Jesus defined loving God as how you treat the least among you. In Parable of Sheep and Goats, he doesn’t say anything about preaching at people.
I suppose if you want to take one section of the Gospels and discount the rest, that’s your choice. Seems kind of ridiculous to debate it though when you’re unwilling to look at anything else. Had Jesus only wanted that one thing paid attention to and everything else ignored though, he sure wasted a lot of breath.
I told you how I feel. The one who decides if they deserve it or not is God, not me. My personal opinion is moot.
Yes, and I suspect that they are cognisant of both your wishes and the likely outcome of trying to aggressively proselytise you.
I’m not just picking one thing at random. I’m picking the part where Jesus declares definitively what you have to do to get to Heaven, and it doesn’t involve preaching at people.
This is a cop out. Let me ask the question this way - can God be wrong?
I’d still like to know where those rules are, by the way.
You’re looking at page seven of your television manual and saying “It says here that I press the button to turn the TV on”. Did you plug it in like it says on page five? “It says HERE that I press the power button.” Did you hook up the cables as it says on page three? “It says HERE that I press the power button…”
I don’t see the point in debating it.
“Rules” was some hyperbole. Christians believe that the Bible is God’s Word including what’s expected of you to go to Heaven. Whether or not you believe this to be true isn’t especially important to whether or not Christians should evangelize.
I can understand why you would want to avoid debating it, but Jesus didn’t say you had to preach at people to go to Heaven.
You didn’t answer my question. Can God be wrong?
And Muslims believe al Qur’an to be God’s word, but God isn’t saying one way or the other, so how can God expect us to follow rules if he won’t say what they are?
You agree that it’s pointless to debate with someone who is going to ignore the bulk of a text and focus on one thing out of context of the rest of the book? Well, that’s good. As long as we understand each other.
The parables are stories that focus on a particular aspect of faith. They’re not intended to be the sole lesson any more than the Parable of the Wedding Guests means that you only have to humble yourself to be exalted before God or Jesus telling the rich man about a camel & a needle means that you only have to give away your wealth.
If you’re unwilling to look at the entire text, a debate is pointless. I suspect you know this already but hope that if you can keep saying “No, only this!” then eventually I’ll give up and you can declare yourself the winner. Congratulations, you win then since this is just going in circles.
I’m waiting for you to get a handle on this “whole text” thing first. Get back to me when you do.
Indeed they do. If you want a series of lessons about the validity of the Bible versus whatever else, there’s probably better places to go than me for a variety of reasons.
Jesus was quoting the Shema which he and his audience would know very well. Since Jews, for which this is a lot more important than for Christians, don’t feel the need to go out and try to convert anyone, I’m having a hard time seeing that obeying this rule causes you to go and bother people.
Luke 18:18-22
John 6:53-58
Matthew 18:2-3
John 3:3-8
Matthew 5:17-20
Besides loving God and your neighbors you also have to follow the ten commandments, sell all your material possessions and give to the poor, eat the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, become like little children, be born again, follow the laws of the prophets, and your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees.
I think heaven is going to have a very low population density.
Yabbut they didn’t kill them (which, IIRC, was the actual charge made upthread).
Umm, I think Dio is more of a mind that it would be you taking the lessons from him.
This is only anecdotal, but I thought my experience was pretty typical of believers in my ex-religion. As a True Believer, I wanted to share my faith with everyone for the benefit of their souls and my own. As I began to have doubts, I kept to myself. I did not participate in my wife’s proselyting schemes. I kept a low profile to avoid church assignments that would force me to testify of things I was uncertain of. Now that I am an apostate, I have an unbearable itch to proselyte against religion (especially my ex-religion), and I have to keep reminding myself that the faithful don’t want to hear my views.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think of my conjecture in the first part of post #51? Having never been a believer myself, I find it hard to judge my interpretations of believers.
There’s nothing out of context about it. That passage involves a straight question and definitive answer which is not contradicted by anything else in the Bible.
Incidentally, Jesus also said to “be a follower of me” you have to give everything you own to the poor. Have you done that yet?
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats is a stand alone statement about who goes to Heaven and who doesn’t. There isn’t any context or other parable that changes its meaning.
I’ve read the entire text many times. I’m reasonably sure I’m more familiar with it than you are, and nothing in the rest of the text (at least not in the words attributed to Jesus) says you have to do anything but love your neighbor as yourself.
This is just avoidance on your part.
I would at least say that I don’t need lessons myself.
I said previously that I’m not particularly religious. Nice try though.
Within the context of the parable, sure. Within the context of the entire Gospels, not really. But you’re doing everything in your power to avoid talking about them.
Jesus was a carpenter;
He died nailed to a cross
Irony, oh irony
On me is never lost.