Can Hate Be Good?
NO; daggum shame at best in my opinion. Maybe can motivate good deads, but in itself it's a daggum shame.

Have we lost perspective on hatred?
YES, most definitely! The main comment this Rabbi made that summed up the positives from his ramble for me:

while Jesus taught that we ought to love our own enemies, this did not apply to God's enemies

He does however make a lot of statements, especially in the last third of his article, that chill me to the bone. Whether that's an effect of his wrong-thinking or mine, I can't say at this time, but I know I'm definitely prone by spiritual gifting to err on the side of forgiveness. A lot of it seems merciless to me.

That said I can't pass judgement on the man at all for his writing, as I couldn't on anyone. I have however been gifted (as has every believer) with the ability for spiritual discernment... and I stilll dunno what to think :D Is my confusion, lack of decisiveness on the matter, a part of my human flaw, or a part of my spiritual makeup?! The body after all has different parts, but, I know I'm screwed up!

Make you think whatever the case, thanks for the post, and to Dennis!

Word to Dennis! redo your site man! It's getting cluttery and I can never remember my login details, or even the email I signed up with! No wait, that's my problem :)

Word to Bugs! style them blockquotes! Maybe some fat fat margin with a border-left.

The webNazi has spoken, so let it be written...

Ja, Kapitän!!! Blockquotes be styled =)

I'm still thinking about the article. Since childhood, I've always tended to take Jesus' words very literally. What I mean by that is verses like "turn the other cheek". I have always wondered whether he meant participating in *any* violence was prohibited, even to save my loved ones. But a read of the rest of the bible seems to make that unlikely. So I struggle with the ideas that this article raises. I need to pray and think more about where I see the lines being drawn on this issue. I wanted to post it because I think we do need to have a better understanding of this in the Xian community and we can do that without bringing up the question in the first place.

hehehe, looking good!

and heheeee, sounds like we're in the same boat, confyoosed. One thing I feel certain about is that I'm supposed to protect my family, that is one of my main functions in the role of husband and father. I said "feel" because there really isn't much in the Bible about it at all, that I can find. I know we're to provide for our families but there's nothing I can find about protecting. But if I consider my overwhelming desire to protect them, coupled with the way they run to me *for* protection... seems very natural, the thing to do. I would treat the man that came after mah peeps as a vessel made for dishonour =[

Anyhow, where I'm at right now on hatred/vengeance/war, and like subjects, I feel the government is in place to decide on war and capital punishment and I am glad of it, don't think I would like to be in that position. On those 2 points personally I would lean to forgiveness but I do very much respect the idea of the 'blood avenger' in the old testament (Numbers?). That speaks to me that the family of the victim should be the one to decide the life or death of the murderer. I would have no problem ordering the execution of a murderer if it was the will of the victim's family. Were *I* of that family I would most likely be inclined to forgive and ask that the life be spared, depending on the circumstances.

Again, I liked the idea the rabbi put forth about loving our enemies and hating the enemies of God. I have no real problem with that at all, and between you me and the buglog, I wouldn't mind a gee-hod (no play on Gee Dub intended :]) on the Muslim nutters that instigated war on the "Great Satan". I assume that what they mean by Great Satan is the children of Isaac? Or are they speaking of the capitalist pig amerikans that use our massive resources/blessings to unduely influence Muslim bidness? If they set themselves up as enemies of God, they get what's coming to them.

Looooottta variables play into all these scenarios and keep the mind racing! I admire this rabbi for his resolution to be sure :]

Hmmm...this has got me thinking....well, I figure if anyone should hate anything, I figure it would be hating evil.

well, I figure if anyone should hate anything, I figure it would be hating evil.

and USC :)

I don't know if you know me or not, but we have discussed things before on Asylum. I don't really know about posting things on your web site, but I read the article and I had some thinking:

He talks about hate, and I got to thinking about that verse that says "God is love" (in Romans?). If hate is the opposite of love, wouldn't it be the opposite of God?

One thing he talked about is the "enemies of God" and you have to wonder who are really God's enemies? Are they sinners? Satan? Both? Neither? That is a tough question I thought.