One of the most important teachings of Lord Jesus

IMHO, this is one of the most important teachings of Lord Jesus...

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind...And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.- Mathew 22:37,39

Just felt like sharing.

 

why not love thy neighbor and thyself just as much as thy love thy god?

how does this lesson teach you to deal with those that try to threaten your love for god?

 

How can you threaten anyone's love for God?

 

Huh? I don't know if I understand what you are asking

I kind of take it as...if you are loving God and you are loving your neighbor as yourself...you are loving the existance of God that dwells within both yourself and every person as well as in the world around you...does that make sense? And if someone is "threatening your love for God"...love them anyway...

Not sure if that answers your question...I'm not even sure what your question was...so please forgive me if I didn't answer it...and I didn't say my answers were Truth or not...its just the way I see it...

 

I don't think he was really asking a question. I think that it was yet another stupid attempt to take offence at any and every part of Christianity possible.

 

*nods head*
I think that one was.

 

that's funny, because that's precisely one of my least favourite teachings.

how in the world can anyone ever tell someone they MUST love you?
how is that love at all?
the sentence actually makes no sense.

love is not something that can be shalted and shouldn'ted, fer real.

 

I think it depends on how one defines 'love', you know? A universal love is kind of different than a personal love.... The way I take it is sort of this 'love your neighbor as yourself' is sort of just saying be kind to everyone you meet, even if you don't care for them personally just for the sheer fact that they are humans just like you...I know on the surface it could sound hypocritical......but it really isn't....

 

not at all. i agreee with the whole love thy neighbour thing. its just the whole love thy god thing i dont disagree with. the fact that this 'law' is above the love thy neighbor 'law' makes for a whole lot of hating neighbors that dont love the god that you love.

 

i understand what you're saying, or at least i think i do...

however, i was referring to the broader idea of ever a god commanding his created beings to love him.

thou SHALT love the lord thy god?

that is absurd.

there is only one definition of love, and it is not bound by any threats or fears, rewards, punishments, and certainly not commandments.

that's all.

i know i've quoted him before in here, but i'll do it again....

Now, according to certain of these great ancient philosophies, like Buddhism, this sensation of being a separate, lonely individual is a hallucination. It is a hallucination brought about by various causes, the way we are brought up being the chief of them, of course. For example, the main thing that we're all taught in childhood is that we must do that which will only be appreciated if we do it voluntarily. "Now darling, a dutiful child must love its mother. But now, I don't want you to do it because I say so, but because you really want to." Or "You must be free." This also is seen in politics---"Everybody must vote." Imagine, you are members of a democracy, and you must be members of the democracy---you are ordered to. You see, this is crazy. Also "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Is that a commandment or a joke?

[you must love God?]...

When you are challenged to be perfectly genuine, it is like saying to a child, "Now darling, come out here and play, and don't be self-conscious." In other words I could say to you, "If any of you come here tonight at exactly midnight, and put your hands on this stage, you can have granted any wish you want to, provided you don't think of a green elephant." Of course, everybody will come, and they will put their hands here, and they will be very careful not to think about a green elephant. The point is that if we transfer this concept to the dimension of spirituality, where the highest ideal is to be unselfish and to let go of one's self, it is again trying to be unselfish for selfish reasons. You cannot be unselfish by a decision of the will any more than you can decide not to think of a green elephant. There is a story about Confucius, who one day met Lao-tzu, a great Chinese philosopher. Lao-tzu said, "Sir, what is your system?" And Confucius said, "It is charity, love of one's neighbor, and elimination of self-interest." Lao-tzu replied, "Stuff and nonsense. Your elimination of self is a positive manifestation of self. Look at the universe. The stars keep their order, the trees and plants grow upward without exception, and the waters flow. Be like this."
(that's Alan Watts in The Philosophies of Asia...
a great volume which i totally recommend reading.)



peace

 

Dearest nitemarehippygirl,

I understand what you are saying...and I do believe it is free will....I think that it is thrown out in the manor ("shalt") because Jesus was putting them in the form of the commandments....and saying that they were his...no one makes you do those things....they just kind of happen...I like them, not for the order itself, but for the idea itself...that he put out...Love everyone because you love God that exists within all beings...

Sorry if ever made myself unclear.

*Peace and Love*
Nicole

 

I think the idea is to see God within all beings...so by loving God first...you kind of automatically love your neighbors because you see that the Spirit that you love exists within them.....I don't think it is as black and white as it appears to be...I should have mentioned how I took it when I first posted it I suppose....but....yea...I think a lot of the Bible involves reading between the lines, you know? Perhaps Jesus spoke in parables as a hint. lol.

 

Christianity is all about love. The word of Christ is all about love.

Most people in this world see love as merely an emotion (or a range of emotions), and not particularly central to one's way of life. But Jesus taught us that love is much more than an emotion: it's the way of God and the way to God.

So when God commands us to love him and love our neighbours, it's not like he's telling us how to feel. He's letting us know the right way to be; the right state of mind, body and spirit to have in order to live in harmony with each other and have a strong relationship with God.

You could see all of God's commandments, and rules, as "domineering" or contrary to our liberties. But in actual fact they are there for our benefit, to show us the right way to be, which will improve our lives, empower us and give us greater liberties than before.

God made the universe, and gave us life. He is vastly superior to us and we could quite easily fear him. People used to. Then Jesus came along and told us that God is our dad, and he loves us, and all he wants is for us to love him. That's not domineering — that's great news!

 

I think it depends on how one defines 'love', you know? A universal love is kind of different than a personal love.... The way I take it is sort of this 'love your neighbor as yourself' is sort of just saying be kind to everyone you meet, even if you don't care for them personally just for the sheer fact that they are humans just like you...I know on the surface it could sound hypocritical......but it really isn't....

SvgGrdnBeauty,
It really isn't hypocritical, but it is or would be a two faced way to treat each other in a world dominated by the intentions of evil man. LOVE the way, the universal way or definition of LOVE that is the only thing We need, IS the LOVE that will make a man or woman comsumed with their own passion do ANYTHING to satisfy their desires. Or the desires of their GOD.
If they were consumed with their Gods desires.
As in, if they were to follow what they consider His words to guide their path to everlasting life, His directions.


I think the idea is to see God within all beings...so by loving God first...you kind of automatically love your neighbors because you see that the Spirit that you love exists within them.....I don't think it is as black and white as it appears to be...I should have mentioned how I took it when I first posted it I suppose....but....yea...I think a lot of the Bible involves reading between the lines, you know? Perhaps Jesus spoke in parables as a hint. lol.


You are created by the image of the your Gods most perfected beings, the life you are. The idea is that one day you are to become Gods, to see Him in every beings, to see Him in the mirror, to live the way He or SHE would want to live, by the ways of the LORD Gods teachings.


nitemarehippygirl,

i understand what you're saying, or at least i think i do...

however, i was referring to the broader idea of ever a god commanding his created beings to love him.
The LORD commands you to Love God, not what you now are, because in the thoughts of Him, and in from His wishes YOU, PEOPLE would eventually walk the Earth with and as Him/Her. YOU would become Gods.
The LORD is not male or female, not flesh or machine. Nothing and everything that is seen and unseen.

thou SHALT love the lord thy god?

thou SHALT love the LORD as Gods. Yes, if you were to see yourselves as Gods that walk this Earth. You SHALL and WILL LOVE what created you and was able to offer you such an existence. Absolutely ONE hundred percent.

that is absurd.
It is absurd to think that if you ever accepted or received such a blessing that you wouldn't.

there is only one definition of love, and it is not bound by any threats or fears, rewards, punishments, and certainly not commandments.

Love is what love wants to become. everything that is, you are so right it is beyond bounds, Love is N'outtabounds. always was always will be.

that's all.


The most important teachings of Jesus was that You, NONE of you will be Punished by your sins, for the direction your Faith-Christianity allowed you to continue building this society in .... but you will have to suffer the consequences of letting sin control and provide for your way of life.
If and when you are not under total world domination of Mans SIN.


"A wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction" — Faithless

Rest assured, a wicked mind controls your world now, it will not be that way much longer.

 

so to be frank; to love is to be obedient.

i believe that is lowering love to something less that its nature.

an islamic woman living an obedient life in submission to her husband: what love is this? a devoted christian living an obedient life in submission to god for fear of him is also not love. and like to your post, the obedient wife would be told "that's not domineering! that's great news! allah's way!" But this is not love, because love is not shackled to things, love is in nature and true love comes regardless of rewards or punishments. true love can barely be spoken of. for god to say "thou shalt love me" (and if you don't, you're headed for eternal suffering), he belittles love.

"the fear of the lord is love and respect for the lord,
the fear of the lord is to love what god loves, and hate what god hates"
rubbish...
that's fear. that's reward, and punishment.
ah well
Psalms 112:1. Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears he LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

not surprisingly, the new testament contradicts in
1 John 4:8. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.

nice try, but there's still fear as long as reward and punishment are involved.
god should send us all a message that he's tossing the concept of hell-or-heaven and everyone's going to heaven (write it in the sky airplane style),

then we'll see who really loves god.
i suspect that most lovers of 'god' are really lovers of heaven anyway.

 

In this life, there are varying degrees of love. What the scripture states is a very basic, general respect for human life as a whole. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". The idea is merely mutual consideration for one another.

 

what are masochists supposd to do?

 

In Islamic cultures, women are subserviant to men, and so they do not have free will within the relationship. God gives us free will; we're not subserviant to him.

Christians do not fear God. We love him, and he's our best friend. People who have had encounters with God are often awe struck, but anyone who was scared of him would not be a Christian, because Christianity is about love and joy, not fear.

Christians do not 'submit' to God's will because they're scared of the consequences of not doing. We do as God asks becaus we believe that God created the universe, created us, and is omniscient, and therefore is a much better judge than us of what is right and wrong. We also happen to agree with what God says is right or wrong. God has never told me to do anything that I thought was wrong. Every time I put my faith in God my life always improved 300%.

Most people in my country are atheists, yet they put their faith in TV. They obediently follow the advice of TV experts, health and fitness gurus, dieticians, psychologists, journalists, researchers, and people of experience, or even unqualified people whom they feel they can put their faith in.

Whether the media actually does know best and does have their best interests at heart is another matter, but the point is that these people go out and buy things on the recommendations of the media. Because they submit to the collective 'superiority' of the media.

The media, however, is infinitely less wise and knowledgable than God. God made everything. He intimitely knows every particle throughout the universe from the beginning of the time until the end of time. Creating a perfect set of physical laws is a doddle to him; so issues such as sociology, ethics are even simpler.

If you believe in a God who made all that is, then you can be sure that he really does know what is best for us. And to ignore his advice his would be just plain ignorant.

Again, we are not bound to follow God's will. We are free. Because if God made us love him then it wouldn't be real love, which is why we have the free will to follow God or reject him.

Well, God is nature. Love comes from him, not from out of nowhere. To an atheist, nature is what comes about on its own at random, but to a Christian, nature is the direct work of God. Human nature, the nature of the world, cosmology etc.

It's not like that at all. God isn't trying to enforce popularity by punishing anyone who doesn't love him! That's just silly. Not all Christians believe that we are tortured when we die — many, like me, believe that we just simply cease to be. But whatever fate awaits us when we die — God did not choose it for us, we chose it for ourselves. (More specifically, Eve chose for all humankind by eating the fruit from the tree God told her would kill her, because she was tricked by Satan). God wanted us to live forever in peace, but we brought sin upon ourselves because we wanted the knowledge of evil. We wanted to be more like God and know about evil, and so by knowing of evil we became evil, and our minds became impure. Every human that ever lived was born evil, and is destined to perish when they die, because all sin must be punished and death is the natural consequence of sin.

It's not God's doing, all he did was give us freedom and let us get into a real mess without interfering, and he couldn't because to interfere would be to take away our freedom. So it's not God's fault that we die (or perhaps are even punished after death), however, God does offer to save us, and he will save anyone who asks him.

Jesus tells us that the most important commandment is to love. (He says to love God first, then to love other people, since our relationship with God is the most important, the most intimate, the most sincere, and by far the longest.)

God asking us to love him is not about blackmail, or domineering us. You're thinking of love as a posession that people give away. But love is a state of mind, and God is love, and by showing love we are sharing with God and becoming more like him. Being a Christian is about opening yourself up to God so that the Holy Spirit can enter you and show you God's will, and the more you follow God's will the closer you are to him because you are less separated by sin, which comes between God and humans.

My Bible doesn't mention "fearing" God, but I've read about other versions that do. It seems common in ancient Bibles, like the one you're using, (which I personally don't put a lot of confidence into the translation). This "fearing" of God is mentioned in both Testaments of The Bible and in both cases (the Hebrew and Greek) the words can mean two completely different things: A) actual fear, and being scared, B) or a reverence, respect, and faithfulness and obedience. And it is the second meaning which God means (which is not always obvious but becomes clear when you look at the way he's written certain passages).

Just for the record, my Bible says "Happy is the person who honours the Lord, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands".

I don't get that. Can you explain?