Why do we hate God? Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon once on the four things that men hate about God. He titled his sermon Man Naturally God's Enemy.

At the beginning of the sermon Edwards said: "There are four things about God that make men hate him."

I wondered what his list of four things were. I guessed the first three:

(1) The first thing man hates about God is His Holiness.

     Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate
       wrong. Habakkuk 1:13

God's holiness terrifies man.  Contemplating it increases our own sense of sin. We try to minimize God's holiness by minimizing Him -- and, finally, by denying His existence all together -- then we don't have to deal with our own sin issue. 

Because if there is no God -- no measure of righteousness in the universe -- then we can't consider ourselves sinners! We have not violated any standard of righteousness!

But, sadly, if our lives are not accountable, then our lives don't count.

(2) The second thing man hates about God is His Omniscience.

If He knows everything, then we can't hide anything from Him.

     Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.
       Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
       of Him to whom we must give account.  Hebrews 4:13

(3) The third thing man hates about God is His Sovereignty.

God has absolute authority and rule over all His creation. In order to be sovereign, He must be all-knowing, all-powerful and absolutely free. If He were limited in any of these areas His sovereignty would not be absolute.

If God is sovereign, then I am not. There cannot be
two equal absolute sovereigns. I am not the ruler of my life, much less the world around me. I am not the
"Captain of my fate."

God is the center of everything - not man and not me!

What I do does not change anything!

And man really hates this!

     Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory  
     and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and
     earth is yours.

     Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over
     all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all
     things.  1 Chronicles 29:11-12

So what's the fourth thing man hates about God?

(4) The fourth thing man hates about God is His Immutability! That is, He never changes - never has and never will. He does not mutate.....

So why is that so offensive to man?

Edwards explains, "Man faces this dilemma: Not only does man know and know clearly that God is holy and omniscient and sovereign, but he knows that God will always be holy; He will always be omniscient; He will always be sovereign.

"And there is nothing we can do to make Him less holy, less omniscient, or less sovereign.

"These attributes are not open to negotiation. We cannot find God involved in a process of change whereby He can enter into certain mutations to compromise with us."

     I, the LORD, do not change. Malachi 3:6

     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
          Hebrews 13:8

              As Thou has been, Thou forever wilt be!

So man hates God especially for the fact that He never changes.

He is never going to be someone we will like better.
He is never going to be any different than He is now.

(We might wait till our mother gets in a better mood before we tell her we  broke her favorite piece of china. Bot God's standard is always the same!)

God's holiness, omniscience and sovereignty are perfect. And perfection cannot change - any change would indicate less than perfection at any stage.

And God is always perfect - so there can be no changing His character, ever!


But once we embrace God and welcome Him into our hearts, isn't it funny how that thing we hate most becomes the thing we love most about Him?

We cannot depend on human beings - they change - they mutate - they vary with the circumstances around us.

We might please them one day and make them angry the next. We don't know how they will react - we cannot predict how our actions will be received.


But God is always the same. His will is invariable.

We know what pleases Him and how He wants us to live. All the time and in every circumstance.


We can count on Him to keep His promises and to fulfill His eternal plan.

We can count on Him always to be who He says He is!

And that's really good news for His children!

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day

Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away

Change and decay in all around I see

O Thou who changes not, abide with me!