Sky Dancer
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- Jan 21, 2009
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- #61
Yes, but at no time did Jesus of Nazareth suggest that concern for the sick, hungry, naked, those in prison, etc. was anybody's obligation to do but rather was something that makes a person a good neighbor and a person that loves God when we do it. At no place did he ever see it as a responsibility of the government or anything other than voluntary charity that comes from the heart.
jesus also says he came only for the jews....but that seems to have changed too...
i agree with you that there is no government directions for that....just render unto ceasar what is his.....but that is basically all....his chasing the money changers out of the temple...does say something and the verse.....easier for a camel to pass thru the eye of a needle than a rich man getting into heaven....and there is tilting
Remember though that this is a JudeoChristian story beginning with Adam and coming forward through Abraham and Jacob and Moses and King David to the 'modern' First Century. The Jews were the Chosen People of God through which he would bless all the Earth. So yes, the Gospel would naturally be preached first to the Jews. And the first Disciples, several hundred strong by the time of Pentecost, were also almost all Jewish and would make up the first Christian congregations. It was only after the Jews had been addressed that Peter, Paul et al began to branch out to carry the Gospel to the gentiles too.
I think the 'rich man' was a metaphor for anything that we put ahead of our love for God, and few who do not put God first will ever have a relationship with Him. Jesus was explicit that those who do have that relationship, however, are already in the kingdom of God that was already at hand. We are getting into a pretty mystical section of Christian beliefs here, and I honestly don't think God cares all that much about the technicalities of our theology.
He wants us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and to love our neighbor. The only reason we need any other laws or regulations at all is that too many don't even try to do that and the rest of us do it imperfectly.
Am I to infer that you support the Domionist premise that all laws must be re-written to be biblical?