"Whether God will bless or curse directly, or whether blessings or curses are merely consequences of the human ability (or not) to follow the righteous laws has been a matter of great debate among scholars and theologians. Some Jews and Christians have argued that God blesses and curses directly, while others note—in a much more Stoic manner—that the Natural Law demands the goodness and order presented in the rules and needs no enforcement at a supernatural level. History has certainly proven that ordered societies, ordered polities, and ordered families thrive, while disordered societies, disordered polities, and disordered families tend toward a quick and harsh abyss. Even as the pagan philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, understood, order in the soul is reflected in the order of the polis."
