Umut said:
Why do I hate muslims?
What can I do to stop this hate?
It has to do with your experiences, Umut, and where you came from. People who have made life very difficult and painful for you, personally, were or are muslims. There are some people I don't have much patience with either. What we all have to remember is that not all muslims (etc.) are alike, and even the worst of them desperately needs to be loved, as do we. That doesn't mean that you or I are equipped to deal with them - best leave it to God whom he will send in any particular circumstance.
Have you read the book of Jonah in the Bible? Here's a run-down of the story. God asked Jonah to go and warn the people in the city of Ninevah to repent and change their behavior; otherwise God was going to destroy them and their city because of their grievous sins. Jonah didn't want to go and warn them. He would have been perfectly happy to see them destroyed, because they were Israel's enemy and had caused Jonah's people a lot of grief. Jonah, therefore, boarded a ship going in the opposite direction from Ninevah. God sent a storm to batter the ship, and Jonah finally persuaded the sailors to throw him overboard because he was the cause of their trouble. God then gave Jonah alternative transportation in the belly of a fish/whale (whichever) to Ninevah, where he did indeed preach exactly the message God had given him to preach. Here comes the really important part. The Ninevites repented, averting disaster. Jonah was angry, disappointed, and disgusted. He went out of the city and sat under a vine and belly-ached about it all. God dried up the vine so that it no longer gave Jonah shade, and, of course, Jonah mourned the loss of his vine. God then asked Jonah if a vine was that important to him, think about how much more a whole city is important to God, who created it.
Now, I have a confession. I was in Jonah's sandals once, in a certain sense, and I wanted to have nothing to do with the situation either. Someone who should always be very precious to me was in need of repentence and change, and it was up to me to "take the message" so to speak. He had caused me and a lot of others nothing but trouble for many years, and so I really didn't think he would listen, and I didn't want to go. But a family friend would not let me shirk my duty, and even went with me, at risk of his safety. The person in question did indeed repent and change his ways, and I still have my precious brother today, in spite of my former hard-heartedness toward him.
You can't take on the whole muslim world, but there are muslim people in your life who need to be loved by you, even though they don't necessarily deserve it from your point of view. Your hatred can only be cured by loving, actively loving, at least one of these people, by looking past the ideology and seeing one who is really only in the same boat you and I are in. We're sinners.
You can't badger that person into the kingdom of heaven, but you can love them in. Start with choosing just one, and pray for him or her every day. Just keep praying, and the Holy Spirit will take it from there. Really.
Be encouraged, Umut. God is with us.
But it's one of my favorite pics of me and my little girl. She was so scared of the ocean waves...every time a wave would come up, she would run the other way...then run back...then away again. It was so funny. She's still somewhat scared of water, but not as bad.
