Can anyone clear up the God love/hate?

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Okay, so most Christians say “God loves everyone” but I have been pondering the Bible verse Psalm 5:5 “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.” So does God NOT love everyone? But I thought God couldn’t hate, because if you’re a Catholic like me, you know in the Book of Wisdom, it says “The Lord doesn’t hate his creations. If he hates them, why would he have fashioned them?”

SO, does God hate some people? But if he did, why would he have made them?

I’m really confused.
 
God can’t hate, but what is going on here is a literary device called anthropomorphicism. Websters dictionary says:
Etymology: Late Latin anthropomorphus of human form, from Greek anthrōpomorphos, from anthrōp- + -morphos -morphous

1 : described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes <anthropomorphic deities>
2 : ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things <anthropomorphic supernaturalism>

Because God cannot be defined, the sacred authors ascribe human characteristics to get the point across. To be a “worker of iniquity” is really, really bad. I’m sure that God “hates” drug lords and sex slave traders, but is still concerned for their souls.
 
So pretty much God still loves them, but he wants them to turn away from their wickedness?
 
i don’t think God hates anyone… i never thought that God did
 
I’m also confused because of Jesus’ statement that “If anyone does not hate his mother, father, or brother…he cannot be my disciple” (my wording may not be correct) and yet one of the Ten Commandments says “Honor thy mother and thy father”. Thanks for any help you can give. Peace.
 
ML561 said:
I’m also confused because of Jesus’ statement that “If anyone does not hate his mother, father, or brother…he cannot be my disciple” (my wording may not be correct) and yet one of the Ten Commandments says “Honor thy mother and thy father”. Thanks for any help you can give. Peace.
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me too,sometimes I’m also confused because of Jesus’ statement that “If anyone does not hate his mother, father, or brother…he cannot be my disciple”
 
If we consider the core desire of love and consider that hate is it’s opposite it makes sense that God hates. Some of the other more peripheral desires attached to love become problematic.

The deepest desire of love is to be with the beloved and to offer them the gift of yourself… To be in union and to always be present.

Hate then would be the desire to be divided and to withdraw yourself from them. The desire to not be in the presence of the object of hate.
 
If anyone does not hate his mother, father, or brother…
Luke 14:26:

Consideration must be made in how words were used back then. Our Bible is translated from Greek which was translated from Hebrew/Ariamic. It is not a perfect translation as words are used differently in each language. And word usage changes throughout time.

The note for this verse in my Bible says : similar saying in Mt 10,37. The disciple’s family must take second place to the absolute dedication involved in following Jesus.

Mt 10:37: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…

EWTN radio actually discussed this in a round about way today. Think of it this way. When two people get married they have to leave their parents and that spouce becomes more important to their life compared to their parents. That is how it should be. The same goes for a priest. They should make God the most important thing in their life. Note that Jesus also said that someone should follow him without looking back. It takes a commitment.

Another problem you may be having is trying to take the Bible literally. Catholic teaching does not take the Bible literally. The geneology according to Matthew states that there are three sets of fourteen generations to get to Jesus. But in reality it is actually fourteen, eighteen, and thirteen. His geneology forgets three kings and a queen and is missing another person in the last group. You can not perform the ritual sacrifice in the old testament with only the information contained in the Bible. You also can’t perform our own baptism with only that which is contained in the Bible. At most we know that we are to do it in the name of the “Father, Son, and holy Spirit” and Jesus came out of the water. But did he submerge or did he just walk onto the beach? This is but a few weaknesses in taking the Bible literally.
 
Good points made already. Also, try not isolating the verse, but read it in context with the rest of the Psalm. What’s going on here is David is praying and contrasting his own faithfulness and obedience to God with those of other, non-Jewish groups around him, mainly those who engage in pagan worship and denial of God. As part of this contrast between himself and the others, he is using the idea of judgment as the divider; he’s faithful and deserves victory (over the enemies of Israel), whereas the others have turned their backs on God and deserve punishment, which David would be glad to deliver on God’s behalf via military victory. So he’s praying for God to bring His justice to David’s dealings with the enemies around him.
 
ML561 said:
I’m also confused because of Jesus’ statement that “If anyone does not hate his mother, father, or brother…he cannot be my disciple” (my wording may not be correct) and yet one of the Ten Commandments says “Honor thy mother and thy father”. Thanks for any help you can give. Peace.
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Jesus did not tell anyone to hate family but only that if he/she leaves family and choose to follow Him his/her reward will be greater in Heaven because of the immense sacrifice. To give your life to God in this way is giving honour to your parents who have contributed to this special vocation.
 
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