Jesus said "love one another"
We know that those who do not believe in LOVE first and
formost, above all else, do not "Believe". Nothing has
ever mattered more to Jesus than this: Love one another.
Mark 12:29-31
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:
`Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength.` The second is this: `Love your neighbor as
yourself.`There is no commandment greater than these."
Matt.5:44-45
But I say to you, Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Luke 6:27
...Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
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1 John 3:17-18
"But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need
and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in
him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but
in deed and truth."
1 Corinthians 13:1 -- ( and the whole [Love] chapter
)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Those who are filled with anger and hate, those who make
excuses for it, worst of all, those who spread their hate,
claiming "god on their side" don't just break laws with their
crimes, but they slander God. Jesus came to show us "the way"
and, Love is the way! -- not vengeance,
not violence, not prejudice, not anger, not bigotry, not hate.
. . .
Matthew 18:3-4
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and
become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom
of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Yes, Jesus came to "save us from our sins" to "save us from death",
to be our "salvation" to show us "the way" and he gave it to us in
one command:
John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,
even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
John 15:12
"This is My commandment, that you love one another,
just as I have loved you."
There we have it, his marching orders. If we want salvation,
if Heaven is our goal, if we believe in Him, then we must
"love one another".
( see more below )
Heaven
Matt.13:44-46
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When
a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and
sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he
found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he
had and bought it.
Luke 17:20-21
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God
would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your
careful observation, nor will people say, `Here it is,` or `There it
is,` because the kingdom of God is within you."
Romans 12:19-20
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of
God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the
Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink;
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Within Christianity there are so many
denominations
with such a wide range of beliefs from one
group to the next; and within every group, so
many with agendas and prejudices; so many
thinking they are filled with love for everyone
except "them", whoever "them" happens to be,
that you wonder sometimes if any of them listen
when they hear Jesus saying over and over,
"Love one another"; forgive "70 times 7"; and
"Vengeance is mine, says the Lord".
A pastor, replying to outside criticism of church members,
once said that "Those in the church who curse, drink to
excess, or are unfaithful to their spouses are no
different from the people who claim to work for a company but
don't do their jobs. The company and the church are both
victims of such behavior.
While this is true, what gives organized religion a bad name
is the immorality, the prejudice, and the bigotry, of the
clergy, when they betray their members or, feed the flames of
hate and violence. Arousing their people into criminal acts of
violence, against
gays, blacks, non-Christains, non-Muslims, whoever they don't
like or understand. These leaders are as shameful as those in
the past who supported slavery, condoned murder and, committed
other unspeakable acts of violence for whatever their
historical-cultural reasons. Sometimes it seems that religion
just never quits, that people never learn.
Then a catastrophy like hurricane Katrina, destroying New Orleans,
comes along (Sept. 2005) and people start helping each other even if
"religion" won't. ...
Forrest King, a "dyed in the wool conservative"
has been sharing his home with the Meehan-Hoo family, a lesbian couple
with three children, ages 5, 7 and 9. "The adults are same sex, and I
don't care," he says. "I don't care if they're purple and got horns
coming out of their faces. They're Americans first."
King's town of Attleboro has aggressively adopted the Meehan-Hoos.
Locals have given them $600 in Old Navy gift cards and $60 in Borders
certificates. A nearby inn has donated a romantic dinner for two for
the couple. A coffee shop will deliver a pastry tray every week,
"from now until whenever," according to Kim Allard, a city councilor
who has helped arrange donations.
from Time magazine,
Sept. 26, 2005
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Theologian: Rudolf Bultmann and Demythologization
From my seminary years:
+-------------------------------------------------+
| THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING |
| THE UNEXAMINED FAITH IS NOT WORTH BELIEVING |
+-------------------------------------------------+
Odd couple:
A baby hippo named Owen walks along with its 'mother', a giant male Aldabran tortoise
at the Mombasa Haller Park on Dec. 28th 2005. The odd couple have stayed together for one
year after Kenya Wildlife Service rangers rescued the baby hippo in the sea off Malindi
after the Asian tsumani reached the Kenyan shore and separated the calf from its mother.
Oh, my god! I'm not really dead -- am I? I mean, my body is dead
--- I can see it below me --- but I'm floating ... I can look down
and see my body lying flat in the hospital bed. Everyone around me
thinks I'm dead, but I'm not. I want to shout, Hey, I'm not really
dead! This is so incredible ... the nurses are pulling a sheet
over my head ... people I know are crying. I'm supposed to be dead,
but I'm still alive! It's strange, because my body is absolutely dead
while I'm moving around it from above. I'm alive!
Journey Of Souls; Case Studies of Life Between Lives
- Michael Newton, Ph.D., page 7; (1st paragraph of Chap.1)
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Love one another.
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Does it matter? Is "good enough" good enough?
Isn't our "Faith" enough? "Won't we make
it into "Heaven" anyway?
Jesus said we would still be here when he returns and, 2,000
years later, we are still here, still reincarnaing, still
trying to get it right. Trying to at least understand and "act
like it", to "Love one another."
the next to the last verse in the O.T.:
Malachi 4:5
"But before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes,
I will send you the prophet Elijah."
This seems quite abstract today, but up through the time of
Jesus, this passage (and others) was understood to mean there
would come a messiah, a savior, and that Elijah, reincarnated,
would precede him. Publicly, to the crowds, Jesus affirms the
prophecy and that He is the awaited Messiah by declaring that
John is Elijah:
Jesus speaking to a crowd:
MATTHEW 11:13-15
Until the time of John, all the prophets and the law of Moses spoke
about the kingdom;
And if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah,
whose coming was predicted. Listen, then, if you have ears!"
Jesus has just told them that John is Elijah. Those who "have
ears" realize that makes Jesus the awaited Messiah and, they
should pay attention. However, even some of the disciples did
not understand (missed it?) and He had to tell them personally.
Jesus speaking to the disciples:
MATTHEW 17:10-13
Then the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the law
say that Elijah has to come first ?"
"Elijah is indeed coming first," answered Jesus, "and he will get
everything ready.
but I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not
recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the
same way they will also mistreat the son of man."
Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about
John the Baptist.
It is also true that the disciples all took reincarnation as a
commonly and personally accepted reality or they would not have
understood Jesus to know that John the baptist was Elijah, nor
would they talk about a person committing sins even before being
born:
Jesus and his disciples assume reincarnation as a common reality:
JOHN 9:1-3
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind.
his disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born
blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?"
Jesus answered, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or
his parents' sins."
Again, the disciples and Jesus all take reincarnation as a commonly
and personally accepted reality, for everyone: Only if a person has
incarnated before, could they be BORN blind to repay some past sin.
In a society that does not believe in reincarnation, such a
question would not even be thought of!
Reincarnation was commonly accepted:
Matthew 16:13-14
Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi,
where he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the son of man is?"
"Some say John the Baptist," they answered. "others say Elijah,
while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet."
Reincarnation was not a belief unique to Jesus and his
followers. It was not just their own personal interpretation of
the scripture. It was officially accepted within the Jewish
community by the Pharisees and the Essenes.
It is not clarified in Acts 23:6-8, but the evidence is that the
Pharisees believed in reincarnation and the Sadducees did not.
The Essenes believed in reincarnation. Also, Paul was proud to
be a Pharisee.
A discovery made by a psychologist (Helen Wambach) and mentioned
in her book, LIFE BEFORE LIFE: Having put over 750 people Under
hypnosis, often in group situations, and regressing them beck to
the time that they were born. She discovered that over 87% knew
relatives and friends in their present lives from past lives,
and while they chose to be born again, many, 72%, did so
reluctantly that; only 28% felt enthusiastic about it. Another
author, Dick Sutphen, has hypnotized hundreds of people and says
that about 90% of his subjects remember past lives. However, it
is only from Helen Wambach that I got the clue to a pervasive,
secular, resistance to reincarnation. Given that most people
(72%) didn't earnestly want to be here this time. I can now
understand our general resistance to the belief in coming back
again, myself included
She laughed as she showed me the tears that were rolling down
her cheeks. I reassured ther that hers was a common reaction,
and that soon she'd feel cheerful. "Oh, I feel cheerful enough,
" she said, "it's just that I realize that birth is not a joyous
occasion. The two deaths I had in the two past lives tonight
were very pleasant experiences. It's getting born that seems
the tragedy." page 25-6
LIFE BEFORE LIFE - by Helen Wambach
(from a college student's reaction to a hypnotic
regression back to the time of her birth.)
Matt.3:1-2
Now in those days John the Baptist came,
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matt.4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach and say,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Luke 6:20 (The Beatitudes)
Blessed are you who are poor (destitute) ,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Matt.5:3 (The Beatitudes)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, (destitute) ,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt.5:9 (The Beatitudes)
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Luke 6:21-22
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.
And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit
descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from
heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
Matt.6:9-13 (The Lord's Prayer)
"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' "
Matt.18:21-22
Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said
to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
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I am convinced that whether it is Hawaii, or El Dorado, or a
dream, if it is a place, something that can be seen, then, no
matter how 'heavenly' it seems, it is NOT the "Heaven" that is
"The-Kingdom-Of-God" nor the best state-of-mind (?) to be in,
and, whatever that Love consciousness is, it is ever
more wonderful than any "place".
When a person "shuffles off this mortal coil" (Hamlet) time
and space cease to have meaning. They are both descriptions
of a physical world that has been left behind, - hard as that
is to keep in mind. It also makes no sense to "picture" or
"visualize" consiousness - though reports invariably use those
physical descriptions to relate or "describe" a non-physical
experience.
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