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Love your enemies

marina008marina008
edited December 1969 in Random Issues
Hello and peace to all,

Jesus said love your enemies. Are you suppose to love the devil who is our enemy and God's enemy?

Thankyou
Please pray for me and my weaknesses really need [prayers

Comments

  • Christforlife7Christforlife7
    We should not love the devil because he is the embodiment of sin. H.H. always says, "Hate the sin, not the person". They are our enemies because of the sin. It is okay to hate their sin, but the person behind the sin should be loved as our own brother or sister in Christ.

    Hope I helped  :)
  • marina008marina008
    But the devil is like the ultimate enemy of God. So shouldn't we hate him?
  • Unknown
    yes we should.. love everyone except the devil.
  • marina008marina008
    ..so am i right?
  • Unknown
    yes your right.. the devil should be hated.
  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    I would suggest that the Devil is not worth our hatred. This suggests too much of a concern for him. We are certainly to resist him, and by the grace of God he can be overcome, but it is dangerous to imagine that we have any sort of personal relationship with him whether of love or hate.

    Let us hate the sin which we ourselves commit by our own fault. Let us hate all that remains of the darkness within us. But that must positively lead us to the light. We must be positive people, light-filled and life-giving people. I am always concerned in my own life and family that the word hatred is such a hard and closed word. Anger at the harm which Satan causes would be a better response, in my limited opinion, because anger can lead us to action. Hatred tends to be a worm eating away at us even if directed at the enemy of God and man.

    Father Peter
  • rpmrpm
    This is a very good subject for us to discuss. If I've got it right, Fr. Peter cautioned that obsession with the devil could result in playing into his hands. Tricks played on unsuspecting folks could include:

    1. Becoming self-righteousness and taking the moral high ground in relationships. Rather than using time to be God-focused in thoughts, words and deeds, a tendency to become judgmental and condescending towards others (especially towards those from other Christian traditions) sets in. So, rather than building and edifying each other, misguided people tend to focus on differences and what's worse, shoving doctrine and dogma down others' throats.

    2. Inducing subtle pride in place of humility.

    3. People sometimes develop the mistaken notion that getting busy with religious work, doing things "by the book", going on a Holy Land tour, donating to orphanages or charities etc.will, in themselves land us in God's good books.


    Some sermons on the topic I heard recently.................

    http://www.orthodoxsermons.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=830&Itemid=26

    http://www.orthodoxsermons.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=587&Itemid=26


    Prayer for Our Enemies

    Lord Jesus Christ, in Your great mercy You prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified You, and You taught us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Lord, I pray that You forgive those who treat me unjustly and speak out against me, and that You bless them and guide them according to Your will. Take away any bitterness I may have in my heart against them. Lord, may Your forgiveness, goodness and love be revealed in all of us, to Your praise and glory. Amen.

    Acknowledgements
    This Internet edition of the Orthodox Prayer Book was compiled for Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, Lowell, Massachusetts by Father Peter Gregory.


                 

    God bless,
    P
  • marie-therese fahmymarie-therese fahmy
    Thanks for the Prayer for our enemies. 

    It reminds me of Abba Zeno (the paradise of the fathers) who said, 'If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.
     
    Praying for our enemies will change our thoughts towards them.  In addition, God will forgive us all our sins and help us forgive everyone.  This is what we all need.

  • the_leastthe_least
    i have always been troubled by this topic. who are our enemies? are they simply the people who sin and don't repent? if so, how do we know that they don't repent? isn't this judging?

    OR are they people who do us wrong (persecute us for our faith)? if so, i can understand in Egypt this sometimes exists; but, not in North America...or at least not to me.

    so...i want to know who our enemies are.
  • f753789f753789
    [quote author=the_least link=topic=7756.msg101411#msg101411 date=1238468856]
    i have always been troubled by this topic. who are our enemies? are they simply the people who sin and don't repent? if so, how do we know that they don't repent? isn't this judging?

    OR are they people who do us wrong (persecute us for our faith)? if so, i can understand in Egypt this sometimes exists; but, not in North America...or at least not to me.

    so...i want to know who our enemies are.

    I dont really have an answer to this, but just what Anba Angaelos said on the subject. On his last visit, during the youth meeting he made for us, somebody sent him a question and stated the verse and asked him, who are our enemies? His answer was quite simple, he said as christians we shouldnt have enemies.

    please pray for me
    -sister in Christ
  • peterfarringtonpeterfarrington
    There are often those who treat us as if we were their enemies, and make themselves, humanly speaking, our enemies. But we are not to treat them in that way.

    I have worked with people who were unpleasant to me and others and made going to work a trial. But I have tried to always pray for those who treat me badly, believing that they have their own problems which make them take it out on others. Likewise at school or college there can be people who try to hurt us in a variety of ways. It isn't just a matter of religious persecution such as we are generally free from in the West.

    Who treats you badly? They are potentially your enemies. They treat you as an enemy. How will we respond to them? With prayer for them. Excusing their behaviour as far as is possible. Treating them as if they were friends if that is possible.

    Do you remember the father in the Desert who came back to his little cell and found a couple of thieves in the process of stealing even the little that he had. Do you remember that he helped them load his possessions onto their donkey and then ran after them with a small bag they had forgotten.

    In the UK the son of a Christian couple was murdered a little while ago by someone who thought too much of himself and threw a glass bowl at him which shattered and cut his throat. The couple have consistently shown a truly Christian spirit, and have not wished harm on the one who has hurt them so badly. They have even offered words of comfort to the family of the murderer who has now gone to prison.

    If our neighbour is the person to whom we can do good, then our enemy is anyone who does us harm. But we are not to see them in this way. Even our enemy becomes our neighbour. With men this is impossible, but with the grace of God all things are possible.

    Even on the cross our Lord says, 'Father, forgive them', while he could have called upon legions of angels to destroy those who crucified him.

    Father Peter
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