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Jesus and love for enemies!

Loving enemies is not just an altruistic act, but a powerful strategy for personal self -transformation and liberation.
 
Is it possible to love your enemies?

No! No, it is not!! Not unless you make it a point to make enemies with hot young women!!!

Perish the thought!!!! We are spirits being reincarnated again and again!!!!!! If you ever love an enemy, that is not a hot young woman, then thou shalt be reborn a goat with one testicle!!!!!!!

I said "thou". How much more authoritative can you get?!!!
 
Loving enemies is not just an altruistic act, but a powerful strategy for personal self -transformation and liberation.
This is an interesting claim, but not backed up by any explanation or facts. As others have pointed out, what is meant by transformation and liberation of self?
 
Jesus loved his enemies so much that he commanded us to kill them.

Luke 19:27-44
 
Jesus loved his enemies so much that he commanded us to kill them.

Luke 19:27-44
And there are a lot of "loving" christians on fakebook who delight in posting, complete with pictures, that the "end times" are upon us their god is coming soon to kill all the non-believers.
 
And there are a lot of "loving" christians on fakebook who delight in posting, complete with pictures, that the "end times" are upon us their god is coming soon to kill all the non-believers.
Yep. And they have no problem with our deaths and it's also OK that we should suffer eternal torture.

Christopher Hitchens is famous for quoting this old person's nursery rhyme.

"We are the pure and chosen few
And all the rest are damned
There’s room enough in hell for you
We don’t want heaven crammed."
 
I hate that autocorrect changed this post incorrectly.

Yep. And they have no problem with our deaths and it's also OK that we should suffer eternal torture.

Christopher Hitchens is famous for quoting this old person's parson's nursery rhyme.

"We are the pure and chosen few
And all the rest are damned
There’s room enough in hell for you
We don’t want heaven crammed."
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not
 
Jesus didn't command that. The nobleman in the parable commanded that.
Who do you think the nobleman in the parable represented? This particular parable was used to justify the crusades, the inquisition and the Catholic Protestant wars.
 
Who do you think the nobleman in the parable represented? This particular parable was used to justify the crusades, the inquisition and the Catholic Protestant wars.
You can use anything to justify atrocities. Jesus did not tell his followers to kill people in front of him.
 
Sure, but there's plenty of absurdity in the Bible already. No need to start making ◊◊◊◊ up about it.
Who the hell is making ◊◊◊◊ up about it? Parables are the language of the Bible. While that story may not be Jesus specifically commanding his followers to slay anyone who is unwilling to be led by him, it still is a very reasonable interpretation of the parable.
 
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Jesus loved his enemies so much that he commanded us to kill them.

Luke 19:27-44
Luke 19: 12-27 isn't it? The parable of the pounds. It's the prototype for The Apprentice except instead of Trump firing the losers, all their stuff goes to the winner, and those who fail to play get slaughtered in front of him.

It's a pretty psychotic pep talk. Carrot and stick, with an extra-pointy stick.
 
What is my personal self tranforming into?

Liberation from what?

Platitudes are dull and worthless, give us specifics!
It is kind of platitudinous, but sort of true too, as most platitudes tend to be. Sure, loving your enemies involves changing your attitude in some way toward your enemies and what you should do about them, and obviously that does something to you. Whether that something is something you want or something you should avoid is not specified.

In some instances it's a shortcut to ending needless conflict and it makes you a peacemaker, while in others it can be a deliciously passive-aggressive way of establishing a moral superiority, while in others, perhaps most, the transformation is from victor to martyr, and the liberation is from worldly existence. It works best if you believe there's a god out there who will fix things later. If you crave sainthood it helps to believe in a heaven.
 
And they nailed him to a tree.

My takeaway is to hate the mother ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ and get them before they get into the initial planning stages of getting you.
 
And they nailed him to a tree.

My takeaway is to hate the mother ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ and get them before they get into the initial planning stages of getting you.
"“And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.”"
 
"“And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.”"
Never could get the hang of Thursdays.
 
In fact, Jesus consistently taught nonviolence and love, even towards enemies
And yet he used the parable in Luke. And said he did not bring peace, but a sword. That's if he actually existed. Or if he did most or even some of the things attributed to him in the Bible. Which seems most unlikely. I grant that a lot of the teachings attributed to Jesus is mostly non-violent and even commendable. But certainly not all. And those verses are almost always used to justify some of the most hideous of actions by those that label themselves as Christians.
 
In fact, Jesus consistently taught nonviolence and love, even towards enemies
So we are told. He apparently couldn't be arsed to actually record any of his teachings, just assuming that unknown writers would publish contradictory summaries of them decades later.

Makes a sort of sense if you see his movement as an apocalyptic cult, with the endtimes being imminent.

All this is assuming that there ever was a Jesus. Obviously, there have been a lot of Jesuses over the years. What I mean is that all this assumes that any of the (sometimes incompatible) Jesuses portrayed in the Bible existed.

None of these are new ideas, of course, but they are worth raising any time someone makes a claim about what Jesus taught. Especially if they describe those teachings as 'consistent'.
 
I didn't realise Jesus and his gang were horse thieves.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
 
Loving your enemies means that irrespective of any harm they may have done or continue to do to you, you want only good things for them (including that they go to Heaven) and are willing to do whatever you can to help make it happen.

In a world that teaches us to love our friends and hate our enemies, this is a difficult mind set to cultivate - especially as we are genetically wired to protect ourselves from those who would harm us.
 
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And yet he used the parable in Luke. And said he did not bring peace, but a sword. That's if he actually existed. Or if he did most or even some of the things attributed to him in the Bible. Which seems most unlikely. I grant that a lot of the teachings attributed to Jesus is mostly non-violent and even commendable. But certainly not all. And those verses are almost always used to justify some of the most hideous of actions by those that label themselves as Christians.
focusing on these points is a misinterpretation and that Jesus' broader message promotes nonviolence
 
I think you can say he taught it, but you cannot say he did so consistently. His followers can always find the loopholes.
Some passages and actions seem to indicate a commitment to nonviolence, others can be interpreted differently, leading to different perspectives on the consistency of Jesus' message of nonviolence and love.
 
focusing on these points is a misinterpretation and that Jesus' broader message promotes nonviolence
Says who? While I generally agree, I know that verses like this are used as justifications for all kinds of Christian atrocities including the genocide of 6 million Jews by the NAZIs.
 
I can imagine a sort of altruistic version of Diogenes, but I can't think of one from history. It is definitely a concept far removed from Christianity.
 
Says who? While I generally agree, I know that verses like this are used as justifications for all kinds of Christian atrocities including the genocide of 6 million Jews by the NAZIs.
Jesus did not prohibit defense but condemned revenge
 
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