Hate is anti-Christian

I am part of a queer Bible study group that meets every weekend here in Lethbridge.

Everyone brings a specific passage (or passages) from the Bible to discuss. This weekend, I chose to share John 13:34–35.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

This is a pretty well known passage among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, it serves as the text for a hymn from the 1985 hymnal currently used in our meetinghouses. Well, at least in the English versions.

I have found that a lot of the time we share this verse in talks or discuss it in our classes, we use it as a way to justify the charge to love one another.

But there is a deeper part of this passage that I think is often overlooked.

In the first part of the second sentence in my quote (verse 35 in the Bible), we read, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples”.

If Jesus simply wanted to tell his disciples—specifically the apostles during the Last Supper—to love one another, verse 34 would have sufficed.

In that verse, he tells us (or more specifically, his apostles) that he has a new commandment, which was to not only love one another but to do so as he did. And that part right there—loving as he did—is what leads us into the next verse.

If done properly, loving one another was supposed to be the symbol of our discipleship: not a crucifix hanging around our neck nor a CTR ring on our finger. The fundamental thing that would tell everyone else that we were disciples of Jesus was if we loved one another. More than that, however, we would have to love others in a way that others would notice. Otherwise, how would they ever be able to know that we were his disciples if our love was done covertly?

But if we look around us in society, is that what we see? If we ask random persons on the street what they think of when they hear the word Christian, what percentage of the responses do you think would be, “Oh, they are the ones who love everyone”?

Or will their responses be more likely to centre around the idea of hate?

Somewhere along the way, Christians seem to have forgotten not only the commandment to love one another but also that it is the symbol of our discipleship.

Christianity, instead, has become a warped version of what Jesus taught.

Instead of Christians advocating for the feeding of the hungry, quenching of the thirsty, welcoming of the stranger, clothing of the naked, or caring for the sick and imprisoned (see Matt. 25:31–40), they seem to lobby governments to cut funding for these marginalized groups, calling them lazy and parasitic.

We see Christians opposing efforts to improve the rights of queer folks. Even our own church recruited volunteers and redirected funds to oppose marriage equality in Hawaii, California, and elsewhere; 10 years ago, they called same-sex couples apostate and banned their children from being baptized. Homophobia has become a pillar of Christianity. Hatred for queer people, rather than love for queer people, is what Christians are known for.

Likewise, Christians are at the forefront of opposing the rights of trans folks. Our church recently told their trans members that they have to be chaperoned just to go to the washroom and they are banned from callings where they interact with children and youth. Here in Lethbridge, lots of Christians, including Mormons, banded together almost a decade ago to oppose the expansion of inclusive language in school board policies, primarily revolving around trans students.

We see Christians lobbying for the scaling back—or outright removal—of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in government, schools, and other institutions, wanting to protect the privilege and power that had been guaranteed to white, straight, able-bodied men for centuries. This opposition to DEI is rooted in not only the homophobia and transphobia I just mentioned but also racism, ableism, sexism, and xenophobia.

This is all based in hate.

We should be opposing oppression of all kinds. That is the natural outcome of loving others as Jesus did. Jesus’s gospel does not reward the powerful.

In Jesus’s gospel, “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16). In Jesus’s gospel, “whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12).

Jesus’s gospel is rooted in equality, where one groups does not possess more power, or privilege, or wealth, or advantage over other groups.

Inequality is antithetical to a gospel that revolves around the principle of loving each other. Loving others prevents us from wanting inflict harm on others, whether that is physical harm or harm in other ways, such as less access to the material goods necessary to live a fulfilling life. Instead, loving others motivates us to yoke ourselves, as Jesus did, to those with heavy burdens (Matt. 11:28–20).

Christians should be opposing hate, not embracing it.