![]() ![]() Often, when Christians say unconditional love we know they do not mean it in the exact, literal sense. ![]() Hearing this doctrine put forth with such piercing clarity from Pagans should give Christians pause in their enthusiasm to embrace it. God's unconditional love means that we will all go to heaven." Condemning people to hell is not exactly a loving thing to do for those so sent, is it? So, it does not matter what people think or believe or do. A typical complaint is to lecture us that "God's love is unconditional", thus justifying witchcraft-or whatever-since "God loves everyone eternally no matter what they believe." By this way of thinking, "It makes no difference which 'god' you worship since God's unconditional love would never allow Him to send anyone to hell. Could unconditional love be Satan's latest repackaging of the "peace, peace" message that has always been the essence of false prophecy? Of course, Satan would never be that clever, to deny the very words of God with a subtle twist of phrase? Would he?īecause of a Bible Study on our site which calls for repentance from witchcraft, we get a lot of "flames" from Wiccans and Pagans. On 3), we should consider the possibility that this new phrase might be a wolf in sheep's clothing. And this is the kind of thing Jesus often said. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. "Hey Jesus, you can't say that! Don't you know that God's agape love is unconditional!" Unconditional love strips these words right out of our Savior's mouth. ![]() In a typical teaching of Jesus, much of what he said were the life-giving conditions of moving out-of a position of wrath and into a loving relationship with the Father. If unconditional can cohabit the same phrase as love without canceling it (when not on LSD, that is), then why did Jesus bother declaring the conditions? "You must be born again." etc. On 2), is the implicit idea that the phrase asserts consistent with Scripture? If we take the phrase in its plain-sense meaning, certainly not. With this dubious modern pedigree we must ask the obvious question: is this an idea that comes from above, or from below? (John 8:23) Just about then a few susceptible christian teachers stepped in and took the baton, and the rest is history. After the drugs wore off, psychology flirted with the pop-phrase in the 1970's in the "transactional analysis" fad, but this was ephemeral and quickly dropped from view. But "under the influence" a lot of things made sense that didn't later. But the phrase did not last long even among the hippies because it is inherently contradictory: to love is to care deeply about the condition of the one loved. ![]() What the flower-children originally meant by unconditional love had to do with "love the one you are with" in the sexual revolution sense. The phrase unconditional love entered mainstream, pop-culture English during the 1960s LSD drug culture. Readers have pointed out that it was first used in 1751 in negative reference to the Moravian heresy (hat tip: Devin R.), and more recently by Erich Fromm in the 1930s to describe the matricentric complex (vs. On 1), the words unconditional and love are not used in Scripture in either the Old or New Testaments, nor do any of the church fathers use the phrase. On this we should consider three things: 1) Where did this idea come from? 2) Is it consistent with Scripture? and 3) Could this be a modern packaging of the age old message of false prophecy? But is God's love without condition-I.E.: UN-conditional? Scripture clearly teaches that God's love ( phileo, agape, aheb, ahabah, etc.) is unfailing, undeserved, and unilateral (completely one-sided in initiation). A Critical Review of a Pop Religious Truism ![]()
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