Christianity has been misunderstood as it pertains to its attitude towards sin.
I realize there are spokespersons for the faith that don’t always speak correctly when representing it. They either refuse to call sin what the Bible calls sin, or they have a wrong attitude and end up hating the sinner as well as the sin.
The Bible is clear on what our attitude should be towards sin: We must hate it. One of the reasons why we need to do so is because God does — and I’m sure the word hate is not strong enough to describe how our heavenly father feels about it. Sin destroys lives, both of the people who commit them as well as those who are sinned against. Psalm 97:10 says, “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.”
The Bible also makes it clear that we Christians are to love the sinner. God himself is described as a god of love, one who sent his only son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The motivating factor was love, according to John 3:16.
Again, if we are to follow the example of our Lord, we are to love others. This is one key thing that separates Christianity from most other religions: We can and should love those who sin against us and even hate us. We Christians need to remember that before we confessed our sins, our heavenly father loved us and was willing to forgive us and give us the power to live different lives.
As we look at others, no matter what they are doing or how they are living, we need to see a life with the potential of a transformation and love those people to Christ.
Always hate the sin, love the sinner
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