Quote:

Pariah said:
Quote:

Animalman said:
Quote:

Pariah said:
And that devotion requires belief. Belief not based only on faith, but also understanding.



Belief and understanding.....in Christ. Not necessarily the Bible. The two aren't the same thing.

Infact, if I recall correctly, Jesus elaborated on and even revised certain parts of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, which(according to Mark) he compressed into two simpler and more general ideas:

1.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul

2.Love your neighbor as yourself



Really? Can you elaborate on where exactly he elaborated? Because I never actually heard that before.

And Animalman, the Bible is Christ's teachings, it's God's teachings, so it would be the equivilant.

Also, those two quotes (which I can't exactly vouch for myself) don't sum up or "acronymize" the Ten Commandments nor do they add on/revise the old testament in any way.



The passage Animalman refers to (outside its full context, as is the norm for the pro-gay side of this topic) is from:

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=MATT+22&language=english&version=NIV


Quote:

Matthew 22: verses 34-39:
.
The Greatest Commandment
.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."



But whereas, Animalman implies that Christ declared these as the greatest commandments, to be practiced in exclusion of all the prior commandments, Christ says that they are the foundation of all the commandments to be kept.

Cross-referencing that with what Jesus said earlier:

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=MATT+5&language=english&version=NIV

Quote:

Matthew 5: verses 17-20:
.
The Fulfillment of the Law
.
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.



So clearly Jesus did not intend these two basic principles to be some kind of vague feel-good replacement for the Old Tastament law.
Jesus merely says that the Old Testament law expands from these two basic principles. And that the Old Testament laws are to be maintained.

By faith we are saved.
But obedience of the law is a manifestation of that faith.

As these verses, and the others I quoted on the previous pages collectively make clear.