The Opposite Of Love Is Not Hate...

We cannot really state that the opposite of love is hate.  It would be accurate to say it is the most extreme opposing emotion toward love.  I am sure you have heard it said, you cannot hate someone you do not care about.  This is because you must feel something good or bad.  So what would be the opposite of a loving emotion?

If you did not read the segment from the 5th, referencing the movie "Face/Off,  click here before continuing.  All these pieces will complete our full view on wisdom and discernment (at some point, anyway). 

To help us think this through, we will be looking at a snippet on indifference, written by  Leslie Vernick :a biblical author and counselor whom I really appreciate.

The opposite of Love isn't hate; it is indifference.  Indifference says I don't care enough about you to give you my time, my energy, or other resources to show interest, care or love toward you.  Indifference says how you feel or what you want doesn't matter to me.  Indifference says you are not a person to love, but an object to use.  Indifference says I don't need to change anything to make our relationship better for you if it's okay for me.  Indifference says you exist for my benefit and when you don't please me or benefit me anymore, you are replaceable or disposable.  

Leslie goes on to correlate what is, in her opinion,one of the most horrific abusive marital indifference stories in the bible: 

A Levite and his concubine wife were traveling home when they stopped in the town of Gibeah for the evening.  Expecting the typical Jewish hospitality, they waited in the open square of the city, hoping someone would invite them to spend the night in his or her home.  As evening descended, an old man spotted the couple and graciously took them in.  While the two men were enjoying getting aquatinted, vile men of the city surrounded the home, beat on the door, and demanded the old man bring his quest outside so they might ravish him.  

The old man pleaded, "No, my friends, don't be so vile.  Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing". (Judges 19:23) What he said next shocks us to our core.  He said, "Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine.  I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish.  But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing." (verse 24)

The men of the town refused to listen to the old man, so the Levite grabbed his concubine wife and shoved her out the door.  All night long the men of the town raped her, taking turns until dawn.  Broken and bleeding, she stumbled back to the doorstep where her husband slept and there she collapsed.  

The Scriptures say that when her husband opened the door to leave, there lay his concubine with her hands on the threshold.  He coldly said, "Get up; let's go" (verse 28) But there was no answer.  He tossed her lifeless body on his donkey and took her home.  Later on, he cut her up into twelve pieces and sent on piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, portraying himself (not his poor wife) as the victim of a horrible injustice.

To sum up Leslie Vernick closing statements:

The husbands focus was to gain his own security.  While the traumatic event she experienced that night was dreadful Leslie wonders if this womans greater suffering wasn't her own husbands indifference toward her.

Obviously, this man looked differently face to face, on the outside, than what was real in the depths of his heart and mind.  What if God stripped off our faces and replaced them with what we really are on the inside??

Isn't that a terrible, horrible, hideously frightening thought.  Take a few days and read back through the past information.  Allow God to search your heart and test your mind.  God willing, we will all have another day to allow a little more of His character to mend our fatally torn identities.

In Christ,

Kisses,

Candace

Book Quoted: by Leslie Vernick _The Emotionally Destructive Marriage

© Candace Huffmaster 2014, All Copy Rights Reserved

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