Stephen Um, one of the speakers at kcc said this on the weekend. At first I felt uneasy about it, but after his explanation, I felt very grateful of the fact.
God's love is not unconditional. Our sin and broken relationship with God cannot be simply waved away. Sin matters and needs to be dealt with, otherwise God would not be perfectly just, and therefor not perfectly loving either.
God's love is conditional, or as Stephen Um put it, counter-conditional. It does not rely on my performance (thank God), but it does rely on the performance of another.
Jesus.
His performance stands in place of mine, making me no longer an enemy of God, but a cherished son.
What a beautiful transaction.
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
1 comment:
I can't say that I agree. I still believe that His love is unconditional. He could not have sent His Son in the first place if to do so was conditional upon our acceptance of the meaning of an action that had not yet occurred, and could not occur unless he sent His Son.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10 NIV)
I think the problem is that people equate discipline and finally punishment with hatred or unlove. But a loving parent disciplines their children and a judge punishes criminals by keeping them away from the rest of society for everyone's protection.
In addition, it would be unloving for God to say, "It doesn't matter whether you want to have a healthy relationship with me or anyone else in the Kingdom, come in anyway." That would just perpetrate the conditions of Earth (death, pride, greed...) in heaven.
Ultimately, God is loving enough to give people what they die believing that they want - whether that be a good relationship with Him and others in Heaven (through the atoning death and resurrection of His Son) or separation from Him and everyone else in Hell.
So it's not His love but the standing of the relationship that is conditional.
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