Hating Hate

Last week a friend of mine made a comment that got me thinking. The comment was, “hatred objectifies the other, making it easy to overlook the mere humanity of another person & see only the fallen/broken nature capable of evil.” So this got me thinking about hatred and I posed the question, is it possible to hate hatred? Hatred is kind of a foreign concept for me but I completely understand that for many people, it is a very real and very personal feeling. People have a hard time believing me when I tell them that I have never hated anyone, but I haven’t. I’ve been agitated with people or people have upset me, but hate has never been a feeling that has entered my thoughts. I don’t know why really. Maybe because I grew up in a house and in a family where love was so dominant that it completely destroyed any hate; maybe I have never had a reason to hate someone or something. If there is one thing that I do hate, it is hate itself. Like you, I have seen what hate can do, not only in a historical context (I am a history nut after all), but in the context of the Christian faith and those that claim to be preaching the Christian faith.

So, why do I hate hate you ask? Well, in a nut shell here’s why: 1) Hate starts wars. Every war in history had its root cause grounded in hate, hatred for a group of people, hatred for a way of life, retaliation for a hateful act. 2) I have seen what hate can do to friendships, relationships, and families and it is one of the most destructive things I can think of. 3) Hate is the exact opposite of what God wants us to do. I truly feel that when the author of Genesis in chapter 1 verse 31 said “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good..." they meant it.

Looking around the landscape of our nation and the Christian church as a whole, I am saddened at the amount of hate that is being spewed. There does not seem to be a debate in this country without one side spewing hate on to the other side and vice versa. This disease has touched everyone in some shape or form and its hold is strong and unforgiving. Hate takes on all forms and hides in all places. Hate takes the form of politics (it has found a special place in the illegal immigration debate, and in our treatment of our President) and tragically, it takes on the name of Christianity and Islam. You can say what you want, but there is definitely a theology of hate on the fringes of both Christianity and Islam. You need to look no further than comments from Pat Robertson concerning Haiti or comments from Osama Bin Laden concerning the West to see how hate can even affect our faith.

To hate hate is a desire to overcome any hate that you may have within ourselves and instead of hating those that you don’t get along with, you love your enemies and you pray that the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ will overcome the darkness in their hearts. We as Christians know that the love of Jesus Christ will always overcome the darkness of this world and that love is like a kick to the face of evil and Satan. It might be a cliché but it is a true statement and is as profound as it was when the Beatles first sang it: “All you need is love.” Love, along with grace and mercy, will always conquer hate.

P.S. Thanks to Suzanne Miller for contributing to this post!