When I was in secondary school, a church elder found out that I was a victim of bullying at school. He never offered to help me. Instead, with his hands clasped in front of his chest, he told me that God loves gangsters too. And since the gangsters are collecting protection money from me and beating me up without hatred in their hearts, they are loved by Christ. Then he sternly scolded me because I made a hateful comment about my bullies. Iirc, what he said was, "They are just beating you up for fun, you know? They don't hate you so please love them like your own brother." Then he gave me an ultimatum. If I insisted on taking revenge on my bullies, I would be an outcast in the eyes of Christ. When Judgement Day came, I would be the one cast to Hell, not my bullies. And if I wanted to stay in the church, I would have to forgive and love my bullies. So my question is: If you were in my shoes, would you choose to give up taking revenge on your bullies and go to heaven or take revenge on your bullies and go to hell?
That elder was bat*hit crazy He should be guiding those bullies back to Christ instead of condemning you, wtf Why is he so sure he knows their intent? He must be a bully himself I mean yeah god loves gansters but that's because he loves everyone, and that sure as heck doesn't mean he condones bullying, quite the contrary I don't see how you loving them through the pain makes it unnecessary for them to love you as a brother and behave And the f dude really thinks he's Christ himself Like on judgement day, Jesus will decide who goes where (tho I don't believe Jesus would sent people to hell or that hell exists, but to each his own) and he for sure won't bow down to this elder's BS decision based on more BS than cows have produced since the beginning of times If I were in your shoes, I would tell another, reliable adult about it, and let them deal with it Sorry I'm a bit heated but this elder riles me up, I hope you can avoid dealing with him most of the time, it must be awful to even see his face Also, it's possible to love your enemies, but that's never something you owe them. You decide that by yourself to make peace, feel better and so on, for your own growth. They don't get to demand it from you, rather they owe you apologies, remorse and repair for their acts
I think your priest is either a bully himself or in cohort with your bullies, otherwise, he wouldn't be making such a demon-spawned kind of biased remark. I would not trust him one bit and yes, I would still be taking revenge on my bullies.
Well, your pastor be wrong; your bullies will go to hell, if only to bully you there. On another note, I have noticed most of your posts are about bullying, vindictiveness and enacting justice which leads me to presume your bullies must have really done a number on you. P.S. While I've never been bullied, one of my scriptures says that not standing up to injustice against yourself is a greater sin than perpetrating said injustice, or something to that effect; make what of it you will. P.P.S. As someone above mentioned, he could be in cahoots with the bullies.
Technically, that elder was "right" though hugely impractical and kind of a klutz with advice. The problem with this kind of claims is that the victim is usually emotionally upset and in all honesty do not want to forgive his tormentors. In fact, he'll probably want to kill them and God helps those that stand in the way of his "righteous anger", so frankly I'll stay out of this for the simple reason that situations like these, people never tell the whole story, especially one that is so deeply involved in it. I'm actually betting that Eishun has edited his account a bit in his anger. Just want to point out though that even God's forgiveness must first stem from a person repenting, not forgiving them while they are still causing problems.
While reporting the elder and them is one option I think it’s best to publicly shame your bullies during the priest’s service. We get some old sheets and a spray can of paint and write something embarrassing about them on it, then when the priest is talking the sheets unravel.
solution is simple. Do things that make your bullies hate you so when they do bully you with hatred in their hearts, you can call the priest out on his bullshit.
@Eishun Or: If you beat your bullies once it'd been revenge. BUT if you did it regulary it's not revenge anymore but you'd be teaching them a valuable lesson of love with your fist/weapon.
You got to do this biblically! Spare the rod and spoil the child, so you can't use fists, you must use a rod!
You're just making stories right? Coz if it was true, and im in your situation is I'd do this. Spoiler: Stone
Whenever you hear a sermon or a lesson based on the Bible, always make sure to question everything. ie. If God is real, then why does so much hate happen everywhere in the world? Is he not a maniac for allowing atrocities like torture and pain to exist? It is through questioning Him that you can form a better relationship with Him. If you just accept everything at face value from what your priests say, what is the point? If you accept what your family says as true without doubt, then if you were born into an Islam or Hindu family then would you be Muslim or a Hindu? Use your own reasoning and faith to make your own judgements about religion as I believe both faith and reason are created by God so they should both arrive to the same conclusions. Good religious mentors make the process easier Best of luck with the bullies, the best way to be rid of them is to make an example of 1 of them but I don't know too much. The Catholic Church has the Magisterium to answer any questions and provide the "correct" interpretation of the Bible.
Your priest is high on cocaine. What type of fucking church is this bro? like wtf Hes right and wrong. Treat your enemies with love. Treat everyone with love but if they're just fucking treating you like shit fuck em .not literally. Tell someone in actual power of you being bullied. I was raised off the rule of three. Tell the bullies to stop, tell a teacher (im assuming your a child and if not tell a cop) and if those two fail just swing on em. Deadass. The worst that can you happen is you get your ass beat. Every time they bully you just keep fighting them until you win or they get tired of fucking with you. Happened to me when I was younger. Got the shit bullied out of me so I followed the rule of 3. I fought that fucker everyday practically and I would always lose but one day I hit that mf in the chin and he folded. Literally stopped the bullying for a little but then dude came back and tried to fight me again. Just keep going until you win again.
"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." - Ender's game.
I'm fairly religious myself and I understand the thing about not keeping hate in your heart because in the end it'll just continue hurting you. But in my opinion I disagree wholly with what your elder said. *sigh* The way he said it is fully glorifying the bullies and victim blaming. Smh. I disagreee *screams*. Can't shake my head enough. Why the flying.... Would you tell that to someone who is hurting? If you ask me, that elder is lacking some compassion too, the way he made an ultimatum like that. Talk about not practicing what you preach. Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to plot revenge or anything, because in that way, you'll just be hurting yourself. But, I would want you to let it go, yes. Live your own life. Take your time if you could ever forgive and forget. And ALWAYS remember that you would be doing it for yourself. Not for anyone else. Wishing you the best.
You should have stabbed him and told him to forgive you. "I am just stabbing you up for fun, you know? I don't hate you so please love me like your own brother." Reminds me of this video.
that Father must be never been on dark side or never truly care about them beside on surface level cuz if he does his tone will be like this go ahead beat them, you can go to avenge till you satisfy but then what? begin the sermon on indirect way~ or give ya way to handle it~ not those nonsense stuff~ why this cat think like that? cuz this cat meet several religious figures who come from bad society then let say they found their way, there also those who interact with criminal and stuff~ as for loving your enemy as that Father told ya..... well it is possible but not this cat.... only religious people this cat ever see done that on action~ unless you wanna turn into romcom cliche~
Bully ahh....the good old days where I was an ignorant kid. I hate bullies. The hell they think they are superior and others are random dogs and cat. The hell they think picking on weak spots and blackmailing makes them superior. The hell....I just hate them a lot. Who the hell they think making one isolated? Who the hell they think they can tattle to teachers...like this kid is without brains or ignorant. Hmph! I wanna slap or punch them or give them nice taste of their own crap. The church elder or whatever is stupid. The love...can go to hell. The hell you should get beat up for their fun. What about your feelings? Does God or whatever not care about you? Hmph hmph....you gotta stand up. Sometimes I know elders don't much care thinking this is just rumble tumble of kids. But kids suffer more. Those bullies....I think it's better you ignore them. I had just changed schools for my case. You gotta Don't despair and let them suffer . I used to ignore them which infuriated them more and the harsher they became. Hmph hmph....they picked the wrong person. Being thick skinned is handy when they are jealous or Target your reputation I got too worked up...
I never experienced bullying but my friends shared their experience and trauma... I once encountered a question, "how will you forgive your bullies" but there's no definite answer... My friends would rather not see those bullies again (even if they asked for forgiveness) esp since no one have the right to bully or be bullied in the first place... So forgiveness is vague here... 'Love' is also the same case... While I do understand the elder for saying it, I also think he should have phrased it as 'do not hate'... It's fine if he only said that, but adding “they're just beating you up for fun” is unacceptable, more unforgivable than being bullied... It's like, someone robbed you in the streets, then a passerby who saw that incident said “he just robbed you coz you look easy” (I thinks it's more infuriating if someone gave an excuse for bad behavior)... Bully the weak and fear the strong ? Yea it could apply here... You could also copy a frog's way of expanding, to make it appear bigger to intimidate some predators... A menacing look could help I guess... I could see myself agreeing on this one~