There is no such thing as Unconditional Love

Can we honor “God is Love” while categorizing our fellow humans into “neighbor, believer” and “neighbor, non-believer?”

When we sort livestock, we assign value: This group for breeding; this for milk; this for slaughter. When we categorize people, we fence humans off like cattle. These fences are what separate humanity from itself—and when we allow ourselves to classify each other as worthy or less-worthy, we can't extend love unconditionally.

When the state of another's belief or unbelief becomes the fulcrum upon which the conditions of love are balanced, the phrase "unconditional love" becomes an oxymoron.

This sounds more like the devil's work than God's.

God without Church?

Hey Rick asks a great question in a response on April's Blog <here>.

Or, you can read and ponder here:

Just go with me here for a minute.

Imagine no churches, buildings or formal groupings, programs or youth groups, no meeting based relationships, services, bible studies, community groups, no religions (Christianity, Muslim, Judaism, Buddhism, Mormonism, etc) and along with it no religious materials, publications, music, sermons, tapes, cd’s, podcast, websites like theooze, no bible or Koran, no gospel message, no special people like preachers, priest, deacons, bishops, popes or guru’s, no special clothing, liturgy, systematic theology, no liberal, conservative, no spiritual foundations, no special numbers, days, ceremonies like baptism, sprinklings, laying on of hands, prayer meeting, healings or events. No church history, no preconceived notions about God. No seminaries, bible colleges, religious schools, or programs of education. No verse, thought or daily devotion.

What’s left?

Love and Loss

Midnight: Some dummy crashes his car into a telephone pole.

7 AM: A major street in our town is closed.

9 AM: The local on-line paper says the street is closed due to a car hitting a telephone pole. Driver unidentified.

10 AM: A co-worker receives a phone call from her daughter. A friend of the family has been killed in a car accident—he crashed his car into a telephone pole on the street which is still closed to traffic.

The "dummy" was 23. His parents loved him enough to bring him home when he was arrested on a DUI in another state last Fall. They loved him enough to try to get him through his growing pains. They loved him enough that they waited by his crashed vehicle from midnight to 7 AM, when rescue crews were finally able to extricate his remains from the wreckage.

In the space of just a few hours, an inconvenience caused by some "dummy" regains the life he just lost. Strangers to the family mourn with co-workers who know them because now, we recognize and share in this loss of a life lost before its holder gained or regained a vision of its joys.

Seems to me that this is what Love is: An ability to accord value before personal connections help us transform our cold hearts to warm.