I HATE heathens. Plz advise..

[Trench777]

Hello,

I'm struggling mightily with the world. I can't seem to overcome this deep-seeded hatred for heathens/pagans/atheists, etc. I've tried telling myself "Well, there was a time when you didn't know Jesus Christ"..."You were just as bad"..."You blasphemed God, too"....etc. The problem is...if the man I was walked up to me right now, I'd knock his teeth right down his throat for him. I DESPISE who I used to be, with a perfect hatred. So...looking at them in the light of who I was, isn't working for me.

Another approach that has seemed to fail me, if to look it like this : Satan brings the world before God and accuses them perpetually. He shows God all the things he (satan) has managed to get them to do, in a vain effort to turn God's face & love from them. By hating them for what they do, I seem to be in agreement with satan...they are not worth the breath it would take to curse them to eternal damnation.

I repent and turn away from this hatred, with more frequency than I care to admit. I immerse myself in God's word, I go out and help people (homeless & prison ministry), I pray, I seek the love of God towards the world...but I fall. I stumble and I fall regularly.

I get all wound up with God, filled with His word and Spirit...then I get cut off in traffic by some idiot heathen with a Darwin fish eating a Jesus fish stating "Reality Bites" and I just want to get out and break thier windshield with a baseball bat. Then take the bat to the driver.

I look at how the heathen shove thier glorification of sodomy down our childrens throats in school, how they shove it down our throats on prime time TV, how they force it down our throats in the courts...and I just can't seem to keep from HATING them. Passionately.

I see/hear them mock God, mock christians, mock Jesus, mock anything and everything that is good &/or wholesome...and I can't stop thinking about how much I wish God would just strike every last one of them down where they stand.

I think about how my sons are going to have to grow up in a world where God is loathed, Christians are spit on at every turn. How evil is glorified and satan turned into a cute lil' cherub with pointy horns & tail, put on the dashboard & rubbed for luck.

...and I rage inside...

I KNOW how I feel is a sin. It feels like sin, it tastes like sin in my mouth and mind. It spreads like poison through my soul.

HOW do you other brothers and sisters deal with the heathens? How can you stomach them? How can you not despise them and wish ill upon them, when they mock our Lord? How do you make it through the day without cursing them when they glorify evil?

I honestly don't want to feel this way, as it makes me an ineffective servant of Christ.

I seek your advise.

T777

 

[Lilly of the Valley]

It's good to hate their ways, but not them themselves. Try to continue to ask the Lord to help you and try to think about how much God loves them (continue to). Personally, I recieve the Lord's love for me, thus allowing me to love them. I hate their ways, but love the people, though it is really hard at times. I also stay in the Word and ask God for strength. I also, think of where they are headed. That allows me to feel a lot of compassion.

 

[caillan]

ehm I know how hard it is but faced with His love for you, you have to see how much more He loves the sinner that repents: Luke 15:7. He loves the sinners of this world; that includes those who reject Him, those who mock Him, those who teach sodomy in our classrooms, and even those who drive back and forth each day in their pick up trucks oblivious to the truth. He hates their sin but loves them dearly; this has to be the example that we follow

 

[swingnscream]

wow, yeah that's some anger there. But that's ok, even God has been know to get annoyed with so much sin, and yet He's still loves all of us. Pretty amazing, I'd say. But that's not the point, that's just the opener there

Actually there's a lot of different ways to love the sinner and at the same time hate the sin.

"Seeing the forest for the trees", is one way. When I started working with the youth group I'm working with now, when they all came in all I saw were a bunch of rowdy, jr high kids who just wanted to play around and talk to each other all night. I thought, "No way God. No way can I work with these kids, they won't listen to me." about that time another adult worker leaned over and started telling me some of the background stories about where a few of these kids come from, and I realized I had been way too quick to judge. God gave me a huge compassion for these kids and out of that I love em like they were part of my own family ...even when they're being really rowdy.
In the same, it's so easy to just see this huge massive of sin and wrong doing in the world ...or you can take a look at some of indiviual [like God does] and see they kind of things they have to go through and all the pain, lies, and emptiness that they have to deal with daily. The worse part is, for them that's as good as it gets!

I once heard it said that, "For unbelievers, earth is the only heaven they'll ever know, and for believers, earth is the only hell they'll ever know"
It's really sad to think how true that is. I mean, all of us who are Christian know we have the hope of something better to come, but for unbelievers who try everything just to gain a little pleasure & truth and yet are never satisfied and always fall ..and for them, that's all they'll have. They'll never get know true happiness; they'll never realize their true purpose in life and in existing; they'll always be empty and things only get worse for them from here. That's truely sad.

Yes, I do agree with everyone else [so far] to love the "heathens", you can only do that through God's love that He places in your heart. But you have to be able to see them like God see them.
Christ sees them as suffering and lost, lonely & confused, they hate because that's all they've been taught. They hate because they are hated. [Matthew 9:36 & Titus 3:3]
You have to understand these people you despise... God loves them. God loves them just like he loves you. And we're certianly not above God, so if a beautiful holy God can love the heathens, then surely we who even closer to being on their level can love them too.

Jesus, Himself, used a lot of different parable to so say that God doesn't pay favorites at all [examples: workers in the vineyard parable, the prodigal son & the older brother], even who He picked out as His 12 disciples show that it doesn't matter to him about where some comes from, as long as they do come to Him & follow Him. So if that's how Christ views us, shouldn't we also do the same for those who are still left behind in sin and darkness?

Just keep praying that God will change your heart & how you view them, and that He will help you to love with His love. Other than that, it's a gradual process of changing your mind set of how you view these heathens.
Hope that goes well for you. God bless,

 

[Rafael]

It isn't flesh and blood that we fight against, but pricipalities and powers in high places, as the scripture tells us. Standing in the gap and taking authority in Jesus name with prayer and fasting against the devil and his servants is one way to destroy the works of the enemy. The Lord hates sin too, but not the sinner.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

[Alternate Carpark]

Empathy and perception.

Luke 23:33-34 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.
[34] Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."
We, as the ones who claim to see, must see the way Jesus saw.

Ephes. 4:17-18
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, [18] Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

2 Cor. 3:14 (KJV)
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.


No point getting angry at a blind person for bumping into you is there.

 

[HumbleBee]

T777

Surmising you in the School of Hardknocks and of the Holy Spirit!

Luke 6:27-38 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

You sorta becoming like em heathens that you despise soooooooooooo much, if yo full of h***. It appears that maybe a spirit of anger or rage seems to have got a foothold in your life

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

Romans 12:1-2, 21 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God...Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

God say to me...PROVE TO OTHERS THAT HIS WILL IS GOOD!

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Know you wanna make a Christian difference, Jesus living in and through you is that difference!

 

[Trench777]

You sorta becoming like em heathens that you despise soooooooooooo much, if yo full of h***. It appears that maybe a spirit of anger or rage seems to have got a foothold in your life

Know you wanna make a Christian difference, Jesus living in and through you is that difference!

Yeah, for sure. Anger and rage have a major foothold in my life.

I'd like to say thank you sincerely to all who have replied.

As for "hating the sin & loving the sinner"...words I have used myself on more than one occasion. The problem I have is that its the SINNERS I'm hating on, not thier sin. I have no idea what they do behind closed doors and don't really care.

Heres the thing...they shove it down everyones throat who happen to have the misfortune of being around them. They spit in my God's face and mock His Name every...single...chance they get. They come here to a "Christian Forum" and mock Him as loudly and offensively as possible.

Lets suppose I'm walking through the public park...and some heathen comes up and starts spitting in my wifes face and calling her names. Ummm...someones not gonna walk away from that encounter, whether its him or me. How much MORE do I love my God?!?

How can I stand by and watch in silence while people spit on the name of Jesus Christ?

I will GLADLY turn the other cheek if someone wants to slap me, I will give them my coat if they take my vest, etc, but this isn't about "me"....I love not my life even unto death...but this is the name of my GOD, who I love more than anything, that they trample under thier ungodly feet like mud in thier path.

:o

 

[Blessed-one]

um.. would ignoring them help with your anger? that word 'rage' you used seems quite serious.. and christians harbouring such an intense emotion is hurtful to themselves. How knowledgeable are you in the bible? do you know why they are so spiteful about christianity? some people would use debate as a weapon while others would stay away..
it all depends on what God calls you to do.

 

[TheOriginalWhitehorse]

There are a couple of things you can do. First of all, realize that while it's not good to hate the person, hating the sin itself is legitimate and holy.

Here are some ideas:

1. Thank God for a holy love for His glory. This enables you to remember that it is the Lord who gave it to you, and it will help increase the desire to see the people who dishonor Him saved.
2. Seek to enhance that love for His glory by praying for specific people. It may not come easily at first, but look at it this way: if you can show them the truth effectively with as much love as possible, then you can further bring gory to God.
3. See what good you can do for those you struggle to love. The hate will go away in time.
4. Remember that all knowledge that is not put to proactive use for the Kingdom will eventually fade away. The service will bring love.
4. Ask the Lord to let you see them as He did from the cross.

I'm sure I'm not alone in lifting you up in prayer.

Blessings,
Whitehorse

 

[ShetlandRose]

Dear Brother in Jesus, may I gently say that God's call is to intercession, never to hate.

 

[breezynosacek]

"Beloved, let us love one another for God is of love and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love. Beloved, let us love one another." I John 4:7,8

Maybe I can scare the rage out of you...get a good look at where this is taking you.
Revelation 2:1-7

"To the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him Who holds the seven stars [which are the messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, Who goes about among the seven golden lampstands [which are the seven churches]:
I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wiched [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.
I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.
But I have this [one charge to make] against you; that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].
Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove you lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.
Yet you have this [in your favor and to your credit]; you hate the works of the Nicolaitans [what they are doing as corruptors of the people], which I Myself also detest.
He who is able to hear, let him listen to and give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant to eat [of the fruit] of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." Amplified

Now, rage comes in through resentment. That is, normal anger that is not dealt with allows Satan a foothold.

Rage also comes from fear. Fear is not of God.

Let me ask you this? Because your post sounds familiar. Who has wounded you with their unrighteousness? Are you willing to forgive them?

 

[Pentheus]

"for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
James 1:20

About a month ago, I was watching this program on the Science channel. It was about the research of these scientists who are studying mitochondrial DNA (which is passed down from mother to daughter), and how their research was strongly suggesting that everyone alive today can trace their roots back to a single woman- what they termed "genetic Eve."

Now, that means that the entire human race is - in a very real sense - one great big extended family. And that family includes black people, white people, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, Atheists, and everyone else on God's green earth.

As a little spiritual excercise, I suggest that the next time you find yourself in some public place with a little time to kill- maybe standing in line at McDonalds, or maybe walking through a mall- take a moment to look around at all the people around you. Remind yourself that each and every one of them, everyone you are seeing, is truly family to you. Really try to bring yourself to a conscious awareness of the common bond that exists between all human beings. Remember that no matter how different we may appear, everyone you see is ultimately a blood relative, and therefore part of your extended human family. And see if this excercise does not ignite at least a tiny spark of compassion in your heart.

You might also want to meditate on the words of Henry Longfellow, who said: "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." Remember, you don't know the past history of others. Many of the people you are hating may well be experiencing lives filled with great tragedy and pain. Perhaps if you mull over the Longfellow quote, then WRITE DOWN your thoughts on it (like in a private journal) you may find tools to combat hate and anger IN YOUR OWN NOTES. Such tools are often the most useful, for they come from within you, and thus are custom-tailored for your use.

Finally, I would suggest that you consider seeking some form of professional counseling to help you deal with this rage more effectively. The kind of hatred and anger that you have expressed in your previous posts is simply not healthy, even by modern secular standards. This hate of yours needs to be dug out by the roots. Unfortunately, the roots of such issues often run much deeper than we ourselves realize. Professional psychologists are trained in ways to help you get at the roots of the problem. I urge you to consider talking to one. Meanwhile, I myself, and I am sure others on this board as well, will be lifting you up in our prayers. Stay cool, and God bless you, Brother.


-Pentheus-

 

[Acolyte]

Hi Trench

I know how you feel. I had problems with this so much that I would have beat the Hell out of a Pagan (I still might given the wrong wording, Just Kidding! ). Anayway, they are people. Jesus' main teaching was love for the fellow man. I know that you may not like them but you have to love them. For instance, your kids (I don't know if this applies). You don't always LIKE your kids, but you never stop loving them.

You should really think about how if they don't change they will be damned. Hatred is not healthy and not of the spirit. I think maybe you should consult daddy Maybe he can help. I know he can help, he always does. You just have to be willing to accept his will and not resist. Just think how glum and sad a future they have. They need your love. It could be too late for them.

Praying for the Grace you need

Pax

 

[Trench777]

Thank you all, for your kind words/advice and THANK YOU for your prayers.

A few times it was referenced "what they did to me" (or similar)...but that was not my problem. It was not a matter of forgiving them for anything they did to ME, that I could forgive. It was how they dishonored my God.

God did indeed lead me to solace, through His Word.

It was the story about Gideon and how God told him to go tear down the altar of Baal. He tore it down & built one to God in its place. When the heathen saw this, they went looking for Gideon and told his uncle to send him out of the tent, so they could "have 'em a hangin'". Gideon's uncle asked them "Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him?...if he is a god, let him plead for himself because someone threw down his altar"

God showed me (in His infinately gentle manner) that I was doing what the Baal worshippers were doing. God doesn't need ME to defend him against the attacks of the heathens.

He further showed me how this was different from my "heathen spitting in my wifes face" analogy. My wife, is under my stewardship. God, is not.

Praise GOD for placating my rage and giving me peace.

And thank you all again for your advice and prayers.

T777

 

[Epiphany]

To Life Immortal

Before I became a Christian, I was a Heathern in the real sense of the word. I was a Pagan that worshipped the deities of her Germanic and African ancestors. Even though I did this, I never belittled Lord Jesus nor disrespected others because of their religion.

I thought that Christianity made no sense, why would God kill himself over people? did He know what people would do? Even now as a Christian, I don't fully understand why Lord Jesus died.

I became a Christian not because they hated me, but because some took the time to explain their beliefs to me without judging or hating me. I explained why I was a Pagan and they talked about why they believed in Lord Jesus. After a while I started reading the bible for myself. I realized that I had wrong ideas about what a Christian is. I learned bad things from "Christian' cults and people who were not living a Christ-like life. When I realized that Lord Jesus cared about people, I decided to check out real Christianity.

Do not hate Pagans/Heathens. If some are disrespectful, that's their problem. They would be disrespectful regardless of what religion they are. Most Pagans/Heathens really are trying to look for God and spirituality. I know I was.

Peace and Long Life
~*~ Epiphany ~*~

 

[Sketcher]

I know what you're feeling. I had to quit Internet forums for a good long time so I wouldn't run into the unbelievers and judgemental believers that angered me to no end. After about a year or two I came to these boards and found that I don't have to run into them unless I'm looking for them. The prayer and council forums are seperate from the debate forums. Trolling is not much of a problem in these safehouses. This way I can help believers and answer the serious questions of unbelievers without dealing with the bull.

Another thing I do is hand them over to God. I cannot bless many of them yet, but I can ask for God's will to be done. If they turn around and get saved, great. I have some wonderful Christian friends that come from very shady pasts. And if they don't get saved, that is God's job to punish them rather than yours. He's the one they've offended the most anyway.

I don't love people as much as a Christian should, and I hope that will change both in your life and in mine.

 

[Trench777]

Quote: "I don't love people as much as a Christian should, and I hope that will change both in your life and in mine."


Amen brother. I am ashamed of this fact, but it does no good to just hide the fact in my proverbial closet.

T777

 

[At_avus]

Hello,

I'm struggling mightily with the world. I can't seem to overcome this deep-seeded hatred for heathens/pagans/atheists, etc. I've tried telling myself "Well, there was a time when you didn't know Jesus Christ"..."You were just as bad"..."You blasphemed God, too"....etc. The problem is...if the man I was walked up to me right now, I'd knock his teeth right down his throat for him. I DESPISE who I used to be, with a perfect hatred. So...looking at them in the light of who I was, isn't working for me.

Another approach that has seemed to fail me, if to look it like this : Satan brings the world before God and accuses them perpetually. He shows God all the things he (satan) has managed to get them to do, in a vain effort to turn God's face & love from them. By hating them for what they do, I seem to be in agreement with satan...they are not worth the breath it would take to curse them to eternal damnation.

I repent and turn away from this hatred, with more frequency than I care to admit. I immerse myself in God's word, I go out and help people (homeless & prison ministry), I pray, I seek the love of God towards the world...but I fall. I stumble and I fall regularly.

I get all wound up with God, filled with His word and Spirit...then I get cut off in traffic by some idiot heathen with a Darwin fish eating a Jesus fish stating "Reality Bites" and I just want to get out and break thier windshield with a baseball bat. Then take the bat to the driver.

I look at how the heathen shove thier glorification of sodomy down our childrens throats in school, how they shove it down our throats on prime time TV, how they force it down our throats in the courts...and I just can't seem to keep from HATING them. Passionately.

I see/hear them mock God, mock christians, mock Jesus, mock anything and everything that is good &/or wholesome...and I can't stop thinking about how much I wish God would just strike every last one of them down where they stand.

I think about how my sons are going to have to grow up in a world where God is loathed, Christians are spit on at every turn. How evil is glorified and satan turned into a cute lil' cherub with pointy horns & tail, put on the dashboard & rubbed for luck.

...and I rage inside...

I KNOW how I feel is a sin. It feels like sin, it tastes like sin in my mouth and mind. It spreads like poison through my soul.

HOW do you other brothers and sisters deal with the heathens? How can you stomach them? How can you not despise them and wish ill upon them, when they mock our Lord? How do you make it through the day without cursing them when they glorify evil?

"glorify evil"?? Huh? You do realize that most non-believers don't believe in the Lord, so to them it's not any more "Evil" than making fun of santa claus.

It sounds to me like you've been reading too many Answers in Genesis speeches. (I have no idea if you have or not, but when I read their stuff, many of their writers share the same attitude toward atheists that you do).

They portray non-believers and evolutionists as "evil" and out to get/convert your kids, etc. Sad.

They and other YEC groups love to demonize atheists and evolutionists in general. They deliberately promote the kind of feelings you have, just so that their readers don't ever listen to the arguements of "the enemy".

You should avoid poeple like that.

You should also give some serious thought as to whether you felt that way about people who were philosophically different than you BEFORE you became a christian. If you were not like that before, then one really has to wonder what it is that the spirit of the lord is doing to you on the inside.

With respect, we've had enough of people with that kind of attitude towards non-christians during the Dark Ages.

I know of one person at least who wrote to me what it was like for her to go to school where most of the poeple felt as you did.

Once she had said that she was an atheist, she was verbally and physically attacked almost on a daily basis. (shoved into lockers, punched, hit, ganged up on,etc) all because those poeple felt the way you do. It's bad enough that kids have that attitude, but to see and adult with it?

The school councilor was of no use. She just told her that the other kids were trying to help her, or some such damned thing.

Thanks to the treatment she got from people like that, do you want to guess what her feelings are towards christians?

I honestly don't want to feel this way, as it makes me an ineffective servant of Christ.

I seek your advise.

T777

Well, at least, unlike those kids and that useless "guidance counselor" at that school, you recognize a problem.

 

[Trench777]

Well, I have literally no idea what "Answers in Genesis" are (is?).

I have no clue what a "YEC" is, either.

I never beat up/locked in a locker/ganged up on or otherwise abused an atheist, or anyone spitting in the face of my Lord. Not for lack of desire, I should add, for honesty sake.

"You should also give some serious thought as to whether you felt that way about people who were philosophically different than you BEFORE you became a christian. If you were not like that before, then one really has to wonder what it is that the spirit of the lord is doing to you on the inside."

Well, I hated EVERYONE, before I was saved. Philosophy really wasn't an issue. If you were not a friend, you were an enemy. The Holy Spirit has done nothing but good things in me (when I give him liberty to do so)

You appear to be hostile towards me, 'cause someone who you think is like me hazed the girl who wrote you (or because of these Answer in Genesis or YEC people, or something). Let me just say...if I PLANNED on acting on my feelings, I would have never come here looking for advice on how to overcome these feelings of hatred I struggle with towards people who spit in the face of my Lord. I came looking for advice because I KNOW the feelings I'm fighting with are wrong. God led me to why they are wrong, through His Word.

I do not discount the power of the prayers that have been prayed on my behalf, by my brothers and sisters here, either. It is very well possible that had I not come here looking for advice and received the prayers of the people here, I might not have been led to the solution to my problem.

T777