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Liz and I finished season 2 of the West Wing the other day. It was excellent! It really is one of, if not the geratest show ever made.
Find below my selection of the top 20 quotes from season 2. In the comments section make sure you say which one is your favourite and why!
Enjoy.
1/Man: Governor Bartlet, when you were a member of Congress, you voted against the New England Dairy Farming Compact. That vote hurt me sir. I’m a businessman. That vote hurt me to the tune of maybe, 10 cents a gallon. I voted for you three times for Congress. I voted for you twice for Governor. And I’m here sir, and I’d like to ask you for an explanation.
Bartlet: [pause] Yeah, I screwed you on that one.
Man: I’m sorry?
Bartlet: I screwed you. You got hosed.
Man: Sir, I…
Bartlet: And not just you. A lot of my constituents. I put the hammer to farms in Concord, Salem, Laconia, and Pelham. You guys got rogered but good. Today, for the first time in history, one in five Americans living in poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, backbreaking, gut wrenching, poverty, one in five, and they’re children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says ‘We shall give our children better than we ourselves had.’ I voted against the bill ’cause I didn’t want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else. Thanks very much. Hope you enjoyed the chicken.
2/ Margaret: I can sign the President’s name. I have his signature down pretty good.
Leo: You can sign the President’s name?
Margaret: Yeah.
Leo: On a document removing him from power and handing it to someone else?
Margaret: Yeah! Or… do you think the White House Counsel would say that was a bad idea?
Leo: I think the White House Counsel would say it was a coup d’etat!
Margaret: Well. I’d probably end up doing some time for that.
Leo: I would think… And what the hell were you doing practicing the President’s signature?
Margaret: It was just for fun.
Leo: We’ve got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret vetoeing things and sending them back to the Hill.
3/ Bartlet: I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.
4/ Abbey: Okay, I’m going to the bathroom, where I am gonna change into a special little garment I think you might enjoy.
Bartlet: Abbey, you have two minutes, or I swear to God I’m gonna get Mrs. Landingham drunk.
5/ TV Moderator: “Ainsley Hayes, is that true?”
Ainsley: “No, it’s not.”
TV Moderator: “Is Sam Seaborn lying?”
Ainsley: “Lying’s an awfully strong word… yes, he’s lying. And we should tell the truth about education. The bill contained plenty of money for new textbooks – also, computer literacy, school safety, physical plant. The difference is we wanted to give the money directly to communities, and let them decide how best to spend it… on the off chance that the needs of Lincoln High in Dayton are different than the needs of Crenshaw High in South Central L.A. The bill contained plenty of money for textbooks, Mark, and anyone who says otherwise is flat-out lying. And we should tell the truth about this… textbooks are important, if for no other reason than they accurately place the town of Kirkwood in California and not in Oregon.”
Sam (during break): “Please oh please, let them not be watching.”
Josh: “Toby, come quick – Sam’s getting his ass kicked by a girl!”
Toby: “Ginger, get the popcorn…”
6/ Bartlet: The Assistant Energy Secretary is flying to Portland in the middle of the night so he can meet with me on Air Force One on the way back?
Charlie: Yes sir.
Bartlet: The day-to-day experience of my life has changed in many ways since taking this job.
7/ Bernard: [to C.J.] The President, on a visit to the gallery, and possessing even less taste in fine art than you have in accessories, announced that he liked the painting. The French government offered it as a gift to the White House. I suppose in retribution for EuroDisney. So there it hangs, like a gym sock on a shower rod.
8/ Sam: Over three and a half centuries ago, linked by faith and bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs… and solve crimes.
Toby: Sam…
Sam: It’d be good. By day, they churn butter and worship according to their own beliefs, and by night they solve crimes.
Toby: Read the thing.
Sam: Pilgrim detectives.
Toby: Do you see me laughing?
Sam: I think you’re laughing on the inside.
Toby: Okay.
Sam: With the big hats.
Toby: Give me the speech.
C.J.: Every time we come up on a holiday, you guys check out like seniors who are done with finals.
Toby: We are writing a very important Thanksgiving proclamation.
Sam: And possibly a new action-adventure series.
Toby: Nobody here has checked out…
[Josh enters] Josh: Hey, I was just flipping a nickel in my office. Sixteen times in a row, it came out tails.
9/ Danny: Are you being punished?
CJ: I’m not being punished, I’m going on the trip.
Danny: If the whole bus goes off the record, will you tell us why you’re going on the trip?
CJ: I made fun of Notre Dame.
10/ Morton: I’m dropping off the turkeys… Where should I put ‘em?
Josh: CJ’s office… I’d definitely put them in CJ’s office.
Toby: Good idea.
11/ CJ: I need you to pardon a turkey.
Bartlet: I already pardoned a turkey… aren’t I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?
12/ Bartlet: Damn it! How the hell did it happen?
Leo: It was bad intelligence, sir.
Bartlet: You think?
Leo: Ferente left behind a radio and a soldier at the outpost. And they were deliberately sending us misinformation.
Bartlet: We never anticipated they somebody might try that? We weren’t prepared for someone to try and outfox us with a stratagem so sophisticated it’s an entire generation behind “Hey look, your shoelaces are untied!?” Is that how I just lost nine guys, to a damn street gang with a ham radio!?
13/ Sam: I came down here to tell you…
Ainsley: Oh dance with me, Sam!
…
Bartlet: I never even knew we had a nightclub down here…
Ainsley: Oh, my gosh!
Sam: Mr. President, I don’t believe you’ve met Ainsley Hayes.
Bartlet: Yeah Ainsley, I wanted to say hello and to you know…mention ‘a lot of people assumed you were hired because you’re a blonde, republican sex kitten’ and well, they’re obviously wrong. Keep up the good work.
Ainsley: Yes, sir. …
Sam: That could have been worse… No, probably not.
14/ Margaret (to the Surgeon General): Red meat has been found to cause cancer in white rats. Maraschino cherries have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Cellular phones have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Has anyone examined the possibility that cancer might be hereditary in white rats?
15/ Toby: He calls you and me the Batman and Robin of speech-writing… We’re Batman and Robin!
Sam: Which one’s which?
Toby: Look at me, Sam. Am I Robin?
Sam: I’m not Robin.
Toby: Yes, you are.
Sam: Okay, well, let’s move off this.
Toby: You bet, little friend.
16/ Leo: [to Josh] This guy’s walking down a street, when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up “Hey you! Can you help me out?” The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up “Father, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. “Hey Joe, it’s me, can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole! Our guy says “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here!” and the friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.” As long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand me?
17/ Sam: They have bathrobes at the gym?
C.J.: In the women’s locker room.
Sam: But not the men’s.
CJ: Yeah.
Sam: Now, that’s outrageous. There’s a thousand men working here and fifty women…
CJ: Yeah, and it’s the bathrobes that’s outrageous.
18/ Bartlet: [on Babish] He looks down his nose at me ’cause I’m not a lawyer.
Leo: Yes.
Bartlet: I didn’t go to law school. I got a PhD in economics instead.
Leo: Your parents were very proud.
Bartlet: Yeah, and all that happened was I won a Nobel Prize and got elected President so I guess that decision didn’t really pay off.
Leo: Yeah.
Bartlet: Should I run back and get my Nobel Prize?
Leo: I think he knows you’ve got one.
19/ Mrs. Landingham: You know I could beat you up anytime I want, sir.
Bartlet: Secret Service would have you down like a calf at a rodeo.
20/ Bartlet: [standing in the National Cathedral smoking a cigarette, and talking to God about Mrs. Landingham] You’re a son-of-a-bitch, you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny? “You can’t conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,” says Graham Greene. I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there ’cause I think you’re just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours except praise his glory and praise his name? There’s a tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year, 68 crew. Do you know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn’t even carry guns, just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers the mail, that’s all it can do. Gratias tibi ago, domine (I give thanks to you, O Lord). Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I’ve committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn’t good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we’re not fighting a war, I’ve raised three children… that’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem! Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem! (Am I to believe those were the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with your punishments! I was your servant on Earth – I spread Your word and did Your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you) You get Hoynes!
Photo: Jane W
I have posted previously on the Big Issue and why every Christian (indeed every person) should buy the big issue.
You can read that post here
Anyway here is a video that I came across recently, I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy.
Its now time for our weekly segment here at Micaiah Sells Out called:
“4 quick questions and 1 strange one with…”
Our next ”4 Quick Questions and 1 Strange one with…” is with Alison Moffitt. Alison works for Anglicare collecting and analysing demographic information to find areas of need and help with strategic planning (read more about that below). Alison is lively and vivacious and is also known by hundreds of people as “Spally” or Spal (the roots of which and reason for I think are lost in time). Alison has a great for heart for cross cultural ministry as well as international student ministry. Alison is also the author of Ακροκορινθος and is a guest contributer to absurdity of absurdities. Alison attends St John’s Anglican Church in Ashfield and is married to Matthew Moffitt.
Alison and her husband Matthew
1/ You work for Anglicare? What do you do with them?
I work for the policy unit, which is a small team responsible for writing policy and doing research to support all the work that Anglicare does. We also do research to support mission in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, and to support the National Church Life Survey (NCLS), 
which is an interdenominational research organisation that supports a range of churches in Australia.
I particularly focus on gathering information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and other government departments and organisations that provide demographic data online. Then I get to represent data in a whole lot of fun and fantastic ways, including maps (fun and fantastic) charts/graphs (somewhat fun and fantastic) and tables (more boring than fantastic). The demographic data I collect and analyse is used to identify areas of need in Sydney, to assist in strategic planning both in Anglicare and in the wider church, to evaluate projects, and to help Anglicare apply for tenders.
2/ What do you see as the main demographic trends in Sydney?
Here are a few that have stood out to me from my research with Anglicare:
- The population is getting older
There is increasing religious diversity, with more and more migrants coming from non Christian countries- There is rapid clustering of immigrants on humanitarian visas in west and south west Sydney, particularly migrants from Iraq and Sudan
- Middle income families are flying to fringe suburban areas where larger houses are cheaper, particularly in the north west, west and south west
- Sydney’s multicultural communities are clustered to form an arc that reaches from Hurstville in the south, then north west to Parramatta and then west and south west to incorporate the area from Blacktown to Liverpool (try tracing that out in your street directory)
- Areas with low median family incomes (earning less than $1000 a week) are clustered in pretty much the same pattern
3/ How can the church respond well to these trends?
Most of these trends concern populations that the church is already struggling to reach out to. Elderly people or refugees who don’t speak English don’t come streaming through our church doors on Sunday. A good place for the church to start responding is to realise that if it going to minister to elderly people, persons from non Christian countries, newly arrived refugees and low income families, it needs to take more initiative in reaching out.
Two people groups that I think the church can definitely do more for are the ageing population and refugees.
Sydney’s ageing culture is something like this. People get old, and they realise that they won’t be able to live independently forever. If they are asset rich, they sell their home and move to a trendy retirement village. If they are not, the stay where they are and struggle until they HAVE to move. Then they go to a hostel or nursing home, where they live until they die. To pay for the fees they must sell their family home. If they don’t own their home, they have to find money from elsewhere, or go to a very poor quality nursing home where they can pay fees with their pension.
As far as I can tell, churches are doing alright at caring for elderly people in nursing homes, but Christians need to be doing more to ensure that quality care for elderly people is available to all, not just people who can afford it. The church needs to model what it means to care for people regardless of their personal resources, by caring for all elderly people, in all sorts of aged care facilities and from all kinds of cultural backgrounds.
Regarding refugees, I think the church can do much much more to serve this people group. Refugees come to Australia having gone through trauma that we can’t even imagine, and are then expected to negotiate their way through a foreign culture. However most of the people helping them are persons employed by the government or not for profit community organisations. A large number of these migrants are Christians, yet the Australian church largely ignores them. We find it daunting to care for people who have such complex social and psychological needs, but I don’t think that is justification for us to do nothing. Churches need to be bold, to take strength from the Spirit and show God’s love to newly arrived refugees, whether it be by setting up formal programs to counsel and assist migrants, or just to make en effort to meet, befriend and help people who are struggling to settle in Australia.
4/ What can individual Christians do to respond to this? How can we take initiative in our own church community?
Does your church reflect your suburb?
Firstly, we each need to reflect on the culture of our church and the cultures of the people that we want to reach out to. Are there any serious discrepancies? Do you go to a church full of wealthy aspirational types in an area where many people live in state housing, or earn low wages? Do you go to a church full of white people in an area where most of the population has migrated from a non English speaking country? Talk to your brothers and sisters at church and get people thinking about these issues.
Secondly, we need to work out who the people are that we should be ministering to. This can be as simple as walking through the neighbourhood and looking. It can involve investigating some data for yourself. The ABS has a free service called CData which lets you view a range census data in any area that you choose. You can access it here:
http://www.abs.gov.au/CDATAOnline.
Also try checking out your local council websites, they normally have information on who lives in the area.
Thirdly, talk to your leaders at church. It might be that your pastor or minister has already started thinking about reaching out to people in your area – be the person who encourages them. Encourage your leaders to engage with resources put out by the ABS, local councils and community groups. NCLS produces a resource called the Community Social Profile, where your church can nominate a location and the research team will produce a customised profile of the community within 5km of that point. Encourage your pastor or minister to look into the resources that NCLS provides. If you are going to talk about the challenges of demographic trends, you should be prepared to support your leaders when they take these challenges seriously. Pray and offer to be involved in new ministries.
5/ “Geography can be so much more than the simple learning of facts that will impress friends at the local quiz night.” This is a quote from the Geography Teachers Association of Australia.
Do you know any facts that would impress us?
Well Australia is the second driest continent on the planet, and over 2000 migrants from mainland China have settled in Hurstville in the last 5 years. Also there are lots of Presbyterians in Ashfield. Check out my map:
Number of Presbyterians affiliated with the Presbyterian Church by Suburb
Fabian Cancellara is without doubt the world’s strongest time trial cyclist. He is just imposible to beat in a TT. Especially if there is a significant down hill portion, Cancellara flies down a hill like he has nine lives.
Fabian Cancellara. The man is unstoppable in a time trial! (Photo: Getty)
This year at the world cycling championships in Switzerland Cancellara has won the Time Trial race. This means he is the new Time Trial champion and gets to wear the rainbow jersey for all time trial events in other races, like le Tour de France.
He won the race with an average speed of 51km/h over the 49.8km course.
Gustav Larsson of Sweden finished a distant second to take the silver medal while Germany’s Tony Martin finished third for the bronze.
Ok, so ALDI have specials every fortnight that are based around a theme, e.g. power-tools, plants or children.
This fortnight at our local ALDI the theme is: camping!
I kid you not. They are selling portable toilets!
Port-A-Loos!
Portable Toilet - 20L. Available at all good ALDI stores...
And they say you can’t get all you need when you shop at ALDI!
Ha!
I love ALDI
What happens when we get lazy with fighting sin in our lives? When we start to change our thinking about a particular sin, making it increasingly acceptable? What happens if we just keep indulging in a sin instead of daily fighting against it?
I don’t know about you but these are questions that regularly bounce around in my mind and in my heart.
Owen talks about this in the mortification of sin, and unsurprisingly has some commanding words to say:
John Owen
Where sin, through the neglect of mortification, gets a considerable victory, it breaks the bones of the soul (Ps. 31:10, 51:8) and makes a man sick, weak and ready to die (Ps. 38:3-5), so that he cannot look up (Ps. 40:12, Isa. 33:24); and when poor creatures will take blow after blow, wound after wound, foil after foil, and never rouse up themselves to a vigorous opposition, can they expect anything but to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? And that their souls should bleed to death (2 John 8)?
Owen states that not mortifying our sin leads to a hardening of heart. He talks about people he knows who were: “humble, melting, broken hearted Christians, tender and fearful to offend, zealous for God and all his ways” who become hardened by not mortifying their sins. Maybe you know someone like this? I know I do. I also know that I become more harsh towards other Christians and the Church, impatient and rude in times when I am being lazy with personal holiness.
This warning from Owen is one for me as well as anyone else who wants to grow in holiness and the fruit of the Spirit.
These are some photos that I took from my balcony at 6am in the morning…
yes, thats right… 6am!
You gotta love camera phones…
You can usually see the Meadowbank playing fields...
On the train this morning there were so many people with masks on! Made me feel like Swine Flu was back in fashion!
They say this is a once in a lifetime event! Cool. Thats one less thing in my lifetime I need to do before I die!
“Elderly homelessness remains one of the most tragic & inexcusable faults of our society that, at the time of their life when they are most vulnerable, elderly homeless men & women can expect little or no support, sympathy or services (Lipmann, 2006:274).
Sydney is a city that is comparable saturated in services for the homeless. Moreover, a Federal program to reduce homelessness and a mayor who has set ambitious targets to end chronic homelessness also supports the city’s homeless population. However elderly men and women who are homeless are being left behind 21% of the current homeless population are over the age of 55 (up from 14% in 2001) - this is a sobering statistic when you realise that people age much quicker when living on the streets. Moreover 59% of the increase in homeless numbers over the past 8 years has been people over the age of 55! The current homeless services that exist are ill equipped to meet the manifold needs of men and women who are both older and homeless. One classic example of this is the Matthew Talbot hostel, an accommodation service, which indirectly serves elderly homeless men, but is realistically nothing more than a bed and a warm meal. Men who need higher medical attention because of the health issues that come with old age are not being treated. Plus, nursing homes are often too expensive and/or don’t meet the specific needs of people who have been long term homeless.
There are however, two specific services that are aged care facilities for the homeless in Sydney. Mission Australia runs one called Charles Chambers Court and the St Vincent de Paul society runs one called Vincentian Village. However, as is the classic case in Social Work, there is significantly more demand than supply; and with the most recent City of Sydney street count showing a 13% increase in the numbers of homeless men and women in Sydney it is unlikely that this situation will change any time soon.
As part of the Federal Government’s White Paper on Homelessness “Which Way Home?” the Rudd government has committed to building one aged care facility specifically for the homeless every year for the next four years. That’s four facilities in Sydney. It’s a good start, but as our population ages and the recession continues to swell the number of homeless men and women we can’t afford to continue forgetting about the elderly homeless population.
The numbers of youth homelessness have thankfully reduced significantly. The number of 12-18 year olds has gone down by 16% and the number of 18-24 year olds has only slightly increased by 4% (compared to an increase of 36% of homeless men and women aged between 55 and 64). These results show that targeting a specific demographic will yield results. We have had great gains in the area of youth homelessness – and we should celebrate that, but we can’t forget the elderly homeless. We can’t let them continue to be the hidden homeless.
-This was taken out of an assignment that I am currently doing on elderly homelessness with some other students in my class.
The mortification of sin is not solely to be done by our own efforts and strategies. We don’t one day wake up and decide to become more holy then through the decisions we make throughout the day reject sin. It’s not at all how it works, rather because of the fall we are always more inclined to sin and rebel than to work for holiness. Yet God, who is good, has given us a new nature, with a new heart, that desires holiness, and to aid us in this and to do this work he has given us his Spirit of holiness. This therefore means that as a Christian you always have two forces waring against each other in your body. Paul talks about it as Law of the mind and Law of the members, or the desires of the flesh and the desires of the spirit! Our sin is constantly at war with us to make us rebel against God, but the Spirit fights sin and sanctifies us.
.
So what do we do in all this? Does this make you feel like the main guy in transformers just standing idly by why Megatron and Optimus Prime battle it out? Just standing there hoping that Optimus wins?
.
Well hear these words of Owen on this issue:
John Owen
“Now this is, first, the most unjust and unreasonable thing in the world, when two combatants are engaged, to bind one and keep him from doing his utmost and to leave the other at liberty to wound him at his pleasure; and secondly, the most foolish thing in the world to bind him who fights for our eternal condition and to let him alone who seeks and violently attempts our everlasting ruin. The contest is for our lives and souls. Not to be daily employing the Spirit and the new nature for the mortifying of sin is to neglect that excellent assistance which God has given us against our greatest enemy. If we neglect to make use of what we have freely received, God may justly hold his hand from giving us more. His graces, as well as his gifts, are bestowed on us to use, exercise and trade with. Not to be daily mortifying sin is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace and love of God who has furnished us with a principle of doing it”
Let us daily mortify the sins in our body. Let us work with the Spirit as he renews our heart and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. May we not hinder the work of the Spirit by indulging in the passions of the flesh or our lustful desires. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, let us fight with him and not foolishly against him. May we use, exercise and trade with the gifts and graces that God has given us.
Amen.
At the church I go to my minister has been preaching a series on 1 John. 1 John is a lot about love, in fact, John just keeps repeating his point over and over again. But is it really possible to love everyone? What about those people who you just don’t like! You know who they are… they get on your nerves, it might not be their fault (though it probably is) but you just dislike them!
Well as Peter was preaching on Sunday night he hi-lighted for me a very important distinction to keep in mind when reading books like 1 John:
LIKE does not equal LOVE
There will always be people that for whatever reason you don’t really like them, maybe your personalities don’t click, maybe they hold views that bug you, maybe they’re just too goofy for your tastes. Whatever it is, it is fine. The bible never says you need to like people. Instead it says you need to LOVE people.
Loving people is about looking past the things that annoy you, looking past their views/goofyness/faults and seeing that they are made in the image of God and are dearly loved by him. Liking someone depends on how you’re feeling and what they are currently doing. Loving someone is based in God’s love, it is not a slave of moods or personalities, rather it is steady and immovable as it rises above all these things.
Just think about it… Do you think God liked you when he sent his son to atone for your sins?
I don’t know the answer to that (I’m not God) but my guess is that he didn’t like my rebellion, pride, sin, gossiping, lying etc etc.
God instead looked past these things and loved us by action (not in words or tongues): “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” 3:16.
Thus we can indeed love people, even if we don’t like them. What renewed vision this gives us to follow the instructions of John:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12)
