Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Jesus' Top Five Ideas

One of our church members recently asked me what I thought the top five ideas of Jesus were.

I'm not exactly sure that this is the most helpful way to get at the gospel, but I have been giving some thought to what the most important themes of the Jesus Movement are. So far, I would identify these five most important thematic areas:

1. Human community is to be constituted and maintained by forgiveness and reconciliation instead of violence and threat of violence. Only the judgers are judged.
2. Kinship, national, ethnic, and other worldly ties have only relative importance.
3. Redefinition of social status and hierarchy. “The first shall be last.”
4. Emphasis on purity of heart as opposed to legalism.
5. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Trust in God.

I will be fleshing out these themes in the coming days and weeks.

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