Evil people usually, but people nonetheless. Now, don’t tempt me Rafal:
Not only are they people but we are commanded to love them by Christ. Doesn’t mean that we don’t oppose and fight them, but we leave the dehumanization to them.
Unfortunately They Are
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I take issue with the common notion that we as Christians are obliged to love everyone. The “enemies” that Jesus refers to are mere opponents, not mortal enemies. Look at the examples of enmity that Jesus gives: someone not returning your coat, making you walk further than you had planned, slaps on the cheek — hardly the behavior of a mortal enemy. I think Jesus is encouraging Christians to go easy on each other, and not to make a federal case out of every slight, for the good of the overall community. And the word “neighbor” in the Bible never means “everyone”; it means “those who are near to you” or “those who act in a neighborly way”. So no, we are not commanded to love communists.
Actually pressing into service on the road would have been the action of the Romans for the corvee or forced labor to maintain the roads. Most Jews at the time of Jesus would have regarded Romans as mortal enemies. To many Jews at the time the attitude of Jesus to the Romans would have seemed weak at best, collaborationist at worst. I think Jesus meant the love He spoke of to be all encompassing. That does not mean that wrongdoers aren’t to be punished, as Jesus demonstrated when He whipped the moneychangers from the Temple. It does mean that even our worst enemies are fellow children of a loving God.
I interpret “love” as “to do right by.” Whatever “right” means I guess.
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Some folks, Totalitarian Types and the mentally deranged, just don’t know when to quit. They will attack, and attack, and attack. You can knock them down, and they get right back up and are right at your throat. Wash, rinse, repeat. They mean to utterly defeat you. At some point, a person needs to make a decision on who is going to die.
For devils to be in heaven is to be in hell. Loving our mortal enemy brings disaster on them.
George Patten said: “KIl them with kindness”
Understanding that persons employ the power of attorney of the evil doer to repair the social order and restore peace, when Jesus destroyed the money changers in the temple Christ was imposing the economy as God created it. I give in love what you need to survive and you give in love what I need to survive. Christ destroyed greed and repaired the social order for all future generations.