Love your Enemies

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battig1370

Registered Senior Member
Christians say, "Jesus is Lord" Do Christians believe that these words are The Words of God?

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say unto you, "Love your enemies, ---" - ( Matt.5:43-48 )

"I say to you who hear; Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you" - ( Luke 6:27 )

"--- love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil." - ( Luke 6:35 )

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'Inever knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' - (Matt. 7:15-23 )

I ask Christians, "Is Jesus your Lord?"

Peace be with you, Paul
 
True Christians believe in the word of God, but there are many false people who call themselves christians and yet they are not Christians.

A Christian is someone who follows Christ, the word of God. A believer doesn't have to speak about his belief or show it to other people, the most important is that God knows that he believes.
 
The "love your enemies" command is a difficult one to follow (and the Christians that are famous are largely the ones who don't or didn't follow this) but that does not mean it is not or should not be a tenet of Christian faith.
 
Yorda: > "True Christians believe in the word of God"

battig1370: > What's the difference between a True Christian and a Christian?

Ozymandias: > "The "love your enemies" command is a difficult one to follow"

battig1370: > Why do you think so?

Peace be with you, Paul
 
If I am correct, Yorda is using "true Christian" to distinguish between devout Christians who follow the word of God and Christians who are Christians "in name only," or Christians who did many things contradictory to basic Christian doctrine. People who knowingly disobey what they claim to believe is true might still be considered "Christians" because that is what they or others call them, but they do are not really Christians in the sense that they are not believing and following Christ.

I find a request to "love your enemies" contradictory to human nature. Our natural emotional reaction to our will being disrupted or towards encountering an enemy is anger, rage, wrath ... not emotions that lend themselves towards love. In fact, they are emotions that, when cultivated, will produce violence.

There is a reason that people are our enemies. It is because they consistently disagree with us on matters we hold important. Enemies in warfare might disagree with who is more capable of leading a large portion of territory, enemies in politics might disagree over ethics, enemies in the social scene might have had a heated argument over any number of topics and now lack respect for each other to such a point that they will avoid them or even seek to disrupt and annoy them, if not get them out of their way for prolonged periods of time. How can we be expected to not only agree and tolerate people who have earned our hatred and have become our enemies but to actually love them?
 
Most all Christians are very quiet and disobedient on the subject of "love your enemies".

" If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. --- You are My friend if you do whatever I command you. --- " - ( John 15:1-27 )

The Christians that do not keep His commandments are not His servants, and are not His friends, and also Jesus is not the Lord of their life and actions.

Peace be with you, Paul
 
The enemies of Jesus will refuse to keep the commandments of Jesus, and they will hate, persecute, and kill, thinking that they are doing God a service because they do not know Jesus, nor His Father.

Peace be with you, Paul
 
battig1370 said:
Christians say, "Jesus is Lord" Do Christians believe that these words are The Words of God?

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say unto you, "Love your enemies, ---" - ( Matt.5:43-48 )

"I say to you who hear; Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you" - ( Luke 6:27 )

"--- love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil." - ( Luke 6:35 )

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'Inever knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' - (Matt. 7:15-23 )

I ask Christians, "Is Jesus your Lord?"

Peace be with you, Paul
Click to expand...

Yes i am a Christian and i believe in those words :)

All praise The Ancient Of Days
 
" If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. --- You are My friend if you do whatever I command you. --- " - ( John 15:1-27 )

Why did Jesus says, "Love your Enemies"?

Peace be with you, Paul
 
Because He came to save sinners and i am a sinner just like my enemies. Therefore the gift that God has given me through Jesus he is also offering it to my enemies, That offer is open to them until the day they die. Therefore if i fight and kill my enemies i have decided to shorten the period that gift is on offer to them. If my enemy kills me then it matters not because i already have eternity with God. But if i decide to save my life by killing my unbelieving enemy i have not only killed him physically i have also killed him eternally.

To allow my enemy to kill me is an act of love toward my enemy. For my enemy will still be alive and therefore still have an opportunity to accept the gift of salvation. If the one who killed me did finally accept the gift of salvation i would be overjoyed to spend eternity with my murderer in eternity with God.

Luke 9:24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.



All Praise The Ancient of Days
 
The way I understand it, "Love your enemy" means that you should treat your enemy as a human, even if he is your enemy.

This entails:
1. Never underestimate your enemy. He has at least the same capacities as you. Take him seriously.

2. When you capture your enemy, do not torture him. If, by the law, he deserves death, put him to death, but do not indulge in torturing him.

3. If you are captured by your enemy, know that he is only human. He might kill you, but if you trust in the Lord, you should not fear your enemy to take your life and your salvation from you. For fearing your enemy more than God declares you unfaithful to God -- for you admit that you don't believe God will save you.


"Hate your enemy" means stay away from your enemy, don't socialize with him, don't make bonds with him. Don't let your thoughts be negatively influenced by him. Don't let yourself into arguments with your enemy.


* * *

Love and hate are not opposites. They are only opposites when by "love" we mean its popular meaning -- 'a very strong, pleasant or kind feeling for a person', and when by "hate" we mean 'extreme dislike'.

But to love someone: Does this mean to sit back and let them do whatever they please, without us interfering in any way? Is that love? No. That is connivance, negligence.

To love -- the way I understand the Biblical sense of the term -- means
1. to have a strong positive affection for someone, and at the same time cultivate discernment,
2. to act on this strong positive affection and discernment.

Love isn't a mere emotion -- it is an ethical stance, the combined effort of the mind and the heart.

Hate isn't a mere emotion either. Like love, it is an ethical stance; it means
1. to have a strong negative affection for someone, and at the same time cultivate discernment,
2. to act on this strong negative affection and discernment.


* * *

The problem with the popular understanding of hate is that it is usually a "kill-'em-all" kind of emotion, something that triggers harmful actions And if those harmful actions cannot be carried out, the hater is filled with resentment and the feeling of powerlessness -- resorting to "life is not fair".

On the other hand, the popular understanding of love is that love is to be some kind of "golden retriever emotion", an "always be nice and kind, patient, live and let be, don't interfere".

With this in mind, the Biblical verses are indeed confusing.
But if you investigate the morality involved in these two popular understandings, you'll see it is a morality of those keeping only to appearances and trying to avoid moral discernment.
 
water: > "When you capture your enemy, do not torture him. If, by the law, he deserves death, put him to death, but do not indulge in torturing him."

battig1370: > You say, "If, by the law, he deserves death, put him to death," By whose law I ask you?

"We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made himself the Son of God" - (John 19:7).

Peace be with you, Paul
 
battig1370 said:
Is anyone that says, "Go!, hate and kill your enemies a friend of Jesus?"
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Anyone who kills there enemies is not following the Word of Jesus and therefore is not a follower of The Messiah Jesus but follows another "jesus" or if you like a "balaam jesus"

They may feel like and believe they are a friend of Jesus but they are not.

All Praise The Ancient of Days
 
while were on the subject 'thou shalt not kill'
when and on what grounds do we transgress the commandments?
 
depends on which set of commandments, however god has broke most, if not all the commandments, so it's not a good example. answer whenever it pleases god, and what grounds cause it said so.
 
battig1370 said:
You say, "If, by the law, he deserves death, put him to death," By whose law I ask you?
Click to expand...

The law of the country.

* * *

Adstar said:
Anyone who kills there enemies is not following the Word of Jesus and therefore is not a follower of The Messiah Jesus but follows another "jesus" or if you like a "balaam jesus"

They may feel like and believe they are a friend of Jesus but they are not.
Click to expand...

What about self-defence?


* * *

ellion said:
while were on the subject 'thou shalt not kill'
when and on what grounds do we transgress the commandments?
Click to expand...

The only problematic one seems to be "Thou shalt not kill".

We transgress the Commandments when and on the grounds of sin -- be it our own sin, or someone else's. For when dealing with the consequences of other people's sins, it is possible that we sometimes sin as well. But this doesn't mean that our responsibility is diminished, or that "two wrongs make a right". The sin remains. Were it not for God's grace and forgiveness, and we'd be left to the Commandments, we'd be doomed.
 
On this thread, I'd like deal with Christians, who claim Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

What people did and believed in the past can not be changed, but today, those who claim to be servants of Jesus, and are not obedient to His commandments are '-------' . Fill in blank.

What I find strange is that soldier in the armies of the world are much, much more obedient to their commander than Christian are obedient to their Supreme Commander, JESUS. Christian sing songs of praise to their Lord Jesus and at the same time most off them are disobedient to His commandments.

Christians are not only disobedient to their commander, but their fighting amongst each other and etc.

It really sadden me greatly that most Christians do not accept Jesus as their commander.

Peace be with you, Paul
 
The disscussion on this thread is about 'Love your enemies' - ( Matt.5:43-48 ) - ( Luke 6:27 ) - ( Luke 6:35 ).

Are these Words commandments from Our Lord Jesus which is from the Father, The Word of God.? If not, it's a lie and those words should be taken out of The Gospels which is Testimony of Jesus.

All the Christians that are not in agreement with the Words written in - ( Matt.5:43-48 ) - ( Luke 6:27 ) - ( Luke 6:35 ) come forward and let it be known to the world.

Peace be with you, Paul
 
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