Why are people so offended by Christians saying, "Love the sinner; Hate the sin."?

Answer 1

Because it typically follows a Christian making a mistaken judgment about the behavior of someone else. It's a fairly transparent lie.

I don't think that it matters all that much that someone is offended (as an atheist, I've lived with offensive speech aimed at me since roughly 1980), but a decent, well-behaved adult should know that adding a slogan like "Love the sinner, hate the sin" to the end of an insult doesn't magically turn insulting others into a polite, decent practice.

Worse, the person saying that slogan typically believes that his/her moral judgments represent those of a "god", and we all know where that kind of arrogant pride leads.

Answer 2

Many people feel it's undoable... you can't do both... or if you try, you're being hypocritical. Here is a passage from "gotquestions.org" which might clarify the position:

Many Christians use the cliché "Love the sinner, hate the sin." However, we must realize that this is an exhortation to us as imperfect human beings. The difference between us and God in regard to loving and hating is vast. Even as Christians, we remain imperfect in our humanity and cannot love completely, nor can we hate without malice. But, God can do both of these perfectly well, because He is God! God can hate without any sinful intent at all. Therefore, he can hate the sin and the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still be willing to lovingly forgive at the moment of that sinner's repentance and faith (see Malachi 1:3; Revelation 2:6; 3 Peter 3:9).

..... Of course, some people can't seem to wait to be offended by any little thing, and will be offended whatever you say as a Christian, especially. Of course, some people don't want to accept the philosophy, because they don't want whatever they are doing to be seen as being wrong. They want their "sins" to be accepted and by saying we hate the sin, that is telling them that we hate them. They cannot separate the two, and they want us to say, "Hey, we love you despite your sins... and hey... you're okay, you've done nothing wrong!"

But we Christians cannot be true to our faiths and say that... even to a fellow Christian. Our faith tells us that we are to "confront" even our fellow Christians... in Christian love... when they are doing wrong and being unrepentant of it. But non-Christians don't "see" that aspect of Christianity, and if they do, they will use that as "ammo" to try and shoot holes in our faith.

So ... I hope this helps. Have a blessed day!

Answer 3

How exactly does that work? We hate sin by refusing to take part in it and by condemning it when we see it. Sin is not to be hated, not excused or taken lightly.

We love the sinner by being faithful in witnessing to them of the forgiveness that is available through Jesus Christ. A true act of love is treating someone with respect and kindness even though they know you do not approve of their lifestyle and/or choice.

It is not loving to allow a person to remain stuck in sin. It is not hateful to tell a person they are in sin. In fact, the exact opposites are true

Answer 4

i'm not sure but thats what my dad told me..he said don't hate the person , hate what they do..th bad things and such which is exactly the same as loving the sinner and hating sin
thats what Jesus did he loved everyone despite all the sin that they did.. He died on the cross for our sins so that we could live
which is amazing

Answer 5

Because many use that to cover up the fact that they treat people like crap who commit sins they don't personally like. It's very rare to find a person who states that and is respectful of the person who's "sins" they are pointing out. They forget simple things like, when pointing out that someone is doing something wrong, they are supposed to pull them off to the side, in private, and discuss it. They aren't supposed to make a spectacle of the situation by screaming it from the rooftops. It's self-righteous to use it in this way... and most people won't tolerate it.

Answer 6

Because it's a weak willed cop out,and because it's BS. If you don't have the guts to admit that your personal prejudice, based on your acceptance of Bronze Age myths causes you to dislike people because they're different than you then just leave the subject alone.

AD

Answer 7

Because they can't seem to separate the two. It boils down to this. They love their sin and have no intention of giving it up and so they mask this selfishness by calling Christians, intolerant, bigots, homophobes, Bible thumpers and a plethora of other names. It is really not a hard concept to grasp. Say an infant you are holding barfs all over your best suit of clothes . You hate the vomit but still love the child. This is the exact way we Christians feel about sin. We hate it and yet we still love the sinner and want him/her to come to christ and be saved just like we were. We all have sinned and fallen short. Thank you Jesus for saving us! God bless you brother.

Answer 8

I'm offended by Christians saying it's biblical.

Answer 9

Because they know they are trapped in their sin. They don't want to see the love in Christianity because they would have to admit that they are the mean spirited, judgmental people they accuse Christians of being.

Answer 10

I'm just guessing here, but I think people are offended by self-righteous condescension in general.

It says, "I'm so infinite in my powers of selective acceptance that I can, in my God-like capacity, simultaneously love one part of your soul, and hate the other part. And if you can't muster enough self-hate to suppress part of who you are for my comfort, that's really a problem on your end, not mine."

Yeah, it's a real mystery.