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======The Christian Way ...======
Friday, January 18, 2013. We live in a world with many people. We live in
a world with many opinions. And there are many religions - including atheism
and agnosticism as main ways to approach reality.
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**What can you expect? ...**
What is it that you can expect from different people. What is it that drives
different people. That is not easy to say, usually. For example, when it comes
to atheism, there are many different people, and they follow very diverse
principles and ethics. Some are very much concerned about the other people, about
nature, about justice. Others are not. there are those who mainly want to
become rich, or well-known, or gain power. There are others, who do not care ...
Some religions have ethical principles. Here, you can expect more. Of course,
not every member of some religions group follows the principles. You will find
injustice everywhere, sometimes the best principles are on the lips of some
leaders, but their action contradict what they say - it can happen in any religion.
But at least you know that there are principles which are set, and that many
of the believers will follow at least some of them. You can say: this is what
you believe, so go that direction, please!
In some religions it is not completely clear, where it should go. With Islam,
the different groups of believers come to very diverse conclusions about how they
should live their religion. In Christianity, even with the diversity of churches,
important points are much clearer (though that might not have been the case in
history - you find strong violence and injustice also in Christian societies
in the name of Christ Jesus).
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**Love your neighbors and your enemies ...**
**
Christians are asked to love their neighbors and their enemies. That is pretty clear,
no way around it. One of the key commands which Jesus told his disciples is that
they need to show an unusual amount of love and consideration for each other. He even
made it a sign of discipleship. Everyone, who does not love the way he told us does
not belong to him. And he puts the love of God and the love of our neighbors first,
the most important commandment:
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
(Mark 12)
Not everyone who calls himself Christian follows Jesus. Not everyone follows his
commands. That is a sad fact. But for those who want to follow, we have a clear
direction to move, with all we are, with our thoughts, our mind, our heart, our
feelings. We follow him. And people know what they can expect from us. We want to
do it, though we might fail occasionally or evey again and again with it. But we
will learn, we will succeed, we will transform - he is there with his power and
spirit, and he helps us on his way. It is great to know where we are going, and his
way is a brilliant way, fantastic, exciting, sustainable ... breathtaking!
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