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Quote"but now you must get rid of all these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings.  no insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips.  do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with it's habits and have put on the new self.  this is the new being which God, it's Creator, is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself.  as a result, there is no longer any distinction between gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves and free, but Christ is in all, Christ is all."

PJ,

Do you mind if I call you that?

I think you have your finger on the pulse of this text.  We are called to change - to evolve.  Growth is a painful process because it challenges us to do something different.

People, in general, don't like change.  People would rather keep doing the same thing over and over.  Repetition is comforting.  Just look at the rituals in our worship ceremonies!  And if you only live for the rituals, they you stop growing closer to the Almighty.

Nevertheless, I believe that you are right in that we are called to grow in our relationship with the Almighty, with Christ and with each other.  We are called to look with different eyes, different ears and different hearts.

We are called to love.  And that is the greatest challenge of all.

Chaunte

IMHO,  I don't call myself a Christian, but I do believe in Christ and in God.  Christ taught love and forgiveness.  He also said that "I am the fulfillment of the law".  I believe he meant all of the laws, not just the old testament.  Church teach dogma, not the true meaning of Christ's love.  How can a group of people hate or degrade another when their founder taught love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

IMHO,
Janet