2011 A.D.:  Real Hate Speech Is Bad, But.....

  It is a terrible thing to speak in a way that is meant to hurt the innocent, tear down what is good, smear what is right or Godly, or engender malice towards those who are not deserving of it based on their life, words, or actions. It is a bad thing to refer to other races of 'God created men' in a manner meant to provoke them or to insult them based on their race rather than their behavior, when they are a race no better or worse and in truth hardly different than your own - and that ropes in all races that I have ever heard of. (I know of no man that God made by mistake.  Does anyone? I do wonder about myself sometimes, I suppose.)  These are some of the sorts of things that seem to me like legitimate instances of 'hate speech'.  There are some others.

  But for the Christian and many others, the God of Noah and Abraham is a completely reliable teacher - and for the Christian, Jesus as well, and in some areas Jesus is the most specifically appointed teacher since the Father gave Him the terms of the New Covenant to teach and to offer to man.  But God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, these are the reliable teachers of what is right or wrong, with the Holy Father being greatest among them, as the Holy Sirit proceeds forth from Him, and Jesus is His Son and always acknowledged that His Father was greatest.  As our teachers, they also identify for us some behaviors that are bad, harmful, or abominable, etc.

  Satan, on the other hand, has identified the things that God dislikes as good things.  Being an enemy to God, he benefits when humans do what God hates.  Wrongness, things which are wrong in the eyes of God and Jesus, are Satan's idea of goodness in that respect.  Bad, from Satan's perspective, is good.

  So, it would be a wonderful victory for Satan if he could cause humans to declare, right in front of the eyes of their own God and Maker, that bad things are really just viable choices, not for everyone perhaps, but good for those who choose them.  For Satan, it would be better yet if he could get God's humans to declare that doing wrong things ought to be completely tolerated by humans who choose good things, since everyone should get what they choose.  In the absence of a reliable and agreed standard for what is good, aren't all things allowable?

  And it would also be a great victory for Satan if he could manage for any voiced objections against either 'wrong doers' or their 'wrong doings' to be considered evil.  It would be a true Satanic victory if he could bring it about that a person objecting out loud to evil doings is actually categorized as a 'hater'.  It would be good for Satan if a person could be labeled a hater for objecting to evil behavior, or for rebuking those who do evil or promote evil, or who try to legitamize evil doings in the land.  It would be an exceedingly great victory for Satan to criminalize the act of objecting to evil. 

  And I believe that we who have God and Jesus as our standard should not be tricked, via Satan's shenanigans using the God haters, into being silenced lest our speech be identified as hate; identified as hate even though our speaking out might be to object to what God and Jesus call evil.  

  If evil doers have a right to object to efforts by God followers to rid society of their evil doings, then how much more do God followers have a right to speak out against what God, the maker of all, has told us should not be done or tolerated?  It's not only our right to call bad things bad, but it's expected of us.  Jesus died to give man a hope.  And His church still lives on this Earth, and its light should not flicker because Satan complains against it, or because the bearers of Christs light are imperfect themselves (sometimes greatly imperfect.) 

  We are sinful, but we must fight that in ourselves, and though sinners, we must work to overcome evil.  It's sad that Jesus has no one but us sinners to cry out against sin, but He deserves our best effort anyway.  A hockey player can be a lover of fair play even if he's been guilty of penalties.  I guess it's a little bit that same way when it comes to Christians and sin. 

  Though sinners ourselves, we should try to always come back to God's light and live there, turning away from our sin.  God can deal with us, perhaps reform us, but not if we do not try.  Yet it's a whole different thing to call evil things good. 

  Sinning is bad, and it matters a lot when we sin, but it's a whole different thing to sin (against your wishes for yourself,) than to live in a world where evil is called good because there just are no standards.  We can't ever give up the fight because of having failed.  If someone says "What about you?  You are just as guilty as anyone!" then we have to acknowledge our guilt, and how wrong it was so that we are not guilty of allowing a different standard for ourselves than for others.  But then we have to say (and say with conviction) that having done wrong is something we'll have to face Jesus about, but it doesn't change a thing about what is right and wrong.  And sinning is always wrong.  It always has to be repented of and turned away from.     

  Each new generation has to learn from the last about what is bad and good, and for the Christian, that means speaking out, and objecting with vigor to Satan's efforts to drive knowledge of God and Jesus from the land.  That's one of the ways of teaching the upcoming Christian generations about being a Christian and what it means.  The greater sources are scripture and the Holy Spirit, but what young people see with their eyes and hear with their ears is also extremely important. 

  Seeing examples of Christian love is a tremendously big deal.  Seeing Christians speak out against wrong when they see it in the world is a pretty big deal also, of course.  But Christian time spent 'rebuking' should be a small amount of time compared to Christian time spent 'loving your neighbor' and 'doing God's will', and 'praising God', and 'praying'.  'Rebuking wrongs' has a very necessary place.  When it needs to be done, it should be done.... yet with love and out of love for what is right, not out of hate for those who have been misled into doing wrong.  'Rebuking' is not the true power of Christianity, and never has been.  The power is in Christian love.  If you meet an extremely knowledgeable Christian, you might be impressed.  If you meet an extremely loving Christian, you might be won over.  So knowledge is good and important.  But love is more so. 

 Nevertheless, in the scripture lies knowledge of the likes and dislikes of God and Jesus; knowledge of Their expectations lies there also, in those words of the scripture.  Knowledge of God and Jesus is powerful stuff.  Satan works very hard to see it buried, to see it placed off limits, to ensure it is not spoken publicly.  Small wonder...to know God is to love God. To love God is to want to please God.  To please God is to reject Satan.   

  It is not hate speech to call a poisonous snake a snake and warn others away from it.  Lying teachings are such a snake.  Satan and his plans and his ways constitute such a snake. He's in big trouble if no one will play with him.  The more that people know of God, the fewer are the people who will want anything to do with Satan.  

  So speak out against what is wrong in Jesus's eyes, in God's eyes.  Fight against what you know is evil.  Those objections you hear, those indignant objections you hear.....those are only the noise of Satan suffering a setback.