Is "Love the SInner" Working for Us?

Often I have heard from Evangelicals concerning gays and lesbians, “love the sinner but hate the sin.” How has this played out in our churches?

For a time I attended a church where a young lesbian attended with her grandmother. This young woman is student at a nearby university and is very bright. She does dress in masculine clothes and does not hide her homosexuality. She has an interest in all kinds of spirituality and so Pentecostalism was of great interest.

While I am at least forty years older than her, we struck up a friendship and continue to meet for coffee from time to time. She grew up with a totally absent father.

I tried to get her involved in a young adult group, the Alpha course and a Sunday school class and she attended each of these at least a couple times. The people in these groups were polite but not genuinely friendly. So she stopped attending the church.

Do we attended church for the sake of ourselves or to be a minister of Christ? I sincerely believe that if the church would have loved this young lady she would likely be a Christian today. I do wish the church would have loved and served her. How do we set the captive free? Do we even try? Lets try a little harder to love those that are more difficult to love.

Is "Love the Sinner But Hate the Sin" Working?

The news media is full of stories about a militia group the press is calling a Christian militia. It grieves me to see the name of Christianity associated with a group that is intent on overthrowing the government and killing law officers. How is it that the media is not calling them a cult but identifying them as Christian? Twenty years ago the group would not have been identified as other than a cult. Nowadays, in these news stories there is no mention of the term cult.

As Christians we have been identified as a people that are in opposition. We are against abortion, homosexuality, drugs, alcohol, Muslims, secular humanists and . . . whatever we perceive as sin or sinful. What did the long term impact of the Moral Majority turn out to be? The name, "Moral Majority," implies that the rest of the population is immoral and therefore, even the name casts judgement. The Moral Majority has become a minority and now, Christians are seen as judgmental. As the Church we need to be seen as a sweet fragrance in our nation.

I have a friend that refuses to identify himself as Christian because of our reputation. Instead, he identifies himself as a "follower of Jesus."

With our Christian reputation for being against so much it has become natural for the press to simply identify a militia that wants to kill and destroy the government as Christian.

How many times have I heard the phrase, "Love the sinner but hate the sin?" I do not think we can truly love a person when we also focus on hating their sin. Jesus has provided a remedy for sin. Can't we get past the sin and just love people? How long has it been since you hugged or shook hands with a gay man or a lesbian?

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul asks rhetorically, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?" In the next verse Paul goes on to say, "God will judge those outside [the church."]

When I read the scripture I see that I should hate my own sin. When I examine myself with regard to wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony, I have enough sin in myself to occupy all of the hate I want to hold.

As Christians lets stop being against other people. Lets examine and deal with our own sin. With Jesus, we have much to be for. Perhaps if we clean up our reputation by really living right and really loving people, next time a group like the "Christian Militia" will be identified as a cult.