Does "equality" even matter to Jesus?

timothyu said:

The video overlooks one important fact. All in the Kingdom must follow the Will of the Father. That is where they are equal. This vid smacks of still wanting to make it about us and seeking justification for being who we are as humans, which does not follow the will of the Father. Love all as self yes, but let each other be who they want to be, no. The whole idea is to reject who we are as humans in being self-centred and learn to be servants to both God and each other in need of basics such as food, clothing and shelter (social justice), not enablers..

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Agreed
John 12
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

Go up

2PhiloVoid said:

I'm not a fan of Marxism or of any form of Communism, and I don't think either Jesus or the apostle Paul would have been either.

However, we might be tempted to infer that Paul (and likewise Jesus) had some interest in the sort of financial equality that a willingness to voluntarily share with others can bring when funds run dry for basic human goods. At least this was advocated by Paul among those who consider themselves to be Christian.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15​

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.​

​

Then there was that bit where Jesus said that we should be feeding and clothing those who have none of these things, and to do it in 'His Name.'

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Go up a bit.
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

This was the giving from one church to another.
It is not addressed to all men nor referring to all. That is not to say that we should not feed the truly hungry.

Paul in Romans 12:10 states our preference;
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

Paul places a restriction on this in 2 Thes 3:10
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat.

1 Tim:5:3
Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. 4But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God...
9 A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband. She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good?

Scripture is not about throwing money at anyone with holes in their jeans, and we are to prefer our brothers and sisters.

Palmfever said:

Romans 12:10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

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Look for those who are faithful and true no matter what city or town or country ...... it is a miracle.

I'm not sure why anyone would think Jesus is interested in "equality". He knows how we are all made. He knows some of us are superior at certain things and some of us are superior at other things.
But it depends on how you define "equality".
JEsus loves us all equally because we are all equal in his eyes.

It's in OUR eyes and through our judgment that people are NOT equal.

But what He IS INTERESTED IN is how we TREAT others. We are required to love everyone and help the less fortunate.

childeye 2 said:

' Equality' needs to be clarified, objectively speaking. But for me, the sentiment of Love your neighbor as yourself would infer equality. Another thought that comes to mind is that Jesus said to sell all your possessions and give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven.

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The equal treatment I find in scripture is thus.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

It pertains to salvation.
Or, where do we put this?

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

All of creation is God's.
He let's the weeds grow with the wheat.

One will be harvested and the other burned.

Keeping in mind;

James 2:14
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

The work believers perform is not about salvation, it is an outflowing of the grace of God.

Palmfever said:

The equal treatment I find in scripture is thus.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

It pertains to salvation.
Or, where do we put this?

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

All of creation is God's.
He let's the weeds grow with the wheat.

One will be harvested and the other burned.

Keeping in mind;

James 2:14
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

The work believers perform is not about salvation, it is an outflowing of the grace of God.

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God sees all the things we don't see. So, He's able to judge us according to what measure we use to judge others. And Jesus qualifies that by saying that the merciful shall receive mercy.

What many people mean by equality is sameness. They want the same results, benefits, resources and experiences. Social media contributed to our awareness of differences. We know everyone doesn’t live like us and confront it everyday. How we handle it is largely dependent on our heart and what we believe about ourselves regarding the future.

That’s why some can celebrate our triumphs and genuinely be happy for us and others wonder within themselves why her not me? What no one is acknowledging is the impact it’s having on relationships. Many are losing friends or setting aside connections that began to fracture due to inequitable changes. You may not hear it discussed on social media or haven’t paid attention to the references. But it’s happening more and more.

~bella

I think making an issue about equality is itself an ideology. It implies that there is such a political entity that can be defined in one way or another and thats the problem. That it can be subjectively defined which will end up never being a unified meaning or representation.

The fundemental problem I think is the basis being a subjective determination rather than one beyond human subjective determinations. Like we can determine that gravity is a law of nature regardless of subjective beliefs about gravity.

We use to as a society and nation have this transcedent yet lawful truth principle as the basis for human worth. Which is that we were made in Gods image and endowed with natural inalienable God given rights that could not be taken away by individual, group or State actors no matter what.

Not because we belongs to a certain identity group like ethnic, race, gender or sex. But simply for being human. For being a sovereign and divine individual child of God. This looked past identity and the only qualification was simply being born a human.

It took us a while to realise this and it became the basis for national Declarations and Human Rights. But then the world ideologues decided to take God out of the equation. Which then brought it back to humans being the gods in determining human worth. Now we have culture wars over how we should value humans based on the color or their skin, sex, a growing list of genders and all sorts of other markers.

A constant fight over the truth. When you take God out of the equation thats what we are left with human gods fighting over who holds the truth of morality and human worth according to many differing beliefs and ideologies. Well actually two main ones. One with God and one without.

ralliann said:

And? jews are Capitalists.

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Jews are capitalists, communists, and everything in between. We are far from monolithic. It's best to avoid sweeping generalizations like, "Jews are X."

Jews can also be devout, righteous, selfish, evil... IOW we have all the same virtues and vices as the rest of humanity, including you.

When thinking of equality, I think of the whole "first is last and last is first" thing.

Will Joseph said:

When thinking of equality, I think of the whole "first is last and last is first" thing.

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Interesting. That reminds me of the greatest is the one who serves the rest, and those forgiven much love much.