Hate Is Not A Family Value

On a beautiful Sunday past, I really connected to our Pastor’s message. I had been attending a small Methodist church in a small mountain town here in Colorado and teach some classes there as well. My pastor is female (yes, I said she was female and I connected with her sermon) and I go to the Methodist church because I believe in female leaders in the clergy. This should be no shock to anyone that knows me, but I thought it was right to preface this article by sharing my feelings, a skill new to me.


She taught on Heaven and the Resurrection. The area that I connected with was the discussion of Jesus’ remarks about bringing Heaven to Earth. For those of you unfamiliar with this teaching, try reading the Lord’s Prayer, I find it a good place to start.


The challenge I see is that the vision of Heaven on Earth that Jesus taught and the many different visions of Heaven on Earth promoted by Christianity seem to be at odds. Jesus’ vision was built on the idea of an over-arching love for one another. This love would be an open testimony of the changed hearts of His followers. This same kind of love was taught, lived and demonstrated by Jesus during His time here on Earth.


In His closing remarks to His followers in Matthew 28, He gave the order to emulate His actions-to teach others to live as He lived-because He was still going to be here-alive through our actions here on Earth.


Hate is not a family value and for sure, not a value practiced by the followers of Jesus. Even more, Jesus taught to bless those that curse us and to befriend our enemies. Doing this, He said, proves out the Kingdom living He came to install. This was not a sweet bye-n-bye order, it was to be implemented and practiced by all of us in our lives in the here and now. So even if we meet someone whose lifestyle we do not condone, the Biblical mandate is love, especially if you find it in your heart to hate him or her. Of course you would do this for the sake of the Gospel…right?


Recently, a pastor commented on one of my articles stating, “you are suggesting we preach love and not judgment. You cannot just preach love”. Really? Why not? Every time I hear this argument I ask myself, “When did this ever get proven out”? What statistic is out there that tells us this? What Biblical injunction do we have against preaching love without judgment? Perhaps Jesus was joking when He said, “Judge not-lest you be judged”. It doesn’t seem like a funny one-liner to me, does it to you?


We can preach a Gospel and a Jesus of love. We choose not to. Judgment, the Scriptures teach us, begins in the House of God. It doesn’t say it pours out on the world from the House of God. Hate is not a family value, especially the Family of God. John 3:16 gives us great encouragement about the redemptive purposes of God, but John 3:17 spells out the “mission”
“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world, through Him, might be saved” ESV


God’s mission was not to condemn what is already condemned. It was to save and to free what needed to be set free. Yet the mission for many Christians is to continue judgment and condemnation on those that live outside of their understanding of the Scriptures. No one is running to a Savior that His own people say will melt your face off if you don’t yield.


The main difference here to me is simple. You either believe that God’s desire is to dance with His creation or to dance all over His creation. You can live desiring the end of the world in a global explosion and meltdown, or you can live every moment to its fullest, bringing glory to your God and participating in the return of the Messiah.


Hate is not a family value and has no place in the life of a follower of Jesus. I keep seeing e-mails shooting all over the place stating, “don’t shop at Wal-Mart, the supplier of rubber ducks is a gay man” or “Sears now sells porno-posters online, please sign my petition”. Here is my petition and you don’t need to sign it. Live your life as a loved child of God. Speak and show the love Jesus called for in all you do and prove His testimony to this world is true.


The challenge is this: you cannot hand someone anything you don’t posses. Is this where the hate is truly coming from? Are people educated in Christianity but not connected to its source? Are these people who sing about forgiveness and love but have none to offer? Hate is not a family value.


To claim a transformed life is a very different claim than living a transformed life. If the love of Jesus permeates your soul, then you have love to offer. You will pull from the depths of your connection with God. There will be no hate streaming from a soul encased with the Spirit of God.


The amount of negative energy spilled out everyday by hatred, racism and prejudice is all we need. Our goal is to correct the world-to rectify it-through the ministry of reconciliation as taught by the Apostle Paul. It is to push back evil through the actions of good and speed the vision of Jesus by bringing the Will of the Father here to Earth.
This past year, I found myself very caught up in the election season. I must readily admit I took a few verbal “shots down the field” that called my own claims out on me. For that, I learned that people will always be more important to the Kingdom of Jesus than politics. I failed on this one, but lesson learned, I must move back to center, back to the dance God has called me to dance.
Rabbi Hillel said, “Love you neighbor as yourself. The rest is commentary.”


May we all see the vision of Jesus’ Heaven of Earth during our own lifetimes and in our own practice.

David Fournier in the Senior Instructor at Restoring Grace. David teaches classes on Hebraic Perspectives, Early Christian Communities and New Testament Formations and Canon. David is available for your church, youth group, seminars and retreats. Email David at: dfour26@gmail.com