Love Thy Neighbour As Thyself !

QUOTE (savedbygrace57 @ Mar 16 2009, 11:07 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70899
Matt 22: 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. False religon today has been able to use Gods word and corrupt it for satanical purposes, and deception of Gods truth as it is in christ Jesus. There is no truth in scripture that can be divorced from Gods eternal redemptive purpose in Jesus christ.. In building a evil religous system, the ministers of satan love to exploit the words of our text, Love thy neighbour as thyself. By Gods grace, I will put forth what Jesus means by this command, which is closely connected to the previous command, which is the First commandment of the Law: 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. Which btw, the religonist puts this command, as second fiddle to the second one, because we as men, put our own selfish interest above God.. Who is Jesus specifically and contextually speaking to and of as being thy neighbour ? Was Jesus referring here to all of mankind as the disciples neighbour ? The answer is no..He is not ! And the ethnic jews to whom this law was first given would not have understood the command of the second commandment, to have had universal application to it, but would have recieved it within the limitations and restrictions of the covenant community and commonwelt of Israel.. Its application would have applied to the relationships of all the members of the twelve tribes of Israel, because they were all brethern and children of a common Father, Jacob or Israel.. The First commandment would demand this understanding of the second, because it reads: 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The second commandment corresponds to and is naturally the fruit of and connected to the first.. The second command is grounded in the truth of all coming under the covenant relationship they had with God..The God that brought them all out of bondage to egyptians.. ex 20: 1And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Now, could this apply to all humanity ? This historical fact that God is reminding this people of, did not apply to all of humanity. But to the commonwelth of Israel, all those who had experienced the redemption out of bondage to egypt.. Notice vs 16,17: 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Now these are guidelines for the commonwelth and brotherhood of Gods people..and token of them having the same covenant God.. Now, was all humanity recognized by God in a special covenant relationship with Him ? NO.. Lets look as eph 2: 11Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: Notice, the gentiles, anyone not being a ethnic jew, was from Gods point of view, without God in the world.. So, these technically were not the neighbours of Israel, and wouldnt have been whom God was talking about in our text..to Love thy neighbour as thyself.. The law wasnt given to all men to be governed by as Gods covenant people.. lets look at the discrimination here of Israel over other people and the Law ps 78: 5For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: ps 81: 1Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. 3Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 4For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. ps 105: 6O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. 7He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth. 8He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. 9Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; 10And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: and finally, ps 147: 19He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.it is plain to see from scripture, that God delt discrimanetly in giving His law, to a certain people, and it was to govern them based upon their commonality of being recipients of His Sovereign redemptive Love to them exclusively from egyptian bondage.. The Law that was given to Israel, which was being referred to in our text, matt 22: 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus response was in conformity with this contextual understanding vs 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. hence, the second commandment, cannot never apply to any outside of a covenantal , redemptive relationship with God as ones covenant head, and the only way this is fulfilled today is through Jesus christ as the new covenant head, of the israel of God.. So for the false teachers who try to make the second commandment apply to all of humanity, thats nothing more than wresting scripture to their own destruction.. The New Covenant application is now this: jn 13: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. How would the disciples understand this ? Not universally of every individual i am sure, its plainly written in the first verse of the chapter: Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. God and Jesus as back in the O T, Loved their own..not the whole world of mankind, but their own.. God didnt Love the philistines, the amakelites.. So it would have been virtually impossible for the disciples to understand Jesus as saying love all humanity the same..the same impossibility goes for matt 22 :38,39.. In both cases, its the elect of God, the chosen of God in view..and not the strangers of the covenant, like the seed of the serpent, the devils children..the disobedient to the gospel, we , as Gods people are under no obligation to love them at all, to not even pray for them, but leave them unto the Judgment of God.. May God give His true people understanding.. So Loving our neighbour as ourselves can only apply to other chrisitians who we percieve as being born again, or born of God.. 1 jn 5: [sup]1[/sup]Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. [sup]2[/sup]By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
Luke Chapter 10: [sup]27[/sup]And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. [sup]28[/sup]And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. [sup]29[/sup]But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? [sup]30[/sup]And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. [sup]31[/sup]And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. [sup]32[/sup]And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. [sup]33[/sup]But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, Samaritans were not Jewish, and were reviled as heathen and gentiles by the Jews. [sup]34[/sup]And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. [sup]35[/sup]And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. [sup]36[/sup]Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? A look at the other references - the Concordance of the Saints - to loving our neighbors leads me to a different conclusion.Regardless, thanks for your post!In Christ,Jim

QUOTE (whirlwind @ Mar 16 2009, 12:48 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70910
The good Samaritan, the one that did those things, was a neighbor "in Christ" or in the ways of Christ. He was a good man and as such should be loved. To me, that is the point of the OP. Regardless of who someone is, where someone lives, what color they are, what church they do or do not go to....if they are good then they should be loved as ourself. Of course....His Word should be shared with all others so they to have the opportunity to become our neighbors. I'm presently writing a post about Paul that fits right in with this. He followed God...to the letter but was blind to the meaning of the letter. He was a literal neighbor but not a spiritual neighbor and as such he persecuted God's children. To me, the OP shows the difference in a spiritual neighbor and a literal neighbor. We are to love our spiritual neighbors and offer a helping hand to others. Perhaps that is the difference in the Biblical definitions of love that are given. As much as I love our Father I can't for the life of me love someone trying to kill or harm another. And, I don't think that is what He asks of us.
I like your post Whirlwind. And you are very correct on the physical love and spiritual love. May I give some scriptures to back up your posts?Love the Physical Love of ALL people!Leviticus 19:18 - Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD....Matthew 5:43 - Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.Matthew 5:44 - But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;...Matthew 22:39 - Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself....Matthew 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.Matthew 22:38 - This is the first and great commandment.Matthew 22:39 - And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.Matthew 22:40 - On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets....Mark 12:30 - And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.Mark 12:31 - And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these............................Love the Spiritual love of only that follows Christ!Psalm 97:10 - Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked....Proverbs 8:13 - The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate....Amos 5:15 - Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph....Matthew 6:24 - 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.Luke 16:13 - No servant 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon....Matthew 16:24 - Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.Mark 8:34 - And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

QUOTE (savedbygrace57 @ Mar 16 2009, 01:42 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70915
Yes, Jesus was slowly but surely teaching the disciples, the mystery, that others outside of of the ethnic covenant community of national Israel, was going to actually become part of Gods Covenant people..What was not quite known and understood during Jesus time was that Gods covenant people will extend outside of national israel, like never before..eph 2:[sup]11[/sup]Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; [sup]12[/sup]That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: [sup]13[/sup]But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [sup]14[/sup]For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; [sup]15[/sup]Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; [sup]16[/sup]And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: [sup]17[/sup]And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. [sup]18[/sup]For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. [sup]19[/sup]Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; so in reality, Jesus was preparing them for the future shock so to speak..you do remember how God had to deal with peter on this issue later acts 10..So, the princple still stands, its only Gods Covenant people, who have a redempive History together, now the redemptive history isnt national, but spiritual..1 pet 1:[sup]18[/sup]Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; [sup]19[/sup]But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
I THINK I understand what y'all are saying now Thanks!!Jim

I have a question are we talking about two different kinds of love ...or just what Love Is? I thought a nieghbor means anyone( fellowmen)/?Also I read these scriptures too...Matthew 5:46-4846For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.Just trying to understand...Thanks

QUOTE (Lookin'4wardtoHeaven @ Mar 16 2009, 03:12 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70925
I have a question are we talking about two different kinds of love ...or just what Love Is? I thought a nieghbor means anyone( fellowmen)/?Also I read these scriptures too...Matthew 5:46-4846For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.Just trying to understand...Thanks
From where this topic going, looks like we are talking about two different kinds of love. Neighbor means Your people, (family, friends, local neighbors etc) Then we have in Matthew 5:44... "Love your enemies" so it looks like two different group of people... since Christ mentioned "Love thy neighbors" and "Love your enemies" as separate.

I thought on first look that I agreed with some of the statements made here ...I still agree with some but I dont think they fall under this commandment. After a request I decided to look a little deeper into this commandment ..On the surface it seems pretty straight forward. I thought like most of you. With my human mind instead of my Godly heart.. I was a little humbled at what I came to understand as God often times does when we listen to him ... He reminds us sets us in the right direction we would have strayed from without his wisdom... “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt. 22:37–39). What I came to understand is that this commandment is not about our neighbors its about us. In a very personal way. It makes no difference what our neighbor is like ... If he worships a different god ...he suffers the consequences ..not us ...unless we chose to hate him then we will suffer consequences ..because not being able to judge ones heart ... We are not to judge .. The more I read on this the more I came to understand that picking and choosing what reasons we would chose to hate our neighbor only endangers our souls ... If we truly understand and follow the first commandment Love thy Lord above all with all They mind we will automatically follow the second and so forth. I am going to quote a sermon I found from 1857 that drove this point home for me I hope it does the same for you at the End I will give the link if you want to read the Entire sermon but I think it says it better than I could "Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he is in riches, and thou art poor, and thou livest in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion. Thou seest his estates, thou markest his fine linen, and his sumptuous raiment. God has given him these gifts, and if he has not given them to thee, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. There will ever be differences in the circumstances of man, so let it be. Be content with thy own lot, if thou canst not better it, but do not look upon thy neighbour, and wish that he were poor as thyself; and do not aid or abet any who would rid him of his wealth, to make thee hastily rich. Love him, and then thou canst not envy him. Mayhap, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbours. Do not scorn to own that thou art bound to love even them. The world calls them thy inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are thine equals really, though not so in station. "God hath made of one blood all people that dwell on the face of the earth." Thou art by no means better than they. They are men, and what art thou more than that? They may be men in rags, but men in rags are men; and if thou be a man arrayed in scarlet, thou art no more than a man. Take heed that thou love thy neighbour, even though he be in rags, and scorn him not, though sunken in the depths of poverty.Love thy neighbour, too, albeit that he be of a different religion. Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbour thinketh differently. His religion thou sayest is unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against thee, but against thy God. Thy God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, and leave thou him in God's hands. But if thou canst do him a kind turn, if thou canst find aught whereby thou canst serve him, do it, be it day or night. And if thou makest any distinction, make it thus: Because thou art not of my religion, I will serve thee the more, that thou mayest be converted to the right; whereas thou art a heretic Samaritan, and I an orthodox Jew, thou art still my neighbour, and I will love thee with the hope that thou mayest give up thy temple in Gerizim, and come to bow in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Love thy neighbour, despite differences in religion.Again, thou art bound to love thy neighbour, though he offend thee with him sin. Sometimes our spirits are overwhelmed, and our hearts are grieved, when we see the wickedness of our streets. The common habit with the harlot or the profligate, is to drive them out of society as a curse. It is not right, it is not Christian-like. We are bound to love even sinners, and not to drive them from the land of hope, but seek to reclaim even these. Is a man a rogue, a thief, or a liar? I cannot love his roguery, or I should be a rogue myself. I cannot love his lying, or I should be untrue; but I am bound to love him still, and even though I am wronged by him, yet I must not harbor one vindictive feeling, but as I would desire God to forgive me, so I must forgive him. And if he so sins against the law of the land, that he is to be punished (and rightly so,) I am to love him in the punishment; for I am not to condemn him to imprisonment vindictively, but I am to do it for his good, that he may be led to repent through the punishment; I am to give him such a measure of punishment as shall be adequate, not as an atonement for his crime, but to teach him the evil of it, and induce him to forsake it. But let me condemn him with a tear in my eye, because I love him still. And let me, when he is thrust into prison, take care that all his keepers attend to him with kindness, and although there be a necessity for sternness and severity in prison discipline, let it not go too far, lest it merge into cruelty, and become wanton, instead of useful. I am bound to love him, though he be sunken in vice, and degraded. The law knows of no exception. It claims my love for him. I must love him. I am not bound to take him to my house; I am not bound to treat him as one of my family. There may be some acts of kindness which would be imprudent, seeing that by doing them I might ruin others, and reward vice. I am bound to set my face against him, as I am just, but I feel I ought not to set my heart against him, for he is my brother-man.and though the devil has besmeared his face, and spits his venom in his mouth, so that when he speaks he speaks in oaths, and when he walks, his feet are swift to shed blood, yet he is a man, and as a man he is my brother, and as a brother I am bound to love him, and if by stooping I can lift him up to something like moral dignity, I am wrong if I do not do it, for I am bound to love him as I love myself. And now some one here may say, "Sir, I can not love my neighbour, you may love yours perhaps, because they may be better than mine, but mine are such an odd set of neighbours, and I try to love them, and for all I do they do but return insult." So much the more room for heroism. Wouldst thou be some feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? Sir, he who dares the most—shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of love, tread it boldly, and still on, loving thy neighbours through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they be hard to please, seek not to please them, but to please thy Master, and remember if they spurn thy love, thy Master hath not spurned it, and thy deed is as acceptable to him as if it had been acceptable to them. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour."And now shall I have to give REASONS WHY WE SHOULD OBEY THIS COMMAND.The best reason in all the world is that with which we will begin. We are bound to love our neighbours because God commands it. To the Christian there is no argument so potent as God's will. God's will is the believer's law. He doth not ask what shall it profit him, what shall be the good effect of it upon others, but he simply says, doth my Father say it? Oh, Holy Spirit, help me to obey, not because I may see how it shall be always good for me, but simply because thou commandest. It is the Christian's privilege to do God's commandments, "hearkening to the voice of his Word."http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0145.htm....................................................................................I hope you can all see what I have come to be reminded of when we do these things as God Commanded it may or may not profit our neighbor but it will always profit us where it counts In the eyes of our FatherI doubt any of us could live up to this Law in its purest perfect form but then let us not forget the LAW was so perfect it could not be lived up to by men alone it was the one of the very purposes of the LAW to show us we can not live up to it on our own ...We can not water it down and find ways around it to make it easier more fit to human nature ... To justify our inadequate natures. We are to strive to always attain its perfection....And when we fail, which we will, by the Grace of God we have Christ's death on the cross for us.

QUOTE (savedbygrace57 @ Mar 17 2009, 12:23 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70959
Your just rambling on ..Its wrong to Love the enemies of God..2 chron 19:[sup]2[/sup]And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
Oh really? Why did Christ say to love your enemies in Matthew 5:44 then?

No saved you are missing the point you are trying change discernment and worshiping false gods Satan (spiritual adultery) to fit under the commandment of love thy neighbor so you can put your own slant on it to justify your own ideas, prejudices ... Your dislike of Judah and while your ideas on some that call themselves Jews(but are not) have some merit as in the Sadducees and Pharisee you have all the facts mixed up. You have transferred what is a very target group the tares /Kennites to all Jews . Which is like calling all Christians catholics ...If your going to have this belief learn to get it right in scripture. You say I ramble yet seem you have gone through the Bible and chosen random verse's with no context and tried to put them all under one heading to make your case ... Ignoring those that say different

QUOTE (Christina @ Mar 16 2009, 09:19 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70950
I thought on first look that I agreed with some of the statements made here ...I still agree with some but I dont think they fall under this commandment. After a request I decided to look a little deeper into this commandment ..On the surface it seems pretty straight forward. I thought like most of you. With my human mind instead of my Godly heart.. I was a little humbled at what I came to understand as God often times does when we listen to him ... He reminds us sets us in the right direction we would have strayed from without his wisdom... "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. 22:37–39). What I came to understand is that this commandment is not about our neighbors its about us. In a very personal way. It makes no difference what our neighbor is like ... If he worships a different god ...he suffers the consequences ..not us ...unless we chose to hate him then we will suffer consequences ..because not being able to judge ones heart ... We are not to judge .. The more I read on this the more I came to understand that picking and choosing what reasons we would chose to hate our neighbor only endangers our souls ... If we truly understand and follow the first commandment Love thy Lord above all with all They mind we will automatically follow the second and so forth. I am going to quote a sermon I found from 1857 that drove this point home for me I hope it does the same for you at the End I will give the link if you want to read the Entire sermon but I think it says it better than I could "Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he is in riches, and thou art poor, and thou livest in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion. Thou seest his estates, thou markest his fine linen, and his sumptuous raiment. God has given him these gifts, and if he has not given them to thee, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. There will ever be differences in the circumstances of man, so let it be. Be content with thy own lot, if thou canst not better it, but do not look upon thy neighbour, and wish that he were poor as thyself; and do not aid or abet any who would rid him of his wealth, to make thee hastily rich. Love him, and then thou canst not envy him. Mayhap, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbours. Do not scorn to own that thou art bound to love even them. The world calls them thy inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are thine equals really, though not so in station. "God hath made of one blood all people that dwell on the face of the earth." Thou art by no means better than they. They are men, and what art thou more than that? They may be men in rags, but men in rags are men; and if thou be a man arrayed in scarlet, thou art no more than a man. Take heed that thou love thy neighbour, even though he be in rags, and scorn him not, though sunken in the depths of poverty.Love thy neighbour, too, albeit that he be of a different religion. Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbour thinketh differently. His religion thou sayest is unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against thee, but against thy God. Thy God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, and leave thou him in God's hands. But if thou canst do him a kind turn, if thou canst find aught whereby thou canst serve him, do it, be it day or night. And if thou makest any distinction, make it thus: Because thou art not of my religion, I will serve thee the more, that thou mayest be converted to the right; whereas thou art a heretic Samaritan, and I an orthodox Jew, thou art still my neighbour, and I will love thee with the hope that thou mayest give up thy temple in Gerizim, and come to bow in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Love thy neighbour, despite differences in religion.Again, thou art bound to love thy neighbour, though he offend thee with him sin. Sometimes our spirits are overwhelmed, and our hearts are grieved, when we see the wickedness of our streets. The common habit with the harlot or the profligate, is to drive them out of society as a curse. It is not right, it is not Christian-like. We are bound to love even sinners, and not to drive them from the land of hope, but seek to reclaim even these. Is a man a rogue, a thief, or a liar? I cannot love his roguery, or I should be a rogue myself. I cannot love his lying, or I should be untrue; but I am bound to love him still, and even though I am wronged by him, yet I must not harbor one vindictive feeling, but as I would desire God to forgive me, so I must forgive him. And if he so sins against the law of the land, that he is to be punished (and rightly so,) I am to love him in the punishment; for I am not to condemn him to imprisonment vindictively, but I am to do it for his good, that he may be led to repent through the punishment; I am to give him such a measure of punishment as shall be adequate, not as an atonement for his crime, but to teach him the evil of it, and induce him to forsake it. But let me condemn him with a tear in my eye, because I love him still. And let me, when he is thrust into prison, take care that all his keepers attend to him with kindness, and although there be a necessity for sternness and severity in prison discipline, let it not go too far, lest it merge into cruelty, and become wanton, instead of useful. I am bound to love him, though he be sunken in vice, and degraded. The law knows of no exception. It claims my love for him. I must love him. I am not bound to take him to my house; I am not bound to treat him as one of my family. There may be some acts of kindness which would be imprudent, seeing that by doing them I might ruin others, and reward vice. I am bound to set my face against him, as I am just, but I feel I ought not to set my heart against him, for he is my brother-man.and though the devil has besmeared his face, and spits his venom in his mouth, so that when he speaks he speaks in oaths, and when he walks, his feet are swift to shed blood, yet he is a man, and as a man he is my brother, and as a brother I am bound to love him, and if by stooping I can lift him up to something like moral dignity, I am wrong if I do not do it, for I am bound to love him as I love myself. And now some one here may say, "Sir, I can not love my neighbour, you may love yours perhaps, because they may be better than mine, but mine are such an odd set of neighbours, and I try to love them, and for all I do they do but return insult." So much the more room for heroism. Wouldst thou be some feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? Sir, he who dares the most—shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of love, tread it boldly, and still on, loving thy neighbours through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they be hard to please, seek not to please them, but to please thy Master, and remember if they spurn thy love, thy Master hath not spurned it, and thy deed is as acceptable to him as if it had been acceptable to them. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour."And now shall I have to give REASONS WHY WE SHOULD OBEY THIS COMMAND.The best reason in all the world is that with which we will begin. We are bound to love our neighbours because God commands it. To the Christian there is no argument so potent as God's will. God's will is the believer's law. He doth not ask what shall it profit him, what shall be the good effect of it upon others, but he simply says, doth my Father say it? Oh, Holy Spirit, help me to obey, not because I may see how it shall be always good for me, but simply because thou commandest. It is the Christian's privilege to do God's commandments, "hearkening to the voice of his Word."http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0145.htm....................................................................................I hope you can all see what I have come to be reminded of when we do these things as God Commanded it may or may not profit our neighbor but it will always profit us where it counts In the eyes of our FatherI doubt any of us could live up to this Law in its purest perfect form but then let us not forget the LAW was so perfect it could not be lived up to by men alone it was the one of the very purposes of the LAW to show us we can not live up to it on our own ...We can not water it down and find ways around it to make it easier more fit to human nature ... To justify our inadequate natures. We are to strive to always attain its perfection....And when we fail, which we will, by the Grace of God we have Christ's death on the cross for us.
Oh my. Christina that was INDEED a Rhema.This topic and some of the things being said have burdened my heart since yesterday.The love of many will wax cold one day, and I'm led to say that we should be VERY careful about qualifying and quantifying the love we're supposed to have for others. There is guidance/commands in the New Testament about how we're supposed to love the Brethren, and how we're to love sinners too.I was VERY moved and a little surprised by your post. I pray others will heed the words of the Holy Spirit in it. It is Scriptural/Biblical too - otherwise I don't think I'd have "seen/felt" the Holy Spirit in it.Tragically, SOOOO many have been hurt SOOO badly by others and have bitterness due to unforgiveness and/or not giving their pain to God and seeing that HE WILL ULTIMATELY BLESS THEM THROUGH IT, that it causes them to want to and justify bad feelings/not enough/the right love for others.So, while I understand and feel for people when I "see" their inner pain in their words, I also know it's not right and that there's a problem there for them to tke to the Lord. Y'alls Brother in Christ,Jim

(((Christina))))Thank you for listening to God and for this link. What a powerful inspirational sermon...I read it all( twice). While reading it, tears of joy ran down my face.QUOTE
If we truly understand and follow the first commandment Love thy Lord above all with all They mind we will automatically follow the second and so forth
.Amen!So true.Also I was led to read the whole chapter of 1 John chapter 4. May God continue to bless you

QUOTE (Lookin'4wardtoHeaven @ Mar 17 2009, 01:46 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70982
(((Christina))))Thank you for listening to God and for this link. What a powerful inspirational sermon...I read it all( twice). While reading it, tears of joy ran down my face..Amen!So true.Also I was led to read the whole chapter of 1 John chapter 4. May God continue to bless you
Wasn't it though!!!Blessed and glad to see someone else moved by it!!Jim

QUOTE (Christina @ Mar 16 2009, 09:19 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=70950
I thought on first look that I agreed with some of the statements made here ...I still agree with some but I dont think they fall under this commandment. After a request I decided to look a little deeper into this commandment ..On the surface it seems pretty straight forward. I thought like most of you. With my human mind instead of my Godly heart.. I was a little humbled at what I came to understand as God often times does when we listen to him ... He reminds us sets us in the right direction we would have strayed from without his wisdom... “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt. 22:37–39). What I came to understand is that this commandment is not about our neighbors its about us. In a very personal way. It makes no difference what our neighbor is like ... If he worships a different god ...he suffers the consequences ..not us ...unless we chose to hate him then we will suffer consequences ..because not being able to judge ones heart ... We are not to judge .. The more I read on this the more I came to understand that picking and choosing what reasons we would chose to hate our neighbor only endangers our souls ... If we truly understand and follow the first commandment Love thy Lord above all with all They mind we will automatically follow the second and so forth. I am going to quote a sermon I found from 1857 that drove this point home for me I hope it does the same for you at the End I will give the link if you want to read the Entire sermon but I think it says it better than I could "Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he is in riches, and thou art poor, and thou livest in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion. Thou seest his estates, thou markest his fine linen, and his sumptuous raiment. God has given him these gifts, and if he has not given them to thee, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. There will ever be differences in the circumstances of man, so let it be. Be content with thy own lot, if thou canst not better it, but do not look upon thy neighbour, and wish that he were poor as thyself; and do not aid or abet any who would rid him of his wealth, to make thee hastily rich. Love him, and then thou canst not envy him. Mayhap, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbours. Do not scorn to own that thou art bound to love even them. The world calls them thy inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are thine equals really, though not so in station. "God hath made of one blood all people that dwell on the face of the earth." Thou art by no means better than they. They are men, and what art thou more than that? They may be men in rags, but men in rags are men; and if thou be a man arrayed in scarlet, thou art no more than a man. Take heed that thou love thy neighbour, even though he be in rags, and scorn him not, though sunken in the depths of poverty.Love thy neighbour, too, albeit that he be of a different religion. Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbour thinketh differently. His religion thou sayest is unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against thee, but against thy God. Thy God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, and leave thou him in God's hands. But if thou canst do him a kind turn, if thou canst find aught whereby thou canst serve him, do it, be it day or night. And if thou makest any distinction, make it thus: Because thou art not of my religion, I will serve thee the more, that thou mayest be converted to the right; whereas thou art a heretic Samaritan, and I an orthodox Jew, thou art still my neighbour, and I will love thee with the hope that thou mayest give up thy temple in Gerizim, and come to bow in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Love thy neighbour, despite differences in religion.Again, thou art bound to love thy neighbour, though he offend thee with him sin. Sometimes our spirits are overwhelmed, and our hearts are grieved, when we see the wickedness of our streets. The common habit with the harlot or the profligate, is to drive them out of society as a curse. It is not right, it is not Christian-like. We are bound to love even sinners, and not to drive them from the land of hope, but seek to reclaim even these. Is a man a rogue, a thief, or a liar? I cannot love his roguery, or I should be a rogue myself. I cannot love his lying, or I should be untrue; but I am bound to love him still, and even though I am wronged by him, yet I must not harbor one vindictive feeling, but as I would desire God to forgive me, so I must forgive him. And if he so sins against the law of the land, that he is to be punished (and rightly so,) I am to love him in the punishment; for I am not to condemn him to imprisonment vindictively, but I am to do it for his good, that he may be led to repent through the punishment; I am to give him such a measure of punishment as shall be adequate, not as an atonement for his crime, but to teach him the evil of it, and induce him to forsake it.
I can easily love others and it truly doesn't matter about many of the superfluous things mentioned above but....I cannot, in all honesty, love someone that has murdered or raped another. I can't love someone that tortures others, mentally or physically. I do not believe we are expected to. Forgive them and execute them, yes....love them, no. At least I can't.QUOTE
But let me condemn him with a tear in my eye, because I love him still. And let me, when he is thrust into prison, take care that all his keepers attend to him with kindness, and although there be a necessity for sternness and severity in prison discipline, let it not go too far, lest it merge into cruelty, and become wanton, instead of useful. I am bound to love him, though he be sunken in vice, and degraded. The law knows of no exception. It claims my love for him. I must love him. I am not bound to take him to my house; I am not bound to treat him as one of my family. There may be some acts of kindness which would be imprudent, seeing that by doing them I might ruin others, and reward vice. I am bound to set my face against him, as I am just, but I feel I ought not to set my heart against him, for he is my brother-man.and though the devil has besmeared his face, and spits his venom in his mouth, so that when he speaks he speaks in oaths, and when he walks, his feet are swift to shed blood, yet he is a man, and as a man he is my brother, and as a brother I am bound to love him, and if by stooping I can lift him up to something like moral dignity, I am wrong if I do not do it, for I am bound to love him as I love myself. And now some one here may say, "Sir, I can not love my neighbour, you may love yours perhaps, because they may be better than mine, but mine are such an odd set of neighbours, and I try to love them, and for all I do they do but return insult." So much the more room for heroism. Wouldst thou be some feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? Sir, he who dares the most—shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of love, tread it boldly, and still on, loving thy neighbours through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they be hard to please, seek not to please them, but to please thy Master, and remember if they spurn thy love, thy Master hath not spurned it, and thy deed is as acceptable to him as if it had been acceptable to them. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour."And now shall I have to give REASONS WHY WE SHOULD OBEY THIS COMMAND.The best reason in all the world is that with which we will begin. We are bound to love our neighbours because God commands it. To the Christian there is no argument so potent as God's will. God's will is the believer's law. He doth not ask what shall it profit him, what shall be the good effect of it upon others, but he simply says, doth my Father say it? Oh, Holy Spirit, help me to obey, not because I may see how it shall be always good for me, but simply because thou commandest. It is the Christian's privilege to do God's commandments, "hearkening to the voice of his Word."http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0145.htm....................................................................................I hope you can all see what I have come to be reminded of when we do these things as God Commanded it may or may not profit our neighbor but it will always profit us where it counts In the eyes of our FatherI doubt any of us could live up to this Law in its purest perfect form but then let us not forget the LAW was so perfect it could not be lived up to by men alone it was the one of the very purposes of the LAW to show us we can not live up to it on our own ...We can not water it down and find ways around it to make it easier more fit to human nature ... To justify our inadequate natures. We are to strive to always attain its perfection....And when we fail, which we will, by the Grace of God we have Christ's death on the cross for us.
I probably am guilty of "watering it down," but again....I cannot love someone that is a beast, that revels in being a beast and there are some that do. There is much evil in this world, true, deep, dispicable evil and I cannot believe He wants us to love that.

Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil (depraved or bad in nature), and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:​

I just don't believe He expects us to love evil....even if that evil person is our neighbor, as ourself.

Whirlwind, I thought to repost this for you.Love the Physical Love of ALL people!Leviticus 19:18 - Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD....Matthew 5:43 - Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.Matthew 5:44 - But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;...Matthew 22:39 - Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself....Matthew 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.Matthew 22:38 - This is the first and great commandment.Matthew 22:39 - And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.Matthew 22:40 - On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets....Mark 12:30 - And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.Mark 12:31 - And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these............................Love the Spiritual Love of only that follows Christ!Psalm 97:10 - Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked....Proverbs 8:13 - The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate....Amos 5:15 - Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph....Matthew 6:24 - 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.Luke 16:13 - No servant 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon....Matthew 16:24 - Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.Mark 8:34 - And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.