The Greatest Commandment

2008-08-26T22:14:00.015-04:00

I would like to take a week or two off from the World View discussion to go deeper into the topic of love and the Greatest Commandment. In reality, this won't be so much of a week off as an opportunity to cover one of the major aspects of God's World View. Thanks to James for a well directed post.

The Great Commandment

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

~Mark 12:28-34~

This week I'm soliciting your thoughts and reaction to this passage. Take a minute or two to read through the passage and type that, adding any comments you may have. Additional scripture is always welcome. Here is the rest of the chapter for context.

Here goes nothing...

2008-08-19T21:16:00.000-04:00

Good Morning All,

Welcome to our online Bible study. Every week I've been able to send out emails and I have received numerous replies. Okay, so some weeks no one wrote back and other weeks eight or nine returned my email. There was a common theme in the replies: "I want to make it down there, but I just get busy," or "Man I'm here today but I have a meeting."

Alright, adapt and overcome. I'll shift times and bring the Bible study to you-sort of a traveling carnival. We had a good run for a couple weeks, but half the people on the To: line have been TAD and a fair number don't have anywhere at work that's appropriate to host anything.

And I think to myself, "How can I make this available to people without going conflicting so many schedules... If only I could host this via email."

Hmmmm...

I know everyone gets on their computer and probably spends more time there than they want to. I'll give this a trial run and see how it goes.

The blog is open. I'll update every Tuesday or Wednesday and I'll check in during my chows. Topics will go as I'm led or as I get suggestions or requests. I don't think this blogsite requires you to be a member to post, but you may have to enter your email. I read the privacy info and the only thing they do with the email address is verify it is real to keep spam posts off. If you would like to try a different venue, or know of a better forum, I'm mobile. This is just the only free blogspot I know that doesn't hit you with ridiculous adds.

Without further ado, todays topic is world view.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

~Paul (Philippians 4:5-8)~

For the intent of this forum, we'll define a world view as the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and reacts to it.

More info at http://www.reference.com/search?q=world%20view

Basically all of that lead up to identify that we all view the world through different eyes and perceive things differently than anyone else around us. At the top of this page there is a picture of three warriors from the Samburu tribe in northern Kenya. Their world view is dramatically different than anything you have ever experienced. Yet, if they were Christians, there would be an overlap where our beliefs overlapped.

My questions for you are:
-What attributes outline or establish a Christian world view?
-How are these a direct representation of God's world view and view of us as humans?
-What Scriptures do you know that are related to this topic and how do they fit with the first two questions?

One additional Scripture I had for this topic was Ephesians 5.

This topic came to me while I was listening to an old Audio Adrenaline song from the mid 90's titled My World View.

I want to see the world through Jesus eyes
see through Jesus tears
I want to see the world through Jesus eyes
my vision's not as clear
I want to feel the world with the hands that made it
know the pain and appreciate it
hear their cries and hope to understand

[CHORUS]
My world view
it's how I see the world
it's how I look at you
My world view
it's how I see the world
would you like to see it to?
My world view

I want to place my foot upon the rock
the rock that doesn't move
For upon the rock the Kingdom's built
and here's the Kingdom view
I see creation and I see Adam's fall
I see through the years and I can see it all

All things come together for the good

World View...

The Greatest Commandment

Here goes nothing...