For better or for worse, many Christians have the reputation of being unloving The youth of today have a perception that Christians are judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay. While there are some Christians who are this way, it is important to distinguish between believing something is a sin and not loving a group of people.

The nature of truth is exclusive. If I say the earth is round, I exclude the possibility of believing that it is flat. It is not intolerant or unloving for me to say so. It is simply a fact according to the nature of truth. An individual who disagrees with the law of gravity here on earth, will still fall to their death (or at least be injured) if they jump off of the top of a high rise building irrespective of how sincere their unbelief of the law of gravity may be. Jesus Himself proclaimed in John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 3:16-21 says,

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Clearly these passages teach two things: First of all God loves the world. In fact, He loves the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to save the world. However, it also teaches that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the truth. He says that He is the only way to the Father. Thus, in the Christian mindset, if anyone else might believe something other than what Jesus is teaching (irrespective of how sincere he or she may be), he walks in darkness and is subject to the judgment of God. Hence, for a Christian to say something is a sin if it is consistent with their worldview and teaching of Christ, is not speaking intolerantly or unlovingly. It is the truth. However, Christians are called to love the sinner in the same way God does as His creation. For God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for the world in order to save the world. Christians should love those whom we disagree with so much that we should lovingly sacrifice for them so that perhaps they may come to the truth of trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior (the popular statement in Christian circles is hate the sin but love the sinner).

Written by Dr. Joe Parle, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Academic Dean at the College of Biblical Studies