Just a hypothesis. All Scripture references taken from the King James Bible.
Romans 13:8 says: Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:10 says: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galations 5:14 says: For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
James 2:8 says: If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
What is the common connection here? All of them basically say that the highest Law of God's word is love. I do know that elsewhere it says, in all accounts: "To know God is to know love. God is love. To know love is to know God." What if an atheist truly loves everyone, appreciates the beauty of nature, exhibits much love to the world? What if a Christian commits adultery with many men or women but loves them all? She or he is therein loving much, and to love much brings one to "do well" (ye do well) under God's Law.
Is it very possible that the ability to love all persons, albeit many things in your life, is, simply, the truest key to eternal life? If God is love, and knowing love means knowing God... then doesn't even a non-believer who loves, in this unconditional sense of the word, know God?
Can a loving non-believer know God better than a detached believer who has pre-formulated an image of how God should be?
Just something I've been thinking about. I have some quotes that go along with this, too, from people probably smarter than me:
"The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God." Martin Buber
"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." G. K. Chesterton
"Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'" -Jesus of Nazareth (Matt 22:37-40 KJV)
By "like unto it," it seems that he is saying it is a "great commandment" as well.
Will a person perish in Hell for obeying the second commandment their entire life but not once the first, even though according to other sections of the NT they "know God" by loving...?
Romans 13:8 says: Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:10 says: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galations 5:14 says: For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
James 2:8 says: If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
What is the common connection here? All of them basically say that the highest Law of God's word is love. I do know that elsewhere it says, in all accounts: "To know God is to know love. God is love. To know love is to know God." What if an atheist truly loves everyone, appreciates the beauty of nature, exhibits much love to the world? What if a Christian commits adultery with many men or women but loves them all? She or he is therein loving much, and to love much brings one to "do well" (ye do well) under God's Law.
Is it very possible that the ability to love all persons, albeit many things in your life, is, simply, the truest key to eternal life? If God is love, and knowing love means knowing God... then doesn't even a non-believer who loves, in this unconditional sense of the word, know God?
Can a loving non-believer know God better than a detached believer who has pre-formulated an image of how God should be?
Just something I've been thinking about. I have some quotes that go along with this, too, from people probably smarter than me:
"The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God." Martin Buber
"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair." G. K. Chesterton
"Jesus said unto him, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'" -Jesus of Nazareth (Matt 22:37-40 KJV)
By "like unto it," it seems that he is saying it is a "great commandment" as well.
Will a person perish in Hell for obeying the second commandment their entire life but not once the first, even though according to other sections of the NT they "know God" by loving...?
