Prayer, Enemies, and Brotherhood

This post can also be found on the blog A Perfect Brightness of Hope as a response to one of my favorite professor's blogs:

Last November, after watching the terrorist attacks in India and verbal attacks against the LDS Church with Proposition 8, I started to wonder about Matthew 5:44, where Christ tells his disciples: “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” He goes on to say: “For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? (Matt 5:46)”

As I watched things unfold on the news, I constantly wondered: How do I love and pray for those who seem to disregard my humanity and things I hold sacred? Whether HBO producers or terrorists, to me, an enemy is not based on any specific act but is anyone who makes me feel threatened. Christ’s concept was clear, but my implementation was not.

I decided I would pray that these people would find peace and joy in their lives… that they would be truly happy and form lasting relationships where they could realize their divine worth and potential. People whose lives are focused on destruction are probably not consistently feeling godlike peace, joy, or happiness.

As I did this, I learned something that later I heard President Monson put into words:

“One man said, ‘I looked at my brother through the microscope of criticism, and I said, ‘How coarse my brother is.’ I looked at my brother through the telescope of scorn, and I said, ‘How small my brother is.’ Then I looked into the mirror of truth, and I said, ‘How like me my brother is.’’(Thomas S. Monson, Great Expectations, CES Fireside, 11 Jan. 2009)”

It might be said that President Monson was referring to other members of the Church or those with small flaws who are basically good, but surely not terrorists or anti-Mormons. If that is the case, then I wouldn’t say I’m qualified to draw a line for who falls under his words.

Prophets throughout history have taught about the natural man and warned of its effects if uncontrolled (Mosiah 3:19; Mosiah 16:3, 5; Alma 41:11; Romans 8:6; D&C 121:39). A Methodist pastor felt similarly when he wrote the lyrics, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love” in the hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. My testimony of Jesus Christ and membership bless me as they help me to continually refine my nature and to seal my heart to God.

Acts of violence and words of hatred still deplore me; however, I find myself growing as I come to terms with my own humanity and seek to follow the teachings of the Savior.

I’m curious to see how others deal with these issues. How do you apply Christ’s teachings in Matthew 5 to those who you’ve never met, but seem to hate you or groups to which you belong? What makes you different from your enemies?