What Can Man Do Against Such Reckless Hate?

I hate injustice. I hate watching loved ones suffer. I hate going to the dentist.

Justifiable things to hate. No, I don't think is inherently evil, unless it is directed at living beings. Hating certain actions or even ideologies is OK- these are the true enemies of mankind. I think it is good to despise the doctine of the Nazis or any group that seeks to create genocide. I think we should despise actions that prevent people from finding spiritual truth.

But we should never hate the people behind those actions or ideologies.

"Are you saying we shouldn't hate Hitler, or Osama Bin Laden?" Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, because they were/are human beings. Made by God. This is a tough one fo lots of people. These men have done evil things, they ahve killed people solely based on the victims beliefs or heritage. You know, like Christian Crusaders and Kings did- but we don't hate them, do we? The thing is, if we hate someone for what they do- we are a hypocrite.

In God's eyes, our sin is equal to Hitlers. We are just as evil as he is. It is humanity with our taboos and our "hierarchy of truly evil acts" that give more weight to some crimes over others. A tiny little lie merits a death sentence from God- without the forgiveness of said lie coming from the resurrection of Christ.

So we can't hate people because of what they do.

That takes care of hate on our end, right? Sort of. Do others think you are hateful?

Are you always negative? Do you constantly put down your love ones- out of love? Do you get angry with people who have different views, or at the least, ignore their arguments? Are you argumentative? (Ouch, that one hurts me a bit)

Thing is, if people see you doing these things, no matter how "innocent' they may be, people with think you hateful, or at least, kinda mean.

"I don't care what others think about me!" you may protest. I respond with this: If people claim to get their identity from their actions,and our actions are how other people see us, then if others think our actions hateful or mean, we are, in fact, hateful and mean. At least to those who see us that way.

And to be fair, substitute personality traits like arrogant, or snobbish, or immature, etc for hateful, and it is the same. We need to be more mindful of our thoughts, "take captive of them." I often find my anger at something I read begin to rise. If I'm not careful, my justified anger at an injustice quickly becomes anger at an individual. That individual may know Christ, or they may not. If they don't know Him, how can I expect them to act like Christ. And if they do know Jesus, then yes I can be angry at their actions, but I must be compassionate on the person because if for slightly different circumstances, I would be them. If I did not take captive of my thoughts, before long, reckless hate would consume me.

To be hateful is a choice. We may not consciously wake and say, "Today I will hate Joe, and all the people who live on Ash Street." But throughout our day, we do consciously give small thoughts food, and before long, we have passively chosen a negative and hurtful attitude, easily directed at our fellow man.

You should hate that children die hungry or are abused. You should despise injustices to all manner of creatures.

But you must only love and SHOW love to your fellow man and woman.