LETTER: Let's get our priorities right

Some become more conservative, raising the bar in terms of the levels of holiness and commitment demanded of their converts; others withdraw from society to anticipate apocalyptic scenarios of God’s miraculous end-time intervention to overthrow the forces of evil; others misguidedly take up weapons themselves, channelling their religious zeal into acts of violence against their opponents; still others work hand-in-glove with those in political power to preserve the national interest.

Over the last 2,000 years, religious devotion has expressed itself in all these ways.

All these ideas were flying around when someone asked Jesus what really mattered in religion, and he said it was first and foremost about loving God 100 per cent, and then about loving others as you love yourself.

He was right: anything important can be derived from these two essential principles, and if they are sidelined, then religion has a tendency to go off the rails.

Jesus got his priorities right: let’s make sure we do the same.

Tim Carter

Brighton Road

Baptist Church,

Horsham

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