Americans are faced with questions and issues that never existed before. Stresses are building to levels which are destroying relationships, impacting communities and causing significant emotional reactions. How are Christians to deal with these questions and issues?
The Built on Truth Series offers powerful suggestions to Christians about how to deal with difficult questions and issues in a transparent and consistent way. Others may not like or agree with the outcomes, but they should be able to understand how they were attained.
Some foundational assumptions of Christianity are God exists and is active in the world, God created everything, and the Bible was provided by God so people can know what to believe, how to make choices and how to live according to God’s standards.
A good next step is to find direct and indirect Scriptures pertaining to the subject at hand.
Your browser does not support HTML5 video playback.
Ancient Jewish teachers had a rule of interpretation called “qal va-homer” or “lesser to greater.” If something is true of a lesser entity, it is even more true of a greater entity. Another conclusion that follows is a lesser command can never override a greater command.
That is some of the background of Matthew 22:34-40, where the expert in the law tested Jesus with the question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
It is well-known that Jesus answered with Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus continued the discourse by telling him the second greatest commandment of Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And, Jesus offered up the judgment that, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave a commandment that must be closely associated with those first two, because of the ending. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus commanded, “So in everything, do to other what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” A short version of this is known in America as The Golden Rule.
