Currently a topic being spoken about a lot I've noticed is Love, and how it stands with judgement within the Church. So my question for you all is, what's your opinion? (Disclaimer: This is not to start an argument, just to see what people's opinions are and talk about it)

I know that for me, I feel that we're called to Love and not judge period. No matter the history, the sin, we're called to love a person. I believe that G-d loves us unconditionally, no matter what we may have said or done in the past. You can go to 1 Corinthians 13, aka the 'Love chapter,' and see that if we do not have love we are nothing. There faith, hope, and love-but the greatest of them is love. Because while you cannot have hope without faith, you cannot have faith without love. 1 John 4:19 says, 'We love him, because He first loved us.(KJV)' 

Do I think that there's judgement? Yes and no. It says that there is in His Word, but I also think that his love for us is greater than any judgement that He may have towards us. 

We all know of John 3:16,  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(KJV)", but what I think people tend to forget about it the verse after there, which is just as important as the one before. 

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.(KJV)"

So what are your opinions?

I don't know what to say about this, accept that I agree with you.  My husband taught me that lesson very well. When we first met, I had made some bad decisions.  I told him that he would not love me because of how heinous my past was.  He simply told me that the past was just that.. the past.  He would not judge me for it and he would love me as Christ has instructed.

I think your post points out something very beautiful, and something that a lot of Christians struggle with today. They harbour a lot of disdain for others, without realizing the distinction between hating a person for their sin... and hating the sin itself.  The fact that they can't make the distinguishment is a huge part of the reason society tends to view Christians as 'homophobes' for example.  They think Christians hate homosexuals, when really, it's the sin the Christians should be hating.... not the person committing the sin.

Sincerely_Chris :

For one, it's one of the most overused and abused words in this country.

It seems that so long it's "love" it's acceptable. Irregardless of what it may be.

And yeah, Christians (I'm not one of those) are supposed to hate homosexuals, they say, (don't ask me, but I counselled one, got him to be a Christian too, though he was only lightly bi.)

My biggest problem with love, is, it doesn't matter with Sexual deviants that there bodies and minds are not made to do that. It's love= it's okay. Sounds like the excuse for every failed relationship I've heard about. Too much heart, and not enough head.

I think that we are allowed to hate people, since Jesus and God have both hated individuals in the Bible, particularly Esau, and the Nicoleatans (though he may not exactly mean that).
I think that we are supposed to focus on the sin more though and not the person. I know that I would hate anyone who tried to kill me or my family, and I'll use that hate and anger + adrenaline to kill them first. I don't really hate homosexuals though, just the people who aren't gay but think that they're so smart by defending one of the biggest glitches in the system ever come to surface. Really?

I never hold onto anger for more than a day, it's just pointless at that point, and it's not good for your health.

Love is so important in Christian living. What the word love means for real is a very foreign concept to so many people. In the Greek, there are four kinds of words for the word love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_words_for_love

These are a pretty good base, but I always prefer Hebrew words rather than Greek. (I also really like Japanese words and Chinese words a lot)

But Hebrew,

Man!

There is sooooo, sooooo, much going on here that it is over my mind! I might have to study it all day now!

I may have to come back to you on that one!  But it is a very important concept in ancient Hebrew culture, coming straight from the Almighty.

One of the core commandments of Judaism is "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), sometimes called the Great Commandment. This commandment stands at the center of the central book in the Torah, as Jesus (Yeshua) also told us in the New Testament.

Love is central to Christian and peaceful living, it energizes us and keeps us fullfilled, use anger where appropriate and hate evil, but do not stay there, keep moving forward, and heal the world, as, that is our purpose in ancient Jewish thinking. I recommend people try it actually, it's nice to live you life spirit filled rather than brimming with resentment. ^^'

Love that the Bible speak of is the REAL kind of love.  "I will lay down my life for you" kind of love.  Lord Jesus Christ has shown that love to all.  There is no greater love.  John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (NIV)
So where does judgement fit in the Church?  We can never judge a person's salvation.  In other words, we cannot and should not judge a person whether he / she is saved, but we can judge the fruit.  What do I mean by this?  If a person claim he / she is a true Christian, in other words that they have repented (turned away) from their sinful lifestyle (swearing, blaspheming, lying, stealing, fornication, pornography etc.) and believed and confessed that Jesus Christ is the Lord of their life and that He has died for their sins on the cross and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day (sorry for the mouthful), then we cannot judge that person.  That person has been saved from eternal Hell by the Lord Jesus Christ and that is that.  A person who is truly surrendered to Christ will receive the Holy Spirit and will be a changed person.  Such a person will show the "fruits of the Spirit".  Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..."  If a person's life is constantly in conflict with these attributes, then it is easy to judge whether or not a person is a true Christian.  It is then because of love for such a person, that the Church should rebuke / reprimand them to bring them back on the right road.  Like a good father disciplines his naughty kid, because he knows what's good for his child and he knows that if his kid does it again he/she will get hurt.  Same thing applies to love and judgement in the Church.

Sword legion : I think your approach differs from most of my country's.  In the United States, "Love" is such a flexible word.  It has so many meanings, can be used for almost anything, and it is meant to be fluid, to be used by anyone to mean anything.

I love my wife.
I love eating tacos.
I love reading a book in the sunshine.
I love God.

Those all have different meanings and they should.  Love is too big a word and encompasses too much to be given a narrow definition.  Something like the verb "to sprint" only means one thing.  It's going very fast for a short period of time.

God, however, gives humans the ability to love and allows us to show it by all the various uses it has.

I may love tacos differently than how Jesus loved mankind.  But neither take away from the other.

I think that Christians are supposed to love everyone, just as God loves everyone, even the sinner. Loving a person is different from liking them, so I think we can dislike people for certain reasons as long as we love them. You know, it goes back to the whole God made everyone perfect and loves all of them and wants a relationship with everyone thing. As Christians, we strive to be as much like God as we possibly can (Christian literally means little Christ). As an example, we can look at the homosexual community. Are they sinners? Yes, of course. Should we hate them? Absolutely not. You can love someone without necessarily liking or approving of their lifestyle. If we are striving every day to be more like God, then we need to love everyone. It's one of the basic principles of Christianity.

In summary, love the sinner, not the sin.

SoL@R : I was going to say something like this, but you said it all for me!

FaithFighter :  This scripture just came to mind - Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)