Emphasis mine.
I find this line of reasoning very unpersuasive. First, it is very plausible Jesus could have made statements applicable to our system of government by speaking in general or in absolutes. The idea of government was not a foreign concept to Jesus during his existence. Governments had been in existence for many hundreds of years, if not longer, when Jesus' feet touched the dirt in the Middle East. Government existed during Jesus' entire tenure on this earth. Governments existed at the time of Jesus and he never made any demands upon any of them, in whatever form existed, to codify his teachings. This is precisely the point Oldbetang and myself are making. Whether it is authoritarian, dictatorship, oligcarchy, aristocracy, monarchy, democracy, republican, or any form of government, Jesus never uttered, exlcaimed, or screamed any statement demanding any government in particular, all governments in the future, or governments in general should codify his teachings.
Your examples are non-parallel precisely because none existed but the concept and idea of government did exist at the time of Jesus, and the fact it was not our kind of government does not logically preclude Jesus from making a general or absolute statement about governments, which would include our kind of government.
The Roman government existed at the time of Jesus and during his years of ministry, Jesus never endeavored on a voyage to Rome, make an appearance in the forum, and in front of the curia advocate for the codification of his teachings. Despite government existing at the time of Jesus, he made no appeals to it for the purpose of codifying his teachings.
I am not adverse to such an idea but advocating the government codify the teachings of Christ, or any precept in the NT, is what I am presently rebuking.
This is a stretch! How exactly you construe Jesus remark to a particular individual of what he needs to do to obtain eternal life as a comment to a broader audience of governments needing to redistribute wealth is nothing short of mysterious, or a bad magic trick. There is no analogy to be made here. Jesus is addressing and is only addressing an individual here, and what the individual must do to obtain eternal life, as opposed to addressing a more broad and diverse audience of governments. In addition, governments cannot obtain eternal life, and the point of the dialogue was one of how the rich man can obtain eternal life, so there is no analogy to be drawn here in the manner you seek to do so.
But isn't this precisely where your logic takes us? You are allowing Godly dictates to direct government action in regards to ameliorating economic injustice, and if not economic injustice per se then the unfortunate consequence of the economy not adequately providing for all members of society, then can this also not similarly be used in non-economic ways? It seems rather inconsistent to appeal to heaven for guidance in amelioarting the undesirable and unfortunate consequences of our economic system and then simultaneously repudiate any appeal to heaven for assistance in addressing non-economic societal ills.
