We often see "faithful" people hurting others. Many of the bitter rivalries in the world are fought out of intolerance of different views. A neighbor of ours had lived in the Bible Belt some time ago and observed how actively the different brands of Christianity oppose one another.

I hope the readers of Learning Love and Life live on a higher plane than that. The principles of love are incompatible with hatred, bigotry and a spirit of contention.

James cautioned, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."

Those are not the works of love. And pretending that one's hate is taught of and condoned by God is a mockery of religious faith. No one who treasures the word of God could twist it to such distorted meanings.

Violence isn't limited to guns and rocks, as we read in news from Beirut or Belfast. It's anywhere there is hate, prejudice, demeaning or taking advantage of another person. It's a place in the heart inside each one of us. To any extent that we look down on others for any reason, we shut ourselves out of the presence of God's love.

James describes the works of love: "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sewn in peace of them that make peace."

A reader from Germany asked me to address this topic. She had been dealing with a person who claimed to be Christian, but who didn’t treat others nicely. The gospel of Christ is above all the message of love.

Christ taught, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you," "Judge not that you be not judged," "If you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me, " and a new commandment to love one another. I'm convinced that we are no better than how we treat others.

In the next newsletter my wife Robin will share some of her thoughts on how our faith is manifest in the way we treat others. Each of us can look at how we deal with the person with whom we are least comfortable. Are our actions charitable? Or do we need to mend our own heart?

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