TEACH BY PRACTICING THE PRINCIPLES OF LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR
It is impossible to think of loving your neighbor without also thinking of hate The sorry condition of the world exists because there is much more hate than love. In America, proof that this is true has become very evident in recent years with the emergence of the Christian Nationalism movement
Perpetrators of Christian Nationalism do whatever they can do to advance beliefs and practices presented in Confronting Christian Nationalism, while simultaneously perverting the principles of how to love your neighbor. Therefore, learning how to love your neighbor and practicing that love is the only antidote to Christian Nationalism. It is predictable, therefore, that victims of Christian Nationalism should do whatever they can to promote the principles presented in Make the World Better by practicing these principles in their daily lives..
Some people may want to do more that just practice these principles. They may want to teach these principles but are hesitant to do so because principles of how to love your neighbor are based on the bible and they don’t imagine themselves to be qualified to teach about the bible or religion. Aspiring teachers will be comforted and encouraged to know that teaching bible principles is best accomplished outside the realm of religion. It is not necessary to be a bible student or a religious leader or a believer in God to teach about the bible. If you study the principles presented in Make the World Better, you will know all you need to know to be a qualified teacher of how to love your neighbor. And if you practice those principles in your everyday life you will be a teacher more qualified than any religious leader.
Of course God wants people to share truth. But more than sharing truth, he wants people to actually live according to his commandments. Specifically, he wants them to obey the second great commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. It is not necessary, therefore, to know the bible, quote scripture references or even to believe in God to share truth. What is necessary, however, is faithfulness to practice what you believe to be true about loving your neighbor..
See OUTLINE OF A GOOD STRATEGY TO CHANGE HEARTS AND MINDS for guidance on how to share.
BEGIN WITH THE TRUTH
Make the World Better is full of do’s and don’ts about loving your neighbor. The basics are found in Godly Love is not Human Love and in Practical, Doable Ways to Love Your Neighbor. These are the best place to begin. After reading these links, it would be good to read the following links for details.
Taken as a group, these links cover 99.9% of God’s commands about how to love your neighbor. The scope of their application to everyday life testifies to God’s understanding of human nature and what changes are required in hearts and minds to make the world better.
Upon reading these links, honest, humble people will admit that they have not done a good job of loving their neighbors. Even people who do not believe in God will admit that these are reasonable standards for everyone to follow in their relationships and that the world would be a better place if more people knew them and applied them in their everyday lives.
Upon reading these commandments, most people will be forced to admit that loving their neighbor is not easy. There is no shame in feeling this way. It is an honest assessment of human inability to love your neighbor by applying human knowledge and will. But how do people who sincerely want to love their neighbors do it? Is it worth the effort if it can’t be done perfectly? The answer is: Yes it is worth the effort.
The alternative to making the effort to love your neighbor according to God’s standards is for you and the rest of the world to keep doing what you are doing. There are several problems with this “do nothing” alternative:
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- The world will never become a better place.
- The world will become a worse place than it is today.
- This attitude demonstrates an unwillingness to obey God’s commands.
- This attitude demonstrates a lack of sensitivity to the pain and suffering others in the world experience.
- This attitude demonstrates lack of faith that God has the ability to make the world better.
Realistically, most people are OK with the “do nothing” alternative because they are unwilling to sacrifice their own interests so that others can thrive. Make the World Better is a guide for everyone else.
Admittedly, making the world a better place is a giant project. Big as it is, there are a few things that willing people need to keep in mind:
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- Don’t think about the end goal too much.
- Focus on what you can do today in each relationship encounter..
- Think of God’s commandments as tools designed to make the world better by building people up.
- Always be mindful to put the interests of others ahead of your own interests.
- Familiarize yourself with the principles of Godly love.
- Review the principles of Godly love from time to time,
- Share the principles of Godly love with others and ask them to evaluate your efforts to apply those principles in your life.
- Be very careful about alliances you make. When talking to Jews and Christians, keep in mind that they already think they know all they need to know about the bibles. This prideful attitude make make them skeptical of what you have to say. So be prepared for rejection.
God knows these feelings because he knows our hearts. So what is a mortal human to do? The desire to obey is in the heart and the will to obey is in the mind, but the mind also says “I can’t do it all! It would take a miracle for me or anyone to obey all these commandments.”
Religious people are good at following religious rules. They claim to value God’s Ten Commandments and do their best to obey them. Beyond these doctrines, they don’t believe that they need to give serious attention to commandments about loving your neighbor distributed randomly throughout the bible. Instead of following God’s commandments about loving your neighbor they make their own laws and follow laws (e.g. institutional, civil, religious, cultural, etc.) designed by religious and political leaders. This explains why the world is such a mess.
Nonreligious people are generally good citizens who do their best to follow rules common to their cultures while abhorring religious laws. Some nonreligious people might reject the idea of obeying commandments because of religious associations that they abhor. Others who want to make the world better will understand that Religion is not a Prerequisite for Loving Your Neighbor. They will recognize the wisdom of God’s commandments as sound principles for everyone — not just people who believe that God exists.
TEACH IN INSTITUTIONS
It is no understatement to say that Jews and Christians have not been faithful to practice Godly principles about loving your neighbor in their everyday lives or in the governments over which they have had influence throughout history. Christian Nationalists imagine themselves to be qualified religious leaders but all they do is promote the Ten Commandments in plaques and monuments in court houses and schools. They never actually practice the deep principles of loving your neighbor hidden in those Ten Commandments:
Judaism, Christianity have failed to teach Godly principles of how to love your neighbor in institutions they control directly or influence indirectly. They have failed at the private level, at the government level, in business and education. They have not been responsible keepers or teachers of biblical truth. After nearly four thousand years of opportunity to love their neighbors, the world in which they live and move has gradually become a worse place for everyone. Clearly, Jews and Christians cannot be depended on to do the job of teaching the world how to love their neighbors. If they won’t teach, who will?