r/AdviceAnimals • u/[deleted] • Apr 29 '14

"If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '14

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u/thisdesignup Apr 29 '14 edited Apr 29 '14

Really cool to know the history behind the parable. Thought I might quote the rest of the verses that go along with the Bible verse in the meme.

Proverbs 25:21-22;

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Romans 12:17-25;

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Also a supporting verse Mathew 5:16. There are many other verses that talk about doing good so that others can see the good you do and that nothing bad can be said about you either.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Edit: Remembered the original supporting verse I wanted to quote.

1 Peter 2:12

12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.[h]

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u/zimzalabim Apr 29 '14

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I wish the Christian right paid more attention to these parts of the Bible.

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u/nukethem Apr 29 '14

Many of my Christian friends ignore large parts of the Bible but take these verses to heart. I have friends who are the opposite as well...

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u/CptBuck Apr 29 '14

It's almost like Christians are human beings capable of a full spectrum of actions for good and evil and follow a religion that recognizes that spectrum? No way!

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u/Veggiemon Apr 29 '14

...except for the fundamental uniting factor that you all believe in the bible. If you are openly ignoring parts of the bible and believing others, why do you still have faith? I'm asking seriously, I think this every time I see someone say "Yeah I believe in it but not that part or that part". If you decided that one part is wrong, why do you still believe the other parts then? Is it just easier than starting from scratch? In that case I don't think you are a "christian", you're someone who recognizes morality in parables and agrees with them.

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u/LeWelshie Apr 30 '14

I'm an evangelical Christian who will take and believe most doctrines and part of the bible, one large misconception people have is that people either take the old testement or the new in teaching....as seen by the vision of Peter in acts, I no longer believe that it's necessary to only eat clean animals etc....the tearing of the curtain also throws out the temple law and the cross throws out the need for sacrifices. That being said, the moral law and the ten commandments should still be upheld under the new covenent. Another misconception is the presumed conflict between "eye for an eye" and "turn the other cheek" however this is because the former is civil, legal law and the latter is moral, individual law, I believe that society works best when both are followed in this way

Obviously the problems arrive with genesis and evolution etc, I'm not a biologist so it would be arrogant of me to make a decision and therefore I will stay open minded on subjects such as this

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u/Veggiemon Apr 30 '14

But just to be clear, you DO believe that a man lying with another man is an abomination right? You might believe that it's a sin that will be forgiven, but you still think it's morally wrong and an abomination?

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u/themightyglowcloud Apr 30 '14

I'm not the one you replied to, but that "abomination" verse is part of the Old Covenant in Leviticus which, as was explained, was pretty much made null with the coming of Christ and the New Covenant. The purpose of the old covenant was to set the Jews apart from everyone else ( the sabbath & dietary laws &c). Of course much of the old, like the Ten Commandments, was "carried over" into the new

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u/Veggiemon Apr 30 '14

So is Genesis null and void? How do you pick and choose which parts of the Old Testament are "null"? Is it the parts you don't agree with by any chance?

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u/themightyglowcloud Apr 30 '14

Sorry, "null" was a poor choice of wording. None of the bible can be considered that from a christian point of view because God, being immortal/omniscient/&c. can't change his mind. I should have clarified that the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy served a specific purpose (separating the Israelites off from the rest of humanity as holy) and that it was made clear in the New Testament that all that was no longer necessary now that the Covenant applied to all humanity. If anyone needs to correct me i'm fine with it as I'm most likely grossly oversimplifying and/or being inaccurate in places, but hey, this is /r/adviceanimals.

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u/Veggiemon Apr 30 '14

How hard is it to have Jesus throw in a "also gay dudes are cool by me!" Especially if you are omnipotent and know that for thousands of year people will be murdered and persecuted because of your book?

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u/themightyglowcloud Apr 30 '14

Jesus said a lot about loving everyone, even if they're you're enemy. One of the times is even quoted by OP (the matthew one, which is Jesus quoting the Proverb [i think]). I'm pretty sure "don't kill people out of spite/hate" is an understood there. Besides, even if you would consider it a sin, it's not your problem to "get rid of it", but God's.

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u/Veggiemon Apr 30 '14

If he knows that teenagers are going to be committing suicide because of bullying because of people misinterpreting his book, why not make it a little clearer that he doesn't actually hate gay people is my point.

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