Is hatred of pagans wrong?

Yes.

elysian said:

Shalom,

I know Christ taught us not to hate but to forgive our enemies.

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Enough said.

elysian said:

Yet as a new Christian, I find it hard not to hate pagans, particularly because I live in India, a country which houses the worst pagans: Hindus. Hindus have no morals or principles, freely abuse people, and generally speaking have no sign of humanity in them. Their entire religion/culture is based upon lies, superstition, oppression of weaker sections of society, bigotry etc., so it's not surprising that the average Hindu acts like a savage most of the time. At least, European pagans have a semblance of culture, but Hindus have none.

Hence, one feels extreme animosity while interacting with such a population devoid of culture, class, and ethics. Yet at the same time, one feels that as a Christian, one must not judge - the two attitudes seem to contradict each other.

Regards,
Elysian

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I can only imagine the challenges you face. It is possible to allow Christ to create in you a "hate" for the "sin" but a "love" for the "sinner". You too were once in the same place and God brought you out of it and into his light. If you allow it, God will build you up to be a mighty witness for him. There is no better situation to be in than to be that shinning light, walking in his truth with the voice of experience.

I recommend you check into an author by the name of Ravi Zacharias. He is a Godly man that was raised in that culture. He has written several books, however, one in particular I feel would be of great assistance to you is "Beyond Opinion".

May God continue to nurture you and bless your future ministry.

elysian said:

Shalom,

I know Christ taught us not to hate but to forgive our enemies.

Yet as a new Christian, I find it hard not to hate pagans, particularly because I live in India, a country which houses the worst pagans: Hindus. Hindus have no morals or principles, freely abuse people, and generally speaking have no sign of humanity in them. Their entire religion/culture is based upon lies, superstition, oppression of weaker sections of society, bigotry etc., so it's not surprising that the average Hindu acts like a savage most of the time. At least, European pagans have a semblance of culture, but Hindus have none.

Hence, one feels extreme animosity while interacting with such a population devoid of culture, class, and ethics. Yet at the same time, one feels that as a Christian, one must not judge - the two attitudes seem to contradict each other.

Regards,
Elysian

Click to expand...

Psalms 101:3 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."

People are like vessels that can choose what they will fill themselves with.

It is proper to hate the vessel that chooses to be filled with things that dishonor our glorious maker.

But if we happen across them injured on the roadway we do not question what their beliefs are. We tend to their injuries in love and let their wickedness be their own burden. That is how the Father has shown us to do in that He gives His rains to the wicked and the righteous alike. In so doing how do we know but that they will not repent?

When we let what they choose to do eat at us we are in effect letting it cleave to us. Psalms 101:3 "... it shall not cleave to me." And that then would hamper us in doing the very thing that might touch their heart with repentance.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

That is not easy for sure. But it might be a blessing to you. God permits us to endure nothing that he will not also teach us how to endure and along with it we gain wisdom and insight that we may have not gotten any other way.

It certainly teaches us to lean upon Him more in prayer and to depend more upon Him for our strength.

Believe it or not, after a while you will be glad for it and even be able to be glad it was you that had to endure it because you proved with God's help to be the one who could endure it and where able to be a tool in His hand for the sake of those that hate you.

Elysian I am guessing you are new to christianity what you are experiencing can be somewhat expected. As you have a new plant growing in you, you will want to protect it. It can be easy to get carried away when we have our eyes opened for the first time, it can also be very uncomfortable spiritually and physically.

Vengle said:

Psalms 101:3 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."

People are like vessels that can choose what they will fill themselves with.

It is proper to hate the vessel that chooses to be filled with things that dishonor our glorious maker.

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The very scripture you quoted contradicts that statement. "It is proper to hate" the work, not the "vessel".

Vengle said:

When we let what they choose to do eat at us we are in effect letting it cleave to us. Psalms 101:3 "... it shall not cleave to me." And that then would hamper us in doing the very thing that might touch their heart with repentance.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

That is not easy for sure. But it might be a blessing to you. God permits us to endure nothing that he will not also teach us how to endure and along with it we gain wisdom and insight that we may have not gotten any other way.

It certainly teaches us to lean upon Him more in prayer and to depend more upon Him for our strength.

Believe it or not, after a while you will be glad for it and even be able to be glad it was you that had to endure it because you proved with God's help to be the one who could endure it and where able to be a tool in His hand for the sake of those that hate you.

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Great encouragement for our new friend.

THE Gypsy said:

The very scripture you quoted contradicts that statement. "It is proper to hate" the work, not the "vessel".

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Yes, depending on how one views the vessel.

Let's not forget that the vessel is what God dashes to pieces and rebuilds into something honorable.

But thank you for pointing that out because I should be careful what i say to a new person in the faith as they may not be able to distinguish between the vessel and the person.

Obviously God does not destroy the person but the old man. And obviously what he makes of the pieces is the new man.

So I guess what I should get in the habit of saying to a newbie is that we hate the carnal man even of our self. But we yet love our self. We look to the good in our self and believe that it is in us so why would we not also do that for others?

I will gather the scriptures which speak of this and post them here in a few minutes.

While I am doing that I will leave this passage to ponder: 2 Timothy 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

We see the process out lined for us here: Jeremiah 18:1 ¶The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

The prophecy word of God through the prophet continues: Jeremiah 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

(Side note: I know Insight is loving me having to say this. :lol: You have no idea what you got me into Gypsy.)

Anyway, God is not about destroying as many make Him out to be. He will break us down so that He can build us back up into something honorable. It is the carnality in us that He is crushing. And we see at 1 Corinthians chapter 5 that sometimes even within the church we have to set the person out as a dishonorable vessel so that he does not contaminate God's work among the people He is making holy. That is hating the vessel which insists on being a container for ungodliness. But that same man is also thought to be the one Paul speaks of forgiving at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. The carnal man was dashed and the new man was born of the pieces.

We want to remember another important rule when it comes to how we deal with vessels outside the church that we do not incur unnecessary hard feelings and consequent persecution of outsiders: 1 Corinthians 5:13a But them that are without God judgeth.

We must let God do the judging of outsiders but regard the vessel with hatred of what it clings to and so as David said: Psalms 101:3 "... it [that vessel] shall not cleave to me." That is a bad association spoils useful habits sort of a thing.

None of this stops us from loving all men if we have proper spiritual balance. We then merely know how to love and how not to love.

It might also help to explain to a newbie how love and hate are both actions. You know, like when we are told this: Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Hate sometimes means only that it is an action of loving less. In other words it does not mean there is no love at all there. In fact that is most often the case when wicked persons are spoken of being hated even in the OT (right up to the point where they force God's hand to have to destroy them. For they can turn and repent until then. He allows them His rains and fruitful harvests until then.)

We are all God's children He created. God reveals Himself in His Word and how He feels about His children when they turn away from Him to worship something else. He even uses the emotional idea of 'jealousy' against those other things His children turn to worship (Exodus 20:3-5).

Apostle Paul used the very same emotion that God feels with this...

2 Cor 11:2-3
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
(KJV)


That doesn't show God hates any of His children that worship something or someone else. It's about the object of their false worship against Him. Even when He did say He hated Esau (Malachi 1), a workman's understanding in His Word reveals He meant that in the sense of Esau turning away by his acts.

So, dislike the principle of evil which God also hates, but not the soul of a person who might be wrapped up into paganism in worship of something other than our Heavenly Father through His Son.

The opposite of love in indifference. Christians should love everyone, but take an indifference stance towards lesser good things or ideas.

elysian said:

Shalom,

I know Christ taught us not to hate but to forgive our enemies.

Yet as a new Christian, I find it hard not to hate pagans, particularly because I live in India, a country which houses the worst pagans: Hindus. Hindus have no morals or principles, freely abuse people, and generally speaking have no sign of humanity in them. Their entire religion/culture is based upon lies, superstition, oppression of weaker sections of society, bigotry etc., so it's not surprising that the average Hindu acts like a savage most of the time. At least, European pagans have a semblance of culture, but Hindus have none.

Hence, one feels extreme animosity while interacting with such a population devoid of culture, class, and ethics. Yet at the same time, one feels that as a Christian, one must not judge - the two attitudes seem to contradict each other.

Regards,
Elysian

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this is all the more reason to feel compassion for such people... hating them is not the answer nor is it Gods way. God doesnt hate anyone....he only hates the things they do.

So you have to stop focusing on the the things they are doing but look at the person and see that they are still human, they are still created in Gods image and they are still children of Adam like you and I. They are in darkness though, and for that reason they deserve compassion.
2Corinthians 4:3 If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.

It is the christians job to shine a light out of the darkness so that those who have a righteous heart will see it and respond to Gods invitation. Just because they appear to you a certain way, dont think for one moment that all of them are the same...there are good people in every nation and there are those who want to know God.

elysian said:

Shalom,

I know Christ taught us not to hate but to forgive our enemies.

Yet as a new Christian, I find it hard not to hate pagans, particularly because I live in India, a country which houses the worst pagans: Hindus. Hindus have no morals or principles, freely abuse people, and generally speaking have no sign of humanity in them. Their entire religion/culture is based upon lies, superstition, oppression of weaker sections of society, bigotry etc., so it's not surprising that the average Hindu acts like a savage most of the time. At least, European pagans have a semblance of culture, but Hindus have none.

Hence, one feels extreme animosity while interacting with such a population devoid of culture, class, and ethics. Yet at the same time, one feels that as a Christian, one must not judge - the two attitudes seem to contradict each other.

Regards,
Elysian

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Since you are a new Christian the first thing I will encourage you to do is study the Bible. In that book it tells not only about God but why people are the way they are. In it, it tells us that the Satan is the god of this world and that the whole world is deceived by him. So it not just pagans that are deceived.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (ASV)
[sup]4 [/sup]in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.

Revelation 12:9 (Darby)
[sup]9 [/sup]And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.



Do not look pagans as your enemy but see them as a victim of Satan....have compasion on them for as Jesus said, they do not know what they are doing. Satan is not only a Christian's enemy, he is the enemy of all mankind. And at the same time God allows Satan to do what he is doing, because God is using him as His tool to bring the emotions and minds of the people of the world to Him......God will allow Satan to influence men to create an oppressive system so horrible that people will become receptive to God.....they will be humbled and willing to listen to those whom God will send to them. Millions of people will turn to God during the great tribulation.

Revelation 7:9-10,13-15 (ASV)
[sup]9 [/sup]After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands;
[sup]10 [/sup]and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.
[sup]13 [/sup]And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and whence came they?
[sup]14 [/sup]And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they that come of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[sup]15 [/sup]Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them.


So don't let what these people do cause you to hate them......the day is coming when there will be not only no pagan practice, the Earth will be at peace because the Nations will know God.

Isaiah 11:9 (ASV)
[sup]9 [/sup]They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

I think it is wrong to hate them. Not just because of God's word.. But I think we should love everybody.. each other. Hatred would just cause confusion and war against everyone..