MATTHEW 22: 34-37
And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
"This is the great and foremost commandment.
"The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
"This is the great and foremost commandment.
"The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
"On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
JOHN 13: 34-35
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
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I've found myself a bit sad, maybe even angry, over the past couple days when it comes to how the Good News has been so covered up with so much garbage by the religious system that exists in the country I live in. It's difficult even to have a conversation about it because the juggernaut that has been created runs so deep. You add to that a belief, that defending it is an act of defending God, and if you don't, all that awaits you is torment in hell once you die. That's a tough combination to break.
How did it all shift? When did it all shift? Maybe those aren't even the right questions to ask? It just seems to me the most important thing for us as individuals is to realize that the profound counter "world-system-view" message of Jesus has been subverted by a Religious System that defends the Political and Economic Machine that drives the World System and it seems that most can't even fathom the reality of that situation.
This to me seems to be one of the most shocking realities we face. If one decides to take the message of Love layed out in the two passages of scripture I began this post with and speak of the ways this might play out, on the ground in real time for the Church, the most strident opposition will come from the Religious System of our day. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Jesus ran up against the same thing....didn't he?
Whatever...it's just the feelings I went to bed on last night and when I woke up this morning they were still here.
5 comments:
It really does boggle the brain when you think about it, how little has changed over 2000 years, how little has changed between the Pharisees before Christ's death and the Pharisees after.
The tide is turning, though
yes Sue, the opposition rarely ever changes so the struggles remain very similar as far as the big picture goes. And it seems so often that the focus remains on systematic approached to change the systemic problem created by a systems approach to the life in Jesus. Which to me seems to be an adventure in missing the point. That game wore me out many years ago and I made a break from it...so that seems to leave us with learning as individuals how to live loved so we can live loving each other and our neighbors. To me it's not anymore complicated than that but turns out to be something humans are incapable of doing outside of a dynamic living relationship with Father Son and Spirit.
Maybe that's why the systematic approach seems to be more appealing to people and why we remain sidetracked and stuck?
the suicide-machine is still alive and kicking.
I LOVE that cartoon!!
And, yes, were it not for that darn Religious System, freedom would be easy.
well let's at least say easier.
what ended up being so shocking to me was how much I was a part of the economic and political systems and how they are absolutley set in opposition to living free...Jesus free that is.
if you read the account of Jesus' temptation in the desert it was all about the lies of the political, economic and religious systems. Jesus knew the truth and these lies had no chance of infringing on his freedom.
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