What's important?

If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

The vast majority of theists who post here are Christian, so for all the Christians here what in your opinion is most important in your religion. As a lapsed Anglican I can provide my own answer, but in some ways it's from the outside and I'm interested to see the weighting other people give.

It would be interesting for us all I think if people from other religions contributed. Possibly atheists might like to give a central tenet that they live by.

Originally posted by DeepThought
If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

Many Muslims I've talked to about these kinds of things would probably say that their 'relationship' with God is a direct one and not through an intermediary of any kind ~ whether it be prophets like Mohammed or Jesus, or other figures like Mary or saints or ancestors or spirits and the like.

Originally posted by DeepThought
If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

The vast majority of theists who post here are Christian, so for all the Ch ...[text shortened]... religions contributed. Possibly atheists might like to give a central tenet that they live by.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Originally posted by DeepThought
If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

The vast majority of theists who post here are Christian, so for all the Ch ...[text shortened]... religions contributed. Possibly atheists might like to give a central tenet that they live by.

My tenet is "What you do not want done to you, do not do to others". Agnostic here.

Originally posted by caissad4
My tenet is "What you do not want done to you, do not do to others". Agnostic here.

I agre - the Golden Rule.

I also tell my son - Do not steal. Not only "stuff" but
Do not steal a life
Do not steal the truth
Do not steal dignity
Do not steal freedom
Do not steal opportunity

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." -- Matthew 7:12

I guess even heretics stumble upon the truth once in a while. If only the rest of the Sermon on the Mount was as worthy to them as this to be followed. Fear not, there are some even here who would call themselves faithful (even some who would call themselves Christian and some who consider the label "Christian" to be an insult) who do not follow all the commandments of Christ given in Matthew 5-7.

And this isn't my answer to your OP, DT.

Originally posted by DeepThought
If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

The vast majority of theists who post here are Christian, so for all the Ch ...[text shortened]... religions contributed. Possibly atheists might like to give a central tenet that they live by.

The most important thing about any religious belief must be what is going to happen after this life has come to an end and what the afterlife holds for believers. How this life is lived is going to determine what happens in the hereafter.

So I will first endorse KJs comment and add these two passages containing the words of Christ, on how this life must be lived to benefit from what is available in the afterlife:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. (John 14:15-24 KJV)

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:20-22 KJV)

Originally posted by DeepThought
If you ask a Muslim what is important in their religion then my experience is that one will get a simple answer: "Allah is God and Mohammed is his Prophet.". Hardly any muslims post here, if any are reading then please forgive me if I have it wrong and correct what I've said.

The vast majority of theists who post here are Christian, so for all the Ch ...[text shortened]... religions contributed. Possibly atheists might like to give a central tenet that they live by.

Acts 16:29-32

29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
NKJV

Of course, Rajk will add a lot of "if's" in there...🙂

Originally posted by checkbaiter
Acts 16:29-32

29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
NKJV

Of course, Rajk will add a lot of "if's" in there...🙂

Of course you very well know that it is Christ, Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude.. all the Apostles added a lot of IFs.

It is lesser mortals like yourself and many here who seem to think that they can ignore the IFs. 🙂

Originally posted by KellyJay
Jesus said in Matthew 22:
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Agreed.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Of course you very well know that it is Christ, Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude.. all the Apostles added a lot of IFs.

It is lesser mortals like yourself and many here who seem to think that they can ignore the IFs. 🙂

"lesser mortals"...

Really?

Tell me... do greater mortals (like yourself, I'm assuming) keep digging once the hole they have been digging starts to cave in on itself?

Even the Christ did not claim to be any better than His fellow man. That is love for your Christian brother, something YOU ignore at every opportunity.

I'd assumed someone would mention the Nicene Creed. Specifically the part about Christ dieing for our sins. Clearly the Christians here will regard it as important, but it's not the first thing mentioned which is interesting.

Originally posted by DeepThought
I'd assumed someone would mention the Nicene Creed. Specifically the part about Christ dieing for our sins. Clearly the Christians here will regard it as important, but it's not the first thing mentioned which is interesting.

I imagine that most here thought you were trying to dig a little deeper than a list of tenets of faith drawn up somewhere else, by someone else. While it is true that the Nicene Creed has been adopted by most Christian churches, I and apparently many others thought you were asking for our own words as to what was really important in our faith.

What is most important is the consummation of all God's will as seen in the last two chapters of the Bible - Revelation 21 and 22.

THE TWO GREATEST COMMANDS

Matthew 22:36 "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

MATTHEW 22:34-46

Jesus revealed that all of the Old Testament laws were designed to instruct us how to love God and love others. Therefore, the two commands that dealt directly with loving God and others (Lev. 19:18 and Dt. 6:5) were the most important.

The religious leaders had become so obsessed with keeping every minor detail of the law that they had lost sight of its ultimate purpose. They neither loved God nor their fellow man, yet they thought they were keeping the law.

The same thing is happening today. Some of the cruelest acts of men towards their fellow men have been done in the name of the Lord by people who thought they were defending God's holy commandments. However, if we violate one of the two greatest commandments in an effort to enforce some other commandment, then we are misapplying God's Word just as these religious Jews did.

The Old Testament law and the New Testament concept of grace compels men to the same end, that is to love God and their fellowmen. However, the motivations to this end are different. The Old Testament law motivated men to love God and their fellowman through fear of punishment if they failed to comply. The New Testament concept of grace freely gives men a God-kind of love that is unconditional and tells them to love others as they are loved.

It is possible to display actions of holiness, but not love God. It is impossible for God's kind of love not to produce holiness. Holiness is a fruit and not a root of loving God.
AWM.com