I Will Never Not Treat You Like a Child of God

Whether you believe in Him or not.

For the past two weeks I’ve been wrestling with an aspect of my faith. I’ve been so consumed with this topic, it feels like it’s been much longer than just two weeks. On occasion, I think it’s good to call to question the foundational beliefs you have, and where those foundations come from.

The belief in question is that God’s love is unconditional.

On the surface, it seems pretty straightforward. Of course God’s love is unconditional. Parents love their children unconditionally, and God is our father. The end, case closed.

If only it were that simple.

Evidently, there are some Christians out there who claim and have Biblical evidence to support that God’s love is conditional after all.

Before we explore this further, let’s look at some definitions shall we?

Unconditional — not subject to any conditions.

Condition — a state of affairs that must exist or be brought about before something else is possible or permitted.

I saw a meme the other day that set my blood boiling. I tried to find it again to no avail, but basically it said, “Nowhere in the Bible does it say we are all children of God. You have to be adopted into his family.”

While I understand the sentiment that the image was going for, I think there’s an inherent danger in distributing that message without any other context. This is a poor evangelism strategy. Did they honestly think that non-believers would be attracted to our religion with this kind of a message?

I guess maybe some people would. Maybe there are some people out there who are looking for a religion that’s exclusive and makes them feel special. But as a lost lamb questioning my place in the world, the last thing I’d want to hear is that I’m not a child of God or that he doesn’t love me unconditionally. Especially not without any information as to how I could remedy that situation. Although I likely wouldn’t even want to after being rejected like that.

Related posts:

Have you ever been commuting home from work, turned through the drive thru at Wendy’s or McDonald’s, eaten the entire meal in the car, only to realize how much you just ate as you are picking up…

Teacury Tulsi Tea. Organic tulsi tea is a popular herbal tea renowned for its calming and soothing effects. It is often referred to as “holy basil” because of….

Remember Internet 2.0? Sounds so quaint now, but it helped usher in the end of specialized expertise being attributed to a single celebrated individual. We now occupy world of data and a universal…