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clowns in the asylum, faith, Hatred, insanitybytes2, news, politics, rhetoric, words
Like many people I’m kind of observing the world’s chaos and wondering why the insane clowns now seem to be running the asylum. It often seems as if all the bad things are now out having a play date, a field day, and it’s hard to sort it all out.
So rhetoric, also known as hate speech, is something that transcends politics, it is bigger than the left or right. It’s a concept really led by the media, also known as mediated reality, and Hollywood, also known as the politics of personal destruction.
It’s hyperbole, hysteria, fake news, all this rhetoric and propaganda designed to hype people up, to get your panic on, to convince you to choose sides in a battle and go to war. The language is the language of war too, people are naming the enemy along tribal lines, dehumanizing whole groups of people, declaring war on things and ideas, and projecting hatred and contempt on people they perceive as symbolic of those ideas.
Personal responsibility has certainly gone out the window, as in it has become quite easy to point fingers at something and declare, those people have incited my hatred. In truth however, we are totally responsible for our own thoughts and feelings. No body has the power to incite us to hatred. Not one. That is a total deception, that is how we rationalize our own wrong-headedness.
As Christians I really believe we’re called to preserve the sanity, to point to Christ, to light the path and lead people out of all the confusion and chaos. So hatred, contempt, toxic rhetoric, are NOT Christian values. They never have been. We serve a Lord of order, not of chaos, one who calls us to love our enemies, to forgive those who offend us.
I mention this because I’ve actually been engaged in some pretty heated debates with people who insist hatred is a Christian value, that we are actually called to hate what God hates, and all sorts of rationalizations and foolishness, as if hatred is just a valid way of naming evil. I’m putting my foot down and declaring that to be total nonsense.
There’s an interesting word in the bible, pharmakeia, it means witchcraft, the same word we get pharmaceuticals from. It is what happens when your thoughts, beliefs, and will are not your own. You have been enchanted, bedazzled, or drugged into a line of thinking and emotion that is not really your own. We are living in the midst of a culture characterized by two things, a constant onslaught of excessive drugs and excessive propaganda. Pharmakeia. Brainwashing. Mindlessness rather than mindfullness.
Hatred can be a very seductive thing, it’s often cloaked in perceived virtue, it makes us feel powerful and righteous, it can bring clarity and draw a line in the sand, so it often “feels” right, especially of we are simply hating on all the “bad” people. I put “bad” in quotes because we always label people “bad” before we proceed to hate them. Whether they are actually “bad” or not is irrelevant, “bad” is simply what we use to justify our own hatred. The more broken among us are really vulnerable, because they can cloak their hatred in perceived virtue and heroism, as if they are going to single-handedly rid the world of evil.
That is the kind of faulty thinking that recently led a man to shoot an innocent father and baseball lover at a softball practice before being shot himself. That is the kind of thinking that led Kathy Griffin to believe that parading around with a severed head was a good idea. That is the kind of thinking that recently led a man to punch a young girl in the face at a protest. That is what has caused riots in some of our cities. Pharmakeia, it makes us loose our darn minds and if you haven’t got much of a hold on your own mind in the first place, you’re vulnerable.
Toxic rhetoric is a form of pharmakeia, it is propaganda designed to incite you to lose your darn mind. It may be confusing and chaotic in the midst of the world’s mess where everyone is accusing one another of hate speech for simply breathing heavy, but again I put my foot down. Everybody knows what hatred and contempt feel like, everyone knows when their words are unkind and dehumanizing.
Hatred is not a Christian value because it flies in the face of what God has established, that we are made in His image. Hating on groups of people is hating on what He has made and contradicting what He has declared to be true. None of this “I hate the sin, but not the sinner stuff,” because our brains are often unable to compartmentalize such concepts in a tidy way. I ain’t buying it. In one blink the person themselves becomes the very thing we hate.
Name evil for what it is, speak the truth, but the moment you try to pour hatred over evil, it owns you. Hatred is it’s very language, its sole purpose, the very tool it uses. You can’t out evil- evil, it’s way better at it than you are.
So stomping my feet here, insisting hatred is not a Christian value, and praying for some more eyes to open up and see the deception for what it really is.
Julie (aka Cookie) said:
well said IB—absolute Truth!
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Celebrate His Love said:
EXACTLY!!! 👍🏻🙏🏻
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MJThompson said:
Another great post, I wholeheartedly embrace! Your perspective encourages a balanced tolerance for contention, with a firm line clearly drawn – never to be crossed – hatred. When Scripture (in English) recounts the things God ‘hates’ (such as found in Amos 5), it is clearly intended as a GOD’s FINAL JUDGEMENT against all evil.
While ‘THAT DAY’ is marked sometime yet future on God’s ‘calendar’ – HE provides this perspective for the ‘HERE & NOW’.
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” – Phil. 4:8
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Good point about the things God “hates.” I was thinking of Proverbs 6:16-19. While God is certainly free to “hate,” it is virtually impossible for us little people to pull it off without contempt, reviling, “haughty eyes, wicked imaginations, sowing strife,etc.” So with our hatred, we soon become examples of exactly what those passages speak of. It reminds me of something a mother might say, “just because God can do something,doesn’t mean you can.” Leave the revenge and hatred to the Lord, if there’s any revenge and hatred to be had. 🙂
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Citizen Tom said:
I certainly agree with the spirit of the post, and with this added comment, I can agree with the substance.
We are not suppose to judge whether other people are good or evil. In the work day world, we would say that decision is above our pay grade. Nevertheless, I don’t think hatred is always bad. If we love someone, we will hate the things that hurt them.
If you were at home and someone broke into your house and overtly threatened your family, I expect the only way you could control your rage and anger is the need to control yourself so you could gain control of the situation. Heaven help the poor sucker if you were able to get after him with a butcher knife.
There is, however, a time to set aside the rage and the anger. That’s when we have the opportunity to forgive. Once that housebreaker is safely in prison or six feet underground, it is definitely time to forgive. Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
To keep hatred from consuming us, we must forgive.
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OKRickety said:
“When Scripture (in English) recounts the things God ‘hates’ (such as found in Amos 5), it is clearly intended as a GOD’s FINAL JUDGEMENT against all evil.”
“Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” [Amos 5:15 NASB]
If God only hates in regard to the “FINAL JUDGEMENT against all evil”, I find that hard to reconcile with the scriptures I find regarding God “hating”. For example, Proverbs 6:16-19 and Proverbs 15:9. It’s also difficult to reconcile with the fact that God allowed His people to be captured and removed from the Promised Land on multiple occasions when they turned from Him and practiced evils that He hates.
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MJThompson said:
The idea (or concept) that “God only hates in regard to the “FINAL JUDGEMENT against all evil” was intended to be considered and discerned from God’s perspective. Of course, that is essentially impossible to comprehend for a mere human being, but filled with and guided by the Holy Spirit – a revelation of such does happen.
In the greater scheme of LIFE, everything here and now is ultimately destined for fulfillment in the future, Some will inherit eternal life, some will perish. Along with those who perish will be ALL the evil and hatred that exists, vanquished forever more.
In the predetermined (predestination) Omniscient mind of God Alone, all hatred is already judged. Within THAT context, “God only hates in regard to the “FINAL JUDGEMENT against all evil”. PEACE!
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OKRickety said:
MJThompson,
In my opinion, that was clear as mud. For myself, and likely others, I’ll stick with the simpler perspective that God hates evil both now and forever. We are also commanded to hate evil. And, yes, God will provide consequences for evil, whether now or at the Final Judgement.
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Tricia said:
So very well said IB! The world truly has gone mad. I guess it’s always been to some degree, but social media has put your pharmakeia concept on steroids. Massive brainwashing can occur in a matter of minutes as propaganda gets shared over and over again by people who believe it’s true because it fits their narrative on how the world is made up.
Hate is NOT a Christian virtue as you say, but that so many people are just so darn sure of themselves that it is speaks volumes .
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Wally Fry said:
Good stuff.
You, besides light, we are to be salt. In context of the time that directive was written, everybody would have gotten that right away. Salt did far more than just flavor things; in fact, that was a minor consideration. Salt then preserved things; it kept them from becoming rotten. Clearly, we are expected to be a preserving force on the world around us, not adding the the rot. If we do…well, then we are only fit to walk on.
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silenceofmind said:
The other day, a Mexican lady who is a member of our parish asked me to attend some community prayer get-togethers to pray for the illegal aliens who are falling victim to THE Donald’s crusade for law and order.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was good friends with the crazy guy who attended morning Mass wearing the “Donald Trump Make America Great” T-shirt.
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newenglandsun said:
We’re suffering “Trump derangement syndrome” here a lot. The government’s sole duty is to preserve law and order and protect its citizens…but a lot of Christians have presumed that the government’s sole duty is to do what the Church is supposed to do effectively shutting down the Church.
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theinfiniterally said:
Great article. You have me thinking about terms and definitions. Anger is one of the seven deadly sins. Are hate and anger interchangeable words? Do we commonly use them that way? I’m really asking, I have to think about all this. Either way, becoming emotionally overwrought with either seems completely at odds with a connection to God.
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newenglandsun said:
“If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin.” (CCC 2302) Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil, and is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm. (CCC 2302-03)
hope that helps.
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theinfiniterally said:
It does, indeed, or will. I will have to wait until a little later to meditate upon it. I am not yet as familiar with my catechism as I should or should want to be, so thank you.
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newenglandsun said:
well said. recently, i had an exchange with a muslim lady who i made the mistake of asking about all of these terror attacks by islamists but i never blamed her for it. i think she took it as that, proceeded to lecture me about the quran and how the kkk does not represent all christians either…a reality seemed to have been created in her mind that i hated her personally and that when i informed her the kkk is not christian and is demonstrably unconnected to christianity by the fact it burns crosses, she took that as lecturing and then proceeded to give me further lectures on qurannic interpretation…
it made me feel a little bit belittled myself and so i made the mistake of stating my own personal view on the quran which is precisely that it is an asinine mockery of the jewish tnkh and christian nt which hypocritically threatens “blasphemers” all the while being in and of itself a blasphemy against both the jewish and christian faiths and that muhammad was not a holy man but rather a prideful heretick…it was stated in self-defense to this lady’s lectures on the quran she kept giving me that made me feel rather uncomfortable but still perhaps a mistake to say in that moment to someone feeling the need to lecture and feel superior nevertheless.
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ColorStorm said:
Hey ib, would it be ok to suggest a new drug infested word in the spirit of your observations combing speech and toxins:
rhetoxic…………. 😉
…and to use a coupon, somebody asked re. anger vs hate; no they are not twins and certainly one can display anger and be hateless.
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SharaC said:
Spot on… sanity and steadiness win the race, not screaming one another down acting like children.
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Opinionated Man said:
What if God had invested a little more time in giving us the ability to hate and then we could have hated evil and resisted it? 😄
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Salvageable said:
Well said, IB! “As Christians I really believe we’re called to preserve the sanity, to point to Christ, to light the path and lead people out of all the confusion and chaos. So hatred, contempt, toxic rhetoric, are NOT Christian values. They never have been. We serve a Lord of order, not of chaos, one who calls us to love our enemies, to forgive those who offend us.” Exactly–couldn’t be clearer. J.
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karenlts25 said:
Hard to see whats happening, knowing how the follower of Jesus is to respond in a way that honors the Lord. There are enough warnings in Scripture to let us know as Jesus was hated, His followers can expect the same kind of treatment. His Word does name evil for what it is, I am left wondering how we are to reconcile those passages of Scripture which do speak of hatred such as David’s heart rending in Psalm 139:21-22, or Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13, 13:5, Romans 12:9 and Jesus’ response to the hardened hearts in Mark 3:5?
“Endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the soul as God loves it,” as Julian of Norwich once said.
Its hard to comprehend a “hate” so different from what we know human hatred is. Its not the kind of hatred followed by revenge, retaliation, punishment believed to be deserving, or rejoicing when the “offender” falls into trouble. It is kind of miraculous response where hatred of the sin that caused the person to behave the way they did exists with genuine love for the person in need of a rescue. The endangered soul in need of being reconciled to God who loved them enough to allow His Son to suffer on our behalf. Grace in action. We all stand together at the foot of the Cross, no one better than another, making it all the more astounding that He first loved us!
However, I do believe it is possible to hate what God hates while remaining loving what He loves, (even if it does feel impossible at times!) While typing this my husband was watching “Britain’s Got Talent 2017 Finals Missing Peoples Choir.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6wIMo6Psa8 And it hit me, that is the Father’s heart of love for us all, that all come to repentance and none perish. Not one. However our heart may ache with what we see day after day, I cannot imagine what it is like for His.Thanks IB for being the voice you are in this chaotic whirlwind of a world. Greatly value your words and heart! My prayer continues that God’s love would be made perfect in us all so that we can all be bold in the day of judgment. (1 John 4:17)
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Mel Wild said:
Good word, IB. Amen.
Two problems we have with the English word “hate” as it relates to God that creates confusion. First, in the normal sense of the word, we apply it to people; God applies it to injustice or anything that damages people. Second, when God supposedly “hates” people (English translation), He’s talking about letting them go. For instance, God let Esau go because Esau despised his birthright. He gave Esau what Esau wanted. God did not hate Esau in the way we think of hatred. It’s the same when Jesus tells us if we don’t hate our family, etc., we can’t be His disciples. It means, placing them before Him. We must let our family go if we have to choose between them and Jesus. But this has nothing to do with loving them. It has to do with allegiance.
God’s love is unconditional. But He will say to those who persistently don’t want Him, “Your will be done.”
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insanitybytes22 said:
Beautifully put, Mel. Thanks for that! Awesome point about “hating” your family, leaving them behind in the sense of putting God first. When there is a bunch of dysfunction around you, the idea of follow me, and “let the dead bury the dead,” can be very healing. We’ll call that the right kind of “hate”, for lack of a better word. 🙂
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MJThompson said:
The matter of semantics so frequently overlooked or purposely ignored often causes us to forget that God’s ways are so much higher than ours. Especially when it comes to words like love/hate, peace/war, life/death. There is a way that seems right to mankind, but unless we attempt to see things from God;s perspective, we’re doomed to mere foolishness. Of course ONLY the Holy Spirit can reveal these truths.
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