Please Stop Telling Christians Not to Hate People. Here’s Why…

“ALL HOMOSEXUALS ARE GOING TO HELL!  ALL LIARS ARE GOING TO HELL!  ALL DRUNKS  AND DRUGGIES ARE GOING TO HELL!…”

These were the jarring yet familiar words bombasting my aunt’s and my ears as we waited in line for the (beautiful! powerful! amazing!) U2 concert last weekend. I’ve lived in the South off and on for most of my life, so I’m no stranger to fire-and-brimstone sidewalk preachers.  I’ve been serenaded by them at concerts, prayer vigils, peaceful protests, and even once at a water park.  This guy was nothing new to me, and neither was his message.

Then again, what WAS his message?  To help us decide, here are some further nuggets of wisdom he dropped on our unsuspecting crowd before the doors opened to allow our escape (presented for you in all caps, just as they were forcefully delivered to us via supercharged mic and speaker tower):

• JESUS IS VERY STRICT!  HE’S VERY RESTRICTIVE ABOUT WHO CAN GET IN TO HEAVEN.
• THE FIRST WAY TO LOVE OTHERS IS TO STOP APPROVING OF THEIR SINS!  THEN YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF THEM AND SHOW THEM KINDNESS.
• U2 (pronounced “YOU-two,” like YouTube) CAN’T SAVE YOU, AND GOING TO THE U2 CONCERT CAN’T SAVE YOU EITHER!
• YOU KNOW THAT OLD CHILDREN’S SONG, “LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE?”  WHEN YOU GET TO HELL, IT’S REALLY TRUE!
• (in response to an onlooker’s challenge as to why Jesus changed water into wine if alcohol was so bad) THE KIND OF WINE JESUS MADE HAD NO ALCOHOL IN IT!  YOU SEE, THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF WINE IN THE BIBLE, AND THIS WAS THE NON-ALCOHOLIC KIND…

And on it went.  On the surface, yeah, this is easy to hear as a hateful sermon, and it is undeniably full of judgment and self-righteousness.  This kind of talk is why liberals and non-believers are constantly admonishing Evangelicals and conservatives to stop hating people…but as a former super judgy Christian conservative myself, I’m here to submit to you that this is not what they’re doing – or at least, not what they mean to do.  In most cases, it is far more likely that the message they think they’re putting out there is actually one of love.

Aside from the non-alcoholic wine nonsense, I can hear myself in the misspent days of my youth going along with most of the statements above, especially that second one.  I thought I was loving others by pointing out the errors of their ways and what the Bible had to say about them.  As a longtime Bible scholar, I was perfectly comfortable isolating Bible verses and using them to “win” an argument, seeing no irony or dichotomy in it at all.  This went on for many years, and it is my greatest shame and only true regret.  I was the worst kind of Christian, misrepresenting Jesus in abominable ways.

What changed it for me was, well, God speaking to me and convicting me in my own language. The more time I spent actually reading the Bible (both as translated and through original language word studies), the looser my connection to legalism became.  This primed my heart for a Damascus Road experience of sorts while reading the blog of that formidable Woman of Valor herself, Rachel Held Evans.  In an entry called “Ask a Gay Christian,” a beautiful man named Justin Lee discussed his story and ministry, and it was incredibly powerful and refreshing for me because he was the first person I’d ever met or read who actually addressed the issue from a scriptural standpoint.  Instead of simply saying, “God made me this way and I know He loves me, so it must be okay,” he had verse references and exegesis and biblical support for his beliefs.

Then he said this: “The more I studied, the more convinced I became that we Christians had applied a different standard to the homosexuality texts than we had to other Scriptural texts, and that condemning Christ-centered relationships solely based on gender was actually inconsistent with biblical teaching.”

This was huge for me.  The fact was, another person just as smart (okay, probably smarter), just as rooted in the faith, and just as committed to loving Jesus and representing Him in an intellectually responsible manner had read the same texts as I had and come to his own, very different conclusion.  It didn’t matter one bit in the spiritual realm whether I agreed with him (which actually, I now do); the point of it all was, who was I to stand in judgment of him or anyone else and declare myself, my journey, and/or my interpretation and application of the Bible as superior?  Answer: I couldn’t.  Not if I wanted to be an authentic follower and imitator of Jesus.  Which I do, more than anything in life.

Now, I told you all of that to get to this:

Did that sidewalk preacher anger me? 100% yes, to my core, because nothing of what he said is Who I know my Jesus to be…and I HATE it when we Christians give Jesus a bad name.

Do I think he was mistaken at best and a charlatan at worst for his pontification and judging/condemnation of others around him that night?  I do, and I pity him for his limited world view and inability to find and/or exhibit the true kind of love God offers, which bridges gaps instead of revering and widening them.

Do I agree that speeches like his are hateful and disgusting and and the best thing we can do is shame him and others like him into just shutting up – or at least changing their words to match what we believe or even know to be true?  Nope, I can’t say that I do.  For one thing, it would be the worst kind of hypocrisy; we would then become the very thing we’re trying to overcome.  More to the point, it just won’t work.  They know not what they do.

Best solution, as far as I can see?  To be free.  To revel in God’s love and the freedom it gives and be ready to share what we believe and why, when the time comes.  And just love them the best we can however that may look in the moment.  Not everyone speaks the language of acceptance or experience or exegesis, but love always wins.