Jefferson Hillel and Jesus, part 2

I noticed Hillel's omission, leaving God and relationship to God out of his summary of the Torah, when I was reading an article by Karen Armstrong (who also wrote THE HISTORY OF GOD) in AARP magazine MODERN MATURITY 5 to 10 years ago. Her topic was compassion (and that pure compassion, devoid of rhetoric and dogma should be our goal. Maybe I don't remember it quite right. I may be biased against Karen's viewpoint.)

Anyway, Karen refered to Hillel, and the simple way he distilled down what was needed to live a good life. Maybe I was studying Jesus' words that were similar at that time. I think I had taught 3 or 4 year olds at vacation Bible school recently, and our theme for that week of VBS was Jesus giving the TWO great commandments: 'the first one is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength'. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (I remember the preacher's wife was teaching the music to the children; and she was teaching them hand movements to go with the song. It was so sweet to see her working with the little ones.) So when I read Hillel's summary, I really felt the void.

I tried to research Hillel more-his theology. I haven't found a source yet that can give me a more complete picture of his teachings. I need to go ahead and ASK a rabbi, I guess. Anyway, am I wrong? Did Hillel leave God out of his summary of the Torah? I suppose you could say that honoring God, putting God first, not taking His name in vain COULD fall under the catagory of "not doing to others what you yourself find oppressive", but I think we need to put God above others.
When I was reading all the places that Jesus said something similar to Hillel's summary and the "golden rule", I noted:
MARK 12:30(THE TWO, WITH THE SH'MAH)
MATTHEW 22:35-40(THE TWO)--------------------------------
LUKE 10:27 is different. This is where the story (parable) of the "Good Samaritan" is. It is actually a jewish expert in the law that is questioning Jesus who gives the summary in this scene. I will put the whole story up to the beginning of the parable here.
MATTHEW 19:16-26(RICH YOUNG MAN)--------

DEUTERONOMY6:5 and LEVITICUS19:18 are the two Old Testament verses that are the basis of Jesus' summary of the Torah into two commandments.

When I was comparing Hillel's summary with Jesus' summary, and comparing them both to the Ten Commandments, I noted in the Matthew19:16-26 passage that Jesus left out all four of the commandments about God (as well as the commandment about honoring our parents). I had always thought that Jesus just listed a few of the ten as a time-saving thing. But since I was pondering the difference between what Jesus said and Hillel said, I wanted to find a reason for Jesus leaving out the first 5 of the Ten Commandments. I kept reading that passage and came to the place where the young man Had to say "No. I can't make that level of commitment." and walked away sad. Jesus said (something like) "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."
Jesus' disciples asked "Who, then, can enter?" Jesus answered, "With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible."

I think Jesus there was emphasizing that we need to make God the center, and that only by making God the center are we able to fulfill these other commandments.
I also think that Hillel's teachings of 100 years previously (or less) were still being discussed and He, Jesus, was pointing out that weakness or omission of Hillel's Torah summary.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: PART 2

There are two areas that I want to recognize this organization in.
First, they have tried to make sense of the whole Bible. Yes, I know that they have bent the meaning of some passages and ignored others. (Be truthful. Many denominations and part of the Christian Church have done that.) The particular belief that the J.W.s have brought out and tried to make sense of that others for many years ignored was what the Bible says about the 'end times'. The J.W.s speak of a new earth, a renewed earth which will be the paradise that God always wanted for mankind. The honest inquiry into the passages about God's plans for the Earth in the future, I believe, forced mainstream denominations to address this part of the Bible. The second thing I want to recognize this organization for is the reasoned way that they address congregation size and plan for growth. It is my understanding that when a congregation gets to a certain number, the rules of the organization require that the congregation split into two congregations. I studied the 'life cycle' of organizations in college and learned that there is a time (size) in the life of an org. when it is prone to split because of fighting factions or to lose steam. It seems that the Jehovah's Witnesses org. has at least tried to address this difficulty with organiztions.
That's all for now.
One more thing: Someone asked if I believe in the trinity, and the divinity of Jesus, and why.
(I guess they asked because I was recognizing the J.W.'s.) Yes, I do believe that Jesus is God.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, HILLEL AND JESUS

THOMAS JEFFERSON, HILLEL AND JESUS

this post will be a little topical.

Was this on my list?

Well, you know that Thomas Jefferson was one of the founding fathers of America, and of the concept of the noble striving for freedom. (Warning, I am not checking my facts, only relying on my memory and what I've read and heard. That will be the case here, unless I refer to a source. I will definitely give scripture references.) One piece of trivia I've heard about Jefferson is that he didn't like the miracles in the Bible-thought of them as myths, I guess. The story is that he snipped out of his Bible all the miracles that were mentioned.(Smithsonian Magazine had a picture of the Bible. It looked like swiss cheese.)

Also, the word "civil religion" is associated with him in my mind, meaning that he encouraged people to live fine, upstanding, moral lives, without making religious convictions an unpleasant, strife-causing divider of people. (Mind you, we are talking about Mr. Jefferson's ideals, not the way in which he actually conducted himself. I can testify to the difficulty of walking the talk that one wants to talk/ integrating ideals with practical integrity.)

You may not know that Hillel was a jewish scholar that lived and taught about 100 years before Jesus. Unfortunately, the only thing I know of Hillel's theology is that when he was asked by a heckler to give the substance of the Torah while standing on one foot, his response was "do not do to others what you yourself would find oppressive." I think Hillel left out a very important aspect of the Torah. I think Jesus was addressing that omission when he said similar things 100 years later.

Yours truly, Joan Mazzu

Getting the Gears Turning

POST DRAFT

Dear Friends,

I still haven't gotten into the meat of what I'm trying to tell you yet.
I'm really going to do it. For now I'm going to give you the titles of some of the upcoming posts I will be putting out here (in this quiet little room, so insulated from other people and from life, called my blog. I can practically hear the sound echoing off the walls!But it's OK. God is good.)

Upcoming titles of blog posts here at rethinking1776 are:
FLYING IRON
THOMAS JEFFERSON, HILLEL AND JESUS
STREET PREACHER
ONE SILLY LITTLE PREPOSITION
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: LET'S GIVE THEM SOME CREDIT
MS. D'S STORY, CONTINUED
CONSTANTINE, OUR OWN FALSE PROPHET

That should keep me busy for a while.

I just want to let you know that I have been writing in notebooks and thinking of writing projects for a long time. It is interesting that sitting in front of a computer kind of gives me writers' block, so I am writing at home, putting on flashdrive and transferring the post to blog at the library.
I have bunches of material. Audience? Well, that's a different story.
We'll see what the future holds.

Yours truly, Joan M.

Romans 8:28

In my "little church" that I attend every Wednesday at noon right now in addition to regular Sunday school and worship services, we were talking about Romans 8:28. This story of my precious neighbor went through my mind; but I didn't tell it in class. I want to tell you now (you-hoo. You whoever.)

My neighbor , Ms. D, was born in New Orleans in 1900, the same year the Queen Mum of England was born. I met Ms. D in 1983, when my husband and I moved to Cottage Grove, next door to Ms. D. I only knew Ms. D for about a year, but I got to know her very well. She loved to talk. She was maybe even compusive in her talking. Also, she did not censor herself and her story, at least not to me.

She was taken to the orphanage when she was a baby or little girl, maybe because her parents couldn't afford to raise all of the children in the family. She remembered the orphanage as a place of suffering, not only because it meant abandonment by her parents, but also because the older girls abused the younger ones.

I'll tell you more about Ms. D later, but I'll tell about the Romans 8:28 part now. She was born on August 28, 1900. As she became a strong Christian, and learned Romans 8:28 ("All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."), she took that as her "life verse" which she spoke to herself and others and took comfort from at many time in her life. (And believe me, she had many times in her life when she needed comfort.) You see, 8-28 was her bithday.

When her husband was old and had a heart attack, the ambulance came, but was delayed in taking them to hospital by a train. She could only say that verse or the number of it over and over again as they were on their way. Her husband died that day. But she still drew comfort from those holy words of our Lord that she felt he spoke to her personally.

Coincidence

Dear Friends,

Thomas L. Pangle, I see, is on the U of Houston campus today and tomorrow, giving a lecture named "Debating the American Founding". The lecture is Tuesday, Feb.10, 2009 at 5pm, at the Honors College.

I cannot ignore this coincidence. I am trying to get this very blog started, in which I am trying to get people to consider whether the 1776 decision was a "Christian decision", and now comes a man who is opening up discussion on a related subject . Since I am wanting to get the word out about this blog and my ideas, I thought about giving out cards at this event or asking questions from my perspective to the speaker, Dr. Pangle, if questioning is offered.

I don't know if I will be able to go. However I hope to communicate with the man. I read (Wiki) that he admired the work/thoughts of Leo Strauss. I read (Wiki) about Strauss and his thoughts. I read (Wiki) about Paul Tillich, whom Strauss, who grew up as a jew, at one point had wanted to study with. (That did not work out. I wonder why. It makes me wonder if Strauss wanted to see if Tillich could convince him of Christianity's verity.)

Your Friend and fellow wonderer, Joan Mazzu

"Wachet Auff" by J. S. Bach

I've just listened to this music by Bach and wonder again if Bach was portraying with first the playful, light melody and then the somber, pious theme coming in - portraying our lives, where we go about our worldly activities like eating, talking with friends on lite subjects, TV, etc. and working; and then the Holy Spirit speaks to us about the things of God ("Echad "). 

Perhaps the Holy Spirit says, "Wake up sleepers! Let us get on with the things of God. Enough of sleeping your life away with those lite things."