DO OPPOSITES REALLY ATTRACT?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.

Proverbs 29:27

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Opposites attract.

You may have heard this a time or two.

Most often, the saying is used to describe the nature of relationships between people, the gist being that the more different people are, the more likely they are to connect with one another.

But when you get to the core of             the saying, it really has its roots in science, specifically when we’re talking about magnetics and electricity.

Go back to the 1700’s and French Physicist, Charles-Augustin Coulomb. In his research, he discovered that when two distinct electrical charges are opposite, one positively charged and the other negatively, the charges attract one another. Conversely, if the charges are alike (i.e. both positive or both negative), then the two charges will repel one another. He found the same principle applied to magnetism, this time regarding the poles of a magnet. Each magnet has two poles, north and south, and if you place two magnets on a table with one’s north pole facing the other’s south pole, then the two magnets are attracted to one another. Turn one magnet around so that like poles are facing and the magnets will resist one another.

Social scientists would later try and to apply this scientific law to people and the way they either are or aren’t attracted to one another.

So is it true? Do opposite people really attract one another?

You could find any number of opinions or views on the matter. Perhaps you have your own. But we could just either validate or invalidate the statement by looking to the scriptures – and I think you are going to be amazed, as we always seem to be, with the outcome.

First, we need to look at the last proverb in Chapter 29 of Proverbs:

The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. Proverbs 29:27

Now, this word of God would certainly seem to answer the question of whether opposites attract rather succinctly, right?

I mean, it’s simple. No one needs a deep theological background to get what this is saying.

If you are a righteous person, you detest those who are wicked and sinful for anyone who claims to be of the Lord could never condone transgressive behavior.

If you are wicked and sinful, then you detest anyone who is not living as you are and worse yet, condemning you for the way you live.

And so it’s a done deal, right? We now know the bottom line when it comes to the way people attract to one another in the spiritual realm and opposites definitely do not attract.

Not so fast for it’s simply not this easy. We need only look to Jesus to see why.

Think about it. Was Jesus only drawn to the righteous? To know Him, is to know He wasn’t. Instead, He went out of His way to affiliate with those who couldn’t have been more different than He was. While the outwardly righteous Jewish authorities were detesting and shunning sinners in their midst, Jesus communed with them openly, much to the disdain of the Pharisees and Sadducees who eventually came to detest Jesus as well.

So why did Jesus do it? Why did He fellowship with people that others rejected?

Here’s the answer He gave:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32

Wow. Does this not shed a different light on the question whether opposites attract?

For we should be able to see here that if we only lived the words of Proverbs 29:27, then we would miss following the lead of our Savior who although He didn’t support sin in any way, didn’t allow that as a barrier to help lead others to repentance and salvation. We’re to be in the world and carrying out the Great Commission Jesus gave us but that doesn’t mean we need to approve of the world’s ways.

In the end, we need to see beyond the iniquities of others to realize they will never be cured of their sin-affliction without Jesus. Detesting them will not lead them to salvation but bringing them into the presence of a Savior who is the Great Physician for the sin-sick will.

So do opposites really attract?

When it comes to Jesus, and in turn to the way He has called us to carry out His will and way, the answer has to be “yes”.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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