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Originally Posted by Molearner
davidmartin,
First of all, I apologize for referencing just one sentence of your posting. But mentioning 'perfect' caught my attention. How does a Christian define 'perfect'? As a student of scripture I am drawn to the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:48.....Jesus says..."Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect". This seems difficult, if not impossible, to understand. How can one possibly be perfect?
IMO, the answer is found in the parallel verse in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. After almost identical preceding verses in both books Luke 6:36 has Jesus saying this...."Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful". Being merciful, IMO, is much easier to understand than 'being perfect'. Mercy, in its strictest sense, is what a judge gives you despite your acknowledged or proven guilt. Mercy implies understanding, love and forgiveness. Mercy is an act that we can both understand and practice.
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IDK, I see what you are saying, but I think I still prefer perfect here. It seems to me that the whole sermon on the mound is a lesson on how to perfect the spirit. About brining the will of the soul in alignment with the will of God. While mercy is certainly in line with goodness, and a good start, I think this is more about the perfection of love. Where there is perfect unconditional love, there is no need for the thought of mercy, there are no conditions to be violated, no will to punish in the first place. Although I do agree perfect unconditional love is not something at present my soul can fully comprehend, I still seem to feel that perfection of love was what is being conveyed here. It seems to me that I fight a battle on the inside, my will to do what I want, vs my desire to come closer to knowing God. Through the perfection of love within my soul, my will becomes identical with the will of God and the separation is removed..... or something like that??
“Govinda said: "But what you call thing, is it something real, something intrinsic? Is it not only the illusion of Maya, only image and appearance? Your stone, your tree, are they real?"
"This also does not trouble me much," said Siddhartha. "If they are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always of the same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so lovable and venerable. That is why I can Love them. And here is a doctrine at which you will laugh. It seems to me, Govinda, that love is the most important thing in the world. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.”
― Herman Hesse (22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being
suckled are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?"
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."
The Gospel of Thomas
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