Ever notice how unconditional love is usually used as an excuse for or not doing something you know you should or should not do? In this post I want to dispel the myth that God is a God of unconditional love. He isn’t unfortunately. Its going to be a sad day for a LOT of souls when that is fully revealed. Jesus made this very clear in book of Matthew. These are Jesus’s own words.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
My argument is that the idea of unconditional love is a deception meant to have you enter through the wide gate that leads to destruction. I’ll explain with both biblical and real life examples.
Many would argue that God is a never ending cool stream of the acceptance of sin. But, this passage in Romans gives me pause.
Romans 1: 26-32
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Behaviors of the depraved mind listed:
- Homosexuality both male and female
- Driven by lust
- Receiving the due penalty for homosexuality. Ever checked some of the stats for being gay? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9923159/ is an interesting read with the following conclusion: “The four lines of evidence were consistent with previous findings suggesting that homosexual activity may be associated with a lifespan shortened by 20 to 30 years.” Lots of other penalties that could be explored, but a dramatically reduced lifespan seems ample evidence.
- Denial of God and not seeking him means the express lane to a depraved mind and doing what ought not to be done.
- Filled with Envy
- Filled with every kind of wickedness
- Evil
- Greed
- Depravity
- Murder
- Strife
- Deceit
- Malice
- Gossips
- Slanderers
- God-Haters – I was one, thank you Jesus for the gift of faith.
- Insolent
- Arrogant
- Boastful
- Inventors of ways of doing evil
- Disobedient to parents
- No understanding
- No fidelity
- No Love
- No Mercy
- Although they know it’s wrong, they not only continue to do these things, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Did you know that Jesus talked about hell more than anyone else in the Bible? Hell is referenced 162 times in the Bible and 70 of those references are directly from Jesus. Jesus didn’t think hell was an allegory or theoretical place, he was clear.
Since I was given the gift of faith, my entire viewpoint of how this thing called life works has changed. I was a full blown heathen before, at least as best as I could be. My desire for more sinning was always bigger than my ability to bring it into reality, but since I’ve had most of the crazy sex, done most of the drugs (no needles) and been a rebellious idiot most of my life, I think I might get honorable mention for stupid is as stupid does.
What is love? Isn’t that the fundamental question I am asking? Before I was given faith by Jesus, this what I though love was:
The worlds view of unconditional love – The Universe/God wants me to be happy. That means that whatever brings me pleasure and makes me feel good in the moment is what love is. If the Universe/God loves us, then there are no rules, there are no guidelines, there are no judgements that will ever be put on a person no matter what they do. Unconditional love means that I can do whatever I want, without ramification.
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
So the better question rather than what is Love, is what is righteousness? Righteousness, I like to simply think about it, is that God views us without sin. Its like Eve never ate the apple, its like we are back in the garden of Eden before the fall. Why is that important?
That is important because we can’t be in God’s presence without being righteous. We can’t enter heaven (God’s presence) unless our sin has been erased, like it never existed. How do we fix this HUGE problem?
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
What does Christ dying for us have to do with love? If you read the Old Testament, specifically Exodus and Leviticus, you’ll understand why. To atone, wait what does Atone mean? Atone is like paying sin tax. In the old testament, animal, vegetable, food and wine sacrifices were used to temporarily fix the sin problem. There was super explicit rules about the specific steps that must be followed about all of it. You can read all the verses in the bible with the word atone here.
In the old testament, God reveals to us what must be done on a sin by sin basis to atone for our sins. Each sin required a sacrifice of some sort to be erased in the eyes of God. Think back to how many times you’ve sinned in your life. If you aren’t sure what a sin is or if you have done any, here is the Ten Commandments. That is a good place to start. Its not a comprehensive list, but it certainly gives a sense of it. Its obvious, no one is without fault.
Enter Jesus. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law, 633 rules that must be followed exactly to be without sin. Its why Jesus was born of a virgin, because he wasn’t conceived in sin. He lived a perfect life. He was fully God and fully Human and he never once broke one of those 633 rules or any of the Ten Commandments.
I think one of the coolest examples of Jesus’s sinless life is when Jesus changes the water into wine, what many consider his first public miracle, at the wedding in Cana in Galilee. They ran out of wine at a wedding celebration. Jesus’s mother, Mary, asks him to do something about it. He really doesn’t want to. When Mary asks him to do something about it, he says, its not my problem and the timing isn’t right. But, to honor his mother, he changes water into wine and its the best wine served at the party. How many times have I dishonored my mother and father? Yeah, I’m a sinner.
Just for fun, I’ll say that I believe the first public miracle that Jesus did in the Bible was when he caused so many fish that it almost broke their nets when he called Peter and Andrew recorded in Luke 5:1-11. That story is well before the wedding at Cana.
What makes a Christian righteous before God is the blood of Jesus. Jesus wrongful punishment, beating and flogging, then being nailed to a cross and eventually dying is him sacrificing Himself for humanity. God loves us SO MUCH, that he would send his own son to be the perfect sacrifice for all humanities sins, past, present and future. Then here is the even more amazing part. He rose from the dead. He first appears to Mary Mandolin and then to the 12 apostles locked in the upper room. Then he appears to over 500 people before he ascended into heaven, promising that he would one day return. But, for those who believe in his name, the work of the cross and the resurrection, he gave us the right to be called children of God. Jesus’s sacrifice is what makes us righteous before God.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
God does the work of fixing our sin problem and all we must do is receive the gift of faith. If you are reading this and you don’t have faith. All you have to do is ask.
Matthew 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Faith is a gift that God wants to give you so you can understand the grace he has given you through the work of Jesus. That is what Love is. Do yourself a favor, ask God to give you the gift of faith, you won’t be sorry you did.
