Imperious Christ
Christ’s character in the gospels is very consistent – he’s generous to those who ask him for help, withering to those who accuse or contradict him whatever you understand “meekness” & “loving your enemies” to mean, you have to contend with an imperious & disagreeable Christ.
besides reminding the Samaritan woman that she was a serial fornicator, Christ responds to her (gentle) attempt to debate with him by telling her she doesn’t know what she’s talking about & her religion is wrong he loved the Samaritan woman; this was a loving thing for him to do
to the extent that there is any conflict in the Church over what it means to be “Christlike”, it is between Christ’s actual living example in the gospels, & a disingenuous & nonsensical misreading of a handful of verses in the Sermon on the Mount
-thus edJCB
Filed under: We transcend your bourgeois categories | Tags: quotation and aphorism
JRL in AZ
December 31, 2021
Yes! I was asked to speak at our stake conference about charity and ministering. I need definitions to talk about things, so I went looking. What is charity? The love of Christ. Christ told us to love one another as He loves us. And how do you define the way He loves us? By looking at what He did. How did He love? He taught, He fed, He corrected, He rebuked, He sacrificed, He comforted, etc., etc. His life is the definition, so we had better study it.
Zen
January 1, 2022
I am certainly busy enough with my Isaiah project, but I am really tempted to take this seriously. How many more examples are there? Christ calling Peter Satan? Calling the Pharasees a long list of names. And of course, cleansing the Temple, twice. Complaining about the lack of faith. Calling James & John the Sons of Thunder, and then reining them back in when they wanted to call down fire from heaven. Telling the Gentile woman he was sent to the Children of Israel, not the Dogs (puppies would be a bit closer to what he said). Telling Mary & Joseph he is busy right now, after they just spent 3 days looking for him. Rebuking and encouraging Nathaniel when he expressed disbelief at something other than a nut job coming out of Nazareth. Telling Nicodemus he should know more if he is going to be a ruler in Israel. Trolling the Jews about healing on the Sabbath. Rebuking the people in his Bread of Life sermon. For that matter, how many hours did he rebuke the Brother of Jared?
This deserves more study.
Bookslinger
January 1, 2022
The challenge is that mortals have a bad track record of attempting to be imperious and righteous at the same time. Only those who can perfectly see and perfectly judge would be capable of it like the Master.
No text can adequately convey the tone of spoken words. I’m sure that the Lord’s tone of voice, and the look on His face, and even His bearing conveyed more than what we can glean from the scriptures, aside from the literal meaning of the words.
In one Sunday School cycle, I listened to the New Testament audio as I read. I liked listening to the British voice artist. His tone put a spin or interpretation on it that felt right.
Later I tried to listen to BoM audio, and one guy (there was a choice of readers) had a tone/interpretation that felt inappropriate, and I gave up on listening to him.
G.
January 2, 2022
I was reading a talk by Elder Soares. He said
Christ showed compassion on all *who came unto him.*
G.
January 5, 2022
Because God’s love is all-embracing, some speak of it as “unconditional,” and in their minds they may project that thought to mean that God’s blessings are “unconditional” and that salvation is “unconditional.” They are not. Some are wont to say, “The Savior loves me just as I am,” and that is certainly true. But He cannot take any of us into His kingdom just as we are, “for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence.”7 Our sins must first be resolved.
-Elder Christofferson
JRL in AZ
January 7, 2022
@books: “No text can adequately convey the tone of spoken words. I’m sure that the Lord’s tone of voice, and the look on His face, and even His bearing conveyed more than what we can glean from the scriptures, aside from the literal meaning of the words.”
Yes. I had an experience on my mission where my companion told a man, literally, that he was lying and leading people astray with false doctrine. But my companion was (and still is) so full of genuine love and concern for others that the recipient of this rebuke listened intently and promised to study further about Jesus. He didn’t get mad at all. I was stunned. It was like a magic trick, all done through love and the power of the Holy Ghost.