Hate in Quarantine

I am concerned that some of our hearts have grown "a few sizes too small" in isolation. Quarantine brought benefits for homebodies, but also a litany of temptations to harbor hate and let love for Jesus and neighbor deflate.

Remember when Jim Carey as The Grinch thumbed through his Whoville phonebook with these words: "hate, hate, hate, double hate...LOATH ENTIRELY!”? This scene kills me and has taken a life of its own as a joke on my side of the family.

                            

The Grinch, isolated with his own insane thoughts and his dog Max, holds a longstanding grudge against the people of Whoville. The plot takes off when the sweet Cindy Lou Who invites the Grinch into the community for celebration and appreciation. Her initial attempt fails, but eventually the Grinch's heart grows with love for the townspeople.

The Grinch's hate is funny because it is flamboyant, kooky, and fictional. Our hate rarely resembles his, but that doesn't mean we are free from hate. Our distorted hearts are more subtle than the green mountain dweller's. 

Scripture says that people who refuse to follow Jesus hate him. This unbelieving hate is motivated by a love for darkness (1 John 3:19-21). As self-respecting people, we are reluctant to evaluate ourselves as hateful, but by John's standard all people have hated through unbelief. And just as we have all hated, Christians are all tempted to take up those old attitudes. 

How am I enticed to hate others during this season? I need to define "hate" first. Hate is the opposite of love. 1 John 3:13-18 makes clear that love and hate are opposites. This is helpful because love is defined precisely by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13! 

Paul's definition of love exposes behavior in my life which falls short (aka, hate). It comes naturally for me, since I am a son of Adam. I don’t need encouragement to excel at hate, but that never stopped the internet.

 Social media has ascended to power in my life since quarantine started. Work, leisure, friendships and family are all found here for this season. Have you noticed that Paul’s virtue of love is not celebrated online? Most social media stars don’t rise to fame by patience, kindness, thankfulness, humility, courtesy, assuming the best in others, and celebrating truth. I risk deflating my love when social media shapes how I think and feel. And then there is the news. 

How many news organizations thrive by pleasing a partisan audience with cheap shots at the other side? These entertainers need an audience to stay employed and they can secure it by partial reporting, assuming the worst, vilifying, maligning, and exalting their side over the halfwit "other side." Don’t get me wrong - a free press is vital to our democracy, but it comes with ills. Why? Sludge.

 The hearts of reporters, journalists, and news anchors oozes the same sinful sludge that we do apart from the rescue of Christ. The question is whether I filter the news or accept their attitude and conclusions as “gospel.” I suspect news anchors have a prominent voice of discipleship for many Christians, while possessing very few of the qualifications for spiritual leadership. Politics is not an alternate reality where Christian love doesn’t apply. Politics is totally encompassed by the second greatest command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)

I think it is fair to say that social media and the news disciple us to hate each other. Eric Weinstein noticed this too: "Our media deranges us every day (and this includes tech) to hate each other."  He goes on, "We have a poisoned national dialogue in which wherever you consume your media you are getting a constant set of emotional instructions..."

Eric Weinstein on The Verdict with Ted Cruz

What are those instructions? In a word: "hate, hate, hate, double hate...LOATH ENTIRELY!" 

Weinstein also said "...most of our feelings are not our feelings, but feelings we have inherited from daily programming." This is true and Christians should know it; this is (partially) how we can get worked up listening to a sermon.

Recently a Christian asked me about the movement Black Lives Matter and said, "I am unsure how to feel about BLM." They could have meant "think," but I believe they spoke more truly than they knew. We DO look to others on how to think and feel.

So, what can we do? We won't escape our poisoned political dialogue anytime soon, especially since this is an election year. What can we do instead of joining the brawl? As redeemed Christ followers, we can do something counter-cultural, subversive, and world-changing. As God's beloved, gifted with the Holy Spirit, we can put on love. My next blog will be on that.