tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post3008898512129781619..comments2023-11-03T11:37:04.473+00:00Comments on nothing new under the sun: One command or two?byron smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-64984784339703797042007-01-11T22:01:00.000+00:002007-01-11T22:01:00.000+00:00So many thoughtful replies - so little time to res...So many thoughtful replies - so little time to respond at the moment. I think I agree with most of what most people have said.<br /><br />Alric - yes, I needed to be more careful about avoiding pantheism. Loving neighbour is not strictly identical with loving God, a point also well made by Jonathan, when he points to the negative limits of a kind of 'love' for creation that does come into byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-66009957533767735682007-01-11T11:11:00.000+00:002007-01-11T11:11:00.000+00:00The fact that our love for God and for our neighbo...The fact that our love for God and for our neighbours are not in competition with each other and in fact are very closely linked is very important. However, is the zero-sum language Jesus uses in Luke 14:26 and Luke 16:13 simply talking about a different sort of thing, or is it reflecting the difference between "with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "as yourself"Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04663760985851423746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-69979024428138665432007-01-10T17:30:00.000+00:002007-01-10T17:30:00.000+00:00Love for God and our neighbour are not to compete ...Love for God and our neighbour are not to compete with each other. We are called to love both. There's an interesting statement in 1 John 4:19 - 'We love because he first loved us'. We are inclined to add the word, 'Him' - 'We love Him ... '. It's not there. It is included - but not to the exclusion of love for our neighbour (vs. 20-21). Our response to God's love consists of both love for God Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-79553535001281069692007-01-10T02:42:00.000+00:002007-01-10T02:42:00.000+00:00Byron great thoughts...
I think that in loving God...Byron great thoughts...<br />I think that in loving God I will love my neighbour, that is how I can often express my love for God, not because God is in my neighbours, but becasue God is my motivation to love others. THat is to love neighbours as myself I think I need to do it motivated by love for God rather than love for me. <br /><br />Loving neighbors is not as difficult in my opinion as Simon Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11055935259758437501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-40537293593146632152007-01-10T02:00:00.000+00:002007-01-10T02:00:00.000+00:00It certainly is a solid read of the greatest comma...It certainly is a solid read of the greatest commandment(s). However, I think it does open itself to a certain danger, which is pantheism. There is a reason why Jesus distinguishes the commandments even while he says that the second is "like" the first. There is also a reason why there is a first and a second, not just two equal commandments.<br /><br />The reasoning behind this is that to love Aric Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15241157655075444268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-64053699233371785042007-01-09T16:10:00.000+00:002007-01-09T16:10:00.000+00:00Byron, as usual, you are thinking about all the ri...Byron, as usual, you are thinking about all the right stuff.<br />And I think you are right in saying that we love God by loving our neighbor, because our neighbor is made in God’s image and because “whatever you do to the least of these,” you do to God himself. Our energies may seem to be focused in two directions, until we come to see that God is in all, that in Christ God and the cosmic KathrynTheresehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14035079735403546785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-69679254900110613242007-01-09T08:29:00.000+00:002007-01-09T08:29:00.000+00:00great post!
do i get any points for stating the o...great post!<br /><br />do i get any points for stating the obvious- that the sclpture is a Giacommetti...?Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07797427380504915562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-69516128924790057902007-01-09T07:19:00.000+00:002007-01-09T07:19:00.000+00:00h.goldsmith - yes good point. I think this is what...h.goldsmith - yes good point. I think this is what John 4.20 is getting at. And also Jesus in John 15.10-12 seems to be saying something similar: <i>"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Faher's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-5266452707639760042007-01-09T07:01:00.000+00:002007-01-09T07:01:00.000+00:00Joanna - I know that it must be more than emotion,...Joanna - <i>I know that it must be more than emotion, but are dry religious exercises (such as the endless repetition of certain prayers) really the only suitable replacement?</i><br />This is an important question. And I think expanding our understanding of what is included in loving God (i.e. all of life!) is quite liberating. It is not just 'spiritual' things (prayer, bible reading, devotionalbyron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-74001390233835845672007-01-09T06:39:00.000+00:002007-01-09T06:39:00.000+00:00I think there's a connection also to James' "I wil...I think there's a connection also to James' "I will show you my faith by my works." Love for God and faith in God are, in some ways, unquantifiable, unmeasureable - and love for our neighbor, expressed in works of charity, is the fruit which proves the existence of the tree. If that makes sense.h. goldsmithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02434156138788527901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-68940757044060314622007-01-09T05:48:00.000+00:002007-01-09T05:48:00.000+00:00Andrew - yes, the inevitability of moving beyond m...Andrew - yes, the inevitability of moving beyond mere command. Indeed, even as it originally stands, it was both command and promise, since it is not an imperative (i.e. "love the LORD your God" - contra NIV), but a future ("you <i>will</i> love the LORD your God" - technically, it is a Hebrew imperfect, which can function as either).byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-33650641088022807622007-01-09T05:45:00.000+00:002007-01-09T05:45:00.000+00:00Sorry Andrew, Pete was right. Ten points.Sorry Andrew, Pete was right. Ten <a href="http://nothing-new-under-the-sun.blogspot.com/2006/09/pics-and-points.html">points</a>.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-49016234550301778852007-01-09T04:15:00.000+00:002007-01-09T04:15:00.000+00:00Did I see this sculpture in the holocaust museum i...Did I see this sculpture in the holocaust museum in Berlin? (Germany)AndrewEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03935631014151132458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-6861602363186106422007-01-09T04:09:00.000+00:002007-01-09T04:09:00.000+00:00Is the sculpture in the New York Museum of Modern ...Is the sculpture in the New York Museum of Modern Art? Country = USA.peter jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06660654539637341429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-83065219401421364952007-01-09T02:56:00.000+00:002007-01-09T02:56:00.000+00:00Thanks Byron.
On other thing I think is remarkab...Thanks Byron. <br /><br />On other thing I think is remarkable about this commandment is the function it plays within Israel's Law. At the heart of the Torah stands this command to love God, a command that encompasses everything about the rest of the Torah and gives it meaning, but also surpasses it and fundamentally alters its character. A command to <i>love</i> is a command that cannot be kept AndrewEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03935631014151132458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-70939008034344075652007-01-09T01:23:00.000+00:002007-01-09T01:23:00.000+00:00Wow Byron, once again, very stimulating thoughts o...Wow Byron, once again, very stimulating thoughts on offer here. <br /><br />This understanding of the passage encourages me heartily to love others in a practical way, knowing that I am pleasing the God who loves them. <br /><br />And I'm glad to have that encouragement, because I find it a struggle to understand and display love for my Father. I know that it must be more than emotion, but are Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718789584926278773noreply@blogger.com