Finally back on topic, thank you my friend.
I hadn’t see the video in a while so I reviewed it again. The girl in the video is correct on at least one point, she failed as a christian (lower case ‘c’ intended). I find it disturbing she places so much emphasis on loving the creation and not even a single reference to loving the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. (Oh I forgot, she doesn’t want to offend her atheist buddies, apologies)
Just recently I had someone ask how me how to get closer to God. He went on to say; “Should I volunteer my time?”, “Should I give to the poor”, “Should I be nicer to people”, and so on. One can easily be consumed by these things and take time away from what matters most, loving God. I said the number one commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. I went on to say once you got a good grasp of the first commandment, the second commandment just flows naturally. The second commandment by itself will not save you…
Has this girl in the video got a good grasp of loving God? I don’t think so, how can you say you love God but be ignorant about everything He teaches? This is where Matthew 7 comes in and christians (lower ‘c’) say Lord, Lord, didn’t I love all these people in Your Name? He will say; “I never knew you”. I believe it’s all about loving God first, my neighbor second.
She associates being a christian with being good. There are many good people out there most better than me but I wouldn’t call them Christians. What do I consider a Christian? We need only look to Lord Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount;
Now this is my definition derived from the Sermon on the Mount, the Tax Collector in Luke 18; and a few other expository resources;
A Christian is a cowering beggar ashamed to show his face and needs to mourn over the sin that has put him in this position. Out of his total sense of sinfulness, he falls meek before an absolute and holy God. In his humility, all he can do is cry out and hunger and thirst for a righteousness which he can't attain and yet he has to have it and he cries out that God would give it to him. Once he has been granted mercy and once God by His mercy has cleansed his heart because he hungered for His righteousness, then and then alone does he become pure in heart and able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a Christian as Jesus defines, nowhere in the scripture does Jesus say you must be “good” to enter the Kingdom.
I’ve seen many surveys over the years asking people on why they should go to Heaven. The number one reply is always; “Because I am good”. There are a lot of good people in for a real shocker cause; “Everybody Talkin About Heaven Ain’t Going There”.
She states she kept all the commandments. I see, just like the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19.
She states we should befriend unbelievers? Matthew 10 14 states; “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or city, shake the dust off your feet”. Who do I believe?
When I’m around unbelievers; the blasphemy, the sexual connotations, the aggrandizing of sin, it’s like nails on a chalk-board to me. They are not my friends, what do we have in common? I will speak the Truth of the Gospel out of love (agape) but they are not my friends, they hate what I love (God), and I hate what they love (sin).
She states Christians should be more like Christ. Ok then, let me form a whip of cords and…
Seriously though, Lord Jesus taught way more about; God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Sin and Death, Fire and Brimstone, Condemnation, Darkness, Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth, Punishment, Torment and so on, more than all the other Prophets combined and much more than He ever taught about love.
As a matter of fact there are less than a dozen verses in the New Testament about love yet so many people and whole religions for that matter build their theology around them and throw away the rest of the Scripture. This “God is Love” theology leads one to fill in all the gaps with a god of their own creation, a god that isn’t of the Bible, and a god who cannot save them from their sin.
I wonder how many people believe that God, is a God of love, and would never send them or anyone else to hell. I’ll bet it’s in the millions of millions. I wonder where they get those crazy ideas? It’s not from the Bible in context.
She states 1 Corinthians 13 out of context. The word for love in this context is agape, a self-sacrificing selfless love. This goes to say you can do all these great things for yourself and it profits you nothing, you must do them out of self-sacrifice. This is the correct context of 1 Corinthians 13 and this verse is the one I find most abused in context.
Now I have nothing personally against this girl only the video because she is using it as a tool for teaching christianity (lower ‘c’) and it’s all WRONG, and SHE will receive the greater condemnation (James 3 1) for putting that garbage out there, as if there isn’t enough garbage out there already.
Some poor soul will watch this video and think all they need to do is love to be a good chrisitan (lower 'c') and forget all about; Bible study, Prayer, Sin, Repentance, and so on. Thus "More Harm than Good". How much do you want to make a bet?
If I were going to create a video it would be much different; It would be about loving the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. It would be about meditating on the His Law day and night. It would be about taking every thought captive and testing it against the Scriptures, I would be about unceasing prayer and repentance, it would be about everything I do, to do for the Glory and Honor of God.
Once you got a good handle on the first commandment the love for your neighbor will be a result. If you have to put focus on loving your neighbor than you have forgotten your first love my friend.