The Paradox of Hatred

     Hatred has two outcomes: it is for self-protection but is self-destructive. That, as a paradox, sounds contradictory but is quite true. We think of hatred as ill-will toward another person. "Illness" has degrees. It is a sickness. One can be mildly ill or extremely so. Hatred is the same. There is mild hatred and intense hatred.
     Hatred is much like a disease, and it is. First off, hatred is genetic, coming from original sin. It is incubated in the womb (David in the 51st Psalm says he was born in iniquity), and intensifies with time. In the end, hatred is self-destructive for it leads to death. Hatred is the manifestation of sin, and sin is the underlying "disease" resulting in the attitude of hatred. Living in sin is original sin compounded much like the value of money compounds with time.
     I started to write, "emotion of hatred", but it is more of an attitude. God commanded his creatures not to hate. What are the metrics of hatred? (1) disrespecting God's authority is hatred against God, as is (2) creating false gods, (3) dishonoring God's purpose, (4) not sacrificing time to God, (5) despising parents, (6) thinking ill enough to murder another person, (7) disrespect for the mate, (8) taking the property of another, (9) lying about others, or (10) wanting what belongs to another person. Those are different forms of hatred. There is a command against each of them: Thus, the Ten Commandments.
     Some say, since that is the Law, it is not essential. In fact, Jesus validated and summarized them into one command with a corollary: love God and others. How much love? Intense love - with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength - just as people love themselves. Therein lies the problem: Self-love is so profound that God and others are a barrier to that profound love. Scripture says that: "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it" (Ephes 5:9).
     If we truly love God and others , everyone is to nourish and cherish others. Hatred is failure to do that. Hatred is to deprive and minimize others. Thus, hatred is people in competition with others. Hatred is competitiveness with God and our fellow "gods". Satan truthfully said, "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof... ye shall be as gods" (Gen 3:5).
     People have hatred because God and others who have the same regard of themselves have competition for godhood. We are the "gods" to which commandments one through four apply. We are the "gods" of commandments five through ten who are in competition with other "gods" of similar attitude. To remain "as god" there is ill will toward God and others. Think not?
     What happens when the preacher targets your stronghold in the sermon? Strongholds are sins which you, "as god" won't give up. Challenging strongholds creates another paradox: I want to cease sinning but I cherish that sin. That is a paradox of the self: "The (your) spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Mat 26:41). At all costs, you must protect your stronghold because it is your kingdom.
     Hatred, then, is for self-protection or self-preservation. It is nourishing the self rather than God or others. Arrogant people perceive themselves as the most worthy. That is pride, and is the attitude of Satan who God accused: "Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isa 12:13). That is the first part of the "paradox of hatred".
     The second part is self-destruction. Rather than hatred preserving oneself, it is destructive: The wages (or reward)  for sin is death (Rom 6:23). One may as well say, the outcome of hatred is death because sin is the manifestation of the attitude of hatred. How many ways can we hate:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning; "How Do I Love Thee")

     Well, the Ten Commandments are the ways to hate thee: there are ten ways of which none are the right way. Love is the Way and its author is Jesus who is the epitome of love! On the other hand, Ms. Browning, there are four waves to love: heart, mind, soul, and strength and those are not emotions, they are works - hard works - because Jesus commanded them.
    What is the lower range of hatred? Some hatred, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). What is the upper range of hatred? Murder, for "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer..." (1 John 3:15a).
     By hating another, that is murdering! Hating is despising because the other person is an affront to your own "godhood". There is a penalty for hatred: "No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15b). This hatred, although life preserving, is also the destroyer of life. That is the paradox of hatred. People hate to preserve their existence and are destroyed in their attempt to preserve their existence. They perish, but God desires that none should because he loves us so (John 3:16).
     There is a strong correlation between love and preservation. Likewise, their is a strong correlation between hatred and destruction.. Haters destroy themselves - the are self destructive because they will perish, unlike those who love shall never perish. 
     Hatred, being akin to murder, is more devastating than appears. Rather than terminating the mortality of another person, unless the hated is born again, his immortality is robbed as well. Hatred just may destroy the immortality of the other person, and the hated may perish because of your hatred.
     Those who commune together with God are corporately loving. We call that corporate love "Church". Those who sin together are hating together. They are corporately hating, and their "church" is the harlot Babylon or the anti-Church.
     When people sin together, that is spiritual adultery. There is no love involved but multiple people acting as if they are gods by doing what they will. Hatred, again, is ill will. Sinners wish that others sin too as a way of trying to justify their own sins. That is rationalization of sin. Sinners care not whether others are damned or not just as long as their self-god receives pleasure. The most applicable definition of "pleasure" is "frivolous amusement" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) because pleasure is temporal, and isn't really the same as joy. Why not?
     People know in their hearts that frivolous amusement is often morally wrong or detrimental. They know that there is some type of penalty for frivolity. They seek pleasure in spite of the guilty affect or even the physical effect of sin. Take for instance, those who use drugs: They weigh the consequences of drug use, and do what they will, and that is to do what they want to do regardless of the effect or affect. They care less if they self-destruct as long as they preserve their independence to do what they want to do. There's the "paradox of sin" which is the same as the "paradox of hatred".
    Because the paradoxes are caused by free will, then the solution is to submit ones own free will to God for His will. We all know the words, "your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." That should be our prayer too as it is the Lord's. To avoid the paradoxes of hatred and sin, our will must be freely submitted to God. Our will is prideful - it seeks to preserve the self-god as the owner sees fit. The way to cease hating God is to give God your will for His. We don't want to do that until we are born again. That's when sinners see the light - we must diminish our self-god in favor of elevating the One True God. That's how sinners can truly self-preserve. Most, however, will self-destruct because they see that as foolishness.
     Self-preserving is of two types: (1) remain how we are at birth, and that is in iniquity, or (2) be born again which is to serve God because He is the Way and only Way to preserve ourselves. Isn't it ironical that to "self-preserve" we must turn to God! The instinct of self-preservation is desiring salvation in the end instead or perishing after death! We see that as the survival of the fittest, but God sees that as preservation of the meekest!
     To truly self-preserve requires that we cease hating, not to fend off other self-appointed gods. On the other hand, Christians love God and treat others like they treat God - with love - because we were all made in God's image. It takes humility to treat others as gods - like we want to be treated ourselves. That humility is the attitude of the meek. To preserve the self for eternity requires meekness, and that attitude is a loving, nourishing, and cherishing attitude, and with that, Heaven can be obtained!