Why Christians Are Hated

By: Carol McClain @carol_mcclain

Last week, a reader commented that no matter what we do, the lost will despise Christians. He was right.

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” John 15: 18-19.

The rule of Bible study taught to me early in my walk is to not rely on one Scripture for your belief. When God makes things clear, you’ll find it in other places. In this case, Matthew 15:22 says: “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

Regardless of how good and holy, we are, a large contingent of society will despise us because our lives proclaim the truth that mankind cannot save himself.

As we look at Isaiah 1: 16 we see God telling the backslidden Jews of Israel to:

stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

Although directed at Israel, we can certainly apply it to our worldly brethren during this age.

Today, we need to look at the third and fourth on the list, and it will be easy to see where we have failed.

Seek Justice. Defend the Oppressed

  1. Black lives. Sad, but true, many blacks are still handicapped because of skin color. We need not march in with the riotous masses, I’m a firm admirer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his non-violent protests. How often do we put down someone because of skin color? Oh, you have nothing against the African American? Look at number 2.
  2. Latino lives. My heart breaks as a mother. In Latin America, girls and boys and sucked into gangs and drugs. Poverty creates desperate lives. Because these people are poor, they cannot get into the US like the huge Chinese corporations buying up farmland or the doctor from Pakistan. I’ve heard too many Christians complain about the immigrants taking precious jobs (janitorial, farming, housekeeping–all the things we crave to do). Little children, raised illegally in the US are threatened with deportation–but they’ve only ever known life here. Put yourself in their place. You may change your view point.
  3. Women’s lives. Our society still doesn’t value women. On TV and in music, they’re the once with the plastic surgery and revealing clothes. They’re sex objects. Black men voted before women. Black men became president before women. In many churches, women can only serve in Sunday school, hospitality and mentoring. Do we put women down?
  4. Prisoners’ lives. I heard on pastor’s wife say about the death penalty (and I paraphrase because it’s been a while), If an innocent person is put to death, it’s worth it to keep the death penalty. (!) I think if that were me, my daughter, my friend, what grief.

Atticus Finch said in To Kill a Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.”

I think seeking justice and defending the oppressed would work a whole lot better if we walked around in their skin.

1 Comment

  1. vera deford says:

    we are not born to hate – God has given us so much to love

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