IS IT ALWAYS WRONG TO HATE?

The answer may not be as obvious as you might think at first glance. I live near a church and keep seeing a “No-Hate Zone” sign. The church is part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) denomination that recently voted to adopt an embracing attitude toward homosexuality.

Recent cases in Maryland and other locales label as "hate" any position that disagrees with those of an interest group! One case involves a group called P-FOX that includes a lifeline to those who have homosexual leanings they have conflicts with. The advocates for homosexuality consider it "hate" to say someone can become heterosexual! Of course, those who recruit people into homosexuality are not "hating" heterosexuality! It is intellectually and morally vacant, but these folks believe that they have political power behind them, so they are becoming bolder each day.

What is it about the word "hate" that generates so many knee-jerk reactions? Are they justified? Let's mix religion and politics today, since people love to be against hate and since religious people are considered hateful by homosexual activists and others.

The word "HATE" appears 128 times in the Bible, and in many cases we are commanded to hate. God himself hates. Sometimes God commends hatred. Much of what we may hate and what God hates are being celebrated by churches such as the one with the “No-Hate Zone” sign. One can sound so right and be so wrong.

WHAT/WHEN WE ARE TO HATE

Exodus 18:21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Psalm 36:2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

Psalm 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Psalm 97:10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.


THE IMPLIED RIGHT AND OBLIGATION TO HATE

Psalm 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

Psalm 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:113 [ s Samekh ] I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.

Psalm 119:128 And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:163 I hate and abhor falsehood but I love your law.

Psalm 139:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Proverbs 13:5 The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

Proverbs 15:27 A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live.

Proverbs 28:16 A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment, but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ezekiel 35:6 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.


WHAT/WHEN GOD HATES

Deuteronomy 12:31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Deuteronomy 16:22 And do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.

Psalm 5:5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

Psalm 11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

Proverbs 6:16-19 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Isaiah 1:14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 61:8 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Jeremiah 44:4 Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, 'Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!'

Hosea 9:15 Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

Zechariah 8:17 "Do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the LORD.

Malachi 1:2-4 2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."

Quoted in Romans 9:13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Malachi 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

Speaking of Jesus…
Hebrews 1:9 "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."

Revelation 2:6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

If you look up detestable, there are many more. According to Bill Gates dictionary in Microsoft Word,
Detestable (adj) – causing or deserving intense dislike.
Hatred (n) – a feeling of intense dislike, anger, hostility of animosity.
Same thing.

Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Deuteronomy 22:5 A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.

Deuteronomy 23:18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.

Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

Titus 1:16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

And of course, the people who accept and even glorify perversions of all kinds are acting opposite to God's laws.

Leviticus 18:23 Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.

Leviticus 20:12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

Romans 1:27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Jude 1:7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

So it is not wrong to hate -if you HATE what GOD hates. On the other hand, be sure to LOVE what GOD loves. And be sure to never hate when you should love! Never hate your neighbor. Never hate the alien. Never hate because of ethnicity. Never hate because someone has outshined you! Never hate because you disagree! Never hate people! Walk that narrow line!

God bless!