Loving/Kicking your enemy !!!

[TashaN]

Is there any point in loving your enemy while kicking him/her?

Do you really believe in such a thing?

If you said "yes", then why?

If you said "No", then why not?

I know this might sound funny for some of you but i'm really curious about this issue and i'm interested in serious thoughts.


Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeremiah]

What enemy?

 

[xexon]

Sounds like tough love. If you discipline someone because you love them, it is different than when you hate them. The motives are of a different flavor. You have their best interest at heart as opposed to wanting to actually hurt them in some way. x

 

[Blindinglight]

I believe if you kick them, you don't love them. It's like telling your SO you love them, and then beating them.

 

[FatMan]

I'm sure there is love there.

Afterall, I have nothing for love for my pit bull, even when he loses a fight and I douse him with water before electrocuting him.....

Sorry - just practicing to be Michael Vick's lawyer.

 

[sojourner]

Sounds like tough love. If you discipline someone because you love them, it is different than when you hate them. The motives are of a different flavor. You have their best interest at heart as opposed to wanting to actually hurt them in some way. x

In what way is kicking someone acceptable as "discipline?" Discipline seeks to affirm the worth of an individual by holding him/her accountable to acceptable social norms -- not to devalue the individual through punishment and browbeating. Kicking someone as punishment (while ont only dangerous) demeans the individual and can in no way be defined as as "discipline."

Physical abuse has nothing remotley to do with "tough love" (or any kind of love) and everything to do with bullying.

One wonders if the OP would be more correct in saying, "How can you love someone and demean them?"

 

[HB3]

Is there any point in loving your enemy while kicking him/her?

Do you really believe in such a thing?

If you said "yes", then why?

If you said "No", then why not?

I know this might sound funny for some of you but i'm really curious about this issue and i'm interested in serious thoughts.


Thanks in advance.

When I was young I was told in Sunday School "You have to love people but that doesn't mean you have to like them." Now I question whether you can truly love someone and not like them. To do so seems to me an exercise in religious egotism - "I am so wonderful I can love a person who is not worthy of my love." I think you have to find something likeable in every person. That doesn't mean you have to like every behavior of a person. I think the only time one can justify kicking your enemy is in self defense, and then as a last resort.

I recently began reading Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathrstra and found he also stated that one should find something good your enemy has done for you or remain angry at him. Nietzche said to return good for evil is to heap shame on him. Sort of goes along with my thoughts. Also one the few things I have understood in the book.

 

[sojourner]

I love my stepson dearly. But sometimes I don't like him very much. Love is about relationship and can very easily be separated from a feeling of affinity.

 

[Sunstone]

I think if you are kicking someone you love, you are most likely confused about whether you really love that person or not. Love accepts the beloved for who they are.

 

[Phil Lawton]

Is there any point in loving your enemy while kicking him/her?

That costs about £10 per hour 'round my neighbourhood.

 

[Sonic247]

I'm sure there is love there.

Afterall, I have nothing for love for my pit bull, even when he loses a fight and I douse him with water before electrocuting him.....

Sorry - just practicing to be Michael Vick's lawyer.

I don't see what the attraction to dog fighting is, but hey he wasn't convicted yet (although it's probably true.)

 

[FatMan]

but hey he wasn't convicted yet (although it's probably true.)

That's why I'm practicing to be his lawyer. I can get him off!

 

[Sonic247]

If anyone can make something that isn't true seem true they are probably on rf.

 

[Wandered Off]

That seems true...

 

[The Seeker]

Is there any point in loving your enemy while kicking him/her?

Do you really believe in such a thing?

If you said "yes", then why?

If you said "No", then why not?

I know this might sound funny for some of you but i'm really curious about this issue and i'm interested in serious thoughts.


Thanks in advance.

If you characterize someone as your enemy and you're kicking them, then obviously you don't love them.

 

[HB3]

I love my stepson dearly. But sometimes I don't like him very much. Love is about relationship and can very easily be separated from a feeling of affinity.

Do you really dislike your stepson at times or do you just dislike his behaviors? Perhaps it is just semantics, but I feel that to truly love someone, even in the "Christian" sense, you must find something about the person to like. Otherwise one is loving out of a sense of duty not connection to a person.

I know the term "Christian" sense is a poor choice of words, but could not come up with anything else. Not sure if it is because of my religious background or decreasing brain function due to advancing age. Am open to anyone's input - for better term, not concerning my advancing age.

 

[love]

My definition of an enemy is someone who wishes to do me harm. If I could avoid confrontation I would. If confrontation was inevitable and I had to kick to defend myself I doubt my heart would be filled with love at the moment.
I would not consider a person with a different opinion or view point an enemy and I would not kick them to make them see my point of view.

 

[love]

I know this is not what Jesus taught, (Matt 5:43-44) but I am weak and so are most of us.

 

[TashaN]

My Christian friends like love and others usually mention this verse whether directly or indirectly:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matt 5:43

How practical is that?

Also, for non-christians, they might believe in the same thing, but not of course litreally, and they usually fail to represent how can the love for their enemy have any benefit.

To be honest, when i hear of the love your enemy thing, i feel its just for show only, and i never heard of any practical aspects of it other than posting it in forums and just speaking of it for the sake of showing the bright side of some beliefs, but of course, not in practical way.

 

[Phil Lawton]

To be honest, when i hear of the love your enemy thing, i feel its just for show only, and i never heard of any practical aspects of it other than posting it in forums and just speaking of it for the sake of showing the bright side of some beliefs, but of course, not in practical way.

Exactly...I often imagine those who purport to "love their enemies" proclaiming it whilst striking an intellectual pose, involving having a tobacco pipe in one corner of their mouths whilst regarding a lily....and then screaming seven kinds of obscenities at someone who takes their parking space about an hour later.