If you love me, keep my commandments
John 14:15
We always hear about God’s unconditional love for us, but do we ever stop to consider that there are conditions placed upon us by God? It is a foregone conclusion that God is love and that he is eternal, therefore love is eternal. We can not put any kind of limitation on his love and we can not truly even conceive of how great he is. Nevertheless, we have the Bible to consider and I have yet to see where He tells us of unconditional love.
Computer programmers are all too familiar with what is called the “if” statement. Another term for the “if” statement is a “conditional statement”. Conditional “if” statements (or expressions) can also have what is known as an accompanying “else” statement. Sometimes there may even be more than one “else”. So basically, when a program executes a conditional, the condition is tested and evaluated. Depending on the value of the conditional certain statements or commands are executed. For example, if n = 2 then do something. An if…else statement would equate to: if n = 2 then take route A else take route B. Different values being met can mean specific courses of actions are to take place. Where if n = 1 then do this…else if n = 2 then do that…else if n = 3 do the other thing… and so on.
God places conditions on us. A good example of a plain old “if” statement is John 14:15. Jesus is essentially saying, if you love me then obey my commandments. In this conditional statement there is an implied “else”. If we truly love Him then we will obey Him else we do not love him and we will be disobedient. In fact, He says that if you love me, then I command you to obey my commandments. So if this were a piece of software code it would look something like this:
If You Love Me Then
Obey My Commands
Else
You Are Disobedient
End If
The implication here is that if we love God we will be obedient to Him and we will then be able to hear from Him in order to do His will...in essence we will be His children. If we are disobedient to Him, we do not love Him and are then rebels and bastards...in essence the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-5). So how is it that mainstream Christian teaching has put forth this God of unconditional love and acceptance?
Excerpts from Unconditional Love and Acceptance? By John Beardsley
“James Dobson one of the chief proponents of unconditional love, believes that all people need it. Dobson declares: "I'm convinced the human spirit craves this kind of unconditional love and experiences something akin to 'soul hunger' when it cannot be achieved." Then as an extra bonus, Dobson brings God in as the primary person who gives this unconditional love and acceptance -- he says "God's acceptance is unconditional." Dobson is not alone in that conclusion. A host of well-respected professing Christian leaders describe God's love as unconditional.”
“Ever since the rise of secular humanism in this country, and especially since the establishment of humanistic psychology, the popular, "relevant" term to describe God's love has been unconditional. The thrust of this word in humanistic psychology has been both to give and to expect unconditional love from one another with no strings attached. While unconditional love and acceptance supposedly promote change and growth, they make no requirements. But God, who is love, requires change and enables his children to grow in righteousness.
In humanistic psychology, parents and society are always the culprits. Since they believe that every person is born with intrinsic worth and innate goodness, psychologists contend that one main reason people experience emotional and behavioral problems is because they have not received unconditional love from their parents. Following that thesis, Christians have come to believe that the best kind of love is unconditional love. It is the highest love secular humanists know. It is touted as a love that makes no demands for performance, good behavior, or the like. It has also been associated with a kind of permissiveness, since it makes no demands and has no conditions, even though the promoters of the unconditional love jargon would say that unconditional love does not have to dispense with discipline.”
Pope John Paul II was recorded as saying during a homily in San Francisco, in September 1987, that God "loves us all with an unconditional, everlasting love”.
Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as saying “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality”.
This psychological reasoning, taken from the likes of Dr. Spock and Phil Donohue, is void of discipline which is not in accordance with the Word of God which tells us that if we desire to be God’s children then we will endure chastening or else we will be considered by God as bastards (Hebrews 12:6-11).
Since the world is against and opposite of God it stands to reason that their perception of love is unconditional when it is unequivocally proven from scripture that entering into God’s kingdom is conditional. The world sees “their” God as a one-sided, all loving and incapable of hating anyone or anything (Malachi 1:2-3, Proverbs 6:16-19) . God is a person and He has likes and dislikes. He has His ways, which are higher than ours and what He says goes! The world will preach an all accepting, unconditional loving God that will appeal to the masses of homosexuals, perverts, liars and all other forms of rebels. God says be holy as I am holy (1st Peter 1:16). Since we have been born in sin and shaped in inquity - yet He commands us to be holy - there must be some kind of conditions that we must meet in agreement with God and steps that we are to execute per His instructions. Again, I reiterate that God’s love is limitless and beyond or current capabilities of comprehension (Psalms 145:3, Romans 11:33), and it is foolish to try to make Him accept us unconditionally when it is we that have sinned against Him and if anything it is we that need to surrender to Him – on His terms - unconditionally!
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”
1st Corinthians 15:1-2
“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
John 14:23
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”
Matthew 6:14-15
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
Matthew 10:22
“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved;”
Mark 16:15
“You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.”
John 15:14
“For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live”
Romans 8:13
“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:1-5