unconditional love??

[DLL]

is God's love really unconditional? the abusive church leans more to the side that Gods love is conditional. that salvation is conditioned on us accepting the gift and our belief in that gift. and there fore that God doesnt offer unconditional love but love that is set on conditions. the conditional that you are a believer, and that since God cannot love sin, that we do not walk in sin..
i goota go to work now but maybe we can discuss this today.

[Kerrin]

DLL,
:D Have a good day at work as I head off to bed! :D
(Aussie time warp,maybe I should throw a phone at someone :p )

I struggle still with this one.
I know God's love for me is un-conditional because as I let Him down over and over again, He is always there ,even when I try to ignore Him ,be angry ,hateful; there HE is ; waiting!

I look forward to the responses to this Post too.

Love
Kerrin ;)

[Jerry]

Dear Donna,,,
The theology in your post is accurate as far as it states.The problem it causes it causes in it's incompleteness.As I see it unconditional love is the goal of Gods plan.Right now,,,,yes there are some conditions.But when a religion makes the conditions the focus of their theology to the exclution of grace,forgiviness,their religion becomes abusive.God understands that conditions are necessary to create the environment in which unconditional love can exist,and that by His gift of grace and forgiviness He gives us an avenue to keep trying until we "get it right" so to speek.Gods plan for this "WILL" come to fruition.In THAT sence His love is unconditional now,but only from His side of the "Fence".It is too bad that the churches don't do a better job explaining the concept.
Love Jerry

[Hesed]

God's love is unconditional. Repentance, which means "turning around" (as in "turning around in God's direction") is necessary in order for us to understand and feel the significance of God's forgiveness.

The Prodigal Son is a good parable for this. In the story, the father never stopped loving the son, but the son had to turn around and come back to the father in order to benefit from the father's unconditional love and forgiveness.

I totally know what you mean about churches making a person think that we have to be perfect before we can come before God. I think some pastors teach this because they probably believe it of themselves down deep (they are "scrupulous") and other pastors teach it because it is a way of keeping "the flock" under their spell (they are, in my opinion, narcissists who think in their gut that they really do make the rules for the entire universe - i.e. they think they are god.)

I can guarantee you that the minute a you "get" the fact that God's love is unconditional there will be lots of Christians who will get angry and tell you that you are a "liberal" who has no standards of behaviour, who believes whatever they like, and that you are what's wrong with the church today. That's when we know we've got the Gospel right, as far as I'm concerned. :D

[Voyager]

There is nothing my kids could do to make me stop loving them - and I am merely human. How much more should God's love be unconditional towards us? I don't go along with most religions that make people work for God's love. Either we are His kids and He loves us, or we are all bastards. There is no middle ground.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

:cool:

[molehills]

The only condition to God's love I can think of is that we accept it. I mean God still loves you even if you don't accept it, but it's hard for it to make a difference in your life if you're sitting there refusing to believe or accept it. Other than that, God's love is completely unconditional.

The bad church we left had this stupid "Plan A, Plan B" theology. IF you were a "good" person then God gave you a Plan A life. IF you were a bad person you got Plan B. I kept trying to explain they were crazy, look at Job, but they, obviously, never got it. Look at Ecclesiastes, Plan A, Plan B that's not how it works. If that were the basis of our religion then our "holiness" would never be anything other than greed.

[Kerrin]

There is nothing my kids could do to make me stop loving them - and I am merely human. How much more should God's love be unconditional towards us? I don't go along with most religions that make people work for God's love. Either we are His kids and He loves us, or we are all bastards. There is no middle ground.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

:cool:

:) This is what I tell Amy every day!!!

And; why I am in awe that God loves me when I have shunned him ,called him names , turned my back on him and hurt Him in every possible way, ( from a human perspective that is :o )

So! If I LOVE my child so much , how much more amazing is it that God loves her more than me???? And accpets her MORE tahn me???
That puts it into some perspective for me ,too I guess because I can't ever imagine her doing anything to make me NOT love her, or accept her..........nothing!

And ,Yes, it's our Twisted religions that attach the conditions ,therefore making God's "unconditional" love seem impossible.
Love
Kerrin ;)

[Hesed]

Well said on everything, Molehills!

:)