How would you sum up Christ's message in 20 words or less to a stranger?

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Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22:

"37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’c 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
 
Luke 10:27

Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
 
Christ took our place on the cross.

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
 
Veni, Vidi, Vici-He came He saw He conquered. JOKE!
Christ’s life in 20 words:
He fulfilled OT & taught us to live Holy in love. He suffered, died, rose to reunite us w Father.

Would have liked to have Virgin birth and opening up heaven in afterlife. Greeks got excited about heaven. Somewhere to go after death. Living forever. Lord, knows that would be greater than 20 words
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
 
Honestly, though this is hypothetical, I cannot think of a standard line, even to a stranger. I am a person who adapts my line to a given situation, moment and the person concerned, what I would think would be most suitable for him to hear.

Besides, I do not speak to strangers about Jesus. I am too shy for that.

Having said that, John 3:16 probably is a good one. One could expand much from that.

Jesus is a Savior. He brings salvation into the world. We can only welcome and receive it.

Everything else is what entails from that.
 
Christ’s message is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he is the King.
This is how he summarised his message, and this is how we should to.
 
How about: God, in Love, chose a virgin born
eternal Son to reunite ALL heaven and earth
thru His death and resurrection. (see Eph. 1:9-10)

Exactly 20 words!!
 
I like this thread. It gets right to the heart of the matter! I happily notice the absence of the words:
Catechism: Christ never used that term.
Pope: Ditto
Bishops: Ditto
Canon: Ditto
Infallibility: Ditto

All NOT part of Christ’s message. All made up by mortals afterwards. Refreshing. No “Shiite Catholic” rhetoric. Only the great messages of love and salvation.
 
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You know, that’s a good question.

“If you love the Creation, don’t you love the Creator”?

Plenty of people love to look at the beauty of a sunrise, for example, or even the beauty of their spouse or their child. . .but while they might have some nebulous idea of ‘yes, God created this" that often gets confused with, "but X created this.’ You reference Mozart, you might even think that God worked ‘through’ Mozart, but when you listen to Mozart, you’re usually admiring the man and his talent. At best God is some kind of nebulous ‘thing’ far off that might be remembered once in a while in a cursory kind of way. When it comes to your child, you usually credit your spouse and your self for ‘creating’ this child about 1 million times more than you might think of God, especially if you aren’t particularly religious.

And what about the nonChristian and even nonreligious? They look at the same sun, hear the same Mozart, see the same loved ones, and don’t think of God at all. They ‘love the creation’ but don’t have a thought for the Creator. . .
 
Only that Christ message is not in twenty words. You would be a fool if you think that is all you need. (I am not saying you a fool).

Because if that is, if all there is just about love, doing good, well, everybody are more or less doing that. You do not have to be a Christian; you can be a Muslim or a Buddhist - they are also teaching more or less the same thing.

However, I think I know where you are coming from - minimally essential Christian. Haha
 
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Jesus used a lot more than 20 words. So did the Apostles, so did St. Paul, and Clement and Augustine. So, of course, did the Law and the Prophets, which Jesus summarized succinctly, as some have quoted here. And then he gave the command to go out and covert the whole world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t limit them to 20 words.
 
Aww come on, don’t be a poor sport; this is just for fun
 
OK, I won’t! Twenty word summaries are a good exercise, and thought provoking.

(But RCIA is still going to take 9 months!)
 
I am not a fool. I need all of Christ’s words, but I take only His words as divine. Not mortal words, not mortal interpretations of his words. Those are “teachings” and teachings are always fraught with human opinions and biases. Any teaching that is not verbatim from Christ, I will listen to and consider, but not follow slavishly.
 
Salutations
That’s good! Now, who should we evangelize w this???
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
 
jfz178 said:
I am not a fool. I need all of Christ’s words, but I take only His words as divine. Not mortal words, not mortal interpretations of his words. Those are “teachings” and teachings are always fraught with human opinions and biases. Any teaching that is not verbatim from Christ, I will listen to and consider, but not follow slavishly.
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I am sorry then. I thought you are one of those minimal essential Christians.

For starters, then you must be baptized Christian and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Good for you then.
 
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You seem to have found the Essence of the Gospel,
Love and Salvation, nevertheless He left us w/ the
Church, which is His Body on earth(and in heaven),
so we have a dilemma here. Who do we be loyal to?
Church teaching or Christ’s teaching? No need to
ponder, Church teaching is part of what Christ meant
by “build My Church” in Matt. 16:18.
 
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