>>>I wonder if one can 'try' to love another person? <<<

Yes! Absolutely! I can! I have and I will again! One can try to see their point of view. One can look for their good points. One can say to one's self that hating this person is hurting me. It is helpful to think. "The next time I see this person I will smile." For me it is useful to first think of "love your enemies" as "stop blaming your enemies" and "stop dwelling on those who have trespassed against you." The love generally follows that it is not the love you have for someone close to you. It is the love you feel for humanity. I think some call it "agape" but I am not sure of that definition.

Before I became a Christian I spent a lot of time lying in bed when I should have been sleeping stewing over past wrongs. Following that advice "love your enemies" was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I don't think of it as a commandment. I think of it as a teaching. Not following it has at times led to misery on the part of some family members and friends as well as suicidal thoughts, and that I know of, the the completion of one suicide.

As Larry has said, it is a choice. Christianity is a way of dealing with the hardships of life. There are other ways. Some I would guess are more effective than others. But Christianity has been followed for more than 2 thousand years by more than 1 billion people. Most of them, even when partly departing from the teachings, even when there is abuse of powers among the clergy derive some good from it.

It is not up to me to judge what quality of a Christian anyone is. I would advise, based on my own experience, any one who questions that about themselves, to do what they think is right for themselves based on their own judgement of what Jesus said. The Vicar is just a middleman.

I would say, if asked, if you find yourself overburdened by guilt or hate or greed any of the negative emotions, try turning to Christ for help.

A lot of people, as I did, do that when they hit rock bottom. A lot of people have been helped.


As for turning the other cheek, it works surprisingly well when dealing with people who are angry when you don't know why they are angry. To reference recent news, It is much much better than shooting them dead when they throw popcorn in your face.