The following is an open response to a person named Lyle that made specific comments on my substack. I summarize his position and statements within my response:
God’s Condescension — Lyle’s Fundamental Misunderstanding of Divine Language
Lyle, a huge part of your confusion comes from treating every figurative description of God as if it were a literal revelation of His inner nature. You are taking anthropomorphic language—God speaking in human terms—and turning it into theology. That’s not exegesis; that’s idolatry. It reduces God to a man.
You actually believe that the God who is love (1 John 4:8), whose “tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9), literally and eternally hated Esau. You believe God emotionally despised a child He created before he had done good or evil (Romans 9:11). That is not the God of Scripture—that is a caricature produced by wooden literalism.
“Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13; Malachi 1:2–3)
is an idiom of preference, not emotion. God uses the word hate to express choice, not malice. Jesus used the same idiom when He said:
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother… he cannot be My disciple.”
—Luke 14:26
Did Jesus command literal hatred of parents? Of course not. It means to prefer one over another.
God chose Jacob to carry the covenant line—that’s it. Yet even after choosing Jacob, Scripture clearly states that God blessed Esau: In fact, Jacob gives to Esau some of that which God blessed him (Genesis 33:11).
Yet Esau said: I have much, my brother. Let what is yours be yours.
—Genesis 33:9“I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.”
—Deuteronomy 2:5
A God who blesses someone He “hates” is obviously not using the word the way you are.
You’ve taken a Hebrew idiom and turned it into a doctrine of divine cruelty.
God’s Condescension in Scripture (You’re Reading God Like a Human)
You keep missing a foundational doctrine: God condescends—He speaks in human terms so we can understand Him. He reveals Himself in baby-talk because our minds cannot grasp His essence.
You treat every accommodation as literal theology.
- God “repents” (Genesis 6:6)
- God “regrets” (1 Samuel 15:11)
- God “comes down to see” (Genesis 11:5)
- God “stretches out His hand”
- God “smells a soothing aroma”
- God “changes His mind” with Moses (Exodus 32:14)
These are all human descriptions of a God who does not change (Malachi 3:6), does not learn (Psalm 147:5), and cannot repent in the human sense (Numbers 23:19).
If God literally regretted creating man, then He is not omniscient.
If God literally changed His mind after Moses argued with Him, then Moses’ wisdom surpassed God’s.
If God literally “comes down” to investigate, then He is not omnipresent.
You know full well these expressions are anthropomorphisms—divine baby-talk so that humans can apprehend His actions.
Yet when it comes to Esau, suddenly you abandon every principle of hermeneutics, treat idiom as ontology, and turn God into a moody tribal warlord. That’s not Scripture. That’s Romans 1—fashioning God in the image of man.
The Analogy: God Speaks Child-Language to Children
This is very simple, Lyle:
When I “go-go-go” to a baby or talk playfully to a dog, I am not revealing my deepest nature.
I am speaking in their level, not mine.
A human speaking to an infant does not reveal the nature of the adult.
It reveals the limitation of the child.
Same with God.
When God describes Himself in human emotions, human regret, human hatred, or human limitations, He is not telling you who He is—He is speaking in a way humans can grasp.
God is infinite.
We are dust.
He comes down to our level so we can understand His ways, not His essence.
To take those condescending expressions and build theology from them—especially theology that contradicts His revealed nature—is a gross mishandling of Scripture.
The Correct View: God’s Nature Is Revealed in Christ, Not in Figures of Speech
You want to know God’s true nature? Look at Christ.
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
—John 14:9
God and Christ didn’t hate Esau.
God and Christ didn’t curse infants.
God through Christ didn’t create people just to destroy them.
God and Christ didn’t torture anybody.
God and Christ didn’t condemn sinners to hopeless ruin.
Christ saved, He healed, He restored, He forgave from the cross, and He reconciled enemies—not punished them eternally.
“God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.”
—2 Corinthians 5:19
That is God’s nature—not figurative language, not idioms, not anthropomorphic accommodation.
The God revealed in Christ bends down to us, speaks our language, and lifts us up into His love.
You can interpret Him like a harsh human tyrant if you want, but that is merely proving Jesus’ words:
“You think that I am altogether such a one as yourselves.”
—Psalm 50:21
ebooks and paperback books:
Tract: What If Everything You’ve Been Told About God is Wrong
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXBM4QGV#
Evil in the hands of a loving God
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR68ZSB3
Unlearning Christianity: Exposing Christian Myth
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQX7NX7D
In Perfect Control: God’s Sovereignty Over all Creatures and Every Detail
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFQ8P9FW
Eternal Shores: A Love story of Grace and Truth
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPT3HJMQ
Death Dies: How God Ends the Grave for Everyone
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPGH2YRY
No Free Will, No Hell
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FP32Z8XD
The Potter’s Fire: The End of Empty Religion
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNY9T3SJ
Saved ignoble 
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