When You’re Tempted to Hate People, Part 3: Compassion
Read the series.
In his primary description of himself, God includes a list of related attributes (Ex 34.6-7):
When You’re Tempted to Hate People, Part 2: How God Describes Himself
As we’ve noted, even Jonah the bigot knew that God had revealed himself as a God of compassion, who extends mercy even to the most wicked, upon their repentance—and who seeks that repentance from them.
When and where did God reveal this?
It begins with Moses.
Discussion
When You’re Tempted to Hate People, Part 1: Introduction
We’re polarized.
Yep.
And each side sees the other as the Ultimate Personification of Evil.
They’re bad people, you see. They want to destroy us and all that we hold dear.
No tactic is out of bounds in our desire to destroy them.
It’s war.
Bring it.
There were situations like this in biblical times: existential crises, where God’s people, and all they held dear—or should have held dear—was under assault by those who hated what they stood for, because they hated the God who had chosen them for himself.
Discussion
Polarization study: both sides “feel that the other side dislikes them nearly twice as much as they actually do.”
Body
“The most ‘informed’ Americans are leading us astray. They’re the individuals most in the grips of the spiritual law outlined in Matthew 7. As they harshly judge the hatefulness of their political opponents, they are receiving the same judgment in return.” - David French
Discussion
The Psychology of Hate
Body
“ ‘Hate’ has become another all-purpose term of opprobrium, like ‘Nazi.’ If you oppose someone for any reason, you are a ‘hater.’ If you disapprove of some idea or practice, you ‘hate’ the people who hold that idea or follow that practice.
Discussion
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Partnered with Vicious Anti-Semites to Plan Their Trip to Israel
Body
“First, the group [Miftah] actually published blood libel, posting an article that accused “the Jews [of using] the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover.” …It’s also published an American neo-Nazi treatise… But that’s not all, not by a long shot.
Discussion
UN launches plan to combat escalating hate speech
Body
“Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is launching a plan to combat hate speech and counter what he calls ‘a groundswell of xenophobia, racism and intolerance, violent misogyny, anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred’ around the world.” - Fox
Discussion
Arthur Brooks on Rejecting Contempt: “If you have contempt for ‘them,’ more and more people will become ‘them.’”
Body
“We are called to find common ground where it genuinely exists, improve our own arguments, and win over persuadable Americans by answering hostility with magnanimity, understanding, good humor, and love. We cannot do that while hiding in our narrow ideological foxholes.” - National Review
Discussion
"While there are certainly individual Christians who are bigots, the theology itself is founded in and based on love"
Body
“Here’s the reality. While there are certainly individual Christians who are bigots, the theology itself is founded in and based on love — love for the God who created us, and love for the people we want to see enter into relationship with their Savior.
Discussion
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Discussion