God Hates Sin, Not the Sinner

This is a recent video where Michael Pearl, a Christian leader of the No Greater Joy Ministry, is answering a question posed by a subscriber to his video series, about what the bible says about homosexuality and how we, as Christians, are supposed to treat them, or any other sinner.

Now most people would consider this message a message of hate, or homophobic.  Clearly it is not.  As Mr. Pearl states, the Bible calls us to respond to those who choose to live this way with respect and compassion and convey to them, in a loving way, that the way they are living is sinful.

This is the way God wants Christians to treat anyone who is guilty of sin, and is not repentant of it.  To Mr. Pearl's point, we should judge people as we would want to be judged.  Specifically, if I am living in a way that is contrary to how God wants me to be living I would hope that a fellow Christian would confront me, in love, and call me to repent.  Sometimes it takes a view from outside of ones self to see something that may be destructive.  And it can take a tremendous amount of courage for a brother or sister in Christ to confront a fellow believer.  It takes even more courage to confront a non-Christian, especially considering the possible backlash that may ensue.

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To another point that I may expound on later.  Just because someone expresses a viewpoint that is contrary to an accepted social norm, it does not mean that person hates a person, or a group of people.  They are merely expressing another point of view.

Christianity has a Horrible Reputation

Over the past thousand years, or so, Christianity has developed a seriously bad reputation for blood shed, intolerance, and out-right dishonor.  Just a few examples are:

The Crusades, where a bunch of Kings and Knights from all over Europe decided "in the name of Christ" to go conquer the holy land and take it back from the "Infidels."  

The Spanish Inquisition, where Spanish monks, under the direction of the Vatican, decided to round up all of the "unbelievers" and try out some new and interesting torture techniques on them until they either converted or died.

Then we have groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), who has taken it upon themselves to broadcast to anyone who will listen about how God hates everybody.  Ok, not everybody, just gays, and pretty much anyone who isn't them.

If someone were to look at even these few examples, and there are many others, it is no wonder that there are so many people that are turning to Atheism, Agnosticism, or other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism, etc...