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You don't? To love is to value. Your enemies are those who seek to do you harm. Or what do the concepts love and enemy mean to you?I don't understand how "love your enemy" could mean that you must value evil, or value that which harms you.
You don't? To love is to value. Your enemies are those who seek to do you harm. Or what do the concepts love and enemy mean to you?
For me, love means to value and in fact love would be the highest form of valuing. An enemy is someone who does harm to me or my life such as a thief, a murderer or a politician who votes to violate my individual rights. What do these concepts mean to you?
I don't understand how "love your enemy" could mean that you must value evil, or value that which harms you.
I think either one is heinous. To value a person in spite of his actions is a failure of justice. A person does not have to choose to do evil but so long as he does he should not be treated as a value in any sense. If a person does evil and then does his best to make amends for what he has done then maybe but not so long as he is choosing to harm me. I think it is immoral to forgive evil. It is a denial of the concept of justice, to judge each persons actions and to act accordingly. If you are commanded to love all comers including those who are evil then you are asked to love no one. Plus the very idea of loving on command is a contradiction in terms. Love is a response to values not alms.Well, I gave some definitions of love in my last post. I don't disagree with your understanding of enemy. For simplicity's sake, we can say that an enemy is someone who desires to harm us.
"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you... (Matthew 5:44)"
Apparently there are at least two different ways that we could interpret this idea:
- Love the person despite the person's harmful actions.
- Love the person because of the person's harmful actions; or, love the harmful actions themselves.
Now I think all of Christianity is unanimous in interpretation #1. Your understanding is apparently #2? You understand Jesus to be saying that we should love the harm that is inflicted upon us, that we should love the evil of harm?
Augustine was one of the first to say it was OK to be a soldier and a Christian.
Some early Christians and Anabaptists were misguided. Christians should in general not endorse war or violence but there are times that killing may be the only choice that serves justice. I would tend to follow the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, Gustavo Gutierrez, and other modern Protestant/Catholic theologians on that matter- in a sinful world love is articulated in concrete acts of justice.
I think either one is heinous. To value a person in spite of his actions is a failure of justice.
A person does not have to choose to do evil but so long as he does he should not be treated as a value in any sense.
I think it is immoral to forgive evil.
It is a denial of the concept of justice, to judge each persons actions and to act accordingly.
If you are commanded to love all comers including those who are evil then you are asked to love no one.
Plus the very idea of loving on command is a contradiction in terms. Love is a response to values not alms.
Of course, everyone's familiar with the phrase "Love thy enemy". However, what do you interpret that as? To what extent to you take that?
To me, it means to feel no malice towards an enemy. I don't think it calls for love in the traditional sense, but you aren't supposed to hate them. I generally kind of picture how the Jedi go about dealing with the Sith in the Prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars.
What do you guys interpret it as?
Could you please elaborate by posting and explaining scripture that God 'permits us to join the military' and also to 'defend ourselves physically'.I am a Christian, but Jesus did that because it was circumstantially necessary. It was the only way we could be saved. However, the Bible doesn't call us to pacifism. In fact, it permits us to join the military, to defend ourselves verbally and physically, etc, etc, but only if we do so without malice, seeking only to save lives and remove the threat that the hostile force represents. See the essay on this page for details: www.desiringgod.org/articles/did-jesus-teach-pacifism.
1. It is God's responsibility to carry out justice, not manChristianity was not pacifist. Some Christians were pacifists.
And Ethiopia was officially Christian before Rome was. About 4 kingdoms were before Rome. Pretty sure they had soldiers.
A father is out walking in rural Ethiopia with his 7 year-old daughter that depends on him. As it is they both live in abject poverty. The little girl's survival still depends on the father. Three muggers jump out and potentially aim to kill the father. I do not reason God finds it justice done by the father onto his little girl to simply allow the attacker to kill him. No, with a large bleached animal bone he breaks the jaw of one, smashes it on the knee and back neck of another, and uses it to upper cut and then crack the eye socket of another.
Semper Fi. Hallelujah, he did his job for the day.
I think either one is heinous. To value a person in spite of his actions is a failure of justice. A person does not have to choose to do evil but so long as he does he should not be treated as a value in any sense. If a person does evil and then does his best to make amends for what he has done then maybe but not so long as he is choosing to harm me. I think it is immoral to forgive evil. It is a denial of the concept of justice, to judge each persons actions and to act accordingly. If you are commanded to love all comers including those who are evil then you are asked to love no one. Plus the very idea of loving on command is a contradiction in terms. Love is a response to values not alms.
Not sure I know what you're saying...Not to propagate hatred.
Not to propagate hatred.
Not sure I know what you're saying...
Propagate: to make (something, such as an idea or belief) known to many people
- or -
: to produce (a new plant)
Everlasting life, as in what is handed down from generation to generation is the basis of much of my line of thinking.
Are you asking me to interpret what it might have been meant to say, or are you asking me whether or how I interpret it so that it becomes useful advice?Of course, everyone's familiar with the phrase "Love thy enemy". However, what do you interpret that as? To what extent to you take that?
To me, it means to feel no malice towards an enemy. I don't think it calls for love in the traditional sense, but you aren't supposed to hate them. I generally kind of picture how the Jedi go about dealing with the Sith in the Prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars.
What do you guys interpret it as?
Ok, now I have a better idea what you when you say "God loves you.".Love your enemy can mean to impose love upon your enemy. How to do this is implicit in the (above) definition of agape,
Assent of will: We yield to God's will regarding our enemy (not to our enemy's will).
Judgment: We discern regarding our enemy ( should we approach or keep our distance).
Duty: That which we are obligated to do as Christians (whether we want to or not).
Propriety: We're polite to our enemies (even if they smack us on the cheek, take our coats, and make us carry their armor).
And no Virginia, God doesn't require us to like our enemies.
Ok, now I have a better idea what you when you say "God loves you.".
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