S
Mark 12:28-31
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’
29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”[f] 31 The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”[g] There is no commandment greater than these.’
I am new to these discussions. I am not a minister of religion, nor a trained theologian.
I have been a Christian since the age of 32 (now 60). Before that I was neither agnostic nor atheist - I was more the "couldn't care less" sort of person.
When I came to the bible, I found contradictions, and a change through the books in the ways matters were expressed or done.
I came to be a Christian through reading and hearing primarily about Jesus, and it seemed to me that the Kingdom of Heaven He preached about and demonstrated was worth having and following. In fact as I read more, and searched more, it became obvious that I should have said I started to be a Christian at the age of 32 and am continuing to find out what it means, and how I should grow.
At my school, I was always challenged to review the evidence for the matters I came to believe. A defining moment in my life was when a history teacher, at the end of a fairly lengthy lesson, closed his lecture by saying; "Homework: How do you know I am right?"
As the world has changed down the centuries we have grown to understand more about the way our Creator's universe works. Indeed, the Bible says that we were made in His image, and I can only believe that this means we have the thirst for knowledge, the will and wish to create, and the ability to choose between good and evil.
The universe presents us with those choices, and they can be hard. Morphine makes a fine pain reliever. It also makes some hellish recreational drugs.
So I looked for a way to make my choices, and have found that the above passage, over the years, has come to mean more and more. If I take a choice, will I bring glory to God, and show that I love him? Will the choice show the love of my neighbour? Will the choice show the love to myself (since these appear to be linked)? Will the choice benefit both God and Neighbour?
I can use this to re-visit parts of the Bible I don't understand. I can use this in everyday life. I spend a lot of time thinking about it.
It's the final phrase that works for me "There is no commandment greater than these" or, from Luke 22:40 "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"
It seems to me that we are being told to measure everything against these two commandments, and that others are subordinate to them - although each, of course, retains their value.
I wondered whether other people had made these connections?
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’
29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”[f] 31 The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”[g] There is no commandment greater than these.’
I am new to these discussions. I am not a minister of religion, nor a trained theologian.
I have been a Christian since the age of 32 (now 60). Before that I was neither agnostic nor atheist - I was more the "couldn't care less" sort of person.
When I came to the bible, I found contradictions, and a change through the books in the ways matters were expressed or done.
I came to be a Christian through reading and hearing primarily about Jesus, and it seemed to me that the Kingdom of Heaven He preached about and demonstrated was worth having and following. In fact as I read more, and searched more, it became obvious that I should have said I started to be a Christian at the age of 32 and am continuing to find out what it means, and how I should grow.
At my school, I was always challenged to review the evidence for the matters I came to believe. A defining moment in my life was when a history teacher, at the end of a fairly lengthy lesson, closed his lecture by saying; "Homework: How do you know I am right?"
As the world has changed down the centuries we have grown to understand more about the way our Creator's universe works. Indeed, the Bible says that we were made in His image, and I can only believe that this means we have the thirst for knowledge, the will and wish to create, and the ability to choose between good and evil.
The universe presents us with those choices, and they can be hard. Morphine makes a fine pain reliever. It also makes some hellish recreational drugs.
So I looked for a way to make my choices, and have found that the above passage, over the years, has come to mean more and more. If I take a choice, will I bring glory to God, and show that I love him? Will the choice show the love of my neighbour? Will the choice show the love to myself (since these appear to be linked)? Will the choice benefit both God and Neighbour?
I can use this to re-visit parts of the Bible I don't understand. I can use this in everyday life. I spend a lot of time thinking about it.
It's the final phrase that works for me "There is no commandment greater than these" or, from Luke 22:40 "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"
It seems to me that we are being told to measure everything against these two commandments, and that others are subordinate to them - although each, of course, retains their value.
I wondered whether other people had made these connections?