toldailytopic: Is hate always a bad thing?

[Thunder's Muse]

In my experience, holding on to negative emotion does nothing but make you unwell.

 

[Nang]

I am not claiming it is healthy to hate. It is a tragedy to have to hate. Yet, we must hate that which is evil. We must fight against evil.

So Christians "must hate" in order to effectually fight evil, even though it is not healthy and it is a tragedy to have to do so . . . plus, if one is unable to exhibit hate, he proves to be a sociopath?

:noway:

Nang

 

[zoo22]

I see it a little differently. The sociopath is without love or hate. He is simply self-serving.
The ability to hate is so that we shall hate that which is evil and stand up to it and fight against it.

Are you claiming it is healthy to hate?

Are you equating serving righteousness with hate?

Are you saying it is necessary to express hate in order to oppose wrong or prove oneself not sociopathic? :shocked:

Is a hateful heart motivation a genuine and moral excuse to take a religious or political stand, or is there a higher standard (hint,hint) existent somewhere?

Nang

I consider it a bit of both. Using PureX's example of a father beating the son, and the son wanting to have children to beat in turn... Awful. The father is driven by some misplaced hatred. As is the son, in his desire to beat his own children in response. But for the son (or us) to hate that the father beats the son? That's something else. It's not wrong to hate that the father beats the son.

Hate is always bad, insofar as it's negative. In a perfect world, there would be nothing for anyone to hate. It wouldn't be an issue. But because we don't live in a perfect world, because sometimes things we face are wrong, sometimes hate is justified. Hate is a reaction to "bad" (whether that "bad" is real or mistakenly perceived). What we do with hate, how we act on it is something else altogether. As is what we might hate, or why we might hate it.

 

[Nang]

Hate is a reaction to "bad" (whether that "bad" is real or mistakenly perceived). What we do with hate, how we act on it is something else altogether. As is what we might hate, or why we might hate it.

Romans 12:21

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for January 10th, 2012 10:40 AM

toldailytopic: Is hate always a bad thing?

.

If we were wholly capable of hatred in the righteous Biblical sense, it would be a good thing. We are not. If we truly could hate thusly, we would hate sin and stop sinning. We don't, so there's that.

AMR

 

[Frank Ernest]

Proverbs 6:16-19 (KJV).

 

[bybee]

Proverbs 6:16-19 (KJV).

The "PC'er's" amongst us seem to forget or overlook all references to "hate" in the Bible.
A righteous God hates evil.

 

[PureX]

Thomas Merton wrote this about Pharisees: "A Pharisee is a righteous man whose righteousness is nourished by the blood of sinners."

Haters often use moral ideology to rationalize and justify their hatred of others. But they're only fooling themselves. The rest of us can easily see what they're really about.

Hate is addictive because it makes the hater feel righteous and powerful while they're inflicting their poison on others. But the effect is short-lived, and so they have to keep doing it over and over to feel good again.

 

[bybee]

Thomas Merton wrote this about Pharisees: "A Pharisee is a righteous man whose righteousness is nourished by the blood of sinners."

Haters often use moral ideology to rationalize and justify their hatred of others. But they're only fooling themselves. The rest of us can easily see what they're really about.

Hate is addictive because it makes the hater feel righteous and powerful while they're inflicting their poison on others. But the effect is short-lived, and so they have to keep doing it over and over to feel good again.

You are describing an obsession.

 

[Stripe]

Dudes need a lesson in constructing rational arguments. The OP is: Is hate always bad? Pointing out that hate can be bad is an irrational response and only serves to poison the discussion.

 

[PureX]

You are describing an obsession.

Sure. Hate is both intense and obsessive.

I lived in Chicago for many years, and it seemed like every couple of months I'd hear in the news that some guy killed his girlfriend. And it was always because she turned out to be herself, instead of who he wanted her to be. The guy would always claim he "loved" her, and that's why he killed her. But this is of course, nonsense. He killed her because she wouldn't (couldn't) be who he wanted and imagined her to be. And he was angry about it, and he was hurt, and he blamed her for how he was feeling. And he wanted to stop feeling those feelings, so he 'stopped' her.

That's not love, that's hate. That desire to stop what's hurting us by blaming and hurting someone else.

Most people who don't like President Obama don't like him because they don't agree with what he believes or with his policies. But some people hate him. They blame him for the fear and anger and frustration they are feeling inside themselves, and they want him to pay for it. They want to see him humiliated in debates, and they enjoy slandering him with outrageous lies whenever they get the chance. Instead of taking responsibility for their own feelings, they blame them on Obama, or on Bush, or on whomever, and they try to eliminate those bad feelings by attacking whatever 'scapegoat' they've chosen to blame for them. That's hate ... that desire to punish someone else for one's own feelings.

At least that's what I believe it is.

 

[bybee]

Sure. Hate is both intense and obsessive.

I lived in Chicago for many years, and it seemed like every couple of months I'd hear in the news that some guy killed his girlfriend. And it was always because she turned out to be herself, instead of who he wanted her to be. The guy would always claim he "loved" her, and that's why he killed her. But this is of course, nonsense. He killed her because she wouldn't (couldn't) be who he wanted and imagined her to be. And he was angry about it, and he was hurt, and he blamed her for how he was feeling. And he wanted to stop feeling those feelings, so he 'stopped' her.

That's not love, that's hate. That desire to stop what's hurting us by blaming and hurting someone else.

Most people who don't like President Obama don't like him because they don't agree with what he believes or with his policies. But some people hate him. They blame him for the fear and anger and frustration they are feeling inside themselves, and they want him to pay for it. They want to see him humiliated in debates, and they enjoy slandering him with outrageous lies whenever they get the chance. Instead of taking responsibility for their own feelings, they blame them on Obama, or on Bush, or on whomever, and they try to eliminate those bad feelings by attacking whatever 'scapegoat' they've chosen to blame for them. That's hate ... that desire to punish someone else for one's own feelings.

At least that's what I believe it is.

I think that what you describe is insecurity.

 

[GuySmiley]

The word of God says hate comes from the flesh, not from the Holy Spirit, so those who practice hatred will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Does my paraphrase help you get the point?

That is quite a stern and serious warning from the Lord, don't you think?

Nang

But as people obviously pointed out before you, that's not all the Word of God has to say about it.

 

[noguru]

This reminds me of something I heard a pastor say just this past weekend......"Hurt people hurt people."

I think it's very true.

Yes, because some people become comfortable in the crap and never want to leave it.

We must have the freedom to fight against people like this, however. I don't always advocate hurting others as a solution, because the vast majority of the time that is not the solution. To know hate is not wrong, to know angers is not wrong. It is what we do with it that matters. Do we put it in its place, or do we let it consume our mind?

 

[noguru]

Thomas Merton wrote this about Pharisees: "A Pharisee is a righteous man whose righteousness is nourished by the blood of sinners."

Haters often use moral ideology to rationalize and justify their hatred of others. But they're only fooling themselves. The rest of us can easily see what they're really about.

Hate is addictive because it makes the hater feel righteous and powerful while they're inflicting their poison on others. But the effect is short-lived, and so they have to keep doing it over and over to feel good again.

It does not have to be addictive if one develops a keen awareness of its presence and its causes.

 

[noguru]

Sure. Hate is both intense and obsessive.

I lived in Chicago for many years, and it seemed like every couple of months I'd hear in the news that some guy killed his girlfriend. And it was always because she turned out to be herself, instead of who he wanted her to be. The guy would always claim he "loved" her, and that's why he killed her. But this is of course, nonsense. He killed her because she wouldn't (couldn't) be who he wanted and imagined her to be. And he was angry about it, and he was hurt, and he blamed her for how he was feeling. And he wanted to stop feeling those feelings, so he 'stopped' her.

That's not love, that's hate. That desire to stop what's hurting us by blaming and hurting someone else.

Most people who don't like President Obama don't like him because they don't agree with what he believes or with his policies. But some people hate him. They blame him for the fear and anger and frustration they are feeling inside themselves, and they want him to pay for it. They want to see him humiliated in debates, and they enjoy slandering him with outrageous lies whenever they get the chance. Instead of taking responsibility for their own feelings, they blame them on Obama, or on Bush, or on whomever, and they try to eliminate those bad feelings by attacking whatever 'scapegoat' they've chosen to blame for them. That's hate ... that desire to punish someone else for one's own feelings.

At least that's what I believe it is.

Are these your only experiences with hate?

Have you ever hated something you have done or thought yourself?

 

[Nathon Detroit]

This is an interesting topic of the day. I am going to leave it up for one more day.

 

[bybee]

Yes, because some people become comfortable in the crap and never want to leave it.

We must have the freedom to fight against people like this, however. I don't always advocate hurting others as a solution, because the vast majority of the time that is not the solution. To know hate is not wrong, to know angers is not wrong. It is what we do with it that matters. Do we put it in its place, or do we let it consume our mind?

Well said!
We pray for peace but we must be prepared!

 

[PureX]

I think that what you describe is insecurity.

It's beyond insecurity. We're all somewhat insecure. But we don't all react to our insecurity so intensely, and we don't all choose to attack others because of it.

 

[PureX]

It does not have to be addictive if one develops a keen awareness of its presence and its causes.

Oh, I agree.

The beginning of any psychological/emotional/spiritual healing is the recognition that the problem lays inside ourselves, and is not the fault of others, or of "the world". Others may have hurt us in the past, and poisoned our hearts and minds, but now it's our responsibility to deal with that. So that we DON'T pass the poison on to others.

Hate is a sickness. But that's no excuse. It's our responsibility to recognize that it's in us, and to deal with it so that we don't infect others. That recognition, alone, begins the healing.