12/12/2024
Is God’s Love Unconditional? Is God’s Justice Unloving? I will answer each of these questions. Then I will explain why I gave the answers that I gave. Is God’s love unconditional? No it is not. Because of his love he gives everyone an equal opportunity to respond to his love. Then he rewards or corrects according to each person’s response to his love. Is God’s justice unloving? No it is not. He does not punish. He corrects / trains in righteousness.
Scriptural Support for the Above Statements
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God loves them all equally by giving Jesus so that they might have everlasting life. Those who repent of unbelief & believe & do the works that accompany faith are given everlasting life. Those who fail to repent of unbelief & continue to do dead works perish. To perish is to be cast into The Lake of Fire. God gives everyone the same opportunity. The Gospel is revealed in The Stars & in Scripture. God presents The Gospel directly to men himself & indirectly through men. The opportunity to believe is available to everyone.
Man’s response to The Gospel results in 2 categories of mankind: 1) believers who are given everlasting life & 2) unbelievers who will ultimately be cast into The Lake of Fire. All are given the same opportunity. Each one responds according to their own choice. God loves, man responds & God responds to man’s choice. Neither of God’s responses to man’s choice is unloving. But the responses are not the same. The responses are not unconditional love. They are conditional love. But they are both loving. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Overcomers who diligently seek God are rewarded with The First Resurrection and the opportunity to actively function in Kingship & Priesthood during The 1000 Years. God rewards for faith & obedience. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, but this does not mean that he punishes those who do not seek him.
“For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”
The purpose of judgment is not punishment. It is training in order all might learn righteousness. Even The Lake of Fire is not punishment. It is training in righteousness. I don’t have time here to prove this statement, but I know it to be true.
What do I conclude?
God does not love unconditionally, but he does love equally. And his justice is not unloving. His justice is not for the purpose of punishment. It is for the purpose of training in righteousness.
Mankind’s incorrect view of God’s love
Mankind tends to view God’s love incorrectly in one of two ways. They either see God as unloving because they see him as being unfair. Or they see God as loving unconditionally. Both of these views are incorrect. A correct view of God’s love is that it is both conditional & fair.
Mankind’s incorrect view that God’s love is unconditional
What is wrong about seeing God’s love as being unconditional? In answering this question I will explain a sign that I have seen outside a certain denomination’s church buildings. What do we have wrong about unconditional love? For most of mankind unconditional love is loving someone just as they are. This is true. But for most of mankind unconditional love is also not asking for anyone to change. This is not true. For those who do see a need for change most see that man is to promise to change and that man is then responsible to keep his promise. This is not true. Instead God promises to change us and he will keep his promise. How do these differences effect how we treat others? The sign outside many churches reads, “Come as you are!” It is not just speaking about what a visitor is wearing. It is speaking about what a visitor habitually does. The sign actually reads, “Come as you are and you don’t have to change!” How should the sign read? “Come as you are and let God keep his promise to change you to be like Jesus!”
Our misunderstanding of God’s love is a result of our misunderstanding of sin, death, & justice.
Sin & Death
Paul tells us that the Law is spiritual, righteous and good. He tells us that the Law reveals what actions are sinful. He tells us that the wages of sin is death. Mortal Death is the result of sinning. Sinning is failure to keep the Law. Two of mankind’s 3 biggest problems are Sin & Death. ( The third is Fallen Angels. ) Death is the only end to sinning. Oneness with Jesus in his Death allows us to die to Sin. We can then stop sinning. If we don’t know this, believe this & experience this, then our own Mortal Death brings our sinning to an end. In this way there is either an early limit to our sinning or a late limit to our sinning. The early limit is dying to Sin & consequentially ceasing sinning. The late limit to our sinning is the momment of our Mortal Death.
Restitution vs. Punishment
God does not punish. He corrects / changes / trains. Even Mortal Death is not a punishment. Mortal Death is a loving limit on the length of time that a man can be a sinner. God did not punish Adam & Eve with Mortal Death. He limited the time that they could be sinners. Casting Adam & Eve out of The Garden of Eden was not a punishment. Instead God prevented them from eating of The Tree of Life and living forever as a sinner. Mortal Death is a gift from a loving God. If God does not punish, then what does he do? God requires that the sinner pay restitution to the victim. This is in complete contrast to the Western system of Justice. The western Justice System requires that the criminal pay his / her debt to society. Afterwards the criminal still has a criminal record that will follow him / her for the remainder of his life. This criminal record will be likely to limit opportunities for the remainder of his / her life. The victim in most cases has to accept the loss that was created by the crime. This will limit the victim’s opportunities also. And society pays for the prison system. Nobody wins. Everybody loses. God’s system of justice requires that the sinner pay restitution to the victim. Some kinds of sin do not allow for restitution. Examples include murder, kidnapping and rape. Since no restitution for these kinds of sins Mortal Death is required of the sinner. Mortal Death stops the sinner from repeating a sin that he / she is unable to pay restitution for. What is the result of God’s system of justice? The victim receives restitution from the sinner. And the sinner gives restitution and he / she can go on to become a productive member of society. And society does not have to foot the bill for prisons. And criminals don’t receive an education in crime while in prison. With restitution everyone wins unless the sin requires Mortal Death of the sinner. When Mortal Death of the sinner is required it is a win / lose situation. The only win is that the sinner can’t repeat the sin. Otherwise, everyone loses. The victim loses. The sinner loses. And society loses both the victim & the sinner. The victim receives retribution plus some extra. How much extra depends on whether or not the original item is returned. ( See Leviticus 6:1-7 and Exodus 22:1-15 for an introduction to restitution ). Scripture does not use the word “restitution”. It uses the word “restore”. So, the victim is restored to their original condition with extra for the trouble.
Sin as a Debt versus Sin as a Crime
In man’s system of Justice sin is seen as a crime. In God’s system of justice sin is seen as a debt. In man’s system of Justice crime results in a debt to society. In God’s system of justice sin is seen as a debt to the victim.
Hell vs. The Lake of Fire
Hell is man’s idea. It involves punishment. The Lake of Fire is God’s plan for restitution. To fully explain this would take more time than I have in this article.
Summary
Two of Man’s greatest problems are Sin & Death. God’s plan ultimately frees all men from both Sin & Death. It is very loving of God to do this. God’s Plan does not free all men at the same time. This is not unconditional love, but it is very loving. And it is fair based upon man’s response to God’s love. God’s Plan results in 3 categories of mankind: 1) Overcomers are resurrected at The First Resurrection, given Immortal Life & actively participate in The 1000 Years, 2) Believers who did not overcome are resurrected at The Second Resurrection when they are given Immortal Life & 3) Unbelievers are resurrected at The Second Resurrection, are then cast into The Lake of Fire where they pay off their sin debt & learn righteousness. They are later given Immortal Life after their time in The Lake of Fire. God’s Plan is both loving & fair. Everyone is lovingly given the same opportunity to respond to The Gospel. Everyone is fairly treated based on their response to The Gospel. God’s love is not unconditional, but it is fair.
