In the aftermath of Alexei Navalny\u2019s death<\/a> last Friday, much of the focus has\u2014understandably\u2014been on his attempts to combat corruption in the Russian government and on the role Vladimir Putin likely played in his demise. Yet, as Russell Moore<\/a> recently described, Navalny\u2019s final years were defined as much by his Christian faith<\/a> as by his politics or his time in prison. And that faith, in turn, motivated a great deal of how he chose to approach the persecution that ended his life at the age of forty-seven.<\/p>\n You see, Navalny came to faith<\/a> late in his life. And while he hasn\u2019t gone into detail on that process, the general belief is that it happened in the aftermath of Putin\u2019s previous attempt to kill him in 2020.<\/p>\n As he told a court the following year, \u201cThe fact is that I am a Christian<\/a>, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the Anti-Corruption Foundation because mostly our people are atheists and I was once quite a militant atheist myself.\u201d<\/p>\n He then went on to explain how his faith gave clarity and focus to his life as his circumstances became progressively grim.<\/p>\n As Moore concludes<\/a>, \u201cThis was the root, I believe, of Navalny\u2019s moral courage, his willingness to stand alone, his willingness to die.\u201d<\/p>\n And while we may not be facing the prospect of imminent death or being banished to the gulags, living out our faith well still requires the moral courage to stand against the culture when the culture stands against God.<\/p>\n However, the manner in which we take that stand is just as important as our willingness to take it.<\/p>\n In a fascinating article<\/a>, Alan Jacobs recently outlined one of the most essential truths to understanding our culture. He wrote of how many Americans don\u2019t seem all that interested in data or understanding opposing views. Rather, \u201cWhat many people want, what they earnestly and passionately desire, is to hate their enemies<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n As he goes on to describe, many of the problems that our society faces stem from this basic tendency to organize our ideas around what we hate rather than what we love. And the reason is that, as Jacobs puts it, \u201chatred alone is immortal.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if we\u2019ve gotten better at not acting on it over the years\u2014which, for the most part, we have\u2014people still seem hardwired to hate. And, as such, hatred has become a virtue, so long as it is directed against the right people or ideas.<\/p>\n Jacobs\u2019 solution is to figure out \u201cwhat pleasure, what gratification, can we offer to people that exceeds the pleasure of hating.\u201d<\/p>\n And really, from a secular point of view, that\u2019s about the best alternative our culture can offer. Human nature will always gravitate toward hate as its most powerful and\u2014in a twisted way\u2014righteous emotion.<\/p>\n Christ, however, calls us to something better.<\/p>\n In the Sermon on the Mount<\/a>, Jesus states, \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you\u201d (Matthew 5:43\u201344<\/a>).<\/p>\n Our task as Christians is to choose Christ\u2019s approach over the culturally permissible path of seeing hatred as a virtue so long as it\u2019s directed at the right people or ideas.<\/p>\n That path of hatred can never lead to peace because peace is not the goal. The goal is to placate the innate desire to be the protagonist of your own story, and that\u2019s easier to accomplish by dragging others beneath you than it is by raising yourself up.<\/p>\n And Jesus understood that about us. Perhaps it\u2019s why he finishes that command by calling us to \u201cbe perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matthew 5:48<\/a>).<\/p>\n As long as God is the standard by which our actions are judged, hate will never accomplish for us what the culture hopes it will accomplish for them. Unfortunately, that hasn\u2019t stopped many Christians from trying.<\/p>\n If we want to get back to being the salt and light that Christ calls us to be, we need to do some serious reflecting on how we approach the culture around us.<\/p>\n The old clich\u00e9 of \u201chate the sin and love the sinner\u201d has some truth to it, but it still tempts us to focus more on what we hate than on who we\u2019re called to love.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean we ignore the sin that we see, but our job isn\u2019t to fix the culture. It\u2019s to help people encounter Jesus. After all:<\/p>\n Lost people are going to act like lost people, so we shouldn\u2019t expect Christ to change our culture without first changing the people in it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So where is your focus today? On what you hate or on whom you\u2019re called to love?<\/p>\n That decision is likely to determine a great deal about not only the quality of your life but also the quality of your witness.<\/p>\n Choose wisely.<\/p>\n Photo Credit: \u00a9Getty Images\/Johannes Simon \/ Stringer The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Christian Headlines.<\/em><\/p>\n For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Daily Article<\/em> Podcast is Here!<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"denison-forum-banner\"](\"https:\/\/i.swncdn.com\/media\/650w\/via\/images\/2023\/02\/06\/29315\/29315-updated-the-daily-article-banner_source_file.webp\")
<\/source><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHatred alone is immortal\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cLove your enemies\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Our job isn\u2019t hate<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Publish Date: February 23, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.swncdn.com\/media\/500w\/cms\/RT\/Objects\/58571-Daily%20Article%20Podcast%20LOGO%20.webp\")
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