Tonight, I watched BBC’s The Diary of Anne Frank (thank you, Daddy, for Netflix). When I was 13, Anne’s age, I received a book on the Holocaust as a gift. I soon read more and more on the subject. I think my parents were initially concerned by what must have looked like fascination with mass murder. They quickly realized, however, that I dreaded reading each word. But my younger self sensed that the horror was too important to turn away. A small part of me believed that I could somehow make it better, that I could bring a sliver of justice into the story. Somehow, by enduring remembrance, I could drive away the hate.
As Christians, we talk a lot about love. I’m not sure that we talk enough about hate. Love is not just the absence of hate, but you cannot both love and hate. If you hate even one person, then you love no one rightly. I believe hate and the acts it motivates are the greatest of sins. Because hate strips others of their God image. They are no longer children of God whom He cherishes. That means we can look a fourteen-year-old girl in the eye as she cries and feel nothing. No regret. No second thought. Not a trace of compassion. Only the desire to watch her suffer. What could be less like Christ? It is an issue the church must confront head-on, everyday. So to get the conversation started, here are some words on hate that inspire me to change myself and then to change the world.
“Hate is a very big, very hungry thing with lots of sharp teeth, and it will eat up your whole heart and leave no room left for love.” – Amish Grace from Lifetime
“If anyone says ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen.” – 1 John 4:20
“Hate is a cold fire and it gives no warmth.” – Laurell K. Hamilton
A Navajo grandfather tells his youngest grandson of two wolves inside of him, struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love, and kindness. The second wolf is greed, fear, and hatred. ‘Which wolf will win?’ asks the grandson. ‘Whichever one I feed,’ is the reply. – a Native American proverb
“Hating is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.” – Henry Emerson Fosdick
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” – James Baldwin
“Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“If only we could stop hating each other.” – Elisabeth Mann, a Holocaust survivor
Thank you!
Love=good!
Hate=bad!
Does not the Scripture tell us to hate what is evil? (Romans 12:9)
So, in some situations it is faithful to “hate.” At some point we Christians must make some discernments about what is evil and those who spin evil. Tough job, yes! Was Hitler evil? If so, should we hate him and what he did? Was bin Laden evil? If so, should we hate him and what he did?
So, is there justifiable hatred? (I think this is a good question!)
I think this is an area in which the Scripture contradicts itself. My favorite biblical passage is Luke 6:35-36, in which Christ calls us to love our enemies.
As to whether we should hate people, I disagree with you there. There is an important distinction between hating the sinner and hating the sin. More importantly, however, I do not believe it is our place to make that judgment. It is God’s place to judge to who has done right and wrong, not ours.
Peace of Christ.
You can rationalize hate as justifiable, but it will still eat you up inside. It is like forgiveness. We forgive because if we hold grudges, it hurts us. It really has little to do with the other.
It is God’s place to judge who has done right and wrong?
So…..you have no opinion (after all it would be wrong to judge who did right or wrong) if it was right or wrong for Hitler to kill 6 million Jews? I’ll take a leap here and make judgement call and say that was “wrong.”
Is it wrong when a predator kidnaps and kills children? Opps! We can’t judge – who has done right or wrong! But….I’ll go out on a limb here and say people who kidnap and kill children are “wrong.” In fact, they are evil.
At the risk of proof-texting and skipping around Bible verses in a way that does justice to none of them, this conversation reminds me of the warning against hypocrisy in Matthew 7:5 and Luke 6:42 – taking the plank out of one’s own eyes before attempting to remove the speck in someone else’s.
When we are called to hate evil, we are called to hate the evil in our own hearts and at our own hands just as much as we hate evil elsewhere. There is too high a price for assigning a point system based on human understanding of which acts are more evil and thus which people are more evil.
If we justify our hatred of people who have murdered and terrorized, perhaps we are not as different as we think from those who justified their hatred of the people they then murdered and terrorized. This frightens me, yes, and it is difficult to look at my own life and realize that even if I have never killed another person, I have certainly been angry with others and perhaps unjustly so. The best I can do is to reconcile that in myself and strive to live out the love I have unduly received.
Midwesterndiva, thank you for a truly thought-provoking post.
Peace to you,
Kimmery
Kimmery, you said what I was not able to explain. Thank you very much for your thoughtful commentary.
Blessings.