Pat Dollard

We make judgments every day. I have to judge who is good and who is bad company for my children and I make those judgments based on the facts of the behavior of those friends. You get called for jury duty and you will make judgments based on the facts of their behavior.

Contrary to much popular belief, the catchphrase “hate the sin but love the sinner” is not of biblical origin, and caution should be given to its connotations. The tendency it too often leads to today is to view the sinner as a victim of his sin, rather than the author of the sin he commits.

In truth, there are biblical teachings that contravene the above cliché, for example the following:

– “But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike” (Wisd. 14:9).

– “Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes. Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie” (Ps. 5:6-7).

– “For there is no good for him that is always occupied in evil and giveth no alms: for the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on the penitent” (Ecclesiasticus 12:3; RSV-CE Sir. 12:3,6).

– “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil” (Lk. 6:45).

– “As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will shew [deny] mercy to whom I will shew [deny] mercy” (Rom. 9:13-15).

A further teaching from Proverbs is instructive: “Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run to mischief. A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren” (6:16-19).

Note that the “things” listed that “the Lord hateth” are the sinners who commit the listed offenses. It is not a list of the sins in the abstract. The sinner attains the anger and rejection of God by the sins he commits through his own free will. It goes without saying, then, that if you hate the evildoer’s sin you cannot love the sinner who is its author. You cannot separate the sinner from his sin. The sinner is hateful when he commits the sin and this needs to be clearly understood. Sins are not condemned to Hell for eternity; it is the unrepentant sinner.

“Hate the sin but love the sinner” is a paraphrase taken from a letter written by St. Augustine giving instruction to a religious order of nuns on certain means of discipline to be observed in the correction of unlawful practices by their members: “When convicted of the fault, it is her duty to submit to the corrective discipline which may be appointed by the prioress or the prior. If she refuse to submit to this, and does not go away from you of her own accord, let her be expelled from your society. For this is not done cruelly but mercifully, to protect very many from perishing through infection of the plague with which one has been stricken. Moreover, what I have now said in regard to abstaining from wanton looks should be carefully observed, with due love for the persons and hatred of the sin, in observing, forbidding, reporting, reproving, and punishing of all other faults” (italics added).

A careful reading of St. Augustine’s letter makes it clear that the paraphrase “hate the sin but love the sinner” was not meant as a panacea to serve in the place of either condemnation or punishment of a wrongdoer. Its purpose, rather, was to inform that righteous condemnation and punishment, in the proper Christian sense, was not from malice but for the greater good of the offender as well as the community. Sin is definitely not a zero-sum game as justice and rectification for every sin must be realized, whether in this life or beyond.

“When the good are overly merciful to the bad, the good eventually become the bad.” This old proverb comes to mind often of late in listening to the commentary of considerable of the faithful, both clergy and laity, who demonstrate their ignorance of Christianity by invoking the “hate the sin but love the sinner” cliché while self-righteously condemning any who dare to make critical judgments of those culpable of evil activities. As if to say the Ten Commandments were not given by God as standards by which man is commanded to judge himself, as well as others. “By their fruits you shall know them” (Mt. 7:16).

“Hate the sin but love the sinner” is a seemingly compassionate catchphrase tailor-made for today’s milieu in which human behavior is no longer judged by the criteria of right or wrong, but rather from the vagaries of environment or psychophysiology (a pseudo-science that has been successful in masquerading psychosis and sanity as one and the same). These are delusions put forth which serve well to waylay right conscience and subvert accountability for evildoing.

In our celebrated age of psychoanalysis, however, the phrase “hate the sin but love the sinner” has objectives quite foreign to that of its author, St. Augustine. Our modernist spin-doctors have inverted its meaning to that of indulging the sinner and allaying his warranted accountability and castigation.

Tiger isn’t apologetic, so why extend pity to an unrepentant man?

It’s Tiger’s journey anyway, so if he chooses to follow a bad path, then he will reap the consequences.

Doom on him.

If others help him to do so, doom on them also.

I say let him make his own decisions and live with the consequences.

The rest of us should do the same.

is dignity putting up a false life to the public and cashing in big time on their ignorance? fuck all these nit wits. i would never watch a gibson movie and i will not watch the media darling, woods play golf. woods is a cheat and a fraud

bless me father for i have sinned and i will throw stones at frauds.

Mel Gibson is nuts….

The “Power of the pussy” has brought many a man down.
“IT”,is a very powerful thing.
Samson comes to mind first