With that in mind consider the following quotes, or from the Church produced Ensign magazine.
"God is our father; he loves us; his love is infinite and unconditional. His sorrow is great when we disobey his commandments and break his laws. He cannot condone our transgressions, but he loves us and wants us to return to him. I know of no greater inducement to repentance and reconciliation with our Father in Heaven than an awareness of his unconditional love for us personally and individually." - Elder Ronald E. Poelman, "God's Love for Us Transcends Our Transgressions," Ensign, May 1982, page 27.
"The greatest example of love available to all of us is, of course, found in the scripture from John: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.' (John 3:16.) By the greatest of all acts of love and by this supreme sacrifice, God set the pattern. He demonstrated to us that His love was unconditional and sufficient to encircle every person." Marvin J. Ashton, We Serve That Which We Love, Ensign, May 1981, Page 22
“In fact, did not Jesus counsel Peter to feed his ‘lambs’ as well as his ‘sheep’? (John 21:15-16) There is no human condition in which the unconditional love of a true shepherd is wasted.”
Neil A. Maxwell, Ensign 1985.
“It is within our families that we learn unconditional love, which can come to us & draw us very close to God’s love.” M. Russell Ballard, Liahona, Nov. 2003.
Neil A. Maxwell, Ensign 1985.
“It is within our families that we learn unconditional love, which can come to us & draw us very close to God’s love.” M. Russell Ballard, Liahona, Nov. 2003.
I came across something from the Feb 2003 Ensign that had a somewhat different message and which made me pause.
"Divine Love Is Also Conditional : While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional. The word does not appear in the scriptures. On the other hand, many verses affirm that the higher levels of love the Father and the Son feel for each of us—and certain divine blessings stemming from that love—are conditional. Understanding that divine love and blessings are not truly 'unconditional' can defend us against common fallacies such as these: 'Since God's love is unconditional, He will love me regardless …'; or 'Since 'God is love,' He will love me unconditionally, regardless …' These arguments are used by anti-Christs to woo people with deception." Russell M. Nelson, "Divine Love," Ensign, Feb. 2003
So God's love CAN be termed "universal", but can't be termed "unconditional" and the first reason is because the word "unconditional" isn't found in scripture. Well guess what, the term "universal" is also not found in scripture and that word just got used as an adjective for God's love. So....the logic here is not consistent at all.
I get that there are some fallacies that we should avoid. They are lazy, and assume God will reward you the same when you disobey him, as if you obeyed God's laws. This is the opposite of conscience. Free license to indulge in sin!! That's silly and defies common sense and would require ignoring all of revealed scripture. There's 101 scriptures to correct those fallacies, and yet we alter how we teach God's nature to address them? It's as though we tried so hard to prevent a fallacy that we created an equally dangerous one.
The concern here about these quotes is because if we misportray God's nature we can prevent people from having saving faith. Above are quotes that fundamentally disagree, so by definition at least one of them is perpetrating falsehoods which can prevent people from acquiring saving faith.
The statement "Divine Love is also Conditional" seems odd (well, it's contradictory) with the other statements by other Church authorities. I respect Elder Nelson and I think his message is aimed to help us avoid fallacies which would leave us disappointed in the end were we to buy into them. But I'm troubled that the message contradicts other leaders and create confusion with the things taught in the Lectures on Faith.
"Divine Love Is Also Conditional : While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional. The word does not appear in the scriptures. On the other hand, many verses affirm that the higher levels of love the Father and the Son feel for each of us—and certain divine blessings stemming from that love—are conditional. Understanding that divine love and blessings are not truly 'unconditional' can defend us against common fallacies such as these: 'Since God's love is unconditional, He will love me regardless …'; or 'Since 'God is love,' He will love me unconditionally, regardless …' These arguments are used by anti-Christs to woo people with deception." Russell M. Nelson, "Divine Love," Ensign, Feb. 2003
So God's love CAN be termed "universal", but can't be termed "unconditional" and the first reason is because the word "unconditional" isn't found in scripture. Well guess what, the term "universal" is also not found in scripture and that word just got used as an adjective for God's love. So....the logic here is not consistent at all.
I get that there are some fallacies that we should avoid. They are lazy, and assume God will reward you the same when you disobey him, as if you obeyed God's laws. This is the opposite of conscience. Free license to indulge in sin!! That's silly and defies common sense and would require ignoring all of revealed scripture. There's 101 scriptures to correct those fallacies, and yet we alter how we teach God's nature to address them? It's as though we tried so hard to prevent a fallacy that we created an equally dangerous one.
The concern here about these quotes is because if we misportray God's nature we can prevent people from having saving faith. Above are quotes that fundamentally disagree, so by definition at least one of them is perpetrating falsehoods which can prevent people from acquiring saving faith.
The statement "Divine Love is also Conditional" seems odd (well, it's contradictory) with the other statements by other Church authorities. I respect Elder Nelson and I think his message is aimed to help us avoid fallacies which would leave us disappointed in the end were we to buy into them. But I'm troubled that the message contradicts other leaders and create confusion with the things taught in the Lectures on Faith.
One of the scriptures cited is D&C 95:12:
12 If you keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness.
I believe it's worth noticing that the love of the Father not continuing with you is very different than God not having love for you.
Do parents only love their children fully when those children are behaving? When those children walk in darkness does the parent's love cease because the conditions weren't met? What a dreadful thought, since we all walk in darkness on this earth according to scripture.
Do parents only love their children fully when those children are behaving? When those children walk in darkness does the parent's love cease because the conditions weren't met? What a dreadful thought, since we all walk in darkness on this earth according to scripture.
Blessings seem to inherently carry conditions. Because the scriptures say as much. They say that when we obtain a blessing from God it is by obedience to the laws upon which the blessing was predicated. And yet there's the teaching from the New Testament that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God gives life and agency without condition, and allows them to all make their own choices. That seems very loving. For some blessings conditions make sense, because they are predicated upon laws. But if God is love, and Gods love is conditional, then God himself is conditional. Can someone explain that to me? Because that appears to directly prevent saving faith. Because now God's nature, has limits, and conditions, and exclusions we may not know about in order to be loved by God. Thus according to the Lectures on Faith, the mind will not be able to have sufficient confidence in such a being as to produce saving faith.
From reading the scriptures that talk about this, and the scriptures used to support the idea that God has inherently conditional aspects to his being, I think it's OUR love of God that is the problem, OUR understanding of God's nature is the problem. Not the nature of God's love of us.
When we say God's love is conditional are we talking about affection? Loving feelings? Loving acts? Charity? Unless we clarify, seems like this could be a gigantic mess. Since it can prevent a person from being able to exercise proper faith according to Joseph Smith. And I'm confident Joseph, who was in the presence of God and Christ is a reputably authority on the subject. There is clearly some confusion between the messages quoted above about God's nature. I point this out for others to notice and resolve for themselves because there are contradictory things are being taught, and they can't all be true.
When we say God's love is conditional are we talking about affection? Loving feelings? Loving acts? Charity? Unless we clarify, seems like this could be a gigantic mess. Since it can prevent a person from being able to exercise proper faith according to Joseph Smith. And I'm confident Joseph, who was in the presence of God and Christ is a reputably authority on the subject. There is clearly some confusion between the messages quoted above about God's nature. I point this out for others to notice and resolve for themselves because there are contradictory things are being taught, and they can't all be true.
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