On this blog I have posted several times on subjects related to ethics and morality. It has become quite obvious to me that we Christians do not agree what it means to be a Christian in relation to abortion, capital punishment, economics, social services, war, and many other subjects. One person mentioned to me that we need to frame these discussions in terms of “love your neighbor” as Jesus taught and I agree, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Yes, Jesus’ point was made clearly when he told the parable of the good Samaritan. Sadly, the Evangelist didn’t give us more of Jesus’ examples. When a young woman wants to abort her child we have two neighbors at stake. When two people aim to kill each other during a war we have two neighbors at stake. When one man feels the state is taking his hard earned money while another thinks he is oppressed by the state so that it is impossible for him to thrive we have two neighbors at stake. Often the vision of our various neighbors are polar opposites.
What does it mean to love my neighbor who enrolls in the military when I think the state is waging unjust wars? What does it mean to love my neighbor who says he has been wrongly convicted as he awaits the death penalty? What does it mean to love my neighbor who wants an abortion? What does it mean to love my neighbor who is a Republican, a Democrat, part of the Tea Party, or part of the Occupy Movement? What does it mean to love my neighbor who lives and dies by Capitalism, or Socialism, or Marxism, or Communism? What about my neighbor who is racist and displays that racism? What about my neighbor who shames Christianity with bigoted words? What does the “love” entail?
the archives near Emmaus 
uhm…something in connection with ephesians ch.4? with emphasis on verses 15 and 25…
Brian. As I thought about what you said, I was considering that Jesus never clarified what love is, but who your neighbor is. I think love is seeking the good of the other even at the expense of yourself. The Levite and Priest were not willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their neighbor. They saw only their own good. The Samaritan was. His actions in a Jewish society could have very well cost him his life. (They could have cost the same for the priest and Levite. See Ken Bailey’s “Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.”)
So with the lady wanting an abortion, her good does not lie in an abortion and the same for the baby. That would be one example.
Why is murder, murder? The bible says because man is created in the image of God, therefore ‘murder’ is marring the image of God in creation [Gen 9:6] (It’s not about man, but about God (and His image)). The bible also says God share’s his glory with no one [Isa 42:8]. Thus, the inherit value of man is not ‘man’ but that we reflect the image of God.
Thus the two Great commandments are really about God, including the 2nd greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (quoting [Deut 6:5]) is self evident. God is our creator; we are HIs creatures. God has every right to demand our worship, and this commandment is a summary of the first four of the ten.
The second (which summarizes the last 6 commandments) however can be misleading. Does our neighbour, as a creature, warrant our love? Does any creature? If [Gen 9:6] is correct, that the inherit value of man lies in the fact, that as creatures, we reflect the image of God. (We are not called to love monkeys, or cats or cattle as ourselves, but our neighbour). Understanding why the 2nd greatest commandment is the 2nd greatest is based on the knowledge that it is really about loving the image of God (since creatures have little worth otherwise).
So if my neighbour is a serial killer, does the 2nd commandment call me to love him as myself? First of all, the same Jesus who denoted this the 2nd greatest commandment had expectations for us. He expected us to become Christlike through sanctification. So the more we reflect Christ, the more we ‘ought’ to love ourselves because the better we reflect the image of God. Christ calls us to repent, which is another way of saying when we are not reflecting Christ perfectly we should not love that aspect of us that is not reflecting God. If we are loving ourselves perfectly, it means that we are reflecting Christ perfectly.
How then, are we expected to love our ‘serial killer’ neighbour, assuming that we have a right relationship to God. Even the worst serial killers reflect something of the image of God, but the more they sin the worse they reflect God’s image. Because the 2nd commandment is about God’s image and not our value as creatures, the best way we can love our ‘serial killer neighbour’ is by helping to restore the image of God in them, which means by evangelizing to them so that they repent and start the process (hopefully) of becoming Christ-like.
Loving our neighbour as ourselves, does not mean loving their sin, or their sinful state, and it does not mean loving them ‘unconditionally’ in the sense that we accept the imperfection by which they reflect God. If we are to repent of our own sins (that mares us), we should actually ‘not accept’ the sin that so mares their ability to reflect God that they barely reflect Christ at all.
Humanism mistakes the underlying reason why we are are called to love our neighbour. It advocates that we love them however they act, and whatever state they are in (without a thought about their sin, or our own), as though man has glory of his own, and an inherit value apart from God.
@Brian, if you see that your neighbour clearly exhibits ‘Christlike’ behaviour, whether or not they’ve joined the military, love them. If they are not exhibiting ‘Christlike’ behaviour, realize that it is God’s image in them you are called to love. You can love them most perfectly by helping them to become Christ like.
If you’re state is engaged in unjust wars, this is a problem with your state, not your neighbour.
@JEA: Would you like to unpack that further?
@Nick: Good insight!
@Andrew: Oh my, here we go again…. what if your neighbor in the unjust war has a swastika on his arm and his nation tells him to go collect Jews, gypsies, and communist?
@Brian Good question. I’ll answer you with another question. What if your neighbour use to stone Christian’s or drag them to prison for their believes believing them heretics, where the punishment for heresy could be death?
@Andrew:
If they used to then the ideal aim is forgiveness.
Why is it “they use to” (but no longer)? What changed?
I think you’re answering your own question here.
@Andrew:
If “current” then the aim is to flee and self-preserve if possible while maintaining a Christian witness is forced to suffer…much like the Christians persecuted by Paul. So yes, I did answer my question…but you haven’t answered yours!
@Brian, It’s not clear to me what question you’re referring to. Is there still one unanswered?
There are a lot of other verses that way in on this issue. For instance there are the verses about the fruit of the spirit contrasted with the lusts of the flesh just before the verses on fruit. Then there is in James I think he verse that man’s wrath is not God’s righteousness. I also don’t see any verses telling us to force others to part with their money. Rather giving is an act from the heart so Christians should not support taxes that enable the welfare state. I think it is kinda easy to get accurate thoughts about political issues from the bible… Just forget your political bias and read the Word like you’re supposed too!!
End ( human led (not God ordained))war(a blatantly anti Christian notion) and end confiscation of personal property and allow individuals to act.