Christianity is a religion of love, not hatred. Before you start citing examples of hateful Christians, whose existence I freely concede, permit me to draw an elementary distinction between ideal Christianity and actual Christianity. Ideal Christianity is normative Christianity, what Christianity should be. Actual Christianity is descriptive Christianity, what Christianity currently is. At the ideal level, Christianity is a religion of love, not hatred. But at the actual level, Christianity contains more than its fair share of haters, bigots, and jerks. First John 3:11-15 paints a picture of ideal Christianity in particularly bright colors. This is the message you heard … Continue reading Love vs. Hatred (1 John 3:11-15)