
Reasonable Christianity?
Reasonable Christianity is a weekly podcast where ordinary people have thought-provoking conversations about an extraordinary God. Each week we take a look at the truth claims of Christianity, the teachings of the bible as well as the practices of the saints in order to evaluate and affirm the truthfulness of our faith and ultimately preserve the power of the gospel. Hosted by Roland Albertus
Reasonable Christianity?
Is the love of God REALLY unconditional?
As human beings, probably, one of our greatest needs is to be loved. We are relational beings and whether we realise it or not we are driven by our desire to belong, to be accepted, to be approved of…to be loved. So, imagine someone telling you that the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and personal creator of the universe loves you unconditionally. He loves you just the way you are. That would be the greatest news in the world and that is exactly the message that many Christian teachers are proclaiming.
This is particularly true of mega church preachers and is certainly part of the reason why large numbers of people attend these churches on a weekly basis. I mean if love is one of our greatest needs and there was someone teaching that God loved me unconditionally then I would also be drawn to them. But as good as this mantra sounds, the question is: Is it true? Does God, in fact, love people unconditionally? And what does it even mean to love someone unconditionally?
These are the questions I hope to answer in today’s episode. I will do this in a few steps. Firstly, I will start by defining love according to the bible. Secondly, I will consider the five different ways the bible speaks about God’s love. Thirdly, I will be looking at five ways in which God’s love is unconditional and finally I will present five ways in which God’s love is not unconditional.