I often see news stories about senseless bashings of innocent victims by drunken or drugged groups of youths and people being killed for little or no reason, along with cases of the elderly being fleeced of their savings by heartless individuals posing as home repair men and countless other similar vicious acts.
These sorts of things have always occasionally happened, but not as frequently and many of the young people involved now include girls.
It seems that traditional religious and social moral values now mean very little and the perpetrators of such acts have absolutely no idea there is a consequence for everything they do.
They seem to believe that if they don't get caught everything will be fine.
But getting off scott-free does not exist in our universe; we must always pay for any senseless actions against others.
One of the things I really like about the PL faith (the Church of Perfect Liberty) is the understanding that we all have a bank account of virtue with God.
What this means is that most of us are born with a certain amount of virtue within our family stream from our ancestors.
If however, we are so unlucky that our parents or ancestors were involved in harming others for their own convenience, then the balance of this bank account may be negative or we could say we have a bank account of vice.
In other words the account has gone into the red.
On the other hand, if our parents and ancestors always did their best to harmonise with others and help them, then the bank account we inherited may have accumulated a great deal of virtue.
In this case other people may call us lucky because we will have many positive things happen in our lives.
In PL we not only consider the social consequences of what we do, but also God's universal laws for humankind.
God's laws that we are most familiar with include the laws of physics, such as the law of gravity and other laws for natural phenomena.
But His laws for humankind operate the same way.
Thus God can't be thought of like a person who metes out punishment to some and favours others.
We think of God as the whole, the totality of everything, the energy of the universe and His laws are equal and unyielding for everyone.
God's laws work by action and reaction.
In other words, if we do our best for others whether it's for our family or other people, that's an action and the reaction is that we build virtue for ourselves and our family.
If however, we harm or even kill others then that's our action and the reaction through God's law for humankind is that we create vices for ourselves and our descendants.
To explain what I mean, let's take the example of suicide bombing terrorists who kill many people with no thought for those they kill and maim.
These fanatical individuals have instantaneously created huge vices for their families and their descendants.
The reaction is that such violent acts are completely contrary to God's law that's stated in PL Precept 14, 'World Peace Is Everything.
' In other words, the order of the universe is towards peace and harmony, where acts of terrorism are completely and absolutely unacceptable.
Thus the consequences for the surviving family members will be dire until this debt to the universe is repaid, if it ever can be.
If however we move along with the flow of the universe; the direction in which God's creation is moving, then we will be fortunate and be able to build virtue for ourselves and our descendants.
But if we move against the flow of the universe, contravening God's laws, we will create misfortune for ourselves.
Also, depending on the severity of our actions, this misfortune may negatively affect our present and future family stream as well.
Some of these misfortunes that are created could also include things like never being successful in life, having numerous financial disasters, suffering from many serious sicknesses or having accidents occur among one's family members.
These sorts of calamities can continue generation after generation until the debt of vices has been repaid.
If however some family members became aware of what has happened and realise the vice that's been created in their family stream, they could do their best to overcome this debt of vice by working toward world peace in helping others.
If they do their best effort in this regard, their own family fortune will gradually improve.
Thus, even though we don't see the vices and virtues of each family, their family history could tell us a great deal.
In PL we have ways of determining the cause of a Mishirase (an illness, accident, misfortune or suffering) and these can reveal whether they are the sins of ones' past family line or caused by one's own incorrect unconscious habits.
Nevertheless, the important point is that we need to teach people that there is a consequence for all their actions.
Perhaps only then will everyone understand that one way or another they are all ultimately accountable for all their negative actions and especially those that disturb others' lives.
These sorts of things have always occasionally happened, but not as frequently and many of the young people involved now include girls.
It seems that traditional religious and social moral values now mean very little and the perpetrators of such acts have absolutely no idea there is a consequence for everything they do.
They seem to believe that if they don't get caught everything will be fine.
But getting off scott-free does not exist in our universe; we must always pay for any senseless actions against others.
One of the things I really like about the PL faith (the Church of Perfect Liberty) is the understanding that we all have a bank account of virtue with God.
What this means is that most of us are born with a certain amount of virtue within our family stream from our ancestors.
If however, we are so unlucky that our parents or ancestors were involved in harming others for their own convenience, then the balance of this bank account may be negative or we could say we have a bank account of vice.
In other words the account has gone into the red.
On the other hand, if our parents and ancestors always did their best to harmonise with others and help them, then the bank account we inherited may have accumulated a great deal of virtue.
In this case other people may call us lucky because we will have many positive things happen in our lives.
In PL we not only consider the social consequences of what we do, but also God's universal laws for humankind.
God's laws that we are most familiar with include the laws of physics, such as the law of gravity and other laws for natural phenomena.
But His laws for humankind operate the same way.
Thus God can't be thought of like a person who metes out punishment to some and favours others.
We think of God as the whole, the totality of everything, the energy of the universe and His laws are equal and unyielding for everyone.
God's laws work by action and reaction.
In other words, if we do our best for others whether it's for our family or other people, that's an action and the reaction is that we build virtue for ourselves and our family.
If however, we harm or even kill others then that's our action and the reaction through God's law for humankind is that we create vices for ourselves and our descendants.
To explain what I mean, let's take the example of suicide bombing terrorists who kill many people with no thought for those they kill and maim.
These fanatical individuals have instantaneously created huge vices for their families and their descendants.
The reaction is that such violent acts are completely contrary to God's law that's stated in PL Precept 14, 'World Peace Is Everything.
' In other words, the order of the universe is towards peace and harmony, where acts of terrorism are completely and absolutely unacceptable.
Thus the consequences for the surviving family members will be dire until this debt to the universe is repaid, if it ever can be.
If however we move along with the flow of the universe; the direction in which God's creation is moving, then we will be fortunate and be able to build virtue for ourselves and our descendants.
But if we move against the flow of the universe, contravening God's laws, we will create misfortune for ourselves.
Also, depending on the severity of our actions, this misfortune may negatively affect our present and future family stream as well.
Some of these misfortunes that are created could also include things like never being successful in life, having numerous financial disasters, suffering from many serious sicknesses or having accidents occur among one's family members.
These sorts of calamities can continue generation after generation until the debt of vices has been repaid.
If however some family members became aware of what has happened and realise the vice that's been created in their family stream, they could do their best to overcome this debt of vice by working toward world peace in helping others.
If they do their best effort in this regard, their own family fortune will gradually improve.
Thus, even though we don't see the vices and virtues of each family, their family history could tell us a great deal.
In PL we have ways of determining the cause of a Mishirase (an illness, accident, misfortune or suffering) and these can reveal whether they are the sins of ones' past family line or caused by one's own incorrect unconscious habits.
Nevertheless, the important point is that we need to teach people that there is a consequence for all their actions.
Perhaps only then will everyone understand that one way or another they are all ultimately accountable for all their negative actions and especially those that disturb others' lives.