I encounter poor theology very frequently. When reading work of Catholics, I wonder how it is that they pull an entire realm, namely 'purgatory' from a slightly ambiguous statement that Jesus made. Also, despite all of the theological and philosophical problems that it entails, people continue to adhere to the 'work-based salvation' doctrine, which I find exceedingly strange.
But I think I had found the absolute worst treatment of Christian theology that I have ever encountered. This is a central doctrine that I never even considered would be in dispute.
I reviewed this persons' profile and their churchs' website, and after a few minutes, I was not as appalled as one might expect. But this was for the simple reason that I was under the assumption that this website was actually operated by atheists parodizing Christianity, so it was not too surprising.
But what I quickly found was that this dismissal of basic theology was not founded by atheists. Rather, the proporters of the website titled "God Hates Gay People" was founded by a Christian Baptist church. They defended this radical statement by saying not only does God hate homosexuals, but he also hates sinners, enemies, the impious, et cetera.
There are two crucial questions here that I need to address. 1 - Must God love everybody? 2 - Does the God of the Bible love everybody?
Question One: Must God Love Everybody?
It is within God's Holy nature that love abides. If love is external to God, then something is beyond God, which renders God impotent against this force. Therefore, love must be within God's essence.
If love is within God, then God must be the ideal standard by which love is measured. His love must be infinite, for if it is not infinite, God's essence is necessarily limited. If God's nature is limited, then he ceases to be God. So God must have infinite love.
This is not my mere analysis. This is the basic philosophy of God. If we could conceive of a being that loves more than God does, than that being would be greater than God, and therefore would be God. So it would be impossible to concede that God does not love everybody, for we can conceive of a being that does love everybody.
Therefore, God's existence entails that He loves all of His creation.
Question Two: Does The God Of The Bible Love Everybody?
"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48
It seems to me that the God who does not love everybody fails to meet the standard which Jesus outlined here. If God hates His enemies, then He is no greater than the corrupt tax collector.
Let's see if consistently throughout the Bible, God meets this standard by answering a few verses under question.
Leviticus 20:23 - "And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them."
Leviticus 26:30 - "And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you."
Deuteronomy 32:19 - "And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters."
Psalm 10:3 - "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth."
Psalm 78:59 - "When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:"
Psalm 106:40 - "Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
Proverbs 22:14 - "The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
Zechariah 11:8 - "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me."
Psalm 5:6 - "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man."
I am appalled that these verses were actually submitted as evidence of God's hatred. The word that translated into 'abhorred' has a meaning similar to the word 'disgusting' in the original Hebrew translation. In English, 'abhor' has two definitions, namely, disgusting, and hateful. The person who offered these verses made the elementary mistake of equivocating those two meanings. The charge of hatred immediately vanishes.
Psalm 73:20 - "As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image."
Lamentations 2:6 - "And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest."
If to be put in the context of "God hates these people," then these verses are grammatically flawed. The first says that God hates their image, not that God hates them. The second says that God despises indignation. So both of these verses fail to actually indicate that God hates people.
Proverbs 6:16-19 - "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
This is yet another example of hating the sin, but I do not find anything in this verse about hating the sinner.
Hosea 9:15 - "All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters."
That this verse was offered troubles me. It is almost as if those who submitted these verses as evidence of God's hatred is intentionally taking them out of context to fool people. Even the most brief reading of Hosea 9 will explain that God is angry with the nation. But that is not to say that God hates the people that abide in it.
It was being illustrated that these people deserved their justice, and that it was impending upon them. So this verse is easily dismissable.
Romans 9:13 - "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Similarly, this verse is not to be taken literally. As in the context of the story, it is being illustrated that the younger brother is to serve the older brother. It could also be taken as God hated Esau's ways, but not Esau himself. This is not to be taken as evidence that God hates.
Psalm 5:5 - "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity."
Psalm 11:5 - "The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth."
Psalm 53:5 - "There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them."
The psalms are a poetic expression, and nothing to found doctrine upon. Especially in a case similar to this one, when the very theme of the Bible is in contrast with them. This is not an escape route. I simply challenge anybody to open the book of psalms. They are nothing more than a poetic expression. Let's look at a basic example.
"Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelther of your wings!" Psalm 61:4
Are we to draw from this that God literally has wings?
The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead. Psalm 10:4
Do the wicked actually think that God once existed, but is now dead? You would have to be literally psychologically deranged to take this psalm to mean that. As I said, the psalms are nothing to found doctrine upon. They are poetic expressions, and therefore statements like "They think God is dead" or "God hates the evil-doer," are nothing more than metaphors.
These seem to be the only verses that those who insist that God does not love have to offer. Yet they are only the result of a wretched theological understanding. However, what bothers me about this is that a church website submitted these verses. Certainly, somebody should have read the context and realized that they were flawed. Somebody must know that the psalms are a poetic expression.
The only answer I can think of is that they either do not care or do not know. Either way, it is terrifying that such a patently false theology is taught in churches.
One might ask, well why is terrifying? It is terrifying for two reasons. The first being that it is false, as I have demonstrated. False teachings can only be taken as harmful. The second being that if it is the case that God hates by default (which is impossible) then one might ask what it is that we have to do to earn the love of God.
Keep the commandments? Live a righteous life? Who can truly say that they have earned the love of God? Who has done enough to stand before the God of the universe; a perfect Being?
As somebody who has violated almost all of the commandments, I certainly would not be able to earn God's love. The Bible says that if you hate somebody, you commit murder in your heart. So even if measured by the sixth commandment, most would fall short. If measured by all of the ten commandments, everybody would fall short. Nobody can merit the love of God.
To say that we can merit the love of God necessarily destroys our need for a Savior. For if we can earn the love of God on our own, then Jesus did not need absord God's justice for us. If we could earn the love of God for ourselves, Christ would have never had to come.
If we are to say that God has hatred, we necessarily negate His majesty. For if God is no better than we are, then why call Him God?
God loves people when we hate them, necessarily. God loves the homosexual, necessarily. God loves the sinner so much, for if He did not love by default, there would be absolutely nothing that we could do to merit this love.
In summary, we have the philosophical argument demonstrating that God must love infinitely. We have the argument from the famous Matthew 5:43-48 "Love your enemies," which directly states that God does in fact love His enemies, the argument that Jesus' sacrifice becomes inexplicable upon the given philosophy, and we have the negation of the scriptures that suggest that God does not love His enemies. I think it is only plausible to conclude that God loves infinitely.
Finally, let me submit to you, the second commandment. We shall not render graven images of God, because any alteration that we make to God, or any image, whether in our mind or with our hands limits God. This is precisely what we have done in saying that God does not love infinitely. We render graven images; we violate the second commandment and limit God. We create a false god that aligns with our agenda and our desires. We love our sin so much that we will change the very nature of God just to maintain it.
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