But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

Does God hate gay people? The short answer is no. Does God hate the sin of acting on same-sex attraction? Yes. In the Bible, it’s called an abomination (Leviticus 20:13 NKJV).

But God also hates other sins that don’t involve acting on same-sex attraction. Proverbs 6:16–17 (NKJV) says that God hates “a proud look” and “a lying tongue.” And it calls those sins an abomination, too.

God hates sin. But that doesn’t mean He hates the person who commits the sin. If that were true, we’d all be doomed. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

The other day, I was listening to a legal argument before a court. The attorney argued:

God hates sin.
Homosexuality is a sin.
Therefore, God hates gays.

It was a little surprising. How did he jump from the second to the third premise? It would be proper to infer that if God hates sin, then God hates homosexuality. So, the correct conclusion is that God hates that sin.

But the attorney had made an additional inference – that is, if God hates homosexuality, then God also hates the gay person. It was a logical fallacy, of course. But why would he go there?

And then I realized that many who self-identify as gay also believe that’s intrinsically who they are. They identify with the behavior. In essence, they believe that they are homosexuality. That’s the lie they’ve been told.

If you self-identify as someone who is gay, I want to share the truth with you.

God created you in His image (Genesis 1:27).
God hates the sin of acting on same-sex attraction, but He loves you (Ephesians 2:4–5).
He loves you so much that He made a way for your sins to be forgiven by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross (John 3:16).
And “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NKJV). (By confessing that Jesus is Lord over your life, you admit that acting on same-sex attraction is sin and that you want to stop practicing that sin.)

Before I came to God, I had committed one of those sins that are called an abomination. I had many a proud look and wasn’t concerned if I lied. Yet, God forgave me. And He’ll forgive you, too.

So, no, God doesn’t hate gay people. He doesn’t hate sinners. But He does want you to turn away from that sin so you can walk by faith with Him.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash