I keep reading about the terrorist attacks and the governments of the world response. They want other countries to confront those who preach hate. Maybe it is time for ALL of use to confront our own beliefs that encourage us to ‘hate’ something, anything. Hate is NOT the solution to anything.
For instance, most Christians teach that we should ‘love the sinner and HATE the sin.’ This is still teaching hate and is no different that the Jewish tradition of ‘love thy neighbor and HATE they enemy.’ Jesus tried to bring a reform to the Jewish tradition when he taught that we should ‘Love thy enemy’ and today most Christians at least play lip service to this idea (even if they do not practice it.) To the Jewish people of Jesus’ time it was pure blaspheme to preach love of thy enemies just as it is pure blaspheme today to preach love of the sin.
The idea here is not to encourage sin when we ‘love’ the sin but to encourage love as a response or reaction to ANYTHING, even sin. The experience of love is much better than the experience of hate. If we were to ‘be not concerned about tomorrow’ and seek to find the ‘
Yet, as long as we think of ourselves a fleshly beings and not spirit then we are going to be afraid of what life offers us. BUT, if we think of ourselves a Spirit that is using the body, mind and soul of the person then we will not be afraid of that which will threaten it. This is what I feel Jesus meant by being “born (again) of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
It works for me and it works for thousands of others around the world. It is so much easier to love what life offers if you are just witnessing it.
This does not mean there is not a time to be ‘of water’ and to identify with the flesh (body) and soul (person). When we do this, we get the all drama that life offers and it is the drama that makes life richest. However, when that drama gets to be too much and we need a rest then it is time to identify with the Spirit.