How does God love us?

Okay, this is a religious subject, but I feel that it's necessary to understand what's going on in our world and the universe. I mean no offense to any religious beliefs. This is just my take on what God is really like from a slightly different angle.

As many of you are aware, the world is screwed up. There are plenty of wars and political conflicts in play all over the globe. The climate is changing and causing all sorts of problems everywhere. Disease, poverty, earthquakes, and bad weather are taking a lot of lives. This sounds as if God has abandoned us or is punishing us for being so evil.

My belief is that none of this is God's fault. I don't believe in the idea that God is vengeful and angry. Yes, I know that the Old Testament is full of stories of supposed God's wrath. Sodom and Gomorrah, the Hebrew captivities, the destruction of the Temple are some of the many examples that people point to as exhibiting God's wrath. My take on these events is that they're the product of stupidity. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by either a volcanic eruption or a asteroid or comet from space. These geological and astronomical events have been happening ever since the planet was formed. It just happened to wipe out two evil cities in that case. What about Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii? Was this a result of God's wrath or was it just the fact that people shouldn't live near an active volcano?

The reason the ancients considered God to have emotions like anger and disgust is because they thought of the gods as being immortal super humans, which means that they would have had emotions. This is not what God is like. He's not a human. Yes, I realize that Jesus is considered the Son of God, but this is a more complicated concept that didn't exist back in the Old Testament time.

I've said this before but God is immutable, which means that He doesn't change. Having emotions would negate this idea. Emotions change us or allow us to be controlled. Since God can't change or be controlled, He is devoid of emotion. Therefore, God cannot exhibit wrath or anger. Nothing we do will change God one twit.

However, God is love, according to John's gospel. But, this love is not the emotional love that we humans experience. It's a different kind of love, an unemotional kind of love. The one thing that we are sure of about God is that He didn't create us because He needed us. He created us because He loves us. He doesn't need us to worship Him. We worship Him because it reminds us that we are dependent on Him. In other words, we need to worship.

So then, how does this God's love work? Think of this way, God gave us a nice planet to live on. He provided us with what we need from the planet and He made the planet survivable for our species. He provided us with the means to multiply and ensure our species' continuation. However, it wasn't a cakewalk. We had to work hard to make our lives mean something. However, He gave us the intellect to appreciate what we are, why we're here and the fact that God is responsible for our survival.

I believe that attributing wrath to God is one of the reasons that an individual that suffers a fatal disease or condition imagines that God is punishing them. Nothing could be further from the truth. God isn't an ogre. He doesn't take delight in making us suffer. That would make Him evil, and the other thing that we know for sure about God is that He is pure goodness. If he is purely good, he cannot kill us or cause us to suffer. That's not how it works. We suffer in many cases because of our own stupidity. Otherwise it is the fact that nature is flawed.

How could that be? The other thing that we know for sure about God is that He is perfect. He has no flaws. However, He cannot create perfection. That would mean that what He created is like God, and there can only be one God. Therefore, His creation is not perfect, and we are not perfect. That's why we sin. We are flawed. I believe that the idea that some of the angels revolted and ended up in Hell is a result of the fact that angels are flawed just like we are. Satan takes advantage of our imperfections and entices to turn away from God. God didn't want this to happen, but it happens because of the fact that He cannot create perfection.

Now that we know where we stand, I want to discuss the possibility that God has created other intelligent species throughout the universe. If He has, they are also flawed, but they may be better than we are because God could have perfected His creation of beings. Does that mean that He will abandon us? The answer is no, He will never abandon us. If we want to be with God for all eternity, all we have to do is believe and follow His way, the Way of the Lord.

What does this mean? The Way of the Lord is to love one another. It's a simple idea, but for some reason we've failed to understand it.

If you really want to understand God's kind of love, read Luke 15:11-32. This is the Prodigal Son parable. Actually, it's really the Parable of the Lost Son. A wealthy man had two sons, and the youngest asked that he be given his share of the inheritance. His father complied and his wayward son ran off to a distant country and squandered his inheritance on wild living and was forced to work at taking care of swine. That country fell into a famine and the son was starving, so he came back to ask forgiveness, telling his father that he was not worthy to be called his son. Instead of rebuking his son, the father told his servants to kill the fatted calf and arrange a party. When the man's older son found out about this he became angry and refused to come in to the party, telling his father that he had done everything that was asked of him and yet he never got as much as a goat to party with his friends. His father told him that you are always with me and everything that I have is yours, but my son was dead and now he is alive, he was lost and now has been found. It's important to note that Jesus was directing this parable to the Pharisees and Scribes, not the sinners. This is a story about compassion and reconciliation. We sinners would be like the older son and be jealous and angry, asking for punishment for the wayward son. This parable tells us that we must forgive and reconcile our anger and resentments. That's the way that God's love works.

Another good example of God's love is in John 8:1-11. The Pharisees and Elders test Jesus when a woman is caught in the act of adultery. The Mosaic Law requires that she be stoned, but since Roman law would not permit this, it becomes a way to trap Jesus. Jesus tells them "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her". Jesus writes things on the ground (assumed to be sins). One by one, the accusers go away. Jesus asks the woman where her accusers are. She tells him that there are none. He tells her "Neither will I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Again, this is proof of God's mercy.
We humans are often vengeful, hateful and full of spite. Thank God that God isn't like us.

This is why Jesus became a human and mingled with us. Jesus incarnate represents a form of divine communication. God communicated His love of us and what He wants us to do to be like Him by appearing in the form of a human. According to the apostle John, Jesus was the Word made flesh. He came to show us two main things: one is that God still loves us despite the fact that we're sinners. The other is that we will be with God for all eternity if only we believe and follow His Way. That's what salvation is: to be separated from sin and to be in eternal bliss with God.

We don't deserve salvation. It is given to us out of God's love. We can't buy it or do good deeds to earn it. It's a gift that God gives us freely. Why do you think that the gospels emphasize that Jesus thought more of sinners than He did of the Just? Why did Jesus forgive the prostitute and associate with Tax collectors (who were considered sinners)? He told the apostles the reason he associated with sinners was because they needed saving. His was a mission of love and salvation. He suffered and died to save us, not because He wanted to, but rather to demonstrate His love for us. His suffering and death proves His love for us more than anything, and His resurrection established his divine glory. Without His resurrection there is no Christianity.

Before I leave this subject I want to emphasize another fact about God. God doesn't do favors. He offers His love to everyone no matter what they are and how they behave. God doesn't belong to any specific religion. No country can claim that God blesses it. No group can claim to be the chosen race. We are all God's children, not by birth but by adoption. There is no way that God wants we humans to kill in His name. That's completely wrong. God wants us to love not hate. People who claim that they are acting for God are delusional. No one has an inside track to God. It just isn't so!

However, I do believe in the power of prayer, but how God answers our prayers is a mystery tied up in His unemotional kind of love. What we think should be the answer may not be His answer. Ultimately, He knows what's good for us and it may not be immediate gratification.

I think it's a mistake to think that God has abandoned us. He will never stop loving us no matter what. We need to accept His love and love one another as He loves us. That's what God wants us to do. So, love and promote peace. You'll feel a lot better.

Thanks for reading.