Love Your Enemies!!

from the Christian tradition:

You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5.43-48)

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12.21)


from the Jewish tradition:

Aid an enemy before you aid a friend, to subdue hatred. (Tosefta, Baba Metzia 2.26)

God said, "Resemble Me; just as I repay good for evil so do you also repay good for evil." (Exodus Rabbah 26.2)


from the Islamic tradition:

It may be that God will ordain love between you and those whom you hold as enemies. For God has power over all things; and God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an 60.7)

The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo!, he between whom and you there was enmity shall become as though he were a bosom friend. (Qur'an 41.34)


from the Sikh tradition:

What kind of love is this that to another can shift? Says Nanak, True lovers are those who are forever absorbed in the Beloved. Whoever discriminates between treatment held good or bad, Is not a true lover--he rather is caught in calculations. (Adi Granth, Asa-ki-Var, M.2, p. 474)


from the Hindu tradition:

A superior being does not render evil for evil; this is a maxim one should observe; the ornament of virtuous persons is their conduct. One should never harm the wicked or the good or even criminals meriting death. A noble soul will ever exercise compassion even towards those who enjoy injuring others or those of cruel deeds when they are actually committing them--for who is without fault? (Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda 115)


from the Jain tradition:

My Lord! Others have fallen back in showing compassion to their benefactors as you have shown compassion even to your malefactors. All this is unparalleled. (Vitaragastava 14.5)

Man should subvert anger by forgiveness, subdue pride by modesty, overcome hypocrisy with simplicity, and greed by contentment. (Samanasuttam 136)


from the Buddhist tradition:

"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me!" In those who harbor such thoughts hatred is not appeased.
"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me!" In those who do not harbor such thoughts hatred is appeased.
Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world; through love alone they cease. This is an eternal law. (Dhammapada 3-5)

Conquer anger by love. Conquer evil by good. Conquer the stingy by giving. Conquer the liar by truth. (Dhammapada 223)

I should be like the sun, shining universally on all without seeking thanks or reward, able to take care of all sentient beings even if they are bad, never giving up on my vows on this account, not abandoning all sentient beings because one sentient being is evil. (Garland Sutra 23)


from the Taoist tradition:

The sage has no fixed [personal] ideas.
He regards the people's ideas as his own.
I treat those who are good with goodness,
And I also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
I am honest with those who are honest,
And I am also honest with those who are dishonest.
Thus honesty is attained. (Tao te Ching 49)

Do good to him who has done you an injury. (Tao te Ching 63)


from the Confucian tradition:

Of the adage, Only a good man knows how to like people, knows how to dislike them, Confucius said, "He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon Goodness will dislike no one." (Analects 4.3-4)

Lilithu, Namaste.

A lovely (and, strangely) very apt subject, for me, today.

I try to spend part of each day in meditation, and prayer. One of the topics that always seems to demand attention, in my mind, is this one, and yes, this is exactly what I was thinking of this morning. I hope you will forgive me for posting the little prayer I came out with today:-

"Dear and gracious God, I beg that you give solace and strength to those who suffer. Those who are oppressed, needy of food and refreshment, of the basic human needs. Please help those tortured in spirit by welcoming them with a glimpse of thy Holy light. For those who opress, those who know of nothing but evil deeds, who behave as they have learned to do so, give them a sign, a glimpse of what you are, so that they may learn of the wonders of the path of righteousness.

For these people, Lord, shower them with love as you would the most devout, for their good is so much better than mine; they have an excuse, whilst I have not..............."

Is that from World Scriptures: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts?

Just goes to show that religions have more in common than some people think

Lilithu: Frubals on your head! In an amazing feat of "spin", the warmongers in office use this very passage to justify their WWJB and WWJH campaigns in Iraq. Instead of merely waiting to be hit and then HAVING to turn the other cheek, they have found a loophole: Do a pre-emptive strike and then these scriptures become moot! If they never hit you, you don't have to turn the other cheek. If you kill them BEFORE they have a chance to really hate you, then you are exempt from having to actually love them {eeewe, gross).

It's forward thinking like this in the Whitehouse that has revolutionized Christianity so that Hate is indeed a family value.

Next on the agenda is trying to spin that scripture about feeding your brother to really mean that if you starve him completely (by wiping out medicare and welfare) then you won't HAVE to feed him because he is already dead. Still a few bugs to work out, but it should be ready for the next presidential race.

evearael said:

Is that from World Scriptures: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts?

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Namaste evearael, I am not familiar with this book. It sounds interesting! Does it focus on commonalities amongst the different scriptures?

I was doing a google search for the Matthew passage and found some similar sentiments in other traditions and cut and pasted them together. I have a similar list for the "golden rule" as well.

This book rocks. It aim is bringing people closer together and striving towards peace between all faiths. I tried to read it straight through, but I always end up flipping section to section as the inspiration hits me. Everyone on the forum needs this book! It is extremely well researched and gives an excellent starting point for dialog between the faiths.

lilithu said:

from the Taoist tradition:

The sage has no fixed [personal] ideas.
He regards the people's ideas as his own.
I treat those who are good with goodness,
And I also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
I am honest with those who are honest,
And I am also honest with those who are dishonest.
Thus honesty is attained. (Tao te Ching 49)

Do good to him who has done you an injury. (Tao te Ching 63)

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i realise this is only vaguely on-topic, but this is one of my favourite verses so i can't pass the opportunity to quote them and add them to this thread :

Good weapons are instruments of fear;
all creatures hate them.
Therefore followers of the Tao never used them.

The wise man prefers the left.
The man of war prefers the right.

Weapons are instruments of fear;
they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.
Peace and quiet are dear to his heart.
And victory no cause for rejoicing.

If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself.

On happy occasions precedence is given to the left, on sad occasions to the right.
In the army the general stands on the left, the commander-in-chief on the right.

This means that war is conducted like a funeral.
When many people are being killed, they should be mourned in heartfelt sorrow.
That is why a victory must be observed like a funeral.

(tao te ching, verse 31, feng/english translation. quoted from http://www.nokama.com/tao/index.cfm?fuseaction=chapter&ch=31)

I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately. When I was a child I was teased mercessilly(spelling?) and made fun of at all turns because of my family, my religion, my face, how I dresssed, how I acted.

I held grudges towards those people until just recently. I'm like an elephant, I don't forget, EVER.

For example, when I first moved to Utah, I literally had no friends. I was in a carpool for school with some people my own age, and I had a crush on a guy in the carpool. A young lady in the carpool supposedly took pity on me and started talking to me, I told her how I liked this guy and she said she would talk to him for me. She told me later that he thought I was nothing more then a 'fuzzy-headed freak'.

This hurt me deep and scarred me for awhile. Whenever I would see this boy from then on, I would glare, walk away and if given the chance hurt him(PM if you want me to explain). About a week ago on MySpace he added me as a friend. I was curious, because I hated his guts and I thought he felt the same about me, so I sent him a message asking him why he wanted to talk to me.

He responded and said,

"Don't you want to be friends?"

I continued to ask why he would want to be friends with me when all he did was hated me throughout high school. He responded by saying

"I didn't hate you" and then asked why I thought. I relayed to him the story that I have told you, and he sent me a message saying.

"I'm sorry, but it isn't true. That girl was a liar and you should never have trusted her." And he procded to tell me how he thought that I hated him throughout high school and many things.

This same story has repeated itself a couple of times and with other people, it's something they did once, and I have held it against them for years. I'm trying to be more forgiving of old grudges, and it is hard, but like in the OP, we need too.

Love your enemies. Who is our enemy? It is my understanding that God created all men and women and called them His children. The association is familial, there is only us children and our Parents in Heaven. I believe in the dual roles of parenthood, namely a father and a mother. A Mother is not spoken of in Scripture, but I have read that some think that the absence of a reference is to protect the Mother from the slander men make of females here on earth (see Proverbs 15:20). In Genesis 1:26-27 (KJV), a reference is made to "Us," as in plural:

"And God said, Let Us make man in our image, after our likeness....

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

why make the same mistakes that Britain & France did before WW2 using the appeasement approach for external hostile aggressors ?

does anyone really believe that turning the other cheek would have been an effective response to nazi aggression ?

I like what the Catholics have to say in their "just war" doctrine

catholic.com/library/Just_war_Doctrine_1.asp

In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us "blessed are the peacemakers" (Matt. 5:9). Elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount he tells us "if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matt. 5:39). From such verses some have concluded that Christianity is a pacifist religion and that violence is never permitted.

But the same Jesus elsewhere acknowledges the legitimate use of force, telling the apostles, "let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one" (Luke 22:36). How are these passages to be reconciled?

In broad terms, Christians must not love violence. They must promote peace whenever possible and be slow to resort to the use of arms. But they must not be afraid to do so when it is called for. Evil must not be allowed to remain unchecked.

zorro307 said:

why make the same mistakes that Britain & France did before WW2 using the appeasement approach for external hostile aggressors ?

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Who said anything about appeasement? I'm not a pacifist and did not take these scriptures as necessarily advocating either appeasement or pacifism. There are times when violence is necessary, but those times are few and far between. Not nearly as often as we seem to think it is.

I viewed these scriptures in terms of one's own spiritual cultivation and that is the spirit in which I posted them. Even if you must resort to violence in order to fight violence, your heart must be calm and without anger or hate. Otherwise, you cause as much harm to yourself as the other person, if not more.

(and these scriptures are not all Christian btw. part of my point was the agreement between traditions.)

zorro307 said:

In broad terms, Christians must not love violence. They must promote peace whenever possible and be slow to resort to the use of arms. But they must not be afraid to do so when it is called for. Evil must not be allowed to remain unchecked.

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Yeah, exactly.

Greetings!

zorro307 said:

does anyone really believe that turning the other cheek would have been an effective response to nazi aggression?

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There's an important point that I fear you're overlooking:

I'm a Baha'i, and the Baha'i scriptures draw a clear distinction between what behaviors are appropriate for an individual and which ones are appropriate for institutions (such as governments)!

The INDIVIDUAL is always to be loving, forgiving, and have a sin-covering eye.

But INSTITUTIONS are to further justice, which sometimes means they must be anything BUT forgiving!

So citing the "turning the other cheek" canard as an answer to naziism seems to miss the point!

Peace,

Bruce

"If you can't be...with the one you love...love the one you're with! "

As I always say, "Fight fire with fire, and everything will burn to the ground."

finalfrogo said:

As I always say, "Fight fire with fire, and everything will burn to the ground."

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That reminds me of a quote attributed to Gandhi: "An eye for an eye will make the world go blind."

EnhancedSpirit said:

Nobody says that you have to LIKE your enemies, or condone their behavior. Nobody says that you have to be buddy's or pals. You are certainly free to protect yourself from getting hurt. But you can still send thoughts of love to them and hope the best for them from a distance. The point is that by staying angry at someone, you are allowing them to control you in a way.

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As many of you know, I define love as provision and hate as neglect. If we provide for the needs of our enemies, we fulfill the commandment.

Yep, that's the quote that inspired to me to create my own. I wanted to have my own, to give a new twist on the common message. Don't steal it!

angellous_evangellous said:

As many of you know, I define love as provision and hate as neglect. If we provide for the needs of our enemies, we fulfill the commandment.

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Sorry, I haven't come across that dictate of your; when you say "provide for the needs of our enemies", would that be as in "allowing your enemies to do whatever they want to you?" -That sounds rather unlikely.