"Kill your enemies." (vs.?)
What Bible is that in? I cannot seem to find the chapter and verse in mine. The verse that comes closest is in fact the opposite. Jesus said, "Love your enemies." Killing your enemies is easy. Loving your enemies, now that is something else. It is something else. It is real Christianity. What kind of Christianity is real? It is the kind that is found in Christ. It is the place where truth and mercy meet. (Psalm 85:5). I believe the real kind of Christianity is the kind kind.
When we do something wrong we cause pain and suffering. I hurt someone and ultimately hurt own soul. That hurt that I have caused effects the one I have hurt, and that person might hurt someone else as a result of their own pain. This is a cycle of pain and suffering. A Palestinian, out of hurt, anger, pain, disappointment and despair blows himself up, killing and maiming others, causing more pain and suffering. The survivors and those who mourn the loss of loved ones limp through life, and some pass along their hurt and pain in how they treat others, (especially those who look like the ones who caused their pain). There is an endless chain reaction of misery that, like a "run away" core in a nuclear reactor has gotten out of control and is about to have a melt-down and burn through the core of the earth.
This chain reaction of sin started in the Garden of Eden. There has been a lot of hurt and pain ever since, all the result of this original sin. Christ came into the world, entered the core of the reactor and single handedly removed, what Paul called the "sting" of death (with his own death on the Cross). But since every individual has his own "run away" reactor, one by one each must solve their own sin problem. Again, Christ is willing to enter every contaminated heart, through the door of their faith and deliver them from ultimate destruction.
Once that reactor is brought back "under control" it can produce power and be used for good. How much "cleaning up" and decontamination must be done depends on many things. Sometimes, there is no way to fix all the damage done. Sometimes, as with the oil spill of the EXXON Valdeze, many innocent creatures are covered with goop and are beyond help. Some, if caught in time can be saved. Some once pristine coastlines will never be the same, at least in our lifetime. But we try to contain the oil slick of spiritual negligence and, by the grace of God, try to do better.
Every time I do or say something that is unkind, crude oil spills into the ocean we share. Every unkind act pollutes the waters. Every kind act cleans an oil covered stone, or water fowl, or other creature. Kindness has its own chain reaction. "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you" Eph. 4:32. Yes, this is the best kind. Seems that many,
still covered with goop, are still waiting for the kind kind.
1/16/03 id