We were called to Love in the same way we have discovered His Love for us, but if we have not found that, how can we pass on this wondrous truth to others...How can we Love with His love, if we do not accept it into ourselves, and that has zero to do with attendance in churches or how many times you read the Bible....His Love is real, and is capable of bringing an enormous change in our lives, which should then hopefully be passed onto others, through that Love, not by beating people over the head with scriptures....
This is certainly true, but just like truth falls over without love, love becomes empty if we devoid it of God's truth. God calls us to both because it's only with both that they stand and are like him...emulating him.
And maybe you cannot
get love by attending church or reading the bible alone, but we already know that unless God opens the eyes of your heart, you won't "see" anything of his anyway. But once you are "his", you should grow in love by reading the bible and attending church. The bible is full of God, full of the things Jesus said and did. I cannot read any of this without feeling my love for him grow. And attending 'church' should bring me closer to my brothers and sisters in Christ...as Paul says in Eph 5:19: "addressing on another is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart."
"Beating people over the head with scriptures". Hmm. Yes, this does get done often, and I think I know what you're talking about. There is a hard line to walk between loving someone and staying true to scripture. But, you must understand that...well...most Christians...believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Therefore what it says is absolute. To use, for example, the issue of homosexuality, since it's such a 'hot topic'. The bible is against it. But then you have people saying it's just about people who want 'love', and Christians are being 'unloving'. Then we see the verse bashing and the accusations, etc. Where is that middle line? Well...I'm not perfect, and I'm not particularly learned, but here's what I think. Pretty much everything, including the gay issue, is a heart issue. Trying to smack them over the head with verses about homosexuality and "how bad" it is will not help initially. You've got to help them see that at the heart of them, at the core, regardless of what sin, they, like every one else, are a sinner in need of Christ. The only way a person can want to, or be able to repent and change a behavior is with the help of the Spirit. And nobody has that until they are a believer. Once they belong to Jesus, then you can start to lovingly point out God's views on certain sins, making sure they know of the sins you struggle with...no one is perfect.
But, having said all that, I do still stand by scripture. It is God's truth. I do not apologize for believing it, or for what it says. But I do agree that at times Christians are not, perhaps wise, in how they use it. And, of course, there are those who are not even saved, who try and use it for their own purposes. And boy, I cannot imagine how God will answer that in time to come....
It wasn't only His spirit which was resurrected, His body was too, except the life which is in the blood, is not required by Him anymore....He IS the Life...
