Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Peter Bouteneff: The criterion of love


 What we learn from the Gospels’ descriptions of Christ and then from St Paul, and the Church Fathers and Mothers - is not only that “Thou shalt not” becomes “You ought to.” The commandments become something that people have to discern for themselves and live into, on the basis of something bigger. The root principle is, “Love God and love one another, including your enemies.” With those, the rest Will fall into place. You could say that there is barely even a need to explicitly prohibit specific misdeeds such as murder (or even anger), fornication (or lust), lying (or stretching the truth), because none of them satisfies the criterion of love.
+Peter Bouteneff, from How to be a Sinner, chapter 2, What is Sin?

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