Good and Evil In the Name of Christ (Love and Forgiveness)

Good and Evil
In the Name of Christ

Love and Life

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
—Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Good and Evil

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
—Romans 12:21

Many Muslims are easily able to identify evil that has been done in the name of Christianity. Here are some examples they often present:

The Crusades.
During the Crusades (1095 until 1291), European Christians attacked and occupied the holy land. They oppressed the Muslims, the local Christians and the Jews. These Crusaders killed over 200,000 innocent civilians.
Slavery.
The enslaved people were Muslim, and the slave-masters were all Christian.
Northern Ireland.
The fighting between Catholic and Protestant Christians has cost thousands of lives.
The terrible ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia and Serbia.
The Crusader-Zionist alliance's occupation of the holy sites of Islam—Saudi Arabia and Palestine.
The Chechen Muslims, who were attacked by the Russian bear which embraces the Christian Orthodox faith.
The crusader Australian forces who were on Indonesian shores, and in fact landed to separate East Timor, which is part of the Islamic world.
Some people seem to think that Hitler and the Oklahoma City bomber were Christians.

The key question I ask is this:

Can Christ's teachings be used to justify evil?

The answer is no. Here is why:

Prayer for Love

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
—Phillipians 1:9-11

Love:
The Royal Law

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.
—James 2:8

Love:
The Only Debt

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
—Romans 13:8-10

Love:

The Most Important Commandment

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:

‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and
with all your soul and
with all your mind and
with all your strength.’

The second is this:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no commandment greater than these."

"Well said, teacher,"

the man replied.

"You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.

To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

—Mark 12:28-33

Love is found everywhere in the Gospel.

Love isn't an isolated teaching.

Love is part of the core message of the Gospel.

It is difficult to justify doing anything, let alone something evil, that is not done out of love.

Forgive
To Be Forgiven

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
—Mark 11:25

Jesus Forgives

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
—Luke 23:33-34

Forgiveness:

The Way of Peace

"If your brother sins,
rebuke him,
and if he repents,
forgive him.
If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him."

—Luke 17:3-4

Just as God commands us to love, he also commands forgiveness.

We all make mistakes, and we must forgive to break out of the cycle of violence and vengence with love and forgiveness.

Do Good
To All People

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
—Galatians 6:10

The Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
—Galatians 5:22-23

Love in Marriage

Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
—Ephesians 5:33

The Golden Rule

"So in everything,
do to others
what you would have them do to you,
for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

—Matthew 7:12

This commandment, given by Jesus, is called the Golden Rule.

If you think about it, the Golden Rule is just a different form of the commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, which we have already discussed.

How do you want others to treat you?

Do you want others to love you?

Yes, of course you do.

If possible, you would want everyone to love you.

It is God's will for others to treat you that way, and God's commandment for you to treat others like that.

We all make mistakes, and need forgiveness from time to time.

Do you want others to forgive you when you make mistakes?

Well, it is good if they do.

And it is God's commandment for them and for you.

Pure Religion

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
—James 1:27

Love:
The Greatest

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
—1 Corinthians 13:13

Love:
Above All

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
—1 Peter 4:8

Conclusion:

Evil in Christ's Name
is Logically Impossible to Justify

Observe that:

The most important commandment is love.
The most important prophet in the Bible is Jesus, and he is giving this commandment.

Therefore:

It is logically impossible to supercede Christ's commandment of love.

Love is the most important commandment, and Christ commands forgiveness, too.

You would think that it would be hard to justify doing any kind of evil in the name of Christ.

Not just hard, but logically impossible.

I could not think of any way to justify evil in Christ's name, nor could I think of anyone in history who was able to do the same.

Good and Bad Fruit

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
—Matthew 7:15-19

Service to God

"A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me."
—John 16:2-3

Islam Overcomes

The Logical Barrier

Wait!

On second thought, there actually was someone who managed to justify all kinds of wickedness in Christ's name.

Here is how he did it:

He claimed to be a prophet, in the same category as Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
He stated that Christ's teaching had become corrupted.
He claimed to reveal Christ's original teachings. These new teachings provide ample opportunity to justify all kinds of evil, such as we hear daily on the news.

If Muhammad had merely declared Jesus to be a false prophet, then at least, if evil acts were justified by the Qur'an they would not in any way be in the name of Christ.

But since Muhammad came as a messenger of the God of Christ, bearing the same message that Christ preached (which later became corrupted), that makes evil acts performed and justified in the name of Muhammad also evil acts in Christ's name.

And hell is delighted.

Jesus warned of this trick—pretending to speak his words.

Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
Many will come
in my name,
claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many."

—Mark 13:5-6

Are you one of the many who have been deceived? If Christianity, having a clear mandate to love and forgive, can be used for evil, how much more can Islam be used (many Muslims would say misused) for evil?

Whoever loves God
must also love his brother.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
—1John 4:19-20

Live in Harmony

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
—1 Peter 3:8-9

The Commandment of Love
From the Beginning

As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
—2 John 1:6

Muhammad's

Fantastic Success

The commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, was given by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-6, as well as in Deuteronomy 10:12-14, Deuteronomy 11:1, Deuteronomy 11:13-15, Deuteronomy 11:22-24, Deuteronomy 13:1-3, Deuteronomy 19:8-10, Deuteronomy 30:15-16 and Deuteronomy 30:19-20

But it is found nowhere in the Qur'an.

The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself was given by Moses in Leviticus 19:18, as well as Leviticus 19:33-34.

But it is not found anywhere in the Qur'an.

Yes, these two commandments, which were given by Moses and declared by Jesus in the Bible as being the most important, are found nowhere in the Qur'an.

The Qur'an supposedly restores the message that Moses and Jesus actually preached, but which later became corrupted. Therefore Jesus' declaration about love being the most important commandment must not be authentic, but must have been added by liars after the fact. Similarly Moses' commandments to love were also added by liars, who corrupted the Bible.

Muhammad is fantastically successful in convincing his hundreds of millions of his followers of this conspiracy theory, that the Bible was corrupted by liars who added these commandments of love.

All the Muslims that I know are very nice people, and I'm sure the majority of Muslims around the world are also good people.

Would you all please write an article, like this one, demonstrating that Islam clearly forbids all this evil terrorism that we see on the news?

You can't?

Then why do you follow this religion that permits or commands evil works that your God-given conscience forbids?

God's Love in us

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
—Romans 5:5-8

Peace and Holiness

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
—Hebrews 12:14

God's Love

For Us

Consider this verse from the Bible. You may have seen it before.

For God
so loved the world
that he gave
his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life.

—John 3:16

So that's it!

God loves us and commands that we love.

God forgives us, at great cost to Himself,
and commands us to forgive each other.

God is holy, and commands us to be holy.

God declared that sin would have a severe penalty.
God does not lie.
Thanks be to God, He took upon Himself this penalty.
Therefore consider the integrity of God, and His love for us.

Pursue love and peace

Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
—2 Timothy 2:22

Love more and more

Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
—1 Thessalonians 4:9-10

You Did It For Me

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

"The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’"
—Matthew 25:34-40

Love and Forgiveness

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
—Matthew 5:44-45

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
—John 13:34-35

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
—John 3:16

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
—John 11:3

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
—John 14:23-24

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
—1 Timothy 6:11

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
—Ephesians 5:25

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
—Ephesians 5:33

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
—Ephesians 4:32, 5:1-2

Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
—Ephesians 4:15

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.
—Luke 17:3-4

It is more blessed to give than to receive.
—Acts 20:35

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
—Colossians 3:12-14

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
—1 John 1:10-11

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
—Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
—Matthew 20:34

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
—Mark 1:41

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
—Phillipians 2:1-4

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
—1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat."
—Mark 8:1-2

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
—Matthew 5:38-41

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."
—John 15:9-14

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
—1 John 4:16

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
—1John 4:7-12

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
—1 John 3:23

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
—1John 3:11

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
—2 Peter 1:5-7

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
—1 Peter 1:22

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
—James 1:12

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
—Hebrews 10:24

I appeal to you on the basis of love.
—Philemon 1:9

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
—Titus 2:2

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
—2 Timothy 3:10-11

Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
—1 Timothy 4:12

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
—2 Thessalonians 3:5

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.
—2 Thessalonians 1:3

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
—1 Thessalonians 3:12

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
—Galatians 5:6

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
—Galatians 5:13

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
"Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.
He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
—Matthew 18:21-35

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