How do English readers understand the verb ‘command’ in Jesus sayings?

[RDKirk]

I simply meant if someone cannot feel a real growing joy in him every time he opposes his natural instincts of survival and selfishness (God's instructions, embedded in all living things to guide them how to serve themselves and the world) by loving (caring of) unconditionally all others, how he could insist calling what he does 'love' while he does it just to avoid being punished.

I took great personal satisfaction in having satisfactorily carried out a lawful order and getting the military equivalent of "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

I wasn't a conscientious troop out of fear of being punished.

In real life, it doesn't matter for a master if his slave loves him or not as long he obeys him very well. But this doesn't prevent a master to express his warm love towards his slaves in his speeches. And he doesn't mind hearing his slaves saying they love him with fear.

Jesus does not appear to make a distinction between loving Him and obeying Him. The dichotomy between love and obedience is something you invented.

 

[KerimF]

I took great personal satisfaction in having satisfactorily carried out a lawful order and getting the military equivalent of "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

I wasn't a conscientious troop out of fear of being punished.

Since you like believing that you were created to serve your Creator by obeying Him, you are doing very well. But, truth be told, I wonder, in this case, what our Creator may need from His tiny creatures, as you and me, living temporarily in His huge universe.

I understand that a weak human may need to build robots and program them to serve him in some ways. Should I also see my Creator as a needy producer of highly intelligent robotic servants.

Jesus does not appear to make a distinction between loving Him and obeying Him. The dichotomy between love and obedience is something you invented.

You may be right.
But I wonder what prevented Jesus to use the word 'obey' or 'worship' instead of 'love (singular)' in His most important Command.
The irony is that, in the army, a clever officer tries his best to let his orders/commands sound as useful advices instead though his soldiers have no choice but obeying them.

 

[bling]

Well said. But I am not sure what you mean exactly by "... gets us in trouble". Thank you.

By the way, does a good scientific teacher impose his knowledge on his students? He doesn't. But the wise student take advantage of what he learnt from his teacher in his future business.

Similarly, Jesus came to give me all the knowledge I need. So it was up to me to take advantage of what I learnt from Him, or not, in my life. Being selfish, I chose to live God's Unconditional Love/care towards all others in order to feed my soul and let it survive for eternity in God's Realm of Love

Good thoughts.
The trouble you get into is this: You either continue to grow or slowly wither there is no holding your own. When you quench the Spirit, do not use the Godly Love gifted to you and let your faith fad away, you will seek selfish love instead of Godly type Love, which means God becomes worthless to you since He is Love. You can reach the point of giving your birthright away like Esau.

 

[RDKirk]

Since you like believing that you were created to serve your Creator by obeying Him, you are doing very well. But, truth be told, I wonder, in this case, what our Creator may need from His tiny creatures, as you and me, living temporarily in His huge universe.

I understand that a weak human may need to build robots and program them to serve him in some ways. Should I also see my Creator as a needy producer of highly intelligent robotic servants.

In that day, it was an act of love for a father to bring his child into his line of work, and for a father-king to raise his prince-son to be ready to inherit the kingdom.

But I wonder what prevented Jesus to use the word 'obey' or 'worship' instead of 'love (singular)' in His most important Command.

I told you: Jesus does not make a distinction between them. You are inventing a distinction.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

The good news is that, in reality, every person around the world understands whatever was written or is said in the way that suits best his priorities in life.
But for someone to join properly a certain formal group (religious or political), his beliefs need to be almost similar to the ones of this group (actually of the head's group)

So, I guess, it is better for the today's Christian to believe that Jesus is a Divine Commander (not the Sole Incarnated Divine Teacher of life, God) since this belief is a prerequisite to join any formal Christian Church or Denomination in the world.

okay, I think I get it. However, I don't find many churches that place the foundation Jesus set in the sermon on the mount as "command." Even though, not doing so results on building that church on a foundation of sand.

 

[Daniel9v9]

Sorry, and perhaps I didn't understand you well. You give me the impression that every time you follow Jesus advice you don't feel a real joy in you. But you do it in order to avoid being punished by Heaven, in one way or another (now and/or in the after life).

On my side, even if the entire world may someday deny the existence of Jesus and his message, I will have no reason, at all, to change the way I live. Every time I have the opportunity to live God's Unconditional Love towards others, mainly strangers and enemies, I gain a real joy in me (my soul) ; a joy which is not limited by or related to time and place.
And about the after life, the parable of the steward {Luke 16:1-9} is one of Jesus clear hints... "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations". 'The mammon of unrighteousness' is actually anything I may have because all I have are not mine but of God. Naturally, I will lose all what I still have as God's mammon at the death of my body (the end of my stewardship on earth).

No, sorry, that's not what I'm saying at all. Scriptures call us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. With regards to fear specifically, not only does the Word of God call us to fear the Lord, but it also explains what this fear is.

In Psalm 33, for example, the Holy Spirit teaches us: "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!" So this is a command to the whole world. God is calling the whole world to repentance and faith in Him.

And then a bit later He promises us: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him". This means that God promises to be with His people; those who believe in Him.

Then He goes on to explain what this fear is: "(Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,) [Who are those?] on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death." So to fear God is to hope in His steadfast love. Though what is translated here into English as "steadfast love" is perhaps better understood as love and grace. Specifically, it's talking about God's great love and grace made manifest through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Scriptures also say other things regarding the fear of the Lord, such as in Proverbs 9:10, for example, where it says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." However, the fear of the Lord does not have to do with a fear of punishment! John sums up all of this wonderfully in 1 John 4:16-21, where he says that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because [God] first loved us."

So, does God command us to keep His Word? Yes. But not as a tyrant. The way we begin to uphold the Law and even love it is through God's gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit changes our hearts and moulds us into the image of Jesus, and He produces the good fruit in us of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

In the Great Commission, however, our Lord gives a command to proclaim the fullness of God's Word, which includes both the call to repentance and the comfort of forgiveness of sins. So my point earlier is that the Great Commission and the Commandments are the same in that they are commanded, not advised, but the difference is that the Great Commission has to do with the Gospel. What I mean by this is, in simple terms, that Jesus commands His Church to (1) proclaim Him and make disciples (2) baptise in His name (that is, make disciples BY baptising them and make disciples THEN baptise them. Both are true), and (3) teach them all Christ has commanded us, which means the fullness of God's Word; His Law and His Gospel; the whole counsel of God (cf. Luke 24:44-45, Acts 20:27).

So, to the one preaching, teaching, and confessing Christ to the world and baptising in His name, the Great Commission is a command. For example, speaking of myself, as your servant in the Lord, I am commanded to proclaim Christ crucified, yet I take great joy in it! However, to the one who receives what is contained in the Great Commission, namely, the Gospel, it is not a command, but pure grace out of God's great love and mercy, and we can rejoice and take great comfort in that! God be praised!

I hope this clarifies, and if you're interested, I happened to preach on some of these things last Sunday. It's a short sermon and you can find it here:

God's blessings to you!

 

[KerimF]

Good thoughts.
The trouble you get into is this: You either continue to grow or slowly wither there is no holding your own. When you quench the Spirit, do not use the Godly Love gifted to you and let your faith fad away, you will seek selfish love instead of Godly type Love, which means God becomes worthless to you since He is Love. You can reach the point of giving your birthright away like Esau.

Please correct me if I didn't understand well the possible different meanings of 'love'.

If I love whoever I may meet as myself by my own personal will because I feel a growing joy in me by doing it, I am a selfish man, away from God's Love.
But if I love whoever I may meet as myself because it is commanded by God to do it, I am a real loving person following God's Love.

Sorry, you may not have noticed yet that even the word 'love', if not God's Love, was/is used to justify wars too, but this is off topic here.

 

[KerimF]

I told you: Jesus does not make a distinction between them. You are inventing a distinction.

So it seems I have other illusions. For example, I also make a distinction between freedom and slavery.
Thanks to you, I understand now how it is possible to say (heard in some movies about wars): "Obey to protect your freedom".

Anyway, thanks to Jesus, He helped me realize that there is only one way to be real free which is by living God's Unconditional Love towards all others. So I am ready to obey any rule as long it doesn't contradict my unconditional love. For example, it is out of question for me to accept observing an imposed list of those who are supposed to be my friends (whom I am allowed to support) and those who are classified as being my enemies (whom I am not allowed to support). I mean; I am always ready even to be persecuted and executed by the world as it was done to Jesus to protect God's image of Love in my soul; the only real joy I have in my life.

 

[KerimF]

okay, I think I get it. However, I don't find many churches that place the foundation Jesus set in the sermon on the mount as "command." Even though, not doing so results on building that church on a foundation of sand.

Doing anything to others (including killing, as in wars for example) could be commanded (be imposed as a rule)... but the true love (unconditional) and trust (unlimited). The reason is simple. God's Unconditional Love towards all others and the Unlimited Trust (in God's Will, as a start) are strictly personal and could be lived by only real free independent persons (who are rare in the world, exactly as Jesus pointed it out clearly).

 

[KerimF]

No, sorry, that's not what I'm saying at all. Scriptures call us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. With regards to fear specifically, not only does the Word of God call us to fear the Lord, but it also explains what this fear is.

Would you please direct me to where Jesus tells me to fear God... Thank you.

 

[Daniel9v9]

Would you please direct me to where Jesus tells me to fear God... Thank you.

Sure, I can explain this in three ways:

The words of Jesus
Here Jesus is telling us plainly to fear the Lord:
Luke 12:4-5: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear [God] who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!"

In this parable, Jesus is referring to one who has no fear of God, which, by extension tells us that we should fear God in accordance with the rest of the Scriptures:
Luke 18:1-8: "... In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ..."


Jesus is God
Jesus is YHWH. He is God in flesh, so all the commands and promises in the Bible are His. So when He says we are to fear Him in the Old Testament, as mentioned in my post above, these are His own words.


The words of the apostles
The apostles, same as the prophets and Jesus Himself, call us to fear God:

Acts 9:31: "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."

Acts 10:34-35: "So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him."

Paul, in Romans 3, quoting the Psalms: "None is righteous, no, not one; ... There is no fear of God before their eyes."

2 Corinthians 7:1: "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God."

Philippians 2:12-13: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

1 Peter 2:16-17: "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the emperor."

Revelation 14:7: "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgement has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Fearing God
Now, in this post, I've only talked about the fear of God, but we are also to love and trust in Him above all things. And I hope my post above is clear on what it means to fear God — namely, that it is not to despair and worry about our salvation, but to trust in His love and grace. Perhaps instead of fear, it can be helpful to think of it as reverence.

 

[bling]

Please correct me if I didn't understand well the possible different meanings of 'love'.

If I love whoever I may meet as myself by my own personal will because I feel a growing joy in me by doing it, I am a selfish man, away from God's Love.
But if I love whoever I may meet as myself because it is commanded by God to do it, I am a real loving person following God's Love.

Sorry, you may not have noticed yet that even the word 'love', if not God's Love, was/is used to justify wars too, but this is off topic here.

Godly type Love is a huge subject which Books have been written.

Just using the word “Agape” to describe it does not do it justice, but as an introduction let us start with the objective:

Everything needs to start with the objective.

The differences and issues begin with misunderstanding of the objective. Most Christians like: Man’s objective is to “bring glory to God” and have scripture references to support that objective, but a person can take any commandment or direction of God given in scripture and have Biblical support for call that command: “Man’s Objective”. We are certainly commanded to do that command, so why is it not man’s objective?

There are the two superior commands which all other commands are subordinate to and combined would be like: “Love God (and secondly others) with all your heart, soul, mind, and energy.” That appears to be man’s “Mission Statement”. The huge problem with fulfilling that “Mission Statement” is the fact that the “Love” needed would have to be huge, way beyond anything man could develop, learn, deserve, earn, pay back, be instinctive to man, or somehow just be forced upon humans.

Thus, the reason you have free will, is because it is required for you to complete your earthly objective.

This messed up world which includes satan roaming around is not here for your pleasure, but to help each of us to become like God Himself in that you have the unique, unbelievable Godly type Love (God himself is Love).

There are just somethings even an all-powerful Creator cannot do (there are things impossible to do), like create another Christ, since Christ has always existed, the big impossibility for us is; create humans with instinctive Godly type Love, since Godly type Love is not instinctive. Godly type love has to be the result of a free will decision by the being, to make it the person’s Love apart from God. In other words: If the Love was in a human from the human’s creation it would be a robotic type love and not a Godly type Love. Also, if God “forces” this Love on a person (Kind a like a shotgun wedding) it would not be “loving” on God’s part and the love forced on the person would not be Godly type Love. This Love has to be the result of a free will moral choice with real alternatives (for humans those alternatives include the perceived pleasures of sin for a season.)

Read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the young son was generously given more then he could handle (like most of us today), which the father would realize. The prodigal son returned to his father, not out of “Love”, but selfishly wanting a job he did not deserve or should even ask for. Just because the son became just willing to accept pure undeserved charity from the father he hated, allowed the father to shower him with gifts. God is that way with you.

God has created beings to shower them with the greatest gifts possible, the greatest gift being having a Love like His.

If there is this Creator of the universe out there, His “creations” could not really “do” anything for Him, so this Creator would have to be seen as a Giver (Unselfish Lover) and not trying to “get” something from His creation.

Why would God have a totally unselfish type of Love, since He personally would not get anything out of it? If God’s “Love” is some kind of knee jerk reaction, then it is really meaningless (something like; gravity which is nice to have, but everyone automatically has it). God Loves us in spite of what we have done, who we are or what we will do, so it has to be by His choice.

God would create the right universe for the sake of the individuals that will accept His gift (the most powerful force [Love] in all universes, since that force [Love] compels even God to do all He does) and thus the willing become like He is (the greatest gift He could give).

What keeps the all-powerful Creator from just giving whatever He wants to his creation, eliminating the need for free will and this earthly time.

This Love is way beyond anything humans could develop, obtain, learn, earn, pay back or ever deserve, so it must be the result of a gift that is accepted or rejected (a free will choice).

This “Love” is much more than just an emotional feeling; it is God Himself (God is Love). If you see this Love you see God.

All mature adults do stuff that hurts others (this is called sin) these transgressions weigh on them, burden them, to the point the individual seeks relief (at least early on before they allow their hearts to be hardened). Lots of “alternatives” can be tried for relief, but the only true relief comes from God with forgiveness (this forgiveness is pure charity [grace/mercy/Love]). The correct humble acceptance of this Forgiveness (Charity) automatically will result in Love (we are taught by Jesus and our own experience “…he that is forgiven much will Love much…”). Sin is thus made hugely significant, so there will be an unbelievable huge debt to be forgiven of and thus result in an unbelievable huge “Love” (Godly type Love).

Sin has purpose in helping willing humans in fulfilling their objective. God does not like it but allows it.

Unfortunately, I, along with others, needed to see and know the brevity of life in order to respond sooner than later. Time is not on our side, since we do not get better, but worse. If everyone had at least 60 years, there would be no rush to repent and repenting does not get easier with time. We all tend to spiral down into the pigsty of life (like the prodigal son) and that does help, if when we do come to our senses we turn to the Father, but that does not have to take 60 years.

Let me just give you an example of How God works to help willing individuals.

If the nonbeliever had knowledge of God's existence that person would not need faith in God's existence, but faith is needed for humility and humility is needed to humbly accept pure charity and the only way to get Godly type Love is through accepting it as pure charity in the form of forgiveness.

This also shows a “need” for man to sin.

 

[KerimF]

The words of Jesus
Here Jesus is telling us plainly to fear the Lord:
Luke 12:4-5: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear [God] who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!"

Thank you for posting this Jesus saying. Honestly, my question was to direct you to it.
Jesus was always very clear when he refers to the Father in Heaven, to the Holy Spirit and to Himself.
What could prevent Jesus do the same here and say "... fear God... fear God!" instead of "... fear who... fear Him!"?
So if God (the One Will of our Father in Heaven and Jesus, unified since before Creation by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit) can cast someone into hell for some reason, what is then the role of the world's king, the devil, and those who are created to follow the devil's spirit?!

This sounds like God created us to play a game. In this game, a powerful evil spirit was also created whose role is to oppose always God's Will. So, anytime this evil spirit, directly or via those who were conquered by it already, wins the battle with a human, God cast this human into hell (sorry, you seems believing that hell is an eternal punishing or torturing realm) for being a loser in His game.

No, God didn't create us to play a game. And yes, the one who is given authority to cast a human into hell is the king of the material world, the devil (or the like).
By the way, Jesus used referring to hell simply by the expression 'the Everlasting Fire'.
As you know, the notion of hell (or something equivalent to it) in which unbelievers will be punished is found in ‘all’ man-made religions (including the OT). Naturally, most Christian around the world didn't mind seeing in Jesus expression 'the everlasting fire' as being also a place/realm in which God (actually God's Will of Love) will punish those who failed... in his game!.

For instance, every ruling system in the world (religious or political) welcomes the idea that even God has to punish whoever disobeys his law. So the universal trend is that God, the Will that Created our huge universe, has to also act as a mere king with his followers/slaves on earth!

After all, only those who are able perceiving, in their life, the existence of the Unifying Divine Spirit of Love have the chance to also understand why Jesus chose the two words 'Everlasting Fire' to explain what will happen, after death, to those who couldn't feed their soul by living God's Love on earth as it is in Heaven.
In brief, we used to say when something is no more useful for anything in any way anymore: "Let us burn it". And, if we throw it into fire, we surely don't do it to torture it but simply to return it back to its raw state. Similarly, in case of human, those who had to follow always their natural instincts (God's instructions for how to serve the material world), will simply return back, after death, to their raw state; as if they didn't exist in the first place. Therefore, it is natural (actually, it is fair) that the happiest people in the world are those who follow their instincts only. They deserve being so because they have no life other than their actual one.

In this parable, Jesus is referring to one who has no fear of God, which, by extension tells us that we should fear God in accordance with the rest of the Scriptures:
Luke 18:1-8: "... In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ..."

In this parable, Jesus was addressing Jews who were supposed to obey God's commandments (if not much more) in fear of His Wrath (like a little kid who obeys and fears his loving parents). But being a student of Jesus, this parable simply shows me 'God's Love towards humans' from another angle. For instance, if the widow, in this parable, didn't fear, in any way, her selfish judge, how could she fear God?!

 

[KerimF]

Everything needs to start with the objective.

So, to you, every human is not supposed to be unique.

 

[Daniel9v9]

Thank you for posting this Jesus saying. Honestly, my question was to direct you to it.
Jesus was always very clear when he refers to the Father in Heaven, to the Holy Spirit and to Himself.
What could prevent Jesus do the same here and say "... fear God... fear God!" instead of "... fear who... fear Him!"?
So if God (the One Will of our Father in Heaven and Jesus, unified since before Creation by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit) can cast someone into hell for some reason, what is then the role of the world's king, the devil, and those who are created to follow the devil's spirit?!

This sounds like God created us to play a game. In this game, a powerful evil spirit was also created whose role is to oppose always God's Will. So, anytime this evil spirit, directly or via those who were conquered by it already, wins the battle with a human, God cast this human into hell (sorry, you seems believing that hell is an eternal punishing or torturing realm) for being a loser in His game.

No, God didn't create us to play a game. And yes, the one who is given authority to cast a human into hell is the king of the material world, the devil (or the like).
By the way, Jesus used referring to hell simply by the expression 'the Everlasting Fire'.
As you know, the notion of hell (or something equivalent to it) in which unbelievers will be punished is found in ‘all’ man-made religions (including the OT). Naturally, most Christian around the world didn't mind seeing in Jesus expression 'the everlasting fire' as being also a place/realm in which God (actually God's Will of Love) will punish those who failed... in his game!.

For instance, every ruling system in the world (religious or political) welcomes the idea that even God has to punish whoever disobeys his law. So the universal trend is that God, the Will that Created our huge universe, has to also act as a mere king with his followers/slaves on earth!

After all, only those who are able perceiving, in their life, the existence of the Unifying Divine Spirit of Love have the chance to also understand why Jesus chose the two words 'Everlasting Fire' to explain what will happen, after death, to those who couldn't feed their soul by living God's Love on earth as it is in Heaven.
In brief, we used to say when something is no more useful for anything in any way anymore: "Let us burn it". And, if we throw it into fire, we surely don't do it to torture it but simply to return it back to its raw state. Similarly, in case of human, those who had to follow always their natural instincts (God's instructions for how to serve the material world), will simply return back, after death, to their raw state; as if they didn't exist in the first place. Therefore, it is natural (actually, it is fair) that the happiest people in the world are those who follow their instincts only. They deserve being so because they have no life other than their actual one.



In this parable, Jesus was addressing Jews who were supposed to obey God's commandments (if not much more) in fear of His Wrath (like a little kid who obeys and fears his loving parents). But being a student of Jesus, this parable simply shows me 'God's Love towards humans' from another angle. For instance, if the widow, in this parable, didn't fear, in any way, her selfish judge, how could she fear God?!

I regret to say you express a lot of confused and problematic views here, and that is concerning to me. I don’t know what church you go to, but I’d like to encourage you to talk to your pastor, invest in a study Bible, and if possible, enter into some catechesis.

 

[bling]

So, to you, every human is not supposed to be unique.

We all have free will and we control when we are led by the Spirit. We also start out in different situations.

 

[KerimF]

There are the two superior commands which all other commands are subordinate to and combined would be like: “Love God (and secondly others) with all your heart, soul, mind, and energy.” That appears to be man’s “Mission Statement”.

While trusting God to no limit (this is how a human can love his Creator) is, to you, an objective, it is a necessity to me in my life.

To be clearer, let me suppose I got, for free, a powerful computer. But there wasn’t a user's manual with it.
In case I don't trust the company that produced it, every time I have a malfunction while using it, I likely blame its maker(s). So, I don't bother myself to find out what I missed to know about its structure and how it could be run properly.
But, if I am sure that the computer I got is made perfectly, anytime I face something wrong while running it, I would also be sure that I still have a lack of knowledge about some parts in it. And I try my best to discover what I missed to know about it in order to take advantage of this precious gift as much as possible.

This is why Jesus called His advice of Loving God (not obeying, worshiping, praising or glorifying God) the Greatest One in His message. In fact, without trusting God's Will fully (to no limit) in everything one may face in his life, he can be sure that he won't discover things other than what the instincts of his mortal body needs to know (it is usually called 'scientific knowledge).

Besides being a professional engineer (running a private business since many decades), by revealing on the Gospel the crucial natural truths about the real world and many useful hints, Jesus helped me discover the logical answers of all important questions I was looking for. So, to me in the least, Jesus is my Light of knowledge under which I was able to walk, without confusion and fear, on the Path that leads to God’s Realm of Love.

 

[KerimF]

I regret to say you express a lot of confused and problematic views here, and that is concerning to me. I don’t know what church you go to, but I’d like to encourage you to talk to your pastor, invest in a study Bible, and if possible, enter into some catechesis.

Please don't worry, Jesus too was seen as a strange, if not scary, person by the ancient Honorable Jewish Scholars and Elders to the point they had no choice but to ask for his death as if He were a dangerous criminal. Being an independent student of Jesus only, not of any man (Prophet, Saint... etc.; that is just a student of God), it is natural that the world sees in me what it saw in Jesus.
By the way, I was banned from teaching Catechism on Sundays (about 50 years ago) soon after I tried explaining to my students Trinity as revealed by Jesus. I told them that there is One God which is, speaking practically, the One Will/Energy of our Father in Heaven and Jesus, unified before Creation by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit. But, as you know, I was supposed to tell them any other explanation (of the triangle, the sun...) as long it is not related to the Holy Spirit (the core of Jesus message). And, at age 30, when I tried joining the Jesuit Church, I was told that I, as a priest, would have no right to repeat openly many sayings of Jesus as clear as Jesus does on the Gospel. So I had to choose between being a Jesuit priest without Jesus and returning home for good with Jesus. I chose the latter since then.

Anyway, thank you for your care and I wish you succeed in your vocation.

 

[KerimF]

We all have free will and we control when we are led by the Spirit. We also start out in different situations.

On my side, I lived several times what Jesus says:
"But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit".

 

[fhansen]

Hello everyone,

On my Arabic Gospel, the verb ‘command’ in Jesus sayings is translated to a word whose meaning is close to the verb ‘advise’; it doesn’t sound, in any way, the verb ‘order’ (as in the army).

In other words, on the Arabic Gospel, Jesus (also my Father in Heaven since they are unified since before Creation by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit) acts always like a loving knowledgeable father who advises his beloved sons so that they can be aware, in advance, of whatever they may face in their life and helps them know how to overcome them.

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”


By the way, I am afraid that when trust and love are imposed on someone to accept living them towards someone else they can be about anything but True Trust and Love.

Kerim

One cannot trust or hope or love simply by virtue of trying to obey the command to do so-those things come from the inside as a result of grace, or they do not come at all. And yet, they are an obligation for man- because they're simply the right thing to do-and that which we were created to do- and we have the choice as to whether we'll do the right thing or not, to choose good over evil or not. So, how to we acquire these virtues? By taking the first right step of faith, in response to grace, of acknowledging our dependency on God in order to have them. We have no righteousness on our own, apart from Him. Anyway, I like the way a 4th century bishop, Basil of Caesarea, summed up right relationship with God:

“If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.”