This was incredibly captivating and provided a profound explanation. While I detest evil and harbor affection for people, I detest their actions.
I genuinely appreciated your candidness about the decline of your love. There are individuals deep down that I yearn to despise, yet my heart refuses to allow it. I may not be making sense here, but when I say I love people, I’m referring to the human form of love.
As for divine love, it’s challenging to comprehend the possibility of maintaining love for someone who has been subjected to heinous acts such as being shot, raped, robbed, beaten, and yet still possessing divine love for them. It’s an idea that completely eludes my comprehension.
Thank you once again for delivering an exceptional episode.
Thank you, Rob. I lived a very sheltered life until I turned 18. Then I was exposed to a lot of movies, music, T.V. shows, books, magazines, etc. that at first I thought were ok. Several years later I got married and I started seeing the evil in these things. Then a few years later I had my first baby, and I really started seeing the evil in everything. I tried to protect my family from all of the filth in the world. When my kid's started attending school, they were exposed to all kinds of bad behavior and as they got older, they were exposed to the music, movies and T.V. shows at friends' houses. Then came the smart phones and they were exposed to stuff on them whenever they were around their friends. At that point all you can do is try to teach them wrong from right and that Satan is always around trying to tempt you. I told them to remember that Jesus is watching you so make good choices.
A lot of my friends and family members didn't show any concern for the things that I did. It was very hard raising kids in this environment and this society. I could never understand why other people didn't see the harm in the lyrics to the songs or the nudity/sex/violence in the movies or the T.V. shows.
I had some quick gut reactions, but I'm going to think about them and refine them for a few days before I write them. You are definitely not alone in your perceptions. Until then, or next week, thank you again Rob!
This topic of “loving our fellow man" is often a heated debate as well as a complicated and difficult topic. I think I have a slightly different take of the issue than many. But maybe by sharing it, others may agree or, show me their perspectives and help me see things more clearly. The following is my take on the topic.
A few stipulations to set the table. Discernment is making a judgement. Love of our fellow humans uses discernment and judgement. Judgement, as biblically described, is not simply disliking, or even hating something or someone. Judgement in general is a process that begins with noticing an offense, which begins a chain of consequences, and that has one of two ends.
The identification of the behavior that is unacceptable to those of the society is observation, and an alert, not judgement. When a society is fairly homogeneous, it is easy to identify, but with increasing diversity comes increasing vagueness and opacity. The offense can be to one's own principles or values, the state's, or God's.
Then in the case of “the State” come the charges and prosecution which leads then through trial, confirmation (or exoneration) of the offense and sentencing.
This last step is the actual "judgement", and what is of concern here.
We should all know the extremes of God's judgement for "behavior" which violates the commandments and His covenants. The State has many variations of laws on every subject from birth to death (far too many, in my opinion, but that's another discussion).
But we as individuals can, and should, judge (or more correctly, discern) as well. We don't have God's power or authority to make ultimate judgements, but we can and must judge others for their earthly behaviors and actions. We are judging their earthly shell, not their soul. I don’t believe we should feel guilt for making earthly judgments. If we do not, we are not helping our fellow man, especially those who have been harmed by the actions of others. Sometimes that is simply a mistake, sometimes a bad decision and sometimes actual evil intent.
While all people have the opportunity to eternal heavenly life, not all will. That isn't our call to make, but we don't have to ignore, or become cold hearted, to behaviors that are destructive. By not "judging" and not using discernment to separate evil from good, we are doing a disservice to our family, friends and society.
We can still be “judgmental” without being unloving.
This was incredibly captivating and provided a profound explanation. While I detest evil and harbor affection for people, I detest their actions.
I genuinely appreciated your candidness about the decline of your love. There are individuals deep down that I yearn to despise, yet my heart refuses to allow it. I may not be making sense here, but when I say I love people, I’m referring to the human form of love.
As for divine love, it’s challenging to comprehend the possibility of maintaining love for someone who has been subjected to heinous acts such as being shot, raped, robbed, beaten, and yet still possessing divine love for them. It’s an idea that completely eludes my comprehension.
Thank you once again for delivering an exceptional episode.
Thank you, Rob. I lived a very sheltered life until I turned 18. Then I was exposed to a lot of movies, music, T.V. shows, books, magazines, etc. that at first I thought were ok. Several years later I got married and I started seeing the evil in these things. Then a few years later I had my first baby, and I really started seeing the evil in everything. I tried to protect my family from all of the filth in the world. When my kid's started attending school, they were exposed to all kinds of bad behavior and as they got older, they were exposed to the music, movies and T.V. shows at friends' houses. Then came the smart phones and they were exposed to stuff on them whenever they were around their friends. At that point all you can do is try to teach them wrong from right and that Satan is always around trying to tempt you. I told them to remember that Jesus is watching you so make good choices.
A lot of my friends and family members didn't show any concern for the things that I did. It was very hard raising kids in this environment and this society. I could never understand why other people didn't see the harm in the lyrics to the songs or the nudity/sex/violence in the movies or the T.V. shows.
I had some quick gut reactions, but I'm going to think about them and refine them for a few days before I write them. You are definitely not alone in your perceptions. Until then, or next week, thank you again Rob!
Ok, finished my thoughts, I think.
Love with and without Judgement
This topic of “loving our fellow man" is often a heated debate as well as a complicated and difficult topic. I think I have a slightly different take of the issue than many. But maybe by sharing it, others may agree or, show me their perspectives and help me see things more clearly. The following is my take on the topic.
A few stipulations to set the table. Discernment is making a judgement. Love of our fellow humans uses discernment and judgement. Judgement, as biblically described, is not simply disliking, or even hating something or someone. Judgement in general is a process that begins with noticing an offense, which begins a chain of consequences, and that has one of two ends.
The identification of the behavior that is unacceptable to those of the society is observation, and an alert, not judgement. When a society is fairly homogeneous, it is easy to identify, but with increasing diversity comes increasing vagueness and opacity. The offense can be to one's own principles or values, the state's, or God's.
Then in the case of “the State” come the charges and prosecution which leads then through trial, confirmation (or exoneration) of the offense and sentencing.
This last step is the actual "judgement", and what is of concern here.
We should all know the extremes of God's judgement for "behavior" which violates the commandments and His covenants. The State has many variations of laws on every subject from birth to death (far too many, in my opinion, but that's another discussion).
But we as individuals can, and should, judge (or more correctly, discern) as well. We don't have God's power or authority to make ultimate judgements, but we can and must judge others for their earthly behaviors and actions. We are judging their earthly shell, not their soul. I don’t believe we should feel guilt for making earthly judgments. If we do not, we are not helping our fellow man, especially those who have been harmed by the actions of others. Sometimes that is simply a mistake, sometimes a bad decision and sometimes actual evil intent.
While all people have the opportunity to eternal heavenly life, not all will. That isn't our call to make, but we don't have to ignore, or become cold hearted, to behaviors that are destructive. By not "judging" and not using discernment to separate evil from good, we are doing a disservice to our family, friends and society.
We can still be “judgmental” without being unloving.