Liberated from hate: my brother Ryan’s testimony

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 2:17 pm by Morgan Guyton

Liberated from hate: my brother Ryan’s testimony 2014-07-17T14:17:10-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I pray a lot for the college kids from our church. In addition to the concern that they will fall away from the faith, I worry about whether they will fall in with the wrong crowd of Christians. Every year, aggressively friendly campus fellowship groups storm the dorms to meet the kids who signed their clipboards at the activity fair. And many times, the result is four years of beautiful friendship and spiritual growth. But it can go very wrong as my brother Ryan Kuramitsu shares in his testimony about a Christian group whose zeal for God’s hate is a textbook case of what I’m calling the theology of the total depravity of everyone else.I asked permission to share the following excerpt, but please visit his site to read the original post and offer encouragement. (Note: I am aware there’s more than one side to every story, the same Christian organization is not the same on different campuses, etc.)

I trusted this man.

Over the past 2 years I had trusted him and loved him and told him all of my secrets all in the name of him teaching me to become a better Christian.

He was speaking to me about a “dangerous” blog I’d shared a link to a couple of weeks ago.

“Hey, look at me,” he cut in. ”Look me in the eyes, Ryan. I want you to know how seriously I mean this.” He drew breath. ”I hate Red Letter Christians. I hate Red Letter Christians. I HATE Red Letter Christians!” he spat.

You shouldn’t hate others, I remember saying.

“God does not hate anyone,” I said, “so neither do we,” somehow feeling surreal that I was even having this conversation.

“You do not understand the gospel if you don’t think God hates us.”

Huh?

“Ryan,” he shook his head and looked me in the eyes, “God absolutely hates you.”

I glanced down, uncomfortable.

“God does not hate anyone.”

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about,” he said, smiling, pulling up Chapter 2 from the book of Revelation on his iPhone. ”You really need to submit to the scriptures more. God loves you but he also hates you. And it is right for him to hate and kill and to tell us to hate or kill whoever he wants!”

I glanced at the words on the phone he handed me, a sentence from the final book of the Bible:

“But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.“

“Do you see? God hates you.”

“You mean love the sinner, hate the sin,” I tried, feeling like I now was beginning to understand his point.

“No. Not just your sin. You. God hates sinners with a righteous fire. What’s more, he commands us to hate people who believe the wrong things. Like the Nicolaitans.”

Like Red Letter Christians.

I sat still, for I had never heard such anger in my friend’s voice.

Images of my atheist, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Liberal Christian, and Muslim friends flashed before my eyes. Not only, was I being told, did God hate them, but also that he commanded me to hate them as well.

“God does not hate anyone, and we are not supposed to hate people either. Maybe their sins, but not them,” I said, surer now. ”Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. You can’t hate people and call yourself a Christian. That’s the point of Christianity.”

My friend told me I was being “unsubmissive to authority” and “selective in my scriptural interpretation.”

The conversation ended with him pleading with me to “re-submit to his authority in my life” and to commit to meeting with Cru staff and leaders 4 times a week, reading nothing but my Bible for the next 16 weeks, and not posting on my blog, Facebook, or Twitter until summertime.

It wasn’t until then, that I felt the tentacles of control and indoctrination wrap even tighter around my heart, that I knew I had to leave Cru for good.

You know what, as long as I have your attention, let me clear something up.

Just in case you actually may believe the garbage my friend was selling:

God does not hate you.

God does not hate anyone.

I believe in a God who forsook heaven, a God who so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall never perish, but inherit eternal life; my God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

God does not hate you, Jesus will never ask you to hate anyone, and He will not actively torture you if you do not follow Him.

This was the last straw.

Looking back, it scares me how close I was to becoming an agent of such hate myself.

Culture

Campus

Campus Crusade for Christ

Red Letter Christians

Ryan Kuramitsu

Sin

Zeal

Previous Post

April 18, 2013

How did Jesus come to love guns and hate sex?

Next Post

April 20, 2013 Defining sin for adolescents

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Delilah" likely mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Beloved Beautiful Delicate Wise