How to Apply the Greatest Commandments

How to Apply the Greatest Commandments July 15, 2015

Applying the greatest commandments

If your appeal to prioritizing love for God over love for neighbor would have justified the priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan not stopping to help the robbery victim by the side of the road, then you are not applying what Jesus said were the greatest commandments in the way Jesus taught us to apply them.

This seems to me the best way to respond to what a commenter wrote here recently, claiming that love for God trumps love for other human beings, and using it to justify his anti-gay stance.

The priest in Jesus’ story, following the clear command of Scripture to avoid contracting corpse impurity, could have justified giving the apparent corpse on the side of the Jericho road a wide berth, using the same argument that conservative anti-gay pseudochristians today do.

If your approach to the Bible – and to other human beings – aligns you with those whom Jesus criticized, over against Jesus himself and his example and teaching, shouldn’t that convince you that your view is profoundly unchristian?


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