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It's easy, sometimes, when we learn that God punishes sin, to allow our fear and selfishness to run amok and to begin to believe that God is the bad guy in this whole situation.
We might even begin to see God as a cruel ogre who is just waiting for us to mess up, so that he can exact punishment, something we imagine He loves to do.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
God created us, and has an incredible love for us.
In The Bible, God often refers to Himself as being in a parental, or fatherly, role.
In the Book of Jeremiah, God told His people:
| For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. [Jer 29:11] |
It's true that God does punish us, but He tells us that He doesn't enjoy it:
| ... As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live [Eze. 33:11] |
It seems that God has gotten kind of a bad rap by us humans. Because He is all powerful, we tend to blame Him for anything bad which happens.
The reality, though, is that God created a perfect world. It was our own actions which brought sin and rebellion into the world. Once sin was introduced into God's perfect world, it spread, like a cancer, contaminating everything.
God loved us so much that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for our sins. We'll get to that a little later.
The answer to our question, though, is that God doesn't hate us, but He hates our sin, because He knows that it brings nothing but pain, death and destruction.
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