Wholehearted devotion...the kind of devotion, that caused men and women of old to be beheaded for their faith.
Or In the gaze of history, and the crusades of Christian slaughter - war mixed with religion, in the new testament sense is this something condoned by our Lord?
In the face of freedom of religion in many parts of the world, what does God expect from us as wholehearted and devoted Christians?
Evangelism of old seemed to be very aggressive in the early Christian life of believers, strong men like the disciples laying the foundation for the Christian faith on Jesus himself seems to make our stance on all other religions a cause to be hateful, disrespectful and uncompassionate.
Yet, if our religion's most important command is this: "Love the Lord thy God with all they heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and the second is like unto it love thy neighbor as thy love thyself" Jesus our Lord of our faith, made it clear of everything said and done, all the law and the prophets are summed up in this one law.
Gays, Buddhist, Jews, Muslims etc. all surround us daily - whether in our schools, workplaces or social club's we cannot escape the fact that we are called to respect the life of these human beings made too in the image of God. Do we choke and compromise our doctrine on salvation to be in acceptance of these persons, groups etc.? Salvation meaning the way to heaven. No, by all means not. Are we in conflict with their views on salvation? Yes of course. Does this mean that in respecting their views is accepting their law or doctrine? Surely not.
We know that on the day of the roll call into heaven many will stand stunned, many who thought themselves righteous would be denied, and many whom asked the Lord, Lord when did we help you, or when did we visit you in prison, hospital etc. He would say, "Truly I tell you, what you did unto these, it was the same as though you did it unto me".
So, with the wholehearted devotion of patriarchs of old, did they teach us to slander all other faiths, be rude, disrespectful?
God knows our hearts, and the manner we speak to men and women (our neighbor) are a direct indication of the attitude of love we show to God.
Please share views on how we must live in peace with our neighbor even with such strong views laid by our forefathers in the faith?
Or In the gaze of history, and the crusades of Christian slaughter - war mixed with religion, in the new testament sense is this something condoned by our Lord?
In the face of freedom of religion in many parts of the world, what does God expect from us as wholehearted and devoted Christians?
Evangelism of old seemed to be very aggressive in the early Christian life of believers, strong men like the disciples laying the foundation for the Christian faith on Jesus himself seems to make our stance on all other religions a cause to be hateful, disrespectful and uncompassionate.
Yet, if our religion's most important command is this: "Love the Lord thy God with all they heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and the second is like unto it love thy neighbor as thy love thyself" Jesus our Lord of our faith, made it clear of everything said and done, all the law and the prophets are summed up in this one law.
Gays, Buddhist, Jews, Muslims etc. all surround us daily - whether in our schools, workplaces or social club's we cannot escape the fact that we are called to respect the life of these human beings made too in the image of God. Do we choke and compromise our doctrine on salvation to be in acceptance of these persons, groups etc.? Salvation meaning the way to heaven. No, by all means not. Are we in conflict with their views on salvation? Yes of course. Does this mean that in respecting their views is accepting their law or doctrine? Surely not.
We know that on the day of the roll call into heaven many will stand stunned, many who thought themselves righteous would be denied, and many whom asked the Lord, Lord when did we help you, or when did we visit you in prison, hospital etc. He would say, "Truly I tell you, what you did unto these, it was the same as though you did it unto me".
So, with the wholehearted devotion of patriarchs of old, did they teach us to slander all other faiths, be rude, disrespectful?
God knows our hearts, and the manner we speak to men and women (our neighbor) are a direct indication of the attitude of love we show to God.
Please share views on how we must live in peace with our neighbor even with such strong views laid by our forefathers in the faith?
Comments
Post a Comment