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500) 1John 3:11-13 . . For this is the message that you heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another-- not as Cain who was of the
wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because
his works were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be perplexed, my
brethren, if the world hates you.
A portion of "the message that you heard from the beginning" is located at
John 13:34-35.
The Greek word for "love" in that passage, and in 1John 3:11-13, is agapao
(ag-ap-ah'-o) which is an impersonal kind of love. In other words; it's civil
but not necessarily affectionate; which means you don't have to especially
like your fellow Christians, but you can still be nice to them in spite of the
fact that some may thoroughly disgust you and/or rub you the wrong way.
A really good example of agapao is John 3:16 where it's said that God so
loved the world. Well, it tells me that the love God extended to the world via
His son's death is impersonal. It says that God wants what's best for the
world in a generous, charitable way rather than motivated by adoration and
fondness; i.e. there's generally no attachment in that kind of love.
Agapao is the word for love in John 3:16 but it's not the word for love in
John 16:27 which reads like this:
"The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have
believed that I came forth from the Father."
The love in that passage is phileo (fil-eh'-o) which is an affection that God
feels for His friends . It's a personal love-- tender, sentimental, and close to
home; consisting of things like bonding, fondness and affection. God doesn't
feel phileo for just anybody; only for people close to his heart.
The word for "hates" is miseo (mis-eh'-o) which basically means to to detest
and/or to love less. Miseo isn't necessarily a passionate dislike; for example
Matt 6:24 where a choice is made between God or wealth. (cf. Luke 14:26)
From that I think it's safe to take from John that he's not saying the entire
whole world would like nothing better than Christians all lined up and shot,
but that we should not expect the world to think highly of us for our
religion's beliefs and practices; rather, to them Christianity detracts from our
value; i.e. wearing the Christian label makes us less admirable; less of a
person.
But there's people out there like Cain too.
"The wicked plot against the righteous and grate their teeth at them." (Ps
37:12)
One of the boys involved in the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School
shooting incident murdered a girl in the cafeteria just because she believed
in God. Isn't that amazing? That boy was nothing in the world but a
twentieth century Cain with a gun.
My own brother and I were paired similar to Cain and Abel. Both of us
worshipped the same God, as those two brothers did, and mine was even an
altar boy for a while. One evening at church, the priest asked everyone to
stand and give their word that they would always honor and obey God. My
brother stood along with the rest of us, but did not promise because, he
said, there were things he wanted to do. My brother really changed after
that. In time he began treating me with an unusual amount of hostility and
disrespect; taking every available opportunity to ridicule, mock, demean,
and taunt me.
It was so odd because I honestly never gave him any justification to act that
way. Of the two of us, he was the best looking, the bravest, the most
athletic, the most popular, had all the luck with girls, went to all the dances,
owned lots of cars, always had good jobs, and knew all the right people in
school. Yet he despised me.
Do you know what made my brother hate me? It was because he sensed
that I approved of neither his character nor of his core values. I've since
discovered it's an earmark of Cainish people that unless they are admired
and approved by others, they become hateful and very resentful; and
sometimes malicious too.
There's lots more Cainish people out there. They may not carry guns, but
they're in business, in the stock market, in the police department, in the fire
department, at the grocery store, at the mall, at the movies, on the
freeways, and at your place of work. They are everywhere: they are
everybody, and they are nobody-- sometimes they are obvious, sometimes
they are subtle. Way too many people in America hate God; and they
bitterly despise all who admire God and are in any way loyal to Him at all;
especially loyal to the Bible. This condition exists even in the best of
churches (cf. Acts 20:29-30, Jude 1:3-4) and I've encountered plenty of
"Christians" who will hate your guts simply for disagreeing with their
religious beliefs and practices. Now that really ought not to be.
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