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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The apostle Peter summarizes the Bible's teaching on respect in his first Epistle: "Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king" (1 Peter 2:17). Thi...
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Andy Mangus
My answer and comments are rooted in and from my strong Christian upbringing in which my parents gave myself and my brothers genuine parental love and discipline with the highest goals intended for our individual good! Love, Honor and Respect; and, 'in that order'! The lifelong lessons that they taught us fits in w/ the very foundational meaning of the word and meaning of 'LOVE'. Respect is--to me--something that is required in order for there to be any kind of love. Respect is necessary for there to even be 'experienced' friendship, fellowship, partnership, functional family interaction, etc. So many, if not 'all successful human interaction and relational beatitudes' starts with at least a certain amount of 'respect' by and from all persons involved. The Bible tells us to "love our neighbor as we love ourselves". To me, 'respect is like the cement foundation of a big, beautiful house: you have to first have that 'foundation; RESPECT' --Andy--
Grant Abbott
It is one thing to know what the bible says about "biblical respect" and quite another to apply it in our daily lives. The other answers have done a good job of defining what it is; I would like to discuss how to apply it. In my view, the Christian church today has failed miserably to apply biblical respect in the life of the church in two crucial ways. 1. Acceptance of all Christians We are not willing to respect other Christians who believe differently than we do. If we spent less time arguing about who is right and who is wrong, and more time "doing the will of God - the mission that Jesus gave us"; the church would have a massive impact on the world and the culture around us. Jesus gave us this mission so clearly in Isaiah 61:1-3 and in the Sheep and the Goats prophecy in Matthew 25:31-46. "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor" (Isaiah 61:1-3). Joining together with Christians of other denominations to fulfil this mission would certainly demonstrate "biblical respect". 2. Acceptance of all People We are not willing to accept all other people who have different worldviews, cultural mindsets and behaviours we don't agree with. We are not willing to admit that systemic racism is present in the Christian church today, especially the conservative evangelical churches. We seek to develop churches with the same mindset, same cultural homogeneity and we celebrate our identity; but we forget our purpose, the mission Jesus gave us. Our enemy Satan, has been seeding racist attitudes in our cultures for centuries to create conflict and oppression among people groups. Our churches have been present in the cultures of our world for so long, it is guaranteed that some bias, prejudice, discrimination and racism exists; but we are unwilling to talk about and unwilling to forsake it. The "Black Lives Matter" campaign and demonstrations are a good example of this. Where do we see the Christian church visibly standing side by side with the demonstrators to fight for "Justice and Righteousness, Love and Faithfulness". The BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Colour) movement is waiting for partners to come alongside to "fight the good fight" for racial equality - to end bias, prejudice, discrimination and racism. Will the church today get off their pews and join in this fight. That would demonstrate "biblical respect".
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