Love Thy Enemy....

Love thy enemy. Those words have lingered in my mind for a while now. How can one love an enemy? I am sure most people know who said that sentence. Jesus. That leads me to a conundrum that I cannot figure out. According to biblical scripture, who is our greatest enemy? There are many names for it. Satan, Lucifer, Devil, Evil, whatever you want to call it. My question is.....Are we supposed to love Evil as it is our greatest enemy? If we are supposed to love it, .....how do we do that?

This is not meant to be a christian vs non christian debate as I think this question pertains to only believers of Christ. So please no arguments and be civil toward one another because I would like to know what people think on this topic.

I am looking forward to answers.

reply to post by Conclusion


It is a nice sentiment and I honestly wish that it could become a reality but it is not realistic or likely in our current state of evolution because there are seven billion potential ways that an enemy could test that noble sentiment.

I would say that it is not possible to love your enemy and I mean enemy in the true sense of the word.

You could forgive and perhaps even grow to love an enemy that beat you with an iron bar in a pub car park but could you forgive and grow to love the enemy that made you watch as he slaughtered your loved ones in front of you then turned and smiled at you while bathing in their blood?

If anyone answers yes or possibly then either they are a true enlightened being or there are serious psychological problems that need to be addressed?

I am sorry if I have evoked a grim mental image but when the term “love thy enemy” is banded around me I tend to think along the lines of the worst case scenario and it is not a natural thing to love a person, a consciousness that wishes to violently cease your life or the lives or those you love as much as you love life.

For me that is the true definition of an enemy!

In all honesty, that wasn't a very sensible lesson to teach, even for a mythical character. Love is supposed to be reserved for special people that exist in ones life. To love your enemies would be to cancel out the special feelings that love is and what should be reserved for only those special to oneself. Not a very divine teaching in my book.

Sounds like something that the authorities at the time invented up for the commoners to obey so that they would be obedient and not rise up and rebel at the atrocities committed.

reply to post by SmokeJaguar67


Thank you for your input. Good point.

reply to post by pplrnuts


That is also a good point. But if you think about it, when we love we produce it in abundance. It requires no energy to make. It is always in abundance so it is impossible to waste. If you think about it, love is never wasted for the one giving it, only for the one who denies it.

I agree with SmokeJaguar that loving an enemy that just slaughtered my family is practically impossible for any mortal to deal with. However, I see the term "love thy enemy" in broader terms and synonymous to the commandment that we "love one another", which doesn't mean, I'm sure, that we strive for a promiscuous society!

Both of these terms, to 'love thy enemy' and to 'love one another' mean the philosophy of "brotherhood and sisterHood" and the implied compassion these words stand for. Think of organizations like the Red Cross, or Doctors Without Borders. Are these not examples of "love" on a global level? In any war we tend the wounds of a captured enemy, regardless of whether that enemy would do the same for us. Or at least, I would hope we would.

If we ever want to live in a world of peace then we need to see everyone as One Humanity. Think of your enemy as your errant younger brother, the one who was always getting in trouble and losing his way. Would you ever totally lose your love for him forever?

The way to Peace is the way of Brotherhood, of Justice and Love.

reply to post by Conclusion


Being that I'm not a Christian, I don't know if I really meet the criteria to respond to this topic, but I do have something to say about your topic.

Maybe Jesus said "Love Thy Enemy" because Satan would be the person to eventually bring about the second coming, and eventual 1000 yr reign of Christ, and everybody would live happily ever after? Just a thought.

reply to post by Conclusion

Love Thy Enemy....

It IS the answer... if we ever want to survive ourselves.

No, it is not asking us to actually 'love' our enemies so much as it is to accept them as we do ourselves. As humans, we will never all agree on anything because that is built in to us to be a strength. Well, someday it may be.

We don't have to literally love those who we disagree with as much as we should accept them as being like us. And then understanding that much, we will quickly see that like us, they are as human and as frail and as imperfect and as capable of good and bad...

Drop that nuke, brother. We can work this out.

Hello Conclusion,
Hope you are well,

We are not supposed to love evil at all,what Jesus was talking about was in direct relation to people as always,here the enemy is one that has wronged you and it is one of the hardest commandments to live by,and many times we think"Why should i?",I know for myself that this has been a place
that i have found myself in and that my natural mans first reaction is,"Stuff them,they did the wrong thing to me and i want retribution"All good and well,but,(and there is always a but...)There are very good reasons why God
asks us to walk in forgiveness

The first is that when there is a transgression against you,whether intentional or not it will cause a wound in you,It will hurt,and even if it is twenty years
before you see that person again you will still be wounded,and in that whole time you have been walking around with this cut in your heart that needs healing and like any wound if it is not taken care of then it will fester and
cause all sorts of grief and pain and the only way for that wound to be healed is to apply the balm of forgiveness,

The second reason is that when there is unforgivness in you heart it is like a chain, in many ways it ties you,like a binding to this person,You think about them and what they did frequently,think of ways to get back at them,how they should pay and how they were so wrong,that is a lot of attention to give to someone,

The third is that forgiveness's alters your perception,when someone wrongs you it makes room in your heart for all manner of things,You don't look at others the same way anymore,you see them through the tinted glasses of the hurt that you feel so you respond to them differently because there can be an expectation that they may do the same thing that was done to you previously,
It makes you act differently towards others and yourself because you are motivated differently and are operating from a wounded heart.

It is a hard thing to live by and i have struggled some times with it but it is like any art,the more that you practice it the better you get at it,
and the act of forgiveness also does not mean that you allow someone to walk away from the repercussions nor the consequences of their words or actions,there is still a price to pay for what we do,the difference is in how we conduct the matters of our heart,what we choose to do with it and that determines the kind of person that we are.

Attitude is everything,

Thanks for listening

BV.

[edit on 14-1-2010 by BlackViolet]

If one can show love towards an enemy, what reason does an enemy have to continue being an enemy.
It is an opportunity for them to consider the error of their ways and reflect inwards on the negative and probably pointless actions or words that have been the purpose of their hate and or dislike. Some people have an inbuilt need to feed off others energy (very normal & natural). This happens through intimidation, bullying, sarcasm, lying etc, etc.

When faced with the unexpected reaction from their victim which is the opposite of their goal, the only one who can suffer is the enemy. If all they get is love in return for their nastiness they have no reason to fight except to satisfy their inner demons.

People can only REALLY change themselves...from inside.

Basically, these confrontations are an exchange of energies. Bad person tries to steal good persons energy by trying to force, and expecting submission. Good person gives energy (love) but does not submit, and indirectly shows the enemy that his/her attack was pointless.

If the victim is unscathed and the attacker has no reason to continue the attack, it's a win win situation IF the attacker learns from the experience.

Next time they get the urge to steal another's energy they may think twice now they are armed with a little wisdom.

The more love (energy) we give, the less reason others have to fight for it.

It's all about ENERGY.

A bit of a "babble" but I hope I got my point across.

Thanks for getting these cogs whirring!

ps...this does NOT apply to an enemy who does nasty things with an iron bar. Those kind of "thugs" are probably so deep into their "hate-rut" that love is not a concept in their pea sized brains.

My opinion does apply to the other 99.999% of humans though.

[edit on 14/1/2010 by nerbot]

'Cos It breaks the chain of violence.

No more eye for eye.

We are on the same boat.

reply to post by infobrazil


I have found that anger and hate lead to the same while kindness and compassion may not immediately but takes a lot of the fun out of your enemies ire. What satisfaction is their in hurting your enemy when they smile and forgive you? Its a call to live the change youd like to see in the world.

The easiest path in the world to follow is one of anger and hate. It is far more challening but worthwhile in my oppinion to live a life of love. That said I have never had to test that belief against a murderer killing my family. Perhaps in sucha circumstance I would forsake my belief but then I imagine I would still wallow in anger and hate for what the perpetrator had done.

Either way those energies are destructive and its a good ideal to strive for in life.

Cheers

Originally posted by Conclusion

According to biblical scripture, who is our greatest enemy? There are many names for it. Satan, Lucifer, Devil, Evil, whatever you want to call it. My question is.....Are we supposed to love Evil as it is our greatest enemy? If we are supposed to love it, .....how do we do that?

ahaahahahahaahahahahaha thank you for making my day.....ahahaah awesome question my friend..

reply to post by BlackViolet


I do see what you are saying. It would be kind of like a Father saying,"Do What I Say, Not What I Do." A true leader cannot lead truly that way.

Now that I think about. Who is our greatest enemy? Ourselves. We must love ourselves. Hmmm.

reply to post by redoubt


Well that would be true, but he used the word love when he said it. So I think he meant Love thy enemy.