Honesty and Hatred

This whole Rev. Wright problem of Obama's has had me thinking recently about hatred and honesty. I'm starting to wonder if an honest person can have hatred - I mean pure, unadulterated, out-and-out hatred. Wright has hatred, there's no doubt about that. You listen to him, and he rants and raves about the government creating AIDS to kill blacks, or importing hard drugs to imprison blacks, or engaging in terrorism worldwide. That's hate speech. Yet at the same time, it's all bogus. There's not one shred of proof for any of those claims. So why does he believe them? Why does he hate so much? It reminds me of the Lamanites hating the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. Their hatred was based on lies too - "Nephi tried to usurp power", "Nephi wronged us as we were crossing the sea", "Nephi stole to brass plates from us", etc. They told these lies to encourage their children and grandchildren to hate the Nephites, to promote murder, plunder, and warfare against them.
Now Wright may not be advocating open warfare, but he has made pretty good money on selling DVDs of his sermons (including the hate speech ones). He's also said that those who criticize him for his hateful remarks aren't attacking him, but all black churches in general. That's another lie, since not all black churches teach what he teaches, nor is he the spokesman for all black preachers. So he's using his dishonesty to:

1. make money
2. justify his hate speech
3. put the focus of criticism off himself so he can continue to do 1 and 2.

What would an honest person need hatred for? Those who are prejudiced aren't being honest, as they are falling for a stereotype of a race/ethnic group/religion that is almost always categorically false. Those who hold grudges/seek revenge against someone usually end up distorting the events that caused the grudge in order to continue hating the person. So what purpose does hatred serve for an honest person? From what I can see, none.

A little scrutiny

I had an interesting thought about Barack Obama the other day. When I think back now about how reluctant Obama was to hold interviews and allow press coverage of his remarks and events, it makes sense. Imagine if the Rev. Wright story had broken a year ago - he would not be where he is today if people knew how closely tied to that hate-monger he really is. Or if he'd let slip a remark like "Bitter-gate" before the primaries begun, he'd be where Kucinich and all the other has-beens are now. And now that the mainstream press has their hands full trying to figure out how to spin all these controversies in his favor (since they're all in the tank for him), he's dead in the water. This squeaky clean image of change and hope is washing away, and the TRUE Obama is coming out - the Obama that's every bit the politician that Clinton is; the Obama that hangs out with and is bosom buddies with people who hate their country enough to bomb it, or preach vile hate-filled sermons against it; the Obama who publicly says one thing and privately does the opposite. THAT is who he really is. I only hope enough Americans get to see it before the November elections.

Testimony

I was reading the March issue of the Ensign (the magazine produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) on my lunch break today, and was very impressed with the power of the articles and stories. Every single page was filled with testimony of the Savior, of His church, of His scriptures, and of His prophets. Over and over again, from apostles and prophets down to ordinary members, people bore witness of the Savior, of His divine mission, and His restored gospel in this church. I really felt the Spirit as I read, it confirmed my own testimony of my Savior, this church, of our current prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and of Joseph Smith.
Then after work, I watched a few videos on YouTube the church has put up, where Elders Ballard, Cook, and Nelson talk about some of the questions people have about the church. Again I felt that same Spirit testify to me that what they were saying was true. Their testimonies were simply stated, but powerful. I hope, as I help others learn about the gospel, that I can bear testimony like they did - simple and yet powerful.