How to Hate Your Neighbor

Recently I watched a short video clip from a well known American entertainer and atheist in which he made a very thought provoking statement. The speaker defended both atheists’ and Christians’ efforts in proselytizing.  About Christians he asked a question that could be summarized: “If you believe there’s a Heaven and a Hell and people go there, that eternal life is a possibility, how much to you have to hate others to NOT tell them about it?”

Think about it for a minute. . ., or two, or three, or more. This guy did.

Well, after the dust settled in my brain, and I picked my heart up off the floor, I had to admit that the man had a point. We MUST really hate our neighbor to NOT share with him/her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Could there even be anything worse, more cruel or hateful, than NOT to share the truth that sets men free, can keep them from Hell, and assure them a home in Heaven? And it hit me like a ton of bricks. . .

Tell them, but. . .lie. . .

Just tell them . . .

• God loves them so much He can’t imagine His heaven without them in it.
• They can come to Jesus WITH their sin.
• They can have their best life now !
• They have a special purpose in life, custom made by God, and they just need to discover it to be happy and fulfilled.
• Jesus died for their dreams.
• God knows we are just human and make mistakes that separate us from Him, so He sent His Son to “bridge the gap”.
• All they have to do is “decide” to follow Jesus, “ask/accept”  Him into their heart”, or repeat a little prayer. That way they are in total control.

In other words, tell them stuff that emphasizes that they are the very center of God’s universe and everything He does, He does just for them!

But don’t ever tell them. . .

• That apart from Christ, we are all DEAD in our SINS, deserving of God’s wrath – that we are “born on death row”.
• The truth about SIN – it’s not just mistakes and errors in judgment (things we do) but a terminal illness we are born with (who we are).
• That Jesus died for their sins, in their place, to appease the wrath of His Father against all sin.
• That the first word of the Gospel preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter and John on Pentecost, was “repent”.
• That repentance is part and parcel of the gift of faith and genuine belief in Christ.
• Being a Christian is no guarantee of a better job, house, car, or any other form of material gain.
• That they would face trials, persecution, be hated, and might face death because of their faith in Christ.

In other words, don’t tell them that God’s primary concern is His own Name – that everything He does is first and foremost a demonstration of His power, designed to bring Himself great honor and glory!

There you have it. Two ways to hate your neighbor: 1) Don’t tell others about the path to peace and eternal life, or 2) tell them, but lie about it.

And how might following the above lists of “do’s and don’ts” show a greater hatred for my neighbor than not telling them at all? 

Think about it and let’s discuss it.

"I Saw the Lord. . ." – Isaiah 6:1-5

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

      “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
      The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 So I said:
      “Woe is me, for I am undone!
      Because I am a man of unclean lips,
      And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
      For my eyes have seen the King,
      The LORD of hosts.”

One commentary  (Gill) has this to say about the fifth verse:

Isa 6:5 – Then said I, woe is me,…. There’s no woe to a good man, all woes are to the wicked; but a good man may think himself wretched and miserable, partly on account of his own corruptions, the body of sin and death he carries about with him; and partly on account of wicked men, among whom he dwells,

because I am a man of unclean lips; he says nothing of the uncleanness of his heart, nor of his actions; not that he was free from such impurity; but only of his lips, because it was the sin of his office that lay upon his mind, and gave him present uneasiness; there is no man but offends in words, and of all men persons in public office should be careful of what they say; godly ministers are conscious of many failings in their ministry.

The particular significance to this old guy at 04:15 AM, April 11, 2008 is this:

To see the Lord is to be abruptly confronted with the sin that still remains within us. I cannot imagine it otherwise.

There is also a question that comes to mind: “When Dan steps into the sanctuary of the church he attends, or even other churches, is the presence of the Lord so noticeable that there is a consciousness of personal sinfulness? Even a little bit?” There should be something about a church sanctuary that reflects his unique holiness, separate from this world and all it’s sin and sensual appetites.

That’s Sunday morning. No matter what the day of the week, I should live with a humble, ever-present consciousness of who I am in the flesh in comparison to the High and Holy One who dwells within me by His Holy Spirit. That’s not something I can somehow ‘drum up’ on my own. It is however present when the Holy Spirit within has sufficient sway over the still remaining lusts of my flesh. It comes ‘NEW naturally’ when His Word is hidden in my heart. (Psalm 199:11).

Whatever any person places as #1 in his/her life is that person’s ‘god’ – true or false?

I suppose you could call this an ‘opinion’ piece, but then again maybe not.

If we take a serious look at the history of man, we find that humans have a tendency to worship something, whether they call it God, a god, or something else. One of themes carried throughout the Bible is that the God spoken of therein is he God we were created to worship.

In the end, the bible tells us that God does anything and everything in order to bring glory to Himself or to His Son. We were created to love, worship and glorify the God who created us. To that end, we were created with the ability and need to worship. The problem that the fall of the Adam brought to the human race is, among other things, the corruption of human nature to the extent that we now enter life in rebellion against the God who created us to worship HIM and bring HIM glory.

Being religious beings by nature, we will find something to worship. If not the God of the bible and His Son, it might be another religion apart from Christ. Or, we might claim to be ‘atheist’ and that we don’t believe in any sort of ‘god’ or ‘religion’. In that case, whatever takes the first place in the endeavors of life, that thing for which we labor and strive to please, becomes our object of ‘worship’. No matter what that might look like, in the end I think it comes down to pleasing ourselves first and foremost in all of our endeavors. We call it ’self-actualization’.

What is terribly sad is that much of today’s American Christianity is nothing more than ’self-actualization’ disguised as proper religion.