Haters gonna Hate

There are a lot of Christians out there who do a very poor job of expressing their religious and spiritual convictions. They use the Bible as a weapon, they cherry pick the scripture to justify their own sociopolitical ends, and above all they forget that Christ said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

So to address the point;
  1. If you attack hate with hate, even if it disguised as righteousness, it is still hate, and will separate you from God.
  2. If you are busy loving God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, then you are too busy to be judging others and telling them how to live their lives, or that their way of living is wrong.
  3. You cannot change the world en-mass. You can only change it one person at a time. If you are not willing to invest the time in one person, then you should not be wasting your time and breath on the masses.  
  4. Only when you can accomplish 2. above, can you proceed to "Loving your neighbor as yourself." For once you have known and loved God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, you will know that despite our individual aberrations, we are all God on the inside.
  5. It is possible to disagree with someone without hating them, and it is possible to love someone without agreeing with them. "Judge not, lest you be judged." is the phrase to remember.
I get a lot of scatter fire from my non-Christian friends against Christianity in general, accusing us of intolerance. At the same time, they show their own intolerance by painting with such a broad brush.

Debbie*: If you have made it this far, congratulations. Most people don't follow my ramblings for this long. It is admirable that you "hate having that which is wrong in GOD's eye's being called right, normal, and acceptable." Except for the "hate" part. Hate implies that you have issued judgement against that thing or person. It is not our job to judge or to hate. It is our job to love, pray, and seek to help others. It is our job to lead by shining example of God's Love. It is our job to open ourselves to God, exposing our own inadequacies, so that WE may be healed, and in turn go out and heal others. Recognize the mote in your own eye before pointing out the speck in another's, seek to help those who will listen, and knock the dust off your shoes for those who won't. Everyone comes to God in their own time and in their own way. YOU cannot force it upon them. As for others calling you names for standing up for what you believe in, ask yourself: Are you doing it in such a way that exhibits love, compassion, and forgiveness, or are you doing it in such a way as it puts others on the defensive?

Hater are going to hate, dust off your shoes, say a prayer, and walk away.

*This missive was originally a letter to an individual.