I should have looked up the phrase "the kingdom of heaven is within you' but I got lazy. I don't have such a great memory nor do I spend hours poring through the Bible for appropriate verse and chapter. The link to BibleGateway on this site contains passage and keyword searches and when I quote from the Bible - often only having a vague memory of something - that finds it right away.

So the book is Luke, chapter 17: 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Oh please, don't feel badly if you don't have the answers. I am not sure anyone does. I did a search on the Sermon of the Mount to see how other Christian denominations interpret it and couldn't come across anything that implied that people thought it belonged to the millennial kingdom.

I did come across a sermon by a Greek Orthodox priest who made an observation that I thought was dead on but had never thought about myself. He says, in other words, that just as God appeared on a mountain to Moses and Israel with clouds and thunders and spoke to them via Moses, with ten negative commandments (thou-shalt-not), so Jesus appears also on a mountain, a mountain people can approach, and his commandments take the form of blessings, of positive commandments.

He goes on through each of Jesus' statements on the mountain with a discussion of each one, which is interesting to read. I mostly agree with him. In all honestly I don't know how Christians can disagree so often as entirely, and vehemently as they do. He obviously doesn't take the position that blessing them that persecute you means you shouldn't be a soldier or that you shouldn't take a vow in court.

As to that answers interest you but don't form the core of your faith - well, faith always has to come first. I don't believe that you can logic your way first to God, and then have faith. God is always about faith. My first, most simple faith is "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom" and from Job, "though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."

People come to different points at different times in their lives. There are times when some Christians are deeply troubled and sometimes hostile to any sort of questioning or question - they feel that to question is to lack faith and so when scientists talk about the age of the earth, or how the dinosaurs got on Noah's ark or whether the flood covered the entire earth, it upsets them. They feel that it hurts or could hurt their faith.

Believe me, the Mennonite church I grew up in had that attitude. Any questioning at all was seen as a hint that blasphemy was sneaking up on you.

But I think that once your faith is more settled, that in your heart it doesn't matter anymore how Noah got the dinosaurs on the ark, when you come to the place where 'though he slay me, yet will I trust in him," then after a time, you want to find out more about God and reach a deeper understanding. And then after a while, you enter a zen-like state, where it doesn't matter once again, because you know that each individual has to come to that point by themselves and there is no help you can give anyway beyond a point.

I have no doubts that God is, nor any doubts that Jesus is, nor any doubts that my loved ones are in Heaven. I went through the horror of questioning at a very young age, and then I went through a period where I did not dare to allow questions to enter into me because I had enough on my plate. Now I am interested in the answers and different interpretations because I guess I feel they can help me grow in a deeper knowledge of God and his ways. But my faith does not depend on it.

The advantage to being aware of what you believe and why you believe it and having a solid context to put it in, is that when you are questioned about your faith and beliefs, you are able to answer them confidently, certain of the foundation on which your faith rests. We are also to want to know more about God as lovers who want to know everything about each other, from the age they were when they lost their first tooth, to the first time they suffered a broken heart. We are to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

If questions and answers never matter to us, then we aren't loving God with all our mind. That is the purpose of the religious Jews who make their entire life about studying Torah.

As to Baptists believing that Mennonites are really intense saints, that's a nice way of saying weird, isn't it? I wish it were true. I post about what Mennonites have traditionally believed, not what they do. I admire who they want to be when they grow up much more than I admire who they are now. Sometimes people can be judged best on their dreams, on what they aim for, rather than what they hit.

There are plenty of things that are not at all in keeping with their stated beliefs and how they live. I think non-Mennonites think of Mennonites as weird and verging on a cult to thinking that we all drive around in horses and buggies with a Bible in one hand. And the power that some Mennonite spiritual leaders have exercised over their flocks is indeed cultish. I was going to go into that today, but got sidetracked in answering your observations.

With regards to taking an oath in a court of law, I have been in court as a witness on several occasions and I actually think it is more of a technicality, like you do, the difference between 'affirming' and 'swearing.' But I don't like the hand on the Bible part at all. You may believe in the holiness of the Book but not everyone does and to me it feels like casting pearls before swine.

I don't think that the Bible is meant to be used like that in this world which we are told is governed by the Prince of darkness. I affirmed. No hand on the Bible.

Layla

The Sermon on the Mount

I don't think God's will for anyone goes beyond that we are to love God with all our heart, our soul and our minds, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. I don't think there is a will beyond that. I think people want to think there may be a grand plan to their lives or that it is all more complicated than it is.

But most of us are not called to be missionaries, or martyrs or pastors or whatever it is that people think they 'ought' to be called for.

We are however, all called to love our neighbour as ourselves. We are called to do that every day. In practise to me that means to be aware of our surroundings and the people who surround us, and pick up on the vibes that tell us that maybe someone is having a hard time of it, and needs a listening ear.

In Luke 3, when John is baptising people, they are asking the same question regarding their purpose?

10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?

11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

In Luke 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reiterates what God wants us to do with our lives.

27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

Why don't people just do what God asks of them? What He wants of us isn't very complicated but we are rather like the rich young man who wanted to know what he should do, and made a point of telling Jesus how religious he was and how basically, he really was a very good man who had kept the Law from his youth. And Jesus told him that if he would be perfect, he should sell all that he had and give it to the poor. And the young man wanted a pat on the back and a good boy. He didn't want to do more than he was doing. Just like us.

This is another example of how Christians pick and choose what they want to believe and do. They believe that Paul should be obeyed quite literally when it comes to women in the church or homosexuality being a sin, but when it comes to literally giving away all that they have or even something as small as giving to panhandlers on the street, then they want to rationalise it away. After all, who knows what the panhandler may use his money for? Nothing good, we think to ourselves, that's for sure. Probably liquor or drugs or loose women.

And how can God ask for us to give everything we own away? Is that good stewardship? Wouldn't we better serve him by keeping our money - after all we tithe and how could we tithe if we had no money?

One thing has struck me about Jesus' actions. He didn't tell us to worry about how the other guy was going to use our extra coat or the money we gave. And He specifically told us to live like the lilies of the field and the birds of the air who the heavenly Father provides for, while they do not worry how they will eat or where they will live.

If Christians realised that they are not of this world - that we are in this world, but not of this world - if they knew what that meant, they wouldn't live like they live, claiming to have faith but constantly piling up the piggy bank for the future. We are not to live that way. The politics of the world should be of no concern for the Christian, neither should wars. They are wars of this world and the Prince of this world is the Lord of Darkness, not the Lord of Light.

I have always given to panhandlers. I have always given to whoever asked me for anything. I admit that I am glad that no one has yet asked me for my house. I would be in a real dilemma then. Although I am not sure it counts as mine since the bank still owns part of it. But that is what Jesus requires of us. To have that much faith that we can give our house away and still believe that He will provide for us.

It is not my concern what a panhandler might use the money for. I am obeying Jesus.

If you are talking however about special gifts and talents a person has, and that being one's purpose in life, they are all secondary to the Sermon on the Mount. But beyond that, all gifts, whether one has a gift for healing, as in being a doctor, or as an artist, ultimately all gifts are from God and should be developed. The way in which the gift glorifies God may not always be obvious, but nonetheless, if one is aware always that one's gifts come from God, they do glorify the Father.

Layla