How to Relate to Strangers, Aliens and Enemies

This is one of several pages that report God’s expectations about how his people relate to others. Readers who would like more background on these pages can learn more by clicking on Kinder, Gentler Strategies for Healing Division and Achieving Social Unity: Overview

Other pages in this series include the following:

 

One fact that most Americans agree about is that the nation is divided. Most Americans think that politicians need to do the hard work of unifying the nation because their policies caused the division. This is wrong thinking that effectively excuses everyone else from their personal responsibility to heal the divisions they have caused.

Many sincere, well-meaning people have suggested strategies by which the nation can be united, but those strategies lack specific attitudes and behaviors that anyone, great and small, can apply in their daily lives. It is not surprising, therefore, that divisions not only remain but seem to expand noticeably every day. 

It should not be surprising that God cares deeply about these divisions and knows the remedies for healing. People who are inclined to read the bible may have recognized some of them there. Everyone else can read them in the list below and on other pages in this series. 

It is not necessary to believe in God, read the bible, or to be religious to practice these doable, common sense, strategies. Anyone who reads them will understand immediately that they are practical, common sense strategies for extending good will toward all people in all cultures. 

When God said that his people should love one another, he had the following principles in mind. They are simple, doable, and not burdensome. They are presented here for the convenience of anyone  who wants to be part of the solution instead of contributing to division.

HOW TO RELATE TO STRANGERS, ALIENS AND ENEMIES
  • Do not wrong strangers or oppress them.
  • Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
  • Love your enemies.
  • Do good to those who hate you.
  • Do not turn aside the alien.
  • Show love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.
  • Support the fatherless and the widows.
  • The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.
  • Vindicate the orphan and the oppressed.
  • Protect strangers. Support the fatherless and the widows
  • Be a stronghold for the oppressed in times of trouble.
  • Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.
  • Love and care for your neighbor the same way you love and care for yourself.
  • Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.
  • Do not take vengeance, or bear grudges against others.
  • Pure and undefiled religion is this: visit orphans and widows in their distress.
  • Provide for the alien, the orphan and the widow so they can eat and be satisfied.
  • Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
  • IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK.
  • Do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow.
  • Do not despise little children so that any of them perish.

  • Proverbs 24:11-12 Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?

  • Luke 6: 35 Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.