God hates fags. This was the message written on a protest placard outside of a mainline church that Mary and I drove by on Sunday.  We were disgusted.  However, were we just reacting like “nice” people who don’t want to criticize others and use bad language or were we right in the sense of having a biblical basis for our disgust?           

           These protests are a regular feature of Topeka Sundays, where the infamous Westboro Baptist Church is located.  This is the group that has protested military funerals, claiming that their deaths are God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. 

            I do not claim that there is nothing wrong with homosexual practices.  It is clear that God’s Word strongly condemns them as sinful (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27). 

            But does this mean God hates homosexuals?  Does God hate anybody?  It would be easy to quote the cliché, “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.”  However, does the Bible teach this?  God does hate sin (Proverbs 6:16-18; Revelation 2:6), but my informal search has uncovered six biblical passages that say God hates certain people.  By studying, rather than ignoring, these passages we can both learn about God’s ways and also reject the hatemongering of Westboro Baptist.

            Malachi 1:3 and Romans 9:13 are closely related to God’s election and his covenant.  He chose Jacob; that is, made his covenant with Israel.  God’s covenant brings his blessings or love.  Outside of that covenant is judgment, which is what the word “hate” means here.  In Romans Paul quotes Malachi to teach that God’s grace is given according to his sovereign will and not in response to human works. 

            Jeremiah 12:8 and Hosea 9:15 also use the word “hate” in the sense of judgment, but this time it is on the Lord’s chosen people.  He will no longer bless them with his covenantal love, but because of their sin he will judge (“hate”) them.  The sins that have brought on this judgment are hypocrisy (Jeremiah 12:2: “You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.”) and idolatry (Hosea 9:15’s Gilgal was a center of idolatry.).

            Psalms 5:5 and 11:5 describe the strength of God’s reaction to the wicked.  His soul hates them (Psalm 11:5), and he abhors them (Psalm 5:6).  Here the Lord’s hatred is more general and not related to his election.  What are the sins that God so detests that they bring his hatred or judgment?  Psalm 5 mentions the arrogant, liars, and the bloodthirsty.  Psalm 11 calls upon the Lord to judge “those who love violence.” 

            To summarize, most of the biblical verses that speak of God hating are in the context of the covenant.  They contrast his judgment with his love, which refers to the blessings of his covenant.  Secondly, the sins that cause God to abhor those guilty of them are arrogance, lying, violence and, among his covenant people, idolatry and hypocrisy.

            Therefore, even those passages that speak of God’s hatred do not support Westboro Baptist’s perverted theology.  “God hates fags” shows an unbiblical obsession with a particular sin.  I have read that Westboro did a song “God hates the world.”  Claiming to believe the Bible, they contradict the fundamental biblical teaching of the most famous biblical passage.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

            Hypocrisy?  It is disgusting, and I tremble for them.

6 Responses to ““God Hates Fags””

  • mrsgamgee:

    God has spoken… can we let that be enough? Good teaching, Bill.

    • Thanks, Kristi. I should have replied a good while ago, but I just figured out that I’ve been getting comments and then that I had my old email address! Hopeless.

  • colin:

    Do not these people realize that Paul said from 1 Corinthians 6.11; ‘And such were some of you’?
    The Apostle was talking about people that used to be sexual deviants among many other sins.
    They were washed and sanctified because they came to faith in the Lord.
    This kind of ‘witnessing’ is negative and can only stir up more hatred.
    Good article and yes that oft quoted ‘God hates the sin, but loves the sinner’, would seem to imply that He loves them IN their sins, when according to my bible He came to save them FROM their sins! Would it not be more biblical if that quote was changed to ‘God hates the sin, but loves the REPENTANT sinner’? But there again some may suggest that is inferring ‘salvation by works’!

    • Thanks, Colin. I don’t think that this group is too interested in the whole counsel of God. I don’t see any suggestion of salvation by works in your change of the old saying to “repentant sinners.” After all, repentance is a work of God’s Spirit in our hearts. Let me know a little about you. I don’t think I know you.

  • colin:

    Hello Bill,
    Of course you are most correct salvation is indeed a free gift (Ephesians 2.8).
    Although I have been castigated by some for my Calvinistic views especially to believing and affirming our blessed Lord and Saviour’s very words in Matthew 24.13.’Thats for the Jews!’ is their cry. ‘The Church will be raptured by then!’ is their belief. It seems that a pre-trib rapture belief is the default position in professing Christianity today and if you don’t believe in an ‘any moment,any time coming of the Lord, you are a heretic! Having said that I believed in such only eight months ago.
    I strayed over to your blog via a link from Gary Shogren’s blog. I happened upon there whilst searching for a greater understanding of the rapture. A divisive subject as you well know. From my reading of Gary’s work thus far I would say that he is a very serious scholar who doesn’t stray from the Word of God into speculations etc.
    I am from across the pond UK.

    God bless

    Colin Ford

    • Thanks, Colin, and, yes, Gary is a serious scholar and committed disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both characteristics are evident in his writing.

Leave a Reply for Bill Isley