Selective Non-Loving

By Carl Sullivan

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     Shortly before His betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples, "Now I am giving you a new commandment, love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, because you have such love for one another." You could hardly find a brother to disagree with what the Master taught. After all, Jesus did say that the greatest commandment was to love God and the second was to love our neighbor.

     On this premise, it would appear that the greatest sin one could commit is to not love God and the second would be to not love his neighbor as himself. It would not surprise me if I got unanimous assent to the conclusion I just reached. All the brethren with whom I have come in contact agree that brethren should love one another.

     But this assent is followed by peculiarly interesting phenomena. If I quote the whole of the phrase in John 12:34, 35 (the aforementioned verse), I get a ready nod of approval. The same is true when I quote verse 34. But when I quote verse 35 ("By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another") and attempt to discuss it as coequal with the verse preceding it, I find the "religious heads" are not so willing to nod agreement. I am met with a barrage of "reasons why" this verse should not be interpreted as meaning that men might indeed know the disciples of Jesus by the love they manifest toward one another. After all, if this verse were taken literally they would be left with the impossible problem of having many so-called "good and faithful" brethren who would have to be "explained into" the community of the saints.

     I am going to apply these words spoken by Jesus to a particular problem which exists, though often not dealt with in the brotherhood. That problem is the organized, systematized, obviously group-sanctioned practice of highly selective and discriminate "non-loving" of certain children of God. Perhaps your reaction is that this is a horrible thing for Christians to practice or even condone. That is a healthy reaction for a child of God. But it should not be limited to the manifestation of this sin in others. It should be detested no less if we discover it in ourselves.

     I will narrow it down even more. But first, to render unimportant any rationalizations which might accompany such antiChristian actions, let us realize that Jesus made this statement concerning the

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love we should have for one another long before Christianity as a religion was accepted as many accept it now, and long before the birth of America as a nation. That is, Jesus was aware of any real or imagined hindrances which would tend to render us unable to love certain children of God.

     This highly selective non-loving of which I speak is that of non-loving those children of God who do not resemble us phenotypically. That is, those who have different skin pigmentation, cultures, facial features, or a different set of immediate historical identities.

     John said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." If there was ever a test of fellowship with God or each other, John seems to be saying it is the aforementioned. Who is our brother? Any child of God. And when can we tell we are not loving certain of God's children? Is it not evident that it is when we are not responding to them in the way in which we respond to those whom we are sure that we love?

     I maintain that the second greatest sin we can commit is non-loving of children of God. I also maintain that selective nonloving of certain children of God is not only a reality but one of the most basic characteristics of American Church of Christism. It is not only existent but is safeguarded and encouraged in many of those congregations with which I have visited and had more intimate dealings. More disturbing is the apparent comfort exemplified by those who simply will not love all the saints of God.

     Even more disturbing than anything mentioned is the silence of that class of paid professionals (ministers) who find it is so easy to point out religious error in other areas which they deem so important But what can be more important? Nothing is more important than knowing that "we have passed from death unto life." Nothing is more important than obeying the Lord's last emphatic command, and nothing can be large enough or significant enough to hinder us from loving the saints of God--all of them.

     (Carl Sullivan lives at 2448 Tori Drive, No. 12, Memphis, Tn. 38114.)