"Hateful" Christians - very long post

Recently, I posted a photo showing my support of Phil from Duck Dynasty on my Facebook page. My brother and a Christian friend entered into a debate that was only defused when I kindly came in and spoke softly. Later, I posted this:

My brother and I began to have a discussion on this as well, all about Phil and homosexuality and the words "hate" and "hateful" kept coming up, along with the Crusades. I told him "You keep throwing the words 'hate' and 'hateful' out there. I have never been hateful to these people. Though I believe the word of God and it says what will happen to ANYONE who continues in their sins and refuses Christ, that isn't hate...that is truth."

My brother told me that he wasn't saying I was hateful, rather that I was backing hateful comments.

I told him that I support Biblical statements and that it all depends on what side of the issue one stands on as to how the Bible is viewed. I explained that there are things in the Bible that still confront sins in my life. I don't consider the Bible hateful when this happens. Rather, I seek to change, through the power of Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ. I explained that I would never have Christ say to me that I kept silent and let others continue in their sins and slide to hell, without speaking His truth. I explained the parable of the sower and the seeds and how some will receive the word as the truth it is and some will reject it outright and consider it hateful speech.

I told him that the thing to note is that the seed is always sown, though the results aren't always the same, and that the seed is sown by speaking the truth, the word of God. I concluded with how we must speak the truth in love, yet if the message is rejected, no matter how much love is offered, the speaker is still considered a hate-monger.

It is our lot in life as Christians to be viewed as hateful and bigots. The reason for this is the side of the truth we stand on. Even among other believers, our speaking the truth can appear judgmental and hateful...but is it? If we are confronting their sin, and they feel judged, where is that 'feeling' coming from? Is it coming from their own guilt-ridden hearts, or is it coming from Holy Spirit? It most assuredly isn't coming from us. We are quick to tell people "do not judge", but is speaking the truth about sin judging?

Judging is simply passing sentence. By confronting someone on their sins, are we passing sentence? No. Only Jesus can pass the ultimate sentence: life eternally with Him or eternally separated from Him. If we are not doing that when we're speaking with someone regarding sin, we are not judging the person.

We must be aware of how we speak the truth, yes, but we must not be cowed into not speaking it because of the false impression others have of what judging a person really means. We must be prepared to stand for Christ and for morality and the Bible and we must also be prepared to defend why we stand for it. We must not bow or cower, as many churches are doing today, saying, "We love everyone so it matters not if you refuse to stop sinning. We welcome all in our church." We must stop being afraid to confront sin and let Christ set the captives free. He didn't come to keep them in bondage, but to give true freedom and deliverance. Why have we stopped offering that?

We must also be brutal with sin and compromise in our own lives. Never for one instant must we think we have arrived or that we are better than anyone else. Sin is sin and any time we allow it to remain, it eats away at our souls and we let more and more compromises in to cover the sin we cling to.

Sorry this is so long. It's just some things I've been thinking of lately.

Thank you for bringing this up, it is such a problem. We are living in a world where any stand we take on sin is looked at as intolerance. Government is taking over more and more of our lives, even how we are to live with the Lord. They want our life in the church to not interfere with what government wants of us, and they say tolerance is the key to living together in peace. It must come first, and even churches are being sued if government finds intolerance there.

God tells us that He created every human, and God loves them. If we love God and our lives reflect Him, then we are to love them, too. If they sin and do wrong, we are told to leave that alone, it is the business of God and the sin. Scripture says vengeance belongs to only the Lord. At the same time, we are to know and judge what is sin, and to be intolerant of it. We are even to kick people out of our churches if they live an immoral life. To kick them out without losing our love for them!! Tall order.

To complicate all this are the many people who enjoy judging and pointing fingers in a sort of "I am better than YOU are" sort of spirit. Look at how false doctrine posts are so popular on CC.

Yes. It is so hard to love and be intolerant to sin. That is a tall order indeed. Especially, once they repent, we are to welcome them back in without condemnation, with full acceptance, the way Christ welcomes us back when we sin and fall away.

There was recently a moral failing of a minister that I really admired. It shocked me to the core. Many are intent to gloat and rejoice at this man's failing. The Lord told me, "This is why you must be alert, awake and watchful, for there is no sin that you are too above to commit." In other words, though I may look at someone's life and think, "What's wrong with them? Can't they see that's sinful? Why don't they just stop?" it would behoove me to pray for them and myself, that I would not fall so easily into the same sin, for I am not any better than anyone else and temptations can come from any area, any side.

I addressed a sin in a forum and was attacked by everyone for doing so, the thread was shut down by the OP and even the moderator put in their two cents of why I never should have brought up the sin, since that wasn't the point of the thread. The sin, however, was confessed and overlooked. That is the world we live in now as believers. It is a scary thought.

If there is one thing I can not tolerate is too much tolerance...

Indeed. That word is thrown around like candy at a parade. "You're intolerant!"

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Nice. That is pretty much what we do as Christians. We are communicating the truth, throwing out the seeds, and whether they grow or not is up to the soil/ground they find themselves in.

Tolerance doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone.
I think Christians come across as judgmental because many Christians feel like it's their responsibility to impose their views on other people, whether they like it or not.

Christians see it as stating the truth and trying to save people from this and that.

People who are nonreligious see it as shoving opinions down other peoples throats and being hypocrites.

As long as these two sides have this communication barrier up, these things will continue to be misunderstood in an ugly way and will only further divide people.

i have wondered recently when did disagreeing with you mean i hate you

A christian on another forum posted up a good comment about tolerance, I love it:
I am a Christian, and it fills me with sadness that the word 'tolerance' (popularised by political-correctness) has somehow replaced the 'acceptance' we are to be offering.
Not having a go at you at all - I've seen and heard this in many places, even churches. Christians are asked to offer acceptance, not its cheap, politically correct cousin. Tolerance says 'I put up with you', where acceptance says 'I see you, and love you regardless'.
If tolerance is all the Church has to offer because of a God who merely tolerates us, the central message of Christianity (that God loves us, despite our brokenness) becomes obsolete.

These are the last of the "last days". The separation is ongoing and increasing exponentially daily. Not only between the saved and the lost, but between the "real" Christians and the "professing" (c)hristians. You can find plenty of the latter on CC. Just look at some of the false doctrine being propagated on here. I'm still in the process of "trying" to find a truly "Christian" site that gets rid of these people when they first show up so I don't have to deal with hearing thier satanic blasphemies in just ONE truly "Christian" refuge on the internet. I begin to think it's a lost cause.... :'(

hmm you should wake up and make your own site if it is that you are loking for hmmmmmmmm

Perhaps YOU should
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM??????

Acceptance is a much better word for it, I agree. ^

I think it is a lost cause because it seems like your trying to find a community of people that only agree with your views (not having a go at you by saying that) which if I were to try and find that for myself I would never find it. I try not to get involved in doctrinal discussions, I'm more a lurker than a poster haha you'll never know when I'm watching muahaha! But seriously, I've come to accept that people interpret things different, I have no desire to try and change a persons understanding/view on things unless the occasion really calls for it. At the end of the day, I'm all about motive, you can have a differing view but if your attitude stinks and you think your holier or something because of it..that's when I have problems. Lets love each other like we love ourselves even in disagreements.

On rare occasions, it does feel a bit like slamming your own head into a stone wall over and over and over again on some topics with some people and that is usually when I have to step back and not return to that thread.

I think that we are called to speak the truth. Sometimes, we come across angry and defensive when we defend the truth, and that is one of my shortcomings, to be sure. I try to be articulate and kind...but sometimes I just respond without giving it much thought. I try, now, to take a minute to make sure that I am clear and kind, not defensive and argumentative. But I love arguing...so that's difficult for me.

There is so much wrong with this...
I guarantee even if you did start your own site where all the members shared all your beliefs eventually a biblical issue would come up which would cause disagreement due to differing interpretations and opinions.
Almost every christian denomination, given enough time, will split into smaller denominations and so forth.
Humans disagree on things but when you pre-suppose that God agrees with your view and not theirs it can cause more conflict than less.

Now the only doctrinal issue not subjected to disagreements among denominations is salvation through faith in jesus christ.
But that is subjective in itself in that you dont know if someone has repented and have been saved by God, you just take people's word on it and then look at "their fruit" as taught in Book of James , "faith without works is dead".
All christians are "professing" christians , only God knows who the "real" christians are right?


Anyway, your problems with CC are unfounded because 1) christian is such a general term now and this site is here for christians to BOTH encourage and talk about their differences. More than a third of world population claim to be christian and all have a right to be on this site. 2) Instead of harping about false doctrines and "blasphemies" , you should probably focus on people like me (the evil non-believer) who do not even believe in the fundamental christian doctrine of salvation through christ

You and me both..............unfortunately, my only option is to add you to my "ignore" list.......but, hey..........

I completely agree with you Relena7 - tolerance DOES NOT mean acceptance. Some things can be both tolerated and accepted, somethings can be tolerated but not accepted and something shouldn't be tolerated or accepted.

It is easy to think the 2 words mean the same thing but they do have different meanings.

According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:
If you accept something, you agree with it.
If you tolerate something, it is more like endurance, but not acceptance.

Kinda like people who leave a church to look for a perfect one...and as soon as they find it...it is no longer perfect...