God Hates { ... }

If you step into a church odds are really good that you would find something saying "God is Love" displayed prominently.  However if you listen to Christians talk or read what they have to say in the media you probably won't see that displayed prominently at all.  Instead the odds are really great that you would instead be hearing about how God hates things.

When I grew up, everyone seemed pretty convinced that God hated race mixing*.  In fact even when I was in college, the fact that I was friends with a black girl led to me getting a lecture about how God hated mixed race people. These days though, God mostly seems to hate The Gays.

Now granted, most Christians won't go around with "God Hates Fags" signs like the Westboro Baptists Church but they still share the sentiment.  Apparently "you will burn in hell forever for being gay" is considered friendlier than "God hates fags".  The litmus test for being considered "Christian" these days seems to be agreeing that God hates gays.  Gays get the blame for everything from earthquakes and terrorist attacks to the destruction of Western Civilization because God hates and punishes their sin more than any other.   At best some Christians will try to make the distinction that God only hates homosexuality but not the homosexual person.  However I could forgive gays for failing to see the distinction... 

Now everyone listing the things God hates seem pretty confident that they are 100% correct.  Whether it's desegregation, homosexuality or just sexuality in general, when someone claims God hates it they are pretty sure it's in the Bible.  Now I may be a lowly seminary dropout but something about that seemed off to me.  Probably because I've actually read the entire thing and didn't see any of that.  I could be wrong of course so I went back to check and I found this comprehensive list of everything that God explicitly hates according to the Bible (I used the NIV but other translations may differ.  Feel free to leave the verse in the comments if I missed one)

God hates:
The religious practices of pagans (Deut 12:31)
The erection of sacred stones (Deut 16:22)
All who do wrong (Psalm 5:5)
Those who love violence (Psalm 11:5)
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community (Prov 6:16-19)
The religious observances of hypocrites (Isa 1:14; Amo 5:21)
Robbery and wrongdoing (Isa 61:8)
Burning incense to and worshiping other gods (Jer 44:3-4)
Unspecified sinful deeds in Gilgal - most likely idolatry (Hos 9:15)
Plotting and swearing falsely (Zec 8:17)
The practices of the Nicolaitans (A heretical sect that mixed Christianity with pagan idolatry) (Rev 2:6)

And that is all of it.  Every single instance in the Bible where God is explicitly mentioned as hating something or someone.  Notably absent are things like teen sex, interracial canoodling and gays.  Also weirdly absent are things like rape and child abuse.  Mostly God just seems to hate people not worshiping Him.  Well that and people who destroy the lives of others with lying and deception, which I am totally on board with hating.  Especially interesting was God's hatred for those who love violence.  I wonder when I can expect to see Christians start protesting boxing and MMA matches?

Now some may argue that while the Bible doesn't explicitly state that God hates the things they say He hates, He must nevertheless hate it because the Bible teaches that it is sinful and wrong and surely God hates sin!  Fair enough but this leads to a bit of a weird double standard.  By that ruling we should be telling everyone that God Hates Pork and also that God Hates Seafood Platters but since we love those things and consider them delicious those rules from the Holy Bible obviously don't count.  Same thing with God hating mixed fibers.  Surely God didn't actually mean that because those are super comfy!  Similarly we rarely argue that God hates people who work on the Sabbath.  Sure, that one is actually in the Ten Commandments but come on, our way of life would be soooooo inconvenienced if some people didn't work on Saturdays!  Plus there would be no weekend sport!  Surely God couldn't actually hate that!!  But two dudes getting it on?  Eeuuuwww!!  That's icky so God totally must hate that!!

It's weird, it's almost as if God only hates the things we hate!  But that would be crazy right?

Via Stuff Fundies Like

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*The recent shitstorm that erupted around this poster shows that not much has changed.  Only instead of saying that God hates it people seem to be cutting out the middle man and going straight to "I'm not racist but I find this disgusting and wrong" - and those were the civil comments!