Is God a loving, caring God or is he an angry God? I’ve heard sermons from preachers talking as if God is hell-bent on our destruction and also heard preaching from the uniformitarianism side. So, are there any examples of this in the bible that could shine some light on this?
Answer
Why does God have to be one or the other? They are not mutually exclusive traits. One can be angry because one is loving. Parents experience that all the time.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)
God is not bent on our destruction. If he were so, then all he would have to do is speak a word and we would no longer exist. Rather, his desire is that all would follow him. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)
Nevertheless, God can be angry toward sin. “Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 9:7) “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
Just as a parent may be angry at a child’s disobedience, God may be angry. But, as with a parent, it is because of his great love for people that he is angry when they sin and refuse to repent and return to him. God has not changed. He is a loving God who may also be angry.