CHRISTIANITY / THEOLOGY / HATE
Here's a Psalm for your consideration:
Psalm 5 - (New Living Translation)
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by the flute.
1 O Lord, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.
2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.
3 Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
4 O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness;
you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.
5 Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,
for you hate all who do evil.
6 You will destroy those who tell lies.
The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.
7 Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house;
I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.
8 Lead me in the right path, O Lord,
or my enemies will conquer me.
Make your way plain for me to follow.
9 My enemies cannot speak a truthful word.
Their deepest desire is to destroy others.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with flattery.
10 O God, declare them guilty.
Let them be caught in their own traps.
Drive them away because of their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
that all who love your name may be filled with joy.
12 For you bless the godly, O Lord;
you surround them with your shield of love.
Yes, there are those who God hates, especially those who murder and tell lies.
It's interesting to note that telling lies are equated to murder here, which is bad news for those who think they are good, because they've never murdered anyone. Well, have you never told a lie? Have you never deceived anyone? While it's not explicitly stated in this Psalm, there are many other places in the Bible where words themselves are equated with murder and evil.
In the modern day "woke" culture, you will often hear the phrase "silence is violence"! But in the Bible, angry speech is violence. Even Jesus, when falsely accused, kept mostly silent.
There are, of course, many instances in the Bible where prophets, including Jesus himself, speak very forcefully about the evil happening in Jewish society. Almost always, those prophets where treated badly, and even killed, like Jesus himself was, because people don't like it when prophets speak truthfully about the evil people are engaged in.
You can fool people constantly, but you can never, ever fool God, as he sees what's truly in your heart. You can kill all the prophets you like, but that won't keep God silent.
The take-away is this: we all need to be people who speak the truth, even when it hurts. This world is filled with lies and liars who constantly lie to us about all sorts of things. In a world like that, the most revolutionary thing you can do is take a stand for the truth.
- Pseudo Boethius