How should we treat our enemies?

[sunburstlespaulhero1989]

I believe we should treat our ememies with respect because they are people too. I can only hope that they respect us despite the disagreements. I only see opinions as just words. I don't see them actions though words often cause it. I think that we should just kindly debate things and not take things personally.

[Flynn]

Originally Posted by PENNMTNS

and then again i will never turn the other cheek....hit me once or us once...itl be all over for you...ask the catholics which i am one about the dark side the inquestion...they burned raped staked millions....but they wont talk about it...will they............patrish..........

I didn't ask you to turn the other cheek.

My post which you responded to stated that there are Muslims who pray to their God that Christians have a greater understanding of Islam and that was in response to Syb saying that as a Christian she would

.....quote

pray for these people peaceful and radical alike.

No one asked you to turn the other cheek it was a straight forward message that a greater understanding and more tolerance should be shown by all religious leaders.

[AutumnRain]

I guess before I can answer how I should treat my enemies, i should ask how are they treating me?

[AutumnRain]

I have my mother in law (every girls enemy) visiting at the moment..My husband and children look forward to her annual visit.. I hate it. She fills the house with tension, anger and a general negative feeling.. So i treat her sugary and with love and kindness...
Nothing can excuse her behaviour, i can make sure mine cannot be left looking for excuses

[arella]

killing her with kindness lol I wonder if she senses your true feelings tho?

[Patrish]

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes.
Anyone who hates us or would wish harm on us.

Pray for them, and love them anyway.
This stacks coals upon their head. [ie - it gives them guilt]

Christ taught something very hard to do. But loving someone [genuinely] will eventually get them to change.

I have had 'enemies' [or so i thot] in school - who turned out to be loyal friends eventually.

Originally Posted by Vinnie

How do we treat our enemies or how should we treat them? Two very different questions. We should treat them the way we wish to be treated.
This answers the other two questions as well I feel.

The golden rule - is the best rule.

Originally Posted by sybarite

I think the Christians should pray for these people peaceful and radical alike,

Amen!! Just being cautious...

As Christ said...
Matthew 10

16 Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.

Originally Posted by PENNMTNS

and then again i will never turn the other cheek....hit me once or us once...itl be all over for you...ask the catholics which i am one about the dark side the inquestion...they burned raped staked millions....but they wont talk about it...will they............patrish..........

O yea, i will talk about it.

Secular scholars did a study on this issue.
And their findings are completely different than the [rumors] we have heard on down the line.

In their findings, all in all, 3000 ppl died.
In that 3000 - it appears the vast majority of those who died, died by the decisions of the secular courts.

I was recently studying St Thomas More.
He was Chancellor of the court [Catholic court] and he loathed putting anyone to death. Of the many thousands who came thru the court he was in charge of, only 4 ended up actually dying.

Since he choose to work with the ppl who were on trial, he had only a few who died. And i am going to add in my conjecture. St More was so kind to ppl [as was reported by friends and even secular officials] that the ones who did die under his rule, did so as some sort of martyrdom. But that again, is my take on it.

Nevertheless, most ppl who ended up on trial in the secular courts would intentionally blaspheme God so they 'could be' sent to the Church court and receive a more lenient trial.

I am not certain I can remember the actual numbers killed by both the Catholics and the Protestants...but all in all, the numbers were equal in both camps. And were STILL far less than the worldly court system.

Saying that millions died is an exaggeration that cannot be accounted for. Since record keeping was done in those days and the findings are far reduced than the rumors have misled us to believe.
The scholars said if 100,000 were murdered without any sort of record that might be the absolute highest that died all in all. But even that they found would be improbable.

And of course this includes all the years of inquisitions. But they know of about 3000 who actually died.

St More eventually was martyred because he refused to follow the King's attempt to take over the rule of the Church [The Church in England who was a Catholic bishoprick] and he wouldnt follow the King but remained with the Pope...and as such, was beheaded.

I also watched this on the history channel, so i cannot remember [what i saw 3 years ago or so] in detail, but the numbers i am almost certain about, & again were far far less than the rumors made them out to be.

[Don'tLikeStinkingThinking]

Originally Posted by Patrish

O yea, i will talk about it.

Secular scholars did a study on this issue.
And their findings are completely different than the [rumors] we have heard on down the line.

In their findings, all in all, 3000 ppl died.
In that 3000 - it appears the vast majority of those who died, died by the decisions of the secular courts.

....Saying that millions died is an exaggeration that cannot be accounted for. Since record keeping was done in those days and the findings are far reduced than the rumors have misled us to believe.
The scholars said if 100,000 were murdered without any sort of record that might be the absolute highest that died all in all. But even that they found would be improbable.

And of course this includes all the years of inquisitions. But they know of about 3000 who actually died.

.........I also watched this on the history channel, so i cannot remember [what i saw 3 years ago or so] in detail, but the numbers i am almost certain about, & again were far far less than the rumors made them out to be.

WOW! Great news the world is flat! I can't wait for the space aliens to be catholic next LMAO...sorry but the pope said, so it was written and so it is!

[JustAnotherFace]

Hmmm... not trying to be an asshole here, but...

Coming from the standpoint of someone who was in the Army - got out last September - and have friends who died over there as well, as well as being a previous student of history, I can say that while we have had some screw ups like Abu Ghraib, the U.S. still treats their prisoners to a much higher caliber than any others.

What did the Nazis do to prisoners? Experiments. What did the Russians do? Torture/death. What do the Muslim extremists do? Torture/cut their heads off and video-tape it. Do I even have to talk about the Viet Cong?

Sure, we poke our noses where they don't belong sometimes. And yeah, we try to police the world. And we certainly make some situations worse than they previously were. But we fix some things too. Does that mean its ok if every once in a while we get it right? No. Does that make it okay for the world to try and kill us and barring that torture their P.O.W.s? No.

So what am I saying? That while we're treading softly and feeding our prisoners and letting them sleep in beds, we should be beating them senseless, starving them out, and dropping a couple bombs to make sure they know we mean it.

I know that most of you don't feel that way, but, that's how I see it.

And lastly... once again, not trying to be an asshole, but... there's too much wrong in the world... too much stuff that I've had to survive through when others didn't... just too much everything for me to buy into the whole 'God' concept. And I was raised Southern Baptist. But me and God don't communicate, because I don't like one sided conversations, and he ain't doing nothing to fix these problems we're talking about.

[AutumnRain]

ah Sir Thomas Moore..
Plots against the King, defies the King and is found guilty of high treason yet the good old church makes him a hero!
I'm guessing your history books are different to ours

[JustAnotherFace]

And where did I say anything that has to do with Sir Thomas Moore?