I think I may have upset some of the Brothers. My intention is to provoke, sure, but not to upset. Then again, Christians by definition need thick skin in a hostile world. Let me repeat: I hate all those who hate my God; I also defy anyone to tell me they truly love every human being. I’d go so far as to say that this is impossible, and anybody who wants to claim they love all men are not being entirely honest with themselves.
Nice sentiment and all that, but let’s get real.
And those who seem so affronted that God might not love all men ought to brace themselves, for their God is not bound by the limits of man’s emotions, and a righteous God can indeed withhold His love from some, and without a stain on His character. I’d like to see an argument presented that states otherwise…
B. W. wrote:I think I understand what DannyM is saying and a good debater does use the tactic of SHOCK to make a point, so I am not surprised by Danny's comments.
God does indeed hate those whom reject Christ and will hold them to account after they check out of mortal life and enter the eternal realm. The problem for us is that we do not know who those living around us will end up in that category.
By 1980, I would have been written off as one of those whom God hates but I was awakened by God’s Love and Grace and turned the proverbial corner. I once was and was born as an enemy of God, a child of darkness. I once was lost but summer of 1980 was found and changed adopted as God’s child, transformed anew.
Yes there are currently enemies of God that God hates, but let us not forget that while they are still sinners, Christ died for them offering them the same opportunity to become adopted into God’s eternal family, transformed. That is what God’s love did and does, confronts the sinner with reality that they are enemies, presents a choice to them till the day they pass on to become a new person in Christ a friend in God.
When awaked to the reality of how much one hates God, and then realizes that God loved so much to die a horrible death to awaken us to our need to be forgiven of this hate is incomprehensible till the reality of forgiveness sets in. We were all such enemies of God, God’s love changes us, confronted us, provoked us, offered to us a choice to either remain an enemy of God or become his friend, his adopted child.
Do I hate God’s current enemies? Yes, I do – but I also have the love of God shed abroad in my heart that if necessary, I would die to awaken them as I was awaked and saved.
Great post.
Does God have preferences?
Deuteronomy 7:6,7
6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Romans 9:6,7,8
6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
Can God hate without diminishing His righteousness?
Romans 9:13,14
13 Just as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
Psalms 5:4,5,6
4You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
Is God’s righteousness in question? The psalmist doesn’t seem to think so:
Psalms 5:8
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make straight your way before me.
Does God love everyone?
Jeremiah 16:3,4,5
3 For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:
4 They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
5 For this is what the LORD says: Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people, declares the LORD.
Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Christ came to save only those whom God loves:
John 6:37,38,39
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
John 17:1,2
1 After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed:
Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Christ loved His own who were in the world:
John 13:1
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
John 10:26,27
26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Christ dies for His sheep, but neither died nor prayed for the goats:
John 17:6,7,8,9
6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
I could go on, but this is not about saturating the thread with proof texts; it is about making clear that not everyone is loved by our gracious, righteous God; indeed, some are hated by our God. His righteousness is not in question, and the Bible makes this plain.
When you realise that God, by definition, can not diminish His own righteousness then what once seemed unpalatable suddenly becomes very clear.
But as B.W. and August made clear, we are not to turn our backs on the rebel when it comes to expressing our faith and declaring the truth of Christ, for we do not know whom God has chosen, and we must be ready to expose and correct the foolishness of this world.
God bless