Jesus tells noone to hate, He is who I follow.
You continue to ignore that Jesus hated the Jews, as shown by how he spoke to them. You continue to ignore that Jesus never commanded us to love everyone. You continue to ignore that Jesus viewed the Old Testament as Holy scripture, and that does teach God's people to hate people who do evil.
And, you choose to read a a translation where the translators put in lies. And, you claim the Old Testament contains a "bunch of crap".
The sin is part of the sinner. You can't hate one without hating the other. Conversely, if you don't hate the sinner, then you don't hate the sin.
70 AD, that shows us what happens when a people choose hate over love,
violent resistance to Occupation led to a people's destruction and exile.
70 AD shows what happens to people who hate God, because God hates them back. To you, 70 AD is nothing but the result of violent resistance to occupation. To Jesus, it was God's vengeance against the Jews. Luke 21:22.
Ariux,
Jesus never commanded us to love everyone, because it would not be possible for us to love every person. We cannot love people we do not know, the reality is we cannot love even one person the way Jesus calls us to do. Our obligations to love are to love God and others we come in contact with, in some fashion. Jesus does not command us to hate Jews, or anyone else. His final words on the cross were "Forgive them for they know not what they do." Words of criticism made to persons engaging in evil and/or bad acts are not hate. I find myself thinking about harsh words I sometimes say to family members, my husband, my children. I do not say those words because I hate them.
Jesus never pulled up something written in The Old Testament that ordered hate or killing, and stated, I command you to go out and do this. For example, The Old Testament sanctions ethnic cleansing. Jesus never referenced the ethnic cleansing that appears to have been sanctioned by God therein and said I approve, go do it again. He said something altogether different about ethnic cleansing and the land, He said Blessed are the meek, for the meek shall inherit the land, in The Beatitudes.
Jesus, while never pulling up Old Testament verses that commanded hate or violence or killing and confirming them, He did directly address some such verses and repudiate them. Thus, He specicifically addresses The Old Testament verses, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," (Exodus 21:24), and He repudiates it, He says, "You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person! If someone strikes you on the the right cheek, turn to him the other also..." Matthew 5:38-42. As I am reading this, I find myself pondering the words, you have heard that it was said. It is almost as if He is pointing out some directive of God the people had gotten wrong in The Old Testament, that they had misinterpreted. I think that is a good way to look at all The Old Testament verses that seem to sanction hate or violence or killing, the people simply were mistaken about God's directive to them. And what I feel is called for is to test anything written in The Old Testament against Jesus directives to Christians, and reject anything there inconsistent with Jesus teachings. Being a Christian is following the teachings of Jesus Christ, not Moses or Joshua or anyone else in The Old Testament.
The Old Testament is the old covenant with mankind, the new has replaced the old. So, why should I follow the old? To do so would be to reject Jesus and His New Covenant with mankind. I am not going to be misled and turned away from Jesus by trying to follow commands that do not apply to me or the new covenant. It is not that it has no value, to study, to read, but I must always think of it primarily as historical, all that came before Jesus, and remember Jesus is the focal point of my beliefs and Christianity.
Hating sin and loving the sinner, it is a difficult undertaking, but it is not impossible. I think Jesus did exactly that, when he sacrificed His life on that cross for the world, for every person, even many who were sinners and evil. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son..."
Christians were never promised life would be easy and free of pain and struggles, it is in the difficult struggles, to love and not hate, that we become closer to Christ and more like Christ.
Jesus says, I came to save, and not to judge. Your interpretation of events of 70 AD is inconsistent with Jesus words about why He came into the world. Our choices, to accept or reject Jesus, have consequences. I think that is very much demonstrated by what happened in 70 AD. There are consequences to sin, I see that as a different thing then God's Judgment.
Sherri
