In Part One of our article “Focus on the Family: A Sham and a Shame”1 we note how Jim Daly, the CEO of Focus on the Family (FOTF), repeatedly refers to God’s unconditional love outside the context of the rest of the Bible. He not only does this in his speaking, teaching, and writing, but he uses his loose view of God’s love as one of his reasons for fellowshipping with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) activists and other activist groups. In one of his daily broadcasts Daly tells a story of fellowshipping with a homosexual activist, where he says to the man, “I know that God loves you as much as he loves me,”11 but he neglected to say more than that concerning God’s love and His sacrificial gift of the Gospel.
Daly’s remark is speculative at best, but heretical at worst. Speculative at best, because, although we know that “God is love” (1 John 4:16) with numerous verses in Scripture emphasizing the greatness of God’s love, Scripture does not teach or support such degrees of love as “as much as.” There is no indication from Scripture that God loves all people equally or in the same way. For instance, did He love Pharaoh “as much as” and in the same way He loved Israel? Did He have equal love for Jacob and Esau? Daly’s assertion that “God loves you as much as He loves me” not only lacks biblical support, but gives a false hope that implies acceptance to anyone who without repentance and conversion will be excluded from the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). Daly’s remark is heretical because it speaks a message for God that He never uttered, a message that cannot be inferred from Scripture in this area of grave importance for the soul of a man headed for a perilous eternity without repentance leading to salvation. Is that love talk or hate talk?
With the numerous theologically trained individuals on his staff and on his Board of Directors, one would think that one of them would know the extremity of the error of Daly’s remark and correct him. The seriousness of the matter is increased by the fact that Daly is heard by millions of individuals at least weekly if not daily.
Imagine those millions of hearers promoting Daly’s skewed interpretation of Scripture as it relates to sinners. While Daly’s message may sound pleasant to LGBT and abortion activists, how will his message change the minds and hearts of these individuals beyond creating a friendlier opinion of Jim Daly and FOTF?
When one adds Daly’s overtures to those who promote blatantly sinful practices to the years of FOTF’s promotion of psychological and humanistic ideas, the result is an untrustworthy combination of quasi-Christian teachings not worthy of support.
Endnote
1 Martin & Deidre Bobgan, “Focus on the Family: A Sham and a Shame,” Part One, PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, Vol. 21, No. 1, January-February 2013.
(PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, November-December 2013, Vol. 21, No. 6)