Originally posted by @dj2becker
If someone were to give their life for their enemy would you consider it love? Yes or No?
Do you know what Jim Elliot's wife did to the people that killed her husband after her husband was murdered?
I personally would probably find it hard to love an enemy and I think it's only possible if I have the love of God in my heart, because it is unconditional.
Edit: If someone were to give their life for their enemy would you consider it love? Yes or No?
My fair answer is:
Yes; No; No both; No neither;
What’s going on with the way your mind evaluates, dj2becker? What is this obsession with Yes or No? In your dualist worldview you see solely dilemmas. In my worldview, we use catuskoti. Anyway…
Lieutenant Friedrich Lengfeld wanted to save the life of a wounded, laying down in a minefield US soldier, and in fact died trying to save him;
Lieutenant Franz Stigler escorted a heavily wounded B-17 bomber to the safety, refusing to follow his orders to shoot it down and thus kill unable to defend themselves, panicked Americans;
Erwin Rommel refused to follow Hitler’s orders and thus did not execute his Jewish POWs;
Wilhelm Hosenfeld was risking his life in order to save Jewish escapees;
All the above, are not examples of love. They are examples of deep compassion and magnificent sense of honor.
And I talked about real and fearsome soldiers, men of the most disgusting war machine of the world; for, even in the deepest darkness, one can find good people with a deep sense of the suffering of their fellow human beings.
However, I am unable to find a single person who sacrificed his life out of agape for his enemy😵