Canonized Principles of Jesus

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Can anyone here give a somewhat canonized version of Jesus’ principles?

Jesus stated, “I am the Truth…” But precisely to what Truth(s) was he referring?

It seems to me that Jesus represented specific principles with which many Jews at that time disagreed. Jesus did not merely go around saying, “I am the Messiah, worship me.” Rather he taught of concepts, corrected misunderstandings, and advised behavior.

If one does not know those principles, I don’t see how he could claim to know Jesus. And not knowing Jesus, how could he claim to be Christian (of any sort)?

A great many claim “faith in Jesus”, yet when I ask, “what were his principles”, I get merely a confused look. They claim to merely have faith and that is all it takes. I ask, “shouldn’t you make sure that it is the real Jesus that you are placing your faith in?” That stops most ministers and pastors.

Although most people can name a few of these principles, I have yet to find anyone who can actually complete a list and thus truly know Jesus. Does anyone know Jesus anymore? Or has that become irrelevant to the cause?
 
Can anyone here give a somewhat canonized version of Jesus’ principles?

Jesus stated, “I am the Truth…” But precisely to what Truth(s) was he referring?

It seems to me that Jesus represented specific principles with which many Jews at that time disagreed. Jesus did not merely go around saying, “I am the Messiah, worship me.” Rather he taught of concepts, corrected misunderstandings, and advised behavior.

If one does not know those principles, I don’t see how he could claim to know Jesus. And not knowing Jesus, how could he claim to be Christian (of any sort)?

A great many claim “faith in Jesus”, yet when I ask, “what were his principles”, I get merely a confused look. They claim to merely have faith and that is all it takes. I ask, “shouldn’t you make sure that it is the real Jesus that you are placing your faith in?” That stops most ministers and pastors.

Although most people can name a few of these principles, I have yet to find anyone who can actually complete a list and thus truly know Jesus. Does anyone know Jesus anymore? Or has that become irrelevant to the cause?
He meant that He is God.

The reason He said this to Pilate, however, was because there were many different philosophies going around at that time, as well as many forms of pagan worship.

After Jesus said to Pilate, “I am Truth.” Pilate replied with, “What is Truth?”,
because he, like most people, was swayed by all of the latest ideas.

Consider this:

When the people started arguing to themselves as to whether or not Jesus was the Messiah, some argued, saying," We know where this Man is from; but the Messiah, nobody knows where He comes from."

Jesus replied to this, “Yes, you know Me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on My own, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, but I know Him because I am* from* Him and He sent Me.”
  • (In other words, they don’t know God)*
My point is this:

God is One.

Christ is the Word of God, and because you can’t “separate” God from God, the Word of God is God.
Christ is the Truth of God; God is Truth.

Ultimately, when contemplating oh who God is, we have to remember that God will forever be *completely *beyond comprehension.

(To quote Jesus: Who God is in His essence, no one, neither the minds of angels nor of man, will ever comprehend.")

To answer your first question: Read the Sermon on the Mount.**
 
Can anyone here give a somewhat canonized version of Jesus’ principles?

Jesus stated, “I am the Truth…” But precisely to what Truth(s) was he referring?

It seems to me that Jesus represented specific principles with which many Jews at that time disagreed. Jesus did not merely go around saying, “I am the Messiah, worship me.” Rather he taught of concepts, corrected misunderstandings, and advised behavior.

If one does not know those principles, I don’t see how he could claim to know Jesus. And not knowing Jesus, how could he claim to be Christian (of any sort)?

A great many claim “faith in Jesus”, yet when I ask, “what were his principles”, I get merely a confused look. They claim to merely have faith and that is all it takes. I ask, “shouldn’t you make sure that it is the real Jesus that you are placing your faith in?” That stops most ministers and pastors.

Although most people can name a few of these principles, I have yet to find anyone who can actually complete a list and thus truly know Jesus. Does anyone know Jesus anymore? Or has that become irrelevant to the cause?
Well, Jesus completely supported the principles of the law given in the Torah, and interpreted those laws more strictly than other Rabbis.

Leviticus 19:18 says that we should hold no grudge against anyone, and shall love our neigbors as ourselves. He extended this commandment by saying “you shall love your enemies.”

He clarified the tenth commandment of the decalogue by showing that it prohibits sinful thoughts and desires, and only covetous speach.

He afirmed that the Shema is the greatest of commandments and to love your neighbor is second to that. And these are completely orthodox.

You ask what truth he refers to when he said that he is the truth. Well, Jews believed that your name really is what you are.

So his name was probably Joshua, because the same greek transliteration is used for his name and the name of the patriarch Joshua of the time of Moses in the septuagint.

So he was in his essence the meaning of the name Joshua. The name is about God delivering his people as Joshua did. But Jesus realized his name in a greater way than Joshua, he was sent by God from place to place, and called everyone to be sent in the same way.

When you have been sent in this way by God the father, you have been reborn of the spirit.

You then know the metaphysical truth, about life and your own existence. You then have become the offspring of God our father, born of his spirit.

This is what is meant by the kingdom of God. Kingdom in hebrew also means sovereignty. When God has taken you up from existence, as he did H’enoch, and then delivered you back to the earth as he did Jesus, Philip, and perhaps Paul, you know the kingdom power and glory of God. His sovereignty…
 
I have an unorthodox answer, involving questions (some of which I will answer for you ;)) Forgive me my methodology.

First question: What distinguished Socrates in the ancient world? Answer: His method of questioning. He did not take a position and defend it. Instead, he asked questions and tried to draw out the answers that were already there, within a person. Similarly, Christ taught not only through words, but through the method that His life characterized. This method began with His becoming man incarnate, but it continued in his life: he taught, he healed, he relaxed, he prayed, he died, he rose. It is in these actions, not only in his words, that the method of his life is to be found.

The situation of Socrates and the Sophists is largely parallel to the situation of Jesus and the Jewish rabbis. The rabbis were teaching content. They thought that a person could be understood and reckoned from the outside in; this is why the Pharisees were so obsessed with appearances. In this context, Jesus stood against the “outside-in” mentality, and declared that what mattered was a man’s heart – that is, his fixed intentions, not the outward form of his actions. This is all over the Gospels: Jesus chose fishermen and tax collectors; he said “blessed are the poor”; he forgave the good thief. Judge not, lest ye be judged was a key principle.

Even more central to His teaching was a new idea of love. The Greek word *agape *captures this: the idea was that **you must love everyone **-- that is, that you must actively seek the good of all. Even your enemies. This does not involve giving people what they want, but often involves flying in the face of what they want, to focus on their needs: turning over tables in the Temple, for example.

Jesus also taught that we must die to our own desires. This, too, was a thought prefigured by Socrates and Job, among others. There is a fundamental separation between us and God, and our day-to-day desires and way of living is a manifestation of that separation. It is not a matter of desire being bad (a la Buddhism), but all desire must flow from a desire for God. Anything you cannot possibly give up, you must give up. But once you love God more than you love it, you just might get it back.

Jesus taught that we must immerse ourselves in the world of the poor and needy. This is one of Jesus’ clearest teachings, and one of the teachings pastors preach about the least. It is uncomfortable, and it makes us feel guilty. But it is absolutely central. If God stooped to become man, then man must stoop to become like God. The dignity of the human person is inviolable, and no external circumstance can exempt us from the duty to take care of one another’s physical needs.

I’m just getting started, but I really should go to bed. More to follow…

Hope this helps. 🤷
 
Geometer, I completely agree with what you have said and I very much admire what you are saying, Prodigal_Son, and please don’t stop, but realize that I have asked 2 questions that are one.

I have asked for a canonized (comprehensive and complete) list of principles.

But I have also asked if there is even one Catholic that can show me that you truly know Jesus (whether you follow him or not).

Many claim to love Jesus, yet I find that they do not really know him. How can you love someone who you do not know? To know someone (or anything) you must know what it is as well as what it isn’t.

If your reply is, “Jesus is the Son of God”, then clearly you do not know Jesus, not due to any error in the statement, but rather due to how it was stated.

I believe it was Simon who Jesus wished to build his church upon because he saw that Simon could see that Jesus was the Son and thus the truth within Jesus (his Father) without being told by others. Thus Simon did not merely know Jesus, but understood him. Understanding forms the “rock” whereas faith leads to make a place for it.

How can any man truly follow if he does not clearly know what is to be followed? It is often said that one need not know as long as he knows where to find the information, but such was never really true. Telling me to read the book, would tell me that you do not know and thus moment by moment cannot follow said principles nor love them.

If you must struggle with the question, then you must also struggle with your love of the answers, of Jesus himself.

Jesus stated that “if you are not with me, then you are against me” and though he was referring to his disciples, I think it should be kept in mind that no matter what the intention, if principles are even accidentally accepted that are not *with *Jesus, then the holder is against Jesus. If principles are not known and accepted, then how can you be *with *them?

This indicates to me a need to very clearly know and even seek to completely understand Jesus’ principles.

After 2000 years, is it true that not a single person out of the millions truly knows Jesus even if he doesn’t yet understand him? Must he start all over?

I have often felt that the greatest error of the Church was to under emphasis the need to understand and replace it with the power of mysticism and glorification. It is my perception that it is only that one flaw that has led to the entire convolution of Man from the moment of Jesus’ execution.

I have asked for evidence of knowing Jesus via a canonized list, complete and comprehensive (succinct would be nice). 🙂
 
I have asked for evidence of knowing Jesus via a canonized list, complete and comprehensive (succinct would be nice). 🙂
Well, I am not sure what you might accomplish with a special list. Jesus said to simply believe him. Thomas didn’t seem to be able to do that, and I don’t see how a list would have helped him.

His gospel is about ascending and descending from heaven sent by God. Thomas only understood the reality of that when he witnessed Jesus descend before him.

The our father can be divided into ten phrases, which can be corresponded to the ten sephirot of the tree of life.

The traditional diagram places mercy and loving kindness on the right and the strength and teaching of God on the left.

So “thy will be done”, would correspond to loving kindness, and “on earth as it is in heaven” would correspond to strength and torah his teaching.

The proper approach to law or doing anything is to know love first, because this is the will of god.

If one can see that the correspondence between the ten phrases of the Our father and the sephirot is authentic, then the Our father is understood as the prayer for ascending and descending. It is a prayer to be sent.

It may not be the list that you are looking for, but it is an excellent list…

Knowledge
 
Well, I am not sure what you might accomplish with a special list. Jesus said to simply believe him.
What it accomplishes is a clear sight of what to believe, love, and faithfully follow. Without clarity, error (sin) spawns in the shadows. :cool:

That link crashes my browser. 😦
 
What it accomplishes is a clear sight of what to believe, love, and faithfully follow. Without clarity, error (sin) spawns in the shadows. :cool:

That link crashes my browser. 😦
Do you have a Mac?

I might be able to fix that…
 
Merely a PC and Firefox (sorry, one must make do). 😊
Well, I use a PC but I also use the Internet Explorer browser by MS. Try the link again. I removed one of the Java models. Some browsers can only interpret on Java program at a time.
 
The Sermon on the Mount,

which is Matthew, Chapters 5, 6, and 7.
 
James,

This is an excellent set of thoughts and questions you have put forth here, and I am already impressed by your persistence in seeking to understand.
I have asked for a canonized (comprehensive and complete) list of principles.

But I have also asked if there is even one Catholic that can show me that you truly know Jesus (whether you follow him or not).
There is a clear explanation for this phenomenon. No one can show you that they know x, unless you first know *x *yourself. Otherwise, how would you recognize their knowledge? If I were to tell you that I knew Barack Obama, surely you would not be satisfied that I prove it by telling you *about *Barack Obama? You could only know that I knew Obama if you asked Obama himself (or someone who you *knew *quite close to him). The verification process is predicated on direct familiarity, which you admittedly do not have.
Many claim to love Jesus, yet I find that they do not really know him. How can you love someone who you do not know? To know someone (or anything) you must know what it is as well as what it isn’t.
Well, let’s consider this. Do we ever fully know someone? Of course not. For example, I have certain ways of knowing what my wife is and is not, but I cannot fully fathom her. But certainly you realize that the knowledge of Jesus must be greater in scope than the knowledge of any human being. Here we are talking about discursive knowledge, roughly what I think you are looking for by asking for the canonized principles of Jesus. I listed some of the principles Christ stood for in my first post. But when you know a person’s principles, do you really know them?

Of course not. You know *about *them. You may know something quite deep and important about them, but I do not think that knowing Christ’s principles could ever amount to knowing Christ.

Knowing Jesus is all about relationship. My relationship with Jesus is shallow and faltering, but I still think I can begin to describe it to you. *Jesus is the ground of my being. *Knowing this is not an intellectual, but an emotional, activity. When I close my eyes, and let myself go into the void of emptiness within me (which is my lack of self-knowledge), Jesus is there – He is deep waters, but He is entirely other. I have no way of getting to Him, but He has chosen to reach out and to love me.

Yes, I know, that last paragraph was mystical, and you seem to object to this kind of mysticism. But the reality of Jesus is not just mystical; it is also historical. But how do we know that the historical Jesus, who is read about, is the same as the mystical Jesus, who is known relationally within oneself? Is this something like your question?
I believe it was Simon who Jesus wished to build his church upon because he saw that Simon could see that Jesus was the Son and thus the truth within Jesus (his Father) without being told by others. Thus Simon did not merely know Jesus, but understood him. Understanding forms the “rock” whereas faith leads to make a place for it.
This is well put. I am not sure that faith is invalid if the object of faith is unknown (or at least not fully known), which seems also to be something you’re implying here. But where does this faith take us? It needs a content, a direction, a charge.
How can any man truly follow if he does not clearly know what is to be followed?
A powerful question. But I fail to understand how the principles Jesus espoused are not clear enough to be followed. You are right that a relationship must *precede *such Scriptural following, but if there is a relationship, aren’t the teachings of the Gospel reasonably clear on what following Jesus involves (even if we many Christians choose to ignore many of these teachings)?
Jesus stated that “if you are not with me, then you are against me” and though he was referring to his disciples, I think it should be kept in mind that no matter what the intention, if principles are even accidentally accepted that are not *with *Jesus, then the holder is against Jesus. If principles are not known and accepted, then how can you be *with *them?
But it seems that you want to reduce all of the ethical life – in fact, all of life itself – to a set of principles, and this is impossible. When you follow a rabbi, you do not ask what must be done in every eventuality and take notes. You stay near the rabbi, and consult him whenever you have a difficult decision. You build the habits of one of his followers, and find your way by instinct – instinct that is formed in his image.
After 2000 years, is it true that not a single person out of the millions truly knows Jesus even if he doesn’t yet understand him? Must he start all over?
I believe we must start all over every day. Our ideas of God can never contain God, and we must constantly be stretching our ideas.
 
Prodigal_Son, you were doing so well. Why did you fall to presumption?
  1. “…what mattered was a man’s heart…”
  2. “…you must love everyone…”
  3. “…we must die to our own desires…”
  4. “…we must immerse ourselves in the world of the poor and needy…”
  5. …?
  6. …?
    .
    .
    Final) …?
James,

This is an excellent set of thoughts and questions you have put forth here, and I am already impressed by your persistence in seeking to understand.
Please try to understand. It is ***you ***(the Catholic example) that I am seeking to understand.
No one can show you that they know x, unless you first know *x *yourself. Otherwise, how would you recognize their knowledge?
I believe it was Paul who commented that one can ascertain to whom to listen by first verifying that they agree with what you already believe. This is actually a fundamental principle in metaphysics although I wouldn’t expect a metaphysicist to already know that.
The verification process is predicated on direct familiarity, which you admittedly do not have.
???
Being one who has “been there, done that”, “taken the Jesus tour”, “climbed the mountain”, got the “blisters” (would have preferred a T-Shirt), I can tell you 2 important things;
  1. In the right environment, his promises and principles are true.
  2. PRESUMPTION is the impetus (father) for truly all error (sin).
Although presumption can never be totally avoided, it helps when one tries.
Well, let’s consider this. Do we ever fully know someone? Of course not… But when you know a person’s principles, do you really know them?
I merely asked for a clear set of Jesus’ principles. The point is that if you do NOT know even that, then you certainly do NOT know Jesus.

I was not seeking verification that you DO know him entirely. I am seeking evidence that you “do not NOT know” him substantially. I am asking for positive evidence that the negative is not true. I am seeking evidence of innocence, not guilt.
But the reality of Jesus is not just mystical; it is also historical.
More importantly, it is also logical and rational. This is a fact that I have very clearly seen to be missing throughout Christianity. It puts far too much unnecessary strain on faith when understanding (logos, logic, and rationality) is left out giving free reign to pathos.

“Don’t test God but proceed by the word of God” = don’t test and strain unnecessarily but attend to the true need.
Is this something like your question?
Not even in the slightest. Have you confused me with someone else? Perhaps you have become too immersed in the heat of battle? I propose no battle. Perhaps if you read my greetings intro…?
But where does this faith take us? It needs a content, a direction, a charge.
I believe I stated that where it takes you is to the rock of understanding, where the shield of faith can then be sanctified.
aren’t the teachings of the Gospel reasonably clear on what following Jesus involves (even if we many Christians choose to ignore many of these teachings)?
Are you telling me that you believe that protestants understand the exact truth of the matter and merely “choose” to follow incorrectly? Or are you saying that they ARE correct and thus it is the Catholic that must be in error? Or perhaps there is no error in understanding anywhere and it is all merely a contest of emotional choice?
But it seems that you want to reduce all of the ethical life – in fact, all of life itself – to a set of principles, and this is impossible. When you follow a rabbi,…

This is not at all what I wanted, but since you mentioned such, have you ever heard of the “flower of life”? It is a set of the fundamental principles of life as taught by the Rabbinical order. They seem to think it is possible.​

The first act of love is one of inquiry; “what is the true need? == what would God have me do?” It is not the act of presumption in giving before opening the eyes, ears, and mind.

Certainly you can see that to answer a question to a man speaking a different vocal language, you must answer him in the language he can understand. But equally every mind has its own mental language and to answer any question to anyone, the first act of love is to see with your mind and heart what language the man’s mind seems to understand.

If the man asks for a list of principles. Can’t it be safe enough to believe that such a list is what he might truly need?

I will ask just one more time;

**Is there any Catholic on this apologist site who can spell out a canonized, “defining”, " complete" list that would succinctly indicate your understanding of Jesus’ principles (not his entire teachings, understandings, and explanations)?
 
???
Being one who has “been there, done that”, “taken the Jesus tour”, “climbed the mountain”, got the “blisters” (would have preferred a T-Shirt), I can tell you 2 important things;
  1. In the right environment, his promises and principles are true.
  2. PRESUMPTION is the impetus (father) for truly all error (sin).
Although presumption can never be totally avoided, it helps when one tries.
Hey James,

I haven’t even finished reading your post, but when I read this I wanted to respond right away. I did presume, and I was very wrong to do so. I apologize. I thought that I remembered reading in your post that you did not feel that you knew Jesus. I was wrong, because you had said no such thing.

Thanks for the lesson,
Daniel
 
Having understanding of the principle of forgiveness (hint), I can never give up on the faith in it. 😉
 
I shall continue my list ;), although I must admit that my list only represents my own views as a Catholic, not the views of the Church as such. From this point, I’ll abbreviate my entries, because I don’t get the idea you need Christian teaching explained to you.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus constantly defers to His Father’s judgment and will. In His example, we find that the glory of man is found in submission.

Jesus sent His apostles to make disciples of all nations, through baptism. The Gospels strongly indicate that this was His spiritual mission, and it should also be our own.

I don’t know why I didn’t mention this earlier, but Jesus’ message to each individual was a message of profound forgiveness. Our condition is characterized by sin, but through the person of Jesus we have forgiveness.

Although this one is controversial, it is also central to Catholic understanding. It is clear from Jesus’ teaching that each man plays a role in his own salvation. (Consider the faith of the centurion, the story of the rich young man, etc). The grace of God is available to all, although some do not accept that grace. It is the free will offering of a person’s life that God desires. This faith will, of course, be expressed in godliness.

The miracles of the New Testament are extremely important, but Jesus clearly teaches that He can work miracles in and through us, even after He is “gone”. At any given time, God is actively working wonders in the world.

The person of God is incarnate in Jesus, but the power of God may also be incarnate in us. **Jesus wants us to be transformed by the Holy Spirit **-- the Spirit’s power in us transforms us back into the image of God (our Edenic state).

The Scripture clearly says that we must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood. From context ("This is a difficult teaching; who can accept it?), it is clear that Jesus meant this literally. The life of God is contained in the Eucharist, and through the Eucharist we have fullness of life.

I’ve got to say, I have no idea how I could ever make a comprehensive list, James. But I will look through this later to see what I’ve left out. On to other matters…
Are you telling me that you believe that protestants understand the exact truth of the matter and merely “choose” to follow incorrectly? Or are you saying that they ARE correct and thus it is the Catholic that must be in error? Or perhaps there is no error in understanding anywhere and it is all merely a contest of emotional choice?
I do think there is a difference between Catholic and Protestant beliefs, but I think the differences are overemphasized. There is a bigger gap between the beliefs and the actions of both Catholics and Protestants (as individuals) than there is between the actual beliefs of Catholics and Protestants. I am inclined to agree with the statement that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; Christianity has never been tried”.
Is there any Catholic on this apologist site who can spell out a canonized, “defining”, " complete" list that would succinctly indicate your understanding of Jesus’ principles (not his entire teachings, understandings, and explanations)?
Not that I know of.
 
For the record, I wrote the my post above *before *I saw this post. 😃
What I am perceiving is integrity and diligence which are perhaps even more essential than the list I have requested. 🙂

I once logged onto a Christian forum as “Reluctant Prophet”. I chose that name primarily just to stir the Christians although I found that it stirred the Secularists even more. But once chosen, those who knew me in r/t commented that the name really suited me.

Unfortunately the “Reluctant” aspect of the name came from the fact that I could only foresee very, very, seriously dark future for Mankind and thus was reluctant to go into such matters and discussions.

But on the more hopeful and positive side, I could see that this list is a first step to “unscrambling the egg”, a notably impossible miracle, but I am accustom to such challenges.

I consider the accurate list to be as the “DNA” of Jesus. Long ago, I felt that the resurrected Jesus seemed to be missing one significant “gene” from his “DNA”. That gene related to the promotion of the attempt to understand (whether entirely accomplishable or not). Jesus taught in a time when Solomon had already emphasized the need to “seek understanding” and wisdom so Jesus had no need to preach on such effort.

But it seems the result of him not preaching on that issue left his pursuant church to under-emphasis the need to at least try toward understanding rather than merely be awestruck and mystified by the glory. As I have stated, I believe that if this one “tiny hole in the dike” had been attend to, the subsequent and current “flood” would have never been necessary and the past 2000 years would have been more than sufficient for the Catholic Church to become just as its name implies.

Without this gene of understanding within the DNA of Christianity, cancer develops quite easily. The Catholic certainly should be able to testify to such cancer. The Muslim nor the Protestant would exist.

But one of the many insights that I gained “upon the mountain” was a cure and prevention for such cancer. I named it “Four dimensional stitching”.

The idea is basically that in all directions, the essential understanding of exactly what Jesus stood upon be canonized so that it could be cross checked and verified with any new “cell” being developed. This means that as A leads to B, B is verified to be fundamentally exactly what A was at its core. But further, as B leads to C, C is also verified against A so as to “double stitch” the body of Jesus into a more solidly pure being.

What is most essential is that his principles be very clearly stated with its words well defined. Without clarity, clouds, disorder, dust, uncleanliness, and germs grow out of control and my house would begin to look, well… like Christianity.

If the body cells are verified in such a manner, Cancer cannot occur. A similar thing is applied with the Nicene Creed. But I find that creed to be seriously lacking mostly due to the list being so easily misunderstood. That too can be fixed.

Of course, I am not expecting the Church to change its ways, but I do want to verify for myself that such a need is real (of God). And thus I ask not of the leaders, fore it is a bit irrelevant what they understand of such a list, but rather ask of those closer to the “bottom” to reveal what understanding of Jesus is being propagated, if any.

The very dark, even black, imminent event for Man can be diverted, but not without restoring the Logos. After only a few steps, I can see that every problem that Man has ever faced or is ever likely to face will have a ready prevention. The eternal life of harmony is God’s aim (purpose). That can be shown to even the lesser mind.

All of this is of course a rather long issue of a theoretical nature and not directly relevant to this thread, but reveals my intent in asking the question that I asked.

I find it interesting that no one has yet mentioned what Jesus declared to be the utmost important “commandment” - “Love God”. Without that one principle, the others are irrelevant, not merely because Jesus said it was the highest of all commandments, but because he was right.

Due to that one principle not being well defined, all atheists are born and all arrogance is inspired.

I thank you each for your replies thus far and I will continue checking back in hopes of a completed list. From my perspective, no other focus for any church at this time, could be more relevant (of God).
 
I think that the problem with your situation is that you are to focused on you.
Go out and love people.

And when you love people, it isn’t necessarily the big acts that God cares as much about (even though they do matter).
It’s the little acts that the most, the everyday things. Why? Because the random acts of kindness are completely spontaneous, and because there is no time to think about them, they reveal who you* truly *are as a human being!

Jesus said, “If anybody loves Me, he will keep My word.”

Love is an act of the will. What does it mean to love Him, then? It means to keep His word.
 
I think that the problem with your situation is that you are to focused on you.
Go out and love people.
Try to not presume, especially in judgment. I don’t recall making such judgments concerning you.

I suggest that one cannot “keep his word” if he does not clearly know his word.

His “word” and his “name” and essence is expressed in his principles. Thus to know his word and to act in his name means to know his principles and abide by them.

One might do such out of love. But one might also do such out of love for his father. I am not one of those who loves Jesus because he loved me first, but rather because he loved as I love (he just happened to be a lot better at it. 🙂 )
 
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