Jesus said love your enemy but he didn't say love the enemy. We need to distinguish between our personal relationships and the broader issue of the fight against evil in which there is no room for compromise or tolerance or sympathy. That doesn't mean we should hate those who serve the enemy, whether that be consciously or, in many cases, unconsciously, but the enemy is always the enemy. The ideas of the enemy are corrupt and corrupting and while those who serve the enemy should not be hated nor should their ideas be given any quarter.
One of the weaknesses of contemporary Christianity, a religion which has largely become just a hollow shell, is its belief that it should love its enemy and that love means you must be nice to your enemy. The enemy will just take advantage of that and ruthlessly exploit it. Jesus told us to be harmless as doves (love your enemy) but also to be as wise as serpents. Love without wisdom is useless because it descends into vapid, ineffective sentimentality which, given the fact that we are in a spiritual war, will just be used against you.
And we are in a spiritual war. That fact has never been more obvious. Christians are getting worked up over the depraved corruption of the image of the Last Supper at the Olympics opening ceremony, and so they should. But really what did you expect? This ceremony has been nakedly Satanic for some time. The much praised one in the UK in 2012 made me feel physically sick when I watched it which I did only to see how bad it would be. It exceeded my expectations. I haven't seen the recent one except for some still photos but it is interesting that the attack on Christ (and yes, this is an attack on Christianity but it is chiefly an attack on Christ) has become more overt. It shows that the enemy no longer hides but is revealing himself. That may mean a greater confidence because the softening up process which has been going on for more than two centuries has done its job, but it also makes the enemy easier to spot which makes him weaker.
The Olympic ceremony attack was centred on two things which are Christ and human sexuality or, in other words, God and Nature. When you attack Nature you indirectly attack God who is the author of Nature, and when you deform people's minds through this attack it makes them more susceptible to whatever poison you subsequently wish to inject them with. When you attack Christ you attack God directly. This has a good claim to be the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which, we are assured, is the one sin that is not forgiven. And why is that? It is because it is a spiritual sin, not a physical one (lust, gluttony, sloth) nor an emotional one (anger, envy), and nor one of the mind/ego (pride). This is what we saw at the Olympic ceremony in Paris recently, the deliberate blasphemy of fallen created beings against their Creator.
We are told to love our enemy so we don't fall into the soul-destroying sins of hatred and anger. Thus, this is for our sake not for the sake of the enemy. Loving your enemy does not mean not recognising sin as sin or evil as evil but that is what it is being used to mean. Love your enemy means keep your heart pure and undefiled by hatred which will put you in the hands of your spiritual enemy. It does not mean refusing to fight that enemy.
Loving is not the same as trusting, not the same as liking, not the same as agreeing, not the same as submitting to everything someone wants. Recognizing that, it is easier to love. Maybe some of the difficulty in loving for someone who genuinely wants to is thinking that we need to be doing something or many things that aren't actually possible or necessary.
ReplyDeleteGood post. Thanks William.
Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI go with the minimalist construction of the commandment to love our enemies. I take it to mean that we should not "demonize" them. We should, in other words, remind ourselves that they actually have a "good side," even though that "good side" is not visible to us at the moment. I find this minimalist construction useful, because it tells me what to do when I begin to hate someone. It tells me that I must remember that they are not "all bad." This helps me avoid injustice, even as I do all I can to oppose my enemy. It also keeps the possibility of eventual rapprochement open.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I must confess that I think there are people it is impossible to demonize because they already are demons.
Loving your enemy surely means don't allow yourself to give in to hatred as that poisons the soul. So the injunction is chiefly for our own benefit. At the same time, though we should always look for the good in others we have to be able to recognise the bad too and not let sentimentality cloud our judgment.
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