Can You Really “Hate the Sin and Love the Sinner”

My friend was wondering if it really is possible to love the sinner and hate the sin, if a persons actions are such a huge part of who a person is. My simple answer is “yes, you can love someone that you disagree with.”

I have experienced this many times in my life. I worked at a residential treatment facility. Some of the kids that I worked with had beat up siblings, raped siblings and other people. They attacked me and other staff on a regular basis. I don’t believe that these behaviors are healthy or beneficial. I can honestly say that I hated the behaviors and loved the kids. Not only was it the children’s behaviors but often times mental conditions such as Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, or Schizophrenia. The disorders were a part of them and their lives. I hate Anti-Social Personality Disorder* but not the girls. I still go back and visit them. I go back because I miss them. Some of them still have these same problems but I can still say they are all great kids.

Another examples is my best friend. I love her more than everyone but 4 people (my husband, parents, and grandma). My freshman year of college and her senior year of high school she did a lot of not so smart things. Many of the decisions she made were not positive and they hurt her in various ways. I didn’t like her choices, they made me sad and sometimes angry. Through it all she was still my best friend. She is still my best and was a bridesmaid at my wedding.  Just as a side note she is currently producing some rockin-awesome graphic design work.

In my life, there have been many more examples of not liking a person’s actions or their choices but still loving the person.  I do think that the phrase is a bit trite, but I do think that the concept is possible.

**I would not consider any of these disorders a sin. The actions that these disorders lead to would be i.e. Anti-Social Personality Disorder is common in many serial killers.

Video
We are not arguing the same point and at times, I think we would disagree, but I thought he had some good things to say.

This guy makes a lot of good points.
His Blog

1:44 Love is patient…You are patient with the crap in other peoples lives. You don’t have to love the actions that people make. You should be patient with an alcoholic family member while still guiding them.



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