There Is No Room for Hate in Christianity

Each of us, whether we identify as Christians or not, were created out of love by God himself.  We were not created to judge others as worthy or unworthy, we were not created to hold our brothers and sisters in disdain, whether or not we agree with or support how they live their lives.  We were created to love and accept them, just as our God loves and accepts us.  He loves us so much that he sent His only son to save us when we’d wandered away, to lead us back to the Father for all eternity! 

This is a far cry from how we who are supposed to be brothers and sisters treat one another.  We have been instructed, from the very beginning to love God with “all our heart, all our soul and all our mind” and to “love our neighbor (everyone in this world) as ourselves” (Mt 22:36-40), yet we fall short every day.  We have never been given an exception to these rules; it has never been said that we should love those we agree with and judge those we don’t agree with, or look like, or speak like, or even worship like.

Being Christian means that we follow, and conform our lives to, Christ himself.  He approached everyone and every situation with love and understanding, not with judgement and condemnation like many of us do today.  We also need to keep in mind that no matter our race, color, nationality, creed or political affiliation, we ARE brothers and sister in the image of God Himself and we are expected to act like brothers and sisters; to put the needs of others ahead of our own, whether or not we agree with their ideology; whether or not we agree with their identity, whether or not we consider them a friend.  We are expected to love one another with the same unconditional love with which our God loves us.

This can be a tall order some days, and what we see on TV and through Social Media can make it even harder.  What we see and hear can sometimes make it much easier to look away from those who may be different from ourselves, those who really need our support.

Each of us is called to, and expected to, treat each other (our neighbors) as we would want to be treated.  We cannot, for any reason, judge someone as worthy and another as unworthy as judgement is not for us; it is for God alone.  We are all worthy sons and daughters of the same God, so treating each other with love, kindness and respect must come naturally.  No matter what a person looks like, acts like or believes, Jesus is present in them; He may not always be immediately recognizable, but He’s there.  Our creator is just as present in every non-Christian as He is in every Christian so, when hate is turned toward a specific person or group, who are we really directing that hate against?

Christianity is about love, acceptance and forgiveness.  Jesus did not come here to condemn us, He came here to forgive us and to save us.  Not once did He spew hateful words or express hateful views about any man or woman, so why would it ever be okay for anyone that claims to follow Jesus to do or say these things?  It isn’t; it is against everything that Jesus has taught us to hate anyone, for any reason. 

Hate is something that goes completely against Christian values and it’s something that we will be held accountable for.  Forgiveness, mercy and acceptance are what we owe to all of our brothers and sisters, no matter who they are, where they are from or how they identify; anything less is sinful.

If, as Christians, we allow ourselves to judge, condemn and hate, who are we really following?

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