See Batgirl's answer to this question.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070901191333AAusFzG&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMiTxTWfProwHMBOCnpH7VD14zPzENCOTcv_H4vG9RwY5W93LY7.Z4bjTkO1.vUxrGKg--&paid=answered#RcYqWja.VjXXdYcDfd_E1vDV75geJ2Pl1stX7HpkrpQaTQOqRSql
The questioner asks if unconditional love is possible, or even if it is comprehensible.
Batgirl's reply states that God loves us unconditionally.
I may be wrong, but isn't "Belive in me or else," a condition to earning his love and acceptance?
Not picking on you, Batgirl, but I am seeking to clarify.
2007-09-01 15:24:34 · 36 answers · asked by iamnoone 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
So the love extends only to those that are *his*?
That hardly seems like an example of "unconditional."
2007-09-01 15:32:43 · update #1
CJ..that one simple condition means that God's love is *not* unconditional.
I love my kids unconditionally. My cats love me unconditionally. But yet God doesn't love us all in that way.
2007-09-01 15:39:02 · update #2
jimmeisnerjr....of course I don't believe it, nor do I worry about it. It was just a question.
2007-09-01 15:40:28 · update #3
Does the Bible ever say that non-believers go to hell? The passages that are often cited for this position are in the writings of John, which is interesting because John uses the verb for believing, never the noun. For John, belief is not merely an intellectual proposition, but a set of actions that shows what you believe.
The only place where Jesus discusses judgment is in Matthew 25, and the conditions are those of charity toward others. What I find interesting about that passage is that both groups who have been judged ask, "When did we see you naked or hungry?" The answer is the same: "For as often as you did it to one of these least ones, you did it to me." Knowledge of God may be presupposed, but not necessarily. What is essential is the way you live your life and how you care for others. That seems pretty clear to me.
2007-09-01 15:33:41 · answer #1 · answered by Jude & Cristen H 3 · 2⤊ 3⤋
RedQueen, your examples suggest that the premise of God's unconditional love, in the sense of requiring no particular response from us, is false. God certainly imposes some conditions for eternal life in heaven. These include baptism (Mark 16:16; John 3:5), believing Christ and putting faith in him (e.g., Luke 7:50, 8:12), self-renunciation (e.g., Matt 5:3, 10), repentence (Matt 3:2; 4:17; 18:8-9; Mark 9:42-48), obedience to God, doing what is right and just (e.g., Luke 10:25-28; John 12:50), adopting the humility of a child (Matt 18:3-4; 19:14), eating the bread of life (John 6:51, 53-54), and endurance to the end (Matt 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13, Luke 21:16-18).
However, when people talk about God's unconditional love, they are not talking about having no expectations for our response. They mean he places no prior conditions on making that response. Thus, it doesn't matter if you are male or female, Jew or Greek, young or old, black or white, vicious sinner or mostly pretty decent. All are invited to his wedding feast.
Cheers,
Bruce
2007-09-09 08:09:29 · answer #2 · answered by Bruce 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God Loves Everyone!!! How many out there would willing give there son (or daughter) to die so someone else could live in Heaven eternally? I am a Minister and I have Lost a child and I will be the first to admitt I would not or could not give my child! He gives us the choice. ALL we have to do is accept the sacrafice ALREADY given in our place and live for Him on earth what more could prove unconditional Love than giving your own son?
2007-09-09 12:37:54 · answer #3 · answered by Rev.Leal 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He doesn't send them to hell it's a choice that they made by not believing in him. If your child pretended you did not exist and never acknowledged you, if they ran away from home and never called or let you know that they were OK, would you not still love them? Yet you have no other choice but to accept there decision not to have any involvement with them. God gave us free will. He will not force us to love Him just like we can't force others to love us. That does not change His love for them and if they ever change their minds and decide that they want Him in their lives like a good parent He is always waiting for them to come back home.
2007-09-08 12:00:36 · answer #4 · answered by misunderstood 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
God's love alone does not determine ones eternal state. God's holiness is His main characteristic, all other character traits flows from His holiness. God cannot allow sin into Heaven, that would violate His holiness and He cannot allow sin to go unpunished, that would go against His righteousness, so, either you come before Him with your sins forgiven through Christ, and He sees Christ when He sees you, or you stand before Him in sin, with sin unforgiven. Your works will be judged and found wanting. You cannot earn His love, He gives it freely to whomever He chooses and to what degree. Just as a parent loves their own children in a different way, at a higher level than they love the neighbors kids or a stranger, so God's love for His children is at a higher level and degree than His love for unbelievers.
2007-09-01 15:37:04 · answer #5 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God does not love all people equally and he says so himself Psa 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Nonbelievers end up in hell because the ticket into heaven is a ticket of faith in God and his word. "No tickee - no shirtee!"
2016-05-19 00:45:53 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your judgenent of God was right, you'd have a valid accusation. But you said something that is NOT written. Did you even consider that you get thrown into the LAKE OF FIRE by yourOWN choice? you try to think about what you said. See God didn't consider like that before he sent Christ to pay for our sins.
2007-09-08 17:29:40 · answer #7 · answered by hamoh10 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It might help if you didn't take such a literalist view of heaven and hell but rather see them as positional rather than places. Heaven is near to God and Hell is distant from God. Now through this life you have made a choice of whether you wanted to be near to or far from God.After death you get what you have shown you wanted through out this life. Isn't that unconditional love? Rather than forcing you to be near Him for eternity God allows you to be where you have shown you wanted to be all your life even though He loves you and would have preferred that you spent eternity with Him.
2007-09-01 15:45:08 · answer #8 · answered by David F 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The unconditional part comes in when he sent Jesus Christ. But you have to choose life or death. God can not tolerate sin under any circumstance. So much so that he himself became sin for us so that we might live. He is holy but also is just. Sin will be judged. Rewarding your sin with everlasting life is not "unconditional love".
2007-09-01 15:36:44 · answer #9 · answered by JohnFromNC 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
How do you know God sends non-believers to hell?
Do you believe it? Yes? They why would you want to be a non-believer, and ensure your ticket to hell?
Do you not believe it? Then why are you worried about being sent to a place you don't believe in, by a Deity you don't believe in?
You can't understand the unconditional love of God, if you don't believe in God -- kind of like you can't understand what it means to be thirsty until you've actually been thirsty.
Rather than believe in God to try to stay out of hell, try believing in God to try to understand unconditional love.
Godspeed you on your journey.
2007-09-01 15:35:21 · answer #10 · answered by jimmeisnerjr 6 · 2⤊ 3⤋