{"id":13690,"date":"2011-02-08T05:11:36","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T11:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=13690"},"modified":"2011-02-08T07:51:38","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T13:51:38","slug":"belief-what-is-the-point-rjs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/","title":{"rendered":"belief … What is the point? (RJS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith \u2013 but I would like to put up an idea and start some discussion, hear what people think.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Over the years I have heard many sermons \u2013 two a week in my childhood and youth, more in college if you count chapel services. One a week in much of my adulthood\u2026 well over 2000. Favorite stories, favorite passages have been covered many times. Luke 10:25-28 is one such passage, where a lawyer comes to question Jesus:<\/p>\n

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, \u201cTeacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?<\/strong><\/em>\u201d And He said to him, \u201cWhat is written in the Law? How does it read to you?\u201d And he answered, \u201cYou shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.\u201d and he said to him, \u201cYou have answered correctly; do this and you will live.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another such passage is the rich young ruler in Luke 18<\/p>\n

A ruler questioned Him, saying, \u201cGood Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?<\/strong><\/em>\u201d And Jesus said to him, \u201c\u2026You know the commandments,\u2026\u201d And he said, \u201cAll these things I have kept from my youth.\u201d When Jesus heard this, He said to him, \u201cOne thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.\u201d But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, \u201cHow hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! \u201cFor it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The vast majority of sermons I have heard separate these two instances \u2013 they are discussed in different series for different purposes with different applications. Jesus is telling the two men something different, meeting them where they are. In particular the main message of the Luke 18 passage is that wealth keeps the rich man from truly loving God, it becomes an idol in the place of God.<\/p>\n

But is this true? Do these two passages teach different things? Have different applications?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It seems to me that the answer in these two passages is the same. The problem in the second passage is not that wealth kept the rich man from loving God. While that can happen, it seems here that wealth kept the rich man from truly loving his neighbor. Wealth was not an idol<\/em> in place of God, but a wall<\/em> between the rich man and his fellow man. We are called to give everything to follow Jesus, but the purpose isn\u2019t vows of poverty and desert hermitages in idyllic worship. The purpose is service and love and the Kingdom of God. Every choice filtered through the two great commandments.<\/p>\n

Mother Teresa and Love.<\/strong><\/em> Along the same lines, one of the chapters in the recent anthology put together by Francis Collins Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith<\/a><\/strong><\/em> contains excerpts from writings of Mother Teresa. Her reflections put this in perspective. We are not called to give money to the poor \u2013 we are called to love our neighbor, the poor, the lonely, the questioning, the young, the elderly \u2026 even the neighbor who seems to have it all together.<\/p>\n

Faith is lacking because there is so much selfishness and so much gain only for self. But faith, to be true,has to be a giving love. Love and faith go together, they complete each other. (p. 259)<\/p>\n

Some weeks back I heard there was a family who had not eaten for some days \u2013 a Hindu family \u2013 so I took some rice and went to the family. Before I knew where I was, the mother of the family had divided the rice into two and she took the other half to the next-door neighbors, who happened to be a Muslim family. Then I asked her: \u201d How much will all of you have to share? There are ten of you with that bit of rice.\u201d The mother replied: \u201cThey have not eaten either.\u201d This is greatness.<\/p>\n

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So spread love everywhere you go; first of all in your home. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to the next-door neighbor. (p. 260)<\/p>\n

Abandonment is an awful poverty. There are poor people everywhere, but the deepest poverty is not being loved. (p. 261)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mother Teresa turns to 1 John 4 \u2026 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a great chapter to include in a book on the reason for faith. The reason for faith is not affirmation of supernatural creation, joining the right club, or getting our doctrine letter perfect. The \u2018reason\u2019 for faith, and the best apologetic, is the body of Christ keeping his commandment \u2026 \u201cA new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.<\/em>\u201d John 13:34<\/p>\n

John alludes back to this commandment, these commandments, love for God, love for neighbor, love for one another in 1 John 2:4 \u20268: The one who says, \u201cI have come to know Him,\u201d and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. \u2026 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.<\/em><\/p>\n

What this means will vary from situation to situation<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 as it varied from situation to situation as we see in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. It will vary with the gifts of each individual. For some it may mean \u201csell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor.<\/em>\u201d It certainly includes generosity with money and resource, but it is not limited to this. Plain and simple: every choice filtered through the two great commandments. In my case I think the message may have included a call to stop hoarding time, focusing this resource on a successful career. But the purpose of \u201cfreed up\u201d time isn\u2019t leisure or pleasure \u2013 rather community, and includes, in my case, time put into thinking through the issues of science and faith on this blog.<\/p>\n

What do you think? What is Jesus teaching and how does that relate to the way Christians should live?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

How does it color the way you think about health care or immigration or education or work or family or \u2026?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

No debates on specifics please (I\u2019ll delete them on this post) \u2013 just how does the commandment to love one another affect your thinking?
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net<\/p>\n

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith \u2013 but I would like to put up an idea and start some discussion, hear what people think. Over the years I have heard many sermons \u2013 two a week in my childhood and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2013],"class_list":["post-13690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mother-teresa"],"yoast_head":"\nbelief ... What is the point? (RJS)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"belief ... What is the point? (RJS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-08T11:11:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-02-08T13:51:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/01\/Belief-ds3.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/\",\"name\":\"belief ... What is the point? (RJS)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-08T11:11:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-08T13:51:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\"},\"description\":\"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"belief … What is the point? (RJS)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\",\"name\":\"RJS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"belief ... What is the point? (RJS)","description":"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"belief ... What is the point? (RJS)","og_description":"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-02-08T11:11:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-02-08T13:51:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/01\/Belief-ds3.jpg"}],"author":"RJS","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RJS","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/","name":"belief ... What is the point? (RJS)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-08T11:11:36+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-08T13:51:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0"},"description":"I am going to go off on something of a tangent today, away from the usual issues of science and faith - but I would like to put up an idea and start some","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/02\/08\/belief-what-is-the-point-rjs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"belief … What is the point? (RJS)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0","name":"RJS","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}