Love the Sinner

A handful of posts and articles I've read recently have reminded me of the importance of loving everyone, even if you don't love some of the things they do. The old adage is to "hate the sin, but love the sinner," and it's important to know why.

First, loving others is one of the first and greatest commandments we've ever been given; condemning sin isn't. Of course, we must never condone sin, but when we have to choose between expressing love and expressing chastisement, we should usually choose love.

Second, it's more practical. Ideally, we condemn sinful behavior mainly because we want to discourage it, but people are more likely to listen to a friend than to an enemy. If we antagonize those whose behavior we would discourage, they might grow to resent both us and our desires for them to change. In fact, some of them might double-down on their bad behavior in order to spite us or as some kind of defensive mechanism against any perceived personal attacks from us.

Third, reciprocity. If we were in the wrong, we would want others to be gentle in their approach when they feel the need to correct us. We should extend to them the same courtesy we would want them to extend to us.

Fourth, hypocrisy. We all sin. We all do things we shouldn't do or fail to do things we should. We all have room for improvement. Yet, we shouldn't let those imperfections prevent us from loving ourselves or each other. We should "love the sinner" because we are all sinners and because we should love everyone.

Fifth, it's a better way to live. To much negativity is unhealthy. Yes, some things should change, and we should identify and address the things that should change, but if we focus exclusively on the negative aspects of people, that negativity increases animosity, resentment, and even hatred. It increases the adversary's influence by encouraging people, including the condemners, to have unchristlike thoughts. Rather than demonstrating the pride and hatred Satan feels, we should demonstrate the love and humility of the Savior. Jesus condemned sin out of concern for the eternal welfare of the sinner. We should follow His example.

It is often necessary for us to speak out against sinful behavior, but we shouldn't be too harsh when we do so. Those whom we attempt to correct should feel that we are trying to correct them because we want them to be happy and safe, because we love them. That's why we should try to be gentle with our reproof and show love and concern for those whose behavior we would correct. We should express Christlike love for our fellow beings, even and especially when we feel that it's necessary to reprove them.