Conditional love (Miller)
November 30th, 2006 | Published in Love, Quotes, Religion | 3 Comments
The real issue [I had with] the Christian community was that [love] was conditional. You were loved, but if you had questions, questions about whether the Bible was true or America was a good country or whether last week’s sermon was good, you were not so loved. You were loved in word, but there was, without question, a social commodity that was being withheld from you until you shaped up.
–Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (2003), p. 214
December 8th, 2006 at 8:41 pm (#)
*Was* last week’s sermon good? *Is* the Bible true? Does Donald Miller think we can know those things for sure, or do they even matter?
Many people in my life have been greatly impacted by reading Miller’s book, but I could not get past how he just dissed Christians from a generation or so ago who did so much work in the areas of Christian apologetics.
I know people like Josh McDowell don’t speak to this generation (because I am of this generation and he does not speak to me, for one), but I am thankful to God for the work that he has done.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:23 pm (#)
Conditional love is not an ethic supported by the Church, rather it is a human flaw. The Church would verily support the truth that God is unconditional love, and as humans are created in his image, we are to express this unconditional love to our peers; however, humans are far from deity, and though we are created in the image of God, we are a severely degraded, imperfect replica (anyone who reads the Bible would read about the spiritual separation from God as a result of the Original Sin). God’s love is unconditional and human’s is ideally, but, as we are a degraded variant of God’s character, it is unconditional. As a result of this truth, the Church would preach to, instead of striving for the love from humans as it is naturally unconditional and very imperfect, make efforts to please God and work under the umbrella of His unconditional love.
Yes, those hipocritical, insolent bible-beaters’ love will come and go as quickly as you choose to agree or dispute their personal beliefs and preferences, but this is unholy in the eyes of God and cannot compare to the unconditionality of His love. I smoked, drank, slept around, and turned on the Church; some of the Christians rebuked me and gave up (their love is repulsive to God), but I heard it preached that God loves me, He loves Hitler, He loves Osama Bin Laden, He loves Billy Graham, He loves my friends, He loves my dead-beat father, He loves Mother Theresa equally. Though my actions disappointed Him and required punishment and apology, His love was still with me–even when some Christians hated me.
The point is to live under God’s love rather than for the love of your peers: They will stop loving you, but He will always be with you. I hate that Christians are too busy stressing over their personal ideals rather than spreading God’s love the way He wants them to. I personally find it harder to love some Christians than most sinners. This unease of love is not a reflection of God, but rather my own sinful nature. Thank you, hypocrits, for ruining people for the Kingdom of Your God: way to make your Father proud!
September 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm (#)
In the first paragraph: “… of God’s love, it is CONDITIONAL…”
my mistake.