by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The command to “love your neighbor as yourself<\/em>” is a wonderful rule to live by, but even it can be misused. For example, politicians who have little to no regard for the rule of God will reach into the Bible when they think it makes a handy point they can use in their favor. As an example, Nancy Pelosi used it to say that illegals pouring into our country should be welcomed and should not be held in facilities because that is not “loving your neighbor.”<\/p>\n However, the Law of Moses did not forbid a judicial system, walls, and an army to protect the common good of Israel. A state or nation had the right to protect its citizens from invasions and lawless disregard for the nation’s rules for citizens, asylum seekers, and visitors. If people disregarded the rule of law, the governing authorities were given the right to punish evildoers (Romans 13:1-7).<\/p>\nThe punishment was for the common good. The rule of “loving your neighbor” is not a rule to “feel good toward” a neighbor who breaks the law. The word means to have good will toward our neighbor. When we “love” our children, it does not mean feeling good about them and overlooking the fact that they are misbehaving and breaking the rules and expectations set for them. Love means to correct and chasten (the hard side of love). “For whom He loves He chastens<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:6). When people know they are breaking the law, and know they will be held and detained when they do break the law, they are not being mistreated by being detained and contained. That was their choice. That is the only choice they gave the authorities. On a personal level, we are still bound by the righteous law of God to love our neighbor. However, loving our neighbor does not mean we allow anyone into our home who thinks “love” gives them the right to force their way in. It would be unfair and unloving to say that doors, locks, walls, and alarm systems are “unloving.” No! Those are legitimate precautions in a society where lawbreakers may have bad intentions.<\/p>\n We are making their evil desires harder to carry out. That is the loving thing to do for them and our families. We love them enough not to make it easy for them to do evil and to discourage their evil intentions. Love is not always pleasant, but it is interested in the good of others now and ultimately. Don’t be deceived into thinking that all discipline and controls of lawbreaking are “unloving.” In many cases, it is the most loving thing to do.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is a wonderful rule to live by, but even it can be misused. For example, politicians who have little to no regard for the rule of God will reach into the Bible when they think it makes a handy point they can use…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[65,1392],"class_list":["post-88726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-love","tag-neighbors"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":78796,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-or-hate\/","url_meta":{"origin":88726,"position":0},"title":"Love or Hate","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If the Law said to \"hate your enemies\" (via Matthew 5:43), and Jesus was obligated to uphold the Law, then Jesus was obligated to hate His enemies, and He would have sinned if He did not hate his enemies. No! That will not work! Jesus does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35881,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-royal-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":88726,"position":1},"title":"What is the “royal law”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was doing a short study on James 2:1-13 in being brief, I said: \"that the royal law is basically the law of Christ or the law of liberty which very much entails love.\" Do you think I have done justice to the passage by just stating that? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-isnt-more-time-spent-on-spreading-the-golden-rule\/","url_meta":{"origin":88726,"position":2},"title":"Why isn’t more time spent on spreading the golden rule?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Yes, I did generalize your views when I inferred that the church goes after sins of the \"flesh\" and homophobic is one of the words I used to describe your stance. After reading your response it turned out that I was right in your case. It seems that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/respect-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":88726,"position":3},"title":"Respect (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Being made in God's image requires that we respect (esteem) one another as fellow divine image-bearers. This stands under the \"golden rule,\" as stated by Jesus: \"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68215,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-a-peninnah\/","url_meta":{"origin":88726,"position":4},"title":"Don\u2019t Be a Peninnah","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Peninnah provoked Hannah severely to \"make her miserable\" (1 Sam.1:6). If you don't have anything better in life to do than to make someone miserable, you have made yourself pretty worthless. 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\nIt would be an error to say the punishment of discipline is not “loving”. It may not “feel” good, but it circumvents further disregard for the rules. In the case of the child, discipline is loving even when it is not pleasant. So, the charge that discipline and control are “unloving” is not necessarily true. In fact, it is “unloving” to make such a charge because it is not fair-minded.\n