Dear Mr. Prager,
Back in March of 2021, when twisting my radio dial, I said, “My, my, my, what a nicely mellifluous voice that is. Who is that?” It was you.
From listening to your show I found you’ve been around for quite some many years and are well known. How I had missed you all these years of listening to talk radio I will never know other than to say that old listening habits die hard. So, when Rush died I was shaken out of my listening routine here in the Metro Atlanta (GA) area where 750 AM rules as king of the airwaves.
That is when I discovered a whole other body of radio talk show hosts on 920 AM and soon my new listening habit was formed. You see, I’m the type of listener that does not want merely to be entertained. I want to be challenged mentally and spiritually. I have not been disappointed in Salem Radio Network’s lineup.
However, this letter is directed to you specifically as I do have a bone to pick.
I ask that you bear with me as I set forth the bone in question and my good reasons for bringing it up. What is the bone? Simply put, it is pride.
If you look at a thesaurus, you will find a list of words that give nuance to that bone. There’s arrogance, conceit, smugness, self-importance, vanity, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Those nuances are for you to decide because only you and God can examine your heart and can get specific with yourself.
And it isn’t the pride of satisfaction or delight in a job well done, or the joy or happiness in what our Heavenly Father has provided that I’m talking about. Those are fine things.
So, publicly I say, “Sir, your negative pride is showing.”
Let me explain. From the first in listening to your show, I found you have, for lack of a better term, a lot of “book knowledge”. That is, you can quote learned sources, you know your history, and so forth. Also, you have great topics on the show, i.e., the Happiness Hour and so on.
Some years back I learned this: A strength misapplied is a weakness. This letter is merely pointing out that you have a strength that is being misapplied and thus it is detracting from your overall effectiveness in doing God’s work. Which, by the way, is what you are saying you are doing. And since you’ve set yourself publicly to doing that — as a leader — and you publicly call out those who fall short in that area, I feel you understand why this letter is being sent to you publicly.
Okay, here’s what happened.
Around the third week in November 2021, a woman called in who was agreeing with you on whatever point you were making at the time, but then your strength of book knowledge mixed with pride destroyed the moment and, frankly, so intent you were on showing your book knowledge that the woman was disrespected — for no good reason, mind! — by your attitude.
She said: “The Bible says to love the sinner but hate the sin.”
I’m sure you remember this call. You jumped on her, interrupting her complete thought, and said, “Nowhere are those words in the Bible.” You then went on to make a big point of that to the extent she said, “Well, I will have to look that up.” Then she was disconnected and your final comment had a sneer in it as if to say, “Well, little lady, you just go right on ahead and see what you find. Ha!” That was not nice and I was left cold.
As a life-long student of the Bible myself, I knew one thing for certain: You were both correct. It is true that those words — Love the sinner but hate the sin — can, as a body, not be found in the Bible anywhere. It is also true, though, that the principle of loving the sinner but hating the sin is throughout the Bible.
Caller = 1!
Dennis Prager = 1!
You see, Dennis, your book knowledge was accurate, but you didn’t understand the principle of the thing and it is in the principle of the thing that we get the greater understanding. Loving the sinner and hating the sin is exactly what Yahweh, Jehovah, Almighty God has done from the beginning of dealing with mankind when they sin. Here are a very few examples of loving the sinner but hating the sin from the Old Testament:
- King David with Bathsheba: The adultery produced a deliberate placing of her husband in harm’s way so that he was assured of dying, and a child that did not live, but giving them another child that went on to do God’s will to a greater degree than his father, Solomon.
- Moses upon striking the rock to get water and taking credit for a miracle of God and thus was withheld from entering the Promised Land, though he was allowed a glimpse.
- The Nation of Israel: More unfaithful to their God than not, they were still necessary for the fulfilling of prophecy concerning the coming Messiah and so God’s love and patience kept them intact until their role was completed.
- The prophets and other emissaries: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Micah, to name a very few, who were sent with warning of punishment unless repentance came in the form of changing their bad ways and getting back to being faithful.
In the New Testament, we have the famous examples of:
- The Messiah, the Christ, God’s son Jesus, who said to the crowd that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone, and when the crowd left he said to the woman to go and sin no more.
- Peter, an apostle of Christ, who out of fear denied Jesus but went on to become a founder of the Christian congregation and a writer of books included in the the 66 books of the Bible canon.
You see? The principle of love the sinner but hate the sin is there on display for all to see and why is that? Because, unlike Satan, Jehovah’s arch enemy, our God is not blindly vengeful. God is love. That is plainly in the Bible in words [First John 4:8, 16] as well as being demonstrated by His record of interactions with humans who misunderstood Him, been unfaithful to Him, fought against Him, hated Him, were impatient with Him, debated with Him, demanded of Him, doubted Him, and abandoned Him.
And God’s patience paid off.
Many came to understand Him. Grew their faith in Him. Fought for Him. Loved Him. Became patient with waiting on Him. And when their demands and doubts and sinful natures rose again, as they always will, they did not now blame Him, they begged for His help and stayed the course.
So, Dennis, if you had understood the principle of what the woman said on the phone that day, wow, what a wonderful, upbuilding, empowering lesson that could’ve been delivered.
There is a time for punishment and there is a time for reminder. Sometimes the two feel the same but they are not. This letter is a reminder to you to:
- Never forget the Sin of Pride comes from Satan
- Know and accept your limitations
- Don’t misuse your strengths
- Don’t let your breeches get too big for your britches
- Remember your show is not about you
- Bloom where God plants you (even if you don’t know why you’re there because He does)
- Always make sure you represent God’s interests the way He needs it done not how you think it should be done
- Always be willing to pivot as God requires you to because, while God’s purpose never changes, His plans can
The whole idea of repentance and forgiveness is summed up in what that woman said. God loves the sinner, He hates the sin. And He gives opportunity to change one’s ways.
You’re a good guy, Dennis. You can do this.
Sincerely,
Angela K. Durden
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Born and raised in Georgia, Angela K. Durden is an author, publisher, editor, songwriter, performer, and more, living in the Metro Atlanta, Georgia, area. Support your Citizen Journalist and visit her Consolidated Author Page and buy a book. See more about Angela here. Want to watch a fun video? Click here.
