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Amos 6:8 "The Lord God has sworn by himself (says the Lord, the God of hosts): 'I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his strongholds; and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it."

 

I love how Amos adds the parenthetical to make perfectly clear that this is not he who is speaking, but God. God is saying this all "by Himself"! And I can see why Amos does this, these are not easy words for Amos to deliver nor for the people to hear. But God wanted them said and heard, and God uses the words "abhor" and "hate" when having Amos deliver them. Note that God is not saying He hates the people (or any individual person), but rather He hates what sin and pride have done to them. He will allow the city's destruction in order to cleanse them of those things. 

 

Part of the continuing erosion of our faith has been the aversion to strong words like hate. I still see the occasional "Hate has no home here" sign (which often is an indication of the exact opposite, but I digress), while any vocal acknowledgment of sinful behavior and the rightful attitude we should have toward it is met with accusations of hatred, judgment, "phobia", or the like. Even those who don't go that far will say things like "Well that's your opinion" or "Guess we have to agree to disagree." It's enough to make us want to add parentheticals like Amos' every time we recognize and call out sinful behavior!

 

Sin is bad. It hurts us and God. It brings evil into the world and makes it stronger, so that eventually our strongholds are destroyed. It separates us from God, maybe eternally, which is why God hates it, and why we should, too, and should not be afraid to say so. Love the sinner, hate the sin.