I planned to start this thread some days ago as a result of a tangent from here but I got preoccupied elsewhere.

Below are extracts from a sermon delivered in 1857 by C H Spurgeon; the full text is at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0145.htm

I. First, then, THE COMMAND. It is the second great commandment. The first is, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God," and there, the proper standard is, thou shalt love thy God more than thyself. The second commandment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," and the standard there is a little lower, but still preeminently high, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." There is the command. We can split it into three parts. Whom am I to love? My neighbour. What am I to do? I am to love him. How am I to do it? I am to love him as myself.

First, whom am I to love? I am to love my neighbour. By the word neighbour, we are to understand any person who is near us. It comes from two old words, nae or near, (near) and buer, (to dwell) persons residing, or being near us, and if any one in the world is near us, he is our neighbour. The Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man on the road to Jericho, felt that he was in his neighbourhood, and that therefore he was his neighbour, and he was bound to love him. "Love thy neighbour." Perhaps he is in riches, and thou art poor, and thou livest in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion. Thou seest his estates, thou markest his fine linen, and his sumptuous raiment. God has given him these gifts, and if he has not given them to thee, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. There will ever be differences in the circumstances of man, so let it be. Be content with thy own lot, if thou canst not better it, but do not look upon thy neighbour, and wish that he were poor as thyself; and do not aid or abet any who would rid him of his wealth, to make thee hastily rich. Love him, and then thou canst not envy him. Mayhap, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbours. Do not scorn to own that thou art bound to love even them. The world calls them thy inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are thine equals really, though not so in station. "God hath made of one blood all people that dwell on the face of the earth." Thou art by no means better than they. They are men, and what art thou more than that? They may be men in rags, but men in rags are men; and if thou be a man arrayed in scarlet, thou art no more than a man. Take heed that thou love thy neighbour, even though he be in rags, and scorn him not, though sunken in the depths of poverty.

(All emphases are mine)

Love thy neighbour, too, albeit that he be of a different religion. Thou thinkest thyself to be of that sect which is the nearest to the truth, and thou hast hope that thou and thy compeers who think so well, shall certainly be saved. Thy neighbour thinketh differently. His religion thou sayest is unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Let not thy differences separate him from thee. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he shall be the rightest in practice, who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards thy God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against thee, but against thy God. Thy God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, and leave thou him in God's hands. But if thou canst do him a kind turn, if thou canst find aught whereby thou canst serve him, do it, be it day or night. And if thou makest any distinction, make it thus: Because thou art not of my religion, I will serve thee the more, that thou mayest be converted to the right; whereas thou art a heretic Samaritan, and I an orthodox Jew, thou art still my neighbour, and I will love thee with the hope that thou mayest give up thy temple in Gerizim, and come to bow in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Love thy neighbour, despite differences in religion.

Emphasis mine

Again, thou art bound to love thy neighbour, though he offend thee with him sin. Sometimes our spirits are overwhelmed, and our hearts are grieved, when we see the wickedness of our streets. The common habit with the harlot or the profligate, is to drive them out of society as a curse. It is not right, it is not Christian-like. We are bound to love even sinners, and not to drive them from the land of hope, but seek to reclaim even these. Is a man a rogue, a thief, or a liar? I cannot love his roguery, or I should be a rogue myself. I cannot love his lying, or I should be untrue; but I am bound to love him still, and even though I am wronged by him, yet I must not harbor one vindictive feeling, but as I would desire God to forgive me, so I must forgive him. And if he so sins against the law of the land, that he is to be punished (and rightly so,) I am to love him in the punishment; for I am not to condemn him to imprisonment vindictively, but I am to do it for his good, that he may be led to repent through the punishment; I am to give him such a measure of punishment as shall be adequate, not as an atonement for his crime, but to teach him the evil of it, and induce him to forsake it. But let me condemn him with a tear in my eye, because I love him still. And let me, when he is thrust into prison, take care that all his keepers attend to him with kindness, and although there be a necessity for sternness and severity in prison discipline, let it not go too far, lest it merge into cruelty, and become wanton, instead of useful. I am bound to love him, though he be sunken in vice, and degraded. The law knows of no exception. It claims my love for him. I must love him. I am not bound to take him to my house; I am not bound to treat him as one of my family. There may be some acts of kindness which would be imprudent, seeing that by doing them I might ruin others, and reward vice. I am bound to set my face against him, as I am just, but I feel I ought not to set my heart against him, for he is my brother-man, and though the devil has besmeared his face, and spits his venom in his mouth, so that when he speaks he speaks in oaths, and when he walks, his feet are swift to shed blood, yet he is a man, and as a man he is my brother, and as a brother I am bound to love him, and if by stooping I can lift him up to something like moral dignity, I am wrong if I do not do it, for I am bound to love him as I love myself.

Emphasis as in original text.

First, we are bound to love and honor all men, simply because they are men; and we are to love, next, all those who dwell near us, not for their goodness or serviceableness toward us, but simply because the law demands it, and they are our neighbours. "Love thy neighbour as thyself."

2. But, now, what am I to do to my neighbour? Love him —it is a hard word—love him. "Well I believe," says one, "I never speak an unkind word of any of my neighbours. I do not know that I ever hurt a person's reputation in my life. I am very careful to do my neighbour no damage. When I start in business I do not let my spirit of competition over throw my spirit of charity. I try not to hurt anybody." My dear friend, that is right as far as it goes, but it does not go the whole way. It is not enough for you to say, you do not hate your neighbour, you are to love him. When you see him in the street it is not sufficient that you keep out of his way, and do not knock him down. It is not sufficient that you do not molest him by night, nor disturb his quiet. It is not a negative, it is a positive command. It is not the not doing, it is the doing. Thou must not injure him it is true, but thou hast not done all when thou hast not done that. Thou oughtest to love him.

Emphases as in original text.

II. And now shall I have to give REASONS WHY WE SHOULD OBEY THIS COMMAND.
The best reason in all the world is that with which we will begin. We are bound to love our neighbours because God commands it. To the Christian there is no argument so potent as God's will. God's will is the believer's law. He doth not ask what shall it profit him, what shall be the good effect of it upon others, but he simply says, doth my Father say it? Oh, Holy Spirit, help me to obey, not because I may see how it shall be always good for me, but simply because thou commandest. It is the Christian's privilege to do God's commandments, "hearkening to the voice of his Word." But some other reasons may prevail more with others of you who are not Christians.

Let me remark, then, that selfishness itself would bid you love your neighbour. Oh, strange that selfishness should preach a suicidal sermon; but yet if self could speak, it might, if it were wise, deliver an oration like this, "Self, love thy neighbour, for then thy neighbour will love thee. Self, help thy neighbour, for then thy neighbour will help thee. Make to thyself, O self, friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when thou fairest they may receive thee into abiding habitations. Self, thou wantest ease; make thyself easy by treating everybody well. Self, thou wantest pleasure, thou canst get no pleasure if those around thee hate thee. Make them love thee, dear self, and so shalt thou bless thyself." Ay, even if ye are selfish, I would ye were so pre-eminently selfish, and so wisely selfish that ye would love others to make yourselves happy.

Emphases as in original text.

But I shall not assail you with such a paltry motive as that; it is too poor for a Christian; it should be too base even for a man. Love your neighbour, in the next place, because that will be the way to do good in the world.

Empasis as in original

[b]You are philanthropists, some of you subscribe to missionary societies, you subscribe to the society for orphans, and other charitable objects. I am persuaded that these institutions, though they be excellent and good things, are in some respects a loss, for now a man gives to a society one-tenth of what he would have given himself; and where an orphan would have been kept by a single family, ten families join together to keep that orphan, and so there is about one-tenth of the charity. I think the man who has the time is bound to give nothing at all to societies, but to give all away himself. Be your own society. If there be a society for the sick, then if you have enough money, be your own sick society. If you have the time go and visit the sick yourself, you will know money is well spent then, and you will spare the expense of a secretary. There is a society for finding soup for the poor. Make your own soup. Give it yourself; and if every one who gives his half-a-crown to the society would just spend half-a-sovereign to give the soup away himself, there would be more done. Societies are good; God forbid that I should speak against them; do all you can for them: but still I am afraid that they sometimes thwart individual effort, and I know they rob us of a part of the pleasure which we should have in our own benefactions—the pleasure of seeing the gleaming eye, and of hearing the grateful word when we have been our own almoners.[/b]

Bolding of this last bit is mine.

I will in fact stop the extracts with this last bit - a sort of full circle - as it is this last bit that I posted on the other thread. There is plenty more in the sermon itself for s/he who has the time/inclination to read it.

I think Jesus had a deeper motive in commanding us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is such a high and lofty commandment, a task that is almost out of grasp that we would have to spend our entire lives in the pursuit of achieving it. We succeed we, we fail, the job of loving is never complete. This pursuit of it, I think not only results in good to our fellow man, but also and just as important, forges the kind of character God wants in all of us.

Nice topic Enigma. Lemme try to read it all . . .

Thanks Jesoul

Even now, I've just read of "it"  on "that thread";  I'm afraid I can't do any better than what Pastor AIO wrote so I'll just be plain boring and wish you all the very very best. 

JeSoul:

I think Jesus had a deeper motive in commanding us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is such a high and lofty commandment, a task that is almost out of grasp that we would have to spend our entire lives in the pursuit of achieving it. We succeed we, we fail, the job of loving is never complete. This pursuit of it, I think not only results in good to our fellow man, but also and just as important, forges the kind of character God wants in all of us.

Nice topic Enigma. Lemme try to read it all . . .

Jesoul, it does not take one's entire life to be able to love your neighbor. It just takes the expansion of your consciousness, freeing your being from inside the box that you have been indoctrinated into by your religion, which is that you only have to love whomever is of the same religious faith as yours, whomever believes in what you believe in. That is a box, and if you do not get out of it to see the bigger picture, then it will take more than a lifetime to be able to achieve loving your neighbor as thyself. The box is in the way, so get out of it.

It is a cruel trick that religions like christianity play on their adherents. Firstly, it indoctrinates them into a very tiny box, locks them in, and then "commands" them to love their neighbors as themselves. How can that be possible, i ask? It is a cruel, cruel game, that.

Enigma:

I planned to start this thread some days ago as a result of a tangent from here but I got preoccupied elsewhere.

I. First, then, THE COMMAND. It is the second great commandment. The first is, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God," and there, the proper standard is, thou shalt love thy God more than thyself. The second commandment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," and the standard there is a little lower, but still preeminently high, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." There is the command. We can split it into three parts. Whom am I to love? My neighbour. What am I to do? I am to love him. How am I to do it? I am to love him as myself.

Enigma, while i think the overarching message of your posts in this thread is truly very positive and humanity friendly, i think there are still fundamental flaws here that will bar most people from truly understanding how to achieve the universal love for all.

These are as follows;
1)The concept of "commanding" people to love one another is so deeply flawed, i don't know where to start. Nobody can command any human to love, not even God. The idea itself is silly. Love is a feeling of emotion that can only be emoted spontaneous and naturally, and not to be commanded. If we have to be commanded to love, then we don't have love, and what we don't have, we can't give. Full stop.

2)The commandment of, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God" and the consequent effect of that helping man with universal love. Well, this depends on which God that you are referring to. If it is the God of the bible, then i would say that it is the most impossible thing to love such a God as the one described and chronicled in the bible, for obvious reasons. This is NOT a deity to love, and nobody can force man to love a deity that is not lovable. IMPOSSIBLE.

3)"Love thy neighbor as thyself". Now this is very interesting. What does the word, "thyself", mean? There are two selves inside of man; the higher self( the true self of which we know nothing about), and the false self(the egoic self created by the mind/body combo) within which we all live and we mistake for our true self and identity. Now, in order to love our neighbor as ourselves, we have to find our higher self which is of the nature of love itself, first. Until we do that, no commandment will ever make us love our neighbor the way we should. Since we all live in our false selves which are egoic in nature, it is impossible to fully grasp the very concept of loving our fellow man as ourselves because of that very egoistic nature of the false self inside which we spent most of our lives right up to the grave. This is the very fallen state mentioned in the bible that mankind is in, " living inside the false self". We have fallen from our true higher self down to the false egoic self, and in that fallen state, command as much as you like, mankind will not be able to even grasp the concept of loving thy neighbor as thyself, let alone carry it out.

The nature of our true self is the nature of love itself, and in that state, we emote love spontaneously. In that state, love is no longer something to be commanded or taught, it simply is. It is only in that state that mankind can be able to not only grasp the universal love concept, but be able to carry it out. The problem with religions like christianity is that while they keep teaching and commanding the universal love principles, they keep man firmly within his false egoic self, thereby making it impossible for man to accomplish what they are trying to teach him to begin with. Is that bizarre? Absolutely! It is so bizarre that one can see this religious act as darkly cynical.

Get man out of his false egoic self, get him to link up back to his higher true self, and the rest will take care of itself as far as universal love and loving the true God is concerned. That is all religions like christianity should be doing. But instead, they are doing the exact opposite. Ludicrous? You bet.

Jenwitemi

Thank you for "saying yours"  (very usefully too) about the posts. I'll make a quick short response now and perhaps there may be scope for development later.

First thing to say: remember that the post and message is from a Christian perspective or "worldview"; thus dealing with your numbered points:

1. Christian "love" falls into various categories; when Christians are commanded to "love", in general love refers to 'agape' love (as opposed to romantic or filial --those based on amorous or family emotions); some have equated Christian "love" in this sense to "charity"; thus from my/the Christian perspective/worldview, it is perfectly sensible (rational, if you like) to have a command to love.


2.   Yep, indeed it is the "God of the Bible"! But then He is also the One Universal God that people of different religions comprehend in different ways; we Christians present Him in particular ways, Moslems present Him in different (sometimes even similar) ways, Yoruba etc traditional religions/faiths present Him in different (again sometimes even similar) ways. Sticking to the Christian/Bible view of Him --- I can identify two sources of angst with Him: (a) the "go and destroy the {e.g. Amalekites etc} utterly" God of the Old Testament and (b) the "send them all 'non-believers' to hell" God that many Christians often present.  Well, I will not try to convince you that the Christian/Biblical God is benevolent; I will simply ask you to open your mind and to expand your search, to be honest to see that many Christians have faced these issues squarely and so to extend your "research" and see whether you can get some "satisfaction" from some of the various ways that they have been addressed. (For example, I saw you contributing to a thread where Christians, albeit in the minority, were saying "hell" is a hoax or that it is possible that everyone will be saved)


3. If you appreciate the Christian doctrine fully, you will see that your point here is in fact agreeing with christian doctrine! Christianity is about dying to self and living by the new man, the real man, the spirit man. This is what is at the heart of being "born again" ---- forget the foolishness presented by the shallow and ignorant "doctrine" parading itself as Christianity whicch abounds that you say a "sinner's prayer", start speaking in "tongues" and you are "born again".

The trouble is much of what most people perceive as "Christianity" is in fact ersatz; when people study genuinely deeply and come to understand and appreciate real/actual Christian doctrine, they will see that a lot (maybe not all) of their concerns actually have decent answers.

Great thread Enigma. The mystery of Love can only be understood if we grasp that GOD is the living LOVE. And whatever comes from God including his creations carries within it a reflection or image of LOVE. Thus in man, this image or reflection of the eternal love of God is alive in the human spirit, not in his brain , not in the various material and non material cloaks that the human spirit carries but in the spirit. Thus it is the spirit that has the ability to love, an ability that links him for all time to GOD, who is LOVE. Thus genuine love comes from the spirit, from within and not from without. As genuine love wells deep within the soul, the vibrations of this love burst from the the spirit and is magnetically attracted to the radiations of the love of God which God has placed in creation for the joy and happiness of its creatures including the human spirit. The union of the vibrations from the love that emanates from the human spirit and the various emanations of the love of God in creation transforms and strengthens the love that emanates from the human spirit, giving it the mobility and purity to rise upwards until it is anchored in the realm of Love. A human spirit who is bathed by these many anchorages thus swims in the ocean of love, breaths love and radiates it in his words, actions, thoughts, motives and intution. Such a human spirit loves all mankind, indeed loves all creatures because he sees or senses the images or reflections of the love of God in fellow creatures and not the dressees or cloaks that they wore. Thus race, religion, sex, status and smilar things are alien to such a clarified human spirit. He shares in both the joy and sorrow of his fellow travelers.

No man can enter the kingdom of God if love is not alive in him, in his spirit. The laws of God of which LOVE is the crown does not recognise all these externals which we often consider important. The laws of God return to each man what he himself has put out. Whether you are a Pope or Pastor, an apostle or a disciple, a buddhist or a lama, a thesist or an atheist, a catholic or a penticostal, is irrelevant to the laws of God. What counts is what we sow with our spirit. Only the emanations from the spirit can make connection with the power of God and blessing and curse will follow us depending on how he,she, it used or applied the power of God. Thus, we are created to Love but in our wanderings through the various creations of God, we allowed the cloaks that cover the spirit to be soiled, just like the lustre of a diamond can be covered by rolling it in a mud. However, the soiling of our cloaks is like the mud in a diamond, it is not part of the diamond and thus can be washed away so that the radiance of our spirit can shine forth and regain its connection to God, who in his LOVE permitted us counscious existence. Even a second welling up of genuine love in our spirit can burst asunder the filth that covers our spirit and connect us back to our creator.

There is no spiritual development in the absence of love. Love is the key to unloak the gates to the kingdom of God. Best Wishes.

Very very good contribution m_nwankwo; many thanks.

Enigma:

Very very good contribution m_nwankwo; many thanks.

Hi Enigma. Thanks for your kind words. Stay blessed.

I say, "don't let yourself be commanded to love, for that is useless. Don't let yourself be taught how to love, for that is hopeless. But allow yourself to be lead back to your true nature, which is pure love itself. Don't be taught how to love, become love by returning to your true self. Don't be commanded to love, become love by finding your true self. There is no other way to true love but through reuniting with one's true self."

Love to all humanity.

I think the real problem here is that we are to love the neighbor "AS OURSELVES". How many truly love themselves then? And if you do not love yourself, obviously you have no capability to love your neighbor.

Until we deal with "love thyself", we cannot start to comprehend loving our neighbors

nuclearboy:

I think the real problem here is that we are to love the neighbor "AS OURSELVES". How many truly love themselves then? And if you do not love yourself, obviously you have no capability to love your neighbor.

Until we deal with "love thyself", we cannot start to comprehend loving our neighbors

Quite true that. But in order to love thyself, you have to find thyself first.

Recalling the below

Jenwitemi:

1)The concept of "commanding" people to love one another is so deeply flawed, i don't know where to start. Nobody can command any human to love, not even God. The idea itself is silly. Love is a feeling of emotion that can only be emoted spontaneous and naturally, and not to be commanded. If we have to be commanded to love, then we don't have love, and what we don't have, we can't give. Full stop.

and also

Jenwitemi:

I say, "don't let yourself be commanded to love, for that is useless. Don't let yourself be taught how to love, for that is hopeless. But allow yourself to be lead back to your true nature, which is pure love itself. Don't be taught how to love, become love by returning to your true self. Don't be commanded to love, become love by finding your true self. There is no other way to true love but through reuniting with one's true self."

Love to all humanity.

I was interested to read the below especially the advice (I suppose as distinct from command) I bolded (in fact and also belatedly noticing the bit I bolded above); perhaps Jenwitemi agrees with Christian doctrine more than he realises in fact? 

Jenwitemi:

^^ There is no one "true" religion, my guy, even though they all like to think that they are. You are already serving God with your existence in this life. All other things are just man-made extracurricular activities(and also part of the experience). In which man-made religious organization you subscribe to is totally irrelevant. But if you want to keep on really confusing yourself, then keep putting all these crazy religions between you and your maker. But i am sure you don't want that, from what i read in your post.

My advice to you, keep organized religion and their confusing doctrines out of your relationship with your creator and make sure they stay out. They are nothing more than just mind parasites acting as self-elected intermediaries between you and your maker. All they do is keep you in a state of confusion.

About knowing what is right or wrong, what is negative or positive, go with your in-born intuition. Let it guide you instead of listening to a whole posse of socalled religious leaders who most probably do not have a clue what they are talking about. We are now in the intuition age and only folks who can understand and use their power of intuition properly will be able to adjust. Try as much as possible to be a positive force for good in this world. Leave the world better than you found it and love everyone equally.

Enigma:

Recalling the below

and also

I was interested to read the below especially the advice (I suppose as distinct from command) I bolded (in fact and also belatedly noticing the bit I bolded above); perhaps Jenwitemi agrees with Christian doctrine more than he realises in fact? 

What makes you say that? None of what you bolded resemble the christian doctrine.

nuclearboy:

I think the real problem here is that we are to love the neighbor "AS OURSELVES". How many truly love themselves then? And if you do not love yourself, obviously you have no capability to love your neighbor.

Until we deal with "love thyself", we cannot start to comprehend loving our neighbors

Jesus alos thought how we can practicalize the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves with this simple instruction: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" I think this is quite practical.

How can you love your neighbour as yourselves when you can't accept your neighbours for what they are?

KunleOshob:

Jesus alos thought how we can practicalize the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves with this simple instruction: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" I think this is quite practical.

Unfortunately christians forget that part rather easily. They can't love whoever does not endorse their belief.

KunleOshob:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" I think this is quite practical.

Bookmarked. Will return to read.