I wish I could take credit for the title of this post, but I can't. I am borrowing it from an article I read several years back about hate crime legislation. Basically, the article I read said that if a person commits a crime, and it can be proven that the crime was motivated by 'hatred,' that person can be given a longer prison sentence.
I was reminded of this article today when I read the story about a 31 year old woman who pushed a man to his death in New York City because she thought the man was a Muslim (see Woman accused of murder as a hate crime in NYC Subway Push Death). This lady said that she pushed him off the train tracks "because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the Twin Towers..."
Hatred is in the eye of the beholder, and hate crime laws can act as a double edged sword. People who commit crimes that are motivated by hatred may well face longer jail and prison terms. But hate crime laws can also be used to try to stop Christians from preaching the gospel. If you disagree, take some time to listen to Dr. David Murray's important message:
What is a Hate Crime?
True Christians love their neighbors so much, they are willing to commit a hate crime just to try to keep their neighbors from going to hell. My post, The Roman Road to Salvation, could be seen "criminal hate speech" in many parts of the world. And the day may come here in America when you can go to prison just for telling your neighbor about our Lord Jesus, and that "there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12).
Listen to these words from that latter day Puritan, Charles Haddon Spurgeon:
"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for."
You may also wish to check out my posts:
Be Ye Wise as a Serpent, and Harmless as a Dove - Reflections on the Sandy Hook Massacre
Dear Jesus: Give Me the Heathen for Christmas in 2012
Mourn, God Might Hate You - John Reisinger Speaks on The Holiness of God
