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3 Tips on How to Hate and Build Walls
Most wouldn't admit it, but many of us practically hate others by the showing of our actions towards them. Whether it is homosexuals, democrats, republicans, people of other races, Muslims, the guy next door who keeps borrowing your stuff and not returning it, or even for a lot of others...Christians. Personally, I am a white, totally Western, businessman, follower of Jesus, moderate and I am the guy who borrows every tool I can get my hands on from my next door neighbor (although I return them). I keep talking about how to love your enemies, but I figured today, I could teach you just the opposite: how to continue to hate your enemies and how to build walls instead of bridges.
1. Read Articles and Books From Others Who Hate Your Enemies
This is one of those things that makes it easy to continually hate your enemies. Just find things written by those with your same convictions, stick your head in those words and don't look up. I have never seen more hatred and prejudices happen than from those who just read from those with their same convictions. Let's be honest, if someone is published, they must be an expert on those that you hate. You can easily live out your hatred by living through someone else's experiences. Why go to Africa when you can look at someone else's pictures? Whatever you do, don't read the opposite view of your enemy, don't read from those who have actually learned to love and befriend your enemy, and don't read anything from those whom you would consider to be your enemy. If you do, you might actually start to understand where they are coming from and that would really suck because you might start hating them less.
2. Stay in Your Bubble, Don't Befriend
The one thing we know is that the more you get to know someone, the less likely the chance you'll hate them or be prejudice against them. So, whatever you do, stay away from them. If ignorance breeds fear, stay ignorant. Keep your face in the books, but whatever you do, don't get to know any of them. And, not only this, if you happen to know someone that is "them" and they were nice, tell yourself that was just an aberration. If you happen to know one of "them" that was evil, make sure you make that the norm for all those you hate. If one of them is like that they must all be like that. Friendships with other people groups, other faiths, other convictions on politics or religions, is just dangerous. I mean, what if you actually start to like them? What if you start to actually...uhhh...love them? Worse, what if you become one of them? You must protect yourself from them, because they are the enemy and can't be trusted. They should be like the lepers in the Old Testament who were commanded to scream "leper" as they went through the crowds so no one would be infected. You? You are always right and your perspective on things has nothing to do with your culture or with how you were brought up. The way you think and process information is because you are right. So, just to make sure, when you walk out to get the mail, or when you go to the mall to buy your hate literature, climb in your bubble and get a look on your face that would rival any dog with rabies.
3. Don't Pray for Their Blessing
Jesus tells us the way to love our enemies. He tells us to pray. He didn't tell us to pray something like this:
Dear Lord.
Could you make Sally just like me? She is sinful and dumb. She needs to be just like me, and if she was, I know that you would love her more. Could you forgive her of her sins and open her eyes to how despicable she is? Can you turn her from her ways of ignorance into the light that I obviously always see? Show her the sin that is so apparent in her life and have her come to me and apologize, that way, we could be friends.
Thank you Jesus for loving me more than Sally...she is so blinded.
Amen.
If you keep praying that, you'll be able to continue to harbor hatred and build walls. So, keep praying that. Since you are right, and they are obviously wrong, they should become just like you. We know that they are the enemy and we are the chosen of God whom he is well pleased. Whatever you do, don't pray for their blessing. Jesus tells us how to love our enemies by specifically praying for their blessing. He knows that if we do this for our enemies and we truly mean it, it will be very difficult to hate them and we'll only want the best for them. That is just way too dangerous, and won't help harbor our hatred, so refrain from such prayers and thoughts.
I believe if you can take these three principles and stick to them, you'll continue to hate and continue to build walls. If there is a God, he must have an enemy. We call him the devil, Satan, Beelzebub. We know that whoever we are, that God is on our side and all others are of Satan. We know this because we love to read about them, continually refrain from engaging them and we love to pray that they would convert to look like us in every way. Keep this up and hatred will prevail.
One problem with this thought process:
Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Joshua 5:13-15
Maybe we shouldn't be concerned on whose side God is on, but the question should really be, "Are we on God's side?" Are we breeding hatred? If so, God is not on our side, but we are on Satan's.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:20-21
I implore you to look to do what Jesus called us to do:
Love, pray for and bless our enemies. To love God with all our hearts, souls and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
1. Read Articles and Books From Others Who Hate Your Enemies
This is one of those things that makes it easy to continually hate your enemies. Just find things written by those with your same convictions, stick your head in those words and don't look up. I have never seen more hatred and prejudices happen than from those who just read from those with their same convictions. Let's be honest, if someone is published, they must be an expert on those that you hate. You can easily live out your hatred by living through someone else's experiences. Why go to Africa when you can look at someone else's pictures? Whatever you do, don't read the opposite view of your enemy, don't read from those who have actually learned to love and befriend your enemy, and don't read anything from those whom you would consider to be your enemy. If you do, you might actually start to understand where they are coming from and that would really suck because you might start hating them less.
2. Stay in Your Bubble, Don't Befriend
The one thing we know is that the more you get to know someone, the less likely the chance you'll hate them or be prejudice against them. So, whatever you do, stay away from them. If ignorance breeds fear, stay ignorant. Keep your face in the books, but whatever you do, don't get to know any of them. And, not only this, if you happen to know someone that is "them" and they were nice, tell yourself that was just an aberration. If you happen to know one of "them" that was evil, make sure you make that the norm for all those you hate. If one of them is like that they must all be like that. Friendships with other people groups, other faiths, other convictions on politics or religions, is just dangerous. I mean, what if you actually start to like them? What if you start to actually...uhhh...love them? Worse, what if you become one of them? You must protect yourself from them, because they are the enemy and can't be trusted. They should be like the lepers in the Old Testament who were commanded to scream "leper" as they went through the crowds so no one would be infected. You? You are always right and your perspective on things has nothing to do with your culture or with how you were brought up. The way you think and process information is because you are right. So, just to make sure, when you walk out to get the mail, or when you go to the mall to buy your hate literature, climb in your bubble and get a look on your face that would rival any dog with rabies.
3. Don't Pray for Their Blessing
Jesus tells us the way to love our enemies. He tells us to pray. He didn't tell us to pray something like this:
Dear Lord.
Could you make Sally just like me? She is sinful and dumb. She needs to be just like me, and if she was, I know that you would love her more. Could you forgive her of her sins and open her eyes to how despicable she is? Can you turn her from her ways of ignorance into the light that I obviously always see? Show her the sin that is so apparent in her life and have her come to me and apologize, that way, we could be friends.
Thank you Jesus for loving me more than Sally...she is so blinded.
Amen.
If you keep praying that, you'll be able to continue to harbor hatred and build walls. So, keep praying that. Since you are right, and they are obviously wrong, they should become just like you. We know that they are the enemy and we are the chosen of God whom he is well pleased. Whatever you do, don't pray for their blessing. Jesus tells us how to love our enemies by specifically praying for their blessing. He knows that if we do this for our enemies and we truly mean it, it will be very difficult to hate them and we'll only want the best for them. That is just way too dangerous, and won't help harbor our hatred, so refrain from such prayers and thoughts.
I believe if you can take these three principles and stick to them, you'll continue to hate and continue to build walls. If there is a God, he must have an enemy. We call him the devil, Satan, Beelzebub. We know that whoever we are, that God is on our side and all others are of Satan. We know this because we love to read about them, continually refrain from engaging them and we love to pray that they would convert to look like us in every way. Keep this up and hatred will prevail.
One problem with this thought process:
Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Joshua 5:13-15
Maybe we shouldn't be concerned on whose side God is on, but the question should really be, "Are we on God's side?" Are we breeding hatred? If so, God is not on our side, but we are on Satan's.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:20-21
I implore you to look to do what Jesus called us to do:
Love, pray for and bless our enemies. To love God with all our hearts, souls and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God
Matthew 5:9
Peace.
1 comments:
Regarding your first point, Proverbs 18:17 comes to mind:
The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him.
There are authors who are able to give balanced accounts and valid sound arguments free of straw-men, but they are a precious rare commodity.
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