Comment on Open Hatred of Jews by j.k.harwood2

Parent Post: Open Hatred of Jews

j.k.harwood2 · 1/18/2026, 8:49:46 AM · permalink

The Story We Tell Ourselves About Hatred

A companion piece on hating Jews—or anyone.

Most people will do almost anything to avoid saying the simple, uncomfortable sentence:

“I am a hate-filled person.”

Instead, hatred is usually dressed in explanation:

“I hate men because of what one did to my family long ago.”

“I hate white people because of what was done to my ancestors.”

“I hate Jews because of what I believe they’ve done to the world.”

There is always a story.

There is always a reason.

There is always a justification waiting to be told.

And if someone dares to say, “That still doesn’t justify hatred,” the reply often comes quickly:

“Who are you to judge? You don’t know my history. You’re in a different boat.”

In some ways, that’s fair.

No one fully knows another person’s pain.

But explanation is not the same thing as moral permission.

The Test We Rarely Want to Apply

There is a simple way to test whether hatred is truly “forced” by experience or knowledge:

Do most people with the same history, the same information, and the same suffering end up filled with the same hatred?

If knowledge or trauma alone created hatred, then everyone who shared that knowledge or trauma would hate in the same way.

But they don’t.

Some people with horrific trauma become gentle.

Some people with terrible histories choose forgiveness.

Some people who have every “reason” to hate… don’t.

That means something important:

Experience applies pressure.

But character decides direction.

The same fire hardens one metal, melts another, and makes a third brittle.

The fire matters—but so does what you are made of.

Why Hatred Loves Stories

Hatred almost never says, “I just like being cruel.”

It says:

“I’m responding to history.”

“I’m defending myself.”

“I’m standing up for justice.”

“I’m just telling the truth.”

This is especially true with antisemitism.

Hatred of Jews rarely announces itself as hatred.

It arrives dressed as:

Political critique

Economic resentment

Religious grievance

Cultural anxiety

Conspiracy thinking

And when challenged, it says:

“I don’t hate Jews. I hate what Jews have done.”

But here’s the problem:

No group acts as a single mind.

No people share a single will.

No living person is morally responsible for everything done by those who share their blood, religion, or history.

When someone takes vast complexity and turns it into a single enemy, they are no longer reasoning.

They are simplifying reality so hatred can survive.

Explanation Is Not Exoneration

Pain matters.

History matters.

Trauma matters.

But none of them remove moral agency.

Two people can carry the same wounds and choose different paths:

One becomes bitter.

One becomes merciful.

One becomes cruel.

One becomes wise.

That means hatred is never purely forced.

It is always, at some point, participated in.

People don’t like to hear that, because it means they are not just victims of their past.

They are also authors of their present.

The Hardest Question

If someone says:

“My hatred is justified by what happened to me or my people.”

There is one quiet question that cuts through the noise:

“Why do others with the same or worse history choose not to hate?”

If suffering alone created hatred, then forgiveness would be impossible.

But forgiveness exists.

Restraint exists.

Moral courage exists.

Which means hatred is never the only option.

Why Jews Become a Target Again and Again

Jews have been blamed for:

Plagues

Economic crashes

Political failures

Cultural change

Religious conflict

Not because they caused all of it,  but because societies in fear look for a face to place on chaos.

Hatred likes simplicity.

Reality is complex.

So hatred invents villains.

And once a group becomes a symbol of everything that feels wrong, logic stops being the judge.

Emotion becomes the law.

The Truth People Avoid

Most hatred is not born from knowledge.

It is born from:

Fear

Envy

Humiliation

Desire for moral superiority

Need for someone to blame

Knowledge is often added later - selected, filtered, and shaped - to justify what the heart already decided.

So when someone says, “My hatred comes from what I know,” it is fair to ask:

Do others who know the same things become what you’ve become?

If not, then knowledge alone did not make you this way.

The Line No One Likes to Cross

There is a line where explanation must stop and responsibility must begin.

You can say:

“This shaped me.”

“This hurt me.”

“This influenced me.”

But at some point you must also say:

“This is what I choose to do with it.”

Hatred is always easier than humility.

Blame is always easier than self-examination.

Rage is always easier than courage.

But none of those easier paths make hatred righteous.

The Real Choice

Every person, whatever their history, faces the same question:

Will I become a mirror of what hurt me - or something better than it?

You don’t choose what happened to you.

But you do choose what you become.

And no story—no matter how tragic, how ancient, how justified it feels can turn hatred into virtue.

Not against Jews.

Not against anyone.

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j.k.harwood2 · 1/22/2026, 5:30:16 PM · permalink

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1\. The Bible teaches a temporary spiritual hardening of Israel

The clearest teaching is found in Book of Romans 9–11, written by the Apostle Paul, himself a Jew.

“God has given them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear,

to this very day.”

— Romans 11:8

Paul explains that many Jews did not recognize Jesus as Messiah, not because God abandoned them, but because God allowed a partial hardening.

Key verse:

“A partial hardening has come upon Israel…”

— Romans 11:25

Important details:

It is partial, not total

It is temporary, not permanent

It is purposeful, not punitive

This hardening is never described as hatred or rejection—Paul explicitly warns Gentile believers not to boast or despise Jews.

2\. The purpose of this “blinding” was to open salvation to the Gentiles (non-Jews)

Paul is explicit about why this happened:

“Through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”

— Romans 11:11

And again:

“Their rejection means the reconciliation of the world…”

— Romans 11:15

In other words:

Israel’s stumbling did not cancel God’s plan

It expanded it

The Gospel goes to all nations

This fulfills God’s promise to Abraham:

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

— Genesis 12:3

Gentile salvation was always part of the plan, but it came through Israel first, then outward.

3\. The Bible teaches that Israel will one day recognize Christ

This is crucial: the Bible does not say Israel is abandoned.

Paul states plainly:

“And in this way all Israel will be saved…”

— Romans 11:26

He then quotes the prophets:

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.”

The Old Testament echoes this future recognition:

Zechariah’s prophecy

“They will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him…”

— Book of Zechariah 12:10

Isaiah’s prophecy

“The Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”

— Book of Isaiah 59:20

These passages are understood by Christians as pointing to a future, collective turning of Israel toward Christ.

4\. What the Bible explicitly rejects

The Bible does NOT teach:

That Jews are cursed forever

That Gentile Christians “replace” Israel

That Jews are hated or rejected by God

Paul says the opposite:

“As regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

— Romans 11:28–29

That word irrevocable matters.

Plain-language summary

Here is the biblical position in simple terms:

Israel was chosen to bring the Messiah

Many Jews did not recognize Jesus at His first coming

God allowed a temporary spiritual blindness

This opened the door for Gentiles to be saved

Gentiles are warned not to boast or hate Israel

God promises a future moment when Israel will recognize Christ

God’s covenant with Israel is not broken

Christian theology at its most biblical says:

God used Israel’s stumbling to save the world—and will still fulfill His promises to Israel.

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sacredcow · 1/18/2026, 10:58:11 AM · permalink

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j.k.harwood2 · 1/19/2026, 3:50:18 PM · permalink

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