As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
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In his foundational self-description, the first thing God tells us about himself is that he’s compassionate. By nature, he feels deeply for the hurts and trials of his creatures—even the animals (Jon 4.11), but most especially those in his image.
He cares.
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In his primary description of himself, God includes a list of related attributes (Ex 34.6-7):
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.
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.
“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
“ ‘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.
“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.
“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
“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
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