“With love for mankind
and hatred of sins.” – St. Augustine.
In other words, love
the sinner, hate the sin.
It seems black and
white, but it covers an area vast and gray as a Midwest winter. Love? Do we
love Putin? Michael Vick? The Kardashians? All
the Kardashians?
And how do you define a
sin, anyway? Some people think it’s a sin to start a sentence with a
conjunction. Hopefully they hate my sentences, not me. I think it’s a sin to
make a turn without signaling, but I don’t want to blow up those drivers—just their
cars.
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| If it's a sin to use a religious holiday to promote your products, I've got a lot of company. |
There are bad people in
the world. Call them sinners, or whatever you want. But here’s the thing: Most
of the people you and I disagree with are not
bad people. We just have different opinions. You may think there’s nothing
wrong with making a turn without signaling. I think your car
engine should explode and leave you stranded by a dead skunk carcass. Neither
of us is bad, even if one of us in wrong. (It’s the stinky guy. He's wrong.)
So, while the issues
may be complicated, and the differences may (or may not) be insurmountable,
that doesn’t mean we can’t get along. There are more important things than
whether that uncaring bum uses his turn signal. At the
end of the day, maybe he realized the world’s problems were too big for him to worry
about why that guy behind him honked and waved with one finger.
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| Groot finally took out that SUV that never signaled its turn! |
The Bible has some
pretty strict definitions of sin, and punishment for sinners. Then Jesus came
along and said, “Hey, lighten up—good people do bad things. We should still
care for them.” (I’m paraphrasing.) I’d be a poor Christian if I didn’t try to
live up to that. Besides, we’re all sinners. You think it’s not a sin that I
want to blow up perfectly good cars?
On Easter and every
day, let’s try to keep that in mind. Debate, but don’t hate. Hey, I like that …
I wonder if it’s been copyrighted? I don’t want to give it up to that guy who can't find the turn signal switch. (Dude, it's on the steering column. Up is right, down is left.)
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| There's something to be said for rebirth. |
Happy Easter, Mark.
ReplyDeleteDebating is an enjoyment. My family would become so excited we would pound the table. We did not argue about God's Word, but anything else was fair game. Have a blessed Easter, Oh. Tweeted,
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Easter to you! I'm not a big fan of debating, but some people are awfully good at it. If it was 1776 I'd be Thomas Jefferson, not John Adams.
DeleteWonderfully put! "Debate but Don't Hate" will make perfect bumper stickers for your next book signing!!
ReplyDeleteI should put it on a t-shirt!
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