"Than shall the Kings say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in; Naked and ye clothed me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer them, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these the least of my brethren , ye have done it unto me."
Matthew 25, vv34 - 40, KJB.
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these the least of my brethren , ye have done it unto me.
ReplyDeleteYou do realise that when Jesus says ‘brethren’ there, He was talking about his followers, not about people in general? That is, he’s pointing out that those welcomed into Heaven will be praised for how they have treated Christians.
So this only applies to migrants who are Christians.
(And in fact there are a lot of Christians across the world who are being oppressed, and who we absolutely should be doing more to help… but for some reason the media never mentions them. Gaza is on our screens nightly, pushing the lie about evil Israel, but when was the last time you saw a report about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, the Sudan, Yemen or Somalia?)
I think the message of how to treat "the strangers with our gates" is universal. If you think that only committed Christians get the reward that's a matter for you, but I wouldn't have thought Jesus would be so mean.
DeleteThanks for the tip-off about Deuteronomy 10. Verse 18: "[God]. . . loveth the stranger , in giving him food and raiment," reinforces the point.
I think the message of how to treat "the strangers with our gates" is universal. If you think that only committed Christians get the reward that's a matter for you, .
DeleteYou didn’t read what I wrote. It’s not ‘committed Christians’ who get the reward; it’s anyone who treated Jesus’s brethren well.
The question is, who did Jesus consider His ‘brethren’? Well, there’s no record of Jesus ever using any term like ‘brethren’ to refer to anyone but His followers (male and female). Indeed He often talked about those who left their lives to follow Him as His real family.
There’s no record of Him ever using any familial term to refer to humanity as a whole (He does refer to humanity as a whole, but never as His family).
So when Jesus says ‘any time you did it for the least of my brethren’, He means ‘any time you did it for the weakest or least important of my followers, you did it for me’.
but I wouldn't have thought Jesus would be so mean
Is this you admitting that you are putting words in Jesus’s mouth according to what you think He ought to have said, rather than looking at what He actually said?
There’s a term for that, and it’s making God in your own image.
Thanks for the tip-off about Deuteronomy 10.
Oh good. I assume you will support all the other laws in Deuteronomy, then? Because it would be logically inconsistent for you to claim that one verse out of the whole book supports your case and so we should respect it, but ignore the rest of the book, wouldn’t it?
If you actually want Biblical support for your case you would be better off looking at the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy. But liberals don’t like to read that book.
ReplyDeleteOr, you could realise that ‘proof-texting’ (that is, yanking bits of the Bible out of context to serve your own ends) is an absolutely abominable way to treat God’s Word.
The Bible Is a contradictory book.That is the Old Testament. A propaganda book that was written by more than one person over many years as the Jewish tribes (Israeli,s) conquered the land others lived in under the guise someone had promised them the area. Books are written to influence people. Hitlers tome and Marx's. Books that divide opinions today. Brainwashing. The Old Testament is no different with its followers
ReplyDeleteWell, that’s what you think. I happen to think the Bible is the written Word of God (though I guess you could say we do agree that it was written to influence people, I just think it was written by God to influence them towards their salvation).
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