Jesus was asked to summarize the writings of the Scripture. The answer that He gave began to form the basis for the way that Christians would begin to live their lives. He presented to us God's will.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself"
To my simple mind, this is the simple message: the first and most important "law" of life is to love God. Because of our love of God, a natural flow to love others SHOULD follow.
I think that Reggie nails it when he says, "It is important to note that the thrust of the spiritual life in Christ is not to pursue our own individual happiness and fulfillment. Rather, we give ourselves to the pursuit of loving god and helping others."
Now, I know that some will disagree with the following. I encourage you to share your disagreements. I am fine with disagreements. I learn from listening to those with different views. This is where I am at currently though in my journey and i think that if we place these 10 beliefs into our lives, we would be more who God has called us to be.
10 Essential Beliefs (aka Systematic Theology)
1. Trinity
2. Salvation by Grace
3. Authority of the Bible
4. Personal God
5. Identity in Christ
6. Church
7. Humanity
8. Compassion
9. Eternity
10. Stewardship
Yes, there are many concepts hat need/should be taught, but I think most of them could be place under the other topics and these 10 can be used as an umbrella.
Reggie summarizes these 10 by the following sentence: These core beliefs teach us who God is, how we come into a relationship with him, what he wants us to know and do, how he relates to us and is involved in our lives, and who we become when we know and love our God (pg. 76)
I think that these 10 core beliefs need to saturate our lives. We could be changed. These should help define how we see life and live life. Each one of these 10 beliefs and then the 10 practices and 10 virtues may be developed deep and a post of their own. Maybe, I will do that through Lent.
Once again, what would occur and happen if individuals in their current place would get together with a few more families and begin to study these beliefs in-depth and then begin to live them out. I think that they would begin to see the world in a whole new light.
Entry 1: Introduction to the Series and Book
Entry 2: Individualism
Entry 3: Five Characteristics of Community Around a Purpose
Entry 4: 10 Ancient Christian Beliefs
Entry 5: 10 Ancient Christian Practices
Entry 6: 10 Ancient Christian Virtues
Entry 7: Seven Functions of a Biblical Community
Entry 8: The 4 I's
Entry 9: 5 Characteristics of Community Around Common Place
Entry 10: Consumerism Mentality
Entry 11: 5 Characteristics of Community Around Possessions
Entry 12: Dreams of Community & Conclusion
The thoughts and writings on this blog are the thoughts of Jeff and do not necessarily represent the views of Grace First Parish of Russell and/or Lutheran Campus Ministry of Southwest Minnesota State University.
1 comment:
Hi Jeff,
I know we do not agree on everything, but I hope you also know that I hold no animosity towards you. I wanted to mention something that might be helpful.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself"
we know that this fulfills the Law and the Prophets, right?
So how does it fulfill the Law? Love is expressed towards God in the first 4 Commandments.
1. You shall have no other God besides me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image (idol).
3. You shall not blaspheme the name of the Lord (take His name in vain)
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy.
if we keep these four, we show our love for God.
Now, the part on love your neighbor as yourself, deals with the last six commandments.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder (hate)
7. You shall not commit adultery (lust)
8. You shall not steal (regardless of the value)
8. You shall not bear false witness (even white lies)
10. You shall not covet.
These six are people centered. If we break any one of these, it shows we do not love our neighbor as ourself. If we truly love out neighbor, we will not steal from them, we will not lie to them, we will not hate them, etc.
As a Christian, we should be loving. It should be paramount to anything we can do. But we must be careful to not make it the only thing we do. The Bible tells us that no one has kept all ten of the Commandments. No one! So what happens when we break God's Law? It causes us to be hell bound. Even something as simple as lying, will cause us to be hell bound. Why? Because the Bible says so. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire. The one thing I see missing out of this book that you have been reading is the call for Repentance. It might be in there somewhere, but if it isn't paramount within the pages of the book, then he is missing a key, an important key that will keep us locked out of heaven. We must repent. That was the first words Jesus spoke in His ministry. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Can I interest you in something? I wrote a book about a year ago, it is titled, "Locked Doors of the American Church." Can I email it to you. Free of charge. You can see it at: www.lulu.com/content/483109
It touches on a lot of what I hear you saying. Maybe, if I can get you to just consider what I am saying, you will see why I find it so important. If you want me to email it to you, please let me know. okay?
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