How to be complete?
West - Socrates - Aristotle's rational vs. ethics.
East - Buddhist's forgiveness vs. ethics.
Confucius always use: 君子
Tong used to teach his philosophy class: compare Confucius & Christian ethics. Also asked them if any lived up to Confucius' nobility standard.
Though our credits are not to our own works, but would God be just if we do not do and the Christian in Heaven are less ethical than non-Christians?
Our faith should influence our ethical lives.
"Ye have heard that it has been said..." in Indonesian, it's wrong translation ("Firman"). The sermon on the mount is not about the 10 commandments. It's the old sayings by people.
Jewish tradition of hermeneutic: Misnah, Midrash, Talmud.
A Jewish child at 5 would learn the mosaic law in synagogue. At 12, become responsible (Bar Mitzvah) to the law. Bar Mitzvah back then: At 12, go to Jerusalem for the ritual. From Galilee to Jerusalem is a 3 day walk journey.
Which countries' law requires responsibility to the law at age 12? Most are 18, or age 21. Some countries try to lower the age limit.
Jesus did Mar Mitzvah at 12 (per Tong), though Bar Mitzvah is a tradition not quite mentioned in the OT (other than Ishmael's 13 year old case). A priest is allowed to be at 30 under Mosaic law (Num 4:3).
Chinese has great tradition, but once emigrated for 5 generations, they cannot speak Chinese. The Jews however, are not so. Even after 500, 1000 years.
2 uniqueness of the Jews: 1. Diaspora (spread out), 2. 独居之民 (Num 23:9): Do not mix. Unchanged tradition.
Per bloodline, the Jews preserved their tradition, but per principles, they brought in mixture of various ideologies. Hence Jesus said, Ye heard...but I tell you...
v. 44, where/who has this teaching in history? Love your enemy.
Love neighbors - Moses mentioned. Love enemies - no where mentioned.
Israel...Listen...a culture of Listen. Why we do Sunday service? LISTEN to the sermons.
Alexander the Great never enslaved the Jews. He never looked down on religions. A Jewish priest once told the king as he passed by after defeating Persia, that his kingdom has already been predicted in the Bible which shocked him. The king never bullied his subjects. It was the Persian general who killed his own king of Persia, not the Alexander. When that general brought the dead king to Alexander, Alexander questioned him that why he broke his vow of loyalty to his own king. Alexander issued the edict that no one except for the king can kill another king. Tong: Alexander must be a great character because he's a student of Aristotle. There's a statue in a huge temple in Egypt made by Alexander. Even the Muslims believe that Alexander is a prophet sent by God??
After the Greeks, Jews hated the Romans due to persecutions and moving Roman gods into the holy temple. So the Romans created 一国两制。Deng Xiao Ping followed this in China (HK vs. Beijing). This is not from the Brits, but from the Romans. However, since Jesus' time, the Romans cannot work out the one country two systems. Because before the Jewish God is invisible, but Jesus is visible, so cannot be. There can only be Caesar.
To be Continued next week...