Why Hate? Why Now?
Usually around this time, I write an article that has something to do with a very popular little word - love. It's February, after all. The Love Month. Valentine's Day quickly approaches, in all of it's red-rosed, sugar-coated glory. People wonder about love. They crave human attention - the rush that comes with a new crush, the warm fuzzy feeling that come with the start of a new relationship, the security that comes with knowing you have found your person. This is the time of year when we are encouraged to show our love to those around us. Of course, that lends itself to several topics to discuss, and bloggers such as myself never fail to disappoint: articles like "My Worst Valentines Day: Exposed!" or "The 12 Best Valentine's Experiences for Her" pop up all over the internet.
Lately, I've been struck with realization of just how shallow the definition of the word "love" has become in the American vocabulary. If you go out into New York City and ask twenty college students what they think "love" means, you will get varying answers from vague sexual references to comments on social ties. Love as defined in the Bible, clearly, has become an all but forgotten concept in our culture today. Why has love faded so much? And why does our culture prefer to accept this ambiguity? The twenty-first century concept of "love" is like a first-year art student's watercolor portrayal of a Rembrandt oil painting.
In simple terms, it "needs something".
In direct contrast to the fading of the definition of "love", the concept of "hate" has blossomed and bloomed into a black rose of adversity, hidden in plain sight. All our culture's emphasis on "tolerance" and "love" and "equality" simply camouflages this thorny flower, justifying it in ways unimaginable to prior generations. Hate has reached a level of absurdity. With all the hate that is presented to us in such appealing ways, it is no wonder that now, the youth of America see "love" as an emotion - nay, a physical feeling - rather than what it was originally meant to be.
So What Is Hate?
Contrary to popular belief, "hate" is not the opposite of "love". The opposite of "love" is indifference. Love and hate are united by passion, by caring. And everyone today cares about something. For hate to grow, there must have been some kind of connection - it is ludicrous to think that one can hate without a reason. Except that reason for many in today's society is that "the majority feels this way" or "so-and-so-famous-person-in-media feels this way, so it must be the correct way of feeling". We are living in an era of borrowed hate and shared acceptance.
The dictionary defines "hate" as: intense or passionate dislike. Synonyms include loathing, detestation, and abhorrence. So if something is so obviously dark, how can it manifest itself as something accepted, celebrated even, in a culture of tolerance?
Examples of Hate in our Culture
In my research for this article, I came across article after article on this concept. "Six Examples of Hate Crimes since Donald Trump was Elected,"; "Ten Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide,"; and "A Lesson in Hate" being just a few. It is no secret that hate crimes are rampant in the United States - no, not only the US. The world. Hate speech is common in pretty much every area you could imagine. It's not always obvious - preschoolers learn passive aggression as a manipulation tool that they utilize to get what they want in high school and then take that out into the world, combating their college professors, bosses, lawyers, and whoever else might get in their way. Our president is ridiculed for being a hateful individual, but those criticizing him are no better in their own speech.
How has it come to this? Or has it always been this way? Are we just a people of hypocrites, unable and unwilling to accept each other, and incapable of understanding the reality of a love that could overcome this darkness in our society?
Driving Out Hate with Real Love
One of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes reads like this: "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Can the watery, shaky, millennial version of love accomplish this task? Maybe, in a way. But it only acts as a temporary Band-aid to the real problem. Sexual tension, warm fuzzy feelings, or even familial connection cannot fix the brokenness of humanity. Everyone wants to change the world. Everyone wants to leave a legacy for good, but until this problem is fixed, there will be no change, no utopian society - and no human can ever accomplish this task. We are seeped in hate. Perhaps the reason the concept of "love" is so diluted is because we are incapable, as human beings, of understanding what real love looks like. We can never do love.
All we have is an example to look towards.
So What is Love?
Or rather, who is love? The short answer is simply this: Christ. In my years of growing as a Christian, it never ceases to amaze me that Christ is love incarnate. He is the definition of the word. And it sounds like a Christian cliche, something you hear in Sunday school - but Christ is the only thing that can drive out hate in our world. Hate cannot drive out hate. Love, in our definition, cannot drive out hate either - we can only hope to accomplish a temporary fix, the temporary acceptance of humans, which will inevitably fall apart in the end. Christ will never fall apart."Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)."
Love as defined in the Bible is unattainable by all who are born human. One of my go-to blogs, GotQuestions.Org, puts it this way: "Love (Jesus) went about doing good to everyone without partiality. Love (Jesus) did not covet what others had, living a humble life without complaining. Love (Jesus) did not brag about who He was in the flesh, although He could have overpowered anyone He ever came in contact with. Love (God) does not demand obedience. God did not demand obedience from His Son, but rather, Jesus willingly obeyed His Father in heaven. 'The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me' (John 14:31). Love (Jesus) was/is always looking out for the interests of others." All of these things we as Christians should be attempting to emulate but, as humans, we need to know that we will never fully be able to appreciate the fullness of the concept of God's love, even though we get to participate in it. Amazingly, however, God has given those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior the ability, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to love as He does. And this is the love that will drive out hate. We, as Christians, can be little bubbles of love in the dark waters of hate, bright colors on a black canvas, light in the darkness. And that gives me hope for humanity - Christ gives hope for humanity.
