Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: Compassion Ministries, Student Workbook, SW16

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D O I N G J U S T I C E A N D L O V I N G M E R C Y : C O M P A S S I O N M I N I S T R I E S

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Family First, Always

In a discussion in an adult Sunday School class, several students are discussing the “order of loves” that the Christian is called to represent. Are we to love our marriages and family members first, in a way that is different, prior to, and better than the other loves that we have. Some argued that the love commandment implies that we are to love all people sacrificially, even our enemies. Others read the text to suggest that we are to do good to all people, but especially to the members of the household of God (cf. Gal. 6.10). What is your understanding of the various orders of love the disciple of Jesus is called to demonstrate to others? Are we to love different people in different degrees, or are we called to love everyone the same? In the late twentieth century a number of Christian scholars began to discuss the idea of Christian humanism , an idea that human beings, all of them, are made in the image of God and therefore are deserving of basic human rights that we must protect and defend. While some evangelical Christian leaders embraced this vision, many others rejected it as both compromise and a kind of first step toward universalism. Humanists, they argued, center their thinking and explanation of the highest of creation on human life , as if it were the end of all things. This is patently unchristian; God almighty, his sovereign purpose and will, are in fact the end of all things. On the other side, Christian humanists contend that salvation proves the uniqueness and wonder of human life to God; he gave his only Son to redeem his creation, especially his human creation. What do you think of the validity of the concept of Christian humanism? Is it actually possible to be both a Christian and a humanist ? Humanism Is a Bad Word

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