Transcript: Episode 0093
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WEBVTT 00:00:37.392 --> 00:00:39.712Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast. 00:00:39.712 --> 00:00:40.752 I am Corey J. 00:00:40.752 --> 00:00:41.832 Mahler. 00:00:41.832 --> 00:00:44.112 And I'm still, whoa. 00:00:44.112 --> 00:00:48.732 On today's Stone Choir, we're going to be discussing friend and enemy. 00:00:48.732 --> 00:00:57.692 These are terms that get used all the time, and we're going to be talking about the different contexts in our lives where we should be looking for them. 00:00:57.692 --> 00:01:08.492 I want to say at the outset that this is supposed to be an episode where we're giving tools for how to think, not tools for what to do. 00:01:08.492 --> 00:01:11.232 We're not going to say, okay, here's your friend, so treat them one way. 00:01:11.232 --> 00:01:11.852 Here's your enemy. 00:01:11.852 --> 00:01:13.252 Treat them another. 00:01:13.252 --> 00:01:16.892 We're going to talk a lot about scripture today as well as politics. 00:01:16.892 --> 00:01:24.332 We're going to begin mostly in some mundane secular things before we move into the scripture. 00:01:24.332 --> 00:01:42.252 The reason that it is important to think about this is not to make people paranoid, not to make you suddenly start looking for enemies everywhere, but specifically because Christians are incredibly bad at understanding and believing what God has told us, which is that we do have enemies. 00:01:42.252 --> 00:01:44.032 We have enemies in our churches. 00:01:44.032 --> 00:01:45.912 We have enemies in our families. 00:01:45.912 --> 00:01:50.632 And that is what God has prophesied would occur and has always been the case. 00:01:50.632 --> 00:01:54.772 It's not some huge spiritual thing that no one can understand. 00:01:54.772 --> 00:01:55.732 We see it all the time. 00:01:56.452 --> 00:02:02.752 And the fact that we see it and the fact that it's real means it's something that we have to deal with as men. 00:02:02.752 --> 00:02:05.812 And as Christians, we have to deal with it as Christian men. 00:02:05.812 --> 00:02:10.172 We don't get to deal with it as the world would deal with those things. 00:02:10.172 --> 00:02:16.232 So as we lay these things out, I don't want people to get paranoid or to start hunting for enemies. 00:02:16.232 --> 00:02:21.252 The point is simply to acknowledge that this stuff actually happens and it matters. 00:02:21.252 --> 00:02:31.152 Because when you have real friends and you have real enemies, and they're operating in your life, there are significant consequences to that. 00:02:31.152 --> 00:02:35.632 So I want you to imagine a continuum where there are going to be five points. 00:02:35.632 --> 00:02:37.972 In the center, you have neutrality. 00:02:37.972 --> 00:02:40.912 On one end, you have a strong friend. 00:02:40.912 --> 00:02:48.512 A strong friend is contrasted with a weak friend, which is between the strong friend and neutrality. 00:02:48.512 --> 00:02:51.332 And when I say weak here, I don't mean in the pejorative sense. 00:02:51.772 --> 00:02:56.112 Thinking like in the terms of nuclear, strong force and weak force. 00:02:56.112 --> 00:02:59.872 Weak is in contrast to strong, but it doesn't mean crappy, terrible friend. 00:02:59.872 --> 00:03:04.252 It's just there are different types of friends, and there are two grades that we're going to focus on. 00:03:04.252 --> 00:03:05.672 And then the same is true for enemies. 00:03:05.672 --> 00:03:09.492 You have neutral people who just don't take aside their lukewarm. 00:03:09.492 --> 00:03:12.272 And then you have weak enemies, and you have strong enemies. 00:03:12.272 --> 00:03:19.432 It's important for every man to understand that each of these exist, and to be able to accurately identify them in his own life. 00:03:19.432 --> 00:03:24.232 Because if you don't, you're just not equipped to be a good man. 00:03:24.232 --> 00:03:30.552 You're not equipped to be a strong friend to those to whom it's owed, or to whom you choose. 00:03:30.552 --> 00:03:35.412 And you're not equipped to understand that your strong enemies are prowling and are trying to hurt you. 00:03:35.412 --> 00:03:48.512 So we're defining today a strong friend in terms, as I said, the mundane example would be two countries form an alliance, a mutual defense treaty. 00:03:48.512 --> 00:03:58.032 So for example, Article 5 of NATO says that an armed attack on any member of NATO is treated as an armed attack on every member of NATO. 00:03:58.312 --> 00:03:59.352 So what does that mean? 00:03:59.352 --> 00:04:08.712 It means that if someone bombs Germany, the United States is in a de facto state of war with whoever bombed Germany, just as if they had bombed us. 00:04:08.712 --> 00:04:13.292 There's no legal difference in terms of that treaty being triggered. 00:04:13.292 --> 00:04:16.932 So there's a de facto state of war, regardless of how you respond. 00:04:16.932 --> 00:04:17.852 That's what we're talking about. 00:04:17.852 --> 00:04:19.712 We're talking about a strong friend. 00:04:19.712 --> 00:04:23.272 A strong friend is someone where there's identity. 00:04:23.272 --> 00:04:29.792 I posted recently that anytime you hear somebody talking about identity, it's a weasel word and they're trying to scam you. 00:04:29.792 --> 00:04:39.212 The distinction is that when the world talks by, oh, I, you know, my identity is LGBT or whatever, that's basically etymologically hypocrisy. 00:04:39.712 --> 00:04:43.592 That's a mask to say, I identify as something. 00:04:43.832 --> 00:04:46.052 It isn't saying that you actually are the thing. 00:04:46.052 --> 00:04:49.152 It's saying that you're adopting an identity. 00:04:49.152 --> 00:04:53.232 You know, we think of identities being adopted, where you sort of put something on like it's a suit. 00:04:53.292 --> 00:04:55.052 We talk about skin suits a lot. 00:04:55.052 --> 00:04:58.432 Identity is usually how that's used by leftists. 00:04:58.432 --> 00:05:02.512 The way I'm using it here is in the original etymological sense. 00:05:02.512 --> 00:05:05.972 Edem is Latin for same, the same. 00:05:05.972 --> 00:05:08.892 It's abbreviated id, period, in writing. 00:05:09.152 --> 00:05:14.112 So when you see id, it's short for edem, means the same, the same as the thing previously referenced. 00:05:14.112 --> 00:05:21.052 So when the United States and Germany identify as NATO partners, it means that it's the same thing. 00:05:21.052 --> 00:05:22.632 That sameness carries over. 00:05:22.632 --> 00:05:28.192 An attack on Germany is an attack on the United States because per the treaty, it's the same thing. 00:05:28.192 --> 00:05:32.512 Friendship, real strong friendship, functions in the same way. 00:05:32.512 --> 00:05:45.832 And the reason it's important to understand strong friends versus weak friends and strong versus weak enemies is that unlike some ontological categories that are absolutely fixed, these are opt-in. 00:05:45.832 --> 00:05:48.432 You choose to be someone's strong friend. 00:05:48.432 --> 00:05:49.572 You don't have to. 00:05:49.572 --> 00:05:51.352 Maybe you're their weak friend, and that's fine. 00:05:51.352 --> 00:05:52.712 And we'll talk about that in a second. 00:05:52.712 --> 00:05:56.912 But you deliberately choose, I want to be a strong friend of this man. 00:05:56.912 --> 00:05:59.252 Not necessarily consciously. 00:05:59.252 --> 00:06:04.352 But when you identify with a man and say, an attack on this man is an attack on me. 00:06:04.352 --> 00:06:06.352 If you come after him, you have to get through me. 00:06:07.032 --> 00:06:08.032 That is he does. 00:06:08.032 --> 00:06:08.832 That's the sameness. 00:06:08.832 --> 00:06:09.552 That's identity. 00:06:09.552 --> 00:06:15.692 You're saying, he is me for the purposes of anyone else messing with either one of us. 00:06:15.692 --> 00:06:21.372 So that's a very particular bond that's stronger even than some family bonds. 00:06:21.372 --> 00:06:22.552 I think we've all experienced that. 00:06:22.552 --> 00:06:25.852 You have family you're very close to and family you're more distant from. 00:06:25.852 --> 00:06:27.272 The same is true of friends. 00:06:27.272 --> 00:06:31.012 The difference between family and friends is that friends are entirely opt-in. 00:06:31.072 --> 00:06:32.532 Nobody has to be a friend. 00:06:32.532 --> 00:06:34.612 And there's no character flaw in them. 00:06:34.612 --> 00:06:37.792 They're not betraying anything if they don't want to be your friend. 00:06:37.792 --> 00:06:39.932 That's distinct from a family, which is ontological. 00:06:39.932 --> 00:06:43.112 Family is family because that's how God made you. 00:06:43.112 --> 00:06:45.232 You don't get to opt out of that. 00:06:45.232 --> 00:06:46.952 Not without sinning. 00:06:46.952 --> 00:06:48.432 But you can opt out of being someone's friend. 00:06:48.432 --> 00:06:50.472 You don't have to be my friend or Corey's friend or anybody's. 00:06:50.472 --> 00:06:51.352 That's fine. 00:06:51.352 --> 00:06:54.232 You have no prior obligation to cut either way. 00:06:54.232 --> 00:06:55.612 You can be neutral. 00:06:56.672 --> 00:07:11.392 When, however, you decide to strongly identify, to be a strong friend to someone, at that point, it does, I don't want to abuse the term ontological, but it becomes a real thing just as a treaty is a real thing with another country. 00:07:11.392 --> 00:07:17.932 To violate that treaty or to violate that strong friendship once it's established is in fact a betrayal. 00:07:17.932 --> 00:07:20.072 It's a betrayal of oneself. 00:07:20.072 --> 00:07:29.932 That's why recently I've gotten a lot of mileage out of using the Dostoevsky quote, Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. 00:07:29.932 --> 00:07:40.312 When you do something that is a betrayal of another and you were a strong friend of them, you're an ally to them, you're betraying yourself because there is a sense of identity between you and them. 00:07:40.312 --> 00:07:47.492 So when you cross them, when you cut them out of your life or whatever, in a very fundamental sense, you are betraying yourself. 00:07:47.492 --> 00:07:51.772 And I don't think we take that nearly seriously enough. 00:07:51.872 --> 00:07:56.112 You don't have to be someone's strong friend, you don't have to consider someone an ally. 00:07:56.112 --> 00:07:59.992 But once you make that sort of commitment, it sticks. 00:07:59.992 --> 00:08:01.552 It is a permanent state. 00:08:01.552 --> 00:08:03.292 You can't walk that back. 00:08:03.292 --> 00:08:07.352 Just like you can't break a treaty without being seen as a traitor. 00:08:07.352 --> 00:08:10.032 Weak friends, on the other hand, as I said, you know, weak is not pejorative. 00:08:10.032 --> 00:08:14.252 It's just someone who's going to be friendly with you, but he's not going to help you move. 00:08:14.252 --> 00:08:19.152 He's not the guy who is going to go the extra mile when you're in trouble. 00:08:19.152 --> 00:08:22.892 You know, he might send you a card or something, but he's not going to show up. 00:08:22.892 --> 00:08:27.352 He's not the guy who's going to be at your bedside after you were hospitalized for days. 00:08:27.352 --> 00:08:28.192 That's a real friend. 00:08:28.192 --> 00:08:29.632 That's a strong bond. 00:08:29.632 --> 00:08:32.332 And there's nothing wrong with weak friends in this sense. 00:08:32.332 --> 00:08:34.852 You need friends who are just, you know, you get along with them. 00:08:34.852 --> 00:08:35.852 That's fine. 00:08:35.852 --> 00:08:41.472 Most of the people you work with, you know, probably hopefully if you have a good workplace, you have some weak friends there. 00:08:41.472 --> 00:08:48.092 You have people you get along with, you enjoy lunch with, and after you leave, you probably won't much keep in contact. 00:08:48.092 --> 00:08:49.632 Doesn't mean anyone's betrayed anyone else. 00:08:49.712 --> 00:08:52.872 It's just, it's not that strong of a connection. 00:08:52.872 --> 00:08:58.752 On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have weak enemies and strong enemies. 00:08:58.752 --> 00:09:04.512 And the reason that the friend-enemy distinction is so crucial is at the extremes. 00:09:04.512 --> 00:09:06.252 The people are just kind of wishy-washy. 00:09:06.252 --> 00:09:07.832 They're nice to you, but whatever. 00:09:07.832 --> 00:09:10.112 If they stop being nice to you, they don't particularly like you. 00:09:10.112 --> 00:09:14.452 If, you know, they don't think your politics are great, and so they just, I don't like that guy. 00:09:14.452 --> 00:09:15.372 That's fine. 00:09:15.372 --> 00:09:17.412 That's not what we're talking about when we talk about enemy. 00:09:18.132 --> 00:09:25.572 When we talk about a strong enemy, we're talking about the opposite of that treaty situation. 00:09:25.572 --> 00:09:44.092 So the reason that your strong friendship with someone is so important is when he gets into trouble, you show up, and that trouble, that jeopardy is what proves the friendship, the strong friendship, and it's what proves the strong enemy, because the strong enemy is the one who's creating that jeopardy. 00:09:44.512 --> 00:09:49.452 He's the vector sending terrible vibes into your life with your friend. 00:09:49.452 --> 00:09:51.092 He's hurting you somehow. 00:09:51.092 --> 00:09:52.512 And I'm not talking about vibes here. 00:09:52.512 --> 00:09:57.112 The actual enemy is doing actual harm to you, destroying reputation, you know, whatever. 00:09:57.112 --> 00:10:03.212 You can pick any sort of beyond slight, any sort of actual evil malicious act. 00:10:03.212 --> 00:10:05.312 Strong enemies are the ones who are actually doing that. 00:10:05.312 --> 00:10:08.192 They get up in the morning and they want to hurt people. 00:10:08.192 --> 00:10:10.032 If it's your strong enemy, they want to hurt you. 00:10:10.812 --> 00:10:15.672 And so at these opposite ends of the spectrum, you have jeopardy. 00:10:15.672 --> 00:10:18.372 The enemy, the strong enemy, creates the jeopardy. 00:10:18.372 --> 00:10:21.252 The strong friend says, I share your jeopardy. 00:10:21.252 --> 00:10:23.272 If you're in trouble, I'm in trouble. 00:10:23.272 --> 00:10:26.932 If you hurt, I hurt, whatever it is. 00:10:26.932 --> 00:10:28.192 It doesn't matter the context. 00:10:28.192 --> 00:10:29.012 It can be political. 00:10:29.012 --> 00:10:30.972 It can be personal. 00:10:30.972 --> 00:10:35.892 When someone says that I identify with you, we are the same. 00:10:35.892 --> 00:10:40.032 That is the sort of brotherhood that is necessary to sustain men. 00:10:40.032 --> 00:10:43.172 It's almost impossible to get through life without anyone like that. 00:10:43.172 --> 00:10:50.212 In periods of time, you maybe don't have it, but if you're blessed, you're going to have a couple people like that at various points because you need it. 00:10:50.212 --> 00:10:53.132 Because sometimes one guy just isn't enough. 00:10:53.132 --> 00:10:55.432 It's not a question of having a weakness of faith. 00:10:55.432 --> 00:11:06.152 It's just, you can pray to God and you can trust in God, but you need someone who can talk back, someone who can yell at you, who can support you, who can comfort you, whatever you need. 00:11:06.152 --> 00:11:10.072 A friend is going to do what you need, not necessarily what you want them to do. 00:11:10.072 --> 00:11:13.092 An enemy is always going to do things that are going to hurt you. 00:11:13.092 --> 00:11:21.952 And so the purpose of us talking about this today, particularly to a Christian audience, is that we as Christians in the church don't really believe that we can have enemies. 00:11:21.952 --> 00:11:24.932 That's something that a lot of pastors actually say now. 00:11:24.932 --> 00:11:26.892 Say, your only enemy is Satan. 00:11:26.892 --> 00:11:28.432 You don't have any earthly enemies. 00:11:28.432 --> 00:11:30.452 There's no man who is your enemy. 00:11:31.632 --> 00:11:36.952 The emphatic point that we're trying to make here today is that you do have enemies, and they're trying to hurt you. 00:11:36.952 --> 00:11:40.732 And pastors who are telling you, oh, that doesn't exist, are also trying to hurt you. 00:11:40.732 --> 00:11:45.732 Whether they're strong or weak enemies by falsely preaching, it is doing harm. 00:11:45.732 --> 00:11:55.412 Because to the extent that as a Christian, you behave as a Christian, and you forgive them, and you don't seek vengeance, which we'll talk about later, doesn't make them stop being your enemy. 00:11:55.412 --> 00:11:57.412 The enemy always gets a vote. 00:11:57.412 --> 00:11:58.812 The word itself is kind of ugly. 00:11:58.812 --> 00:12:01.132 We have probably said enemy 30 times at this point. 00:12:01.132 --> 00:12:04.452 It's a nasty thing that creates kind of a visceral response. 00:12:04.452 --> 00:12:17.392 And we don't want this to be an ugly episode, but we need it to be something that reminds people these things are real, they're consequential, both at the macro level, at the international scale, and in your interpersonal scale. 00:12:17.392 --> 00:12:21.312 Within your family, within your church, within your neighborhood, you have friends and enemies. 00:12:21.312 --> 00:12:24.012 Now, hopefully you have a lot more friends than enemies. 00:12:24.012 --> 00:12:28.792 Having an enemy is not natural in the sense that it just sort of happens. 00:12:28.792 --> 00:12:31.352 Someone has to decide to do it. 00:12:31.352 --> 00:12:43.492 But for whatever reason, when someone is possessed to act in a way that brings jeopardy into your life, or into the life of one of your friends, one of your real friends, you then have to deal with that. 00:12:43.492 --> 00:12:49.912 And as Christians today, we have been almost completely stripped of the ability to believe that these categories are real. 00:12:49.912 --> 00:12:56.372 You know, real friends maybe, although we're so wishy-washy, I don't think even the real friendship thing is alien to most Christians. 00:12:56.872 --> 00:13:00.392 But certainly, the real enemy thing is lost entirely. 00:13:00.392 --> 00:13:07.112 When we talk about having enemies, people think, that's pagan talk, that's these people are, you know, they're nuts or something. 00:13:07.112 --> 00:13:09.032 No, it's how Jesus talks. 00:13:09.032 --> 00:13:16.592 It's how Jesus warned us things would be, which is why we have permission to agree with what our own lying eyes are telling us. 00:13:16.592 --> 00:13:22.352 These things actually happen, and as honest men, we have to evaluate them honestly, whatever it is. 00:13:22.352 --> 00:13:25.032 You want friends, lots of friends, real friends. 00:13:25.032 --> 00:13:26.132 You don't want any enemies. 00:13:26.692 --> 00:13:33.252 But if someone chooses to be your enemy, you are only harming both yourself and anyone to whom you have a duty. 00:13:33.252 --> 00:13:38.832 If you refuse to acknowledge, this guy has chosen to be my enemy, and I need to act accordingly. 00:13:38.832 --> 00:13:41.092 As I said, we're not going to be talking about how you act towards them. 00:13:41.092 --> 00:13:49.172 We've talked in a number of other episodes on violence, on perfect hatred, various aspects of what to do in certain situations. 00:13:49.172 --> 00:13:54.372 None of this today really has anything to do with, now you found an enemy, here's what you're going to do. 00:13:54.372 --> 00:13:55.692 You need to be a Christian about it. 00:13:56.072 --> 00:14:00.512 Part of being a Christian about acknowledging an enemy is believing it's real. 00:14:00.512 --> 00:14:05.672 You have to believe that you have real enemies and that that can matter. 00:14:05.672 --> 00:14:07.792 If everything were working, that wouldn't be the case. 00:14:07.792 --> 00:14:18.972 This is all the product of the fallen sinful world, but Christians living in a sinful world acknowledge that the sin around us creates death, sickness and enemies. 00:14:18.972 --> 00:14:22.712 These are the fruits of evil, they're the fruits of Satan's work in the world. 00:14:22.712 --> 00:14:24.372 And we as Christians have to deal with them. 00:14:24.812 --> 00:14:31.972 That begins and ends with not lying about it, because when you remove the ability to identify these things, you're completely crippled. 00:14:31.972 --> 00:14:35.012 You can't behave as a Christian if you deny that it exists. 00:14:35.012 --> 00:14:38.172 So again, just as the outset, I don't want anyone to take away from this. 00:14:38.172 --> 00:14:39.392 I got to be paranoid. 00:14:39.392 --> 00:14:41.312 I got to suddenly start identifying enemies. 00:14:41.312 --> 00:14:43.472 I got to find them all around me because they're hiding. 00:14:43.472 --> 00:14:47.432 I don't want people to feel that way, but you do need to believe that they're real. 00:14:47.432 --> 00:14:52.632 And if you see examples of, well, I didn't understand that before, but actually that's enemy action. 00:14:52.632 --> 00:14:53.952 Maybe it's weak, maybe it's strong. 00:14:54.472 --> 00:14:56.492 But it's something that's harmful. 00:14:56.492 --> 00:14:57.652 You need to know that. 00:14:57.652 --> 00:15:00.372 And then what you do has to be informed as a Christian. 00:15:00.372 --> 00:15:07.652 But the failure to acknowledge that it is occurring and that someone is acting as an enemy is itself sinful foolishness. 00:15:07.652 --> 00:15:11.132 We don't get to be more loving than God and say, I don't have any enemies. 00:15:11.132 --> 00:15:12.452 God says you do. 00:15:12.452 --> 00:15:16.032 So we're going to deal with what that looks like. 00:15:16.092 --> 00:15:25.552 Doubtedly, some of you will have heard echoes of Carl Schmitt when we talk about friends and enemies and the friend-enemy distinction. 00:15:26.952 --> 00:15:36.232 And to some degree, there is a similarity there in Schmitt and related writers with what we are saying here, but they are not exactly identical. 00:15:36.232 --> 00:15:38.872 He is dealing with the concept of the political. 00:15:40.012 --> 00:15:51.112 We are dealing with, perhaps in the neutral and grand sense, the political, but we are dealing with something more specific, more limited in scope than what you would find in Carl Schmitt. 00:15:51.112 --> 00:16:03.432 So, if you have read those works, there is a useful comparison to be made, but what we are saying and what he is saying are not identical because we are addressing different things. 00:16:04.652 --> 00:16:27.932 And on a more specifically Christian note, many of you, when you hear that we have enemies, that an enemy is a real thing, you are going to instinctively recoil because you have had the very idea that you can have an enemy trained out of you by modern isogesis, false interpretations of scripture. 00:16:27.932 --> 00:16:33.712 And so you may think of verses, bless those who persecute you, or forgive your enemies. 00:16:33.712 --> 00:16:37.412 There are various places that say almost exactly that. 00:16:37.412 --> 00:16:46.612 And then you will think, how can I comply with this command from God and His word, and yet still have enemies? 00:16:47.832 --> 00:16:54.152 Well, there are other parts of scripture that say that your enemies will be members of your own household. 00:16:54.152 --> 00:16:57.032 And so scripture tells you that you will have enemies. 00:16:57.032 --> 00:16:58.812 You have to square these two things. 00:16:58.812 --> 00:17:02.672 You can't just focus on one and ignore the other. 00:17:02.672 --> 00:17:05.012 And so do you have a duty to forgive your enemies? 00:17:05.012 --> 00:17:05.692 Absolutely. 00:17:06.552 --> 00:17:08.192 But do you still have enemies? 00:17:08.192 --> 00:17:09.752 Of course. 00:17:09.752 --> 00:17:14.632 If you forgive an enemy, does he thereby cease to be an enemy? 00:17:14.632 --> 00:17:16.052 No, he does not. 00:17:16.052 --> 00:17:19.392 As Woe said, the enemy gets a vote. 00:17:19.392 --> 00:17:26.132 If you forgive your enemy, that does not stop him from continuing to be an enemy. 00:17:26.132 --> 00:17:31.152 It does not mean that you stop treating him as an enemy. 00:17:31.152 --> 00:17:38.272 It is a different thing to forgive someone and to treat him as if the slate were wiped clean. 00:17:38.272 --> 00:17:43.532 Forgiveness in this sense does not mean that the slate is wiped clean. 00:17:43.532 --> 00:17:47.292 I'll give you a more concrete example to make this clearer. 00:17:47.292 --> 00:17:58.692 With regard to the punishment of crime, the godly prince, the sovereign, the authority, whatever you want to call him, has a duty to punish crime. 00:17:58.692 --> 00:18:16.652 And so if a man commits murder, yes, that man can be forgiven, and in fact, he must be forgiven by Christians, but he must also, in the sense of God has promised forgiveness if he repents, he must be forgiven as well in that sense. 00:18:16.652 --> 00:18:29.132 And so a man may very well go to the hangman, having repented, having been forgiven for his sins, having been forgiven by the Christians he harmed, and yet he still has to go to the hangman. 00:18:30.192 --> 00:18:33.152 Because the crime must be punished. 00:18:33.152 --> 00:18:38.992 It's not the exact thing thing about which we are talking today, but it is very similar. 00:18:38.992 --> 00:18:41.892 The analogy is very close. 00:18:41.892 --> 00:18:50.112 And so just because you have forgiven your enemy, does not mean that he ceases to be your enemy. 00:18:50.112 --> 00:18:57.012 Now, if he ceases to be your enemy, which is on him, not on you, because you can't do that for him. 00:18:57.872 --> 00:19:00.012 Again, this is the enemy getting a vote. 00:19:00.012 --> 00:19:03.412 He gets to decide if he is your enemy or not. 00:19:03.412 --> 00:19:10.152 And so if he ceases to be your enemy, and you forgive him, well, then he may very well become your friend. 00:19:10.152 --> 00:19:16.052 And perhaps with some weak enemies, that is, on the table, with strong enemies, it very seldom is. 00:19:16.052 --> 00:19:23.032