What God really hates

Proverbs 6:16-19,
 “16 There are six things the LORD hates,
       seven that are detestable to him:
 17 haughty eyes,
       a lying tongue,
       hands that shed innocent blood,
 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
       feet that are quick to rush into evil,
 19 a false witness who pours out lies
       and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

If you really believe that God is omniscient, then He had to know just who He would be saving the day He sent Jesus to the world. He wasn’t saving the Pharisees, who had, in their own book, managed to save themselves by being more righteous than everybody else. They were more modest and really good at following the rules, too. He was saving the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, etc. Unfortunately there is a church out there who would speak to the things that God hates without thinking about the things that God loves – each and every one of you.

What else does God hate?
1.) God hates those who hate Him. (Deut 7:10)
2.) The detestable things Israel’s neighbors did in the worship of their false gods. (Deut 12:31)
3.) Sacred stones. (Deut 16:22)
4.) All who do wrong. (Psalm 5:5)
5.) The wicked and those who love violence. (Psalm 11:5)
6.) Robbery and iniquity. (Isaiah 61:8)
7.) Your religous feasts in which you honor false gods. (Amos 5:21)
8.) Plotting evil and lying. (Zechariah 8:17)
9.) Divorce and violent men. (Malachi 2:16)
10.) The practices of the Nicolaitans. (Rev 2:6)

Seems like a rather short list, doesn’t it? To be fair, some of these don’t exactly help my case. What if the Bible had said, “For God so loved the (robbers / idol-worshippers / evil villans / violent people / etc…) that he gave his one and only son that (robbers / idol-worshippers / evil villans / violent people / etc …) believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” I guess when the words ‘world’ and ‘whoever’ were chosen it meant ‘all of the above plus everybody else’. Notice there isn’t an exclusion for any one specific type of sinner. All sin is equal and equally wrong in God’s eyes. But He happens to have sent His son to wash away the sins of those who believe in Him, no matter what they are.

While it is not in our human capacity to easily do something nice for those who hate us, it is in God’s capacity to do just that – to be honest though, it doesn’t sound like there is anything easy about dying in another’s place. Let us not forget Ephesians 2: 3-5, “3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”