If you are to love your enemies, why did David kill Goliath?

Question: I was listening to a sermon about how to be a man after God’s heart. He was speaking about love, and he said David loved Saul even when Saul tried to kill him and searched for him for years. Even if Saul became David’s enemy, David would never do the same against Saul. He loved Saul and he’d never become his enemy. Then…

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Is this girl the answer to my prayers?

Question: I met the girl online, and we have been talking online for several months now, We haven’t actually met in person but we plan on meeting up next week. We are both Christian, and we have had a few differences of opinion, and arguments. I literally fell in love with this girl before I’ve…

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Am I being unloving toward a sister in Christ?

Question: Today I had some trouble with a friend, who is also a sister in Christ. She was unbearable, but still, I didn’t argue or anything with her. I just don’t feel like being near her because it stresses me. Am I being unloving to her? Answer: So what do you do when your brother…

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Does love mean you miss people when they are not there?

Question: When you love someone, does it imply you need to miss this person in case you’re too far away? If not, how is this love? I remember that Paul was always saying in his letters that he missed the people from the churches he wrote to. What do you think? Answer: “For God is my…

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Does a husband need to love his wife more than anyone on earth?

Question: Does a husband need to love his wife more than anyone on earth? Even his children? Answer: The question implies there is a set quantity of love that a person can give. It also assumes that love for, say children, is at odds with loving your wife. The greatest commandment is loving God, the…

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How can I love God when I fear hell?

Question: How does someone learn to love God? I know what the greatest commandment is, but I don’t think I love God. I fear going to hell. If I didn’t believe in hell, I don’t think I would have become a Christian. Could I have truly repented? Was my sorrow only of the world? I…

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What Saves a Person?

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Since, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9), it would be sensible to understand that in order to get people saved, God would tell them…

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What is God doing for me now to prove His love?

Question: God taught us to love and loving is a daily process requiring lots of physical and conscious effort. To show I love my wife, I have to remind her, I have to shower her with gifts, I have to kiss, hold, caress her, and sacrifice to her daily. Sometimes I have to do the…

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Is it wrong to love a non-Christian?

Question: I am 20 years old, and I have a boyfriend. We both really love each other. Although he is not a Christian, I can’t leave him. Is it wrong to love a non-Christian? We both sometimes end up having dry sex. He says it’s not a sin because we truly love each other. I…

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First Love

by Robert Turner A tap at the study door announced a timid and frightened young couple. Their marriage was “coming apart” — or so they thought — and since I had “performed their ceremony,” they had come to me for help. The timid approach fooled me. What should have been an easy “patch-up” job grew…

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Is love enough for marriage?

Question: Is the love between a man and a woman, apart from the mutual agreement of both families enough to bind them? I’m asking this question on behalf of my cousin who wants to go on and marry a Muslim girl irrespective of the lack of agreement between the two families of different religions. They…

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How do I get a love for God?

Question: Hi! How do I get a love for God? The Bible says I need to love Him with all my heart and soul, but I only feel fear of the eternal consequences that come if I’m not obedient. I know the Bible says God is love, but I’m having a hard time with that…

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Thank you for your lesson on the greatest commandment

Question: Matthew 22:37 to me is the reason we are here. Deuteronomy 6:5-8 gives me the assurance of God’s love for us. We are to love Him at all time regardless of our situation. Sometimes it scares me that the love of God is so powerful yet so gentle. Romans 11:27-36 finalizes Jesus and Holy…

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Love or Legalism?

by Steven F. Deaton When we insist men must adhere strictly to the commandments of God, is it love or legalism? Men say it is legalism. They say, “We should obey a Savior, not a system.” Or, “Give me the man, not a plan.” Their idea is that to admit the existence of a law…

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Why is my husband so uncaring?

Question: I too am a wife who feels unloved.  My question is, why do men, who give so much loving attention to a woman when they are courting her, stop loving her in the same way as the years go on?  We have many children, and the youngest has severe cerebral palsy. When she was born, my…

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Can two homosexuals truly love each other?

Question: I was wondering, can you explain loving someone as in I Corinthians 13? My friend I disagree regarding whether homosexuals love each other because the basis of their relationship is sin; there is nothing good about it. They might be nice to each other, get each other things, and be self-sacrificing in certain areas…

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How do I know I am loving my brethren?

Question: Hello. I have a question about love in the biblical sense. I am a member of the church and have been for a while now, but I am confused by the meaning of love in the Bible. I know this sounds like a stupid question, but is love a thing, a feeling, or a…

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How do you love people who are being mean to you?

Question: My question has to do with John 15:21. I go through this daily at my job. I try to show love for my co-workers at work. But the more I do, the more destructive things my co-workers do to me like hide things from me in my cubicle or move important things from my…

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When we love God, how do you define love?

Question: I have been writing a paper on what it means to love God.  I have some parts and to love God you follow his commandments; if you don’t, you don’t love God. But how do we define love? I have been thinking about it for a long time. It encompasses a whole bunch, but…

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You Are Beloved

by Kent Heaton To be a child of God is to enjoy the immeasurable blessings of a heavenly Father who grants gifts of mercy and grace to His children daily. Because of the sacrifice of the “only begotten Son,” (John 3:16) Christians embrace the warm relationship of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. The…

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Does the person with more sins love God greater?

Question: Hi. I have a question for you. Actually, a couple. I think this will be some pretty good ones to have on the site, but mainly I am writing for some clarification for my own personal understanding. Concerning the parable of the two debtors that Jesus told Simon Peter about. Simon Peter concluded that…

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What is Man?

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/WhatIsMan.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 8:3-9   I.         Job faced a severe trials as Satan tried to get him to turn against God             A.        It wasn’t just the suffering that Job wrestled with.             B.        Trying to understand what lead to his plight also caused Job to raise other questions as well.             C.        One that Job asked is…

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Is It Wrong to Have Romantic Feelings?

by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 40, Oct. 2, 2009 “And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make for him a help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). God intended that man should have a mate, a woman, and that that woman should have a…

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I Don’t Love Her Anymore

by Greg Gwin A forty-year-old man, suffering through the classic “mid-life crisis,” sat down to talk to a preacher about his problems. He explained how his marriage of 20 years was no longer satisfying or fulfilling. Finally, he reached the ‘bottom line.’ “I just don’t love her anymore”, he said. “What can I do?” After…

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How to Save Your Marriage

by Rick Lanning in The Elgin Hills Examiner, Vol. 3, Nos. 11,12, Nov/Dec. 2008. It’s simple, really. I do not have to write a large volume, followed by a sequel, on all the details of establishing a good marriage. Although the shelves are stocked full of wonderful books on this subject (and I have spent a…

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Did I love him too much?

Question: I just turned 21 years old and I have been through a lot. Life has not always been easy for me. I want to be saved and do the right things to make it in heaven. I am a Christian. Lately, I have been reading the bible on my own because I want to know and love God and Jesus better. However,…

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Is rough sex a bad thing?

Question: Is rough sex a bad thing? If so, why? Answer: Much is going to depend on how rough you think rough is. There have been numerous trials where someone was badly injured or even killed and the defendant claimed “We were just having rough sex. She liked it that way.” The flaw in that…

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How were the Thessalonians taught by God to love one another?

Question: In I Thessalonians 4:9, how were the Thessalonians “taught by God to love one another” so that Paul did not need to write to them? Are we taught in a similar way? Were other New Testament Christians taught in the same way? If so, why did apostles write to them telling them to love,…

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Is Love to Blame?

by Steve Klein Have you ever known parents who claimed that they loved their children too much to spank them?  Ever known someone who tried to justify having sex outside of marriage because they loved the person?  Ever known a Christian who would not rebuke and correct religious errors because they loved others too much…

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Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/PerfectLoveCastsOutFear.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I John 4:17-21   I.         Fear is an instinctive emotion             A.        It arises from a need to preserve ourselves, to keep us protected.                         1.         Fears of job loss, serious illness, difficult problems may each cause us to fear.                         2.         We don’t fear when we don’t perceive a danger II.        Fear of the Unknown             A.        It…

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Does Christian love demand a willingness to lay down your life for a friend?

Question: While teaching the adult class I made the statement that a true characteristic of Christian love is that one would be willing to lay down his/her life for his/her friends.  One lady stated that she could not do that.  What are your thoughts?  How would you answer this lady’s comment? Answer: “Greater love has…

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Should I marry the girl I got pregnant or the girl that I love?

Question: Needing some scriptural advice.  I got a girl pregnant, or so she claims.  I know that was a sin and have sought forgiveness with God.  My confusion is here:  I don’t feel like she’s the best Christian woman for me, actually, she and I fight often.  I have a life long friend who I…

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Why Is It? (Norman)

by Morris D. Norman via Gospel Power, Vol. 16, No. 1, Jan. 4, 2009. We see so many in today’s society that are doing so many things to destroy health and shorten life. There are many campaigns and many public advertisements to keep people from the evil of drugs, drink, and tobacco but the number who…

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Is romantic love a duty or an emotional thing?

Question: I would like to ask if the romantic kind of love is an emotional thing or a duty. Thank you. Answer: It is not an either on or the other, it is both a duty and emotional. Romantic love is something married couples are bound by duty to give to each other. “Let the…

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