In this portion of the Works of Love book, Kierkegaard states that the commandment of Christ is that we love our neighbor as ourselves—not more than ourselves, which would be idolatry and that love is commanded by God and solely by virtue of that fact liberated. He starts off by explaining that Christianity presupposes self-love, it presupposes that men love themselves and adds to this only the phrase about neighbors as yourself. But who then is one’s neighbor? Neighbor comes from the word neahgebur meaning near-dweller therefore one’s neighbor is anybody who dwells nearer to him than all others. The neighbor ought to be just as near to you as you are to yourself. In this sense, the concept of neighbor means a duplicating of one’s own self. Loving your …show more content…
Loving your neighbor more than you love yourself or loving the neighbor above all else and in distinction from the rest of the world would be mockery of God. Christianity teaches to love one’s neighbor, all men, even enemies, and not to make exceptions , neither in favoritism nor in aversion. The second argument Kierkegaard makes and perhaps the most important one is that love is commanded by God and solely by virtue of that fact liberated. "You shall love." Only when it is a duty to love, only then is love eternally secured against every change, eternally made free in blessed independence, eternally and happily secured against despair (p 44). The idea that one can love by command even though love is supposed to be spontaneous seems absurd. Spontaneous love is not grounded upon the eternal and consequently can be changed. Only love which has gone under the transformation of the eternal by becoming duty has continuity and is eternally secure. Kierkegaard explains at length that rather than being a burden, the command to love is demonstrated to be a source of power and freedom to
...same favors nor appreciate it. Thus, we can finally conclude that being kind and nice can in return be risky and “counter beneficial”.
...love of one’s neighbor according to measure of man’s natural self- affirmation (Tillich, 1954, p. 4).
In Kierkegaard’s two works “You Shall Love” and “Our Duty to Love the People We See,” we are introduced with a moral responsibility towards others since the start. In “You Shall Love,” we are provided with the second commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (17) whereas in the other reading we are provided with a biblical excerpt stating how we cannot claim to love God while hating our brother. It is by providing this biblical references that Kierkegaard reveals how, despite that they are commanded to us by God, we hold a moral responsibility towards our neighbor by serving, loving, and caring for them.
Neely opened her paper with a powerful but yet simple scripture from the Bible. “God is Love.” (1 John 4.16) I believe this is one of the many important scriptures to look back on when talking about a Christian worldview. Love is the core of my Christian worldview. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus mentions this "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He says, "Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back…” (Luke 6:30-36) Christian love is giving to others what you would want them to give to you in that situation, even if they can’t give it back.
""You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself"." Catechism of the Catholic Church. Washington, D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006. Paragraph 2309. Print.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 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." [Matthew 22:37-40, AV]
So apparently ‘Love your neighbor’ does not mean ‘feel fond of him’ or ‘find him attractive’” (Guinness, pg. 2-56). Lewis touches on the trap we most often fall into, the trap that causes us to believe that we need to manufacture feelings toward a person who we could not feel such things for. Even though I know this truth I often find myself wondering, much like Lewis, how I can separate my view of the sin from my view of the sinner.
For Christians, this replaces all. other norms as well). This love seeks the best interest of your neighbour. The snare of the snare.... ... middle of paper ...
Because man inherently lacks truth, he needs God’s salvation. In Jesus, the divine unified himself with mankind, so reconciling humanity to himself without destroying them. Kierkegaard considered that God loves man as man, and desires to be unified with him. This was accomplished by the sheer power of his love.
First, that “only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love,” secondly that “The ruling norm of Christian decision is love,” thirdly that “Love and Justice are the same,” fourthly that “love wills the neighbour’s good,” fifthly that “Only the end justifies the means,” and sixth, “Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively.” These principles break away from traditional Christian beliefs as they see all actions as neither intrinsically ‘good’ nor intrinsically ‘bad.’ The moral correctness or any act “depends on whether love is fully served.”
When we choose not to love others, we affect our relationship with God. We as Catholics believe we are born with Original sin which is the tendency to sin innate in all human