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Christianity: A Religion Of Hate?
Christianity proclaims God’s love for mankind: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The teaching of Christ is that His followers should love each other: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Further, the love Christ exhibited and expects from His disciples knows no boundaries: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
It is Christianity that encourages beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (Is. 2:4, a prophecy of the coming spiritual kingdom). It is Christianity that compels unlimited forgiveness (Matt. 18:21). It is Christianity that urges the development of such character traits as peace, longsuffering, kindness, humility and submission to others (Gal. 5:22-23; Philip. 2:3-4; John 15:13; I John 3:16).
It was Jesus who, in the very act of being murdered, prayed for His killers: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
So how is it that certain vocal elements of our society increasingly charge Christians with disrespecting others, even hating them and discriminating against them? To stand up for the uniqueness of salvation in Christ, to teach that He is the only atoning sacrifice provided by our heavenly Father, is to demean other religious beliefs, they say. To uphold the moral standards not only of God’s special revelation (the Bible) but those taught by the mere observance of natural law (i.e., the wrongness of homosexuality) is to be labeled as the worst kind of hateful judge.
In fact, almost any firm stand taken in the moral realm or in defense of doctrinal truths taught in the Bible is to invite the very kind of scathing, seething hate speech that Christians are accused of engaging in.
This has been a long time coming.
Understand, we are not to be surprised by any of this, for we are forewarned about the viciousness of the powers of darkness (John 3:19-20; 15:18-20; 16:2-4). But what is shocking is the outright hypocrisy of the whole thing. Several years ago some Christian students at Swarthmore College were hauled in before a disciplinary committee because of some posters that had been put up challenging commonly accepted “myths” on campuses – such as “it doesn’t matter what one believes about God because all religions are basically the same.”
The deans of the committee were aghast that some of their students would dare take such a judgmental approach toward their comrades, and in a rage one spouted to the young student being grilled: “Can’t you all see that Swarthmore College has prided itself for over 100 years on being a place of tolerance!” ("Christian Apologetics in a Postmodern World," p. 124). Apparently, the dean didn’t catch the irony of his ill-considered words.
Our society’s obsession with “hate crimes” has created an atmosphere of the very intolerance such laws were designed to prevent. We are spooked about openly saying anything negative for fear of being labeled a “hater.” Intelligent, factual discussion has been replaced by hedging, half-truths, PR-approved statements or outright silence for fear of backlash. And let’s be clear, it is the backlash that is vicious, unloving and vindictive.
God’s people must take care in this knee-jerk, quick-to-judge environment. We must truly love our enemies and show compassion for the misguided lest our own hearts harden as have the world’s. If we are not genuine, the inconsistency and hypocrisy of evil will provoke us to anger that is inconsistent with our faith. And that anger will give the world its justification.
Christians in the 1st century were denounced as “haters of mankind” because they didn’t praise the gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon. Sin craves approval and will unmercifully attack those who reject and expose it. As our society moves further away from God’s standards of righteousness, we will increasingly face the wrath of evil. But “in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1:6-7).
