21.11.18

Segregation and hate are not sins

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. - 1 John 3:13-15 (NKJV)

Not if you hate, but if you hate a brother, one who is also hated by the world because of their allegiance to God instead of the world. If, even as a believer, you have no love for those who also believe, then you are not a believer, but this has nothing to do with how believers relate to unbelievers.

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ - Matthew 25:37-40 (NKJV)

Note that the King is Jesus Christ, and he is referencing "these My brethren". Not just anybody, but specifically "these My brethren".

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." - Matthew 18:15-17 (NKJV)

What good would taking an unbeliever to a church they do not attend do? Why is a "brother" contrasted with "a heathen and a tax collector"? If "everyone is my brother", how can "a heathen and a tax collector" be treated any differently than my "brother"?

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." - Matthew 10:34-39 (NKJV)

Jesus quite literally tells us that following Him will cause division in our own households with blood relatives, let alone in-laws, and create enemies that live under the same roof, let alone the impact to those who don't even share the same home.

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

Are unbelievers capable of presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice to a God they are in active rebellion against? How could "brethren" ever include any outside the adoptive family of God? How could one refuse to be conformed to this world and yet also remain indistinguishable from the world? If the world hates God, how will it not notice that you have conformed yourself to God instead of the world?

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

Therefore

“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”

“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.” - 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NKJV)

Paul has quite explicitly stated that believers and unbelievers have no relationship with one another, as far as God is concerned. That on God's terms, we cannot mix "good" and "evil", but instead that there will be a permanent and indelible segregation between those who obey God and those who do not, and only those who obey God will be called sons and daughters, and in turn only they will truly be brothers and sisters to one another.

Hatred for one who shares the same Father reveals an unrepentant sinner, but nothing of the sort when the hatred is towards those who are still living in unrepentant sin, who are abiding by and enabling evil to manifest.

Segregation from one who shares the same Father is sinful, but not when the segregation is with respect to those who are still living in unrepentant sin.

Hatred is not a sin. Defining, implementing, and sustaining segregation is not a sin.

The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity. - Psalm 5:5 (NKJV)

The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. - Psalm 11:5 (NKJV)

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate. - Proverbs 8:13 (NKJV)

You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the souls of His saints;
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. - Psalm 97:10 (NKJV)

Let us not forget that God has not ever cared for, let alone desired, human unity.

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. - Genesis 11:5-9 (NKJV)

The God of the Bible creates divisions, commands segregation and hatred. If this is not the God you serve, then which god do you really serve?

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV)

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. - John 14:30-31 (NKJV)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ - Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” - 1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” - John 10:27-30 (NKJV)

Follow Jesus' example, and God's commands, or else be cast out as the worker of lawlessness you really are!

It is the simplicity of salvation that so justifies the damnation of those that will refuse it.

Repent and be saved!

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