Who lives their lives according to the Sermon on the Mount?

Question

I am not a Christian, but I find Jesus' teachings to be powerful and full of wisdom. I see little evidence that most Christians today come anywhere near to living the life prescribed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Most distressing is the fact tha Christian leaders and those Christians that vote for them seem to be able to justify warfare and murder on a grand scale. How do Christians expect to be taken seriously given that this is the case? Check out Wikipedia with regard to The Sermon on the Mount to see how Christians down the ages have actually altered the text to make it more palatable. If you are a Christian and (for example) you support the War in Iraq I would like to hear how you justify that stance and how that fits in with Jesus' teachings?

In response to Williamzo you haven't answered the question. I am trying to get a picture of how Christians deal with their own teaching. Jesus certainly judged his peers when he overturned the tables in the temple. It sounds like you are avoiding the question to me. As to why Im bothered - because I care about the state of the world.

Thanks Ramall. My interpretation of render unto Caesar that which is Caesars is a long way from yours! I think it means that we should look within for spiritual salvation and not look to our leaders who rule the material world of power and wealth, it certainly isn't a way of saying support George Bush!

Jonathan - strait is the gate! Remember the saying about turning the other cheek? The Second World War might be over but the killing and ignorance goes on. Why fear death and persecution if eternal life is your reward? Jesus didnt try to kill those who crucified him did he?

Malak are you a comedian? You have to be joking? Come on! No? I didn't think so. Then you just catrry on with whatever you think religion is all about mate, just leave me out of it you loon.

Sorry - but Jesus went to great lengths to record for posterity that we should pay taxes! I mean that has to be the most profound religious statement ever! PAY YOUR TAXES - JESUS SAYS SO! Brilliant!

Answer 1

I am a Christian. I actively campaigned against the illegal invasion of Iraq, but I was discouraged by the lack of response among those that took us to war. I will, however, attempt to answer your question.

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous of Jesus' teachings. There are others, which are harder to interpret given the popular perception of Jesus. These are often known as the difficult sayings. It is these that sometimes warmongerers bring up when they wish to declare a "holy Christian war."

Among these is the passage (Matt 10:34-36):


Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.


Yet elsewhere, He is asked to comment on the laws of Abraham. He is asked by a top-ranking Jew (Matthew 22:34-40):


But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

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.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.



So the teachings show that "the sword" is permissible, as long as one loves one's neighbour as oneself.

Different Christians have put different interpretations on what this can mean: I believe "the sword" is a constant, mental struggle against wrongdoing, not actual warfare.

This is reflected in The Sermon on The Mount:

"How Blest are the Peacemakers" (not, incidentally, the cheesemakers): "God shall call them His sons."

My interpretation of this is that, as Christians, we are called to live like Jesus, whom I believe is God's Son, so to be a peacemaker is to be Christian. This is part of the reason I was against the Iraq war, and most (but not necessarily all) military action. I think this is also the justification for the Religious Society of Friends' (Quakers) anti-war stance.


The rest of the Sermon of the Mount consists of beatitudes, Jesus explaining who is blest and why. This is made up mainly of what, in ancient Jewish society and also largely today, would not normally be thought of as the cream of society.

These include "how blest are those who show mercy." This is one of the basic tenets of Christianity: to be merciful, to be forgiving, as expressed in the Lord's Prayer: "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." I agree that not all who believe in Jesus Christ forgive properly. Nor have they all "pure hearts," in fact I would say none but Jesus of Nazereth has ever come up to this exacting standard.

The next part: "how blest you are when you suffer insults and persecution for [Jesus'] sake" does go on in the world: in China, Afghanistan, Burma where people are locked up or killed for being Christian; accross the world where people are bullied and even in Yahoo! Answers where Christians are made fun of.

Christians are "the light of the world" who must not be hidden. This, again, is subject to interpretation: but can mean either leading a good life that people may come to Christianity, or actively proselytising. People do the latter who mwy not live up to the former. Some people are shining examples of the former, viz Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"Unless you show yourselves to be far better men than the Pharisees and the doctors of law, you can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Another difficult saying. Who can show themselves to be better than these men? We are told these men are all about appearences. Some people are better, some are not. Do all those that are not go to Hell? I think not. When Jesus said this, He had not yet been killed. In His Crucifixion, he took away all our sins so that even the sinful can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It's not now a race to see who can get enough points to get into Heaven: we should do good to please God, as we should love "with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." This requires obeying His laws.

Jesus' teaching is that it is not pleasing enough to YHWH to do good, one must also have good in one's "heart." Well, I for one think nobody but Jesus has come to this standard, either.

In the Sermon, he is preaching to Jews who are subject to Moses' law. A lot of the teaching is specific to that code of laws. But there are also generalisms: not to think adulterous thoughts (very hard if there's a really pretty lass), and to "tear out your right eye" if it is your undoing. I doubt anyone but the insane would actually do this; although similar punishments arise in Shariah law.

He places sever restricions on divorce: this does affect Christian couples, who are thus encouraged to stay together.

Matt 5:38-42 encourages Christians to give what is asked or demanded of them, and more. This can lead to "random acts of kindness". Some people do try to abide by this: try it for a couple of days: it is refreshing!

"Love your enemies" says Jesus. How can one love someone one is bombing? I don't think one can fully. This is one (of several!) areas George W Bush and I diverge on.

Matthew 6 is about not being ostentatious in chartity and good works. Some Christians follow this, often they forget this.

He also tells us how to pray: the Lord's Prayer. I wonder how many Christians really think about this rather than just recite the words?

"You cannot serve God and Money." Christians take this teaching to different levels; some ignore it, others live as penniless monks.

"Judge not, lest ye be judged...why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?": another exhortation not to be hypocritical: also to leave judgment to God. This is often conveniently forgotten by most Christians, and sometimes I would hazard by all.

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." Probably this meant don't waste too much time speaking to people about the Gospel who aren't interested and become abusive. Like on Yahoo! Answers. Some people persist in proselytising when they're not wanted. Me, I'm just trying to give you my answer to your (important) question.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." An exhortation to pray. Christians generally do pray in a variety of ways.

Not all Christians are on "the straight and narrow" (Matt7:13-14); some are straighter and some are narrower.

Christians should, however, be on the lookout for "false prophets."


Well, Christians live their lives to varying degrees by The Sermon on The Mount, but probably never fully. Those that hear the teaching and act on it are, according to Jesus:


"liken unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."


In conclusion, imho no Christians fully live by the Sermon on the Mount, some try to very hard but will inevitably fail, some give little thought to it. Those that do fail, and earnestly repent and say sorry will be forgiven; and in dying on the cross Jesus has taken away ALL the sins of ALL the world.

BTW: you say you are not a Christian but you "find Jesus' teachings to be powerful and full of wisdom." This, and trying, with whatever success, to live by His teachings, is far more important than believing He is Son of God.

Answer 2

Very good question indeed. What Jesus taught was that you need to back your leaders of the country you are in even if you may not agree with them. So with that I need to back the President in the war in Iraq even though I do not agree that we should even still be there now and could have saved many lives if it had been done in a more diplomatic fashion instead of rushing in for revenge and thinking nobody will care. Even those that voted for him are sorry now that they did as evidenced in his popularity rating. WE have been told all kinds of lies to make it look right but in the end, you do not see any of Bush's kids going to Iraq, do you? YOu see none of his family putting their life on the line as the rest of the country is doing. Not very many really live the Sermon on the Mount I am sad to say but it is something we need to think about a lot more and put into practice if we are to have any peace in this world before Jesus comes back to get His people. Sometimes you need to stand up and go to war but not when it is for revenge that a dictator tried to kill your father so you are going to get him. Jesus taught that you need to back your leaders, even if they do not really lead in the right way. Just as He expained about the taxes, render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. You are correct that most do not live the life that is preached on the MOunt and that is what is so sad. We would not be in the place we are in if people just would do it. Study your bible and you will find truth there and you can find a church home eventually if you choose to that will at least come close to the Mount standards. Check the site listed below and do the lessons there to find what the bible says and let the bible interpret itself with God's help.

Answer 3

I'm not sure what the sermon on the mount has to do with warfare. However, I think that Christians try to do a good job of living in a way that glorifies God. As far as wikipedia is concerned, I have trouble regarding any online dictionary that can be edited by anyone anytime as a credible source. I am a Christian and I do support the war in Iraq. I don't support it because I like violence or I think we should be over the killing people. However, I believe we are there in order to protect ourselves from another 9/11.

Answer 4

Bible texts through the ages have been altered, words removed, changed, added. This causes much confusion, mainly concerning trinitarian beliefs. The Bible does make sense however if you go back to the original hebrew, greek and aramaic writings and translate them to a readable english.
Christianity has changed so much through the centuries, most of todays celebrations arnt even mentioned in the bible - Easter is a pagan festival welcoming the spring gods, Jesus never told us to celebrate his birth, and the birthdays of kings in the bible were seen as detestable in Gods eyes. So why do most christians celebrate them?
Point being, people want to live their own lives and dont want the headship of christ or God, which has been mankinds problem from the start - the abuse of free will.
Wars cannot be justified in the sense of 'ceasers things to ceaser' as some have the reasoning, because God is no longer siding with the wars of the nations.
"Man is dominating man to his injury"
A slave cannot have two masters, you cannot serve God and Man. So why are those proclaiming to be serving God, also participating in world wars, claiming to end suffering and promote peace, when God says he will deal with it when the time is right?
Very good question, hope my reasoning is of interest?

Answer 5

So your basically saying any war fought is against jesus teaching... Well when the Jews were being wiped out by the Nazi, our country could sit back and do nothing, or we can go fight, and stand up for what is right..

Whenever Robert E Lee. Lost the battle of Gettysbugh, a Union soldier laying down on the ground yelled mockering to the Confederates. Lee could have killed him, but instead he told him to get well. This is what Jesus is referring to love your enemy.

Just because were fighting a war, doesn't mean we hate the people we fight. Usually it means we are concerned, since we realize terrorist are destroying the lives of many.

War isn't something Christians look for, but usually it is necessary. If our brother Iraq is being blown apart, shouldn't we help rescue him? We know that is love, to go help him out.. By sitting back with a cold heart,, is un-christ like.

Answer 6

First off, "render unto Cesear what is Cesear's", is about taxes and government. I realize you want to interpret it differently, but that's what it means. Basically, Jesus is saying not to fight our own government, if your government says pay taxes, you pay taxes, if it says you're going to war, you go to war. I don't like war, I don't support it usually, but gotta admit, when we got into WWII, it was the right thing to do. Sometimes people have to fight for what they believe in, and I think the murder of millions of innocent people is worth fighting for. If you don't, that's you. Personally, I think we should be going into Africa to help those poor people who are being murdered and maimed by the islamic extremists that are taking over. Of course, they don't have any riches, oil or anything to make it worth our while.

"Turn the other cheek" has been misintrepreted for hundreds of years. At that time, to strike someone on one side of the cheek was showing respect for the person you were angry with, a social equal, to strike him on the other cheek was what one did to slaves or those they felt beneath them on the social scale. I can't remember which cheek was which though. Saying to turn the other cheek is saying we're not beneath another person socially, which really applied to the Jews of that time, as the Romans considered them far beneath them.

You really think a dictionary can explain the bible? Sorry, but there's a lot more to the bible than simply words. If you can't figure it out without a dictionary, then maybe you should stop reading it until you can.

Answer 7

I think from what I can understand about Jesus he was a decent bloke (I am not a praticising Christian and do not believe he was the Son of God but acknowlege his existance and that he was a good man)

Religion is always used to justify murder or torture (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition...) and always will be. All religions will adapt their teachings into dogma to justify virtually anything.
Religion is politics, I have said it many times.

Good question.

Answer 8

I don't live my life according to the Sermon on the Mount.

I live my life according to the basic principles that existed long before Jesus and which are reflected in his sermon.

The Golden Rule was there long before Jesus ever showed up.

Actually, although I also love the Sermon on the Mount, there are a few very dodgy ideas within them. If I could be bothered to bring up biblegateway, I'd tell you. But I can't...

Answer 9

Preaching is proclaiming the truth. You can do that without being perfect yourself, as long as you teach God's Word. If only perfect people could preach there would be no preachers, you know that because you are not perfect either. Jesus said to imperfect people "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," God says "don't lie" it does not mean that you will not lie, it is the standard. When He says be perfect, it does not mean you will be perfect, but it is the standard we strive for.

Answer 10

I am a Christian.

And it is hard to follow Jesus' teaching for any person in the world. It is hard to defeat your own demons. But, I am trying to do my best.

I am apolitical.
I do not support war, but still I am not able "to turn other cheek".
I am against killing and death penalty. And, yet I think I could be able for vendetta.

More we do to defeat our demons, closer we are to Christ. And when we defeat all of our demons we will become saints.

Answer 11

So before (too late) you start throwing stones...
If you find it powerful and full of wisdom are you following every teaching completely or are you ignoring "Judge not...."