(copied from a church newsletter and repeating a topic from an earlier discussion)
1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
The scripture time and time against tells us similar truths, about Love and how it is the completion of the Law, law's fulfillment (Luke 10:27-28). Scripture tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Law would have us punish the transgressor, Love tells us to forgive. But who is my Brother or Sister, who is my neighbor, who is the transgressor? Is my neighbor that irritating funnily dressed Hara Krishna following me in the airport, or the Mormon knocking at my door? Can I love those country hicks who teased me as a little hippy boy from Hawaii? Can I love a person who molested me? Can I love those who try to destroy my life? Can I love my step-dad who got my brother addicted to drugs and put my brother in a life style that would lead to his brutal death? Can I love those friends who have said they love me but betrayed me and abandoned me? How can I love those that judge me? Hum... I'll have to think about that.
You see, we want to be "good" Christians so we say, "I love you but hate your sin..." to the betrayer, the deviant, the drug addict, the prostitute, the murder-- somehow we feel safer when we add a statement that denounces their sin--lest they think you approve of it. We say, "I love you but hate your beliefs [aka sin]" to those who's faith confronts my own; the Mormon, the Muslim, the Heretic, or the Hara Krishna. We say, "I loved you but hate your lifestyle [aka sin]" to those who lifestyle is different; the transvestite, the transsexual, or other sexual "deviants." Perhaps "hate" is too strong, we should just say "disapprove." Can I love without qualification, or is qualification needed to "protect" truth...is LOVE conditional or unconditional? Did Jesus "protect" himself from those others called "sinner" and "unclean" ?
"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not die but have everlasting life." I know many who would like to rewrite John 3:16 to be safer and to fit a more conservative religious approach to Love, "for God so loved the world [and hated sin], that he gave his only begotten son [please note he is male], that whosoever [is chosen and] believeth in him [by confessing their sins] shall not die [unless they deserve to die] but have everlasting life [in heaven unless they are unrepentant sinners then they go to an everlasting hell]."
So in the name of love and truth we Christians have fought religious wars, burnt heretics, drove our gay children to suicide, bombed abortion clinics, shunned "sinners," and in the pursuit of "truth" divided churches and started new denominations... all the while preaching a "Gospel of Love." Is it any wonder that the world thinks we are fools and "liars" for our "love" is very weak, though still strong enough to hurt.
God help me to truly love...
