1) God should love humans as a parent loves children: endless patience and endless compassion. No child left behind, no failures (failure isn't an option). No question too stupid to be answered. No effort too great to help those who are slower in grasping the concepts. No threat of Hell (no corporal punishment). We each get a heaven suited for our uniqueness. Everyone feels valued, loved, understood, safe?
2) God should love humans as a strict disciplinarian. Lots of rules and punishments. Forgiveness only for the most humbling acts. One heaven for those who get there, with a huge stadium where everyone can worship God forever and ever and ever with never a break or anything else to do. Anyone who doesn't like it gets chucked into a lake of fire and brimstone. Your wife, your husband, your kids, your parents, your best friends, whomever. And it shouldn't matter to you that they are chucked away, as long as you're sitting in that stadium worshipping God forever and ever and ever?
2006-09-13 10:41:30 · 9 answers · asked by bobkgin 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A lot more like one.
2006-09-13 10:52:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the 1st example is our God. He wants the best for all His chidren. In the garden of Eden, we lived that way, we were His beloved children, yet we were tempted and we sinned against Him. God cannot be around sin becasue He is a perfect being. As our parent though, He stayed near, and gave us rules that would make our lives better. Not just for kicks, as a parent has rules for their child, rules that are for their safety and wellbeing. When they break those rules they must face the consequences of their actions, like us. God doesn't punish us, but He allows us to live through the consequences of our actions so that we can learn from our mistakes and come back to Him. Hell was never intended for humans, that is why God wants His children to spread His word and get as many of the lost back to Him before its too late. We only spread the message, God works in the heart. For the statement that was made in the 2nd example, about God only loving humans as a strict disciplinarian, if that was true then why would He bother sending Jesus, His son, to die as a sacrifice for sin. If He was such a strict disciplinarian then He would not have provided such a simple way back to Him. When Jesus died, the laws were abolished as the way to heaven. He does not love us as a disciplinarian, but as a hopeful father who knows how too live our best lives on this earth, and tells us how to do it. When we don't follow is when we face the bad consequences of our own mistakes. The trick about Christianity is learning that none of this is about us, it is all about Him, Pride was the sin that sent Satan to Hell, and it is the same sin that will send humans there as well. Satan knows that he can never defeat God by force, but he can deceive and take down as many of God's children as he is able, that is his goal. He knows how much God loves us, and he hates God so much, so he goes after us. God knew we could not follow rules our whole lives because of how Satan tempts us, so He made our way to Himself through Jesus, and Satan will do everything in his power to keep people from realizing that. Because he fears that they will realize the power and stregth that they have with God. He can't touch us once we are saved, so he will fight as hard as he can to keep us from getting there.
2006-09-13 11:08:49 · answer #2 · answered by malsvb6 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you think there might be a happy medium? Try the God of the Bible He loves unconditionally but disciplines His children for their own good and development. We have eternity in heaven, our great hope, and no one is ever lost but has eternal life. While we are traveling through this life we have inner joy and peace in spite of what is going on around us, and the power from God to overcome evil.
2006-09-13 10:50:43 · answer #3 · answered by oldguy63 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try 1 1/2) God should love humans as a parent who is consistent in disciple, knows that its purpose is to prepare the child for the challenges that lie ahead, to develop their moral character and ethics, and warns them of the consequences that their wrong actions will bring. He encourages them to walk in love with himself and those around them, and to have the confidence and self-esteem to even love themselves. He is always patience and compassionate, and ready to aid them when they ask. He will warn, He will coax, He will hound, He will lay down the law when they need it. But He also respect their rights to make their own decisions and then live or die with the consequences. In the end, if they choose not to be in His family, He will let them walk away.
2006-09-13 10:56:08 · answer #4 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God showed us His love in Jesus Christ through compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and hope. So when someone acts according to these principles - I'd say that that person is allowing God to love through them...IMHO
2006-09-13 10:47:20 · answer #5 · answered by j-Z 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
C) Each at times, with a bunch of strikes, but then you're out. (Until you repent, and possibly get forgiven.)
2006-09-13 12:31:15 · answer #6 · answered by ysk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
neither and both.
God's love should look like God's love. It is not our place to define for God what love should look like.
2006-09-13 10:47:54 · answer #7 · answered by mike g 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A giant d!ck headed for your as$. Because that's what religion does to you.
2006-09-13 10:44:04 · answer #8 · answered by Duque de Alba 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
#1 no brainer!
2006-09-14 06:33:10 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋