A Study Of Hate, Part #1

A Study of Hate

Part 1 of 3

 Ecclesiastes 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The wisdom of Solomon shines brightly in his elucidations of good and evil, or the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit. In this narrative known to us as Ecclesiastes the dichotomies of nature’s are illuminated in his attempt to show the contrast between paradise and eternal suffering.  A dichotomy  defines a sharp division of things or ideas into two contradictory parts, thus we have the flesh and the spirit.  Galatians 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh… Each element of the dichotomies of life processes the ability to cancel out the other.  One cannot serve God and the Devil, the same as day cancels the effect of night, or love cancels the effect of hate.  In a natural and imperfect world controlled by the knowledge of good and evil, opposites exist as the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit.  Thus we have the proliferation of this once forbidden knowledge of good and evil verses the knowledge of God. 

The knowledge of good and evil or the knowledge of the world is founded upon the love and works of the flesh, whereas the knowledge of God is founded upon the love and works  of God.  Those who love God have a strong desire to be commanded by God.  Galatians 5:16-23  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would…  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The scripture list hatred hatred as a work of the flesh along with a rather lengthy list of others vices, such as Adultery and murder.  The work of the flesh was condemned by the Law of God, yet the Law was unable to control the sinful nature of man once he had tasted of the forbidden fruit.  Romans 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  John 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

Hatred is a powerful aphrodisiac, it produces a psychological high and its addiction rate is higher than that of drugs.  The narrative of a drug addict will draw others in  and replicate itself, thus creating an epidemic.  The same holds true with hate.  Society has separated itself into groups and each group hate the other.  Hate filled  rhetoric brings together those whose  perception  of hatred is blinded by the rhetoric and they rejoice in the evil and attention produced by hatred.    Groups are often formed to combat hate, but, again because of the lack of understanding of the nature of hate, these groups often succumb to hate an become instruments of hate.  Humanity in his infinite wisdom often creates laws to control or combat hate.  The application of these laws often produces a hatred more intense, more profound than the hatred it sought to suppress.  Consider the war on prostitution, liquor and drugs as a measure of effectiveness of man-made laws against the work of the flesh.  If it was because of what the law of God could not do, God sent his son, how effective can the laws of man be?

What is this ungodly hate and why is the world is so mindful of it?  When did this hate first rear its ugly head?  Why do people hate?  Can hate be controlled by the creation of laws?  What is it that causes hate to spread so quickly?  These are just a few of the questions we will explore as we attempt to get a deeper understanding of hate.  Fix these questions in your mind as I suppose in somewhat of a rambling manner, we will seek to shed a balanced light on the nature of hate.

According to the scripture there are certain facts that we should know.  Before the creation of man, Lucifer, God’s Holy angel in charge of God’s creation became jealous because God had all power and commanded the angels.  Desiring a bigger share of this power he organized a revolt against the Kingdom of God.  Failing in his objective, he was cast out upon the earth.  Jesus alluded to seeing the Devil cast out upon the earth, striking it like a bolt of lightening.  The end result of this cosmic upheaval was, the earth became without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  Choosing not to make an end to his creative works, judgment was deferred, a restoration process began.  The earth being overrun with evil, God began to create good or opposite to offset the evilness caused or created by the devil.  God said, “Let there be light”, and he separated the light from the darkness, this is indicative of the fact that he did not destroy the darkness, he contain it.  He spoke to the waters that overran the earth and dry land appeared,  He defined his works as ‘good’.  His divine purpose was not to destroy, but to bring about a restoration process through the establishment of opposites and choices.   According to the book of Revelation in the new Heaven and Earth, there will be no night and the seas will no longer exist.  Scripture documentation can be found in my book, “Understanding The Word of God”.

Within the contents of the Kings James Version of the Holy Scripture the word hate is used eighty seven times, there are eighteen occurrences of the word hatred, the word love is used two hundred and eighty six times.  Another comparison is the word day is used 1576 times while the word night is only used 301 times, darkness appears one hundred and forty five times.   There is a subtle message in these facts which is often overlooked. Hate is like a seed, if we nurture it it will grow.  When hate presents itself, it is hard not to stare at it, but If we stare at hate we can become overcome by it.  Hate produces a blinding effect that causes our perception to suffer. We see things through darken lens.  The rhetoric of a hate filled society can be pervasive, which is why the Bible warning us against letting hate into our hearts.  Once hate enters our heart it contaminates our lifestyle and we become the victims of hate. The opposite of hate is love.  Hate is to love what night is to day. The objective of hate in our heart is to choke out or destroy love.  Hate is an emotion that is fed by the lust of the flesh.  It sees what other processes and its lusts after it.

Asked how to get rid of racism or hate, a person of notoriety responded, “stop talking about it.”  To address the issue of hate does not diminish hate, rather it provides a result that is opposite of the intended objective.   The so called discussion on racism has not curbed the spirit of hate, rather there is a divide that is growing, and this country is being torn apart.  The consensus of todays society is to seek out hatred or racism, expose it, discuss it and it will go away.  This is far from the truth. When Nancy Regan instituted a program of, “Just say no” to drugs in our High Schools, the use of drugs increased.  Hate is like a flower, in darkness, it will struggle to exist, but to expose it to the light for all to see its intricate nature, it will flourish and produce seeds.  This hate, the same as prostitution or drugs cannot be controlled by laws.  Laws merely reshape the playing field.  When the playing field is reshaped it is usually at the expense of some other group.  Under the guise of a Utopian society, hate, racism, and civil rights have been exposed and examined, the rights of one group trumps the rights of the other group and Christ has been left standing at the door knocking.

On October 28, 2009 President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to apply to crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, and dropped the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity.  The purpose of this act was to insure the protection of all.  This act combined with the Human Rights act of 1964 proposes that we all should be able to live our lives free of hatred, and racism and be able to enjoy a new found freedom based upon tolerance.  These laws or acts are guilty of creating a new form of hatred that is more destructive that the acts they sought to impede.

To be continued