The Words of Jesus

In response to Stan Guthrie's Christianity Today article Tony Campolo said:
While we, like you, have a very high view of the inspiration of Scripture and believe the Bible was divinely inspired, you are correct in accusing Red Letter Christians of giving the words of Jesus priority over all other passages of Scripture. What is more, we believe that you really cannot rightly interpret the rest of the Bible without first understanding who Jesus is, what he did, and what he said.

Likewise, we believe the morality in the red letters of Jesus transcends that found in the black letters set down in the Pentateuch, and I'm surprised you don't agree. After all, Stan, didn't Jesus himself make this same point in the Sermon on the Mount, when he said his teachings about marriage and divorce were to replace what Moses taught? Don't you think his red-letter words about loving our enemies and doing good to those who hurt us represent a higher morality than the "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" kind of justice that we find in the Hebrew Testament? Is it really so hard to accept that, as God incarnate, Jesus set forth the highest law in the Bible, and therefore that law is more important than the Kosher dietary regulations we find in Leviticus and Deuteronomy?
I agree with what Tony said.. I don't think that I could have said it better. I often am perplexed by evangelicals who vehemently advocate the public displays of the 10 Commandments.. really.. shouldn't we be advocates for the Sermon on the Mount? What do you think?

8 comments:

  1. At least we share the ten commandments with our Jewish and Muslim fellow citizens: it's the common point of "people of the book." We can show them that the Messiah has indeed come and opened the gates of Heaven, and the OT is a common place to meet and start.

    It's also a line in the sand: take away the Ten Commandments, on which all three major faith groups can agree, and we've lost ground it would be hard to regain.

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  2. Good feedback TZ. I guess posting the big 10 makes sense from political point of view ... for me I'd rather post the Beatitudes.. who can argue with that :)

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  3. Just what we all need........more sectarianism, this time politically based, instead of denominational. And the atheists are afraid of the dangers of an American Christian theocracy? Boy, are they barking up the wrong tree. There's not a prayer of that happening while this baloney is continues. We're all too busy setting up our own little political/religious kingdoms while Satan laughs at our foolishness.

    People aren't confused by the Gospel, they're confused by US.

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  4. Welcome to my place crownring :)

    Thanks for stopping by.. agree with you.. we can be pretty confusing at times :)

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  5. Kansas Bob,
    I totally agree with you brother and Tony.

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  6. Yep, when all else fails or confusion reigns, I go to the red letters.
    Posting the Beatitudes...great idea, KB.

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  7. Spent some time scrolling your list of blog friends today... definitely a diverse list! Plan on visiting a few of them again, including Antioch Road, Kelli Standish and Pomaxian. Thanks for the links... Enjoy the weekend!

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  8. Thanks for stopping by Ed. My blogroll is made up of folks from different theological and philosophical perspectives. Over the past 3 years many of these have brought about positive changes in me.. but mostly I just enjoy reading their blogs.

    Blessings, Bob

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