Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Matt 28:20
So the "all things" he commanded them was actually two things?
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Essentially, yes. Everything Jesus taught is rooted in these two principles. Now, I'm not saying that Jesus didn't command us to baptize. Nor that Jesus didn't teach that remarriage is only honorable in cases involving immorality. What I'm saying is that these two principles are the heart of the matter and are the standards by which we will be judged. A person can baptize 10,000 people and not love them. A person can chose to only remarry under biblical conditions allowing such... but that doesn't mean that they truly love their spouse. A person can swear off pornography, but not love their neighbor. A person can feed the hungry and not love them. These two laws are the eternal law of Heaven. The Law of Love. Whatever you do for Jesus, whatever teaching you seek to obey, whatever tradition you hold, whatever you do at all will be judged in accordance to if it was rooted in a love for God... and a love for others.
So, whatever we believe Jesus bade us to do... if we have no love... it's absolutely meaningless. And here's the kicker... one can love Jesus and others and not fully understand everything he taught. Or even think some commandments don't apply in this dispensation or whatever... even in that person's misunderstanding... they have love. They actually got it.
I'll say again what I said in a previous post:
God is love. That means that God's very substance and essence is... "love". Yes, God is "holy"... but the Bible doesn't say that God is "holiness". Therefore all admonitions to be holy are predicated upon... love. Thus, love is holy. And holiness is "lovingness". I believe that at the end of the day we will be judged not on what church we attended, not on what our pet doctrines were, not on dress codes, not on dietary codes, not on the sacramental traditions we've embraced, not on holidays celebrated, not on family pedigree, nor even as to how "moral" we were by popular opinion ... we'll be judged in accordance to love...
Did we love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength?
Did we demonstrate this love for Him by loving others as ourselves?
I believe that when our life on earth is reviewed... these two questions will be asked regarding it all. If our actions and thoughts were predicated upon our love for God and our love for others... we will be rewarded. If not... we will suffer shame and loss.
This is the essence of true spirituality. This is what God is desperately trying to get mankind to understand.
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