John Owen, Puritan minister, says a “charity” that actually provides aid is required, even under the gospel. The one who won’t has no love of God dwelling in them (1 John 3:17). It’s not love if it has no effects of love. Without works, faith is dead.
Recently spoke to those who wouldn’t help those who hadn’t helped them. Did they learn this from a church, or from the radio?
How can you demonstrate the effects of love?
George Swinnock, English nonconformist minister, decries the proverb, “Charity begins at home.” He says it’s from the devil. You can’t love self rightly w/o loving neighbor.
But isn’t this an ethic of contemporary religiosity? Care for family, self, and those people can take care for themselves. These proverbs are in conflict.
How can you love neighbor and self together, in God?
#christian #highlyfavored #humanitymatters #sowlove #freethinker
Greg Johnson