Kingdom is Not Divided
Index 
Idea of "Other" Morality Morality Description
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24 "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges." Matthew 12:25-26 "How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself; that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself; that house cannot stand." Mark 3:23-25 "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? .... And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils (as the "people" said he was doing), by whom do your sons cast them out?" Luke 11:17-19 I think the idea that by identifying and labeling "sin" you divide "your" house; your "house of God" which is in your heart into good and evil "kingdoms". He follows in Luke with what I believe to be sort of sarcasm, describing how NOT to do things by describing how people do them and ending with "the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Luke 11:26), that man referring to one after all his efforts at 'good', i.e. casting out devils. Again, I suspect many disagree. In the description of what NOT to do, he parodies casting out devils: • With the finger of God When Goodness is Lost (Lao Tzu) • By security through strength • By saying "he that is not with me is against me" • By realizing his sins, returning "home" but finding it bare, • So gathering other evil doers around himself who are not "against me", therefore like-minded although I think many interpret this as advice as HOW to act. So what is God's kingdom? "Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Farther is perfect" Matthew 5:48, the end of the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. |