Does God hate sinners ?
In his classic sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,Johnathon Edwards simply affirmed biblical truth about God's attitude toward the unrepentant:
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment....O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder...
I have inserted this extract from Johnathon Edwards classic (so called) sermon regarding God's attitude towards unbelievers . I have been following a debate on another forum where this sermon is often cited as one of the greatest sermons ever preached.Personally I think it's garbage, however this is being used to claim that God hates and detests sinners ,and such scriptures as Psalm 5:5 are being used to substantiate that view.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;you hate all evil doers Psa 5:5
My question is when God says he hates evil doers , the wicked etc what does he mean ? Some seem to suggest that a God who is Love ,also hates at the same time. Personally I don't buy it , but such verse as Psa 5:5 are being used to justify some pretty extreme behaviour in some quarters .The religious world really is a place of insanity.
Dave UK