December 18, 2014
Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner
One of the questions I ask
when interviewing women is whether they have experienced any gender equality issues.
One woman employed in the judicial system gave me an interesting analysis, “Most
discrimination is formed because they are unhappy with my decisions and my rulings;
but they don’t say they are unhappy about the decision, rather they look for an
explanation as to why I ruled against
them.” I think she may be on to something. When I get tweaked about a political
or religious decision, it becomes more about the person who made the decision,
than about the decision itself. I may label the decision maker in such terms as
jerk, bully, or chauvinist. Maybe this new insight will help me get a better
handle on hating the sin and loving the sinner.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----“Thou hatest all evildoers…the LORD abhors bloodthirsty and deceitful men.” (Ps 5:5,6) “The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and His soul hates him that loves violence.” (Ps 11:5) “Thou hatest those who pay regard to vain idols.” (Ps 31:6 ) “I hate double-minded men.” (Ps 119:113) “There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers.” (Prov 6:16-19)
-----So, I was inclined to think that God’s perfection allows Him to hate people properly, and man, being imperfect, is instructed to not hate at all. “Do I not hate them that hate Thee, O LORD? And do I not loathe them that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.” (Ps 139:21-22) And so comes David. He wasn’t too perfect. Blood on his hands precluded his building God‘s temple. Yet the Holy Spirit led him to write this about hatred. If you want to know God more, honestly abide by even His paradoxes, then note what comes to mind from His Spirit dwelling with yours amongst your prayers for humility and truth in which you sincerely ponder and reason the results of what you do, say, think, and feel by the light of His Word. Never cut and run with only one side of any of His paradoxes. I’m still inclined to think God’s perfection allows Him to hate, while our imperfection necessitates us to hate very carefully, and very lovingly, since we’re instructed to love even our enemies.
-----OK! For crying out loud, how do you hate lovingly? If you want to know anything as thoroughly as the Lord has made information available to know, you must boil the thing down to its simplest terms. Love boils down to a residue of two elements: acceptance and desire. Acceptance is the residue of many concepts like attachment, interaction, association, reflection of behaviors, etc. These flow both ways, to you and from you. Desire is similar, you desire things and your loved one desires things. Which set of things do you desire when you love, yours or theirs? Neither. You desire what is right. This is why Scripture presents desiring righteousness as such a prominent part of being alive in the Lord. And if you don’t know what is right, then desire an unknown for the Lord to define Himself. But desire righteousness all the same. The desire element of love is to desire what God defines as right for the one you love. Then hatred is the opposite of those: rejection and, well, desire for the worst, or for what you want yourself, or what they want, irrespective of God’s definitions (it‘s all the same.)
-----God has His own desires. One is that none should perish. But He sets Himself aside to give us the truest of what we desire. Most people desire not to spend eternity with Him. So they will detach from Him in His granting their desire, separated from Him farther than the concept of separation can connote. Nor has He done His desire to them, which is that they should not perish. Both elements are opposite of love. Perfect hatred by Him. Being perfect, God can do that.
-----How does David, an imperfect man, perfectly hate? To love, we must desire what God desires. Of course, our hands must deliver our desires if they can, or the desires are not true. But merely desiring or doing good to someone is not associating with them. It is delivering goodness to them without reflecting what they are. We hate the lost perfectly when we refuse to accept what they are or reflect who they are, but desire or deliver the blessings and goodness for them that God defines as right. I’m supposing this is the way David could say he perfectly hates those who rise against the Lord. So, if I were ever to say it is proper to hate someone, I would say it is proper to perfectly hate them.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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