A few days ago my post included a rejection of the phrase, "love the sinner, hate the sin." One of my dear friends wrote in with questions.... He said basically, regarding pedophiles, I think that it makes sense to love the sinner and hate the sin.
I agree that there are sins that we would all agree are sins. My rejection of the phrase love the sinner hate the sin is not a rejection of the notion of sin. Not at all.
But when the phrase is commonly used about someone, their personhood is usually all balled up in the [perceived] sin whatever it is. The focus of the speaker is most often one of hatred of the sin. And the hatred bubbles over to the person.
I find it to be a convenient catch phrase which gives people a chance to judge others.
Here is my other issue... in high demand religious groups, the focus is on sin. I personally, do not want my life to focus on sin. I do not want the discourse of my life to be mainly about sin. Jesus' message was about love. We should talk about love as much as possible and focus on sin as little as possible.
Time and time again, Jesus loved the person and did not focus on their behavior.
He does not call the woman at the well a prostitute. He does not call the Roman soldiers abusive occupiers. He does not call the thief on the cross a thief. He just loves them all.
So should we.
I hope that helps.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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I am leading a trip to Italy in November of this year with Pastor Sherri Swanson. There is plenty of room and we would love to have you join!!!
click here for the Italy brochure
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