Amy Parnham // PCSU // By Faith
Hey! I’m Amy, I’m 15 and in fourth year. I have been a Christian since I was 3 years old, I attend Portadown Elim and I LOVE it! #ElimiteAndProud
Instead of talking about myself I thought I would share some thoughts I had on the word ‘hate’. It’s a small word with only four letters, but for such a small word it has such a powerful impact. After the recent Paris attacks, it seemed fitting. As Paris shut its boarders, social media began to fill with hateful comments. So if you weren’t seeing ‘pray for Paris’ you were probably seeing statements made about the people behind the crimes, ‘scums the lot of them’.
We reflect on the scenes and think, how can anyone bring themselves to murder? How can anyone hate someone that much? We often say murder is the worst sin. Jesus says in Matthew 5, that if you murder you are subject to judgement, but if you are angry at someone you are also subject to judgement. So while we are disgusted by the extremists, wondering how or why they did it, we do get angry. But by getting angry and hating them for their sin, we too are sinning a sin that is just as bad as murder. A sin is a sin. I am not saying that what these did in Paris is okay, because it’s not. But I am saying that those people are lost and broken and in just as much desperate need of Christ as you and I were. We are taught in the bible numerous times, to love our enemies and those who wrong us.
Those ‘scums’ were created by the breath of our God, that means they are of immense value. By calling them ‘scum’ you call the breath of God ‘scum.’ That is not okay. Anyone that God labels as valuable, should be valuable to us also. Satan was the real cause of destruction in Paris, get angry at him.
‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.’ – Martin Luther King Jr.
Instead of hating each other, love for another, pray for another and be an example to another.
All my love
Amy x