Love the sinner, hate the sin

[Polluted]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

 

[AdamP88]

We’re all required to hate sin. The more a person grows in holiness the more they ought to detest sin, especially their own. But that does not necessarily mean that they hate sinners. It is an act of genuine love to admonish the sinner, because you are acting to save that person’s eternal soul. Which is more important, not being offended in life or being saved?

A person might commit a sinful act, like adultery, and we can judge that act to be immoral and maybe also stupid and hurtful. However that person still has the capability of being redeemed.

 

[porthos11]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

The same zero sense in which a priest loves you by absolving you, while counseling you to despise your sin?

The same zero sense Christ used to spare an adulterous woman while admonishing her to sin no more?

You wanna reconsider your position?

 

[Crusaderbear]

Hating the person means you have given up on them, they are permanently lost to any redemption. By love, you mean you are open to helping them find their way to a relationship with God. You really need to broaden your experiences before making some of your statements. Experience will make you a better person.

 

[Googler]

…On the other hand, their guilt offends God and is an impediment to their eternal happiness. Wherefore, in respect to their guilt, so long as they offend God all sinners ought to be hated, even one’s father or mother or kindred, according to Luke (14:26). For it is our duty to hate in the sinner his being a sinner, and to love in him his being a man capable of achieving eternal happiness. This is to love him out of charity for the love of God.
~Summa Theologica
St. Thomas Aquinas

Our Faith teaches to hate the sin and love the sinner.
Too many liberals stress loving the sinner and don’t mention that we should hate the sin.

We should show mercy toward our neighbors, sympathizing with their sufferings and making every effort to alleviate them.
HOWEVER, we should not hesitate to make them suffer also when it is necessary for their sanctification.

The error is in the person who errs just as ferocity is in a wild beast.
Hatred must be directed not only toward sin considered abstractly, but also toward the person of the sinner.
In doing this, however, one should not target his entire person, but spare his nature, which is good, as well as the good qualities he may have.
One should target his defects.

 

[Irishmom2]

Polluted, maybe when your children are older this will make sense. When one of them does something to break your heart through sin, you will love them but hate their sin.

I don’t know a parent out there that hasn’t experienced this.

 

[porthos11]

Polluted, maybe when your children are older this will make sense. When one of them does something to break your heart through sin, you will love them but hate their sin.

I don’t know a parent out there that hasn’t experienced this.

And leave it to the mom to provide the wisest answer of all.

 

[Kanade]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

I don’t think the saying itself is stupid, it should really sum up every Christian’s attitude towards sin. I’d agree with you, though, that it can sound trite and is probably misused by people who are quite happy hating the sinner as well as the sin. Better to have right behaviour than good slogans I think

 

[Googler]

Fatima Prayer - The Original Interpretation

Ó meu Jesus, perdoa-nos, salva-nos dos fogos do inferno e leva todas as almas ao Céu, especialmente as mais necessitadas.

Domine Iesu, dimitte nobis debita salva nos ab igne inferiori, perduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent.

私のイエス・キリストよ、私たちを許し、地獄の火から私たちを救い、すべての魂を天国に導きなさい。

O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need.

 

[Googler]

**この世の最大の悪は罪です。
最大の利益は神の意志を達成することです。

人間の愛については十分です。 神に対する超自然的な愛はどうですか？

私よりも父親や母親を愛する人は、私にふさわしい人ではありません。 私よりも息子や娘を愛する人は、私にふさわしくありません。
〜st。 マタイ - 第10章 37**

 

[TheAmazingGrace]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

It’s not bogus to love someone and hate parts of their behavior. Even if you don’t harbor loving feelings toward someone, showing kindness to them even though they’re a jerk still falls under that umbrella.

 

[puzzledtoo]

May you all be filled with loving kindness. May you all be well. May you all be peaceful and at ease. May you all be happy.

 

[Kanade]

Fatima Prayer - The Original Interpretation

Ó meu Jesus, perdoa-nos, salva-nos dos fogos do inferno e leva todas as almas ao Céu, especialmente as mais necessitadas.

Domine Iesu, dimitte nobis debita salva nos ab igne inferiori, perduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent.

私のイエス・キリストよ、私たちを許し、地獄の火から私たちを救い、すべての魂を天国に導きなさい。

O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need.

I don’t want to derail the thread, but thank you for that

 

[ChikaisHis]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

I am not a fan of the saying either.
I agree, we are called to hate sin, and love sinners. Speaking out against a sin doesn’t mean that we hate those who commit those sins.
However, too often is this statement is used as an excuse for hatred and singling people out. Instead of reminding us to separate the person from their sin, it does the opposite, because it is just so overused without thought. It’s used to label only some people as sinners, when really, we are all sinners.

 

[Viki63]

“I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must … . hate the sin but not the sinner. …I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life – namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.”
~C.S.Lewis

.

.

 

[AdamP88]

“I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must … . hate the sin but not the sinner. …I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life – namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.”
~C.S.Lewis

.

Boom. Trust C.S. Lewis to put it so well.

 

[MichaelP3]

Through my experiences I came to believe that many Christians through all denominations fail to distinguish between the two!

 

[PaulinVA]

I do not like the phrase at all.

When people ask about being gay, and a Catholic’s response involves the word “hate”, you’ve lost them.

Technically, it’s true. But, it doesn’t win any converts.

 

[EasterJoy]

I’m sorry but what a stupid saying. Even as a Catholic this is a pretty bogus saying. When folks act like their recoil to people’s sinful behavior is JUST at the behavior meanwhile their heart is just bursting with love for the actual person. People need to knock this slogan off. It makes ZERO sense and there is ZERO honesty behind it.

I think you just said the whole premise of the Pascal Mystery makes ZERO sense and therefore must have ZERO honesty behind it.

Consider the parable of the servant who was forgiven a debt and the reaction of his master when the wretch ungratefully throttled his fellow servant, someone who owed him a fraction of the amount he himself had been forgiven.

 

[EasterJoy]

Polluted, maybe when your children are older this will make sense. When one of them does something to break your heart through sin, you will love them but hate their sin.

I don’t know a parent out there that hasn’t experienced this.

“I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must … . hate the sin but not the sinner. …I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life – namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.”
~C.S.Lewis
.

I wish CAF had a way to “like” individual replies to threads. I’d “like” both of these!