Sheesh, some people. They haven’t darkened a church door since Mom stopped yanking them by the ear, nor have they opened a Bible in decades, if ever. But if they know you’re a Christian and find themselves losing an argument, suddenly they become Bible scholars, reaching down from the depths of memory of Sunday school classes from when they were eight years old.
I called what is happening to Terry Schiavo evil (among other things). In the comments to that post Richard Bennett and some other commenters began to have a difference of opinion as to whether those who would see to the starvation of Terri Schiavo should be called ‘devils’ or not. Mr. Bennett, losing proportion, characterized the naming of Michael Schaivo as a ‘devil’ as ‘mere disagreement.’
It's not necessary to make the people who disagree with you out to be devils.When I came down on the side of the other commenters, I got this from Mr. Bennett:
It's not very Christian, Baldilocks.When I requested the chapter and verse, I got this:
"...Faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love"Spare me the bogus theology, sir. Since when does "love" include never speaking out against those who do evil things? Even Jesus Christ made a whip and drove the *evil* men out of the temple; those who had turned His Father's house into a 'den of thieves' (Matthew 21:13).
[ed. Note: I never did get a chapter or verse from Mr. Bennett, so here it is; 1 Corinthians 13:13]
Don't be a hater, Baldilocks.
(Wow, did Big J engage in a little name-calling there? Hmmm?)
Sounds like love to me; love of God over blasphemy.
BTW, early in my blog career, I had a similar conversation with another person that seemed to have the warped notion that love means never pointing out the error and/or evil that humans do. I point you to it.
Having love for another or a group does not imply an implicit or explicit approval of everything which that person or group does. Example: a relative of mine has two illegitimate children by different fathers. Did my vocal disapproval of this state of affairs imply that I don’t love her?Oh, and, by the way, all the cutesy little modern words and their new-fangled meanings are nice (“hater”), but they have absolutely no bearing on Christians and Christianity. (By the way, a “hater” in the modern sense is someone who is jealous or envious of another. There is no one involved in the Schiavo mess for which I feel either of those irrational feelings.) Calling people what they are does not indicate love or hatred, but observation and opinion.
4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;--Psalms 5:4-6
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
the LORD abhors.
Now that’s hatred!
Additionally, twisting the definition of love when one is losing an argument demonstrates a characteristic that is often blasted in the Bible: deceit.
That also has a modern-day phrasing: moving the goalposts.
