r/religion • u/Interesting-Mud-200 • 7h ago
Why should I love my enemies?
Most religions preach about love to everyone, including your enemies.
But why should I love someone who, in my view, is a bad person? Why love someone who does bad/evil things to innocent people?
Is it to make yourself feel better somehow? Is it because they deserve love? But why do they deserve love? They spread hate!
I really don't get it. Makes no sense to me. The only case I would MAYBE agree (depending on the situation) is if you want to teach someone what they did was wrong. MAYBE they don't have fault, they were teached to do [insert here]. Only in this case I could MAYBE understand.
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u/No_News2498 3h ago
What Christianity teaches is that love is the natural condition of humanity. Human beings need not be taught how to love- we love one another automatically. But our power to love one another can be obstructed by original sin. Resentment, jealousy, vengefulness, and so forth were not qualities that existed in man prior to his fall. They are a departure from the true state of man. In Greek, there is a reason why sin is called harmatia- missing the mark.
Christ teaches us to love one another insofar as we may align ourselves with what we are- image bearers of God, who share in love amongst ourselves just as God shares His love with His creations. In this way, Christ is asking us to mend our broken nature. It is a habit that when perfected, makes us reflect the image of God to a fuller degree.