Have you ever heard of fighting fire with fire? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use water? Are you grieved at the hatred and anger that you see in the world around you? Do you want to do something about it? Yet have you seen people attempt to oppose hatred and anger with hatred and anger? Doesn’t this just serve to escalate the supply of these things? Doesn’t it make more sense to become the opposite of what you oppose? In that case you should become more loving to oppose hatred and anger. I wouldn’t have told you to overcome evil with good if it wasn’t the best way.

Do you think of empathy and compassion as the same thing? They are similar, but there is a difference. Empathy is a feeling. Compassion implies a response, and this is the term you find in the Bible. Have you ever heard of someone being moved with empathy? Yet you have heard of people being moved with compassion. Movement implies action, and you should take this connection seriously. If you encounter someone whose situation is so bad that you want to respond, let yourself be moved with compassion and do something to assist them.

Have you ever heard anyone say that they have been stabbed in the back, kicked in the guts, or are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders? You know that these are just metaphors, but each one refers to a physical bodily injury or burden. Have you ever felt physical pain from an emotional or spiritual wound? Your doctor may not be able to help you with this, but I can. Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

You know about domestic violence and child abuse. Do you think that spiritual abuse is also a problem? How many atheists do you know that didn’t come from a religious background? At the end of the day they made a choice, but could it have been influenced or provoked by believers and the way they practice their faith? If you ask these people why they left, would you expect them to say the practices and organizations they saw were too true to my example and the things I taught? The Bible refers to those because of whom the way of truth is evil spoken of. Don’t be one of them.