Every sin is destructive to the soul and must be avoided, but there are some sins that are so disgusting and repugnant to God that He has a special designation for each of them: “an abomination to the Lord.” I don’t know about you, but the word abomination gets my attention! The mere sight or sound of this word is ominous. 

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If something is an abomination to the Lord, it ought to be an abomination to mankind. The trouble is that some of the sins that are so described are acceptable in our current culture and are increasingly accepted among some who claim faith in God. How can this be? 

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Some of the sins designated as being “an abomination to the Lord” include various sexual relations such as homosexuality (Lev. 18:22), incest, beastiality (Lev. 18:26), cross-dressing (Deut. 22:5), and adultery (Ezek. 33:26). Many sins involving idolatry, (Deut. 13:14), various forms of deceit and injustice (Prov. 3:32; 20:23), and the taking of innocent human life (Prov. 6:16) are also so designated. The list is actually quite long.

 

In an effort to justify current practices, someone might point out that all the references to specific things being an abomination to the Lord are in the Old Testament and that we are only answerable to the teachings of the New Testament. I believe this is an over-simplification. The Old Testament reveals many principles and statements of unchangeable truth. It’s hard to imagine that God would now consider acceptable what He had previously revealed was morally repugnant to Him. Of course, several of the identified abominable practices are specifically condemned in the New Testament as well.

 

It is obvious that the world’s concept of what should be considered disgusting is radically different from God’s stated view. Society is exerting increasing pressure on believers to accept some abominations as acceptable. The so-called “social justice influencers” in our current culture have managed to intimidate government leaders and business executives into being accepting of and even supportive of many of the evils God has declared to be abominations.

 

God’s people must be willing to stand up against the pressures to accept as “normal” what God has condemned. The prophet Isaiah pronounces, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” (Isa. 5:20) and teaches us, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 17:15). We must face the possibility that in the future we may be persecuted for standing for truth against evil. If this happens, Jesus promises a blessing on those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness and gives us reason to “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” (Matt. 5:10-12). 

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Al Diestelkamp