I'm afraid I don't understand this point. Jesus said one should love your neighbor. I think that's fairly straightforward. What other way can one interpret that. And the historical and cultural apects have nothing to do with it. The ethics in Christian teaching are supposed to be timeless , to apply to all periods. — Ross
By follow he means the same thing as worship. He just uses a different word. When christians worship Christ they are FOLLOWING his teachings . — Ross
Love is at the heart of Christian teaching . It's not a matter of debate. — Ross
Perhaps not of debate but of interpretation. How are we to "love our neighbor"? — Apollodorus
Loving kindness (metta) in Buddhism includes love for all living things. I think what's missing from Christianity is that it doesn't emphasize loving all living creatures as in Buddhism. — Ross
I get that. But my question was how does a Christian love his or her neighbor in practice? — Apollodorus
The New Testament doesn't seem especially unclear on this. Are you saying it is hard to understand what Jesus recommends? — Tom Storm
I get that. But my question was how does a Christian love his or her neighbor in practice? — Apollodorus
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury[/b] — Ross
Ok to clarify the issue:,-He/she seems to have their own definition of "worship" and "follow". How can we have a discussion without a definition of terms? — Apollodorus
Following Jesus means a radical abandonment of the pursuit of things like money, possessions, addictions, and sin. Following Jesus means you’re pursuing Him by reading the Bible, obeying it, praying, and growing as a new believer. — Ross
Loving kindness (metta) in Buddhism includes love for all living things. I think what's missing from Christianity is that it doesn't emphasize loving all living creatures as in Buddhism. — Ross
Ok to clarify the issue:,-
Following Jesus means a radical abandonment of the pursuit of things like money, possessions, addictions, and sin. Following Jesus means you’re pursuing Him by reading the Bible, obeying it, praying, and growing as a new believer.
The above is what I read in a religious magazine.
Now to me the last part they say about praying to God and obeying the Bible seems to me to involve the act of worshipping Christ — Ross
This is an interpretation that equivocates ‘Jesus’ with ‘God’, and the Bible with ‘His word’. — Possibility
When we rely on other authorities to tell us what he meant or how to act, then we’re not following Jesus, we’re following another authority... — Possibility
most are obscured by the teachings of the church - especially the Catholic Church, which assumes its own authority. Read and think for yourself — Possibility
However, I think that the equivocation is understandable in light of the fact that in the Bible Jesus is referred to as "the Son of God" and as conceived by God's agency (Holy Spirit). — Apollodorus
And if the Bible is not the word of Jesus/God, how can we know what Jesus/God taught? — Apollodorus
Jesus didn't write anything therefore we have to RELY ON OTHER PEOPLE namely the writers of the gospels who passed his teaching to posterity. Just like Socrates who didn't write anything its from Plato that we are getting the formers philosophy. But I don't think many christians have a problem with that. Jesus appointed his disciples who then wrote down his teachings. An analogy might be a spokesperson for an organization , we generally accept that that person is passing on the truthful information that management gave out because they were appointed by management. — Ross
I wonder is it really true that the Catholic church are obscuring Christ's teaching. That's a huge sweeping statement. I hardly think that hundreds of millions of practicing Catholics in the world are all that naive that none of them have ever questioned whether their church is true to the teachings of Christ. There's been a lot of religious scholarship going on for over a hundred years examining these very issues by Catholic scholars. I'm not very knowledgeable about this field but if what you say is correct then Catholics are not true Christians at all if they're not being true to Jesus s teaching. — Ross
Loving kindness (metta) in Buddhism includes love for all living things. I think what's missing from Christianity is that it doesn't emphasize loving all living creatures as in Buddhism. — Ross
Jesus calling God ‘Father’, others corroborating this relationship, and even Jesus calling himself ‘God’s son’ - none of this means he is actually the son of God. — Possibility
We were taught to believe that by obeying our Catholic parents, teachers and clergy, who taught us how to think and what to do, we were obeying God — Possibility
Correct. But "Father" can have more than one meaning, especially in theology. This had already been a form of address for the deity as applied, for example, to Zeus in the Greek tradition. As the father or “pater familias” was the ruler of the house, God was the ruler of the cosmos. Basically, the term implies authority and the respect and obedience due to that authority. — Apollodorus
As regards the attitude of Christian believers to God, it is interesting to note that Jesus himself gives his disciples two commandments, (1) to love God, and (2) to love your neighbor.
However, though Jesus expressly describes commandment (1) as the “first and great commandment”, there seems to be a modern tendency to treat this as an inconvenient (and to some, embarrassing) relic to be ignored together with the concept of soul.
I may be wrong, but one gets the impression that there is a general effort in modern theological discourse to dissociate Christianity from traditional core concepts such as God and soul, and to replace it with a humanitarian-political movement concerned exclusively with “feeding the poor”, “sheltering refugees”, and “smashing capitalism” .... — Apollodorus
to ‘love God’ — Possibility
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you
for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. (6:14-15)
‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
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