Christian, who is thy neighbour?

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Christian, who is thy neighbour?


In another thread, someone told me this:

If Christianity and true belief did not give any benefits over some other religion, then will be no point in becoming Christian. But its most likely wrong to extend this to the individual level. Clearly, for someone to say "I'm better" they mean the "Self is better" and they are not being humble.
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Why would it be wrong to extend this to the individual level?
Love thy neighbour, it is said.

We live our lives next to eachother, as neighbours.

Religion or any philosophical belief is obvious in our everyday lives and in the way we treat people around us.


The Bible says for example:

1 Cor. 6

14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[2] ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."[3]
17"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."[4]
18"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
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So, Christians, I am your neighbour, I live next door to you. And I am a non-Christian.

You say that you love me.

You also say that I am wicked, dark, Belial[2], have nothing in common with the believers, worship idols, am an unclean thing. You say that you should separate yourselves from me.



There are 2 things I cannot understand:


1. Some Christians have non-Christian friends. This opposes the Bible quote above.
Why does a Christian strive to be friends with a non-Christian?



2. How can you as a Christian say someone in the face that you love them, while at the same time you think them wicked?


Christians, I ask you to take a position on this.
 
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2 Corinthians 6
14Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
"I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people."

17Therefore

"Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you."
18"I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty."



1. Some Christians have non-Christian friends. This opposes the Bible quote above.
Why does a Christian strive to be friends with a non-Christian?
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Are they opposing the Bible quote above?
Do you know what the word "Fellowship" means to a follower of the Messiah?
Fellowship is being united in faith, fellowship is coming together and sharing the Word of God and praising Him as one. Of course we should not have fellowship with the worldly religions or false traditions of man. If you read the passage above again with this in mind you will see it is a call to the followers of The Messiah not to mix their light with darkness (Truth with Lies) Not to mix Christ with Belial (Good with Evil). But the above scripture is not a call not to love and care for the people caught up in darkness, in lies. if it where then it would be diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Messiah Jesus. Read the beatitudes in Matthew 5 and you will see what i am talking about. Engaging the world with love while not being contaminated by the falsities of the world is the art of "being in the world but not of the world". If followers of the Messiah sought to remove themselves from all contact with the lost then the Word Of God would never spread across the entire globe. Jesus called on us to spread the message to the ends of the earth and to love our enemies.

2. How can you as a Christian say someone in the face that you love them, while at the same time you think them wicked?
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We do not love people because they are good, no one is good. We love and care for them because they are like us. One cannot reach out to the world with the Love of God without having the love in them.

All praise The Ancient Of Days
 
hi, I am not a christian, but I have many friends who are Christians, and many non-friends who are Christians as well
This is actually quite an interesting thread, there is a conflict in the bible?
 
1. Some Christians have non-Christian friends. This opposes the Bible quote above.
Why does a Christian strive to be friends with a non-Christian?
2. How can you as a Christian say someone in the face that you love them, while at the same time you think them wicked?
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It's not so much that we think you wicked, it is your actions. we love you, a person, not nessacarily the deeds you do. The caution about being arond you is that it is temptation for us. You and I have conflicting veiw points, we value differant things. It is good to be with you, but we also need to fellowship with other christians.
 
RosaMagika, I know these questions probably apply to me most, since I gave you most of those texts.

First thing to do is remember the great commision of Christ:

Matthew 28
6Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Thus slaves of God have a duty, as we have been given a command.

This is an instance in the Bible where an apostle (perhaps the greatest) was reprimanded for associating with Gentiles.

Galatians 2
11When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

I would like you to understand the two main themes in each of the texts before I go on. If you have any questions, please ask.

- In Christ
 
Enigma'07 said:
It's not so much that we think you wicked, it is your actions. we love you, a person, not nessacarily the deeds you do.
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BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.

So which is it? The person or the deed?
 
RosaMagika said:
In another thread, someone told me this:
If Christianity and true belief did not give any benefits over some other religion, then will be no point in becoming Christian. But its most likely wrong to extend this to the individual level. Clearly, for someone to say "I'm better" they mean the "Self is better" and they are not being humble.
Click to expand...
Why would it be wrong to extend this to the individual level?
Love thy neighbour, it is said.
Click to expand...
I'm going to try a different approach here. The man who was lying in the ditch (Luke 10), an inch from death - who was his neighbour? Not the priest, not the levite (temple attendant), they both would not have touched him because coming into the presence of blood, or a dead body, would make them ritually unclean (i.e.: unacceptable to God - "Do not touch what is unclean", like 2 Cor. 6 above, see?), and they worked at the temple. They kept their duties towards God and their duties to their neighbours separate (never trust anybody who is able to keep their life and their religion on different leashes). On the other hand, a Samaritan was the last person on earth from whom any Jew would expect help, but this one gave it, thereby fulfilling God's requirements. In a twist of irony, Jesus asks the Jewish leaders to become like the Samaritan, most despised and lowly of all Israelites.

What possible meaning could that parable have if it was not on a intimately personal level - one that cuts across the cultural and religious borders - in order to "Go and do likewise." What God considers unclean is sin, not people - although sin does taint a person; it's one thing being a neighbour, and another to live in the same house as sinners (ergo: "Come out from among them").

Who was "better"? Not the Priest or the Levite, or even the man in need. It is the person who who doesn't let any fences separate him from his neighbour. The very next paragraph (after the parable) addresses this, and not by coincidence - it wasn't Martha, who was doing the 'important' work, but Mary who listened at the Lord's feet, who chose "what is better" in His eyes.

And another thing: there is no "self" in this parable. The Samaritan did not stop where decency would have been satisfied. He doctored him, took him to a place that would take care of him, payed their expenses, and promised to come back the same way to check up on him. This wasn't a passing act of kindness in order to attain some spiritual goal. This humble (by everybody's measure of things except God's) Samaritan was being a neighbour.
 
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Enigma,


One:

You said:

fruits determine what your heart is like.
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And you also said:

It's not so much that we think you wicked, it is your actions. we love you, a person, not nessacarily the deeds you do.
Click to expand...


My fruits are bad, since I don't follow Christ.
If the fruits determine what my heart is like, then: if the fruits are bad, my heart is bad.

So which one is it now??
If my fruits are bad, my heart is bad.
And at the same time:
If my heart is bad, my fruits are bad.

Either way, I'm bad.

How exactly is it that you love me?

Do you think that not killing someone automatically means that you love this person?


The caution about being arond you is that it is temptation for us.
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And in order to for you to be able to be a good Christian, you have to get rid of the temptations *I*, a non-Christian pose?
 
And another thing: there is no "self" in this parable. The Samaritan did not stop where decency would have been satisfied. He doctored him, took him to a place that would take care of him, payed their expenses, and promised to come back the same way to check up on him. This wasn't a passing act of kindness in order to attain some spiritual goal. This humble (by everybody's measure of things except God's) Samaritan was being a neighbour.
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The guy was clearly an atheist.
 
Bah what?

To justify my position, let's take a look at Jenyars post:

who was his neighbour? Not the priest, not the levite (temple attendant), they both would not have touched him because coming into the presence of blood, or a dead body, would make them ritually unclean (i.e.: unacceptable to God - "Do not touch what is unclean", like 2 Cor. 6 above, see?), and they worked at the temple. They kept their duties towards God and their duties to their neighbours separate
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This is the first thing that separates them. As you can see, the two religious people, (which is shown quite clearly), "would not have touched him because it's unacceptable to god.."

So instantly we have some form of evidence to suggest this man was an atheist. What's next...

Jesus asks the Jewish leaders to become like the Samaritan, most despised and lowly of all Israelites.
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Why would this man be the "most despised and lowly of all Israelites"? Is it perhaps because unlike them he did not share their religious attitudes?

So first we have seen that those who worshipped god would not have touched the man due to what god commanded them. Then along comes the lowliest and most despised of Israelites - which would undoubtedly be a non-believer/pagan- and helps the man.

Would you care to offer refute or do you think "bah" somehow suffices?
 
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SkippingStones said:
What is love?
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1 Corinthians 13
4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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Can you understand this? Can you see? Do not become stuck in tradition. Believe that you are human, unique, yet no different from all the rest. I am your neighbor. Humanity is your neighbor.
And even though I don't speak the same words as you, shout the same shouts as you, live the same life as you, we are one in God. For God is love. That is what matters, not words, or writings, or preachings, or ceremonies, or anything else that is proclaimed as Christian supreme.
 
Snakelord said:
The guy was clearly an atheist.
...
This is the first thing that separates them. As you can see, the two religious people, (which is shown quite clearly), "would not have touched him because it's unacceptable to god.."
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That's what happens if you read the parable in isolation.

The parable shows how to internalize religion instead of ritualising it. It does not take away God's preference for sinlessness, but it does show us what it means to have been forgiven. In other words, how to approach God. Traditionally, He could only be approached at the temple in ritual purity and with sacrifice, but those rituals only established the premise.
"To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:33).
But the parable does not make everybody but priests and levites atheists. It empowers sinners and exiles. Why was it told?
1. On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

2. '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, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ... "Do this and you will live."

3. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"​
So, SnakeLord, according to the context - can an atheist inherit eternal life?
 
Jenyar:

So, SnakeLord, according to the context - can an atheist inherit eternal life?
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Since, by definition, atheists on't believe in eternal life, your question is not in place. No in place in the sense that even if an atheist would inherit eternal life, he wouldn't see it, as he doesn't believe in it. Those who do inherit etrnal life could observe whether the atheist inherited eternal life or not -- but this would then once more make sense only to them, not to the atheist.

As for what God sees: We cannot know.
 
RosaMagika said:
As for what God sees: We cannot know.
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We can know what He revealed to us. But I don't want to change the topic. My argument above rests on the context of the parable: SnakeLord deduced that the Samaritan must be an atheist, but that nullifies the illustration itself.
 
Either way, I'm bad.
How exactly is it that you love me?
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I love you because you are a fellow human being that God has created. Because you are "bad" doesn't mean I can't love you. Generally, a perant will love a kid, regardless of whether the kid colored the wall with crayon or broke a three hundren dollar glass vase. The parent isn't thrilled that these things are being done, but they still love the kid. They want to teach it how to behave in a mannor were they arn't constintly in trouble.
 
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