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Original poster

Is the Christian God's love unconditional?

902 replies

Woolmark · 20/11/2013 19:57

Ok, some questions which have been playing on my mind, I am genuinely interested.

Surely his love is on the condition that you are a) a Christian and b) follow his rules?

Also, if God loves everyone as much as he does, why can't he save everyone by simply appearing to them? If I could save my children by doing this then I would in an instant, rather than turning up at the end and destroying the ones who weren't Christian.

OP posts:
sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 15:31

I can sit here and say god is real and that I have a personal relationship with jesus because I do.
You can say you dont and dont belive in god because you dont again fair enough point we both have the freedom to say such things.
What I cannot say is that I know where you or anyone else is beliving and whether or not it true to that person.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 15:32

But sunshine I thought the NT commanded you to preach the gospel? Wouldn't that involve the assumption on your behalf that they had the wrong religion?

headinhands · 30/11/2013 15:36

So you'd pretty much automatically believe someone who said they had a deep faith in Jesus, because you do, but not believe someone who said they had deep faith in Allah, because you don't think he exists. Isn't that just out and out blatant confirmation bias?

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 15:40

Well the bible tells me to only uae the bible as the word of god not preacher's.
So yes I should use the bible for my own daily guide but if I am not to follow preacher's then I would be doing no good being one surely.

I think it is good to have a gathering such as in a church with fellow Christians but any preaching is stright from the bible therefore stright from god not a preist if that makda sense.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 15:42

Ah right, and you know the bible is straight from god how?

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 15:45

Sorry did not say where in the bible mark 7::1-13
Jesus said that only the bible is the word of god not the additional teachings of religious leaders.

madhairday · 30/11/2013 15:46

Back my dad became a Christian.

If he'd become Muslim or Hindu that would be totally up to him, but he found in Jesus something enough to completely blow his atheism out of the water - and he was hardened atheist.

I know people of other faiths feel deeply and passionately about their faiths too, I'm not denying that or saying that I have a monopoly on being passionate about my faith. But I do believe that Jesus is unique, and I follow his path because I think it is the only faith where God showed Godself to be so passionate about us that God did something about it; came down among us, in poverty and obscurity, and showed us a way to be reconciled to God that is not through our own efforts. Most other faiths concentrate on being good enough to reach God, and while I would in no way deny that people of faith (and of no faith) can be very good, wonderful, loving people, I would still say that Christianity provides a unique way whereby our own efforts are not the most important thing in the equation. Christians are certainly no better than anyone else and any Christian who believes they are are not grasping the reality of grace.

niminy thankyou. I always enjoy your posts too :)

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 15:47

Well that boils down to my personal belife and faith in jesus.

Golddigger · 30/11/2013 15:55

I am not saying for one minute that a muslim does not believe in what he or she is doing.

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 16:05

Ok I would like to share something I should name change but then again meh.

Ok my father was a priest, he would say he was a born again christian. My childhood consisted of being sat ib the pews ever sunday listening to him tell everyone how much god loved us and then at home he would abuse you over and over again.
When I left home at 14 I went completely off the rails drugs acholcol sex for money and so on.
Down the line I was waiting in a cafe to see one of my social parents( who never turned up) and I was just sat there when a strange women came in. She began talking to me about god how he knew my pain and cut a long long story short that wad the day I was saved.
Now we could look at this in many perspectives

  1. the women that day was a born again christian had she been muslin or whatever maybe I would of been saved by that faith but she was not.
  2. I was how ever tragic bought up in a christian home so maybe on some level people could say that is all I have ever known so was easy to belive it when the women said she had a message from god for me.

Or as I see it jesus is very much real in me. We live in a horrible world filled with sin that results in so much suffering. However god loves me and jesus was sent to save me and enable me to have a personal relationship with him.

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 16:10

Now this of course does not make me have proof of god in your eyes but again I do not need to prove that god is real to you or anyone else.
I was simple explaining why and how it came about god being real to me.
And to explain that no matter what we think of others belives to each individual their own personal belief is something truly amazing to them.

Golddigger · 30/11/2013 16:11

Lovely story sunshine401 Smile

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 16:17

Sorry about spelling/grammer got my adorable little baby on my lap and trying to use phone at the same time. [Smile]

headinhands · 30/11/2013 16:35

Thanks for that verse sunshine but how do you know the bible is true. You can't use bible verses because you're using what you think is true to try and prove it's true.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 16:37

It'd be like me saying 'the Koran is true because it says so at 2:32 of the Koran. See what I mean. You'd want something outside of it x

headinhands · 30/11/2013 16:38

Haha excuse the kiss! Have been texting a lot this afternoon.

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 16:48

I was explaining that is how I personally see it. Because
I see the bible as true. It is true to me because god says
It is true and I believe and trust in god.

You do not believe in god so it will not be seen as true in your eyes. But it is in my eyes. It is my guide that I follow to stay close to god and live by his word. So when I have a question/problem I seek help from god and use the bible to help me do so.
Just as you may seek medical help from a gp because you trust medical science to help and heal you.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 17:00

You do go to the doctor when necessary don't you sunshine?

I understand what you believe but how do you know that what you think is god talking to you, is actually god talking to you and not like your own brain iyswim? Because I guess you'd think that a Muslim who thinks Allah is talking to them, that it was actually just their own thoughts or worse :/

capsium · 30/11/2013 17:07

head I think reading the Bible and reflecting on it allows you to know which thoughts are biblical, line up with God, as you get to know about the nature of God.

A good thought in the Biblical sense is from God since all good originates from Him.

sunshine401 · 30/11/2013 17:10

I know its god but I have experienced it. It would be very hard to convince you as you are not me and don't know what it in my heart.
I I know jesus lives within in but just like you before I was saved I would not belive such a statement off anyone because it does not sound real. So for me to explain it to you would be very difficult because you would not understand.

In regards to other religions I can not know what is in their hearts I am sure they believe just as much as anyone else but I know they are trusting a being that is false because god says he and his word is the true path. However like I have said I cannot and should not judge or condemn anyone it is not my or anyone else's place to do so.

capsium · 30/11/2013 17:11

It is the same if we read any book. I could say any author speaks to me in one sense as their thoughts are written on the page. As their thoughts affect me, I can reflect on them in my own mind, reading a book can be an interactive, as in not a purely passive process. In this way the reader has a relationship with the author.

capsium · 30/11/2013 17:14

I think there is a spiritual element to much of life. People talk about Zeitgeist and in a way the collective beliefs of a society can act as a spirit is described as acting in the Bible.

Golddigger · 30/11/2013 17:22

Yes, the experiences. That is a good way of putting it.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 18:46

I understand how reading allows you into the mind of the author, but with any piece of writing that isn't fiction you would approach it with critical thinking such as 'what's the agenda' and so on. Furthermore, the more spectacular the claims made by the author, the more evidence you would want to substantiate those claims.

headinhands · 30/11/2013 18:47

And feelings aren't evidence as we have already established further down thread.