Christian Forums

I've heard people answer this question "no" many times.  However, I think if you love them, you will like them as well.

Kevin

What I was trying to ask, can one love (want the best for someone) agape them and yet not like them.  Maybe a better way to say it would be to love them yet not care to be around them.

Maybe I'm trying to split hairs and don't know what I'm talking about.

The situation is:  I know some in a very legalistic church.  I want the very best for them but I don't want to be around them.  I know God loves them just as He loves me.  I love them in the sense that I want the best for them and I want to give them value but I don't enjoy or like being around them.

If anyone has been in this situation, how did you handle it?

I think trying to separate these two elements is a stretch.  I think over the years Christians have come up with the excuse, "You don't have to like them, but you have to love them", to make themselves feel better for the feelings of hatred, dislike, or revulsion that they harbor toward certain people.

The love God calls us to, is also a love that will lead us to like the people we love.  They come together in one package.

Kevin

Sorry, guys, I don't like every one of my Christian brothers and sisters.  I know 100% fer shure they don't every one of them like me.

I don't even like myself 24/7, how am I supposed to muster up warm fuzzies for everyone else all the time?

I can and do dwell in "agape" mode, though.  And I do lay my life down for people I don't like much a-tall, every day.  In some ways, it's much easier to swing that sword and whack off an ear or two, than it is to swallow pride and prejudice and personal preferences and put self aside day after day after day, serving and loving the other people in the pews.

I love them, because I love my Lord, and He has made them blood family to me.  You do your best for your family.  This does not always require that you chererfully smile and nod and like them when they are being nasty scummy verminous low-lifes.

Sometimes loving them requires that you give them the figurative kick in the pants they so desperately need.  Sometimes the good God uses them to apply the Boot of Discipline to your backside.

It ain't all "little baby ducks/ old pickup trucks/ Sunday School in May/ and hay".

Does one have to like someone in order to love them?  I'm speaking of agape rather than phillo (sp?)

Wow, that's a good question that makes you examine how you treat others.  So here's what I would say: I don't believe that God would want us to feel anything other than love for those around us.  "Like" is just a lukewarm condition that has no place among brothers and sisters in Christ.  The love of Christ is unconditional; if I merely "like" someone, I'm putting up a man-made limit to my feelings for someone else.

After all, John 13:35 does not say "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you like one another."   ;)

kondoo:

you are correct.
liking is neither an agape requirement nor even possible at times.  that's one place the kjv term 'charity'
is more accurate than the current over-use of 'love'.
it is hoped that the more we approach others in a 'love thy neighbor (behave charitably)' mode, the easier it will be to quickly overcome any 'non-likeableness' we perceive (which may not even be there).
i don't like saddam, i detest usama & his cronies, i don't even like some folks i go to church with, but Jesus shows the way to deal with my shortcoming in this area - agape is the first step for me to always try.

dj

My mother once told me that all parents love their children but that she considered herself extremely blessed to have children that she also liked.
I think the same goes for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  I love them all and there are some I like very much, some I don't like very much. (And I suspect there are some who don't like me very much)  The gut-check for me is ---Am I willing to lay down my life for any of them?  If that question divides my brethren into two seperate groups then I have some business to do with God.

Excuse me now..........
I think I have some business to do with God.

Richard

When we talk about loving another arent we speaking of loving their souls, caring about their understanding and even their physical welfare as well as spiritual.

When we speak of likeing another it seems more in the area of us agreeing with their likes and dislikes....do we think and feel as they do on every or most topics wheather spiritual or physical.

Like David said ...most dont like Sadam because they dont agree with his thinking and actions. However wouldn't the Love of Jesus  have us place our dislike aside and pray for God to touch his heart and change him....for Sadams sake as well as for the benifit of the world.

While reading this post I was made to think of God....does God always like us and what we do or say or think....or does God always love us and desire the very best for each of us and yet have times like when we disobey, that He may not like us and our behavior?

Love is not easy! It was love for God and mankind that brought Christ to the cross, and we know how hard it was for Christ to take on our sin when we read about how He suffered in the garden as well as on the cross.

Just some rambeling thoughts that this thread reminded me of. Thanks for reminding me I needed to be reminded  :blush:

Renee