You Can’t Say That Hate Is Un-American

Over the past few days I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how “hate” and “racism” are un-American or that you can’t support “that cause” and still be an American.

And that is simply not true.  Let me tell you why. 

For starters, let’s start by acknowledging that hate and racism are not actions….they’re emotions.  And ACTING on emotions is completely different from FEELING emotions.

And you simply can’t say that Americans aren’t allowed to have certain emotions.

 

Citizens of our country are allowed to think and believe whatever they want.  In fact, that’s the reason we all ended up on this piece of Earth.  Our country was founded on the principle that you can BELIEVE whatever you want.

Let me say this, as offensive as it may be.
If you want to believe that black people, brown people, or white people are less intelligent, more prone to violence, and genetically inferior to whatever color you are….You can believe that all you want.
If you want to believe that everyone who denies Allah will burn in Hell for all of eternity…. You can believe that all you want.

The government of the United States of America

is not in the business of regulating thought or emotion.

Now here’s the catch….  Just because you believe something doesn’t give you the right to act on it.

You can believe that Christians should all convert or die.  You can talk about how white people are the root of all evil.  But as soon as you start killing the infidels or shoving all the black people to the back of the bus, you’ve crossed the line from emotion to action.

And the government of the United States of America is absolutely in the business of regulating actions.  One of the fundamental purposes of a government is to regulate its citizens’ actions for the common good.  And regulating the actions that spring forth from hate and racism is absolutely what the government should be doing.

But don’t believe for a second that the government, or our nation, should ever start regulating emotion.  Because that was never it’s purpose.  It’s not designed or equipped to deal with issues of the heart.

But God is.

The problem we’re facing is that too many people have substituted their citizenship for their religion.

Instead of looking for a better life after this one, they’ve convinced themselves that they can make THIS life perfect.  Everybody can not only DO the right thing, they can THINK the right thing and FEEL the right thing.  And so they’ve gone on a crusade to make being an American a substitute for being a Christian.

You can see the obvious problem with that crusade.  With over 300,000,000 people in this country the boundaries that we stay in to make us “American” can get pretty fuzzy.  Everybody has their own opinion on what everyone else’s emotions should be…..because they’re emotions.  There is no objective moral standard set out for citizenship in America, that was made obvious in the last few days.

If you want citizenship in a kingdom that deals with the heart, there’s one available.  And there’s a clear objective moral standard in place for citizenship.  There’s no room for hate.  There’s no room for racism.  And by eliminating them from the heart, they’re eliminated from your actions.

If you want to fix the issues of the heart that our nation is suffering from, that’s a well and noble cause.  But don’t expect a politician to lead that charge.  Don’t look to the government or a sense of national pride to cure the world of hate.

Curing these diseases of the heart will only happen when

we look to the Cross, not the flag.

Matthew 22
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.