Replies

Please keep in view that the original contention which my response confronted was the common saying taken from Fantasywriter's Post #25: >> "Christians must hate the sin but love the sinner, without exception." << My claim is that this is narrow and not a universal commandment, that even God hates the sin and the (unrepentant) sinner.

As explained, they are not mutually contradictory, and God did indeed love those He damned, even lamenting, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37)

And believers are to follow Christ who "is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

I guess some people just are not going to be convinced that God doesn't hate other people.

I cannot understand wanting to believe in a God who hates people when Scripture goes to such lengths to show that God loves people.

Even in the OT, when God brought judgment on Israel for disobedience, it wasn't quickly or gladly. He spent years appealing to people to repent and turn, sending them warning after warning.

Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.