Last month’s E-Teaching, God’s Love/Hate Relationship with the World, about God’s love/hate relationship with the world drew some mixed response from sincere people. Some of the questions that were asked and objections that were made were so good that I thought it would be beneficial for everyone to answer them in this month’s E-Teaching. Most of the questions naturally revolved around the concept of God’s hatred of sinners (rather than His mercy upon them), as that concept is so foreign to our ears. Below I’ve paraphrased some of those questions and objections (and added a few of my own) and then done my best to answer them.

If you are a new subscriber or didn’t read last month’s article, God’s Love/Hate Relationship with the World, it would be good to do that so you have a reference for what follows . You might also read the article before that one as well, Christian Clichés that Contradict Christ, as that is where I first introduced the topic of God’s approving love and His merciful love. In those two articles, I tried to explain how God loves and doesn’t love people, and my primary concern is that God’s love for the unrepentant is often greatly misunderstood—to the detriment of His holiness and righteous wrath. If we misunderstand God’s true character, we are likely to misunderstand the gospel.

In last month’s e-teaching, Christian Clichés that Contradict Christ, I questioned the truthfulness of six Christian clichés concerning God’s “unconditional” love. There was one more cliché that I wanted to mention but didn’t have enough space, the very common saying, “God loves the sinner but hates his sin.”

This particular cliché is actually more biblically accurate than the six I listed last month, because it attempts to affirm God’s love for sinners while at the same time upholding His holiness. Yet like the six clichés I listed last month, this one also falls short of the full truth, and it can thus be misleading to people and damaging to Christ’s cause. Why do I say this? One reason is because Scripture not only teaches that God loves sinners, but also that He hates them. Surprised? Read for yourself:

The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit (Ps. 5:5-6, emphasis added).

Guilt, that nagging feeling on the inside, is something with which everyone is quite familiar. It doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race, gender or culture. It starts working in us from a very young age and never lets up our entire lives. We are wired with it, like animal instinct. Its universality actually betrays its divine origin. God has programmed every heart with His moral law. Paul wrote,

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Rom. 2:14-16).

In my article last month, The Limits of God’s Grace, I tried to show how God’s grace is frequently presented in such a manner that it nullifies the numerous scriptures that clearly speak of the absolute necessity of holiness if one is to ultimately gain entrance into heaven. Those scriptures are too often ignored in favor of those that emphasize that eternal life is a gift or that salvation is by grace. We would be wise, however, not to ignore anything God has said, especially in so weighty a matter as salvation. If our interpretation of one verse plainly contradicts many other verses, something is wrong with our interpretation. We should, therefore, be diligent to find an understanding of salvation that harmonizes with every scripture on the subject.

I recently received correspondence from someone who noticed an apparent contradiction between Jesus and Paul regarding this very issue. Jesus seemingly emphasized that only obedient people will inherit eternal life, whereas Paul seemed to emphasize that salvation was by grace through faith. Who should be trusted? this person asked.

Perhaps no biblical story better illustrates the grace that God offers—the true grace—than that of Jesus’ encounter with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Bringing her before Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees reminded Him that, according to the Law of Moses, she deserved to be stoned. In that regard they were correct:

If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death (Lev. 20:10).

The scribes and Pharisees erred, however, by at least two other measures.

Everyone around the world who believes in God (or gods), whether Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or something else, seems to be asking the same question— Why? Why did God decree or permit a tsunami (and it must be one or the other, as there are no other possibilities for those who believe in an all-powerful God) to take the lives of well over 226,000 people in eleven nations? I’d like to make an attempt to answer that question as a Christian.

First, if you are among the very small percentage of people who believe that God was not powerful enough to prevent or stop the tsunami, then I hope you believe that God is at least powerful enough to be able to warn people of a coming tsunami in order to prevent their deaths. It is a well-publicized fact that very few animals perished in the recent tsunami, even in large game parks full of wildlife that were flooded inland for miles. In light of this fact, the deaths of tens of thousands of humans speak volumes. God spared animals but allowed multitudes of people to die. Scientists are wondering at the animals’ demonstration of their “sixth sense.” Whatever it was that warned the animals of the coming waves, God gave it to them, just as He gave them so many other unexplainable instincts. God could have prevented any human deaths just as easily.