# Was Jesus the only one who said "Love your enemies"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814 "2006-04-08T02:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Capt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/1 "2006-04-08T02:32:32Z")
Was Jesus the only one who said “love your enemies”? Have any other major religious leaders/philosophers east or west said this before him? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/2 "2006-04-08T02:39:53Z")
> [@Capt](#): > > Was Jesus the only one who said “love your enemies”? > > Have any other major religious leaders/philosophers east or west said this before him? Well, supposedly Sun Tzu said “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” but I’m not sure he was thinking along the same lines. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/3 "2006-04-08T02:40:48Z")
> [@Capt](#): > > Was Jesus the only one who said “love your enemies”? > > Have any other major religious leaders/philosophers east or west said this before him? Confucious taught a parable about a man who stole his cloak. He said he wished he was able, and he would give the thief the moon also. Similar concept. 'Cept 'fucious didn’t die for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/4 "2006-04-08T03:12:53Z")
I believe Ron Jeremy said it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/5 "2006-04-08T03:16:19Z")
Here’s a website that reflects on the phrase “love your enemies” as seen thru a variety of religions: [http://www.unification.net/ws/theme144.htm](http://www.unification.net/ws/theme144.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/6 "2006-04-08T03:22:17Z")
Well, that’s the first time I used the Unification church as a cite! But it does show that Buddhism pretty clearly has said “love your enemy” and that it is implied in the writings of judaism, jainism, the hindus, and others. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/7 "2006-04-08T03:31:18Z")
Buddha said something along the lines of “Hatred can never be defeated by hatred but only by love.” I also remember some kind of Buddhist saying about how people should be like the sun, shining on everybody equally without regard to whether they are good or bad. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/8 "2006-04-08T03:39:53Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Buddha said something along the lines of “Hatred can never be defeated by hatred but only by love.” > > I also remember some kind of Buddhist saying about how people should be like the sun, shining on everybody equally without regard to whether they are good or bad. And I see that both of these sayings are cited in **QtM’s** link. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/9 "2006-04-08T04:21:01Z")
I can’t find a cite right now, but I believe that a similar sentiment was said in Greek philosphy, by either Socrates or Aristotle quoting him. This would have been a few hundred years before Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Capt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Capt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/10 "2006-04-08T07:00:05Z")
Thanks a lot for the quick response. It’s amazing that so many people had said this. I am actually looking for the beginning of humanitarianism. Would it be fair to attribute the spread of humanitarianism to Christianity? At least in the west? Because I thought almost all religions before Christianity (at least in the west)had severe gods that basically only punish people. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-the-only-one-who-said-love-your-enemies/351814/11 "2006-04-08T07:58:07Z")
> [@Capt](#): > > Would it be fair to attribute the spread of humanitarianism to Christianity? At least in the west? > > Because I thought almost all religions before Christianity (at least in the west)had severe gods that basically only punish people. No, I wouldn’t say that is fair at all! I’d say the civilization in Ancient Greece was far more humanitarian than the first 1500-1700 years of Christianity. And they had lots of Gods, including some like Venus, Goddess of love, and Cupid, who were not the punishing type. And the Christian God does a whole lot of punishing, too. Look at much of the Old Testament. Or look at the Holy Inquisition or Witch-Burnings promoted by Christians. Pretty severe God there. Im afraid you’re letting your desire to give credit to Christianity color your take on this.