Friday, October 28, 2005

is God inconsistent?


A friend asked the question, "If God asks us to love our enemies, yet God hates sinners, isn't that inconsistent?"

Here are a few thoughts on that:

• If we are called to emulate God, and God tells us to love our enemies, then I assume He does too.

• Where do we see God loving His enemies? Let's look at the Old testament: God could have killed Adam and Eve after they sinned. That would have been perfectly just. He didn't, He covered their shame and cared for them (our first gospel lesson), yet He had to banish them. God could have destroyed the Israelites many times. He didn't. He showed them lovingkindness many times, even though they were for all intents and purposes His enemies - distrusting Him and sinning repeatedly.

• Let's look at the New Testament and God incarnate - Jesus. Jesus healed the sick. He fed thousands. He delivered people from demonic posession. Were they all believers or potential believers? Probably not. Did God show love to them? Yes.

• What about believers? Were we His enemies? Yes! The bible says, we were at emnity with Him, were children of wrath, etc. therefore His enemies. God loved us enough to show us the ultimate act of love, the cross.

• God hates sin - which is breaking His law - and He must punish it, for He is a Just God. However, He also loves the unloveable, he shows mercy and grace to His enemies. That's good news.

• What about God's common grace? Nobody deserves to live the kind of earthly lives they do. Sinners and saints alike reap the benefits of full lives, shelter, food, family, riches. I think this could be called love in a general sense to all mankind.

Finally,
• God knows who will trust Him and who won't. We can't see into man's heart, we aren't God, we don't have that kind of vision. But we are to love regardless. Who knows? Maybe our most hardened enemy will become a Christian. Wouldn't that be just like God.

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