There was a certain lawyer in the crowed who offered the appearance of respect by standing up, but sought to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
And the lawyer said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
And Jesus replied to him saying, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”
But the lawyer, wishing to make himself feel righteous and define the limits of this interpretation of the the law, asked Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
You left out the most important part-It should be pointed out that the parable defines exclusion.
When the lawyer answers that it was the Samaritan, Jesus does not correct him and tell him he misunderstood and that all people are our neighbors regardless of their behavior. 2/3 of the people in that story are excluded from membership in the neighbor category.
So there we have it, Jesus was narcissist.
The only way to heaven is to be completely devoted, (perhaps consumed,) to the worship of the Lord.
Thanks, I’ll pass.
My Lord has some self-confidence.
I don’t think this text was meant to be taken literally.
How do you think it was meant to be taken?
Zygon, Jesus was not speaking of himself. He repeatedly states that he is just a man.
He was speaking of the Creator.
The truth is contained in the book, the problem is 99% of readers cannot discern the difference between universal truth and rulers’ made up b.s. to control us, which, sadly, comprises the vast majority of it.
OK, so the creator is a desperate narcissist.
No, you are.
When did I command deviation and worship to anyone?
I didn’t say you commanded devotion and worship.
I said that you are a desperate narcissist. You love yourself to a fault and are desperate.
A parent commanding obedience from their children to look both ways before crossing the street and to listen to their guidance before they listen to a stranger isn’t necessarily narcissistic or desperate. They aren’t necessarily NOT either. By their works.
You know for a fact you’re narcissistic and desperate.
Razzle’s needs to offer a new definition (his own) of the word narcissist in order to appear to win this debate.
Hence the example of the “good shepherd” which doesn’t work and he admits it.
So he tries to get me to simply admit that I’m narcissistic… Sigh.
1: Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder, characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration.
2: People with the disorder are often perceived as arrogant, callous, envious and tend to be exploitative in their interpersonal relationships.
3: They can be excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity.
Describes this “creator” pretty well, doesn’t it? One who would state that the only way to Heaven is to be completely devoted to him?
By the way, I called the creator a “desperate narcissist”, not a narcissist who is also desperate. This would be more fun if Razzle could read and reason.
Well done!
“And who is my neighbor?”. The rest of the story follows ….
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In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Recently my son-in-law was out of town working where he came across a older homeless man. He bought him a dinner and then paid for him a motel room for the night so he could get a bath and have a bed to sleep in out of the weather. He told the desk clerk he was homeless and to keep an eye on him that he was leaving town himself.
Very close to the story Stucky posted. We are lucky to have him in our family, he is a good man.
Another person also asked the same question about eternal life — a rich ruler.
Jesus told him to keep the commandments, specifically: — ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”
The ruler said he kept all those since he was a boy.
Jesus said ok, fine, go sell everything you have and give to the poor. The rich dude walked away sad and couldn’t do it. And then Jesus said what is probably my most favorite thing in all of scripture;
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Which is Jesus’ way of saying rich people eat shit.
I think the lesson here, at least an important part of it, is that it is easy to be righteous until you are challenged to do something difficult to do it.
In this case, the rich guy was keeping the commandments until he was asked to obey the first one in a difficult manner at which time he decided his money was greater than the God he was commanded to keep first and put him in second place instead.
How many of us would do the same with something we hold dear in our lives and possessions?
You missed the point entirely.
A rich person willing to let go all that they value is equal to a poor person willing to let go all that they value.
MANY MANY poor people are SPECIFICALLY poor because they refuse to let go what they value.
Jesus is coming – look busy.