Pondering in the heart

[nebula]

I was watching a show yesterday - the kind where the good guys are really good and the bad guys are really bad.

One point that became obvious throughout the show is how the lead character prefers to act with mercy first if at all possible. It was more striking when he had to oppose those who were wanting to respond with hate to those who harmed them.

A thought crossed my heart that truly struck me.

Now before I state it, let me clarify that I do know the intellectual answer, I do know the Scriptures.

But this was a question that crossed my heart, not my mind. A soul-searching question, a personal question, a question of conviction to my own spirit.

Why is it so much easier to hate than to love?

No, I'm not asking for anyone to teach me a lesson about sin that I already know about.

What I am doing is sharing a thought that is meant for you to search your own heart before the Lord with as I've been searching mine.

Why do I hate so easily rather than to love?

What is in me specifically that is not surrendered to Jesus such that it becomes natural to love those that anger me?

...if that expresses the intent of the question in better terms.

Praying for the gold to be refined in our hearts.

[Blien]

Isn't to Love to Hate also? For example, you could Love someone but Hate their destructive behaviors.

[JCISGD]

Good point Nebula, something to ponder till the cows come home perhaps ? I had dwellled on it myself occassionally.

Yes we know its the fallen state but what changed?

Apparantly we have far more frown muscles than smile muscles as well, and it takes far more good comments to correct one bad comment etc. Excercise and fitness is also an uphill process that reverts faster than it gains.

[Blien]

Here is something else to similarly related.

Have you noticed, that there were two trees in the Garden of Eden? I can hear you saying "yeah, duh"... but did you also notice, one gives life. The other gives death?

The Tree of Life = Life

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil = Death

There are verses in the Bible that speaks about this too..

Ecclesiastes 1:18

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

2 Timothy 3:7

always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Why do we think then that increase of our knowledge of God will bring us close to Him???? I struggle with this one daily. So back to nebula's question, why do we choose the wrong things above the good so easily?

[nebula]

Isn't to Love to Hate also? For example, you could Love someone but Hate their destructive behaviors.

Yes there are things God hates . . . but that was not the focus of my pondering.

Hating your enemy is easy. Loving your enemy takes work.

[nebula]

Yes we know its the fallen state but what changed?

That's a good way of looking at it.

[nebula]

So back to nebula's question, why do we choose the wrong things above the good so easily?

But that's the thing . . . who ever struggles to choose wrong? Yet choosing "good" more often than not is a struggle.

[~candice~]

In saying this, I am not in any way suggesting that my actions are right (they are wrong) and nor am I suggesting that everyone does this.

Hate is a protective shield for me. Loving someone means to allow them to see me for who I am and it's dirty and dark in there. I'd just rather they didn't see. Loving rather than hating takes more energy and selflessness and I am greedy and self centered. Hating can keep people at a safe distance. Hating protects my selfishness.

[Sir Gareth]

There is a certain selfishness in the world thanks to the sin nature that Adam and Eve brought into the world, thiscauses us to think of ourselves more than others. I also believe a big part of the problem is the fact that humans are very frightened beings, we treat that which we see as our enemioes with fear and contempt because we are afraid they will hurt us and we are unwilling to allow ourselves to be hurt in order to help others.

Finally i think it may also come from the desire to be right, we see ourselves as being the truly right and our enemies are the truly wrong. It's easy to forget Jesus' command, i do it far too often, because when we see ourselves as right and others as wrong we feel we have no reason to love them.

well these are a few ideas anyway.

[Blien]

I wonder, could we safely theorize that "our nature" or inclination towards evil, as it is described so far in this topic, is a result of passed down fallen characteristics from Adam. Who was in the likeness of God at one time? And we the likeness of Adam? Is that safe to say or heretical?

This idea just popped into my head.. not sure if it's right or wrong. Because when Jesus transforms our bodies, we will be in the likeness of HIM (God) not the created?