Not at all. I'm happy to hear your thoughts.Sorry. I like your questions, so I hope you don't mind...
To put your responses in easy context for reference:
Question 1: Is God's love conditional upon your obeying the law?
Jude 1:21 says, " Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Note that the focus is on keeping yourself "in the love of God"? That is exactly what I am saying. By keeping your heart filled with the Love of God, you will naturally fulfill all the law of God, because you simply would not be motivated to act otherwise. If you truly love another, you're not going to harm them. If you are not loving another, then you might harm them because you are only thinking of yourself.Jude 1:21; John 15:10; Psalms 11:5
Looks that way, based on those scriptures. Not the Mosaic Law, but God's laws + the law of Christ.
This is putting the horse in front of the cart. The horse pulls the cart. But if you are trying to put the cart in front of the horse, following the letter of the law to a T, and be vehement about every jot and tittle, then you in fact fail the law itself, because you in fact are not "in the love of God" at all. You are not acting from that place. You are acting out of your own self-interest. Being a legalist is opposite from having the law "written on your heart", which comes from a place of Love.
John 15:10 says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."
Yes, but by simply following the commandments as a "legal obligation", does not mean you are doing it from a place of love in your heart. The Pharisees did all that to a T, yet did Jesus accept their religiosity? No, he did not. So what does John mean here? It is simply saying, "Keep mindful of my ways, and you will continue in love". This is like a temperature gauge. If you find yourself wanting in your heart to act out of malice towards another, this will move you out of that "abiding love" in your heart, which is alone responsible for your "fulfilling all the law".
It's telling you, pay attention, be mindful of what is going on in your heart. It does not have to do with being anal about making sure you double check you are doing each and every detail of the law in order to be accepted by God. That is how the legalist thinks. That is what they believe God expects. That is putting the cart in front of the horse.
Psalm 11:5 about the Lord testing, that is simply to say that if you are genuinely rooted and grounded (abiding), in the heart of Love, your actions, will tell the truth of that, or any deficiencies. "By their fruits you shall know them", is what Jesus said. It applies here.
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Question 2: Do you only love your children if they do what you say? Or, if you don't have children, did your own parents only love you when you were good and did what they say? Did you need to earn their love from them towards you?
This makes me think of what Jesus said. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts. to your children, how much more will your Father who. is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"Honestly, no.
The difference with us and God though, is God is holy. God is love.
Therefore, our love is not God's, nor our holiness. hence we need to understand what love is.
In other words, if as you say that our love is not God's Love, which is true, this does not mean that God acts worse than us! It is saying, our love, as good as that is, is nothing compared to God's love, which goes infinitely beyond our own. It doesn't act contrary to love, but rather it is the Source of Love itself. It is Love. And "Love works no ill".
I agree that love is more than sentimentality. The Love of God, is not an emotional love, even though emotions may certainly be experienced in response to it. But I disagree that humans are driven mostly by sentimentality. Self-sacrifice for others, is quite common in human love. A mother loves her children as extensions of herself. They are far more than merely sentimental about them.Love is not sentimentality.
So, while humans are driven mostly by sentiment, God is not.
The Love that I am and have been talking about is the Divine Love, with a capital L. That is the Source of all Life itself, and is Life itself. It is that Love, that is also available to everyone in everyone at all times, if only accessed, and allowed to be embraced and realized in us. And when we do that, that "Love works no ill". That Love, is the fulfillment of the law.
Darkness cannot exist in Light. The same way, lawlessness, or "sin" cannot exist in Love. Therefore the commandment is to be filled with Love. That is how you cast out darkness. That is how sin cannot exist.There is no harmony between light and darkness - holiness and ungodliness.
You are correct, that is not a healthy expression of love. Love tells the truth. Love corrects. But Love never says, "You don't deserve my love, because you didn't obey me!" That is conditional love. Unconditional Love never turns away from the wayward. Ever.To illustrate, some parents will refuse to discipline a child, because... "Oh. He's Sooooooo Cute." When the child becomes a "monster", because they were spoiled, then the parent wants to know.... "Did I give birth to you?"
They think that's love.
If human parents are able to show that type of love towards their own wayward children, where that love is always there for them no matter how far astray they may go, then certainly, how much more Unconditional is God's Love?
Don't mistake loving disciple, with withholding are denying love. I am talking about those who were raised by parents where the child had to earn their parents love, and that love was denied them because they acting against their parents will. Many people grew up with this, and that is why I believe, they are legalistic about God. They don't understand or can relate to unconditional love. They confuse unconditional love as a lack of discipline or spoiling of the child on the part of the parents, which is not the case.The Bible says of God... for those whom Jehovah loves he disciplines, in fact, he scourges everyone whom he receives as a son.” Hebrews 12:6
God's love is not sentimentality. We sometimes don't know the difference.
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Question 3: Do you believe God will send you to hell if you go to church on Sunday, instead of Saturday?
I agree.Well, I'll leave that to @2ndpillar since I know the Sabbath was given to the nation of Israel as a command to remember to keep a designated day holy, as a reminder not to forget the God that brought them out of Egypt, and cared for them.
It was as Paul said, a teacher, reminding them of what was important, so as to not lose out.
As was pointed out already... I saw @Kenny quote the scripture... the day is not the important thing. Neither eating and drinking.
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Question 4: Do you believe only those who believe like you do and practice religion the way you do will be accepted by God?
According to the teachings of Jesus, the requirements for pure worship is the be filled with God's Love in your heart. Doing so, you will naturally do no harm to others and fulfill the will, and the Way of God. That means, you can think however you want about God. Have whatever ideas you happen to like about God. Worship on whatever day of the week you want, or all days, or no day at all. You can eat whatever meat you want. Sing whatever song you want, etc. As long as it comes from a heart that is pure by being filled by the Love of God, that Unconditional Agape Divine Love, then you are a child of God.God accepts those who submit to his requirements for pure worship, so in that case, only those practicing the religion God approves, is acceptable to him, according to scripture. John 4:23-23; James 1:27
Following specific religious practices and beliefs, being in the "right religion" is not "obeying God". Loving your neighbor as yourself is.
I experienced unconditional love from my parents growing up, and for my entire life. And I experienced absolute, unconditional Love from God, infinite and beyond comprehension. That type of Love can express itself in all of us towards others. I start there. When we do that, then and only then have we fulfilled the law, are are truly "obeying" or aligning ourselves with the Will of God. The Horse needs to be put in front of the cart.
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