The Bible is known as a book of love and so many are surprised to learn that the book of love teaches hatred. Human beings come into the world neutral and most of them come into it through an environment of love. Most of us are so surrounded by love that we have to be taught to hate. The sad part of all this is that our world seems to be moving in the direction of hate and not love.

So why does the Bible teach hate if it is such a bad thing? Like other emotions hate has it’s place. The problem we face today is misplaced hate. We are seeing a lot of hatred towards other human beings in the world today. The Bible teaches mankind to love other human beings, even those who do bad things. Love your enemies is the Bible’s advice, yea, the Bible’s command. The Bible wants us to be Godlike. God so loves the world that he sacrificed his own son. No matter what humans do, God loves them.

So why does the Bible teach hate if it is not God like? The truth is, God does hate. He hates sin and he hates evil. The Bible even lists some of the major sins that God hates. God hates lies but loves the one who tells them. He hates false witness but loves the one who bears it. God hates the stealing and killing but he loves people. He doesn’t want us to do evil things. He wants us to do good things and love each other.

So what does the Bible say about the Christian hating? Romans 12:9 states, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” The book enjoins us to love one another but hate the evil in the world.

It concerns me that there is a growing sense that hating people who disagree with you is alright. Acts of violence are occurring all over as people with different beliefs think the solution to the disagreement is to hate. Recent acts by some Muslims against Christians is an example of this. They scream their hatred even as they commit acts of hatred. Christians cannot hate back. Their God teaches them to hate evil but love evil doers.

Various hot spots in the Middle East are fires waiting to start because one group of people hate the other. A peace solution will never be found in that war because the root of the problem is hate. Hate by it’s nature is divisive. Hate produces acts of violence. Hate will not allow lasting peace. Those countries involved have a similar word for peace but they only speak the word, they do not live it. It is how they say hello but it has no real substance for humanity.

Christians must do more than say the word, they must put it into action. They must live it out. As far as possible, God tells us, live in peace with others. A soft answer can change hatred. Turn the other cheek. Seek peace. Learn to forgive the evil others do. But, never stop hating the evil that is in the world.