Hate is a toxic emotion. It is a dark, negative, tumultuous, heavy, disgusting, poisonous, and vile feeling that hurts others and ultimately hurts you.

Hate lashes out with ugliness, spewing words intended to cut deep into the soul of the intended target. These words are uttered specifically to inflict harm. Haters often attempt to dress up their speech as if they are joking. But typically, the window dressing they try to drape around their words does not prevent what they say from penetrating someone’s heart.

Hate is not a winning way. It will eventually act out in violence or participate in an action that brings pain to someone.

No one was hated more than Jesus. The religious leaders of his day hated him so intensely that they joyfully participated in actions intended to harm him. They killed him as savagely and ruthlessly as anyone in human history. If you want to understand hate—what it is, what it does, and how it behaves—consider how the religious leaders made up stuff about Jesus and then promoted his barbaric death on the cross.

Hate is scary because haters will do anything, without even considering the cost or ramifications, to assault, harm or brutalize their intended victims.

Recognizing what hate is and understanding what it is capable of must make us wary of the haters. You cannot play with a poisonous serpent. You can’t pet a ravenous lion or swim with the crocodiles. You will be killed. You can pray for people and try to help those with whom you can have a civilized conversation. Unfortunately, you can’t converse with a rattlesnake. You will be bitten and could easily die from such actions.

You can’t trust the Taliban, Vladimir Putin, the Mexican drug cartel and so on. I’m sure we could all come up with a list. Sadly, we often have to be leery of extremists who can only see their points of view. If you don’t succumb to their points of view, then in their eyes you are an infidel and are worthy of death. Stay clear of these people. They are venomous and dangerous.

Here are the lyrics to “Stop The Hate” that came out about a year ago. 

Stop the hate. It’s not too late.

We can’t wait any longer to stop the hate.

Start to love. Look up higher than ourselves to God above.

Stop the hurt. It won’t work. Stop the hate.

We all bleed. We all need help from each other to survive.

It’s past time to stop the hate.

We all need some peace of mind, and we know it’s way past time to stop the hate.

Stop the hate. It’s not too late.

We can’t wait any longer to stop the hate.

It’s past time to stop the hate.

We don’t all have to agree on everything. If and when we do disagree, can we please agree not to hate each other? Love is the greatest of all. 

Stop The Hate© by Glenn Mollette can be bought wherever music is sold, paying anyone anything back and we may be buying our bread from him.