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To: djf
You can sum up his two greatest messages with three words.

Actually Jesus had a different answer to the question.

Matthew 22:34-45 (New International Version)

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

38This is the first and greatest commandment.


39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."


10 posted on 04/19/2009 2:23:48 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Matthew 22:34-45 (New International Version) 34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Thank you for posting that.

As I have gotten older and, I hope, wiser, my thinking has changed. I've always believed in God as Jesus' Father, loved Him and as I got older also feared Him. I also used to think Jesus was kind of optional, the virgin birth and resurrection a nice fable. In my late 30s, I had what I can only call a revelation, a sudden and surprising realization that hit me like a bash of water, out of the blue, unprovoked -- I realized that in my heart, down deep, I really did know that Jesus was real, the virgin birth and His resurrection were real, and that His death and sacrifice was for me, and for us.

So I see these different kinds of Christians and believe that they are all fleeting, in transition per individual and the grace of God. Your post reminds me that one of my jobs is to love and forgive and value them as I love and forgive and value myself. The "forgive" part is the most difficult -- it's perhaps more difficult to forgive oneself than to forgive others. That, to me, is the most loving and miraculous and cherished gift of Jesus -- if He can forgive me, then surely I can forgive myself. Keeping in mind that forgiving is very different from forgetting.

19 posted on 04/19/2009 2:58:18 PM PDT by Finny ("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent.)
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