What is a brother? What is a Brethren? It should make no difference.
Of course sisters are the same.
It is really hard not to distinguish who is worthy.
So I went about looking for what Christians consider Brethren. Needless to say there is much written about the subject. But what I found interesting is Christ not really addressing the issue. It would seem that to Christ it was irrelevant. I mean, think about it, if we are to love our neighbor as our self and in fact love our enemies, what is the purpose of brethren?
Brothers and camaraderie. Blood brothers. Adopted brothers, brothers in trial, brothers in victory. Who is not supposed to be our brother? Growing up I had competitors in grade school from other schools we competed with. They were rivals and yet brothers on the field of battle because they shared the battle with me. Of course they later became good friends in junior and high school. These were brethren.
It is interesting that where I found writing on brethren there were rules as to who is a brethren, always with a caveat that it does not mean we love non-brethren less. Seems like a distinction without a difference.
It is hard, but I hope today we can look at a total stranger with the same love that we that we have to look upon our closest buddies. And if it makes you feel better, call him brother.
Reflect a little on Jesus talking about leaving family to follow him – perhaps he is just asking us to drop the distinction.
And know they love you
Love your neighbor as yourself is not a sales slogan
A neighbor is really just somebody nearby. Think how in modern times we use the term neighborhood. And then from their we narrowed our definition to those who have a house nearby. Well that was not the original meaning. Check out this cool definition from Freedictionary: One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address.
So that homeless person you just got near to or that store clerk is your neighbor. And there for your brethren. Here is a fun one just for kicks--- you are on the freeway and one hundred cars are all nearby -- you got to love them all baby!
Now try to keep your mind clean on this one, the point is well taken
So a neighbor is a brother and a brother is a brethren
So there they are about to arrest Jesus. Peter whacks of a man's ear with a sword, Jesus gently heals the ear and goes off to be crucified. I suppose the man was nearby to Jesus so he had to love him no matter what. And yet we walk around beggers and cuss people who do not drive right.
I guess we can justify our actions somehow. I guess we can push in lines and I guess we can hate coworkers or that other denomination or religion. I suppose we can be angry with loud children or a party too loud next door.
But is that what we really want to do. Do we want to quote our bible verses against another persons bible verses.
I have a man that I consider a friend here on hubpages. He hounds me constantly and he does it antagonistically. But in the HubPages community he is near. And so though we fight I must treat him as a brother. MK knows who he is, and knows that is how I feel and even though it bothers him -- that does not change my duty.
From a mustard seed this tree grew
As usually let me leave you with some thoughts
Here I will not quote the Bible but relate some lessons there from:
What we own is not really ours
He who has little yet still gives is a really good person
Try not to take credit for your good deeds
What comes out of your mouth can be far worse than what goes in it
How you treat a child directly reflects on your character
If you are having bad luck fishing, try the other side of the boat
Sometimes we should listen to our heart and not our head ,,
Likewise some times we should speak with our heart instead of our head
I hope you like this, my mom loved it
Comments
We are all God's creatures and we are all due respect for that reason and I am not even confining that to humans.
As always Eric, you strike just the right note. Thank you.
- AUTHOR
No matter, your lack of clarity was a bonus for me. Maybe you just intuitively knew what I needed to hear.
Eric - I think you misunderstood me. In no way would I imply you were a zealot, my friend. I was speaking of the extremes of others only. My apologies for not making that more clear.
- AUTHOR
rcrumple,
I really want to impose my view of everyone being brothers. Of course in right mind, I would not impose any view on anyone. Ever notice that someone moving a candle around aggressively loses the light? Creatures attracted to moving light go splat? Thanks for the directional comment, friend.
Eric - When I grew up, the general philosophy was that we were all brothers. Of course, many have changed their views on that over the years. Still, there are a few of which still believe. Each person must go their own direction and find their own path. Hopefully, they'll all lead the same direction. If not, there's no reason to lower our own feelings and actions to condemn them. Zealots in any area, inadvertently only turn others away. That, is not a brotherly act. Kindness, understanding, and love are what families need to prosper, be it in this world or the next. If those three traits, instead of greed, hatred and jealously, were ruling the world, we'd have a wonderful planet on which to live.
5