The World of Hate vs. Love, John 15:19
After bringing our Commentary on the Gospel of John to its completion, I thought perhaps it is appropriate to take a moment to hear from Clifton Emahiser. I am considering a commentary on the Wisdom of Solomon, alternating with my planned commentary on the epistles of John, and do not yet know which book I want to begin with first. Since beginning my New Testament commentaries with Matthew in 2011, I have been alternating between Old Testament and New, so I will probably continue after that pattern.
Here I am going to present and comment on a paper by Clifton Emahiser, titled Who’s Who in the World of “Hate” versus “Love”, for which Clifton used as its basis the words of Christ in John 15:19. According to Clifton’s records, this essay was written in April of 2012. While it may not be entirely possible for me to do, especially as Clifton himself had made the original presentation, I am going to at least try to present this in a way which makes it palatable for denominational Christians.
One hurdle we have in bringing people to understand our Christian Identity profession is where Judeo-Christians, or perhaps they would be better called denominational Christians, believe that God is love, as the apostle John had taught in 1 John chapter 4, but then they somehow misconstrue that teaching to believe that God is only love. The result is that these people then make Love their god, rather than love the God of the Bible. It is a form of idolatry by which they may as well be worshipping Venus, the pagan goddess of love, rather than Christ.
However confusing lasciviousness for “love”, many of these same people, in their private lives often end up sacrificing themselves to Cupid. So we may see how Christian love is often confused with what the world says is “love”, and that in turn becomes perverted into an acceptance, if not an engagement, in sodomy and fornication. These things, which the world calls “love”, God actually hates, and Jesus hates them too. As Christ had told His disciples, in John chapter 14, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” But when you attempt to tell a denominational Christian that God also hates those who do these things, who transgress the law, they are difficult to convince because they have been interminably inculcated with the notion that “God is love”.