Is God all-loving?

[Jerok]

I understand that God is love (1 John 4:16) and that He only hates what is evil, hates what is contrary to his nature. It’s confusing as to how he can hate at all.

“God is all-loving” means God loves all, which He does not.

Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Does this mean it is wrong to say ‘God is all-loving’ since he does not love sin, or evil people?

Edit: It seems the only way out of this is to claim that evil is not a thing, it is a lack of a thing (goodness).

And OOPS I posted in wrong forum, could I be moved to a more acceptable forum? Thanks and sorry.

 

[stringbeanduck]

I understand that God is love (1 John 4:16) and that He only hates what is evil, hates what is contrary to his nature. It’s confusing as to how he can hate at all.

“God is all-loving” means God loves all, which He does not.

Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Does this mean it is wrong to say ‘God is all-loving’ since he does not love sin, or evil people?

Edit: It seems the only way out of this is to claim that evil is not a thing, it is a lack of a thing (goodness).

And OOPS I posted in wrong forum, could I be moved to a more acceptable forum? Thanks and sorry.

God loves everybody. There’s actually no such thing as an evil person by nature given that people are made in the image and likeness of God. People can, however, make evil choices, and aspire to live very contrary to how God wants them to live. For these people, God serves eternal justice. Even so, God still loves these people.

 

[bkayw]

A soul covered in a contamination is still a soul. A soul in need of salvation & cleansing.

‘Ask and receive, knock and the door to salvation will be opened.’

Conversion, reconciliation and love are “give and receive” relationships, a communion.

 

[EmeraldWings]

I understand that God is love (1 John 4:16) and that He only hates what is evil, hates what is contrary to his nature. It’s confusing as to how he can hate at all.

“God is all-loving” means God loves all, which He does not.

Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Does this mean it is wrong to say ‘God is all-loving’ since he does not love sin, or evil people?

Edit: It seems the only way out of this is to claim that evil is not a thing, it is a lack of a thing (goodness).

And OOPS I posted in wrong forum, could I be moved to a more acceptable forum? Thanks and sorry.

you are very right, evil is not a “thing”, it is a lack of God, and where God is not, love is not,
Jesus tells us to hate the sin and love the sinner, for one because, there are no “evil” people, but simply people who do evil things,
we are capable of doing good or bad, but no one is really “good” or “bad” of themselves, because we are told in the bible “None is good but God alone”,

as for the passage in the bible “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
this simply means, that Jacob was favored, and Esau rejected.
we are also told in the Haydock bible commentary in reference to Malachias 1:3 which also speaks of Esau as being “hated” - “A person is said to hate what he loves less. Esau’s privileges were transferred to his brother, who enjoyed a much finer country, and was chosen for God’s peculiar inheritance.”
and so it’s not that God actually “hated” Esau, but loved Jacob more.

the bible can often times be confusing, since it’s both a translation of the original text and also from a time when they spoke much differently,
so it’s definitely helpful to have a good bible commentary, such as the Douay Rheims Haydock bible commentary,

ok, hope this helps, take care.

 

[Jerok]

Thanks for the replies guys