I overheard, recently, a Christian sister arguing that we should not judge others but love everyone, try to save everybody, and pray for everyone. This in response to a brother quoting John 17:9.
“I make request concerning them; I make request, not concerning the world, but concerning those you have given me; because they are yours.”
She was somewhat mistaken of course — pearls before swine and all that — and somewhat right — some fell on stony ground, some fell among thorns.
But is there a tendency among churches to deviate in the love-whoever-scares-you-most direction?
Look at this delicious beechnut in the Swedish State-made Bibel2000 — Daniel 2:18:
Och han uppmanade dem att bönfalla himlens Gud att visa barmhärtighet och låta dem veta hemligheten, så att inte han och hans kamrater och alla andra visa i Babylon skulle mista livet.
Translation from the Swedish above by me:
And he called upon them to suplicate the God of Heaven to show mercy and let them know the secret, so that he and his comrades and all the other wise in Babylon wouldn’t lose their lives.
Did Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah really pray for the sake of the other wise men in Babylon?