Hatred and Christianity

The title of this article is Hated and Christianity. These two words do not fit no matter how you try to put them together but unfortunately it is something that is being practiced today. Let us see what the definitions of these two words are. The definition of hate is "dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards". The definition of a Christian is "Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus". This definition was taken from a dictionary, not from the Bible but nevertheless, it is true.

It seems that today Christianity has been divided into two groups. I know that there are exceptions and there are many wonderful christians that are not part of these two groups but unfortunately, the world uses the bad to stereotype all christians.

The first group is a form of extreme liberal christianity. Basically, to make it easy to understand, as a christian you can come as you like, act like you want, say what you want, live like you want and worship in your own way. Do not worry about salvation or hell, we will try to fix your finances and your low self esteem. We do not need to preach the whole bible because most of it is not relevant to us anyway. As long as you know that God loves you then that is enough.

The second group has a theme of hatred. The call themselves conservatives but they have no idea what being a conservative really is. They teach that God hates us all. They teach that God wants us all in hell and that Jesus has to plead with him to allow us to be saved. They teach that once you have fallen in sin, you are doomed. There is no redemption and that you should just wait it out until it is your turn to die. There is no hope, no peace, and no joy for anyone that does not follow strict guidelines that are placed by "holy men" on this earth. There are some even more extremist like Fred Phelps that says that God hates America, he says that he wishes that every american soldier in Iraq would be killed because they serve a nation that is hated by God. If you do not believe me then just look up his name in google. He even pastors a baptist church.

Why are we so divided? When has the Bible become to difficult to understand? There is one verse in the Bible that says it all. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten son, so whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. I know I am always writing about Love but this is what Jesus showed and did when he was on this earth. How could our Holy Father give his only son to die on a cross if He did not love us? I should not even ask that question because the Bible already says that God did it because He loves us.

Do you know what a conservative is? One definition is "a person who is reluctant to accept changes and new ideas". This is a good definition because we should not try to change what the Bible says. We should not put our own ideas in and try to make them some type of biblical referendum. Here is the bottom line and this is what the Bible says. God sent his son to die on the cross for us. We must accept Him into our heart and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. We then will become born again and the Bible says that old things have passed away and now they are new. We become like new born babies and we start growing in the Lord. Does this mean that we will never make a mistake? NO! We will make many mistakes but as long as our heart is right and we turn to God for forgiveness, he will forgive and restore. What happens it we do not receive Jesus as our savior? The Bible says that we will be judged for our sins and we will go to hell. This is not a new idea, a change in the way the Bible is read, it is the Word of God. Revelation 20:15 says, "If your name is not found in the book of life, you will be cast into the lake of fire". This does not mean that God hates us. He hates sin. God is so holy that sin cannot accept someone that has not been redeemed by the blood of His son but one we accept Christ as our savior, everything changes. Our life changes and we now belong to Him.

Does this mean that God does care about our finances or our self esteem or any other problems that we have? Of course He does. A father cares about his children and He wants his children to be happy and content. He wants all of us to be successful and full of joy. But first, we must lay down our life and give it to Him totally. Not half way to totally. Does this give us a right to judge others? The answer is NO. The Bible plainly says that we should not judge. God is the only one that has the authority to judge.

Hatred and Christianity do not go together. I am proud that I am a conservative but I am not an extremist. I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. Me desire is to see people saved and I will work until i die for His kingdom but I also have to work each day to keep my own life clean and my eyes placed of the cross of Jesus.

Let's try to stop the hatred. Let us also open our eyes and see that God is holy and we must submit to His will.

Philip Tyson