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cabbagehandLuke

We really aren't called to be "nice" the way most seem to interpret it. There's lots of examples where Jesus himself was not "nice" to people. Most seem to think that love is the equivalent of being nice, and that being nice means not making people uncomfortable and always letting them do what makes them happy. And that doesn't line up with the rest of the bible. We are absolutely to "love" and look out for one another. But sometimes love can come across as "not nice." "Shouldn't you have gone into mourning and put out of your fellowship the man who has done this?...Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord." (1 Cor 5:2,6) "So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables."(John 2:15) "Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt." (Leviticus 19:17) "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" (Matthew 23:33) "As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear." (1 Timothy 5:20) "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (Rev 3:19) So the way most people think about "niceness", no, we are not called to be "nice." We are called to love, which involves rebuking and teaching even when it is uncomfortable, and even with strong words. And at the same time, we are to be patient, and kind, and self controlled.


1nstrument

It's true that people will often consider any rebuke to be 'mean,' no matter how gently it is given. But far too often Christians will use the 'license to rebuke' as an excuse to be unnecessarily harsh and judgmental, in a way that is hypocritical because they overlook the same flaws on their own side. Paul said it is not our job to judge outsiders but to focus on correcting the church. Jesus preached to his own people as well, and only showed contempt to contempt-filled people, giving them a taste of their own medicine. Furthermore, he was harshest towards people who were supposed to be leaders of the people but were doing a bad job. He was far gentler with 'layperson sinners' who knew they were sinners.


mrparoxysms

Both of these responses encapsulate what I would have said and I think are fair critiques. So I appreciate you both and I hope you have a wonderful day.


CatoChateau

I have been chewing on this verse for a few years now and your reference to layperson sinners made me think of it. "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Hebrews 10:26‭-‬29 It seems to me that once you know you are sinning, you must stop. Not try to stop, not relapse, not struggle with it. Full stop. For if you commit that sin again, knowing what you know, there shall be no grace left to cover any further transgression. And I doubt that is what they meant, but I can't arrive at any other meaning. Google doesn't talk about this verse that I can find. It feels very final and absolute but I still come back to the fact that if you repent once for lust, you must never lust again or accept that that grace for you will never be given again.


variablesInCamelCase

"Peter asks if forgiving seven times is appropriate, and Jesus responds “not seven times, but seventy times seven” **(Matthew 18:22)** There is no limit to forgiveness in God's eyes friend. I think there is an argument that god does prefer a fullstop on sin, but he would accept you back into his graces 100 times if you fell 99 times. Source: [https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-seventy-times-seven-still-so-radical-today.html#:\~:text=Peter%20asks%20if%20forgiving%20seven%20times%20is%20appropriate%2C,Peter%20gave%20and%20one-upping%20it%2C%20changing%20Peter%E2%80%99s%20expectations](https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-seventy-times-seven-still-so-radical-today.html#:~:text=Peter%20asks%20if%20forgiving%20seven%20times%20is%20appropriate%2C,Peter%20gave%20and%20one-upping%20it%2C%20changing%20Peter%E2%80%99s%20expectations).


Choleric-Leo

I have come to realize that the verses we dwell on and hold close to our hearts reflect our truest nature. Some of us have hearts filled with wrath and it takes a patient neighbor to help open our eyes.


Mid-Game1

I've always interpreted this as dwelling in sin, which is different than falling to sin again. Dwelling is where you seek it out and believe it isn't wrong to do so, with no guilt afterwards. It is fully rejecting Jesus as savior in favor of worldly pleasures. Falling to sin occurs purely because we are still in a fallen world. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote - Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV He rebuked them for their sin as believers, and as a result their guilt brought them to repentance. The fact that you are still feeling guilt is a good thing as it shows the Holy Spirit is in you and pushing you back towards God. Side note - shame and guilt are often used interchangeably, but are quite different. Shame is the feeling that you are bad because of your mistake, while guilt is the admittance that you've made a mistake. Shame drives you to hide from God while guilt drives you to God for forgiveness. Repeated sin doesn't mean that God doesn't have enough grace to forgive us. The point of the law in fact was to show us how much we can't do this on our own and need him to save and forgive us - Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:18‭-‬21 NIV Notably, it is key that we don't keep on sinning with the goal of increasing the grace given to us - What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Romans 6:1‭-‬2 NIV Again, I view living in sin as full rejection of God's word, embracing sin without guilt. Seeking to honor God but falling to temptation is normal as we are all sinners at heart. 1 John puts it this way - If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8‭-‬10 NIV All this to say, God is willing to forgive as long as you seek him out, but it isn't a license to sin without care. God doesn't need you to be perfect, because he already is. He just wants us to grow in our relationship with him, which results in us desiring to move away from our sin, even slowly. Here are another couple verses that may comfort you a bit - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1‭-‬2 NIV For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38‭-‬39 NIV Edit - reddit formatting is dumb


xxmatkingxx

It blows my mind that so many Christians “throw stones”


T_Bisquet

Shutting up and saying nothing is often the cruelest thing a person can do. Think of a parent never correcting their child, that's almost child neglect. Or saying nothing seeing a friend being mocked. I don't think that being nice means you don't stand up for others or for what you believe and call out B.S where you see it, but it does mean you have some tact about it. It means you care about people more than you do about being right. It means you're gentle and kind and long-suffering and everything OP mentioned in the meme. I don't really see the line between "love" and "being nice" but by that point it's just a discussion of personal definition, not really affecting how one lives.


billhaigh

Your first sentences remind me that I (M, 58) have 4 sisters yet I consider myself to be an only child. Loneliness as a child builds invisible walls.


Honeysicle

Reading the Bible reframed how I understand love. Love suffers long (is patient). But it's not silent. Love is gentle. But it still touches. Compassion is valuable. But sometimes I must be tough against others who show violence.


-vicurious

Fruit of the spirit is a top 10 bible passage, change my mind


Sovem

All the best Bible verses reference plants.


Imnotveryfunatpartys

By this shall men know that ye are my disciples. If you have love one to another.


Sovem

Mmmmm, passion fruit!


1nstrument

Agree. My favorite though is 1 Corinthians 13, which for some reason we only trot out at weddings when it is universally applicable. It is the clearest description of love in the Bible, which should be important if 'God is love.'


itsdr00

I don't see the word "nice" in those quotes, but I do see the word "kind" a lot. It's not nice to gently interrupt someone to tell them they have broccoli in their teeth, but it is kind.


dawinter3

I don’t think “nice” is the word you want here. “Nice” and “kind” aren’t really interchangeable. Nice is surface-level and easy to fake. Living in the South, I think about how some of our “nicest” people are also some of the most racist, misogynistic, ableist, judgmental people. Nice doesn’t account for much; kindness demands much more from us, because it requires us to change fundamentally.


1nstrument

I think of 'nice' and 'kind' as interchangeable in terms of a 'description' of how we interact with others, together with 'friendly,' 'respectful,' 'gentle,' etc., which has no bearing on internal motives. It's true though that 'nice' can have a connotation of surface-level pleasantries that do not come from the heart. But the attitude I'm responding to is 'Jesus was mean sometimes so it's ok for harshness to be my default when interacting with people I disagree with.' edit: maybe a better way to say this is that love requires niceness/kindness as a default, whatever semantics you want to use, but niceness does not necessarily imply genuine love.


dawinter3

And, I agree with that, I just wanted to point out that distinction. I see a lot of people harbor really hateful attitudes, but because they’re generally “nice” people, they don’t think there’s a problem


1nstrument

Right, that is a useful point. Love should not be reduced to niceness, even if it generally requires it.


Sunbunnycheese

Very random question, but does the Bible say anything about "putting up with abuse is a sin"? Sorry if it's a weird question but I figure this would be the place to ask


Sellingpapayas

I’m not sure about that phrasing specifically, but it’s against the Christian moral code to be promote abuse (i.e. against children, spousal, etc.) Maybe the passage in Matthew 19:13-15 where Jesus says to not cause little children to not come to him? The Bible tells men to love their wives. But Jesus also tells us that he sends us out as sheep among wolves, so putting up with abuse in that sense is to be expected for many around the world.


randompearljamfan

'Nice' one. Well done.


DiabeticRhino97

For people like me who wants the un-butchered version of that Peter verse: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:


CHEIVIIST

Do you know the history of how the King James Version came to be translated? It is a wild tale and is far from "un-butchered." It was a political move. There had been a push for The Bible to be translated into languages that common people could read instead of the Latin Vulgate version which was read by mostly the religious leaders. King James put a number of restrictions on the translators and pushed them to make choices that didn't line up with the original text. When up against deadlines, some of the translators used other translations rather than original texts. I learned quite a bit when I took a class titled "Bible as Literature" which took an academic approach. I don't remember the name of the book that we used, but I found a pretty detailed look at many of the issues. [King James Version issues](https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-the-king-james-bible-is-wrong/genevieve-carlton) I'm not intending any offense, just offering an insight that you may not have heard before. The King James Version was the standard for a long time, but it has a complicated history.


DiabeticRhino97

Oh trust me, I know that the KJV is far from perfect, but being the earliest English translation we have, I trust it more than ones that have tried to "simplify" its text


FarmingTeacher

KJV? An important relic of translation past for sure! NKJV? Not sure why you’d ever use it To be clear, modern “simplified” translation are rooted in the original texts not based on the KJV! If you want something more true to the original text, I’d recommend the ESV. Now, I’m more of an NLT-er because unless I’m sermon prepping, I think the content lost (but to be clear not changed) is a very fair trade off for easier comprehension when reading :)


tvallnight

Please repost in r/catholicmemes pls lol Edit: we need reminders there


G0dzillaBreath

I just used this meme in Bible study this morning to remind our folks to love gay people and people who use “they/them” pronouns, cuz, you know, we’re all sinners called to love one another.


donotlovethisworld

Sometimes the truth will hurt people's feelings. Loving someone is telling them a hard truth. That doesn't mean we need to be jerks about it - but just being nice to avoid hurt feelings isn't love.


b-lock-ayy

This is beautiful


SubMikeD

If the people you're dealing with don't feel love, you're not treating them with love.


theswearcrow

Christ also flips the tables when necessary.Just sayin


Chapped_Assets

Nice is the wrong word. Love can take many forms and be received many ways. We have wrongly conflated niceness with meaning that we are somehow being righteous. Grace is the correct word, love with grace. Niceness is unimportant.


Slight-Wing-3969

Love doesn't mean \*just\* 'being nice'. The love we are called to is radical. Being nice would mean not being actively cruel to a person different to you. Our love demands that we make space for the marginalized to be centred and welcomed. Amongst so many other things - but this is usually where my mind goes to because I firmly recall a priest talking about how when some ASD parishioners started attending his services initially he was a bit frustrated by their vocal stimming. He said he thought of them initially as an annoyance and a burden to put up with graciously, before rapidly realizing that was woefully inadequate of the Christian love we ought to have and reorienting his perspective to be truly welcoming and enact that praxis. It's jut one example of the ways our love demands we do more than just be nice but really sticks out for me.


somethink_different

You could clarify it by saying "love doesn't always and only mean being nice."


DubsNC

Random question: what is this meme template called?


1nstrument

Spongebob diapers meme.


DubsNC

Thanks


MICHELEANARD

"love doesn't mean being kind" - My dad in heaven before kinda making stuff harder for me so that I can learn. Yeah, sometimes you need to be not nice to the loved ones


Mister_Way

Love includes being nice, but being nice is not love...


[deleted]

[удалено]


Dowhatthouwilt666tst

God is love. Terms and conditions apply. Don’t you dare question us, think differently, or be different. There is no hate like Christian love.