billmc
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I have to admit, Danny Ray, that due to my religious upbringing the word “obligations” has a negative connotation for me. In my religious past, the main focus of my obligations was to attend church every time the doors were open and to tithe. Of course, I was supposed to keep my sins all confessed too! But little was actually said about helping others in compassionate ways. This doesn’t mean that my past churches didn’t help people in need, for they often did. But the general thrust of my obligations was to support the church.
Nowadays, I see my obligations more as freedom. In other words, I am free from religion in order to minister (serve) people wherever and whenever I can, without needing the support of the church. In fact, the money I used to pay in tithes now goes to parachurch or human welfare endeavors that seek to alleviate human suffering as well as being responsible with our world and its limited resources.
But I like what you (and Jesus) said about love being our obligation. Love is not burdensome as an obligation. If we seek to know others, then something within us tells us that, yes, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. We are all on the journey of life together and when one of us hurts, we all do. This is further heightened by Jesus’ teachings that we are the Body on earth i.e. we encounter Christ in others. This is, to me, the unifying principle that encourages me to make a difference if I can. I can, of course, find God and Christ in the scriptures and sometimes even in the church (ha ha!). But I most often encounter them in the people that I meet everyday. So my obligation is not to a “to do” list, but to fellow human beings and to the good world that God has given us.
Regards,
BillMc
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Danny Ray
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(Thoughts stimulated by reading June 24,2011 Archive post on “The Natural Religion of Jesus)
A key component of obligations stems from the root word-“ligate” which to a surgeon means “to tie”. To be obligated means to be tied to something. Most organized religions stack on demands to already stressed out, over-committed people who need less and not more obligations. To me the 2 great commandments of loving God and loving our fellow man as ourselves sum up what constitutes the good life. In this good life the most important and only eternal thing involves 3 relationships: 1) emotional relationships, 2) social relationships, and 3) a spiritual relationship. In my opinion these are intertwined and mutually supportive relationships—it’s hard to have one without the other.(1)
A healthy emotional relationship is foundational to the pursuit of happiness. To care about oneself is necessary before one can love others or God. A lack of self-care is why many don’t care about others. This apathetic, “don’t give a shit” attitude is why many young disenfranchised on our streets are not scared to die and kill others in the process. To feel you are just a cumbersome clod of biochemicals existing on a geological ball covered with confusion and accidentally tumbling through space without any purpose is at the root of many problems.
A healthy spiritual relationship based on knowing God is the linchpin in living the life that is really life! This is the ultimate crucial concept behind developing and sustaining the other 2 relationships involving self and others.(2) This knowledge of the deity would truly be a bargain if we could simply exchange it for an expensive pearl or a great treasure.(3) But it’s simpler than that—we just have to be still and then we will know there is a God.(4),(5)
When we view ourselves and others as the royal beings we truly are, then we will treat ourselves and all the other Children of God we encounter in this seemingly mundane, but actually miraculous life, with a sense of joy and not because of obligation.(6)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
1- On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”-Luke 10:25-28
2- “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”-Jeremiah 9:23-24
3-An incredibly meaningful acoustic version of Who song “Bargain”by Pete Townsend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkIDAYZ6g_s
4-“Be still and know that I am God…”-Psalm 46:10
5-Si Monumentum Requires Circumspice-“If you require a monument, look around you.”
6-”By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”-John 13:35
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