So this one religious guy walks up, and he's got this rep for knowing all the rules.  And he goes all like, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

So I said unto him, "What is written in the law? How readest thou?"

And he answering said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."

And I said unto him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

...and lo, he was not cool with that.  At ALL.

Posted 1:34 p.m.  in Category "Check Me Out I'm Talking in Elizabethan English"

16 Comments

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COMMENTS

Can't say I blame the guy.  You just wrote off studying scripture, being baptized, repentance, the church -- the whole works -- as worthless.

Maybe he was hoping for someone to actually help, instead of a simplistic sound bite. 

-- savedbygrace313

I usually like your blog.

But you totally had a chance to seal the deal with this guy, and you just gave him an answer you knew would upset him.  You could have prayed the sinner's prayer with him, could have showed him the chart-thing with the two cliffs and the stick figure on one side and God on the other and how the cross would bridge the gap, but instead you do this, knowing he'd be ticked off.  I don't get it.

-- phillyphan22

And how are we supposed to quantify "love"?  How do I know I'm saved then?

How is this answer supposed to help?  How do I check this off? 

I'm with "savedbygrace".  Instead of being simplistic, why not just give him the right answer?

-- studytheword111

Wow...just wow.

-- i_always_say_wow_just_wow24

this is neat because i love GOD a LOT an d i cant do much right sometimes so i love that you said that

-- jess

Sure, it's really neat that a carpenter from backwater Nowhere can wipe out 2000 years of theology in one blog post. 

Seriously, do some reading before you make up simplistic answers to eternal questions. 

-- theophilus_phd

This is why I LOVE this blog.  You tick off religious people, and make people like me feel like God loves me.  God actually *loves* me.  That is so wild to think about sometimes!

-- marymags123

Jesus Christ, I don't know where you get this stuff.

I realize it's "hip" and "emergent" now to say it's all about love, blah blah blah, but there IS such a thing as the Bible, and we do have rules about the Truth, and it's not just "love".  Sorry.

Jesus, it's amazing what people will believe when we get away from solid teaching.

-- rootedintheword1972

I think what Jesus REALLY meant to say is that this guy wasn't particularly loving, so he needed to love.  He did everything else just fine, like tithing and keeping the Sabbath, and love is just another one of the things you're supposed to do. 

That's the way I look at it.  Jesus was just saying love is another thing to check off the list, and this guy was doing a good job on the list, and so it's just one more thing.  Right Jesus?

-- sallyann

No, Jesus REALLY means that you have to take this in context with all of the Bible.  Jesus knew that guy would eventually have a New Testament, so he could understand that Jesus didn't really mean that eternal life wouldn't really be based on loving God with heart, soul, strength mind, and loving neighbor.   God knows it's not that simple.  If it were, I could preach in less than 35 minutes.

-- RevBoy22

No, what Jesus REALLY means is that God has a wonderful plan for your life, and you need a daily quiet time like NOW or else you're really blowing it, big-time, and you need to start witnessing more fervently, and memorizing The Word.

-- goterrapins1990

No, what Jesus is REALLY trying to say here is that we've lost a sense of right and wrong, and especially kids these days.  Which isn't surprising, because we don't even pray in schools!  Pass this on to ten friends if you love Jesus!

-- huckafan2012

huckaby sux

-- blinkrulz

I think what Jesus is REALLY saying is that he's flipping nuts.

Imagine if we really started believing this stuff.  All we have to do is "love" God, "love" our neighbor as ourselves, and we live eternally in the Kingdom of God.  So everyone who doesn't "love" God, even if they tithe, pray, preach, evangelize, memorize, all that stuff -- won't be in the Kingdom?

Is that what you're saying?  So I guess we can just do whatever we want then.  Neat.  Hellooooo chaos.

-- disappointed_with_this_blog

Hey "disappointed"...if you don't love God here, why would you even *want* to go somewhere where He's FULLY in charge?  Think about it.  Maybe people who don't love what He's about here would really hate heaven anyway.

-- hunterboy99

i like ur blog jesus and i love you lots!!!!!!!!!

-- horsegirl1999