You have biblical love chapters, 1 Cor 13 and 1 Jn 4. For every biblical love, there is a biblical hate, just like you cannot love health without hating disease. The Bible speaks about hate. A search on all the times the Bible (KJV) uses the two successive words, "I hate,” reveals sixteen occasions. Four of those are in Ps 119:
"Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way." (v. 104).
"SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." (v. 113).
“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." (v. 128).
"I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love." (v. 163).
You get the same results by looking up the Hebrew word “saneh” translated as “I hate.” Ps 119 is better known as the Word of God Psalm. It seems that you cannot really love the Word of God without hating what contradicts the God’s Word, so it is also the Hate Psalm. I could ask, ‘Why is there not more hatred today?’ There is not enough hatred. But that also fits with the pseudo love. It seems that today people feel somewhat proud of their acceptance of something less than scriptural, as long as "nice" or "Christian" is attached to it. That is loving to them, but that calls man true and God a liar (Rom 3:4). It’s the outrageous theme and reversal of our age, calling good evil and evil good (Is 5:20).
The proud people accepting the unscriptural might not even do it themselves, but they aren't going to hate it when someone else does it. This is a very large number of them. People like to hear it. It sounds right to them, to keep acceptance of what they do, even if they know that they wouldn't believe it or practice it themselves. When they see someone doing evil, like those that saw Diotrephes (3 Jn 1:9-11), they ignore it or justify it, unlike what John the apostle did.
There is also acceptance of things that should be hated when someone’s been shown that their belief or practice is sinful or egregious and contrary to the Bible. Instead of loving the truth (Ps 119:127) and hating the false way (Ps 119:128), they reverse the two and love the false way and hate the truth. The Word of God is treated like play-doh or tomatoes falling out of the bucket of a John Deere tractor, without protest. Doctrinal error is not a concern to many, even though the Bible calls any doctrinal error as dangerous leaven (Gal 5:9) which will inevitably do what to the whole lump? Wilful teaching of error is the mark of a false teacher (Matt 7:15-20; Rom 16:17; 1 Tim 6:3-5).
In John 14 Jesus contrasts love and hate and how it relates to Him. In v. 23 He tells us who it is that loves Him:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
That means doing what He says, obeying His words, precepts, judgments, statutes. That means not loving or tolerating sin or error or false teaching or corruption of Scripture or destructive ungodliness like slandering, talebearing and gossiping. It means to confront anything that is false or sinful, and contrary to Gods Word. That is loving Christ. By ignoring, excusing, covering up, denying, or lying, you are not loving Him.
In v. 24 He declares who it is that doesn’t love Him:
“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.”
The contrast is also noted in a Psalm 119 passage, where “hat[ing] every false way” (v. 128) is contrasted with “lov[ing] [Gods] commandments above gold” (v. 127). In other places both are noted in the same passage. They “that love the LORD, hate evil” (Ps 97:10), and Rom 12:9 defines non-hypocritical love (that is "love without dissimilation") as to “Abhor [hate] that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” To love God is to love His Word which is to obey His Word which produces hate towards that which is contrary to His Word which is being loved.
The four verses in Ps 119 we see hatred of (1) every false way, (2) vain thoughts, (3) every false way, and (4) lying. “Every false way" pretty much covers everything that is unscriptural, whether in belief or practice. If you hate every false way, it means you are not being neutral about beliefs and practices that contradict scripture. You will actually protest it, since no error or lie is to be left unexposed (1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9). It will also not matter to you who the individual is that is lying, propagating false doctrine or falsely interpreting Scripture, because for you God is more important and to be loved above everything (Lk 10:25-28), and respect of persons is sin (Jam 2:1-13; Pr 28:21). This is the behaviour of the true servant of Christ, who is not trying to please men (Gal 1:10).
Contemporary Christianity doesn't hate every false way. Contemporary Christianity tries to find common ground by minimizing the differences. It is a negotiation. You do your best to ignore false ways for the purpose of the greater cause, getting along or keeping the pastor exalted on his pedestal. It isn't biblical unity. It’s fake unity typically fed by a fake system, including that of the heretical “universal church.” It is capitulation based upon conventional wisdom or man-centred Christianity.
I observe several reasons why false ways aren’t hated in evangelicalism and fundamentalism.
1. Many evangelicals and fundamentals aren't sure of the truth. They are unsure of the words of God. This presents itself in various ways. You’ll hear “conservative” evangelicals say in almost the same breath that the Bible "is without error" and "there are very few errors" in the Bible. Hence the acceptance of hundreds of corrupted versions derived from the blasphemous Critical Text (Nestle-Aland Text). You might also hear someone exalt the KJV as Gods Word to be revered above everything, while simultaneously disobeying the actual words found in the KJV — by duplicity, teaching false doctrine, and wresting Scripture to their own destruction (2 Pet 3:16-17). Both these errors fall under the fearful condemnation of Rev 22:18-19.
2. Many evangelicals and fundamentals see the Bible as very often too difficult to understand. They can't say it is clear enough to require agreement, except on certain doctrines and practices, with many embracing the unBiblical and heretical belief of “essentials and non-essentials.” Some assume to know the Bible enough to preach it while they falsely divide it, spiritualize it, privately interpret it, and twist plain passages out of their meaning and context, reflecting an unregenerate state more than anything, since God’s Word is perspicuous, that is plain, to those who are truly converted (Pr 8:8-9), for they know the truth and don’t believe a lie (1 Jn 2:20-21, 27).
3. Many evangelicals and fundamentals see the church, the body of Christ, as all professing believers, and God doesn't want any schism in the body. To avoid schisms, only a few teachings that stray from scripture may be hated, and the one pointing out the errors can be hated too. Some, or many, false teachings and practices can be accepted in order to associate and cooperate. If they confined themselves to only the text of scripture and actually believed what it said, versus reading into the text what they want it to mean (eisegesis), they would actually see the true church as local only and, thus, avoid schisms in the body, while maintaining purity and scriptural unity.
But that will never happen in an unbiblical environment of “universal church” where essentially everything local is rejected including church membership and immersion into the local body of believers, and the keeping of the Lords Table. The hundreds of verses that only speak of local church are twisted into something universal and invisible. Since true unity can never exist in this environment, its exchanged for fake unity which is what they actually want but claim as true unity. They reject true unity, while calling for it, calling good evil and evil good. Scripture is very clear on what unity is; real unity as opposed to the fake. People, who either plot for or settle for fake unity, don't actually want unity. They want some type of credit for unity without actually having it. God’s Word says unity is to occur and can occur in each local true church. It is total, complete unanimous unity, described many times in the NT and based only upon the truth, sound doctrine (e.g. Rom 12:6; 15:6; 1 Cor 1:10; 12:25-26; Ac 2:42-45; 4:31-32; Eph 4:1-16; Phil 1:27; 2:1-4; 3:15-19; 4:1-2; 1 Pet 3:8-9). None of those passages differ and none of them teach what most say unity is. Those people are disunified with unity passages. Unity isn’t putting up with differences in doctrine, agreeing to disagree, but the same belief and practice which must align with the truth of Scripture, not whatever a pastor or some church guru claims.
4. Many evangelicals and fundamentals reflect the rampant lack of true conversion among professing Christians, which results in massive amounts of unbelief, which is then twisted and corrupted into being a condition of a Christian post-salvation, one in need of "revival." So even "unbelief" becomes a casualty of false believers and false doctrine. Herein is the true and real cause of majority of corrupted churches. They claim to revere the Bible, while rejecting the plain commands found therein. They conform and imitate while creating “another Jesus” in their minds and believing in “another gospel” and abiding by “another spirit” (2 Cor 11:4), thus embrace and propagate error and heresy, rather than abiding by all the words, commands, precepts and principles of Scripture. This is also where a lack of one of those Ps 119 hates comes in: they don’t hate and abhor lying. It’s a breeze for them to lie over something, to exalt themselves, to defend their exalted pedestal position. And that’s next.
5. Many evangelicals and fundamentals exalt men above God. The psalmist hated the false way because it offends God by conflicting with His Word. The contemporary Christian doesn't hate the false way so as not to offend men. He will habitually exercise partiality and respect of persons reflecting a serious heart problem of not fearing God (De 1:17; Jam 2:1-26). James asks,
“Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” (Jam 2:4).
A few passages later, he ties respect of persons to the possibility of that transgressor being unsaved, a false professor, noted clearly in verses 9 to 13. He writes, "But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (vv. 9-10) with v. 13, indicating further their unregenerate estate, "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy..."
Behaving with partiality means to show bias, prejudice, favouritism, unjust, unfairness, false judgment, and inequity towards people. It is the opposite of the saved who “receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity” (Pr 1:3) found in the Word of God.
6. Many evangelicals and fundamentals love is corrupted. They have a worldly and unscriptural view of what love is. To love our neighbours (or enemies) is to not lie or bear false witness against him or slander or talebear him. That is actually hating him (Pr 10:18), again reversing love and hate. It is also not overlooking their false beliefs and practices. It is confronting them and rebuking them and finally separating from them if they repent not (Lk 17:3-4). Truly saved saints can’t fellowship with false beliefs and practices. You can only reprove them (Eph 5:11), even sharply (Ti 1:12-13) and obey Gods commands to separate (e.g. Eph 5:5-11; 1 Tim 6:3-5; 2 Th 3:6; 2 Jn 1:9-11). But many evangelicals and fundamentals, I would say almost all evangelicals, hate and despise the doctrine of separation, even though its everywhere in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, an extremely important doctrine which is intimately tied into salvation (e.g. Pr 9:8; 2 Cor 6:14-18; Rev 18:4), so that all saved people are a separated people.
You don’t become friends or neighbours of someone by accepting their false beliefs and practices. You can’t keep enemies in a church. They have to become friends and that comes by alignment with the truth. If they are enemies because of doctrine and practice, the false doctrine and belief must change. What is being taught is that the false doctrine and practice must be tolerated. This is loving the neighbour or brother, ‘It’s okay that you hold to false doctrine and practice.’ This is rebellion and disobedience to scripture; it isn’t unity, and it isn’t love. Toleration of sin isn’t unity. For most people, keeping together a coalition is more important than pleasing God. And there is true Biblical unity, what the Bible requires, versus the fake unity that is most common in these camps.
You can't love truth if you don't hate error. You can't love goodness if you don't hate evil. You can't love light without hating darkness. You can't love beauty if you don't hate ugliness. You can't have both. They are mutually exclusive. God does not deny Himself and this is His world. Rom 12:9 says,
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
One that claims to “love” but doesn’t abhor sin and cleave to that which is good is a hypocrite. Love, that is with dissimulation is hypocritical; it’s love that doesn’t hate what God hates and love what God loves. The neutrality even manifests itself in a lack of admittance. Ignorance is apparently a bliss. No, actually, it reflects a reversal of hate and love and that there is something very wrong in that individual or group of people.
“Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.” (Pr 13:13).
“He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.” (Pr 19:16).
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