Do You REALLY?

Question

Do you LOVE the bum that smells like he's soaked in piss, liquor, and dirt for a week, panhandling for change? What about that overly-pierced couple with the leather and dangling chains, slobbering all over each other and rubbing against each other nearly tipping over the newspaper stand on the street? What about the teenage boy with the black eyeliner who is always in a dark kind of mood? What about the sleezy looking married guy you see walking into the "Adult Bookstore" to buy porn, sex toys, to cruise the booths, or whatever? What about the man who gets married, then divorced and says "I've been gay all along and I've been cheating on my wife with another man"? What about the people on the internet who look up snuff movies?

Do you TRULY , TRULY LOVE them? Do you HATE (TRULY HATE) the sin and not the sinner?

What's YOUR take on these people? What about your neighbors, or the same people sitting next to you at church - who pray and exhalt your god, then go out and do whatever?

Answer 1

I don't pretend to love everyone. I truly hate some people.

Answer 2

I respect all life till it steps over the line. I couldn't care less about about the couple in leather, the boy with black eyeliner, sleezy married guys goin to porn stores or the guy that gets the divorce cause he was gay all along. LOL The old bum, if I have food, I'd probably give it to him... just wouldn't give him money. I've worked soup kitchens before and I know what those guys do. ^_^

But LOVE? Are we talking about the kind of love I have for my husband? or maybe my parents? or the kind of love I have for my kid? These are all different kinds of love and are expressed in different ways. Respecting life is one thing, but I don't LOVE everyone. The hippy movement went out a long time ago... man.

Answer 3

The only people I really hate are those that hurt my family. Otherwise, people have the right to do what they want as long as it is not illegal. I believe that all people are individuals and have a right to do what they want as long as it does not hurt another person. There is nothing wrong with the bum, other than the fact that he is sick, needs help and is down on his luck. I would help him if I had the means. The overly-pierced couple rubbing against each other must be so in love/lust and comfortable with themselves that they don't care what others thing...the teenage boy with the black eyeliner expresses his moods that way, rather than committing suicide...The sleezy looking married guy may not be satisfied with his sex life at home and may be looking for a way to spice it up, the man who gets married and divorced made a mistake, learned who he really was, and got the courage to make himself happy, and the people on the internet who look up snuff movies may only have those in their lives to hang on to. Honestly, if you feel bad enough to judge people based on what they do or how they look, maybe you need to find peace of your own. At least these people are not ashamed of who they are, find ways to accept themselves and be who they want to be...after all, who is to say what is really a sin and what is not? I believe it is not a sin to wear dark eye makeup, it is not a sin to be in love and to show it, it is not a sin be who you were born to be, it is not a sin to shop for sex toys or pornography, it is not a sin to peruse the internet for snuff movies..It is certainly not a sin to have a disease such as alcoholism..I believe it is not even a sin to be homosexual....Only God knows what the sins really are...perhaps God may think that you are sinning because you judge these people and what they do without knowing them...think about it...

Answer 4

Everything is relative. Obviously, you cannot or are not willing to grasp what other people can or cannot do based on your own myopic perspective, regardless of whatever their answer may be, will you now?? Seriously??! I really doubt it...

And for that same reason, WHY DOES IT MATTER to you in any case? I doubt very much if you will even be moved one way or the other based on such a highly selective, entrapping type of questioning as if to beg the question: "Who died and made you the judge and jury" type of thing to begin with??

Come on... back at you then-- DO YOU REALLY??? I think you're simply trying to INCITE ANGER or merely BEING A FAULTFINDER at best...

Chill out, man! LOL.

Peace be with you!

Answer 5

It is my job to love and respect all creations of God. I have to look at these people for who and what they are. They are hurting and deep down inside, it makes me hurt. I want to help the bum who panhandles for change to go buy more booze. I want to help the couple realize that sex is not all it's cracked up to be, but love is. I want the teenage boy to realize there is love and anger is totally normal. I want to talk to the married man going into the adult store to find out what has gone so wrong in his life that his marriage has led him to this. I want to understand what makes homosexuals, homosexual. I want to show people on the internet that there is more to life than the internet. I do, truly love them and hate their sin. I love my neighbors and the people I go to church with whether they practice what they preach or not. My take is that all of these people are hurting. They are searching for something in this life that they can't find. I want to help them find it, but not in this life. I want to help them see that there is a life beyond this where none of this is going to matter. That's my take.

Answer 6

Yeah, we do. We really have to love them, it is Christs commandment to us.

But umm, you need to go get a better understanding of what Love is. I believe Paul defined it best in 1 Corinthians 13, if you wish to look it up.

Answer 7

God says to love your neighbors like everyone else. I truely do love all people, people that need and dont need God. Sometimes it doesnt seem that way because i am human, and i do sin.

Answer 8

Right

Answer 9

Yes. How could I not love them? Jesus loves them; they are children of God. Why should I think differently about them just because they look "different"?

Answer 10

Interesting question. For someone to truly love all the people in your examples would definitely be someone who is at a higher plane of spirituality than I am.

However, you have given only the extreme opposites as our options. To me to truly love or hate someone, you have to know them. I do not know the people in these examples, but I have met someone like them. I can say that I do not hate any of these people, but I don't love them all either. I do believe two things: I am not here to judge them or their lifestyles, and I will respect their decision to live their lives as they see fit (within the legal boundaries).

As for my neighbors and those next to me in church, again I am not here to judge. Yes, I realize that next door could be a child molester, and that any children I have could be victimized. It is my responsibility to watch my children, to educate them on what to do when confronted by someone who is willing to victimize them, and to lock my doors and windows at night to keep us safe.

As for the question itself, I get the feeling that you are trying to trap people who are religious. I understand the reason to do this, and have participated in this type of questioning myself (me to Sunday School teacher: If God is able to create anything, and His strength is infinite, can He create a rock to heavy for Him to lift? AHH HAAA!). But what is not realized is that in applying our perceptions of reality, we are trying to breach the chasm of faith. Faith does not need answers. Looking for standard laws of faith is like trying to understand how a dog feels about butterflies. You can kind of guess, but you will never truly know, so why try to break it down?

None of us are perfect. And to love the sinner but hate the sin is what we should strive for in our hearts. But, if you do not get to that point, you should not feel less than human, or that you are not worth going to Heaven. Make the attempt to respect your fellow man, and its my personal belief that you will find salvation.