MORE TO LOVING JESUS' GOD THAN JUST OBEYING HIM
Jesus said that we must love God as Lord with all our potential - not some of
it. This is another way of saying that disobeying the Lord or Boss is the worst
sin for it implies a refusal to love him. He specified that you must love
God with all your will and all your HEART. You must feel.
Some say Jesus meant that we are to love God by keeping God's commandments. Yes
but he meant more than that. There is more to loving someone than just obeying
them. He asked us to love the Lord personally and show it by obeying. He asked
us to love God as a person. Loving a person's commandments only, means you love
something other than the person. It is obviously mistaken to equate loving God
with loving his commandments.
Jesus said that we must love the Lord our God with all our being. Obviously, we
are to love God as Lord and Boss and Master. We are to approach him as inferiors
and not as equals. This is a doctrine of submission to God and whatever he
commands just because he commands it. We love God as a person but as an
authority person. We have to love God as the one who has the right to give
orders to you and you have to see yourself for the underling you are. This is a
very negative and discouraging and austere commandment. Jesus said you cannot
love two masters - so if you are master and so is God then you do not love one
of them. Only you make you your master so its clear you do not love God.
How could Jesus or God give a command that we must obey his commandments? His
commandments are supposed to be commandments anyway! A commandment means you
have to do something or be punished. The Christian reply is that he is only
giving a new commandment to obey his commandments but only saying we must keep
the commandments. But they can't read his mind. I command you to obey my
commandments could be read as intended to be a new command. It may be a new
attempt to force.
You could speak of loving God's suggestions but it is laughable to say you can
love his commandments. Commandments seek to put reins on the free will God has
allegedly given you. If you were truly good, you would not need to be commanded.
A commandment would be a necessary evil and not something to be revelled in.
The idea of some writers that loving God with all our hearts merely means
keeping his commandments is an over-simplification. It is supposed to be that
but more. If you love God's commandments, that does not mean you necessarily
love God as a person. To love a person's rules is not the same as loving the
person.
ONLY GOD ALLOWED TO BE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY
To say God is to be loved most or first of all is to preach that we should give
God most of our unconditional love. That means that the love of humanity is
conditional. "I give God the best of my love because he is God and I refuse it
to you because you are not." But Jesus says give all not most.
WHAT IF GOD REALLY ALONE DOES MATTER?
Christian doctrine is that, "When God is not in your life much or at all evil will
rush in and be invited in to fill the void." If that idea is wrong then there is
no point in God being important or of supreme importance. Jesus’ core teaching
that loving God is absolute central is false. God is not a God but just as
important as Zeus if he is not that which can give you the ultimate and supreme
mutual relationship. These are all reasons why failing in the total love
of God is the biggest and most unimaginable sin. And it is one we do all the
time!
FINALLY
Paul in Ephesians 6 asks slaves to obey masters with fear and trembling as they
do Jesus. But they are warned to make it about Jesus not the master. “Do it as
to the Lord and not to men and not to women.” This frightening text asks
people who already suffered terrible fear to fear even more. Now they have
to weed out the natural human tendency to think of pleasing people not just
Jesus.
Only God deserves to be enjoyed or loved or served and anything from him such as a friend or a lovely apple is to be considered a gift from God that teaches us about God and is only taken for God's sake not as an end in itself. They are loved for they teach us about God so it is really about God and not them at all. Loving God the way the God belief suggests you should implies that you are suffering from some addiction. You turn away from loving others and yourself to love a concept. What you don’t see is put before the people you do see. To serve others while valuing God and not them is to manipulate and fool and trick them. If God does not exist, those who promote God are the lowest of the low even if they do not realise it.
Last point, whatever it is about commanding
somebody to do something, nobody has the right to command feelings.
Jesus was an over-rated and stupid moral bully. Commanding
love as in feeling for God will only backfire.
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