So Much Hatred!

Does it seem like hatred and divisiveness in society have grown to disturbing levels in recent years? We see hatred and hateful attitudes not only in conflicts and wars between nations, but also in politics, in rhetoric, in censorship, and in murderous chants by angry demonstrators. Has the “love of many” truly grown cold, as Jesus Christ predicted in the Bible long ago?

Hatred spreads like wildfire, fueled and fomented by rabid speech and writing that advocates the worst of human behaviors to be perpetrated against other humans. Hate speech, violent demonstrations, and hate crimes seem to be increasing all over the world.

National, tribal, ethnic, religious, ideological, and racial groups all suffer hatred from others not of their group. Slurs, epithets, threats of violence for alleged offenses and crimes—all are hurled in denigration at the objects of the hatred, being spewed with furious passion. Symbols of the target group are maligned and desecrated, flags are burned and stomped upon, effigies are ignominiously treated—and it all stems from the hatred of one group or another. Meanwhile, society debates whether the “right to freedom of expression” must be maintained at the expense of marginalizing the object group suffering discrimination and demonization.

For thousands of years, hatred has fueled conflicts and wars. Secular history records this hatred, and the Bible confirms that it has existed from patriarchal times—and that it will persist until the end of the age.

God’s prophets suffered hatred for delivering His message. Jesus Christ delivered a message of good news, of His coming kingdom and a new way of life, for which He suffered hatred and ultimately death. His message was, and still is, one of moral clarity, unlike the morally confused messages we hear today from so many. Even the concept of moral clarity is being attacked and redefined by those who want to dismiss the truths about family, marriage, sexuality, and gender so clearly laid out in the Bible. What was good is now called evil, and what was evil is now called good (Isaiah 5:20).

Yes, finding moral clarity today is difficult—unless you read the Bible. God determines what is good and what is evil, though mankind has, since our first parents in the Garden of Eden, tried to determine for itself what should be good and/or evil (Genesis 3).

Jesus spoke clearly concerning the subject of hate. He said, “I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

The Apostle Paul’s epistle to Titus explains that true Christians, before they were called, “were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). He goes on to explain the difference between their former conduct and their conduct after receiving the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle John also explains that one who hates his brother is in darkness and blinded (1 John 2:9, 11). He explains that “whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). And if “someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).

Before John’s epistles, Jesus Christ Himself said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). But He also said, “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake” (Luke 6:22). He ultimately explained that “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14).

For more on this subject, you may be interested in reading the Tomorrow’s World articles “Hate Thy Neighbor” and “Sins of Racism, Anarchy, and Secularism!”