WHICH Neighbor Do You Want Me To Love??

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash

​Let me start by saying this – and yes, this is going to sound rather blunt and direct, but it is time that it is said. Stop telling Christians and all Believers that they are hateful. Stop telling believers that they are not loving their neighbor and stop telling them that they are NOT following Yahweh’s commandment to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Because, honestly, unless you know the true nature and content of their heart and soul, you are NOT in the place to judge that in them. 

I have been struggling with this article for almost 2 weeks, especially the title. Yet it came to me this morning, early, after reading a few more of these types of accusations against believers. Jim and I have gotten them ourselves – from friends, family and people we barely know. Why? For the same reason others are being called these horrible things - because we believe that closing down the country for an unlimited amount of time has become a disaster of grand proportions.

I have been wanting to say something for a few weeks – I have been hinting at it on my social media yet haven’t put it into much of a statement because I have been trying to weigh it all with scripture.

Now all the pieces are falling into place.

A little history to hopefully head off ad hominem attacks: I raised several immune challenged children into becoming healthy adults with no immune issues. My father was given HepC (1984) through blood transfusion during heart surgery. For the rest of his life he fought that virus, and sadly succumbed to it in 2003. During some of that battle he was also immune compromised due to the drug tests he was involved in while trying to fight the disease caused by the virus. I have fought immune issues on and off my whole life, which started when I was just about FIVE years old. We have elderly family members with health issues and challenges who are in the high-risk groups. Knowing all of this, I would hope and pray you can take a deep breath and see how deeply we, too, have a heart for those in risk groups.

Right now, we have adult children working as essential personnel in this. Two who are CNAs, one who is an EMT and dispatcher, an “in-law” who is a LEO, and a child who is a grocery store manager – ALL constantly exposed to YOU - the public. In addition, we know the science behind this virus and understand its transmission. So please, take that into consideration as you contemplate your reply to this article.

I just finished my last course for my Bachelor of Divinity Degree (BDiv). Until four weeks ago, I WAS planning to finish as a BDiv in Chaplaincy because I wanted to work as chaplain with my husband in Hospitals. My heart was pulled to work in the NICU’s at local hospitals. I was hoping to help my sweet elderly friend who LOVES to hold babies to get her chaplaincy certificate, too, so she could join me. We just wanted to hold those drug addicted babies and let them know they are loved – until they are healed or go home to God. I do not know if I want to go through with that now – because at this point, I don’t see hospitals opening up to our being able to serve as we see fit to do.

That is my heart and where it is at. . .

What pushed me to complete this article TODAY was a comment I read this morning from another person saying: “instead of just saying the words ‘do unto others as you would have done unto you’ why aren’t people actually putting them to use.” This comment is often accompanied by “You don’t love your neighbor!”

But do you realize, using those partial scriptures that way they are taken completely out of context? How? Because they are spoken as one piece of the puzzle which is being used as a complete package to guilt and manipulate others into doing what “YOU” believe is right. Yet that may not be what everyone believes, and what “you” feel is right may not be what everyone is called to “do,” either.

The Bible says there are TWO great commandments, NOT ONE. The first commandment and greatest, is to love GOD with all our heart, mind and soul, THEN second, we are to love our neighbor. We are to love God first, and part of that love is living as He would have us live. We trust in Him to lead us to what is right and true. Part of that is loving our neighbor, yes, and part of loving a neighbor is loving them as Yeshua would have loved them while he walked the earth. How we treat them must be weighed against this principle. When we are loving our neighbor, then, we are loving Yahweh. Do you see how they work hand in hand?

Many still attempt to imply the only command, though, is to love our neighbor, but WE know there are TWO. Yeshua tells us in scripture, too, that there is still MORE because upon those two hang ALL OTHER COMMANDMENTS. Every single one of them. We often see people leave off that last part of the scriptures.
Now, what we see happening is people of all walks (believers and non-believers) counselling others to “do unto others,” while not recognizing the balance of Christ’s words.

Some of those words of Jesus:

Mark 9:36-37 WEB He took a little child, and set him in the midst of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn't receive me, but him who sent me."

Matthew 19:14 KJV - Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and do not forbid them to come to me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to ones like these."

Matthew 25:44-45 KJV - “…Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or…sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”

Matthew 18:5-6 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.

To sum it all up, we must love our neighbor and love the little children. In doing so, we are loving God. When we do anything to those neighbors and children, whether good deeds or bad, it is as if we are doing it unto Yeshua, himself. So, as you weigh your actions in this situation, think of it that way. Everything you are doing; you are doing unto Yeshua.

If what we do causes them harm, or to be led away from Christ, then we are warned that it would be better to be cast in the sea with a millstone around our necks. Many will take this time to exclaim, “YES! SEE?! That is why you all need to stay home! So, you do not make them sick with the virus!” THAT is only one piece of the puzzle, again.

THIS is where it gets complicated for those of us who serve in the church whether in an official capacity as pastor, teacher, chaplain, youth leader, or as a member who wants to love their neighbor. If whatever we do in life, we do it to God, then I MUST weigh EVERY “love your neighbor” not against ONE PART OF ONE VERSE nor against one person’s opinion. I must weigh each one against ALL of the context of scripture. 

I constantly hear people today accuse Believers of not loving their neighbor when they want the economy to reopen because “THEY” believe that ONLY those compromised or vulnerable to the virus must be guarded at this time. The problem comes when you force that opinion on others who believe they are led to be helping someone else or in a different way. This makes me ask one big question:

WHICH NEIGHBORS WOULD YOU HAVE ME LOVE?
WHICH of these neighbors should I choose?

-- The drug addicted babies I mentioned earlier in our local hospitals – their death rate and return to addiction rate increases dramatically without loving contact. We are denied that opportunity to help because chaplains can no longer go into many hospitals, programs have been put on hold.

-- MANY people – men, women, children, young adults, are all dying WITH NOONE THERE TO COMFORT THEM. No one to hold their hand – not even a loved one. It is our heart to be there when someone dies – especially considering eternity. Catholics in particular, believe it a sacrament to give/receive last rights. That is being DENIED across the country. Personal example of end of life prayers: Jim and I were there with his uncle who lived away from God for a long time. On his deathbed, he wanted forgiveness, wanted to repent – he wanted someone to hear him, he needed to know God was with him. We were privileged to be there to pray with him and help him accept Christ again into his life. We didn’t want that for US, didn’t do that for glory, we want this right for THEM, those who need it. To many people, it is the difference between Heaven and Hell. Fine – for those of you who don’t believe that, don’t. But to those that DO, it is valuable and necessary.

-- In one week alone, I was asked to pray for a little boy injured in a tornado – little man. He passed away of his injuries. NOONE was allowed to be with him. The day before that, a little 4 year old girl, health declined suddenly – diagnosed with a massive brain tumor. Her parents are denied visiting her. They are not even allowed to go to the floor and look through a window in the PICU to wave to her. These are just TWO examples of the HUNDREDS I am seeing daily.

Were YOU THERE when your children were sick???  I was – not for me, FOR THEM. They were frightened. Children don’t understand news reports and claims that this is necessary to “protect” them from a virus. They only register that mommy and daddy left them alone. AND, no chaplain to comfort the families in these situations. There have been times when people in hospitals have ASKED FOR CHAPLAINS and been denied.

-- The woman we saw in our local grocery with a massive tumor on her face, it grew that large, sadly, in just a few weeks. She was denied surgery at this point because it was considered “non-essential,” in spite of the fact it had been confirmed cancer through biopsy. She NEEDS it removed because it continues to grow, apparently quickly. We watched as another sweet sister stepped in and prayed for her, right there in the produce aisles! Praise Yahweh!

-- The man who, with his wife, are trying to help their neighbor (literal neighbor!) raise enough money to afford an attorney to fight the insurance company and coroner who declared her husband’s death corona. He was killed in a horrific accident at home. The insurance refuses to pay the life insurance because he “died during a government action.” And another family who has been given the same reply from insurance companies when the woman’s husband killed himself as his business folded, he could not get unemployment and he saw no other way out. He killed himself thinking he would leave behind that policy to help her and the kids.

-- The town in Tennessee where more people died of suicide in a week than did in the entire state from covid 19. Suicides and domestic violence have already been on the increase. In some areas dramatically. In discussing this issue with those we know personally in the first responder fields, domestic cases are not only increasing but increasing in level of violence. There appear to be more ambulance dispatches to domestics than before going on lockdown.

-- Or, the stay at home single moms who until this happened, were able to operate their small home businesses at farm markets, art markets, and craft fairs – fully supporting their families on what they make and sell. Sadly, they are now online trying to compete with millions of others trying to do the same things. Yet if they could just go back to work, they would be able to provide for their families.

Oh, maybe they should just go out and get a different job? Who will care for their children while they are working outside the home? This is why they built their home business to begin with.

And please, do not say, UNEMPLOYMENT!!! Yesterday, I listened to four nurses on the news talking about how they have been furloughed from hospitals in New York state. They applied for unemployment and have been told it could take WEEKS before they see it. Their governor recently told them to go out and get a job in essential services – they WERE in essential services to begin with.

Oh, no worries, they can survive off their stimulus money – no. Many work from home parents do not qualify for the first wave because they are 1099 employees. According to a lot of reports, they may be in the last round. So, it may be weeks before they see that money, too.  Because of financial crisis at home, tens of thousands are flooding food banks, who are running out of food faster than they can get it in.

These are all REAL EXAMPLES, just a FEW of the lives touched or ruined by this shutdown. Every day I am seeing these through our women’s ministry – people asking for prayers, direction, wisdom, or help. The list is huge, but I just want to ask you again:

PLEASE TELL ME, which neighbor do YOU believe I should love???

To some of you, you believe that the only way we can be loving our neighbor is to abide by government rules, a quarantine and economic shutdown. But WE see that many would be helped by our communities being returned to normal ways of LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS, while others would be helped by simply being allowed to GO BACK TO WORK.

We keep being told: “Oh! YOU are just all about the money!!!!” I suppose, YES, it IS about the money, in the end, isn’t it? The money to be able to feed their families, the money to keep their homes. These aren’t RICH people. These are average people. THESE ARE OUR NEIGHBORS.

So please, the next time you open your mouth and are tempted to call out that believers are hateful, that we don’t love our neighbors, that we are not doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, PLEASE take a deep breath AND JUST STOP. Remember what I have shared here. PLEASE.

My hope is that you can see ANOTHER SIDE to this now, I truly pray that you can. . . .

Loving one’s neighbor NEVER means only love ONE GROUP of people. Sometimes, we have to truly be willing to weigh EVERYTHING in The Word of God properly. . . and it is a heavy burden to do so.
 
Blessings and Shalom.
 
 
 
Scripture References
Matthew 7:12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 18:5-6 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.

Matthew 22:36-40 says "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" He said to him, "'You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and first commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."

Matthew 19:14 KJV - Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and do not forbid them to come to me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to ones like these."

Matthew 25:44-45 KJV - “…Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or…sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
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Romans 13:9 & 10a "…You are to love your neighbor as yourself." Love does not harm a neighbor… (New Heart Bible)

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Which Neighbor Would You Have Me Love