re: #250 William Lewis

Why would I let them steal the title given to the Rabbi who’s teaching I follow? Franklin Graham, for one example can call himself a Christian all he wants to. It doesn’t change what I try to do to live rightly.

There is a famous tale about Rabbi Hillel, who lived around the time of Jesus. A pagan came to him saying that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah in the time he could stand on one foot. Rabbi Hillel replied, “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.” This sounds a lot like the “Golden Rule”, yes? Yet this idea was a fundamental part of Judaism long before Hillel or Jesus. It is a common-sense application of the Torah commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18). The mistake early Christians made and passed on to us is to forget the command to “go and study it”. When we do, we see what little we are told we must do:
Love our neighbor as we love ourselves
See that everyone is our neighbor, impartially.
Feed the hungry
House the poor
Cloth the naked
Care for the sick
Visit the imprisoned
Have mercy
Love Justice
Walk humbly with god.

The rest, indeed, is commentary. Important, mind, but only commentary nonetheless.

And that commentary is the path we live when we live for all of humanity instead of just for our selves.

Question, the italicized part, should it be attributed to you, or someone else… I’m pondering stealing it fair and square… :3