It never ceases to amaze me what comes out of the mouths of some Christians. Some of the clichés I hear them say makes me want to pull my hair out (well, if I had any hair). Whenever I hear folks spouting off one of these dreadful cliches I want to scream:
“Please stop saying that!”
For example, how many times have you heard a Christian friend say:
"Love the Sinner, hate the sin."
I've never quite understood what I am supposed to do with such a comment. What exactly is being said by this well-worn cliché? What’s the meaning behind this oft-repeated saying? Where did it come from, certainly not the Scriptures?
Well, here are my thoughts on why Christians need to stop saying such things:
My big problem with this cliché is the comma (,). That's right, the comma. Now if there was a period after the first clause then I would be okay with it:
"Love the sinner."
That's it! That all that needs to be said, right? No qualifier, just love the sinner. Period (.) Finis. Full stop.
You see when a comma (,) is used the subject (sinner) remains suspect. The love you claim to have for the sinner remains guarded. For example, this cliché was often used in my own denomination when we were debating the place of LGBT folks in our churches; when we were debating whether to practice full inclusion of partial inclusion of LGBT folks.
The use of the comma I might add implies partial inclusion.
Partial exclusion means that we may love homosexuals, even welcome them to worship with us, but not participate in the full life of the congregation. They couldn't even be married by our clergy within our churches. The comma implies that there is a qualifier in the way we accept them as members of our congregation.
In reality, the comma suggests to them: Stay below the horizon so as not to be noticed.
Please stop using this hypocritical cliché. It's not Biblical and certainly, it’s not used in good taste.
Get rid of the comma. Just say:
"Love the sinner!"
That's all Jesus ever did!
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