Your Thoughts/My Thoughts: Cursing the Pagans

My Thoughts/Your Thoughts

On Monday I asked the question:

Is it Biblical to ever say something like: “If anyone does not love the Lord–a curse be on him.” ?

Well, those are Paul’s words in 1Cor.16:22! “If anyone does not love the Lord–a curse be on him.” (NIV) So yes, it is Biblical to say that. That is, it is said in the Bible.

Why does he say that? Beats me. Should we say that? Probably not.

But that is certainly a far cry from the casual “God bless you!” that we say so thoughtlessly to all those pagans…

Comments (0)

  1. Pastor Doug

    Reply

    slippery slope alert!!! (and I take into account that you said we should ‘probably not’ say it, but we should look at it in context and then understand why the Lord actually commands the opposite…)

    We must be careful here of the context of this Scripture and of reading into the text and assuming what it saying…

    In reality, Paul is making a fairly obvious statement here, that anyone who does not love Jesus (ie belong to Him), will be cursed eternally. A no-brainer from a theological standpoint.

    HOWEVER, what we MUST NOT do, is assume that Paul is condoning the act of cursing those who do not know Jesus (non-Christians)!

    This would not only be contradictory to his own words, but also the Lord Jesus’s own command (more on that in a sec), like we noticed above, this is not a command, but rather just a statement of fact:

    Those who don’t know Jesus are already under a curse (Galatians 3:10-13), they are already under judgment (Romans 2:2) and they already are under the penalty of sin (Romans 6:23)…

    They are ALREADY cursed! They don’t need our help… and that is why the Lord commands us to actually do the opposite:

    Luke 6:27-38

    27″But I say to you who hear, (AD)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

    28bless those who curse you, (AE)pray for those who mistreat you.

    29″(AF)Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

    30″Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

    31″(AG)Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

    32″(AH)If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

    33″If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

    34″(AI)If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

    35″But (AJ)love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be (AK)sons of (AL)the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

    36″Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

    37″(AM)Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; (AN)pardon, and you will be pardoned.

    38″Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour (AO)into your lap a (AP)good measure–pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

    Paul says as much in Romans 12:14

    14(A)Bless those who persecute [a]you; bless and do not curse.

    (cf. Ephesians 4:29)

    And all of this begs the point: Do we mean what we say when we say ‘God bless you!’?

    The power of life and death is in the tongue!

    God wants ALL men to be saved and by default: ALL men to be blessed!

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