Re: Those who call themselves Christians
Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 1:59 pm
Right - it happens here too, altho' not to Westboro which is not on the South African agenda! Churches here are joining secular authorities in denouncing charlatan "prophets" and their ilk - merchants of venality, abuse and false worship in their claims to be Christian.
Some things are obviously opposable (thumbs and hatred) but other things might be positions of belief in what is or is not moral which are interpreted as hatred when, in fact, they are not. To say that homosexuality is a moral sin is not in itself hatred (although some who espouse that belief may be haters). To believe that abortion is a form of murder is neither irrational nor necessarily the province of women haters (though some who espouse that belief may be both). Christian "churchy" organizations are not going to issue blanket condemnations of anything that is clearly not hatred; merely a disagreement on right and wrong. Westboro is so obviously anti-Christ that it's easy to condemn their activity.
For me, the test is not whether people who don't like Christianity or don't like Bible believers think that some position they oppose is evidence of or motivated by hatred. It's whether it comports with the entire Bible and especially that thing about loving others as oneself. If people who claim faith don't understand, accept and admit that they themselves are sinners, then they are not all that Christian eh? If they speak of others' sin as anything different to their own, then they have not got the message. Which is love, not hate.
Some things are obviously opposable (thumbs and hatred) but other things might be positions of belief in what is or is not moral which are interpreted as hatred when, in fact, they are not. To say that homosexuality is a moral sin is not in itself hatred (although some who espouse that belief may be haters). To believe that abortion is a form of murder is neither irrational nor necessarily the province of women haters (though some who espouse that belief may be both). Christian "churchy" organizations are not going to issue blanket condemnations of anything that is clearly not hatred; merely a disagreement on right and wrong. Westboro is so obviously anti-Christ that it's easy to condemn their activity.
For me, the test is not whether people who don't like Christianity or don't like Bible believers think that some position they oppose is evidence of or motivated by hatred. It's whether it comports with the entire Bible and especially that thing about loving others as oneself. If people who claim faith don't understand, accept and admit that they themselves are sinners, then they are not all that Christian eh? If they speak of others' sin as anything different to their own, then they have not got the message. Which is love, not hate.