No Hatred Here...

Does this sound familiar?  “Man, I can’t stand those Bible thumpers, always trying to shove their religion down my throat.”  I hear it quite regularly, and wonder why those very same people will sit for hours and hours and peruse the internet media sites, or listen to the mainstream television media, or cable documentary channels that convey perspectives with which they may disagree, but still absorb the entirety of the message being delivered.

What is so objectionable that causes people to act so vehemently negative toward the very hearing of God’s Word?  Why do we get squeamish, angry, or put on guard when the name of Jesus Christ is invoked in average conversation other than being used as a curse?  This has always fascinated me, and as a young man it made me uncomfortable too until I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, then those situations weren’t a threat, but still fascinated me nonetheless.

I was recently in a conversation with several people talking about the idea that homosexuality as a predisposition opposed to a moral choice.  I put myself in this situation because I love discussion, (not that I am a good debater, I love to hear other people’s opinions) not thinking I would offend anyone.  The discussion was taking place on a popular social media forum which everybody knows, so people were popping in and out of the conversation.  A dear acquaintance joined in and was put off by the mention of my position, which is God’s position toward homosexuality.  Needless to say, I felt very bad that I had offended a person I care for dearly, so I bowed out; tail tucked firmly between my legs and left the exchange.  I am convinced God’s Word is undisputedly true, so forgoing a discussion for someone’s feelings seemed the better thing to do than continue on and risk alienating a friend.  However, (you knew this was coming…) there is a point where truth must clash with error, and finding an objection-free way to discuss it is becoming more and more difficult.

I will attempt to explain why I think speaking out against homosexuality, abortion, pornography, murder, adultery, promiscuity, or any other sin as defined in God’s Word is not hate speech, but love speech. 

Guilt.  We all feel guilt to some varying degree when we disobey God.  It’s hard-wired into our consciences for a reason, which is to make us accountable to the knowledge God has built into each and every one of us.  So long as we are striving to exalt and please God we will assuage our guilt by confessing our sin and repenting, and in turn, He will impute His righteousness to us.  If we want to disobey God more than guilt will let us, we must make a means of escaping the feelings of guilt, and at some point, we must suppress the truth of God’s Word and convince ourselves the behavior we are involved in is not bad, but good.  We can either say something ludicrous like “truth is subjective and can’t really be known”, or we redefine what sin is to soothe our consciences.

But that’s not enough, we still feel guilt because we are worried what others might think of us, so if we still want to try to escape feelings of guilt, we believe we must get others to agree with our position that God’s Word is not the truth (more suppression).  So, as in almost all sexual sin, and abortion, we have slowly over the years and decades convinced lawmakers, teachers, and some of the populace at large that sin is not bad, just misunderstood, and in some cases undeniably built in to us, so we must embrace and accommodate it, rather than shun and discourage it.

This dynamic is chronicled in the Bible in many places, especially in the book of Romans, where Paul is writing a letter to the church at Rome and explaining how God abandons a society that suppresses the truth and the resulting evidences that it is happening.  In chapter 1 verse 18, Paul is conveying to the church the consequences of unbelief. “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…” 

Paul continued explaining what the results would be of rebellion and suppressing the truth:                         “25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”

And after enough suppression of the truth, and kidding ourselves that sin really isn’t sin, God allows our minds to become depraved, which is defined as: Morally corrupt, or evil, lacking good judgment:             “28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper…”

But the good part is, in Paul's letter to the Roman church, he reminds them that some of them were just as corrupt, and it’s never too late to turn your face toward God and repent and He will restore you and even the society He has abandoned.  Paul reassures the believers in letter to the church at Corinth:                                ” ⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

In short, this is why people are angered by the mere mention of God’s Word, and why disagreeing with our nations embracing of open sin has nothing to do with hate, but an act of love, wanting only to save our country and the people in it from ruin.  I will admit there are misguided believers that confuse God’s Word with a personal vendetta on sin, but that is to misconstrue the true intent of God’s relationship toward us.  It is my hope that in an open discussion about any controversial issue, that we can talk about the merits of the issue, rather than painting anyone as having hatred as a motivation for disagreement.