I have concluded that God both loves and hates sinners. My cultural aversion to “hate” did not make this easy for me to accept. With tears over scripture I faced my fear. It seems to me that if we try to separate the sin from a sinner in an extreme sense, we end up with the idea that Jesus died for sin. I believe Jesus died for sinners. The love and hatred for sinners is perfectly balanced on the cross. He hated sinners enough to die for them. He loved sinners enough to die for them. I can conceive of a parent mourning a wayward child feeling both extreme hatred and extreme love. I can imagine a spouse hurt by betrayal- feeling both hatred and love. These human contexts help me understand a glimpse of God’s nature.
I believe God offers the free gift of his unconditional love to all. The work of the cross is the culmination of this unconditional love. However, I believe fellowship with God is conditional- dependent on our response of acceptance of the free gift. Sinners are defined by their sin because they have not embraced the righteousness Jesus offers. Sinners stand in opposition to God. They are hated by God, yet they are loved unconditionally. Some focus only on the hate. A terrorist may believe his hate is holy. Is he laying his life down in order to save the object of his hate? This is the example of Christ.
So, my mind asked- Why is God allowed to hate while we are commanded not to hate our enemies? Is this a double standard? Is this hypocrisy? I believe it is a loving double standard. I think that humans are probably not capable of loving and hating in perfect balance. Perhaps loving the person and hating the sin is a better way for humans to relate to each other. However, God does not need the maxim because he is holy. Our hate of a human does not generally spurn us on to greater works of love. There are many actions left only to God’s sovereignty. We are to judge, but we are to leave judgment to Him. Vengeance is His and He will repay. Hate is not for us to dispense- but God in his mercy has hated and loved his believers into a relationship with him.
Thank you God that a friend brought this to my attention, and not an enemy that would try to shatter my faith. Thank you for answering when I seek. Thank you for grace as I flounder with human words that try to describe your beautiful enormity.
I agree with your conclusion but I find your friend's decision to purposely not teach these children that God loves them based off of what one human concluded from a few verses taken out of context and not taking into account the many verses about love to be disturbing, hasty, and not balanced. Maybe she should be teaching adults who might know better than to just believe her without question rather than children who will take her at her word. I dont mean to sound harsh - only concernced because child evangelism should be taken very seriously and not everyone who wants to should just be allowed to teach children without working through some of those one-sided beliefs. What children are taught now will affect what they believe the rest of their lives. Does your friend have any reason to believe that God hates children?
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to dig through this. "with tears over scripture," you dug deep and sought God through his Word. This is one thing I admire about you, and I think one reason so many respect your faith. You trust God enough to take his word over man's. You are willing to lay down your comfort at the foot of the throne in order to pursue truth. Thank you for leading in this way. That said, I too am concerned that children be taught that God loves them. He does love them, and that must be driven deep into their hearts. I believe even the youngest are targeted by the accuser, whispering lies in their ears that they are not loved. And while we are all born into a sin nature, rare is the child that has developed the hardened defiance toward God, the twisted passion for wickedness which God hates. So, while I respect that we must not "talk down" to them, I think the concept that God hates might be too nuanced for a child-especially an unchurched one. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you both. I didn't specifically re-address my friend's application to children, I only dealt with my search and conclusions. So, I was very glad both of you addressed the original reason I was thrown into such a tailspin.
ReplyDeleteNow I am kind of glad I didn't because you both said it much better than I would have. Good point about the unchurched child- Amanda.
When I tell a child God loves them int eh Good News Club, I am not lying- I am just giving them a summary statement that comes from scripture. If I told them God hates sinners, I would be giving them a detail that without a context could encourage false premises.
I teach them sin separates them from God and there is nothing they can do to get to him. So I am not glossing over His hatred of sin. I feel I am just using age appropriate terms without using words that could unduly manipulate a young child.