God is love, God is merciful, God is full of Grace, God loves everyone. Yes.... and God
can hate. People do not like this truth, but it does not keep it from
being true.(because its truth you see) "Well, maybe God just hates
sin." Absolutely God hates sin. He despises it. If we could truly
comprehend the offense that our sin is to a holy God our heads would
probably explode. As a side note, read the whole post if you want to fight with me about this topic. I welcome discussion.
God says in Proverbs 6:16 and following:There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers
So, haughty eyes is something God hates. If you did not already come to the conclusion, this is a phrase describing being proud. God hates pride because in our prideful airs we take our focus off God and claim glory unto ourselves. I could say that it could be argued that in this case God hated the sinful act.
A lying tongue. Read the Ten Commandments and you will find this principle with a prominent location. It does not say that God hates lies, but the source of those lies, the tongue. He's getting a little personal now.
Now, He hates hands that shed innocent blood. Obviously, God hates murder. The 6th commandment testifies to this. All killing is not murder. Without bringing original languages into this we can easily see that God ordered the destruction of entire cities and nations of people, but God is no murderer. This is why translating the Hebrew as thou shall not kill is not correct. Innocent blood shed is an abomination before God. However, this is a bit more personal than pride. Your hands are part of you, members of the whole body. Here, God hates the perpetrator(Hands), not the act itself. Still our hands are not all of us.
A heart that devises wicked plans. That sound pretty worthy of hatred. Again here we see that the source and not the act itself is the hated party. Are you getting my drift? We will see. The same thing for feet that make haste to run to evil. Still members of the body, not the whole, but I guess someone could claim their feet ran to evil without their consent. Im sure some lawyer somewhere has argued that..
Now, we are getting down to a place where we are gonna see some uncomfortable truth. God hates a false witness that breathes out lies. There are times when the phrase false witness is speaking of a false statement and not the person giving it, but that is not the case here. Here God hates the person that lies. Not the lies themselves, not the act of lying, but the liar. The same is true for the last part. One who sows discord among the brothers. No getting around it here,this is a person. A person who causes trouble among the brethren on purpose. God hates a person that would purposefully bring strife into His people's fellowship.
So, you may be saying to yourself, "Wow, Bro. Russell is crazy. He is trying to make the case that God hates individuals. Is he saying God can actually hate the sinner? " That is without a doubt what I am saying. I may not like it sometimes, but again this truth thing keeps showing up to convict me.
For further evidence I will point you to Malachi 1:
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
God hated Esau. This verse is repeated in Romans, so there is no arguing that it is an issue of Old Testament vs. New Testament, which I do not hold as a valid argument anyhow.
Now, I did not come down this path do argue about Reformed theology or the sovereignty of God, but it is important to understand the entire character of God. God's love sometimes brings forth His hatred. His righteousness demands judgement. God will not allow those he loves into Hell, but those who denied His son Jesus and incurred His wrath and hatred. God's love knows no bounds, but His knowledge allows for perfect judgement. Even if we see it cruel.
Romans 9:14-16 reads:What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,but on God, who has mercy.
Do not mistake God's love for a free pass to sin. I am more guilty than most. He will forgive, but there comes a point when sin hardens us to the things of God, e.g. Pharoah, and we pass beyond repentance. Understanding God's full character should allow us to love Him even more for what He has done through Jesus Christ on the Cross. That sacrifice is the ultimate expression of God's love. Denying it will eternally result in the opposite.
Bro. Russell
God says in Proverbs 6:16 and following:There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers
So, haughty eyes is something God hates. If you did not already come to the conclusion, this is a phrase describing being proud. God hates pride because in our prideful airs we take our focus off God and claim glory unto ourselves. I could say that it could be argued that in this case God hated the sinful act.
A lying tongue. Read the Ten Commandments and you will find this principle with a prominent location. It does not say that God hates lies, but the source of those lies, the tongue. He's getting a little personal now.
Now, He hates hands that shed innocent blood. Obviously, God hates murder. The 6th commandment testifies to this. All killing is not murder. Without bringing original languages into this we can easily see that God ordered the destruction of entire cities and nations of people, but God is no murderer. This is why translating the Hebrew as thou shall not kill is not correct. Innocent blood shed is an abomination before God. However, this is a bit more personal than pride. Your hands are part of you, members of the whole body. Here, God hates the perpetrator(Hands), not the act itself. Still our hands are not all of us.
A heart that devises wicked plans. That sound pretty worthy of hatred. Again here we see that the source and not the act itself is the hated party. Are you getting my drift? We will see. The same thing for feet that make haste to run to evil. Still members of the body, not the whole, but I guess someone could claim their feet ran to evil without their consent. Im sure some lawyer somewhere has argued that..
Now, we are getting down to a place where we are gonna see some uncomfortable truth. God hates a false witness that breathes out lies. There are times when the phrase false witness is speaking of a false statement and not the person giving it, but that is not the case here. Here God hates the person that lies. Not the lies themselves, not the act of lying, but the liar. The same is true for the last part. One who sows discord among the brothers. No getting around it here,this is a person. A person who causes trouble among the brethren on purpose. God hates a person that would purposefully bring strife into His people's fellowship.
So, you may be saying to yourself, "Wow, Bro. Russell is crazy. He is trying to make the case that God hates individuals. Is he saying God can actually hate the sinner? " That is without a doubt what I am saying. I may not like it sometimes, but again this truth thing keeps showing up to convict me.
For further evidence I will point you to Malachi 1:
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
God hated Esau. This verse is repeated in Romans, so there is no arguing that it is an issue of Old Testament vs. New Testament, which I do not hold as a valid argument anyhow.
Now, I did not come down this path do argue about Reformed theology or the sovereignty of God, but it is important to understand the entire character of God. God's love sometimes brings forth His hatred. His righteousness demands judgement. God will not allow those he loves into Hell, but those who denied His son Jesus and incurred His wrath and hatred. God's love knows no bounds, but His knowledge allows for perfect judgement. Even if we see it cruel.
Romans 9:14-16 reads:What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,but on God, who has mercy.
Do not mistake God's love for a free pass to sin. I am more guilty than most. He will forgive, but there comes a point when sin hardens us to the things of God, e.g. Pharoah, and we pass beyond repentance. Understanding God's full character should allow us to love Him even more for what He has done through Jesus Christ on the Cross. That sacrifice is the ultimate expression of God's love. Denying it will eternally result in the opposite.
Bro. Russell
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