THE GREATEST and 2ND COMMANDMENT

[sky]

Originally Posted by sky123

Moses never actually refers to them as the “ten commandments.”
Exodus 20:1–2 introduces one of the most famous sections in the Bible—indeed, one of the most important pieces of religious literature in the whole world—the Ten Commandments. Oddly enough, they’re never actually called the Ten Commandments.

The Hebrew expression, which occurs three times in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4), literally means “ten words.” This is why Exodus 20 is often referred to as the Decalogue, deka being the Greek word for “ten” and logos meaning “word.” These are the Ten Words that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai—and, I would argue, the Ten Words that God wants all of us to follow.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/a...-commandments/

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

Moses never actually refers to them as the “ten commandments.”
Exodus 20:1–2 introduces one of the most famous sections in the Bible—indeed, one of the most important pieces of religious literature in the whole world—the Ten Commandments. Oddly enough, they’re never actually called the Ten Commandments.

The Hebrew expression, which occurs three times in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4), literally means “ten words.” This is why Exodus 20 is often referred to as the Decalogue, deka being the Greek word for “ten” and logos meaning “word.” These are the Ten Words that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai—and, I would argue, the Ten Words that God wants all of us to follow.

What we are talking about now is the two commandments that Jesus spoke about.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

These are the Ten Words that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai—and, I would argue, the Ten Words that God wants all of us to follow.

.......... and if a person does not follow those commandments, are you in harmony with what the punishment might be?

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

.......... and if a person does not follow those commandments, are you in harmony with what the punishment might be?

There will be no punishment

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

There will be no punishment

.... which means people can do whatever they want. Other wards..... worthless.

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Hard to believe the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law "hung on these two commandments."

Over 700 laws reduced to 2 ...... unbelievable simplification.

Ignorance is bliss

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Jesus spoke of the greatest commandment and the second commandment.

Matthew 22:34-40 records that conversation from the (NIV)

(34) Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
(35) One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
(36) “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
(37) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
(38) This is the first and greatest commandment.
(39) And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
(40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Why are these two commandments so difficult to follow?

BigJohn,

The difficulty presented comes from understanding vs. 37..."Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind". We need to unravel exactly what this implies. How does one instruct their heart and soul to do anything ? IMO it means that we must make all 3 of these elements(heart, soul, mind) to work in conjunction with each other. It would seem that for most of us that the first effort should be focused on the mind. This seems to be the first and most logical starting point because we have familiarity with our minds.

Romans 12:2,,,,,"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind".....this tells us that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds......i.e. that it is possible. Lyrics from 2 different songs come to mind....."Heart over mind, worried all the time" and …."My heart tells me stay but my pride tells me go". Both of these songs indicate that a conflict can exist between heart and mind. These need to be brought into harmony to be able to follow the commandment of Jesus. IMO we experience emotions(notably love) with our hearts and intuition comes from the heart. We say often...."trust your heart" which can also be understood as "trust your intuitions". This is the source of genuine knowledge....that which we are most sure of, etc. But if the heart is hardened we are denied access to intuition and true knowledge. If the mind is not transformed then the heart cannot be informed. As the one song says...(my heart tells me stay but my pride tells me go)…..our 'pride' is our mind displaying the ego. We are allowing faulty logic from our mind to establish dominance over our heart(the source of emotions and intuition).

Using and working with our mind we can remember that we are intended to be one with God and that we are a reflection of God. If this is true for us individually then it is likewise true for everyone else. We must accept that everyone else is also a reflection of God. It is with this realization that love of our neighbor is completely logical and necessary...….indeed it is the only conclusion that we can arrive at. When you see your neighbor you are seeing God in His incarnation. Perhaps one cannot see God in his neighbor but God knows that He has given your neighbor the same potential to become his fullest Self just as He has given it to you.

Once we transform our minds in this way we can bring these elements(heart, soul and mind) into the harmony that is intended and allows us to love God and neighbor as Jesus commanded.

I realize that I neglected 'soul' in this answer but I wished for brevity and discussing the role of soul would complicate and greatly lengthen my response.

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

.... which means people can do whatever they want. Other wards..... worthless.

No.... not at all.

Punishment .... who's going to punish you? You can't force someone by Command-ments because that is bribery and your actions to the Command-ments are driven by fear of punishment instead of love.

Consequences..... you learn by your mistakes sounds more sensible to me anyway.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

No.... not at all.

Punishment .... who's going to punish you? You can't force someone by Command-ments because that is bribery and your actions to the Command-ments are driven by fear of punishment instead of love.

Consequences..... you learn by your mistakes sounds more sensible to me anyway.

Why did Buddha speak numerous times that if a person did certain things, they could no longer associate and in many cases, were 'caste out'? Is that not a form of punishment?

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Why did Buddha speak numerous times that if a person did certain things, they could no longer associate and in many cases, were 'caste out'? Is that not a form of punishment?

BigJohn,

Speaking of Buddha in relation to the commandments of Jesus sounds like syncretism to me....:) Not quite sure is this is kosher...:)