who does God hate?

I was going to talk about this topic this past Sunday, but we ended up working on something else entirely. There are people who simultaneously call themselves Christians, while hating on every person that doesn't reach their own standard of holiness. The sad thing is that I was able to do a lot of research on this topic really quickly, because there are a lot of examples out there on the internet of "Christians" spreading the good news of God's alleged hatred. Here are just a few examples of people that God supposedly hates:

• Jews
• homosexuals
• American soldiers
• Gamblers
• People who listen to the music from the musical Rent
• hybrid cars (yes, hybrid cars is on the list of people groups hated by God at a nifty little website that breaks it all down for us)
• Sports nuts

The list could go on. In fact, the list did go on for 4 full pages when I printed it out. Now, the way I had been working the Mythbusters series had been to show the myth that many Christians believe, show the verse that is used out of context, and then teach the truth behind the passage. Unfortunately, I can't find any verses about God hating Jews, homosexuals, American Soldiers, gamblers, Rent listeners, hybrid cars, or sports nuts. In fact, I can't find a single verse about how God hates non-believers. I did find a passage in Proverbs 6 that talks about things God hates that could be possessed by non-believers, but Christians are also guilty of possessing lying tongues, proud looks, murderous hands, and a wicked heart. God does seem to take some serious beef with believers who misrepresent His Truth (false witnesses) and believers who stirs up contention among other Christian brothers. Oddly, it's the guys with the hate signs that are prolific at this. I wonder what they make of those verses?

Here's what I do know. God doesn't hate sinners. I challenge anyone to show me a verse in the Bible that says otherwise. I know, I know. Anyone that dies without Christ goes to Hell. That must prove God's hatred of sinners, right? Wrong. It proves that God is holy, and He cannot allow something that has not been cleansed in His presence. Here are some verses that talks about how God feels about sinners.

John 3:16: "For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates his own LOVE for us in this: WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us."

1 John 4:10: "This is LOVE: not that we loved God, but that HE LOVED US and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

And what does He call us to do? Love. Not hold signs. Not hate. Not appoint ourselves Judge, jury, and executioner.

1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Shoot, that verse could ruin some people's idea of fun. I guess they'll have to take up loving people instead of hating them.