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Love your enemies as yourself.

mannanmannan
edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church
God said to Love our enemies an ourselves. So our enemy is the devil Are we supposed to hate him. I know its the DEVIL and all but still this popped in my brain right now.   

Comments

  • coptic pharoahcoptic pharoah
    If there was no devil, then we wouldn't be tempted, and therfore, not get closer to GOD....  i guess that could work in some way....


    GOD works in MYSTERIOUS ways...
  • mannanmannan
    But my question is : Does God love the devil

    If He gave us a commandment shouldnt He follow it to give us an example?
  • jydeaconjydeacon
    Yes God loves all, but he doesn't love what he does. Therefore making himself an enemy to God
  • Unknown
    [quote author=Loca4Christ link=topic=6708.msg89665#msg89665 date=1212813771]
    God said to Love our enemies an ourselves. So our enemy is the devil Are we supposed to hate him. I know its the DEVIL and all but still this popped in my brain right now.   


    Yes. Its true that your enemy is the devil, but a human being is not the devil. He is only influenced by the devil. I think apparently to help him, you need to love him as yourself. Which actually makes common sense.

    Because:

    If someone does something REALLY hurtful towards me - why on earth would I want to do the same back to him? On the contrary, its obvious that he's allowed satan to enter his heart. If I was so far from God and began to do hideous things, perhaps it would be because I needed love. People don't want criticism, nor judgement from others, they need to feel loved.

    So, I think to conquer satan, you should love your enemies as by doing this, you help them.
  • godislove260godislove260
    Nice view QT. The Lord also said when you love your enemies it's like putting hot coals on their head (not literally). I think this means that when you refuse to go down to their level and repay the hideous thing they did to you with another hideous thing, they will feel shame. They will realize that love is stronger than hatred. They will see that the easiest thing for you would have been to take revenge, but you were given the grace of God to choose the hard way, which is to forgive and love your enemies. Once they see this, it will hopefully help them to become better people.

    Another thing is that God loved us even when we were technically His enemies (since we didn't follow His commandments), so what a better example to follow than Jesus Himself!!!

    Also, when we love our enemies (those who hurt us and don't follow God's commandments) we should pray for them to understand their mistakes and repent about them. Prayer is such a strong thing, and we are so blessed that we get to talk to our Father whenever we want about whatever. It's blessed to pray for your own salvation, but maybe more blessed to pray for others, for we are all one Body in Christ.

    I don't think Jesus meant love the devil, I think He meant love the HUMAN BEINGS who hurt you because they've ALLOWED the DEVIL to enter their heart. And the devil is defeated by love, when you love someone who has the devil in his heart, the devil Must flee.

    (not sure this is the right interpretation, so plz correct me if I'm wrong...)

    God Bless you
    Please pray for my weakness
  • joegjoeg
    I was always told: God said love your enemies, he never said to love HIS enemies (i.e. the devil). The devil is the enemy of God, because he attacks us his children. His aim that brought him out of heaven was his pride ("I will exalt my throne... I will be like the Most High), i.e. robbery of God's glory

    pray for me

    joe
  • godislove260godislove260
    But the devil is also our enemy since it says in 1 Peter 5:8-9
    8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

    God Bless
    Please pray for me
  • joegjoeg
    You have a good point godislove260 - I was taught quite wrong then  ::)

    pray for me

    joe
  • mannanmannan
    THanks for the replies I understand now. ANd it makes a lot of sense.
  • coptic pharoahcoptic pharoah
    [quote author=godislove260 link=topic=6708.msg89680#msg89680 date=1212823260]
    Nice view QT. The Lord also said when you love your enemies it's like putting hot coals on their head (not literally).


    [sup]17[/sup] Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. [sup]18[/sup] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. [sup]19[/sup] Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. [sup]20[/sup] On the contrary:
      "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
          if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
      In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." [sup]21[/sup] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

    Romans 12: 17-21
  • godislove260godislove260
    Thank you very much Coptic Pharaoh, I should have put the verse up there myself...
    Forgive me..

    God Bless
    Please pray for me
  • coptic pharoahcoptic pharoah
    [quote author=godislove260 link=topic=6708.msg89689#msg89689 date=1212826540]
    But the devil is also our enemy since it says in 1 Peter 5:8-9
    8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

    God Bless
    Please pray for me



    Technically, you can't love the devil, because if you do, thenyou will be in sin......    i think what Joe said makes a little bit more sence, sorry Godislove260, but there is no way for us to love the devil, and he isn't our enemy, he is GOD's enemy... the verse you got sais that he is our enemy, which he is, but he is also or God's enemy....

    example:     a fox or a wolf came to eat the sheep of the Shepard...   the wolf is not the enemy of the sheep, but is the enemy of the Sheperd... the sheep know that he is their enemy,and they also know that he is greater then them, if they stayed with him, than he will win, because he is tougher and bigger than them.... and they can't do anything aout it other than run, but the only one that can fight back the fox or wolf is the Sheperd......   same with us, we know tha the devil is our enemy, but we can't do anything about it, GOD can, therefore the devil is the enemy of GOD, the devil is too great for most of us, (if you kniow what i mean....     the only ones that can defeat him are the Humble (Saints, and the people who run to the LORd)


    Was this story sonfusing and off topic???
  • godislove260godislove260
    I think I didn't make myself clear, I answered Joe when he said that the devil WASN'T our enemy with this bible verse to prove that the devil IS in fact our enemy. But I never said that we should love the devil, in fact, I stated that in my opinion this verse is meant to say we should love our HUMAN enemies. We definitly should not love the devil, because God IS love and since the Devil is God's enemy (AS WELL as ours) we shouldn't love him.

    And NO ONE can defeit the devil on his own, not even the humble, EVERYONE needs God's grace and help to fight temptations and to overwin struggles.

    Thanks anyways for your post.
    God Bless
    Please pray for my weakness
  • coptic pharoahcoptic pharoah
    ok... that makes a lot more sence....  sorry for the confussion.......

    thank you
  • mannanmannan
    [quote author=coptic pharaoh link=topic=6708.msg89722#msg89722 date=1212859228]
    [quote author=godislove260 link=topic=6708.msg89689#msg89689 date=1212826540]
    But the devil is also our enemy since it says in 1 Peter 5:8-9
    8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

    God Bless
    Please pray for me



    Technically, you can't love the devil, because if you do, thenyou will be in sin......    i think what Joe said makes a little bit more sence, sorry Godislove260, but there is no way for us to love the devil, and he isn't our enemy, he is GOD's enemy... the verse you got sais that he is our enemy, which he is, but he is also or God's enemy....

    example:     a fox or a wolf came to eat the sheep of the Shepard...   the wolf is not the enemy of the sheep, but is the enemy of the Sheperd... the sheep know that he is their enemy,and they also know that he is greater then them, if they stayed with him, than he will win, because he is tougher and bigger than them.... and they can't do anything aout it other than run, but the only one that can fight back the fox or wolf is the Sheperd......   same with us, we know tha the devil is our enemy, but we can't do anything about it, GOD can, therefore the devil is the enemy of GOD, the devil is too great for most of us, (if you kniow what i mean....     the only ones that can defeat him are the Humble (Saints, and the people who run to the LORd)


    Was this story sonfusing and off topic???



    I liked the story
    Actually we can defeat the devil by praying and reading the Bible after a long hard day. Cuz the devil is gonna say oh you had a long day your body is so tired to stand up and pray.
  • godislove260godislove260
    [quote author=coptic pharaoh link=topic=6708.msg89725#msg89725 date=1212859727]
    ok... that makes a lot more sence....  sorry for the confussion.......

    thank you


    No problem, I really liked your story though. We, the sheep might think we can fight the fox on our own and our arrogance drives us away from God, but once we're far from our Shepherd, it's so easy for the fox to devour us. That's why we should always look at our Shepherd and follow Him, for His main purpose is our salvation. We should also always let His will be done, not ours, humbly recognizing that He knows best and that only through His strength the foxes can't harm us...

    God Bless
    Please pray for me
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