Why Are People on this Forum so Venomous?

The love that every man is capable of doing which is the love described at various places in scripture as I have already made reference is not about simply likeing something with great affection. It is about acting on behalf of another through compassion. I fail to see how one can support from scripture that feeding the hungry is not bibical love as commanded by Jesus. In your examples one can feed the hungry and it not be love if as you point out one is doing it for money and not out of compassion. Samaritan number 2 in your exemple is not only not loving but also not really being kind. Being manipulative and using people is not being kind to them.

which is exactly why biblical love is what is discribed in I Cor. 13 and includes everything listed there.

Which is why there is no difference between what any human with wisdom understands is loving and a so called Bibical love.

huge difference, look at the list....

But even more puzzeling, are you changing your claim now? Are you now agreeing that biblical love includes all the things listed in I Cor. 13?

I don't believe in Bibical love as in love being somehow different for a follower of Christ than it is for any human being. I am not convinced love has to include everything in 1 Cor 13 but I do think 1 Cor 13 is a description of love, the love that Jesus commanded all humans to do and which God created all humans to be able to do, the same love defined by Matt 25:31 and following and the parable of the Good Samaritan--the same love commanded in John 13 and 15 and about which Jesus said if we love Him and God we would do in chapter 14. I see nothing in any of these scriptures that indicate the love being discussed is a mystery and its meaning is hidden unless one accepts Jesus as their personal lord and saviour.

again, as best I can tell, we are saying the same thing, just not aware that we are....therefore I'm not sure what you want me to say or how you want me to respond, as best I can tell your saying what I have been saying....what makes me unsure is that it seems (my reading I am sure) that you keep changing your stand and wording to mean something different each time you respond. For example, whether or not everything list in I Cor. 13 is required....or how that the behaviors or actions of Matt. are examples of love, actions that flow out of love.

As to the end of this post, I did not state that one must be a believer to love, I stated that the biblical love spoken of in I Cor. 13, the biblical love that all the law and prophets are hinged on, the biblical love that we are told is the mark of the one filled with the Holy Spirit, are indeed only possible through the Holy Spirit....consider this, if Love is the identifier, the mark of the believer living in the power of God, how then would that same love be able to belong to the unbeliever?

John 13:34-35 (New International Version)


34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

I think it is a stretch to say this verse proves that someone who feeds the hungry and is compassionate to the needs of people who are hurting, does not have the spirit of God, who is love, in them.

It is not a strange kind of love that identifies the disciples of Jesus. It is the love that all humans recognize as loving others, the love described by the parable of the Good Samaritan and by Jesus in Matt 25:31 and following. How would you identify the followers of Jesus and the unbelievers if you observed both feeding the hungry and were not able to talk to any of them and knew nothing about any of them but the loving actions you observed?

I didn't say anything like that...but to use your own words to further demonstrate what I am saying, Love is compassionate, but not all compassion is love. We know them by their fruit...that means, what else are they doing when they feed the hungry...some examples might be, how much are they giving, what kinds of food are they giving, etc.

Personal story time....we have been living at about 1/2 poverty now for a long time. Someone from a church that we know, wanted to help out with a gift of food. So that person asked someone we both know well to deliver the gift for her. The third person agreed (sounds like love so far right?) Well, the third person party is worth 1 1/2-2 million dollars and insisted on taking a portion of the gift for themselves before delivering it to us. Now the third part did their part to feed "the hungry" but was it done in Love? Love, is a fruit of the spirit and is an identifier of the Spirit within. When we reduce Love to only an act (which is what you seem to be advocating), we miss the whole point of love. Love transcends actions, it transcends emotions, it changes situations and transforms lives. That is the point, anyone can act in a loving manner, but only the spirit filled believer can truly love with a God type love.

I am sorry if I misled you. I don't say love is simply an action with no compassion behind it. Where we are in disagreement I think, if in fact we are in disagreement, is you seem to think this distinction of the actions of the rich person keeping part of the gift showing them not to be led by the spirit of God, but I am suggesting you have the same distinctions to make if all parties are Hindu and none are claiming to be Christians. Can we really be absolutely certain the spirit of God is not in the first party who was acting to help you out of compassion if they are Hindu?

well, what marks the believer? Isn't the believer known by their love? So what, if your words are right, and the Hindu's actions are the same as the believers love, seperates the two??? It goes right back what biblical love really is.