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.