June 19, 2004
Understanding the word "Hate"
I recently ran across a site that pretended to be a "Godly" site (I won’t link to it here). However, the site had a funny definition of "hate" that simply meant: don't tell anyone else they are wrong.
This is the inevitable consequence of relativist thinking and I think it is a dangerous definition. It points to a love which is very fuzzy and kind, but doesn't really care about the other person. Why would I say this? If you believe that you have a truth others need to know for their personal salvation, how can you say telling others is hateful? True hate is not telling them and simply allowing them to live without the chance of salvation (or with a harder path to heaven).
Our society’s theological depth has degraded to the point where "hate" can be defined in such a way. This is similar to Ireland's decree that Papal documents which condemn homosexual acts are hateful - priests have been instructed that they will be jailed for offering the truth. The documents don't attack anyone personally and clearly say that we should not hate those with homosexual tendencies. Yet, these documents can be called "hateful" by those to whom there is no objective truth.
Flannery O’Connor pointed to this best in A Memoir of Mary Ann: "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness, and tenderness leads to the gas chamber.” Essentially, true love involves faith, real belief and honesty. We are tender when we refuse to tell someone they are wrong, but we might be leading them to the gas chamber. We each have a moral obligation to lead others to God. This doesn't mean you have to tell every person you know about Jesus at every minute. It does mean that you must be honest, at a minimum. It does mean that your life should be lived in such a way that they are encouraged to ask about your beliefs. It does mean you are a bright light in the world - you may light the way for some, but you're likely to blind others. That's okay as long as you love all by simply offering them the truth, which is the purest form of love for others.
God bless,
Jay
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Jay,
Good post. A friend of mine is in the police academy in NYC. He had to indure an 8 hour class led by homesexuals and the transgendered on "sensitivity". During this class they continually put down the church. They claimed similar things to the above about what hate is.
When a father corrects his son or daughter they think its hate too. In reality, if the father din't bother to correct them that is true hate.
God Bless
Posted by: Stan at June 19, 2004 11:59 PM
