Hate the sin but love the sinner? Can we hate?
Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author: Ric Thomas. You raise a good and thoughtful question about a phrase that has been tossed around Christianity for a long time. It is one of those bumper sticker statements or fiery pulpit lines that sounds good in the moment, but lacks depth and needs more explanation and nuance, which is the point of your question. If we “hate the sin and love the sinner,” but never practicalize what God’s love fully means as it relates to the sinner, then we are missing something that is of paramount importance. Though the intent of the statement is good, the danger is that it can lead us into the pluralistic relativism we so despise in our culture today. Hate the sin, but love the sinner is a forced juxtaposition of biblical thought that can abuse the word love, while obscuring God’s plenary character and attributes. Whenever we take two thoughts like this–ha...