Nerding out about Barabbas is one of my favorite pastimes.
In some of the manuscripts, one of the Gospel accounts gives a first name for Barabbas, 'Jesus'.
The name Barabbas means "son of the father".
Barabbas is already guilty, and sentenced to death, so it is quite possible that Jesus literally died on his cross.
Barabbas never once makes a defense for himself, but is only passive in what happens to him at this point.
Jesus, The Son of the Father stood next to Jesus "son of the father", and as an innocent man took on the punishment earned by the sin of the guilty man. In exchange the guilty man got a new life.
Barabbas never is mentioned again, never pays Jesus back, never does anything to earn what he had been given. Just a new life for a man who deserved death, a death paid for by the only man never to deserve it.
This is why I named my son "Michael Barabbas". Michael means:
"Who is God?"
and Barabbas answers
"The Son of the Father".
Barabbas is the portrait of every Christian.
> jails communists without trial
> believes intelligence is hereditary & promotes eugenics
> forces every worker to save up to 1/3 of their income whether they like it or not
> takes that forced savings and uses it to build housing, healthcare and infrastructure
> Singapore ranks first in the world for healthcare
> turns renters into owners (over 80% of Singaporeans now own their house)
> makes corruption a career ending, prison sending offence (no matter who you are)
> death penalty for drug trafficking (no exceptions)
> GDP per capita goes from $500 to $56,000 in one generation
> now one of the richest nations on earth with one of the strongest passports
You can just do things.
>Talk to an atheist about God
>Ask if he means God or old man in the sky
>They don’t understand
>Pull out a diagram explaining the difference
>They laugh, “I understand God sir”
>look inside
>Its an old man in the sky
>play our game at the hardest difficulty!
>"is it numbers difficulty or mechanics difficulty?"
>what?
>pull out detailed chart explaining the difference between the two
>its a difficult game sir
>its numbers difficulty again
There are lots of low-level crimes that our legal system presently ignores that, in terms of intent, are so heinous they should be treated like severe violent offenses.
This is a great example.