The Whole Law=One Precept

pre·cept: \ˈprē-ˌsept\noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin praeceptum, from neuter of praeceptus, past participle of praecipere to take beforehand, instruct, from prae- + capere to take — more at heave

Date:

14th century

1 : a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action
2 : an order issued by legally constituted authority to a subordinate official.

Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Matthew 5:43
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

Matthew 19:19
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "

Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Mark 12:31
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:33
To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Luke 10:27
He 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.' "

Romans 13:9
The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

James 2:8
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.

Galatians 5:14
The entire law is summed up in this one precept [see definition above]: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Download a copy of the poster above by clicking on the image or going to The Plow.

::: admonition (ad-mə-ˈni-shən) noun: gentle or friendly reproof :::

"Does it strike anyone else that much of christian parenting wisdom conforms to the kingdom of the sword rather than the kingdom of the cross?"

~Tonia at Study in Brown

I know you're all going to think I'm nuts, and that's okay, because I think I'm nuts, too. But I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

I think God is doing something amazing in the hearts of his people.

I really mean this. I do believe that the world is about to turn, and I'm one of the lucky human beings to be ON it when this happens.

Because, see, for years I've had a really hard time talking to other Christians about parenting, because what the experts in the field of Christian parenting advice seem to be bent on putting out the message that love must be tough, that training up a child has to involve physical force, that all of those things Jesus said about love and forgiveness and mercy and grace? That wasn't meant for children, just for strangers, neighbors (even if you don't like them) and enemies.

So when I started feeling very convicted about the idea of punishing my children with a belt, rod, switch or hand, I tentatively began talking to other people, both believers and non-believers about my thoughts, and when I discussed this with believers, you would have thought that I was considering giving up my faith to follow Marilyn Manson or drink cyanide laced Flavor-Aid.

There were, however, a couple of people who talked with me about my questions in a rational, conversational tone. There was no anger or fear in their voices.

When I brought up the oft-repeated argument that we are to use the "rod" on our children, she gently reminded me that the rod was used for sheep, was used by the shepherd to guide the sheep.

"If the shepherd hit the sheep with the rod, what do you think the sheep would do the next time they saw the shepherd coming with that rod?"
"They'd run from it," I answered.
"And that would be terrible for the shepherd, right? Because, you know, how can you guide someone with something that scares the tar out of them?"

And this made sense to me.

It's funny how people take that one tiny verse in the Bible, that one little place in Proverbs, and they hold on to that as a mantra. Why not hold onto the verse before it that says, "Much food is in the tilled land of the poor, but there are those who are destroyed because of injustice," and fight for that cause? Or obsess about the one that says, 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel?" Why not commit yourself to that verse?

Or why not hold onto the one in Colossians (3:21) that says, "Do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. [Do not break their spirit.]"

Or the one in Ephesians (6:4) that says, "Do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord."

It's the same thing Jesus did with so many of the other laws we were bound to Before Christ. It's like all of the teachings that Jesus took and turned upside-down. While others were teaching the ethic of reciprocity with words like, "Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him," Jesus was taking it a step further by saying, "Whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets [emphasis mine]." Don't just avoid doing what you wouldn't want done to you. Think about what you would want and do it. Because, in a nutshell, that's what the spirit of the Law and Prophets was really getting at.

So, we have this line in Proverbs that says, "A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them," which is not at all untrue, but after we're reunited with God through Jesus, we get, "Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master." In other words, let's get to the heart of the problem before there is a problem. Let's be proactive instead of reactive. Let's use our hands to hold theirs, to lead them gently in the right direction.

Because, honestly? That's what I need the most work on. I know how to be reactive. I know how to lose my patience. I know how to anger and exasperate my children pretty well. I'd like to say that rearing them tenderly is what comes naturally to me, and I think, at the center of it all, it does, but then fear and selfishness creep in, and I find myself forcing my will, filling with pride, demanding my way. I think this kind of parenting, the kind I stumbled into motherhood being taught by well-meaning Christians, has done great damage to me, and to my relationship with my children. Particularly with my sons, who need to not feel inferior and frustrated. Because when they feel exasperated? Lord knows we both feel exasperated.

It's a good thing that people are beginning to see and teach another way. Women like Tonia are beginning to question and speak, are realizing that we like the quick, simple idea of punishment because we are not patient. Men like Shane Claiborne and Greg Boyd are bringing another way to the forefront of discussion, a way of service and peace on a more global level, not just with our children, but with all human beings, a way of doing the things that Jesus truly taught, that paradoxical, upside-down way that the world finds foolish but that leads to the spread of the Kingdom. Writings by John Howard Yoder are leaking into the mainstream. And people are resonating with it.

I'm learning more about servanthood than I've ever cared to learn by bumping into these folks as I wander around this thing called "life."

And I'm finding that a lot of other people are learning about it, too, talking about it, and putting it into practice. People are really beginning to actually read and apply what Jesus taught. There are more people beginning to reject the world's way and enter into a more narrow way.

And I think that's the amazing thing that God is doing in the hearts of his people.

Teaching as Doctrine Rules Made by Men

I started out this morning with a post about the work the family did in the yard and garden yesterday, which will still show its face, I'm sure.

But I just couldn't bring myself to do it right now, because I'm feeling a bit bothered by some things, and I'd like to get them off my chest. Here is as good a place as any.

First, let me preface this by saying that I'm not a highly political person. I abstained from voting in the 2008 presidential election because there was not a presidential candidate who represented me. I went to the polls, yes, and I voted on other issues and positions. But when it came right down to it, voting my conscience meant not casting a vote for president.

I was, however, excited about Barrack Obama's election. I think it's an amazing time in history, and, had I voted, I probably would have voted for Obama. Between the two, Barrack Obama lined up more with my political and faith beliefs than did McCain. And while I didn't vote, I'm proud to call Barrack Obama my president. This doesn't mean that I agree with all of his policies or actions, which is partly why I abstained.

But here's what's really on my mind. Ever since the presidential election, I have witnessed some of the ugliest, most selfish, ignorant behavior by my fellow Christians who live in these United States. Immediately after the results were announced, I heard and read young Christian friends say things like, "We're screwed," (by a thirteen-year-old Christian girl) and "My family's moving to Canada," and "I'm stockpiling guns" (by an eighteen-year-old Christian boy) and other things I can't repeat. They've been tossing about terms like "socialist" and "anti-christ" and "commie" and "Muslim" and "terrorist."

But even before the election, this type of talk began flying around in Christian circles, with partial thanks to conservative alarmists who make money by creating fear and anger. Early in the presidential campaign, when I first started hearing about this controversial figure named Barrack Obama, I began watching his speeches online. It was in his Call to Renewal address that I heard him speak these words:

"Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts. You need to come to church precisely because you are of this world, not apart from it; you need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in your difficult journey.

It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to his will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

Just a few days later, while I was coaching a Christian speech and debate club, one of the teenage girls who I know fairly well warned a group of teens and me that there was a previously unknown Muslim man who must be defeated running for president, that he had even used the Qur'an to be sworn into office (Office? I thought. Didn't you just say he was unknown?), and that he had to be a terrorist; his middle name is Hussein! She and others asserted that we could NOT allow him to be president; his very name sounded like Osama bin Laden's!

I listened patiently, but I was disappointed. Here before me was a young Christian whose hobby was debating and giving speeches, which involves a lot of research into political issues, which involves finding truth, and she was making this claim against a man I had heard days before speaking to an organization which I trusted and respected and making a confession of faith in Christ, submitting himself to God's will. Furthermore, the statements she was making were eerily similar to the ignorant, fear-mongering viral e-mail I'd seen in my inbox earlier that month, an e-mail that could easily be debunked by a quick trip to snopes. The rest of the teens in the room were eagerly nodding their agreement with their peer.

"Have you heard him speak?" I asked.
"No," she answered.
"He's not a Muslim. In fact, he's made a confession of the Christian faith. He's a practicing Christian. He's a fellow believer."

She seemed stunned. I felt like a heathen. I knew that this was not the accepted view in conservative circles and wondered if the parents of these students would shun me. How could this man, a black democrat with a Muslim-sounding name, be one of us?

And while young people are fully able to form opinions of their own, I believe that much of this misinformation, quick judgment and fear-mongering forms around the kitchen table and in the family car. Since the beginning of the presidential race, I've heard many adults spout similar ignorant nonsense.

Just a few weeks ago, I was volunteering at my favorite thrift store when I noticed a female shopper wearing a white t-shirt bearing this message, hand-written with fabric paint in red and blue:

"(Our county) Tea Party: Freedom or Socialism."

When she approached the register, in lieu of a greeting she said to me, "Have you heard the news?" I immediately thought of all of the "news" I've heard over the years that has shaken me--the 9/11 attacks, the Challenger explosion, the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt--and I braced myself.

"We're not a Christian nation," she huffed indignantly.
"I'm sorry?"
"We're not a Christian nation. That's what that Obama is going around the world telling all the other countries."

Because I was representing my favorite thrift store at the time, I didn't feel that I could respond the way I would if I were representing myself, my country and my faith. I wanted to tell her that, yes, President Obama did make the statement that we do not consider ourselves to be a Christian nation...or a Jewish nation...or a Muslim nation, but a nation of citizens bound by a set of values. That even George Washington made it clear, stating that "everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." Our tenth president, John Tyler, touted the U.S's "total separation of Church and State" saying that "no religious establishment by law exists among us" leaving the conscience "free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgment." He offered the U.S. as a welcoming place for all, saying, "The Mohammedan, if he will to come among us would have the privilege guaranteed to him by the constitution to worship according to the Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma, if it so pleased him."

Why is this? Why can we not call the U.S. a Christian nation? It's because our country was founded as a republic, which is a state without a monarch, a state in which the rights of the individual are protected by a charter, in this case, the Constitution, not the Bible. You can have a communist republic or a socialist republic. Your country can be a republic but also a democracy. And, if I'm not mistaken, socialism and communism are economic systems, not forms of government.

Having said all that, let me go back to how all of this affects me personally.

I made a declaration of faith when I was sixteen years old, decided to become a Christian after a young man named Nicholas Giaconia jumped onstage in cut-off blue jeans, shoeless, with guitar in-hand, during a talent show I was judging, having been the reigning Old Fashioned Days queen the previous year. After his performance, I talked to Nick about the song he shared, how it moved me, and he invited me to a concert where he opened for a group called Glad. In the darkness of that hall, I stood and made a commitment to Christ. I was a young girl. I was moved greatly by my emotions. I'm not sure I entirely knew what I was committing to. But in the months, and, indeed, years that followed, I took that commitment seriously, reading my Bible and learning what it meant to be a Christian, one who lives to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. I wasn't really part of a Christian culture. I hadn't been raised in a church. My parents were not believers. I guess you could say that I was a Berean, that I studied the Scriptures daily to know how to live this life I had chosen, without much input from others.

Here are a few of the things I discovered that Jesus taught:

• Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
• Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
• If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
• Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
• If you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
• You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
• Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
• He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
• Every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
• I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.
• Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.

These are the words that, as a sixteen-year-old girl, I had committed to live by. And the more I read the words of Jesus, the things He taught, the more I realized that He knew what He was talking about. I remember, shortly after my commitment to Christianity, having a conversation in my high school civics class centered around politics. I thought it was very simple, and I said so; if we all followed the teachings of Jesus, our biggest world problems would be solved.

I still believe that today.

This morning, as I was hanging out on my favorite social networking site, one of my young politically conservative Christian friends posted this as her status message:

• Socialism: If you own two cows you give one to your neighbour.
• Communism: You give both cows to the government and the government gives you back some of the milk.
• Fascism: You keep the cows but give the milk to the government, which sells some of it back to you.
• Obamaism: You shoot both cows and milk the government.

Several people commented after her, agreeing and laughing, but I couldn't help remembering the day I was representing my favorite thrift store, and the woman who proudly wore her "Freedom or Socialism" t-shirt.

What is it called when you freely give your cow to your neighbor?
Your food?
Your water?
Your time?
When your allegiance isn't to a country?
When you don't serve the dollar?
When you freely, voluntarily, give your life?

Because if the church were doing this first--whatever it is called--if the hands and feet of Christ were freely giving to those in need, the government, which nonetheless rests on the shoulders of Christ, wouldn't need to bother.

I think it's time that the Christians take seriously the words of Chronicles 7:14:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble [emphasis mine] themselves...then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Because in addition to those red-letter words I mentioned before? There's this one, which I definitely don't want to be guilty of:

• These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me, and in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men. ~Matthew 15:9.
  

Stream of Consciousness Whilst Avoiding Cleaning My Room

I have a stack of papers on my floor that need to be gone through.
Most of them are probably trash, but I can't just throw them away.
I have to filter through them.
And then I have to burn the ones I don't want.
Identity theft is so stupid.
"Jesus in New Orleans" is playing on iTunes.
Some days, I want to clean.
Some days, I want to stay in bed.
Some days, I want to go away.
Some days, I want to stay inside.
What kind of day is this?
Bard is home for three more days.
Today, she's getting her hair cut and colored.
I have a grocery list the size of someone's arm.
Remember Ed Grimley?
That was funny stuff.
But I think it jumped the shark with the cartoon, don't you?
I mean, watching Martin Short himself was 98% of the fun.
Why animate that?
Who's your favorite comedy actor right now?
I think mine's either Jack Black or Steve Carell.
The Office is my current obsession.
HTML is amazing.
I need to dust.
"Stella's Tarantella" is playing now.
The Baby loves this song.
She's not much of a baby anymore.
Actually, she's a pretty amazing little girl who is almost six years old.
I love birthdays.
What will we do for this birthday?
When she turned four, my friend Kim painted her a picture.
It was a pink and purple birthday.
There were balloons, and windows, and buildings and guitars and a cake with four candles.
It's one of my favorite things.
It's hanging downstairs.
Are we still friends?
I miss our walks.
My running has stopped.
I want to run again.
Monet and I are hoping to train for a 5K, but we've not been doing very well.
I bought him a pair of running shoes.
I think we'll do it.
But when?
"Spark" by Over the Rhine is playing now.
It's one of my favorite songs.
Especially this line:
"Obsessions with self-preservation
faded when I threw my fear away.
It's not a thing you can imagine.
You either lose your fear or spend your life
with one foot in the grave."
That line was an epiphany for me.
Lose my fear.
What's the worst thing that could happen to me?
No one can steal my soul.
The next life is so glorious.
Eternal bliss.
Oneness with Christ.
Knowledge. Happiness. Freedom from pain.
Wake up dreaming.
Only love can turn this around.
Jesus was an incredible man.
I wish more people could see him and not what his followers do to him.
It's time to wrap this up.
It's time to love life.
Blessings on this amazing day.

Quote of the Day...

I walked into the kitchen just in time to hear this from Sweetheart, who was wide-eyed with awe:

"Jesus is the only one who knows exactly how many hairs are on our head! You know why??? Because HE MADE US!"

:-)