Is loving the world a sin?

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James 4:4 says: You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 says: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

So i have a list of my most important things and beings or things and beings that i love the most in life and things and beings from this world are on it. The list goes something like this:
1.God
2.1. parents + love
2.2. close relatives + close friends
2.3 not so close relatives + other people that are not excatly “friends” with the friend word meaning someone very close
3.other people
4.animals
5.boxing
6.studying world history
7.music,tv,games and that kind of stuff
8.football(soccer)
9.basketball

Notice that after 4th place every thing is material and i also noticed that after 1st place everything is “from the world”. So to conclude most things on this list are from this world. But loving people,parents,… obviously isn’t wrong. What about loving things after 4th place that are pure materialistic i believe. Because even tough they are below the living beings i still value them pretty high. TV and music are almost always in my day. So am i doing something wrong because i love the things of the world and even the world?
 
I don’t know. I too love the world- Nature (God’s creations), Life, people (most of the time 😛 )
I hope that doesn’t count because all of this was made by God and I love the things that God made. I wonder if the things that God made are part of loving this world?

Good question! I hope someone can answer it. I’m sorry, I didn’t really answer your question. :]
 
Thanks for this posting. It’s given me pause to consider the basics, as we go about living in this world and love God.
My list goes like this:
  1. Self
  2. Wife
  3. Playing with my son
  4. Being with my children…
  5. Parents, my brothers/sister
  6. My coworker
  7. My clients
  8. Quiet moments in nature, especially by the sea
  9. Music
  10. Playing with kids
  11. Time with a great cup of coffee
I think your question and dilemma connects well with the issue of our embodiment and the question of dualism (which is really characteristic of Greek Christian writers, my study tells me). But I tend to embrace the notion of ourselves as embodied spirits, and it is not about God sanctifying both body and soul, as though they were separate entities, but the human being who is an embodied spirit. (Though the terminology gives precedent to the sense of human beings as being spirit, even if embodied.)
Then, I believe in God’s presence in this world, as He made the world and continually infuses or sustains it with life and goodness.
I will still maintain God’s transcendence, as not being of this world.
Then, there are things in this world that lead us closer to God (the Bible we’re able to hold and read and bring with us), and those that lead us astray. (And the presence of evil things, I am somehow able to make sense of, as good things that are abused.)
 
I agree with the part about the Greek viewpoint being an influence, and would add that what we mainly want to avoid are excessive attachments to the things of this world which, if left unchecked, could over time grow to become idolatrous.

It’s difficult - I don’t have any immediate family but I love my pets and my creative pursuits a lot, and I’ve questioned myself and prayed about that. I just have to ask God to help me realize all the good things come from Him and to help me keep a balanced attitude.
 
I think everything in the world we are living in, the material things included, are important, everythings counts- and this is important! Because we define ourself in the way we handle the things and situations in our life, we are defined trough the relationships to our spouses, kids, friends, pets, and our environment gives us the opportunity to live a good life and please god or to choose the sin. This separation, which is a chance and a hard test for the good, is important for our faith.
The Bible tells us (this is my opinion) to not chain our hearts on material things or in a way too much on other people, because this can break away, only our relation to god is everlasting. This is a protection for our soul, that we sould find our peace in god, not the world, but for me this doesn´t mean that we all should abstain from the things we like and love. 🙂
 
I think loving the world is loving the bad things that world is offering to us (gluttony,orgies,greed,…).

Also 1 John 2:15-16 says: 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

I think this verse tells us that loving and indulging in worldy bad pleasures is a sin. I do not believe loving the nature, family, watching tv or anything simmiliar is a sin.

Also read this article: gotquestions.org/do-not-love-the-world.html
 
Timi_Celcer said:
James 4:4 says: You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 says: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

So i have a list of my most important things and beings or things and beings that i love the most in life and things and beings from this world are on it. The list goes something like this:
1.God
2.1. parents + love
2.2. close relatives + close friends
2.3 not so close relatives + other people that are not excatly “friends” with the friend word meaning someone very close
3.other people
4.animals
5.boxing
6.studying world history
7.music,tv,games and that kind of stuff
8.football(soccer)
9.basketball

Notice that after 4th place every thing is material and i also noticed that after 1st place everything is “from the world”. So to conclude most things on this list are from this world. But loving people,parents,… obviously isn’t wrong. What about loving things after 4th place that are pure materialistic i believe. Because even tough they are below the living beings i still value them pretty high. TV and music are almost always in my day. So am i doing something wrong because i love the things of the world and even the world?
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It simply means you should love God above all things, and not that you can’t love anybody else.

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

James 4:4
Ver. 4. Adulterers: which is here taken in a figurative sense for those who love creatures more than God, the true spouse of their souls; who reflect not that the love and friendship of this world is an enemy to God, and the true manner of serving him. (Witham)

1 John 2:15
Ver. 15. If any man love the world, this wicked world, or any thing in it, as pleasures, riches, honours, so that his affections be more upon these then upon God, the charity of the Father (or of God) is not in him. (Witham)
 
Timi_Celcer said:
James 4:4 says: You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 says: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

So i have a list of my most important things and beings or things and beings that i love the most in life and things and beings from this world are on it. The list goes something like this:
1.God
2.1. parents + love
2.2. close relatives + close friends
2.3 not so close relatives + other people that are not excatly “friends” with the friend word meaning someone very close
3.other people
4.animals
5.boxing
6.studying world history
7.music,tv,games and that kind of stuff
8.football(soccer)
9.basketball

Notice that after 4th place every thing is material and i also noticed that after 1st place everything is “from the world”. So to conclude most things on this list are from this world. But loving people,parents,… obviously isn’t wrong. What about loving things after 4th place that are pure materialistic i believe. Because even tough they are below the living beings i still value them pretty high. TV and music are almost always in my day. So am i doing something wrong because i love the things of the world and even the world?
Click to expand...
SImply, God’s will for your is himself…meaning his will is for you to Love…all that is and as best as you can. You we created to become conscious of God bodying forth the universe and all that is (known and unknown). Can you also find a way to add your enemy to the list above?
 
There are many types of Love. Enjoying the world as God’s creation and for re-creative purposes is not problematic so long as one keeps God first. Loving the world before God and apart from God is a sin.
 
Timi_Celcer said:
James 4:4 says: You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 says: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

So i have a list of my most important things and beings or things and beings that i love the most in life and things and beings from this world are on it. The list goes something like this:
1.God
2.1. parents + love
2.2. close relatives + close friends
2.3 not so close relatives + other people that are not excatly “friends” with the friend word meaning someone very close
3.other people
4.animals
5.boxing
6.studying world history
7.music,tv,games and that kind of stuff
8.football(soccer)
9.basketball

Notice that after 4th place every thing is material and i also noticed that after 1st place everything is “from the world”. So to conclude most things on this list are from this world. But loving people,parents,… obviously isn’t wrong. What about loving things after 4th place that are pure materialistic i believe. Because even tough they are below the living beings i still value them pretty high. TV and music are almost always in my day. So am i doing something wrong because i love the things of the world and even the world?
Click to expand...
Your list is a lot like mine. The positive thing I see about your list is that God is at the top of that list.

Let me ask you, what on your list - or anything that isn’t on your list - would you put before God or refuse to give up if asked to by God? Which of the other things on your list would you be willing to forsake for God? Do you put any of the other things on your list ahead of God?
 
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