Why be a hater?

The County Clerk in Kentucky denies a marriage license to a gay couple with an argument that erupts over each other’s rights. Later that day I see a post about the clerk having 4 different marriages and getting divorced after having her twins. The following day the Clerk is jailed for her unwillingness to follow the law of the land instead of her Biblical convictions. Her protest continues and she will be in jail for contempt of court.

I sit at a men’s lunch this week and listened to a concerned dad that complained about his son’s professors who were so quick to castigate those that express a faith in God. He lamented over his son’s exposure to the extreme secularism of the college campus that seems to purposely go out of its’ way to attack Christians. What happened to respecting the views of others and intentionally seeing opportunities to learn especially in an academic setting?

The following day I messaged an older teen friend who is gay and asked him what bothers him the most about Christians. His response is ‘being treated like he is subhuman and has an infectious disease’. He’s a friend that I have been around for the last 7 years so I appreciate his honesty but tire of the hater mindset that exists amongst supposedly mature adults.

I get into a lively discussion with a close friend, a college student, about the absence of rioting after the on camera murder of a news reporter and cameraman. The shooter was a disgruntled former news reporter. What if the news reporter and cameraman had been Black and the shooter was White? I admit to the fact that I was playing with my friend, who is Black, about why is it the case that the Blacklivesmatter movement is so quick to protest, riot, destroy property and retaliate against the police.  I get it that there is a long history that gives good reason to mistrust the police and ‘White’ people.

We live in a multicultural society that is pluralistic, yet racism and discrimination continues to not only exist but seems to flourish. Simple question is WHY? Is it possible for people with rather diverse views and passions to actually collaborate and be united with a common purpose? The snapshot of the courthouse in Kentucky was a shouting match between people with opposing views. After the protest was it likely that these people who could be neighbors would come to the rescue of a fellow neighbor in trouble or would they ignore the emergency because of their different views on marriage?

The reality is that all of us, myself included, truly believe that our way of thinking is the best way to understand life! Everyone would easily admit that we feel uncomfortable around people whose life views are different from us. Many are quick to make the erroneous assumption that certain racial groups of men are bad and shouldn’t be trusted. Just as I know that I when I walk into a room filled with people that are different from me that I will be judged in a stereotypical fashion because I’m an old guy. I get ticked off rather easily when one of my college interns assumes that an old guy can’t ever understand present day music, thinking or life expression.

The tragic fact today is that lots of people actually enjoy being haters who are always looking for reasons to reinforce their biases! What would happen if we stepped back and saw that we all share a love of life and purposely could chose to work together for the common good instead? Yes people of passion will always clash of their difference instead of working together with what they share in common.  

So why be a hater when you could show grace and potentially learn from each other so the world could be a better place!