Frank Mayhar wrote: > Um, but it seems that the definition of "thy neighbor" pretty > much means "other Christians," from what was quoted from Luke > and Matthew earlier. Sorry, that is not the case (at least in scripture). First of all, Jesus never addressed Christians. Second, see Matthew 5:43-48, part of the 'Sermon on the Mount' (This quote is from The New English Bible, Jesus is addressing those assembled): 'You have learned that they were told, "Love your neighbour, hate your enemy." But what I tell you is this: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; only so can you be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on good and bad alike, and sends rain on the honest and the dishonest. If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect? Surely the tax-gatherers do as much as that. And if you greet only your brothers, what is there extraordinary about that? Even the heathen do as much. There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds. ' And in Luke 10:25-37, it is laid out even more explicitly, (Again, The New English Bible. It's what I grabbed first.) On one occaision a Lawyer came forward to put this test question to him: 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said, 'What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?' He replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.' 'That is the right answer,' said Jesus; 'do that and you will live.' But he wanted to vindicate himself, so he said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?' Jesus replied, 'A man was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell in with robbers, who stripped him, beat him and went off leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest wwas going down by the same road; but when he saw him, he went past on the other side. So too a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him he went past on the other side. But a Samaritan[1] who was making the journey came upon him and when he saw him he was moved to pity. He went up and bandaged his wounds, bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him on to his own beast, brought him to an inn and looked after him there. Next day he produced two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper and said, "Look after him; and if you spend any more, I will repay you on my way back." Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?' He answered, 'The one who showed him kindness.' Jesus said, 'Go and do as he did.' [1] On the previous page in my Oxford Study Edition of this Bible, the annotators make this note about Samaritans: "The enmity between Jews and Samaritans was ancient and deep, of the sort possible only where there are rival claims to being the true guardians of a common tradition (the Law of Moses)." Note that I'm not trying to proving to you that Christianity is perfect, but rather to give you a better understanding of what Christian Scripture has to say on the particular issue at hand, Loving thy neighbor. I thought the context might help. Casey