Acts of Love Outnumber Acts of Hate

The State of Hate in America on the Huffington Post by Brian Levin covers the statistics of hate crimes in the US. This followed the hate crime against members of the AME Church bible study group murdered after being "too nice" to the shooter so filled with hate he was still determined to kill them.

Levin writes,

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collects data on crimes reported to police, but participation and accuracy varies significantly by jurisdiction. In 2013, the latest available year, the FBI enumerated 5,933 hate crime incidents and five hate crime homicides in the United States through the National Incident Based Reporting System. This number represents a significant decline in the number of hate crimes over the last 15 years.

There have been and will continue to be more hate crimes simply because the courageous stand for loving others while the perpetrators stand for themselves.

Many seem to be more shocked by the response following this unthinkable act but they forget we are all born to love.

The hater was captured because someone was praying for the victims and their families.

Police got a tip from Debbie Dills, who reportedly spotted Roof on her way into work. She followed him for 35 miles, the Shelby Star reported.

“I had been praying for those people on my way to work,” Dills told the newspaper about victims of the church shooting. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

The church itself was a victim of hate.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church has been a presence in Charleston since 1816, when African-American members of Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal Church formed their own congregation after a dispute over burial grounds. Known as “Mother Emanuel,” it’s been the headquarters for civil rights activity over the decades.

It was burned to the ground at one point but was rebuilt.

Throughout its history, it overcame obstacle after obstacle — destroyed by an earthquake, banned by the state. But its church members persevered, making it the largest African-American church in terms of seating space in Charleston today.

Some are taught to hate. Some are just so consumed with finding others to blame for their own misery they have to blame someone else and that way, they are not forced to take a good hard look at themselves.

“There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture,” Cornell William Brooks said.

The church started because they responded to being mistreated with love and hope. While the rest of the country seems stunned by their support and compassion for each other, they are ignoring the obvious. People acting out of love always outnumbers those acting out of hate.

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” John 11

While the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead because they hated Him, what He said was pure love.
Trial and Death of Jesus

Like a terminally ill patient, Jesus knows that death is around the corner. God has mapped out a path and written a ticket reading "End of Earthly Life." Our mortality is a frightening thing. Jesus faces it by doing what he always did: he took his concerns to God in prayer. While warning the disciples throughout this scene of the danger of temptation, Jesus walks into his valley of the shadow of death through the heavenly courts of God's presence. Unlike some who face death, he is not angry; nor is he stoic. He is not withdrawn, he is not bereft of hope. He simply is honest with God: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me." If there is any way I can avoid experiencing your cup of wrath for others, he prays, then remove it. (on cup as wrath, Ps 11:6; 75:7-8; Is 51:17, 19, 22; Jer 25:15-16; 49:12; 51:57; Ezek 23:31-34).
Like many who face death, Jesus would like to avoid dying now. If he were considering only his personal preference, he would rather not experience the pain of mortality and the horror of paying for sin.