“Love thy neighbor as thyself”

​“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “This is the first and great commandment. “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39).

​Love thy neighbour, too, albeit he might be of a different religion. You think you are the church that is nearest to the truth, and those who worship as you do will certainly be saved. Your neighbour thinks  differently. His religion you think unsound and untrue; love him, for all that. Don’t let the differences separate him from you. Perhaps he may be right, or he may be wrong; he will be the rightest in practice who loves the most. Possibly he has no religion at all. He disregards your God; he breaks the Sabbath; he is confessedly an atheist; love him still. Hard words will not convert him, hard deeds will not make him a Christian. Love him straight on; his sin is not against you, but against your God. Your God takes vengeance for sins committed against himself, so leave him in God's hands. Love thy neighbour, despite differences in religion.

Charles Spurgeon

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