8.09.2005

Fade to Grey

Recently I asked a question about whether or not we are supposed to be friends with everybody. Many responses wer in the vein of 'No'. That is all well and good, but questions like these usually are not simply answered. What if I expanded the question to 'How do I love somebody that I don't want to be friends with, but I run into a lot?" The question just got a whole lot trickier and the answers a whole lot harder. You can't really love somebody practically that you see all the time and not become friends with them. So maybe a whole in the opining of some.

This got me thinking about how most questions that seem simple, but deal with humans rarely are. Everybody would agree that you are to love your neighbor, but what if your neighbor destroyed your yard? Is turning him into the police still considered loving your neighbor? Suing him for expenses? I don't know. Things are rarely just simple.

This can be applied to topics ranging all over the board from loving each other to the war. We want to believe that things are black and white, but many times they are not. I guess this is what I am trying to say in this whole rambling. There are definitely things that are black and white, but there are so many more things where conditions muddle the line. And we seem to want to solve things in our minds without muddling it up. It won't work.

This may be my most disorganized post yet. Congrats to me.

1 comments:

Proteinstar said...

What is love? According to Webster Love, (in a theological sense) is two-fold: a) God's tender regard and concern for mankind. b) mankind's devotion to and desire for God as the supreme good.

So what? If there is a person you see on a regular basis that is not loveable, for whatever reason, you are held to be civil to that person. Do not be a gossip or slanderer. Be thoughtful and respectful. Does that mean invite them to the big BBQ? No. Does that mean talk to them if you pass in the hallway, yes.

It means living out a life that is Christlike in every regard. Christ had a small group of friends. Was everyone invited? No. Did he engage everyone he met in civil discourse while holding them in His tender regard and being concerned for them, yes.

Just like you don't have to fall passinately in love with every woman you meet, neither do you have to become friends with every person you pass by.