Christians Have Forgotten How To Hate

Doing some research on another subject, I ran across this verse, and there was a part that jumped out at me that I guess I have never given it much thought.  So, I am sharing with you the thoughts that came to my mind.  You may choose to disagree, but in the end, I believe you will see my point.

For everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace (Eccl. 3).

There is a crisis of sin and immorality in America’s churches that call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. Across our land, many professing Christians are practicing sinful lifestyles that are little different than those of unbelievers. Sins of adultery, fornication, drunkenness, drug abuse are rampant among those to claim to be followers of Jesus. The reason this is happening is because we have forgotten how to hate.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise to learn that there is little preaching on the hatred of sin from today’s pulpits. And those churches who do voice their opposition against such lifestyles, rarely do anything to hold Christians accountable for their behavior. Without a doubt, sin seems to flourish among many professing believers and perhaps that is why the church has been so powerless and ineffectual in America.

Let’s face a vital fact right up front, persons who profess to be Christians, yet practice a continued lifestyle of sin and immorality, are not Christians. The Bible makes it crystal clear that persons who practice lifestyles of “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,” and so forth, will NOT inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21). It doesn’t matter whether they claim Jesus as their Lord or not. Persons who live like this are not right with God. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21).

With the world in such chaos and evil abounding all around us, I am choosing to write about why we as Christians have forgotten how to hate sin and evil.  From our earliest days in Sunday school, we have been taught to “turn the other cheek” “love those who despitefully use you,” pray for our enemies and then the catch-all phrase, “love everybody in the world.” 

Sometimes it is hard for people to separate the person from the sin or harmful ideology that causes individuals to carry out cowardly acts of violence.  Evil abounds all around us, and as Christians, we have a hard time accepting the exhortation from God’s Word to hate evil.  I agree, that there is a loss of love and that the hated evil has inspired and created a world that is cruel and unkind. However, we have come to the place where our teachings of “love” has blinded our eyes to the evil that is all around us.  We have allowed ourselves to be convinced “love” and tolerance for evil are the same thing.  God hates every form of immorality and evil because it separates Him from man’s fellowship.  The writer of Proverbs states that “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil.”  There is nowhere in the scriptures we are commanded to tolerate evil because it shows our love for those who are the perpetrators.  The LORD forgave the woman caught in the act of adultery, but he condemned her sin and told her to “go and sin no more.”

Hatred is a valid God-given emotion and is appropriate when directed at evil.  All too often as Christians we place a greater emphasis on a “God of Love” and fail to realize that He is also a “God of Hate.”  The very thing that separates man from God is a sin, and sin is evil.  As Christians, we tip-toe around sin because we do not want to offend the guilty.  We may say we love the sinner but hate the sin but end up tolerating the sin because we cannot make the separation between the two.  To love evil is itself evil and constitutes a passive form of cooperation.  We can continue to “turn the other cheek,” close our eyes to the evil that is being committed and justify our actions by claiming “love,” and in the end find ourselves mocking God. 

There are times that we are not to separate the sin from the sinner.  The consequence of an individual’s actions often demands justice for the innocent. The consequence of sin is death, and sometimes the consequence of evil actions is the same.  I know that we are taught that an “eye for an eye” is no longer the way we should fight evil and sin.  The Law “eye for an eye’ was an act of revenge, our hatred for sin and evil is not revenge but the preservation of justice and righteousness. 

We cannot silence our voices against evil and sin because we don’t want to offend the sinner.  We cannot cover evil and sin with a blanket of love.  When violence reaches the point of ending a person’s life, there remains the consequence of that action.  Yes, forgiveness for the act can be obtained from both God and man, but the consequence of the action does not change.  There is a line that when crossed society cannot tolerate under any circumstances.  Martin Luther King said, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."

I have heard all the arguments renouncing hate. Hatred is evil. It is the cause of all wars. It consumes the soul of those who hates. Silly arguments after all. Hatred is only evil when it is directed at the good and at the innocent. It is positively Godly when it is directed at sin and immoral actions of the sinner, motivating us to fight and eradicate the sin before it spreads.

Evil will continue to abound because:

•    We stopped hating sin. 

•    We have tolerated sin for so long that we no longer see its evil effects on our society.  It has become acceptable to remain silent about the murder of unborn children because we honor the “right” of choice and do not want to offend those who murder the child and those who give consent to perform the act. 

•    We have remained silent about the sins of immorality.  Adultery, fornication, homosexuality, incest, child molestation and a host of other sins because we do not want to offend those who have made bad choices in their life but are still very nice people.  We do not see the evil in these actions any longer.

•    We do not love the LORD enough to hate the sins He hates.

Many Christians have bought into the liberal thinking that it is wrong to hate period.  Toleration is paramount because “God is Love.”  Hatred of evil implies you have the right to make judgments, and that your belief in the absolutes of right and wrong goes against the Law of Love.  This concept has removed the repugnance of evil.   Christians have been taught only to love and not to hate.   This misplaced love has overshadowed the need to hate sin and all things evil.

Do I believe in forgiveness and redemption?  Yes. I also believe in justice and restitution for wrongs that have been committed.  How often have we witnessed a murderer given more “compassion and love” than their victim or the victim’s family?  Why is it so difficult to show compassion to the victim?  It is irresponsible to make a criminal look like he is the victim and the victim look like a criminal!

If you are not careful, your “love” will be misplaced, and you will overlook the evil that has been committed.  This is contrary to the nature of God.  In the book of Exodus chapter 23, the LORD warned about taking the life of the innocent or the righteous and said He would not acquit the guilty.

Spreading across the world today is a religion and ideology that every Christian should hate, and that is Islam. A belief that justifies the things God hates is an evil religion.  This is a religion in the spirit of antichrist.  A religion that sheds innocent blood kills the righteous, that is a false witness to the truth, speaks lies, sows discord over the earth, is filled with wicked imaginations, and is swift to cause mischief.  All these are things God hates. (I might add this is not the only religion that is doing things God hates. Contrary to the belief of many Christians Judaism is just as guilty along with a some who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.  Islam is the most openly violent and has threatened all non-believers in Islam.)

Added to this is the violence, rape and terror they bring to every country they enter.  Any woman who does not dress modestly and wear the Muslim headscarf could be considered by some Muslim men to be "fair game." What compounds this problem is in our country rape is notoriously difficult to prosecute and harder to prove. Even after decades of criminal justice reform and dedicated efforts from survivors and advocates, prosecutors are generally reluctant to go after alleged persecutors aggressively, often fearing they won’t win a conviction. Trials can also be traumatic for victims, who frequently face juries biased by cultural assumptions about rape.

Rather than focusing on the criminal, the focus is placed on the victim.  Any time someone defaults to questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime, he or she is participating, to some degree, in the culture of victim-blaming.  This misplaced emphasis on the victim rather than the injustice that has occurred is part of the society we live in today.  There is the idea that people deserve what happens to them. There’s just a strong need to believe that we all deserve our outcomes and consequences. Christians have been guilty of making statements like, “If she had to been dressed modestly it would not have happened.”  Blaming the victim for the acts of violence is not in the nature of God. If you show more compassion to the criminal than the victim, you are acting against the LORD.  The very nature of God is righteousness which demands justice for the victims.  When you side with evil and sin, you side against the LORD.  You will end up condoning sin by overlooking the actions of those whose commit crimes against humanity.  When you support the evil actions of a person or group of people by claiming to “love them” you are violating the justice God requires from those who are victims of their evil actions.

The Church will continue to lack in power because we have only a form of godliness and lack the real hatred for sin that God requires us to have.  Evil will continue to spread because of the misuse and misplacement of our concept of what it is to love.

Yes, For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace (Eccl. 3).  Maybe it is time to hate sin and evil and speak out against it every form?

Just some thoughts from a country preacher.