"Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."
Proverbs 10:12 (KJV)
If there's one thing I desire more and more lately, it's for all the hating to just stop. It seems like that there's hatred all over the place.
Hatred has many facets, and here are just a few:
--Racial hatred
--Regional hatred
--National hatred
--Religious hatred
--Gender hatred
--Political hatred
--Class hatred
--Sexual Orientation hatred
Allow me to repeat one of my mantras here: Hatred is a luxury you cannot afford. Not only do you murder another person's spirit, you can murder your own spirit. If you are a believer in Christ, hatred itself is enough to separate you from God.
It's just not worth it.
A lot of people are drawn into hatred by other people through unbelievably simple means. All the "hate leaders" (my words) have to know are your problems and difficulties. They then point at a target group and blame "them". Nazi Germany used the technique as a part of their their persecution of the Jews. As history shows, it was extremely effective.
The technique is still used to this day. Witness the recent attacks on Muslim immigrants, painting them all with the terrorist paintbrush, or the attacks on Mexicans coming to the United States, labeling them as drug dealers and rapists.
A "hate leader", by himself or herself, is not enough to start a hate build-up. You have to have people willing to submit to the hatred.
It's rather easy, it's sad to say. All you have to do is hate like the "hate leader" hates.
At one time, I listened to talk radio, though I didn't agree with a lot of what the hosts said. It was interesting to hear their points of view to find not only points of commonality, but also points of difference.
I had to stop listening, however. I not only found that I was being lied to, more often than not, but one host in particular spouted off so much hatred that it was starting to contaminate me.
I will not name that particular host, but I'm not surprised that Great Britain banned him from entering their country. The power of his hatred was apparent to others besides me, it seems.
There are few powerful tools that can help you better than research. Take whatever you are told by a speaker or a TV/radio host with a grain of salt. Critical examination of unquestioned beliefs, arguments, or philosophies is also vital.
That includes preachers, by the way.
Before you accuse me of liberal claptrap, allow me me to tell you something from my youth. As I have mentioned before, I grew up in a Fundamentalist Christian church. On occasion, our pastor would start his sermon by asking how many of us had brought our Bibles to church with us.
When too of us few did so, he would go into a rant on why we needed to have our Bibles with us, and why we needed to follow along as he preached and read from the Bible.
You see, the Jonestown massacre in Guyana had happened not too long before, and our pastor recognized the power and potential danger a charismatic preacher held.
In 1978, more than 900 people, most of them U.S. citizens, were killed in a mass murder/suicide at Jonestown. The leader, Jim Jones, preached a combination of Christianity and Marxism, along with a hefty dose of anti-U.S. Government paranoia.
Our pastor believed that if a charismatic preacher such as Jones could lead almost a thousand people (a third of them children) to their deaths, then so could others. He stated that it was the responsibility of church members/believers to make certain that the pastor preached from the word of God - no matter what church we were in.
Given the events of recent years, I've come to realize that my pastor's fears were well-founded.
Don't give in to hatred. Once you hit that particular pothole, it's so easy for you and your witness to fall apart. Hatred not only separates you from other people, it separates you from God.
"...and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Romans 13:9 (last part) and 10
That's it for now.
Peace be unto you.
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