"He wavered. Then an experience that perhaps no good man can ever have in our world came over him – a torrent of perfectly unmixed and lawful hatred. The energy of hating, never before felt without some guilt, without some dim knowledge that he was failing fully to distinguish the sinner from the sin, rose into his arms and legs till he felt that they were pillars of burning blood. What was before him appeared no longer a creature of corrupted will. It was corruption itself to which will was attached only as an instrument. Ages ago it had been a Person: but the ruins of personality now survived in it only as weapons at the disposal of a furious self-exiled negation. It is perhaps difficult to understand why this filled Ransom not with horror but with a kind of joy. The joy came from finding at last what hatred was made for. As a boy with an axe rejoices on finding a tree, or a boy with a box of coloured chalks rejoices on finding a pile of perfectly white paper, so he rejoiced in the perfect congruity between his emotion and its object."
But after all, what did *C S Lewis* know about Christianity?
Charles Spurgeon said, “sin slew my savior, how can I be friendly with it?“
A common prayer of mine is, “Lord, may I love what you love and hate what you hate.”
I like how in the early church’s baptismal vows, they ask the recipient for baptism, “do you confess the Lord Jesus Christ?” After the affirmative, they also ask them, “do you renounce the devil and all his pomp?” It is that renunciation that us moderns are tempted to omit.
At a friend's child's baptism, when the Priest asked "Do you renounce Satan? And all his works?" a small child at the back of the congregation shouted "No!" haha
Good point. Part of a wider narrative that we cannot criticize anything. We don't have their lived experience etc.
I hadn't thought of it as a tactic before, but perhaps it is. It is verboten to mention anything about lifestyles common among gay men, to use one example. Lots of coverage about their supposed struggles against discrimination that can scarcely exist now. But perhaps training us to not say anything is the precursor to judgment itself atrophying entirely.
Very precisely written integration of so many complex viewpoints in few words. Messaging aside (its also wonderful), this piece is a lesson in good writing. Well done.
Yes. The other aspect is that hate has become so anemic a word these days. If anything you do that I disapprove of is "hate", then what are the words for genuine thoughts and feelings that are utterly opposed to evil? This is what they are doing to our language.
Tolerance can be a form of irresponsibly. The right needs a set of distinctions that are self evident or too costly to attack. However, these still tend to create partitions among those that generally agree. It's gets awkward when dealing with feminine subversion. There was a good Twitter exchange on this:
"I don't think the right knows how to formulate an intolerance that it can execute."
This is a remarkable article.....i feel like i have permission to "hate" and not feel bad about myself. I am so tired of others that take my peace ☮️ from me.
Somewhere along the line, "niceness" became the chief virtue. Conflict of any sort is verboten, and convictions of any sort are toxic. We are expected to accept absurdities with a placid smile on our face.
I always felt like as a child that this “you shouldn’t hate anyone/anything but the Devil” and “hate the sin, not the sinner” didn’t make sense on an instinctive level. Makes me think that among other things we need a return of an instinctual trust of instinct. Far too many things I was convinced of against my better judgement because they were preached to by positions of authority.
The other side of this of course is you must have a vast library of knowledge to be able to sift through what is God-given and what is Adam-given. Just like all things a good Aristotelian balance must be kept, for in the edges does the Devil roam. Hatred and Instinct are two good examples of this.
P.S. Love your word as always Mr Kurtz, also love the Space Marines reference those guys are awesome and a good count of inspiration. How was the Witan btw? I wished I could have gone but unfortunately I was out of the country.
I'm reminded of a passage in "Perelandra":
"He wavered. Then an experience that perhaps no good man can ever have in our world came over him – a torrent of perfectly unmixed and lawful hatred. The energy of hating, never before felt without some guilt, without some dim knowledge that he was failing fully to distinguish the sinner from the sin, rose into his arms and legs till he felt that they were pillars of burning blood. What was before him appeared no longer a creature of corrupted will. It was corruption itself to which will was attached only as an instrument. Ages ago it had been a Person: but the ruins of personality now survived in it only as weapons at the disposal of a furious self-exiled negation. It is perhaps difficult to understand why this filled Ransom not with horror but with a kind of joy. The joy came from finding at last what hatred was made for. As a boy with an axe rejoices on finding a tree, or a boy with a box of coloured chalks rejoices on finding a pile of perfectly white paper, so he rejoiced in the perfect congruity between his emotion and its object."
But after all, what did *C S Lewis* know about Christianity?
If anything, C. S. Lewis probably underestimates the situations where hate is appropriate.
Charles Spurgeon said, “sin slew my savior, how can I be friendly with it?“
A common prayer of mine is, “Lord, may I love what you love and hate what you hate.”
I like how in the early church’s baptismal vows, they ask the recipient for baptism, “do you confess the Lord Jesus Christ?” After the affirmative, they also ask them, “do you renounce the devil and all his pomp?” It is that renunciation that us moderns are tempted to omit.
At a friend's child's baptism, when the Priest asked "Do you renounce Satan? And all his works?" a small child at the back of the congregation shouted "No!" haha
Good point. Part of a wider narrative that we cannot criticize anything. We don't have their lived experience etc.
I hadn't thought of it as a tactic before, but perhaps it is. It is verboten to mention anything about lifestyles common among gay men, to use one example. Lots of coverage about their supposed struggles against discrimination that can scarcely exist now. But perhaps training us to not say anything is the precursor to judgment itself atrophying entirely.
Had some more thoughts on this in an older post: https://open.substack.com/pub/codyilardo/p/good-arrogance?r=1q8ur0&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Very precisely written integration of so many complex viewpoints in few words. Messaging aside (its also wonderful), this piece is a lesson in good writing. Well done.
I appreciate that!
Excessive tolerance can indeed be a vice. But hatred without discernment is scary. Plenty of historical, and contemporary, examples.
Yes. The other aspect is that hate has become so anemic a word these days. If anything you do that I disapprove of is "hate", then what are the words for genuine thoughts and feelings that are utterly opposed to evil? This is what they are doing to our language.
Well written and a needful meditation. To hate what God hates is to be about God's work as much as it is to live what God loves.
Thank you - and yes, truly.
That was excellent.
Cheers PP
Tolerance can be a form of irresponsibly. The right needs a set of distinctions that are self evident or too costly to attack. However, these still tend to create partitions among those that generally agree. It's gets awkward when dealing with feminine subversion. There was a good Twitter exchange on this:
"I don't think the right knows how to formulate an intolerance that it can execute."
https://twitter.com/Outsideness/status/1696898402942890058?t=8pJzT9SCW3bPt88Njlg07w&s=19
Matthew 7:3] And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
[4] Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
This is a remarkable article.....i feel like i have permission to "hate" and not feel bad about myself. I am so tired of others that take my peace ☮️ from me.
Machiavelli famously advised princes that it is better to be feared then loved so long as one avoided being hated.
This implies conversely, that for those wishing to overthrow an evil regime will have to make use of hatred.
Love this, though I expect it will be hated by many.
Haha, well now I'd be a hypocrite if I begrudged them for hating it.
Thanks very much
No, you wouldn't. You're not arguing that hate is always good in itself, rather that it is good when directed at evil.
An excellent essay! Thank you.
Thank you!
You’re so welcome!
Nice post. Is not the opposite of love not hate but indifference, though?
Somewhere along the line, "niceness" became the chief virtue. Conflict of any sort is verboten, and convictions of any sort are toxic. We are expected to accept absurdities with a placid smile on our face.
Ironically or not, the original meaning of the word "nice" was ignorant or naïve.
Our ancestors knew what they were talking about.
I highly recommend a quick read of John Michael Greer’s 2017 essay ‘Hate is the New Sex’ : https://www.ecosophia.net/hate-new-sex/
I always felt like as a child that this “you shouldn’t hate anyone/anything but the Devil” and “hate the sin, not the sinner” didn’t make sense on an instinctive level. Makes me think that among other things we need a return of an instinctual trust of instinct. Far too many things I was convinced of against my better judgement because they were preached to by positions of authority.
The other side of this of course is you must have a vast library of knowledge to be able to sift through what is God-given and what is Adam-given. Just like all things a good Aristotelian balance must be kept, for in the edges does the Devil roam. Hatred and Instinct are two good examples of this.
P.S. Love your word as always Mr Kurtz, also love the Space Marines reference those guys are awesome and a good count of inspiration. How was the Witan btw? I wished I could have gone but unfortunately I was out of the country.