loving ones enemies

[savedbygrace57]

Loving ones enemies has nothing to do with spiritually loving them as brothers in christ, but for his sake they are to be hated and despised.. loving ones enemies is no more than being thoughtful of them in times of distress. You dont with hold common humane treatment to a person because they are your spiritual enemie..i.e rom 12: 20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. lk 10: 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30And 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. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34And 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. 35And 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. 36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. I believe the above Illustrates what loving our neighbor means.. But on the other side scripture gives examples of christ and his servants giving severe rebuke and warning to their neighbors.. Jesus here in matt 23: 33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Paul acts 13: 8But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. 10And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? An enemie of Gods who pervert the right ways of the lord , paul has these kind words..vs 10 Davids godly prayer in ps 139: 19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: ps 15:1Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 4In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. True Godliness means hating and despising those who are in opposition to the true gospel..Paul evens says wish the worst for them.. gal 1:8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!And there are many today preaching a false gospel..All of scripture must be taken in for consideration in forming any course of godly action..so loving our enemies does not exempt them from being hated spiritually , which takes precedense over naturally..

 

[Elaine]

Does it say -"Love thy neighbor as thyself." somewhere? Or am I mistaken? Thank you, Elaine

 

[savedbygrace57]

Yes it does, and man cannot do it, because of being self centered and selfish, .. And that had to do with the covenant community of Israel and not the heathen nations around them.. So today, it would apply to the New Covenant community, and not the childrn of the devil..God doesnt command His People to love the devil and his people, as themselves, thats absurd..

 

[Brother Mike]

Elaine, your not going to make sense from savedbygrace57 post.I would not even try.You would have to understand the doctrine he is stuck on. God so loved the World!!! that He gave.God did not really love the World, just the elect He has chosen before time. If you were chosen to be a seed of the devil (Tare) then your not to be loved, but destined for destruction.

God doesnt command His People to love the devil and his people

Even though the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost, (God's love in us.) We should not use that love to witness to the devil and his people. They were chosen before time, to suffer.I hope what I said, did not make any sense to you. Jesus Is Lord.

 

[gumby]

I will say this much love all people you can but its impossible to love all people. Oh ya i dont mean to be rude when i say this but savedbygrace please dont quote me because i will not waste my time with you.

 

[Elaine]

Brother Mke,I'm a newby ---could you help me out ---how can I get notification of replies to threads that I've posted on ---I'm used to getting notified in my email on other forums..I can't find a place to "click". Thanks alot. About loving our neighbors - I still dont know where that is located in the bible. This is my take...if I make a mistake ... I know myself and I rationalize and say --well, I did that because... ok, I won't do that again...I'm sorry and I forgive myself and thus move on and forget it. Loving my neighbor as myself ---affords the same courtesy,to me. OK, I don't know where they are coming from, but obviously they are protecting themselves from some childhood pattern/hurt ---ok, forgive them as I forgive myself ----and move on and drop it. We have to realize how we love ourselves ---then do the same for our neighbor. Do we hold grudges against ourselves? I don't...so don't hold them against your neighbor either. Move on and move up.

 

[Brother Mike]

Welcome Elaine, and God bless. As for the e-mail notifications, It is a mystery of God on this forum. I could not figure it out. I just book mark my threads and delete em. Gumby: Brother !!!!! God bless you!!Now that your going into ministry, Let me give some advice on love.

I will say this much love all people you can but its impossible to love all people.

You can love all people and it's not impossible as the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. God's love in you!!! Think about it this way.God's love is a choice, not a feeling. If someone says to a women, I love you and I just can't live without you baby, You make the world go around for me. Is that Love? NO!!! it is selfishness, and that women should stay away from someone like that as they are just thinking of how there feeling. Real love says, I love you but I don't need you. Your actions toward me will never change my response toward you, and I am not seeking anything from you, or expect anything, but appreciate everything that you do for me, and am joyfully grateful for it. I am here for you. God's love does not look at actions, or how a person behaves. Love, just chooses to love that person, with no conditions. Love always responds with action and not empty words..................Jesus Is Lord and on the throne as King!!!! give glory to God!!!

 

[gumby]

Your right mike it clearly states in 1st John 3:11 to love one another, although its hard sometimes but we all should love people just as christ loves us :)