and to exchange information. Rights to perform and exchange services. Rights to own and exchange goods. Rights to redress (remedy) in wrongful exchange. Contracts flourish in an atmosphere of free exchange of information about present rights and abilities and willingness to exchange. Result: Offers to contract. Essentials of a good contract: 1. Meeting of the minds. Each party agrees to specific relinquishment of rights in order to gain desired rights. The promise of exchange must induce detriments (giving up of rights). 2. Performance. Each party uses its present powers and rights to fulfill the agreements of the contract. | New and Everlasting Covenant God creates man in his own image and gives each varying degrees of powers with which to become individual human beings. He gives to each: heart, mind, language, knowledge, wisdom, health and physical strength. He puts each in a world where the individual’s strength results in might, or dominion. All men are free, subject to their own desires, except as they are impinged upon by the jungle or by civil government. God speaks to man to empower them, offering to become again their father and to enable each to become as he is. (This is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.) The Gospel is a flow of information which constitutes an offer to covenant. Requirements to be able to covenant: An understanding of the difference between good and evil, that God exists and is good, that Jesus Christ enables all men to do only good and to recompense for the past evil which they have done; and an understanding of the covenant. (Mind) A desire to accept the covenant. (Heart) The New and Everlasting covenant is an agreement to exchange powers and services (not rights). For there is no third party to create those rights nor to give redress. The N&E Covenant operates in the context of the law of the jungle, not needing any civil government. The persons party to the covenant are always unequal, God being all powerful, and manbeing only what God has given him to be, of himself nothing. |