Hate, Vol. 1 - from i535 Comix

[535comix]

This was a one pager I originally did a couple of years ago, for the Megazeen one page issue. This version is in color, though. It's called 'Hate, Vol. 1'. This is a little more 'raw' and 'in your face' than the other comics, but one page isn't a whole lot of room to candy coat stuff. Hate is something that I think lots of people deal with, but don't really address it because they don't see it as the serious sin it is. I struggled with hate for someone for 15 years before I repented and forgave. Pretty much everything the guy in the comic says is something that I've heard other Christians say before, which is why I put it in there.

http://www.daystarchurch.tv/hatevol1

[CrypticMyopic]

Nice artwork, but I'm pretty ambivalent about this topic.

 I see this as a murky topic.  Doesn't the Bible tell us to hate evil?

 The concept of love and the understanding of hate are very polluted in today's world.  Mainly due to politics, I think.  As I look over this comic, I can see a Democrat pull out a couple of these examples the comic character talks about and say "hey, there's nothing wrong with that!", and I can see a Republican pulling out a couple different examples and saying the same thing.

  Churches are great at saying that we must love, we must not hate, and we must forgive, but its all very cookie-cutter stuff.  I've never heard anyone ever explain what the words "love", "hate", and "forgive" really entail.  Is not wanting to kill that father who abused you good enough?  Or does forgiveness mean we go back for more over and over like a sucker?  

  Isn't there any accountability, or is a desire for accountability "hate" and unforgiveness?  Don't we live in a society where everything Christians stand for is "HATE speech" anyway?

  After all, Christianity is watered down in modern America and it has become the "love gospel", so aren't the modern church's definitions of love and forgiveness polluted/corrupted definitions??  Definitions influenced by secular thoughts on "love", and not necessarily within the parameters of what Christ meant?  Keep in mind this is the same Christ coming to use vultures to pick out the eyes of unbeleivers.

  Maybe what "love gospel" Christians think of love and forgiveness isn't within the parameters of what Jesus or the apostles originally meant at all?  If we live in a society with a watered down value system, then why should we trust its interpretation of right and wrong?  I have stated before that I think modern Christianity in the US is way too influenced by the hippie movement and subsequent movements.

  If you study the early church fathers, they were pretty strong in their words at times, and not too "loving" by modern standards.  I would say modern Christianity is wrong, and not the church fathers or the Christ of Revelation.  If I had to bet... I'd bet against today's churches' definitions of things.

  There is no consensus on this kind of thing.  Sorry, I'm just not buying that half the things called "hate" are really hate.  I think its the post-modern warping of things and an agenda to dictate how we should tolerate the intolerable evil things taking place.

  We are called to have a righteous indignation over things.  The word indignation implies anger and nothing less.  Anger stems from hate... hatred of what is evil.  A righteous hate and a righteous anger.  Jesus was angry with the Pharisees.  True, he did not hate them as persons, nor does he hate any sinners as persons, yet sinners will still burn in hell.  It gets very convoluted.  You want to know how to beat a drug habit, or any addiction?  HATE it.  Hate what it does to you.

  I guess the issue I have with this comic is that it uses a very broad brush on this topic.  And the last panel was just a slice in the throat for any Christian who has struggled with hate.  There is no compassion for such fellow Chrsitans in that last panel, just a major episode of judgementalism.  Sorry but that's what I'm seeing there.

  Yes, I realize it was just a one-pager.

-Ribu

[535comix]

1 John 3:15 says that if you hate someone, you're guilty of murder. Hate is pretty serious. So serious that God says if you hate someone, yet claim to love Him, you're a liar. That's not me saying  it, it's scripture. I understand that yes, American Christianity can be watered down. But that scripture isn't an American saying, it's scripture.

Hating sin is not the same as hating people. Its not even close to the same thing.  We're supposed to hate sin. I hated a guy for 15 years before I forgave him. Forgiving him wasn't easy.  Forgiving someone isn't the same as telling them ' what you did is okay. ' I know what it's like to hate somebody so bad, you wish you could murder them. Doesn't mean that it's okay to do it, just because i 'struggled with it'. We can't be excusing the seriousness of sin by masking it as being 'compassionate'. Living our life by scripture isn't easy, but we're expected to do it.

God commands us to love others. When we hate someone, we break that commandment. You can argue about what 'hate' means, but you know when you do not love your neighbor like Christ tells us to. I agree that 'hate' is used in ways that it shouldn't be. Speaking out against homosexuality is labeled as 'hate speech', even though it isn't. But like i said, you know when you don't love like Christ tells us to love. I suppose we could go back and forth on what 'hate' really means, but i was writing from a perspective of someone who truly hated, so if it came across as judgemental, i didnt mean for it to, but if somebody reads that scripture like i did and they see the comic and say 'hey, i really hate ____ for what they did to me and probably ought to repent ', then my job is done. I was pretty sure when I drew it, that not everyone would like it. Thanks for the artwork compliment, i really appreciate it.

[mike]

From what I get from the comic, it's not about hating evil, or the meaning of hate; but really, how much are you really willing to let go of the hate that we ( me ) harbor in our hearts? We are called to forgive, just as we have been forgiven. But do we really do it? Are we willing to let go of our victimhood? Our own predudices?

I guess you can see the last panel in 1 of 2 ways.
1. Despite the hate we have for others and circumstances, our love for Jesus, can mend/heal a hardened heart.

and / or

2. This is a warning, that we can not fully be right with God if we are not willing to forgive and love others as we should. And we run the risk of becoming hypocrites, or as the verse says, liars.
The last panel, doesn't give the answer. It leaves the reader to wonder for themselves what the meaning is . Which is what a thought-provoking comic/message is supposed to do. Well done.

[CrypticMyopic]

535comix-

Thanks for your reply.  I understand the intention of the comic.  I suppose I know what a big problem hate is, but like a lot of Christians, I don't take it seriously.  Perhaps because, as you pointed out, "hate" is indeed used in ways it shouldn't be- such as to keep political opponents intimidated.

I guess I am also guilty of seeing it as a natural function that gets my sympathy.  Perhaps that sounds wierd to some, so let me explain.  Because hate is a byproduct of real abuses and real wrongdoings, I feel sympathy for the hater and not the hated one.  Its very difficult not to feel an immediate bond with (for example) a sexual assault victim who hates her rapist, while caring absolutely nothing for hated rapist.  in the same way it is very offensive when someone comes along and mocks the victim for that same hate, and mocks her walk with Christ just because she simultaneously feels some hatred (for very understandable reasons).  You mention hating Osama bin Laden.  My natural self finds something wrong with the person who has a problem hating Osama.  Not with the people who hate him.  I hope that clarifies why I was so offended at the cartoon.  But understand that I do see your point.

That being said, I also feel its important to see how Jesus and his immediate disciples treated this subject, as with any subject.  It is true that the apostle John was very blunt about this topic.  Your cartoon seems to be emulating John's tone.  However we must bear in mind that Jesus was himself very sympathetic to the human condition, including those who were haters.

Simon the Zealot was a major hater of the Roman Empire, becsause that's what the Zealots were, very much like today's bitter flag-waving nationalists who hate on minority groups and all things foreign.  Yet he was one of Christ's 12.  Simon Peter was called that name because it meant Rock, and we get the sense that he was a fighter or at least a tough guy, and probably also a Zealot like the other Simon.  Peter was very full of anger and, frankly, hate.  Hate in the form of strife, disloyalty, prejudice, and bitter temperament.  The thief on the cross, being a criminal, probably lived a very hate-filled life much like today's modern gangbangers.  Being a collaborator with the Romans in his job as tax collector, I'm sure Matthew was a major hater of his own kind- his fellow Jews.

The apostle Paul???  Hater supreme!  He wanted to stone them all and let God sort 'em out.  But Christ didn't mock any of these people.  He worked with them and helped them change.

I simply don't want to see Christians be self-righteous jerks who think they're better than the human condition.  Frankly, that's what liberals are.  They think they're perfect and that everyone who disagrees with them is a "hater".  And they have no tolerance for the human condition.  I saw oodles of that kind of arrogance in the tone of your cartoon.  Just to set the record straight, that's why I had a problem with it- the tone just rubbed me the wrong way.  I just don't want to see a self-righteous mentality take root among Christians.  In an era where we are brainwashed by the things liberals implanted into our heads since we were young, that kind of self-righteous hypocrisy may have seeped into the church.

I've seen your other work.  Overall, great ministry work.  All the best to you.

-Ribu