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Monday, January 20, 2014

HATE IS NOT A CHRISTIAN VALUE

   In  reading  from the  Scripture, we  find much said
about the practice of love for brother , sister, neigh-
bors and even strangers. There is, to  my  knowledge, 
no great body of literature on this subject that is not 
drawn from Scripture. There are no injunctions from 
literature  encouraging  readers to  practice  selfless 
care and  concern for others as there are in the  gos-
pel of the Apostle John, chapter 3:16-17, 

    "For God so loved the world that He Gave His 
     only  begotten  Son, that whosoever  believeth
     in him should not perish, but have everlasting
     life. For God sent no his Son into the world to
    condemn the world, but that the world through
     him might be saved." 

        So, the  basis for  the actions of a Holy God
     on behalf of a sinful, hopeless and lost man-
     kind was his selfless care  and  concern  for
     his creation.  This care and selfless concern 
    is shared by his Son.  The Lord God, in three
     persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, loved
     his creation so much he was not only willing
     to reach out  to him through Holy Scripture,
     but came to this  earth  as a  new born child,
     lived a life  without  fault, according to  law,
     and died for his creation.  He is the  God of
     Abraham,  Isaac and Jacob... (For this rea-
     son, there must not be "Anti-Semetic" views 
    among  the  Family of  God,  the  Church of  
    our Lord Jesus Christ who was born of Jew-
    ish parents,) 

     As we look in the epistle of this same apostle,
 we find in the second chapter, First John Vs. 9- 
 11; "He who says he is in the light, and hates his
 brother, is in  darkness until now.  He who loves 
 his  brother abides in  the  light, and  there is no 
cause for stumbling in him.  But he who hates his 
brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and
does not  know  where  he is  going,  because  the
darkness has blinded his eyes."  
(Read 1 John 4: 7-21) 

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of
God; and everyone  who  loves is  born of God 
and knows God. He who does not love does not 
know God,  for God is love.

    This  might  be  a good  place to "define" the term.  
To love is to have affection,  benevolent compassion, 
desire and  to choose to act  upon those traits. There 
is no cut and dried definition and love may be frater-
nal as to a brother or  sister and it  can  be romantic 
or passionate as with one to  whom you  would  care
to marry.  The one  common denominator, this  fact; 
A lover  always has  the best interest of the object of
that love, to the point of denying self in the favor of 
of  that loved one, as  in the love of  Jesus Christ for 
His church.  If it were not for Scripture there would 
be no knowledge of love in this world.  If we were to 
accept the "world's" definition of "love," it would be
more perfectly interpreted, "lust."    

 The clear teaching of Scripture here,  and  other 
passages is this;  If you are born of  the Spirit of
God, saved, etc.,  you are instructed  to love and
are  capable of love.  If  you  are not one of  His, 
you are unable to love.  Is that  not what it states
in this  passage? This does not  mean one cannot
have warm feelings toward another, be attracted
and enjoy one's company. It is, however; another
matter to love unconditionally, and unselfishly as 
in the love God gives.  The other side of the coin;
if  we do not love our brother, neighbor, and any
with  whom we  have a  relationship, how can we
say we love God,  whom we have  not even seen? 
Then, there is this; Some say one must love every
one in the whole world. My view is this; only God
is capable of love like that. We are limited to lov-
ing only those with whom we have  personal rela-
tionship. To say you love everyone in the world is
"pie in  the sky."  It is unsupportable in Scripture,
nor is it practicable. 
      
HOWEVER:   I do not believe it would be a stretch 
for me  to call every  soul walking this earth  today 
my brother or sister.  Are we not all from  the same  
parentage, Adam and Eve of the Garden of Eden.  
     These were the  first man and woman to inhabit 
this earth and all of  the inhabitants of earth came 
from  that  union.  There  is not one  soul  then,  to 
whom I may turn a deaf ear  when  there is a need 
of which I am aware. We also must  recall persons 
who  have been benevolent  to us as  we had  need.  
Then there is the fact of our heavenly Father, who 
with God  the Son  has met us at our deepest point 
of need and provided Salvation; no cost to us. The
great cost was on Him.

    Although it may not be spelled out in Scripture, I 
am  convinced Jesus Christ's  identification with the
human  race, in  His incarnation, will affect him for 
eternity.  He is one with the Father,  but we who are 
his  followers  will be one with  our Savior when we 
move  from this earthly sphere,  at death,  and enter
into  life  with him in  heaven.  The cost He bore, we  
will never know until we see him and are made to be
like him in truth.  God Bless you, and  may the Holy
Spirit of God enlighten you and me as we follow our
Lord, Jesus Christ in our temporary condition.

     One personal note; Have you noticed when you 

have an issue with someone and it rises to the level
of  resentment, contempt or  just ill will, the  blind-
ness it  causes. As we  are influenced by such emo-
tions  related  to any  individual, we  are no longer 
interested in that  ones well  being, nor do we want
to be around  him and we lose  the joy  of our rela-
tionship to others, including  our Lord.  So, "hate"
and any emotion like that, has no  place in  the life
of one who would serve the One who always  loves.
There is also this;  if we just begin referring to our
neighbors  who are somewhat different  from us as
of  another race or color, we  will then believe that
one who is "different," does not qualify for similar
care as  one  who  is more  like  us.   Can  you  or I
still say we are following Jesus Christ when we see
a fellow being with a need and fail to meet it.  If we
have the  ability to  meet that  need  and do not,  we
are failing to follow Christ  as Lord in that  area of
life.  If we consider color, ethnicity, national origin,
religion, status or any of the variables that make us
"different," we "SIN".  See the link below...   

http://biblicalclarity-don.blogspot.com/2013/10/who-separated-races.html   

     As it stands now, we are flawed and incomplete,

temporarily.  Our  Lord  loves us  too  much  to let 
us stay in this temporary condition.  We  must love 
others in the same  way and do whatever we can to 
help them see how the love of Jesus Christ changes
 their temporary condition and eternal destinies.

donporter  1.20.14  


     




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