Showing posts with label Loving thy Neighbor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loving thy Neighbor. Show all posts
In the first entry of the Loving Thy Neighbor series, I discussed the story of the Good Samaritan and his compassion compared to Westboro Baptist Church's lack of compassion. I'll start this part by continuing from that story.
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As I mentioned before, the Samaritans were the descendants of both captive Israelites and Gentiles, making them an "impure" race. The Jews hated them because they were impure, and the Samaritans hated them back. So much, in fact, that they might as well have been enemies. Fortunately for us, Jesus had something to say about loving our enemies.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 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; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44:48)
Much care should be taken around the words "son" and "children". While they have a literal meaning the same as their meanings today, they could have a less literal meaning. "Son" could refer to a descendant (e.g. son of Abraham), a pupil or follower, someone physically existing and having abilities as a man (which is why Jesus called Himself the Son of man), someone in the likeness of another, or whoever God esteems as a son. Because salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8) and is obtained by calling upon the Lord (Romans 10: 9-13), I'd have to say that "children" in this verse (which uses the same Greek word for "son" in the Textus Receptus) is referring to those in His likeness.
In short, we are like God when we love our enemies. We are made like God because He loves all of mankind so much that He offered Himself for them.
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. (John 3:16)
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ALL, to be testified in due time. (1 Ti. 2:3-6, emphasis added Note: the Greek word thelo means "I wish/will." The wording in verse 4, where thelo is, is a little wonky in the 21st century, but the verse basically means "Who is willing that all men be saved...".)
As they embrace strict Calvinism, simply quoting John 3:16 isn't enough. WBC's members believe that "the world" refers to only the elect. According to them, "world" does not mean "all of earth's inhabitants" anywhere in the Bible.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. (Psalms 9:8)
Apparently this means that God will only judge the righteous in righteousness, because "world" exclusively means "elect" here. This interpretation is awfully fitting with the unpleasant implications of Calvinism, as I am about to demonstrate.
As we saw in the previous episode of Loving Thy Neighbor, WBC members miserably fail in loving their neighbors and have deceived themselves into thinking that picketing and suing people is an exemplary display of loving their neighbors. What they believe about God, however, is much worse.
While they believe that they love their enemies, they also believe that God has no love for them and HATE, HATE, HATE!!!s them so much that he'd actively predestine them to Hell before they were ever born. They believe in a God with no compassion, yet they fool themselves into thinking they have it.
If the Westboro God was the Samaritan, He'd have no compassion on the beaten Jew. He wouldn't be "good". He'd be as unholy as the priest and Levite who ignored the man. He would contradict His own parable, making Him a hypocrite. He'd be a meta-hypocrite 40 times over, as "hypocrite", "hypocrites", and "hypocrisy" are mentioned and condemned in the Bible that many times.
He'd have created most people so that they could go to Hell. He'd have provided no salvation or anything for them. They had no free will over their souls. They had no choice. The path to righteousness is only available to a select few.
The Calvinist God is the most hypocritical and cruel monster the world has ever seen.
And you dare call that distorted image of the Lord God Jehovah holy?
I could be accused for blasphemy for that logic, and I have. But anyone who attacks me with an ad hominem like that missed the point that their beliefs are blasphemous, and I'm only taking them to their logical conclusion.
It could be argued that God doesn't have to follow the same standards He gives mankind, and it has. That basically gives their idea of God an excuse to be a hypocrite, to be cruel, and to rape anyone he sees fit.
I don't believe in that God. I don't give my God excuses, because He doesn't need them. I believe in a God in whom is no sin (1 John 3:5).
I believe that God is love, and that He loves all of mankind. I believe that He loved the depraved Ninevites he sent Jonah to. I believe He loved the Samaritans that He met after talking with the woman at the well. I believe He loved the multitudes He saw at Galilee, so much that He compared them to a harvest with few laborers and commanded his disciples to pray for more lauborers (Matthew 9:35-38).
I believe He loves the whole world, and gave Himself for it. I believe that Westboro is wrong.
Most people believe that Westboro Baptist Church hates just about everyone. On the other hand, WBC members believe that they show their love through picketing. Something doesn't add up here, and I hope I can address this anomaly.
Since we're going into some doctrinal things here, we'll need to get out our Bibles and walk through it with some valid hermeneutical practices.
The phrase "love thy neighbour" appears word for word in 8 verses in the King James Version. A ninth verse with the same message can be found by looking for the words but not the exact phrase. It first appears in 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.
This means that the law of loving thy neighbour was present even in Mosaic times. Jesus supported keeping this commandment even in the New Testament. A particular mention of this commandment is right before the parable of the Good Samaritan, in Luke 10:25-37.
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 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. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 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. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 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. 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. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
I don't have time for a 30-minute sermon on the Good Samaritan, but I'd like for us to think for a bit on the text. Note the following:
- A lawyer tempted him. This is not the only time this happened; the Pharisees and Sadducees tried multiple times to entangle the Lord in his talk. They always failed because Jesus is God.
- Jesus asked him what was in the law. The lawyer promptly responded by giving the two greatest commandments: Love thy God with everything, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus responded that this was how he should obtain eternal life. Because Jesus is God, he'd have to display that love by accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior.
- The lawyer tried to justify himself. If there was no lack of this love in this life, he wouldn't need to justify himself. He did so by asking who is neighbor was.
- Jesus responded with a parable that basically rephrases the question to "Who am I neighbor to?"
The last point is especially important because if someone is our neighbor, we are neighbors to them. The priest and the Levite were definitely not good neighbors, as they showed no compassion on him. In contrast, the Samaritan does.
The Jews and Samaritans of the day hated each other. This is most evident in the book of John, where Jesus has a conversation with one Samaritan woman at a well. Samaritans were the impure descendants of the tribes of Israel taken into Assyrian captivity around 722 B.C. Israelite blood mingled with Assyrian and other non-Israelite blood, resulting in the Samaritan race. Because they were part-Gentile, the Jews hated them, and it seems that the Samaritans weren't too fond of the Jews either.
But the Good Samaritan was different. He showed compassion on the wounded Jew when he had no reason to have it, when the priest and Levite had every reason to have it. The Samaritan dropped what he was doing, bandaged the man's wounds, nourished him with oil and wine, set him upon his own beast, took him to an inn, and took care of him with his own money.
Compassion is a complex emotion of love and sorrow. It makes one want to work to help someone. It's what gets money to the Red Cross. It's what pays for the relief efforts in Japan, Haiti, and anywhere else disaster strikes.
The members of Westboro Baptist Church have no compassion. They have no love. They don't even know what it means to love their neighbor. They think that cussing and flaming and thanking God for dead soldiers is love.
I have far too much to say on this subject for one blog post, so I will conclude here with Matthew 25:41-45:
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Westboro Baptist Church doesn't love its neighbors. It hates them.