Resisting the Seeds of Hate
Christian Public Witness in a Divided World
If you know me, you know that I am fiercely competitive. I hate losing almost more than I love winning. When competing, it’s all too easy for me to get caught up in the moment, to be so singularly focused on an outcome (winning), and to take it too far or to say something that I may not mean. I get carried away. Recognizing this tendency, I am careful about when, where, and with whom I play games. I try to avoid situations where I might “lose control” for the sake of winning.
This is how I would describe the political divisiveness that we find ourselves in the US. We have gotten caught up in the moment, carried away with the singular focus of winning that we don’t see the other side. Not to say that there are not serious issues of debate that have real world impact, but the political jockeying has long past the point of serious debate. Sadly, political engagement, even on the part of Christians, looks more like getting caught up in the spirit of competition that we risk losing sight of our responsibility to others when the dust settles after the election. In this climate, Christian public witness should be influenced by the Gospel and marked by kindness, patience, and gentleness. To sum it up, it should look like love.
Christian Responsibility and the Other
In Matthew 5:21–24, Jesus says,
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Jesus’s teaching demonstrates a clear connection between our relationships with God and our relationships with others. To be faithful to Jesus, we cannot separate how we treat and interact with other people from how we relate to God. Thinking about this through the lens of anger helped me to realize my own tendencies to get caught in the moment and forget that the person on the “other side” is a sister and a brother for whom I am to care deeply.
Commenting on this passage, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes,
“Alienating oneself from another person causes alienation from God… We are not allowed to separate God from our sister or brother. God does not want to be honored if a sister or a brother is dishonored… Because the Son of God became a human being, service to God in worship can no longer be detached from service to sisters and brothers.”
In faithful Christianity, there can be no personal relationship with God that does not also change the way we see and interact with others, including in the political arena. 1 John 4:20 puts it this way, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
The Problem: Fertile Soil for Hate
Sadly, we live in the perfect conditions for hate to grow. We are bombarded with information. Truth is contested. Politics are entrenched. Fingers are pointed. The future is uncertain. These appear to be the sentiments of both sides of the partisan spectrum.
Media companies both online and on TV add fuel to the fire knowing that hate, fear, and anger sell. Triggering these emotions keeps us locked into their outlets as their profits rise. Their business models are designed to pull us in and lead us down the rabbit hole.
Everywhere I look, I see little promise for a peace, unified future, only further division.
On Instagram, Pastor Timothy Keller wrote,
Right now our very social fabric is tearing apart because of among other things, increasing, mutual demonizations ON BOTH SIDES. Christians must not contribute to this in any way.
Hate grows when we can no longer see the “other side” as a fellow sister or brother who is also called and loved by God. Hate wins when we look across the aisle and only see a problem.
Stories in Scripture such as Cain’s murder of his brother Abel or Joseph’s brothers plotting to kill him and then deciding to sell him into slavery demonstrate that the smallest seeds of hate whether planted by envy, anger, and greed can quickly grow in our hearts beyond what we can control or even imagine.
In this climate, followers of Jesus must constantly check our hearts and allow no place in our for the seeds of hate to take root. With this guide, Christian public witness should be noticeably different.
The Way Forward
While love is so clearly the antidote for the divide that grows amongst us in the United States, there are real life issues that must be addressed. There are important conversations to have. While we must resist allowing hate to drag us down the road of perpetual conflict, we must also have a way forward, a guide to steer interactions with those with whom we do not agree.
Paul addressing young Timothy who was leading in a contentious community wrote this exhortation in 2 Timothy 2:24–26.
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Timothy’s call at the time of this letter was to a specific place and to a specific community. As a representative of Christ, Paul gives him these instructions that I think can help in our own contested time…
Lead with kindness
Political discourse seems overly reliant on caricatures and bad faith in the other side. It values gaining the upper hand rhetorically to get the upper hand. On social media, it often looks like a meme or a plain-spoken shot at opposing views followed by a “just saying.” Our public discourse desperately needs an injection of kindness. It needs a renewal of assuming the best of others even when disagree.
Endure with patience
It’s easy to want to give up on the whole thing. It’s exhausting trying to keep up with the latest news and scandal. It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed by the nonsense of the political arena or the showboating from the worst examples of the other side, but Christ followers can lead to a way forward by refusing to give up. And we must refuse to quit in the political arena because the well-being of our neighbor is on the line.
Correct with gentleness
While kindness and patience are important virtues, there are real issues that must be addressed. When it’s time to disagree with someone, our disputes should be marked by gentleness. This approach shifts from seeking to win the argument at all costs armed with our set of facts to pursuing the well-being of others. The most important outcome is a prudent path forward for our shared life together. When our disagreements devolve into attacks and mic drops, how can plot a course into the future together? When we shut down discourse with partisan talking points, how can we find solutions to the problems we face? What is left to build on when we wreak havoc on our relationships for the sake of winning?
Conclusion
This is not a call for Christians to remove themselves from political discourse or to concede every point when disagreements become difficult or heated. This is a challenge to consider the desired outcome and to rethink our methods in light of that end. This is a warning that the way we are carrying on now leaves little room for a shared future together. This is a reminder that Christians are called to both truth and love, and one without the other is incomplete.
What would could our society look like if our interactions with those with whom we disagree were marked not by caricatures and mic-drops but by kindness, patience, and gentleness? How would our public witness change if instead of getting carried away in the moment, seeking to win at all cost, we remember the example of Jesus and lead with love even for our enemies?
Pastor Timothy Keller put it this way in a 2018 New York Times article,
The Gospel gives us the resources to love people who reject both our beliefs and us personally. Christians should think of how God rescued them. He did it not by taking power but by coming to earth, losing glory and power, serving and dying on a cross. How did Jesus save? Not with a sword but with nails in his hands.
Sources
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship. Trans. by Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003.
- Timothy Keller, “How Do Christians Fit into a Two-Party System? They Don’t.” New York Times, September 29, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/opinion/sunday/christians-politics-belief.html
