The poster from members of the Baha’i community
reproduced above reminds us that, while in detail there may be many differences
between the world’s main religions, in the central ethic for how human beings
conduct their lives there is a surprising degree of similarity. The ‘Golden
Rule’ is the rule of love for one’s neighbour (as Jesus expresses it) or at the
very least the avoidance of any harm or damage to that person.
As a Jew who knew his Torah better than others,
Jesus was able to convince trained theologians whom he met as to which were the
central tenets of their faith. Jesus’ selection of just two rules from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as the so-called ‘Great
Commandment’ is reported in three of the gospels (Mark 12:28-34; Matthew
22:34-40; and Luke 10:25-28) with slight differences. Instead of remembering
lots of separate rules to govern our conduct, Jesus proposes loving others as
ourselves as the guiding principle (Romans 13:9) which sums up the whole of the law
or Torah (Galatians 5:14). That love should be in charge
overall is more important than a detailed list of rules concerning how we
should love others and live our lives.
By
making our neighbour rather than ourselves the central preoccupation, Jesus
effectively transplants his own (‘Kingdom’) values upon our egocentric and
self-preoccupied lives. We are challenged to do better than we ourselves can
easily imagine for ourselves, as suggested by the contrasts in the table below.
We may fall short, but if we attempt to love God with all our heart, soul, mind
and strength, and love our neighbour as ourselves then we have the certainty of
at least are making a significant step towards bringing about Jesus’ Kingdom
values in our selfish and materialistic world.
Living the Kingdom way of Life
Self-Image Agenda
|
The Kingdom calls us to
|
1.
Love Yourself
|
Love
God and others (Matthew 22:37)
|
2. Build your self-esteem
|
Build up others (Hebrews 10:24-25)
|
3.
You are good
|
None
are righteous (Romans 3:23)
|
4. Believe in yourself
|
Distrust
your heart (Jeremiah 17:9)
|
5.
Put yourself first
|
Put
others first (Philippians 2:1-4)
|
6.
Think highly of yourself
|
Be humble (Romans 12:3)
|
7.
You are of great value
|
We are sinners (Romans 3:10-11)
|
8.
Do what you want to do
|
Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16)
|
9. Find yourself
|
Deny yourself (Matthew 16:24-26)
|
10.
Have self-confidence
|
Put confidence in God (Philippians 4:13)
|
http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/love-your-neighbor-and-yourself/
