When nonChristians accuse Christians of hate, when Christians stand in opposition to sins like abortion, sodomy, illicit drugs, etc., Christians are always perplexed! For the Christian, hating the sin in no way equates with hating the sinner; to the Christian, the two are two profoundly and mutually exclusive matters altogether! Christians are thus offended, feeling that the nonChristian has intentionally falsely accused them of something horribly sinful, and diametrically opposed to everything the Christian stands for: the sin of hate!
But perhaps the Christian needs to step back, and not feel so falsely accused: more often than not, the nonChristian isn’t intending to bear false witness against him! Rather, the nonChristian is simply projecting his own tendencies onto the Christian! It’s said, “We see things, not the way they are, but the way we are!” The nonChristian simply mistakenly thinks that the Christian is as he himself: full of hate for whomever disagrees with him!
The nonChristian is not Born Again. So he is still the same, unchanged, and fleshly/sinful person as anyone else who hasn’t been changed by Christ in an experience of salvation. So the nonChristian is of course going to hate those he disagrees with; it is a natural state of the evil nature of man! So he sees everyone else as he himself is. So the nonChristian genuinely does believe that the Christian is hating the person he disagrees with!
So we need to consider the source. And to continue to preach repentance from this and all sin, and display the love of Christ that He has so freely bestowed upon us, and though us.
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