Six Things The Lord Hates

            There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 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 man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19) 

                The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25) 

          Do you notice what this passage in Proverbs doesn’t say? Solomon doesn’t tell us that God hates murder, genocide, pedophilia, abortion, homosexuality, animal abuse, human-abuse, human-trafficking, serial murder, rape, greed, big game hunting, corruption, prostitution, drug dealing, bigotry, racism, alcoholism/drug addiction or any other “big” sins. It’s obvious that God hates “big” sins, but more importantly, those big sins are the result of smaller sins. C.S. Lewis wrote about this in The Screwtape Letters.

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy… Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

          This is what is also discussed in Romans 1. It is when we suppress the truth, when we decide that we (or the earth, or anything else other than God) are God. It is when we think we can decide what truth is, who gets to live and who must die, that we deserve to have our dreams, no matter the cost; that we have the right to do what we want, when we want, where we want, how we want, and with whom we want (as long as no one else gets hurt and they are consenting adults) and that anyone who disagrees with us is a bigot, a ______aphobe, a racist, a sexist, a monster, a hypocrite, intolerant, hateful, arrogant, etc.  Once you do these things, then, according to Romans 1, God is likely to give you over to the greater sins that Screwtape wrote about. 
          I read recently a statement that “God does not make mistakes.” The person who said this was right in the statement, but wrong in the application. She meant that however a person is born must make God happy and therefore be acceptable. If that’s the case, why do parents grieve when children are born with birth defects? Why do we try to find cures for them? How dare the government and medical officials of Iceland pursue the goal of eliminating Down’s Syndrome from that nation by aborting all children who test positive for the condition? 
          I’ve read claims from authoritative sources that the tendency to violence and criminal behavior, that sexual preference is genetic (but sexual identity is not), and that even things like addictions have a genetic component. But if sexual preferences are set before one is born, how can we blame the pedophile? If my chromosomes make me crave alcohol, how can I be held responsible for what happens when I consume it?
         The reality is that our genetics may have something to do with all of these things, just as it plays a role in birth defects, but I see stuff on line about kids with Down’s Syndrome who are breaking out of the stereotypes we have for them. They are not as limited by their chromosomes as we have thought. “I was born this way” is no longer a trap for them. Why are we making it one for other people? No, God does not make mistake, but He allows us to, and He allows us to suffer the consequences thereof.