My wife and I watched a DVR copy of the recent TV movie entitled “Amish Grace” last night. This is the movie about the man who shot ten girls in an Amish school house a few years back and then took his own life. Six of the girls died. The main theme of the movie was about forgiveness and not letting hate overpower you. The Amish community in Pennsylvania where it happened quickly forgave the man who committed the act and even helped the family of the murderer cope with the tragedy. As I have mentioned in the past the commitment to God that the Amish have totally impresses me. Fortunately the movie did not focus on the brutal act itself but instead on the forgiveness. It would have been very easy for most people who experienced this kind of tragedy to be filled with hate for the perpetrator.
This movie got me to thinking about just where hate comes from. Many discount the works of Satan in this world. They say that he is not a real being but instead just a concept. But I do believe that Satan exists and that hate is his primary tool for ensnaring his victims. It seems that there is much hate in the U.S. today so I guess I would say that Satan might be getting a strangle hold on us as a society. Being a U.S. history buff I am well aware that political partisanship has been a constant in one degree or another throughout our history. But I believe that it is morphing into something much more dreadful in very recent years among some of us. This is evidenced by the recent decision of several well respected people in congress who have decided to not run for re-election this year. Most often one of the primary reasons for not running is the tainted atmosphere in Washington today.
On a recent trip to Kansas I visited the high school that has been turned into a memorial to the Brown vs. the Board of Education lawsuit that started racial integration in the 1960’s. One picture on a wall is of a young girl, probably in the late teens, that is screaming at one of the black kids entering the segregated high school in Little Rock. I had seen this picture several times before but for some reason this time the pure hatred on the face of the girl totally struck me. I included a photo of it at the top of this post and as you can see it was a very scary thing. I often wonder about that young girl and how her life might be today. I have even said prayers for her even though I don’t know her. But that was not the last time I have seen that same look. It was also evident on several faces in the recent Tea Party rally in Washington that was protesting the healthcare reform law that recently passed. Their very antagonistic placards were also evidence of that hatred. Now I am not saying that all people in that rally were hateful but the ones shown in those pictures definitely were filled with hate. It was obvious from their faces and their signs. It was again a scary reminder of Satan’s presence in the world today.
“Filled with hate” is a very appropriate term. Hate starts out grabbing a small corner of our minds but if we don’t let it go it then, much like an aggressive cancer, it quickly overtakes much of the person’s total being. That is why there are numerous places in the bible where God tells us to fill ourselves with love, even for our enemies. He wants us to never allow hate even start within us. If we allow hate into our minds we are giving Satan a grip into our very souls. I know, given some circumstance such as the Amish incident I started the post out with, it is very difficult to not hate someone or something. But we, especially us Christians, must be very aware of the deadly affects of hate and fight it back when it crops up in our minds. We can disagree with someone but still love them. Hate simply does not have any place in a Christian’s life.
RedLetterLiving 
Yes “filled with hate” is something we see too often. And the Amish response to
the tragedy was a Godly response. You speak of Satan and that this is where hate
comes from. I’m not so sure on this. Jesus says “your father the devil”.
Internalizing the concept of Satan and showing that it is something that is
part of our being. I googled: If God is love where goes hate come from.
This puzzled me, I see as much as it has puzzled many others.
I read a wonderful book and a line from it I present here.
“Leave hate to those who are too weak to love”. And indeed there are people
who are so dissipated, so destroyed by hate that (in truth) there is no come
back for them. For hate ultimately is a spiritual cancer that eats the soul
of man. Hate, ultimately is a profound contradiction. A denial of God.
There is an old country song, “the devil make me do it the first time,
the second time I did it on my own”. And this is the whole problem
of blaming the devil for our sins. We blame the devil for our sins
and turn around and say Jesus forgives us for our sins, creating
a spiritual cul de sac. You see Jesus may forgive you, but in truth
you can never forgive yourself. As Jesus would say after healings,
… go and sin no more. Disease is dis ease or a detachment from
God. In this place/timed world of spiritual loss/illusion, we (humans)
are attached to “things” mammon’s lost world.
Jesus, made perfect, came to show the way out. And the messiah,
the (only) messiah is the inner one, “one is your teacher”.
So, hate for me, is the denial, the self-lying, illusion that
we have created. Some people are so into the denial that their
hate has taken on a life of its own. This is the false devil,
the dark side of us all, if we fall into the abyss of nothingness.
The real evil ones, the Hitlers of the world act as secret agents
doing the dirty work, evil work, for they are “too weak to love”.
The Amish made a garden where the school was. The 9/11 people
built a shrine to shine.
Yes God is love and hate is: this world of death and dying and
denying. When we go home and be one with God, hate will be no more.
And for me, that is only possible through conscious immortality.
Jesus showed the way (not in messianic delusion)but in the inner
teachings. Some few know, but in time, all will find “the way”.
Thanks Mighty Mo for your comments. They give us a lot to think about. I like the statement made by someone who I can’t remember right now that all of us are much much closer to being like Hitler than we are to being like Jesus. Yes, there is the ability to hate in each of us. But I stand by my original conclusions that if God is Love then hate does not come from him but from another source. To me that means Satan, whatever he is.
God can hate. It’s in Scripture. He hates workers of iniquity. He literally abhors them. He hates wickedness, darkness and despises sin. That is Godly hate.
While the enemy hates man, not that man did anything to him but because of pride. The enemy also hates God for what reason? Also for pride now that’s “selfish” hatred.
Like how we have “evil” jealousy while God has Godly jealousy over us, His sheep and lambs. They’re different things. God’s heart is pure while ours is deceitful that’s why it’s a sin for us but not for Him.
Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I know the old saying “God hates the sin but loves the sinner”.
Some people don’t just hate, they have reasons like I do……I hate my father,because he makes me feel like I was a mistake
Sindi, Hate is such a powerful thing it does not belong in your or anyone’s life. Your father has the problem, not you but if you put hate in your life then you do too my friend.
I would like to know your opinion on the whole gay marriage debate/issue. It is for an “article” I’m trying to write, and would really like to discuss it more with you. Please feel free to contact me via email.