Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
1 John 2:9 "He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in the darkness even until now."
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A rather sobering word, there; that one can "say he is in the light" but not be in the light. Obviously there was the examples of the observant Jews, who claimed "Moses" but rejected Jesus, and thus were thrust aside, claims notwithstanding. Secondly, in the light of the epistles to the Asian assemblies, John could be saying this delusion of thinking one had light when one was actually in darkness also applies to some who call themselves "christian".
Now, hating the brother, is a difficult one for me. It is hard to find the line between "taking a stand for the truth" and "hating one another". In other words, if I am for the truth, and I observe a christian in error, and I try to correct them, and they refuse correction, and at some point I say "You are like the Gentiles to me" and turn away, am I then hating my brother? The other peril is to "love" everyone regardless of condition; then eventually the "truth" doesn't matter because we just play some "I'm okay- you're okay" game, irrespective of actual condition.
So I struggle with where to draw the line on that one. I try to speak the truth to all, best as I can, try to be nice to everyone, best as I can, and only in really, really extreme cases do I "turn away". Gross unrepentant sin, foaming at the mouth hysteria, etc. Other than that, I try to say, "Okay, Lord, this is who you gave me today."