Journal: 10 Commandments and Beattitudes
Faith and Morality...
ASSIGNED RELFECTION
Jesus gave his disciples the Beatitudes on the Sermon on the Mount. This along with the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament helped us live a moral and a Christian life. These guidelines are not always easy to follow. I personally found myself falling into a trap of disobedience when I answered some questions truthfully about the way I handle certain situations. Overall I live a moral and a Christian life, but at times I fell short. Jesus calls us to live righteously always, not just when it is conveniant. One example is the queston that asked what did I do the last time I was angry with someone. My response was that I talked about why the person made me angry to my friends. I realized that this is not the moral nor the Christian way of handling things. I would not want anyone else talking negatively about me behind my back. The Christian response would have been to turn the other cheek or out of love confront the person who angered me and explain my feelings.
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KEY IDEAS
One important key idea from this section are the explanations of solidarity and subsidarity. Solidarity is explained and characterized as the feeling of oneness, inclusiveness of everyone in a brotherhood, and the need to help everyone because we are all apart of one universal human race. I think this seemingly simple concept can be the solution to many of the worlds problems. If humans stopped having the "them" vs. "us" mentality and concentrated on our similarities rather than our differences we could all live in a more peaceful world. The problem is that we as humans like to form sub-groups whether they be based on natural similarities or religious similarities etc. We must all recognize that we are all one "body." This is not to say that we should forget about our differences or suppress them, but we should also never forget that we are all humans. Coming off of this idea is the idea of subsidiarity. This is defined as helping the lowly and those among us who struggle with the aim of getting them back to independence. This idea is based off of solidarity. Since we are one large group we shouold want to help each other and see each other succeed. This is what I believe Jesus wants to see from all of us in our lives. He says in the parable of the judgement of natons that those who help the least among us will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Another important key idea form this section is the explanation of the role of Jesus. God came down to earth in the form of his son Jesus to be an example of how we should live and carry ourselves in life. The role of Jesus coming to earth was to reveal the true meaning of the Old Testament, express what the prophets and the law wished to say, and bring these things to fulfillment. Since the Old Testament the Messiah was prophesied to the Jewish people. Jesus is the fufillment of that promise. Jesus shows us his wisdom and illustrates how we should lve which shows us how to truly be free.
ONE KEY QUESTION
Q:One key question that I have after this section is the question about the dispute over the Old Testament Commands that seem to contradict the New Testament commands. Example: Under Mosaic law it was okay to kill a woman who committed adultery, but Jesus stopped the stoning of the woman who committed adultery. Do we disregard the teachings of the Old Testament?
My Answer: I think that we do not disregard the law of Moses becuase that is the foundation of Christianity along with Judaism. I think that now we are under a New Covenant that Jesus perfected. This new covenant emphasizes love.
Craig Fowler's Answer: They had a right under the Mosaic law to stone the woman, but Jesus was showing a better way, the way of grace. We should not disregard the Old Tesament law, but Jesus was sent as the fulfillment of that law.
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