by Jacob Ninan
"God loves everyone!" "God's love is unconditional!" "God will always love you, no matter what you do!" "Nothing can separate you from the love of God!" These are what many preach and many believe. But are these really true? Or is there something more to it than what appears? If we take these to be true, then we can understand why some people think that the Old Testament God is different from the God Jesus has revealed! If God's love is unconditional, then how can we answer questions such as, "If God is loving, how can He send people to hell? If God loves me, why doesn't He answer my prayers? If God is love and He is also almighty, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? How can a loving God ask Israel to kill innocent children in Canaan?"
The fact is that to say "God loves everyone and His love is unconditional" without further clarifications is very misleading because it does not look at God in His entirety. These are true in a certain sense, but only up to some extent. It is true that God loves everyone, but that is only if we consider just one aspect of it, and His love is unconditional only if we look at it from a particular angle. So it is very misleading to present them as if they totally represent God's character. If we present God only with these words, we misrepresent Him very badly, because we are missing out on many others of His characteristics. Certainly it is more pleasant to hear that God loves us than to hear that one day everyone will have to give an account of their life to God (Ro.14:12). But one aspect of His character cannot be understood properly without also understanding the others.
Many sides / aspects to love
God's love is a many-sided thing. Which side we come across depends on the specific situation. God is the ultimate example of everything that is perfect. He names Himself as Love (1Jn.4:16), because that describes His character in the best possible way so that we can understand that all that He does is done in love. Whatever He does, if we look at it in the right way, we can see that there is love behind that act as the motivation. When God has to discipline someone, which may appear to us as being harsh if we look at it superficially, He is motivated by His love for that person, hoping that this discipline will result in that person repenting from wrong and returning to Him (Heb.12:6,10). We can see immediately that the person who is faithful before God and another person who disobeys God will experience the love of God in different ways, but they are both experiencing the love of God! If we think about it, even our love varies like that towards other people.God as a Person of love vs. how we experience His love
Once we understand that as a person God is love, we must then understand that how we experience that love in our personal life will depend on our own particular relationship Him. Moses knew God face to face, in a closer way than what other prophets in he Old Testament could experience. Abraham became a friend of God, which his son Isaac or grandson Jacob did not get to experience. David became known as a man after God's own heart, but he lost that relationship when he sinned against God. Enoch walked so closely with God that one day, God took him up to Him bypassing death. Even now we can recognise those who are very close to God, by seeing how closely they resemble Him in their lives. Because our own response to God is different from person to person, it is true that even in eternity, our closeness to the Lord Jesus will not all be the same. Even though we may 'shine like stars in the sky', some stars will be brighter than others (Dan.12:3;1Cor.15:41).Experience: heaven vs. hell
By 'heaven' we generally refer to the place where we will be dwelling in His presence enjoying His blessings for all eternity, all those who have been accepted as His children through the blood sacrifice of Jesus in our place. And by 'hell' we mean the place of torment of being away from God because of God's judgment over people who chose to reject His grace.
Look at this image which shows the wide spectrum of our possible experiences with God depending on how we respond to His love. Please note that when people keep rejecting God's grace again and again, they may take themselves to the place where God gives up on them and hardens their heart against Him (Rom.1:20-24;Ex.9:7,12). Even though God offers His love unconditionally to all people without considering their eligibility, the experience of God's love depends on how we respond to Him. "Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off" (Rom.11:22). Those who end up in hell do not get there because God hated them, but because they chose to be away from His love. If electricity is available, but we choose not to put on the switch, it is we who choose the darkness, and we cannot blame the lack of electricity.
Experience: we choose
It is important to see that even though God loves all people in the sense that He desires that everyone would be saved, it is we who choose to receive or reject the offer of salvation. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn.3:16). He has made atonement for the sins of all people (1Jn.2:2). He desires that all men would receive this salvation (1Tim.2:4;2Pet.3:9). A problem comes when someone proclaims this unconditional part of the love of God without mentioning our responsibility to respond to it and experience it. Jesus came to save us from our sins – its punishment and its power over us – but a lot of modern preaching does not ask the hearers to repent from their sins and then to receive forgiveness and acceptance as a gift from God. They preach only about the love of God, and then the hearers do not actually experience salvation from sin, and they continue their life of sin while imagining that they are under the love of God. This is a serious problem when preachers exaggerate the grace of God to such an extent that man's responsibility is ignored, to repent from his sins, receive forgiveness through the grace of God and then show his gratitude to God by becoming more and more faithful to God. But when we understand both aspects, then we can see that God's offer is unconditional to all people, but our experience is conditional depending on our response.As a Person, God is love
God is love. The love of God can be seen in that He loves everyone He has created. He wishes the best for everyone. He wants even the ones who go away from Him to return and avoid the judgment. In order to redeem us from our bondage to sin, He took our punishment and offered us undeserved forgiveness and acceptance. In this way, His love is being offered to all of us unconditionally. But then we need to understand that there are also other aspects to His character.
Look at the picture of the spectrum of colours which are all included in what is called white light.
In the same way, God's character can be seen in multiple aspects such as holiness, righteousness, justice, impartiality, etc., as also His goodness, kindness, mercy, patience, etc. All these are characteristic of God, and He cannot stop having any of these aspects at any time. For example, God cannot love at the cost of His holiness, righteousness, justice or impartiality. It is sometimes difficult for us to grasp this idea, because the common understanding is that when He disciplines someone, it cannot be out of love, or that when He passes judgment, it is out of hatred for them. But God has not stopped being love, but they have opted to stay outside of His love.
Warns, corrects, disciplines, judges
God demonstrated His love to sinners by dying in their place and suffering the judgment for their sins (Heb.8:12). He has warned people again and again through their conscience, through His word and through His prophets. As someone said, like a hound of heaven, God pursues people to help backsliding people to come back to Him. He does not give up on them even when they ignore Him. But if they keep rejecting Him, they take themselves to the place of no return, when He gives them up to judgment. No one will be able to say on the Day of Judgment that God did not show them love.Makes up for loss
When people repent, there is God showing mercy and forgiveness, giving them blessings, and causing even all the bad things that have happened to them to work together for their eternal good (Rom.8:28,29). He does not hold our past sins against us once He has forgiven us (Heb.8:12). It is not that He forgets our sins, because the all-knowing God cannot forget things. What it means is that after having forgiven us, God will not hold our sins against us but treat us 'just-as-if-we'd' ('justified') not sinned.Unconditional?
Forgiveness and acceptance are offered to us irrespective of the grossness of our past. The vilest of sinners can experience washing with the blood of Jesus and recreation as new creatures (1Cor.6:9-11). Then each of them has the opportunity to get nearer to God and have their lives transformed, and enjoy fellowship with Him. But how close they get and how much they experience the love of God will depend on how seriously they repent from their old sins, and how sincerely they follow after their Master. See how Paul describes this kind of repentance (2Cor.7:11). God is not partial, but we differ in our level of response and therefore in the level of experience. We make the choice, to receive grace or judgment.Judgment
Judgment is the consequence of our choice to reject His grace, refuse His warnings, and choose sinful pleasures instead. If we choose that kind of behaviour, we cannot hope for unconditional love! Then we cannot quote promises such as He will never leave us, because it is we who choose to leave. God, on His part, will never want to let us go away from Him, and He will never allow anyone to take us away from Him. But He will not overrule it if we misuse our freedom and go away from Him.There is a way to return to God
Those who have so far lived all their life for their own sinful pleasures, and even those who have backslidden from Him after getting to know Him, all have the opportunity to repent and return to Him. But we must not think that repentance will then take away all the natural consequences of the sins we have already committed. There is forgiveness and removal of God's wrath, but that is not the same as the removal of the results of sin, such as loss of health, broken relationships, impact on the children, loss of reputation, loss of money and various other complications. Also, the regret of knowing what we could have received and enjoyed from God instead will haunt us. Instead of banking on the unconditional love of God to take full care of us, isn't it necessary for us to repent quickly and as deeply as possible?Salvation not forgiveness and entry to heaven
Emphasising the one-sided love of God, many are given to believe that once they have received forgiveness for their sins, their place is reserved for them in heaven and they have nothing else to be concerned about. But forgiveness of sins is only the starting point for salvation, and it is not all that there is for us. God wants to save us from the power of sin over our life and transform us more and more into the character of Jesus. This is only possible if we take up our cross daily with the intention to die to ourselves every day, deny our own will when it crosses with the will of God, and follow Jesus every moment of our life (Lk.9:23;1Jn.2:6). This purpose of God will get neglected if people focus only on the unconditional love of God.Q & A
Now let us look at some of the questions that we raised earlier.
If God is loving, how can He send people to hell?
We have looked at it a little earlier. There is a wrong teaching that God has elected some people to have eternal life and go to heaven, while the others are doomed to be in hell. According to this teaching, it would appear that the so-called loving God has sent some people to hell by His own unconditional choice and irrespective of their choice. But as we have seen, people who go to hell reach there as a result of the choices they made on earth, one after another, to please themselves and to reject the commandments of God. These choices took them farther and farther away from God till they reached the point of no return and God gave them up. The love of God made their salvation ready and kept offering it to them, and they kept rejecting it. The question should not be about how a loving God sent people to hell, but why they chose to go to hell in spite of His love.If God loves me, why doesn't He answer my prayers?
What we see from many parents is that they think if they love their children, they should always make the children happy by giving them whatever they ask for. But isn't this foolish? Children are children and they do not often know what is good for them or how something can harm them. It is for the parents to make those decisions till the children grow up and come to their own ability to make decisions. It is the same way with God, our heavenly Father. Some things we ask for may not be good for us, or He may have better plans for us. So, it is in His love for us that He does not give us everything we ask for. Once we get to know that it is better to trust our Father and leave the final decision to Him, we can ask Him all we want, and close it by saying, "Not my will, but Yours be done."If God is love and He is also almighty, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?
The problem is with attributing to God the evil that men have created by disobeying God. When God created the world and everything in it, it was all very good. But the consequences of the evil man has done affects the whole world, and naturally even God's people living in this world will experience those. For example, sickness, accidents, natural calamities, etc., come to all people. We must not forget that there is really no 'good' person here at all who has not done anything wrong and who does not deserve any punishment (Rom.3:23). Naturally, we will suffer consequences whenever we do wrong. Since we are living among other sinful people, we will sometimes bear some consequences when they do wrong. If you ask, could not God have protected His people from such things, and if you are thinking of God's ability, the answer is yes. There are many examples of how God intervenes to protect His people, for example, protecting the Jews from Haman in the Book of Esther. But if God were to protect His people from all that is bad, He would have to remove all evil from this world. He cannot do that without taking away man's ability to make choices. But God will one day take away all evil, when He creates the new heaven and the new earth and places His people there. But right now, He allows evil to exist up to a point which He controls, so that people may learn to seek Him and turn away from sin. We must also remember that it is many times in the presence of evil that we get opportunities to gain some virtues. For example, we cannot receive patience if there are no situations that tempt us to be impatient. So, allowing evil to exist in the world is one way God trains us to choose good.How can a loving God ask Israel to kill innocent children in Canaan?
It sounds reasonable to ask this question when we look at the subject superficially. But the answer has several layers. The topmost layer was that the command to destroy the Canaanites completely was to wipe them out so that they would not be there to influence the people of Israel when they settled down there. The Canaanites were not only idol worshippers, but also utterly cruel and immoral in their behaviour. Unfortunately, Israel did not completely wipe them out from the land, but allowed some of them to remain. The remaining Canaanites did draw many in Israel away from God to follow idols. Secondly it was a punishment God gave to those people. By the time Israel reached Canaan, the sin of the Canaanites had reached its limits (Gen.15:16). In fact, the reason why God waited so long was to give them a chance to repent. The third layer is a little more difficult to understand. Why would God 'punish' small, innocent children? Some Christians would answer this by saying that all are sinners, and that if God chose to punish some of them like this, it would only be just. But that does not explain why 'innocent' children were also 'punished' in this way.Perhaps it would become a little clearer when we consider that God considers 'children' as innocent ones to whom the kingdom of God belongs (Matt.19:14). Therefore, they were not being 'punished' at this time. These children of the Canaanites would ultimately have their place in heaven! It was a transition for them from the earth. In the process of eliminating the Canaanites, it became inevitable to include the children also, but it would finally end up in their being taken to heaven.
We human beings are used to thinking of things from an earthly point of view, and it would naturally occur to us that anything painful or calamitous must be coming from God's anger. We are tempted to think that godly men cannot have any serious sickness or die in an accident. But such things are the results of sin in the world which everyone in the world may experience. But God gives greater attention to the life in eternity where there will be no sin and therefore no sickness, pain, sorrow, etc. While people who experience calamities on this earth may be considered by ignorant people as being unlucky or coming under the wrath of God, the real question is what they experience in eternity. Christians who are martyred in this world and babies who are killed in the womb will have a time of rejoicing in eternity. So also those Canaanite children who were killed.
Perhaps this is not a completely satisfying answer for some people. But let us remember that we cannot expect to get all the answers now, in this earthly life. In such cases what I would do is to admit that I don't know the full answer to this but hold insistently to the position that God will certainly have a good answer with Him, and that He would still have been loving when He did this.