Saints and Aints

 Hello everyone, here is a real theology post. It is about the first and second greatest commandments. I jsut heard it read at my church.  The first most important commandment is to love the lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength.  And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.  In the old testament what precedes this is the statement that the Lord your God is one, Israel.

So okay, here is a little question:  Where is family in this structure? Are they a type of neighbor? Because usually it is seen as differently than that.  I would say maybe they are part of the one-ness with God. When God says he is one (even though we now know he is a trinity), and says to love him with all your self, then maybe there is something about family that is part of either your love or the one-ness of God.  

So then later we can see that the concept of family can be extended to the church.  What I am saying is that the whole church universal and of all time might be part of that first commandment, when you love God with all your heart mind and strength, you are doing so with all of God's people.

I am now suggesting that the "neighbors" might be the reprobate and receive only justice. So it is either mercy or justice.

In other blogs I have said that mercy, justice, and grace are a trio of blessings that have to do with what is deserved and not deserved.  But here I am suggesting that the presbyterian heaven and hell theology might be contained in just these two verses.  It also makes me wonder about the geography of heaven and hell.  If you conclude that it is the church in the first verse and all others in the second verse, then why are they listed as neighbors? I just wonder what the proximity will always be, and if there is some way it already plays out in the purgatory of earth.

This could also be a caution about justice. This is an extreme view that I have never heard before, but I believe it is there if people want to consider it. 

 Well everyone, I might not get this post right, but I just watched a Sept 11 video and saw how people near the explosion in the building knew they had to get out, and people who felt safe in other parts of the building sometimes stayed in their office so they didn't get out when the building collapsed.

I don't know if it is bad to use that as an illustration and this is a theology blog not a sermon and talk blog. But that actually is a key theological revelation is that people need to realize they have a sin problem and the building is going to explode.  And salvation is when you know to take the way out which is Jesus Christ. So anyway, does this or does this not match the way people can be deceived by mostly good lives.  Well I do not know.  Because if it requires revelation either way, then maybe the issue isn't the amount or degree of sin anyway.  But I think possibly that is why God lets people have problems sometimes, so they pray a general prayer asking for help, and he can deliver them from a lot of stuff.  It is kind of like that "plagues as cures" idea.

Anyway, that is a post, have a good day everyone.

Philosophers and Theologians

 Hello everyone, here is a simple, unexpected worldly monk post.  It is about apologetics, and strategies that work.  And last night I was thinking about something and came across this idea.  Often there is an argument between atheism and christianity, or a discussion that lists christianity among worldviews, and it sometimes comes across as seeming lesser, like it took less philosophical strength to conclude it.  But think about the word "theologian." It is very appealing, and who wouldn't want to be a theologian?  So here is my new idea, when talking with the lost college students, young adults, or academic drifters of any sort.  The idea is to sell "being a theologian," instead of arguing christianity against whatever worldly belief is popular.  Possibly some people already figured this out.  But I never thought of it until yesterday, and I think it could be more of a call to the heart than whatever arguments might actually make people defend their mistakes even more.