George Instagram 14 hours ago

Responding to hatred with Christ's command to love enemies

A speaker reflects on a viral video showing a university student attacking a Jewish woman and screaming she should have killed her while being arrested. The speaker condemns the violence and calls for prayer for the victim, but notes that thousands of commenters responded with hate, curses, and wishes for the attacker's destruction.

This pattern of division appears across religious, ideological, and political lines, with opponents shouting past each other. The speaker compares the moment to the fractured world of Christ's time, divided among Jews and Samaritans, Romans and rebels, Pharisees and Sadducees, and cites Christ's warning that increasing lawlessness makes love grow cold.

Christ commands believers to love enemies, do good to those who hate, bless those who curse, and pray for those who mistreat. Justice belongs to the courts, but the heart is one's own responsibility. Answering hate with hate lets evil win twice, once in the attacker and once in oneself.

The speaker urges prayer for the victim's peace and for God to touch the attacker's heart.

Key moments

A young woman at an American university attacked a Jewish woman, pushed her to the ground, and while police took her away screamed that she should have killed her.
The speaker says the violence was wrong and the woman who was attacked deserves prayers.
Thousands of commenters responded with hate, insults, curses, and wishes for the worst toward the attacker.
The same pattern appears everywhere online: believers fighting believers, atheists fighting believers, left fighting right, with everyone debating but no one listening.
The world Christ was born into was similarly divided among Jews and Samaritans, Romans and rebels, Pharisees and Sadducees.
Christ warned that because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.
Christ said to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
Justice belongs to the courts, but the heart is one's own responsibility, and answering hate with hate lets evil win twice, once in them and once in oneself.

10 opinions in the discussion 10 participants, 1 replies to each other The opinion with the most support She was let go without any charges. Read the discussion

76 comments at the source Original on Instagram

Discussion · 10

Opinions are anonymous retellings of real comments from the original discussion. The same colour marks the same participant.

opinion#2993 9 likes at the source
She was let go without any charges.
- opinion#2998 22 likes at the source
  
  I know, but this video isn't really about her ☦️🙏 When I look at all this, I can picture the devil sitting off to the side, watching it all unfold and laughing his heart out. Look at how angry, hateful and poisoned we've become, fighting each other. We have nothing that should divide us. We're all human beings living in this beautiful world and this beautiful life, yet we fall into the trap of fighting each other in such a meaningless way. And we don't even realize we're playing the evil one's game 🙌
opinion#2994 8 likes at the source

It's true, Christ walked this same earth with all these same problems and He didn't stop them, He didn't have to because it's our job to end and stop this divide... I fight this battle often, and I need to work on walking away from it - Lord have mercy ☦️🙏🏻
opinion#2997 8 likes at the source

I'm sorry, I can't pray for or forgive the Islamists who massacre Christians for their faith every day all over the world. I'm not that perfect. I think there's a time for prayer and a time to take up the swords ⚔️ ☦️✝️
opinion#2996 7 likes at the source

I don't know man, praying for them is one thing, but giving them room to think differently when their whole ideology is violence against others isn't good. Keep in mind this girl physically attacked another girl, and if people hadn't stepped in, who knows how far it would have gone. Then she said she should have killed her, there's no place for that.
opinion#2995 2 likes at the source

I get what you're saying. But does that apply to the young couple in the UK who stabbed their baby girl 33 times to death? It's very hard for me to stay Orthodox and see that without wishing them harm. I know God's justice and judgment are final, but I can't just sit there and not say some people are extremely evil and demonic. I don't know, maybe I struggle with this.. ☦️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
opinion#2989

This hits me hard. My brother has stolen from me, cursed at me, and threatened to kill me three times. We used to be really close until my parents died and left me extra money as a gift for taking care of them. 😔
opinion#2990

She got out of custody the same day. The era of being accountable is finished. Being peaceful Christians just makes us look weak. Look at how Islam is spreading and what's being done to Christians worldwide. There's a reason angels carry swords instead of roses.
opinion#2991

That's not the reason she pushed her. You don't have the full story or footage. The unstable girl went off on a speaker in Michigan, and that woman was telling her that if she behaved like that elsewhere she wouldn't be allowed in. The unstable girl then went after her and shoved her to the ground. You only saw a clip of the video, and that's the scary part, things can be edited to create a story that isn't true. Check the Rubenreport on IG.
opinion#2992

It's easy to talk about peace and love when you haven't lost family members. When you lose them for no reason, just for being Christian or Orthodox, it becomes very hard to keep praying for your enemies. We should do our best to forgive, but it can be really difficult.