If you wanted to express a deep-seated, continuing hatred for something or someone, which word would you choose that would create just the right nuance for this emotion?

Grudge

In my opinion GRUDGE fits the description quite nicely

postive, comparative, superlative - good, better, best

recall how we defined nouns as words capable of having plurals and possessive endings. adjectives (and their first cousin, the adverb) also have a feature that distinguishes them. they come in three states. first, the raw adjective—in its positive state—merely describes the noun modified; it doesn’t care about how this particular person or thing stacks up against other members of the same noun class

in paragraph 6 of "sinners in the hands of an angry god" by jonathan edwards, he talks about how doing good things alone will not save men from going to hell because they're at the mercy of the will of god. "spiritual reform" provides men with a false sense of safety.