Category — Gandhi Quotes

In the Bible Jesus states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, in John 14:6. He also states in John8:12, “I am the light of the world”. John further writes, arguably one of his most notable Bible verses, in 1 John 4:8, “God is love”. So today’s quote is perfectly in line with the Bible, or is it Not?

“God is life, truth, light. He is love.”  - Mahatma Gandhi

From a Christian perspective today’s quote is true and Biblical – yes God is life, yes God is truth, yes God is light and yes God is love. We see Him as the creator of the universe and the giver of life. We recognize Him as one and only true God, full of grace and truth. We do believe that Jesus is the Light of the world, that “in Him was life and the life was the light of men”. And lastly, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to take away the sin of the world.

So what’s the problem?

While Gandhi was a great man, and a man who changed the world through peace and love, when he refers to God he is not referring to the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Jesus Christ the Holy One of Israel. Gandhi was raised in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim county and tended toward Hinduism. He also adopted the philosophy of Jainism and developed an appreciation of the teachings of Jesus. In the end, he was a strong advocate and peaceful fighter for religious tolerance and accepted all people of all faiths.

So when Gandhi refers to God, he refers to whichever God you happen to believe in. But, when you consider the God of the Bible, then Gandhi’s quote rings true.

Here’s a good article on Gandhi from the BBC.

Here are some more Gandhi quotes.

Great sketch by Sagarpuro.

Mahatma Gandhi

Previously all Gandhi quotes were categorized under Ghandi Quotes, clearly a misspelling of Gandhi. Well, duh. I just noticed that since the inception of this blog Gandhi has been misspelled.

A new Gandhi Quotes Category has been created to fix this, just in case anybody cares.

Yesterday’s post about regarding iniquity in your heart brought my mind to the popular “love the sinner hate the sin” quote. I have heard this quote in 2 variations:

“God loves the sinner but hates the sin.”

“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”

So, are these Bible or Not? Neither are from the Bible although you’ve likely heard them from the pulpit. OK, so they are not from the Bible, but is it true that God loves the sinner but hates the sin, or does he hate both sin and sinner? There are Bible verses to support both positions (it’s up to you to go find them, so if you haven’t cracked open your Bible this past week here is a great opportunity).

The first quote, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin,” is atributed to St. Augustine, a Catholic Bishop and writer. His letter 211 (c. 424) contains the phrase “Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum”, which basically means “with love for mankind and hatred of sins.” So it’s not exact but the idea is God loves all of mankind and therefore loves the sinner, yet has a hatred of the sin. On a humorous note, something that you’ll only find in the Catholic church, St. Augustine is also the patron saint of brewers.

Over the years the quote has morphed into a simpler form, and taken on as advice of how we ought to treat others: we should as Christians ”hate the sin, love the sinner”. This attitude has served many outreach programs well and supports the teachings of Christ to “judge not” and to love all mankind. It has even been adopted by non-Christians as we find the quote ”hate the sin and not the sinner” in the 1929 autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi.