The only way out of our collective mess is personal accountability. Just that's not particularly popular, especially to those with a religious or ideological mindset (same thing).
"I did all the correct and approved rites and rituals and recited the doctrines and dogmas perfectly... so why am I being judged so harshly as having been unrighteous in my compliance and complicity?"
Exactly.
I believe in and will fight for freedom! Truth seeker and staunch President Trump supporter! #WWG1WGA 🇺🇸🦅
I agree 100%.
A person can read the Bible backwards and forwards, memorize every verse, say every prayer they know, go and park their arse in the pew of their church every Sunday and will still face harsher judgement than a person who actually loved thy neighbour and did no harm to others.
Why? Because loving thy neighbour and doing no harm are the most important of God’s laws - living by these laws, a person cannot possibly break any of the others.
Also of paramount importance is - as you say - being able to take accountability for our actions and deeds. This means acknowledging when we did wrong and when possible, making amends and making things right. Most of all, we must LEARN from our mistakes and try never to repeat them.
The absolute worst thing any of us can do is JUDGE others FOR ANYTHING.
I acknowledge that I am guilty of all of the above to a greater or lesser extent. I try now to do better.
Loving and seeking God and his perfect and Holy will, to the exclusion of everything and everyone else, is the first and most important commandment.
It is not possible to truly love your neighbor, especially an evil one, unless it is done for God's sake.
To properly love your neighbor, it is NECESSARY to make appropriate judgements based on behavior.
Are you loving the narcissist, adulterer, alcoholic, pedophile, thief, abuser, cheater, liar, rapist, transsexual, indoctrinated communist, murderer of the born and unborn by choosing not to judge and failing to point out the grave damage they do to themselves and everyone around them?
Without proper judgement, you can neither guide a neighbor off the wrong path, or support them on the right one.
Failure to judge is apathy toward your neighbor. Failure to desire the good of your neighbor is apathy toward God. Failure to desire God makes all failures complete.
I believe in and will fight for freedom! Truth seeker and staunch President Trump supporter! #WWG1WGA 🇺🇸🦅
I agree with your first statement completely.
As for when you say “Are you loving the narcissist, adulterer, alcoholic, pedophile, thief, abuser, cheater, liar, rapist, transsexual, indoctrinated communist, murderer of the born and unborn by choosing not to judge and failing to point out the grave damage they do to themselves and everyone around them?” My answer is this:
What did Jesus do to Mary Magdelene when her neighbours stood in judgement of her on the basis of the accusation that she was a harlot? Did he do as you suggest & join the “righteous” rabble & cast stones at her?
All of those you name are guilty of breaking the very laws I mentioned. They did not love their neighbours &, in so doing, did their neighbour great harm. On this Earth we must recognize their great wrong & STOP them from continuing to wrong. This is JUSTICE, which you confuse with judgement. Judgement is God’s and God’s alone.
Continue to justify your choice to judge. We all face God in the en
I don't recall advocating stone throwing. Jesus didn't deny their proper judgement that she was a harlot. He thwarted their condemnation of HER, not her sin. He didn't tell her that she was just fine being a harlot, He told her to go and sin no more. That is love of neighbor.
If she had blown off His admonition and continued in adultery, do you really think her final judgement would have gone as mercifully?
I believe in and will fight for freedom! Truth seeker and staunch President Trump supporter! #WWG1WGA 🇺🇸🦅
Regarding Magdelene - Jesus did not deny her ALLEGED sin (it was an accusation), but in saying “he among you who is without sin, cast the first stone,” Jesus was absolutely saying no one has the moral high ground to judge another by virtue of the fact that none of us is blameless in our lives. My personal belief is that people professing to be Christian who take an absolute view of how God’s laws are to be enforced forget this lesson from Jesus.
We can only help our neighbours who stray to find their way back to the right path - we were NEVER called by God to judge - & Jesus’ intervention in Mary Magdelene’s case is absolute evidence of this.
Jesus actions in admonishing Magdelene (and others) “to sin no more” supports my argument that it is our calling to call on our neighbors who do wrong to stop - but to judge, which implies condemnation, is beyond our authority, mainly because we are not worthy to hold such authority.
Again, we must agree to disagree.