Hate, Anger and Christian Misconceptions
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
In my years as a minister and teacher, I have never found a perfect Christian, neither have I know any man that knew all knowledge of Biblical matters, for as Christ stated there is none good but the Father.
One of the misconceptions of the world is that a Christian cannot hate and the other is that a Christian cannot be angry, so today we will look at both and see what the Bible says about each subject.
Hate is, according to Webster, in Scripture, it signifies to love less. Great dislike, to have a great aversion to (Opposition or repugnance of mind; dislike; disinclination; reluctance).
A Christian can hate what people, or mankind have become, what a person or persons do, say or have become that is contrary to sound judgment or Biblical properties that the Lord desires of all men. ny apostille We teach our children the basics of the Ten Commandments, Gods word and His laws, whether they follow them is entirely up to them, but the word will never leave them.
Many of the things Christians hate are also hated by the world, theft, murder, rape, assault and such like, where the Christian and the world disagree is on Biblical matters that will affect a mans soul and his salvation.
A Christian is instructed by the Lord to come out from among them and be ye a separated people, in other words, we as believers in Christ are to separate ourselves from men who do such things, but we are to still consider our own souls and pray for them,
for we were at one time lost and in need of salvation. We must remember where we have come from and desire the same salvation for them that the Lord granted to us.
Each and every sin can be forgiven with the exception of blaspheme of the Holy Ghost. What is the blaspheme of the Holy Ghost? It is simply the attributing of evil to God, as stated in Mark 3: 22, And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub(Satan. ), and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
This verse shows that the scribes were attributing the good works of Christ to the devil which was the blaspheme of the Holy Ghost, these men died with this sin on their hands. Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
A Christian hates false doctrines where as the world embraces them, for false doctrines allow mankind to choose what life style he desires to live in, in some cases it allows them to murder others that refuse to believe in their doctrine or gods.
A doctrine does not necessarily have to be related to religion a doctrine is in a general sense, whatever is taught. Hence, a principle or position in any science; whatever is laid down as true by an instructor, many false doctrines have a negative effect upon mankind many of these bring forth disease and even death, starvation and sometimes famine.
A false doctrine will destroy man, this is why Christianity, being against false doctrines, is hated for Christ told us that He was hated and we also shall be hated for our faith in Him and His Fathers word. Hate is not a sin unless it is taken to extremes as many do that are embroiled in false doctrines and religions. When hate become violent it then becomes sin, when hate consumes a man then it also becomes sin and or produces sinful acts, the same thing can also be said of anger.
Does God or Jesus hate?
The answer is yes, many places in scripture tells us what both hate, but their hate is a hate of opposition to sound doctrine, and or things that are contrary to nature or the laws of God. Many things that the Lord hates are things that will, in the using, destroy mans body and soul. For the Lord takes no pleasure in the destruction of the unrighteous.
A false balance(weight), homosexuality, adultery, pride or a proud look, false gods, doctrines, false prophets, evil, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth are some examples.
The Bible tells us, Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
Anger.
A violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury; usually accompanied with a propensity to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party.
God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
In the definition of anger, we see that it is generally followed by a motivation to enact justice or vengeance upon those that have committed an offence against us, that is why the Apostil Paul warned us to be angry but sin not, for anger without restraint begets uncontrolled hatred. We are not to associate with an angry man, who cannot control his anger. Uncontrolled anger begets wrath and wrath begets sin, devastation and destruction.
We see things and hear things that make us angry each and every day, injustice and the sufferings of the innocent, the persecution of Christians and Jews, the falling away of many mainstream churches from the truth of Gods word, the destruction of the family unit and many other things affect our minds that cause us to become angry.
We as believers temper anger with the truth, with love and with the understanding of God, for we lean not on our own understanding but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, we lean on Gods understanding of events that happen around the world. The prophecies of the end days shall come to pass, there will be no delay, no changing or stopping of God's word.
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, do not allow anger to cause you to say things that will not be accepted by the Lord, for we will all give account of every idol word we speak. When a christian becomes angry, it is better for them to seek out Gods word on the matter and when convenient use Gods word to counteract the affects of it.
What I mean by convenient is, the Holy Ghost will remind us what we have read and will seek for us to recite Biblical passages to defend us in times of anger, frustration and peril, and some times He directs us to seek out Gods answer in scripture, reading it again to remind us of Gods view on our situation. He will remind us to read and study to show ourselves approved, a faithful servant rightly dividing the word of God.
For many of us, anger brings about a longing to be in Gods word to find an answer to our situation. Being angry and knowing God, we know that we are not to extract vengeance from those that harm us for vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord I will repay. Every problem that we face is covered by the Lord who gives us all a way to escape temptation.
The Bible tells us that those that cause us anger and those that cause us distress shall not prosper. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. We must separate ourselves from those that bring in false doctrine, neither do we give place to those that preach another doctrine that was not delivered unto us by Christ. For there are many false doctrines in this world that teach hate and anger are justified to force others to follow their religion or doctrine.