Fuck Your “Love the Sinner, But Hate the Sin” Bullshit

Nobody Believes That You Love the People You’re Judging

Judging others and weaponizing your religious beliefs are both sins. Photo: Bing

One of the major tenets of the Bible that Christians just love to ramble on about is how they “Love the Sinner, But Hate the Sin.” This has always struck me as hypocritical and inaccurate. I’ve seen too many examples up close and personally to believe otherwise.

The Bible verse this comes from is… Hold on, I don’t remember this one, let me go get my Bible. Wait, I don’t think I have one anymore. Or at least I don’t recall what I did with it. Oh, there it is, holding up the entertainment center and the TV. I can’t fool around with that.

“Blessed is he who can watch Dexter without having to tilt his head slightly sideways.” Provencio 9:21

Goddamn it. Ok, I’ll just Google it. Hmm. Wow, you’re not going to believe this, but that verse isn’t even IN the Bible. Why did I think that it was? I thought I knew the Bible pretty much front to back. Being raised by a pastor father and being forced to read 100–150 scriptures every morning, I thought I had this all down.

Turns out that this popular saying amongst the religious right is something they made up. It’s not a Bible verse. It’s just a shitty thing they like to say about people they don’t like or possibly even hate. It’s a justification for their terrible views, so they don’t look like mean-spirited assholes. How awesome and Christ-like of them.

I’ve been hearing this load of crap since I was a small child. My father used to say this during his sermons. While most people in the congregation seemed to understand and nod their half-empty heads in agreement, I started seeing signs right away that this was horseshit.

Nobody back in the 80s into the early 90s seemed to live this motto. When the AIDS epidemic was at its highest level and tragically killing so many people, where were the Christians and their thoughts and prayers for the LGBTQ community? Spoiler alert: There weren’t many.

How did Christians treat the AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s, when it gripped the world? Not as well as they should have. Photo: Hugh Naples from Pixabay

Back then, there was quite a lack of empathy. I heard more than a few Christians mention that AIDS was a plague sent by God to smite the wicked gay community. How dare they love someone of the same gender? Sinners deserve to die and burn in Hell. Yeah, there are those angry, vengeful messages that Jesus always spoke of in the Bible.

Except he didn’t. Focus on the New Testament, as most Christians tend to repeat, ad nauseam. I guess they figure that’s the less-shitty half of the Bible. The older part was where you could enslave, rape, and kill your enemies. The newer part is where you can love the sinner and hate their sin.

But again, it’s not there. And they don’t notice because they don’t actually believe that message. Again, it’s just a blanket statement that the more-decent Holy Rollers like to spout so they don’t look like dicks when they’re using the Bible to justify disliking or hating an LGBTQ non-believer who they are judging negatively.

They dislike or hate the sinner and not the sin. Because they’re committing the same sins, too. Or similar ones.

I’ve heard many cases of the most adamantly angry, hateful critics of the LGBTQ community ending up coming out as gay later in life. They rail on the things they know they are all about, themselves because they are self-loathing. The empty can rattles the most, as they say.

Yet that isn’t their job to do. Jesus specifically said to “Love your neighbor as yourself”, and to “Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself.” But that’s no fun. Why practice actual things Jesus commanded his followers to do when they don’t support your twisted, bigoted agenda?

And therein lies the problem with religion in general: It’s too hypocritical. Too “pick-and-choose”. If there is one thing I cannot stand in this world is hypocrisy.

Add ignorance to that shortlist as well. It boils my blood to hear conservative religious types going off about the litany of things that make them angry and hateful. Spoiler alert: They’re pissed off about EVERYTHING.

We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God since the beginning. So who made you the judge of what’s right and wrong? Focus on yourself. Photo: Mark Jackie from Pixabay

For a religion that is supposed to be about peace, love, forgiveness, and caring for others, the majority of people following sure fall short in so many ways. The most recent outrages I’ve heard about lately by the Moral Minority involve so many of those topics, and why they piss off so many of their people.

Let’s run them down real quick: They’re the ones banning books in schools and libraries. They were angry that student loan debt was going to be forgiven for millions of Americans. And they’re thrilled that women lost their reproductive rights and will not be able to receive abortion care in many states.

That’s ok, though. It’s God’s Will for them to die. As long as they’re in control of their state’s rights laws, Jesus is happy with women dying. It’s not like they’re as important as men. They can sacrifice a woman’s life because their God says it’s just. Give me a break.

It’s sickening and wrong. It’s not like these hypocritical people think about the baby after the mother is forced to give birth. Well, not for about 18 years, anyway. Then, after many years of suffering, hunger, living in poverty, and God knows what else, conservatives suddenly care about them again. Why?

Visit your local military recruitment office with your 18-year-old son or daughter, and you’ll find out quickly how much they care about your former fetus. I’m surprised there isn’t a red carpet they roll out as soon as a teenager is spotted within 100 feet of the recruiting office.

“Hey, it’s been a while. How have you been? Poor? Hungry? Undereducated? Well, welcome back! We’re here with open arms for you! You’re special. You matter. While we cannot guarantee you’ll come back alive, at least you’ll have proudly served our interests, er… I mean, your COUNTRY! ‘MURICA!”

You’re 18! We’re so happy to see you, again! Photo: Bailey Cruz from Pixabay

Again, the hypocrisy astounds me. I honestly am surprised the military or the church hasn’t found a role for LGBTQ citizens to fill for their own self-serving interests. Perhaps they’ve tried. I’m sure most of the gay or trans community sees right through their bullshit and wants no part of it.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell? That seems suspect. Wait, it’s not like that anymore? Or it was when Trump held office? Jesus, this is confusing. I think I’ll pass.”

That would be my line of thinking if I was part of their community. And what are churches doing to appeal to those who love others of the same gender? Most churches would have nothing to do with those people.

Even though they “love the sinner”, they still hate the sin. You know, the sin of loving and caring about another human being. Or being true to yourself and honest about who you are.

It’s hypocritical because “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. We all make mistakes or choices in life that many won’t agree with. If you believe that everything in the world is a “sin”, chances are that you’re doing just as much sinning or more than an LGBTQ person. Fuck off with your judgy crap. You’re not perfect, either.

To the real ones, like the churches we saw at 2022 Pride: You have my respect and admiration. Jesus’ too.

To the truly loving, accepting churches and members of those congregations, I applaud you. Thank you for hearing the actual real message of Jesus, the one that calls for us to love one another, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. You folks are in the minority, but I see you and I admire you.

The rest of you that are racist, bigoted, homophobic assholes, I also see you. I’m not impressed, I’m disgusted. I’d highly recommend you read that Bible or other religious books of yours more in-depth, not just the parts you prefer to justify hating the sinner and not the sin.

If you ever truly want others to accept your beliefs and find your church anything other than hypocritical and laughable, try being the change you’d like to see. Stop judging people that don’t have the same religious beliefs you do. Be kind to marginalized groups of people.

Stop supporting morally bankrupt politicians like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and all of the other people who are openly racist and bigoted toward others. Those scum-bags would be going to Hell, not Heaven if those places were real.

I could rattle off several mega-church leaders in a similar vein. But you get it. You know whether you have kindness and acceptance in your heart, or if you hate the sinner and not the sin that you and that sinner likely have in common.

© 2024 Jason Provencio. All rights reserved.