does God hate gay people?
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15
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Scott's Study Notes
Week 2, March 16: Does God Hate Gay People?
This question get posed in several forms: Does God hate gay people?, Why does the Church hate gay people?, Do you think I am going to hell for being Gay? etc.
This all stems from the perception of how those who profess Christ act towards those dealing with homosexuality. We have all heard of the church who protests military funerals and those known to be gay and actors who played gay people and say that God is punishing America for allowing or condoning homosexuality. I don’t believe this reflects the attitude of Christ. I believe both of the loudest voices we hear on this topic, The pro gay movement and the group that says God hates Gay people, are forgetting one important aspect of scripture.
II Tim. 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
We have to take the whole word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, and come to a conclusion on what the bible says about a particular subject.
The answer to the question “Does God hate gay people?” is emphatically NO!
For this study I would like to look at the example of Jesus ministering to the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
John 4:1-6 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2. (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3. He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4. And he must needs go through Samaria. 5. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the well: [and] it was about the sixth hour.
The shortest route from Judea to Galilee was through Samaria, however, most Jews avoided Samaria and would go out of their way, traveling along the Jordan river, to avoid going through there. The hatred of the Samaritans stemmed back to the time of exile, when King Sargon of Assyria repopulated the land with other captives from foreign lands. There were intermarriages and the ancestry became complicated. They were considered “unpure” by the Jews and would not interact with them if at all possible.
This feels a lot like the attitude that religious people have towards gays today. Doesn’t it? The religious people of Jesus’s time, didn’t like Samaritans and even used it as an insult.
John 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Jesus ignored this prejudice and went into Samaria. He was on a mission to save the lost.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
It also says it this way
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.17.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
The word world is not exclusionary, it means everyone.
So, God doesn’t hate anyone. Jesus going to the extreme told us to “love our enemies.” We were once the enemies of God because of the sin in our life, but he loved us enough to die for us and rescue us from the death that we deserved and offered us eternal life with him.
John 4:7-9 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus is extending himself to an outcast member of society and the woman knew it, but he was opening the door to show love and compassion. The apostle Paul puts it this way.
1 Tim 2:3-5 For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5. For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Jesus came to save all sinners and bring them to the knowledge of the truth. He offers grace to the woman just as he does to us.
John 4:10-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
It was about noontime, it was probably hot and this woman was probably there to avoid the other women in the town. You normally drew water in the morning when it was cooler. She was aware of her sinful lifestyle and I imagine the rest of the women in her town let her know about her sin as well.
My guess is that most gay people know the vast majority of Christians believe it is a sin to engage in the homosexual lifestyle, the don’t need a diagnosis of their sin, they need the grace of God extended to them, just like we did before we came to the full knowledge of God.
Romans 5:6-8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
It is because of the love commended toward her, the woman responds
John 4:15-19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18. For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Jesus already knew this womans situation, but he brings it out without judgement by simply asking for her to bring her husband to him. He was showing her he knew about the sin in her life that it wasn’t okay, but he loved her.
He was upholding the biblical standard of sexuality, by letting her know he knew of the sin. We see him talk about what God intended explicitly in
Matthew 19:4-8 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, 5. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8. He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Jesus was referencing
Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The Bible gives the standard of: one man, one woman. It clearly gives the distinction of male and female and that they come together as one. We need to affirm God’s model for human sexuality, this means that anything outside of heterosexual married sex is sin in the eyes of God. This includes but is not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, polygamy, pedophilia, sexual relations between members of the same sex. Sex and marriage go together, sex without marriage is prohibitted and from the beginning as we see in verse 8 God intended it to be between man and woman.
This was talked about by Paul in
1 Corinthians 6:15-20 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Our bodies are not our own, they are bought with the shed blood of Jesus Christ and because of this, we need to bring every thought into captivity and keep away from the devastating effects of sexual sin.
John 4:20-26 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24. God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. 25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he].
God seeks worshipers to worship him in spirit and in truth. It is through love and truth that people find redemption and we begin to live our lives through a filter of faith, not our sexuality.
When Jesus dealt with the woman taking in adulatory, he said go, and sin no more.
John 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
He didn’t excuse the sin, or make it okay and he didn’t condemn her. He wants us to come to him and leave the things of our fleshly desires behind, and receive his desires.
It is important to abandon the things of our flesh because it teaches us in
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
We have a sin nature and tend to pollute the thing that God intended for good. That is why God gave us instruction on our sexuality. To be fair and complete to the topic I want to cover a few of the scriptures given specifically about homosexuality.
Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Timothy 1:8-11 But we know that the law [is] good, if a man use it lawfully; 9. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11. According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
These are just 4 of the scriptures that deal with homosexuality. The first two are explicit and use the word abomination. Its important to remember that in Proverbs 16, a list of 7 abominations are listed including a proud look and a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. This is important because the bible also tells us
1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
God doesn’t like sin of any kind, but 1 Cor. 6 gives us hope. It says those dealing with sin can be washed clean. It tells us that members of the church used to deal with a litany of sins, but now walked in the truth of Christ.
God gave a law for those who would not be obedient to him and he gives a list of examples one of them being “them that defile themselves with mankind.” talking about homosexuality. Because we are human and look for loopholes, God gives us specifics at times to say this is not acceptable to him, but he wants us to walk in his grace and his mercy and bear the fruit of the spirit. It is also important to note here that in verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 6, Paul writes “This [is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” If we have this attitude, we will win many souls to Christ.
These scriptures are not where you want to start with someone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, the bible says that the “letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” We can choke people with the letter of the law. Instead we must remember we all deal with temptation. While we are all tempted, there are some temptations that are stronger for some than others and vice versa. We do not choose our temptation, but Satan picks a weak point and goes after it. I do not believe that Gay people choose the temptation, just as I don’t choose the temptation of sex outside of marriage. It is how we act on those temptation that determines the sin. It is our choice to enter into sin or not to.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].
We have to run from sexual sin. Our temptation for sexual sin, is the same, who we may want to sin with may be different, but it is at its root the same. If we keep this in mind, it should help us to be more compassionate to those in the world. We are covered by God’s grace and that is how we are justified, not because we were so good.
I would like to end by finishing the story of the woman at the well.
John 4:27-39 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28. The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29. Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30. Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him [ought] to eat? 34. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
The fields are white to harvest right now, we don’t need to clean people up and bring them to Jesus, we need to shine the God of our salvation to them in whatever state they are in. Jesus will cleanse them and make them new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
As we move into the practical application part of the study, notice I didn’t go into if someone is born gay or not. The reason I didn’t is because, there is no way to truly win that argument and besides it really is inconsequential to the fact that God does not allow for it. We want to win souls for the gospel, not win arguments, for that reason, I believe it is best to not go down that road and simply understand that God has set up a sexual standard in his word and we cannot deviate from it. Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever.
