"Sin" Is Not Hate Speech

April 5, 2025

Sin and Truth

Hey friends,
I want to share something with you tonight that took me by surprise.

This one came from a place I didn’t expect—it actually came from my daughter’s Google search history. Yeah, you heard me right.
You see, like a lot of parents these days, we use a custodial app to monitor the kids’ devices. It helps keep them safe and accountable. And one of the features is that it alerts us whenever they search for something potentially dangerous.

So, one day I get an alert.
My daughter had searched for the word “sin.”

And the app flagged it as potentially dangerous…
And do you know what category it put it in?

Hate speech.

I just stood there staring at my phone for a moment, completely thrown off.
Hate speech? Sin?
Since when did those two words become synonymous?

It felt like a punch in the gut.
Like I was seeing, for the first time, how much our culture has shifted in such a short time.
And that thought stuck with me:
When did confronting sin become an act of hate?
When did we decide that calling out brokenness was something to fear or avoid?

See, the entire premise of the Christian faith is love.
It’s about loving people enough to grab their hand and help them out of the pit they’re in.
The Gospel isn’t about hating—it’s about the most radical act of love ever displayed.

The Loving Truth About Sin

Now, the world has a very different idea of what love looks like.
We’ve been told love means leaving people alone.
It means not confronting them, not challenging their choices, never calling anything “wrong.”
But let’s be clear: That’s not love.
That’s apathy.

Real love says, “I care too much to watch you destroy yourself.”
And the Bible is clear—God loved us so much that He sent His Son (John 3:16).
Jesus didn’t come to affirm our brokenness—He came to redeem it.

Imagine a doctor refusing to tell a patient they have cancer because it might hurt their feelings.
What if that doctor said, “I’m sorry, acknowledging your condition would be ‘hateful.’
So I’d rather just let you die peacefully.”

That’s not love.
That’s cruelty.
And that’s exactly what we do when we refuse to address sin because we don’t want to offend.
We let people walk around spiritually sick—and we don’t offer them the cure.

Talking about sin means confronting it.
It means recognizing that sin is bigger than we are.
And in that moment, when we realize how far gone we are, that’s when grace steps in.
Because without sin, there’s no need for a Savior.
Without brokenness, there’s no reason to look for healing.

Just like cancer left untreated, sin doesn’t sit still—it spreads and consumes.
And when we stay silent, afraid of being called hateful, we’re watching people die spiritually without ever offering them the cure.

Sin and Judgment: Not the Same Thing

Let’s talk about something else that comes up every time we bring up sin: judgment.
It’s like the automatic response.
People throw around verses like, “Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1) and “Let us not judge one another anymore” (Romans 14:13).
But what do these verses really mean?

The word “judge” in these verses doesn’t mean “point out sin.”
It means “condemn” or “punish.”
And that’s not what we’re called to do.

I can’t condemn anyone.
I’ve been given far too much grace in my own life to go around condemning others.

But calling something sin and condemning someone for it are two very different things.
Calling sin what it is—a destructive force that separates us from God—is not hateful.
It’s honest.
It’s loving.
It’s truth.

When we talk about sin, we’re not saying, “You’re beyond redemption.”
We’re saying, “You are loved too much to stay where you are.”
Repentance isn’t about shaming people—it’s an invitation to freedom.

We Can’t Stay Silent

And I know how easy it is to stay quiet.
You don’t want to seem harsh.
You don’t want to be labeled judgmental.
You want to love people well.
But love that stays silent when someone’s soul is at stake?
That’s not love—it’s fear.

When we refuse to call sin what it is, we’re withholding the truth that sets people free.
We’re afraid of being disliked, misunderstood.
But how selfish would it be to know the truth and keep it to ourselves?
What if someone looks at us on the other side of eternity and asks, “Why didn’t you warn me?”

A Call to Christian Parents

As parents, we can’t shy away from talking to our kids about sin.
If we don’t teach them the truth, the world will teach them lies.
And the world is teaching them that sin isn’t real.
That calling it out is hateful.
That loving someone means leaving them in their brokenness.

But love means telling the truth.
And the truth is—sin is real.
It’s lethal.
It’s in every one of us.
And it demands an answer.
That answer is Jesus.

We must teach our kids that sin isn’t just a “mistake” or a “bad habit.”
It’s a disease that consumes us if we leave it untreated.
They need to know that while we can’t judge them in the way that condemns,
we also can’t ignore the reality of sin.
And we all need that grace.

The Real Battle

We’re not battling people.
The world’s hostility toward the truth is a symptom of a deeper battle—
a spiritual war against the essence of righteousness.
Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12).

The enemy doesn’t care about the world.
He’s already won their affection.
He’s after you.
He’s after your children.
Your family.
The more committed you are to Christ, the harder he will fight to drag you down.

The Bottom Line

We can’t afford to water down the Gospel.
We can’t let the world redefine love.
Real love speaks truth—even when it hurts.
Real love risks everything to pull someone from destruction.

We’re not here to make people comfortable in their sin.
We’re here to point them to the One who can set them free.

And that’s not hate.
That’s the most radical kind of love there is.

Thanks for joining me today on this powerful conversation about truth, love, and the importance of speaking boldly in a world that needs to hear it.
Want to make a bold statement in a world that’s confused truth for hate?
We created a T-shirt that says exactly what needs to be said:
“Sin” is not hate speech.
It’s truth. It’s love. And it’s the foundation of the Gospel.