How Christians should respond to hate crimes....
Christians should be disturbed by hate crimes.
4 things to remember:
1. Murder is a sin (Exodus 20:13). (1)
2. Hatred is a sin.
We're called to hate the sin while offering God's love and truth to the sinner (Luke 6:31; Jude 1:22-23).(2)
3. The world often misrepresents Christians as hateful (Matthew 10:22).
Groups calling themselves "Christian" may speak up in support of hate crimes because Satan loves to misrepresent biblical values. But genuine believers know we can't love God and hate people (1 John 4:20; Matthew 7:12).
4. We mustn't water down God's teaching because of hate crimes.
Sometimes Christians recoil when hate crimes hit the news, and they back away from clear biblical teachings. However, if God says sins like homosexuality damage people's souls, it's a hate crime to keep silent about them (Luke 9:26; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-13).(3)
Keeping these things in mind, we should speak up against hate crimes, stand firm in God's Word, and pray for those involved.
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(1) Most translations of the Bible accurately translate the sixth commandment as "You shall not murder," not "You shall not kill" (Exodus 20:13). Old Testament laws prescribed execution of criminals and calls to war, but never murder. And the New Testament commands obedience to government laws unless they violate Scripture (Titus 3:1). See "Why did God destroy entire nations?" and "Two Times to Disobey."
(2) See "Hate Crimes"
(3) See "Hard Teachings"
To do a short Bible study on this devotion, check out today's Bite Size Bible Study.
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Bible Love Notes
We should only "speak up" against homosexuality in so much as we speak up against divorce, living together before marriage, sex outside of marriage, overeating, greediness, and all the other sins mentioned in the Bible. To selectively focus on that sin IS a form of hate towards the people who are suffering in and from it.
ReplyDeleteHi Morning Star,
DeleteYou are right to point out that all sin is sin.
But that doesn't mean it's wrong to speak against a particular sin in a devotion, conversation, sermon, book, etc. Nor does it mean we should treat all sins equally.
We should speak against sins in the way that God speaks against them. He determines which sins are of greater harm to society and individuals, and His Word says sexual sins are worse than other sins (1 Cor. 6:18), and it says homosexuality is a sign that men have rejected God and He has "given them over" to deeper "unnatural" sins - which means they are damaging their souls more fully (Romans 1).
In addition, to say that one must speak against every sin mentioned in the Bible in order to speak against one would be the same as saying we must never mention sin at all or we must just say "sin" and not define it.
Gail
Gail
Excellent response, Gail. Keep up the good work.
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