Does God love us all equally and unconditionally?

[Donna_P]

May God be with you!

I was just on CARM and a new thread put up this quote supposedly from EWTN’

“God does not love all persons equally and unconditionally. The first distinction is between those in supernatural grace and those not in grace, and then within grace there are further degrees of love.”

“God loves the Blessed mother ABOVE ALL creatures, including the angels. God loves in accord with the degree of supernatural charity that exists in each person, so both in Heaven and on earth, the saints are loved in accord with the degree of charity possessed. The love of God is NOT unconditional.”

Any explanations out there? I have heard something like this but I haven’t had time to check the CCC.

God bless you!

 

[forthright]

IMHO, yes, God loves everyone equally and unconditionally. But remember that the love of God, the mercy of God, the wrath of God, the holiness of God, and the justice of God are all different things. Just because in God’s justice and required by His holiness some people are separated from Him forever in Hell does not mean He loves them any less. Unconditional love does not necessitate that someone would be brought to heaven against their will. And just because someone has a closer relationship to God than others does not mean He loves them more. It may mean they love Him more, or perhaps loved Him more while they were on Earth.

 

[Della]

I tried several word combinations based on the supposed “quotations” from EWTN in the CCC, but couldn’t find anything like them.

Often, when anti-Catholic sites “quote” Catholic sources, they either take them out of context or cite the words of Saints and claim them to be Catholic doctrine or some other such fudging to make it appear that the Church teaches the exact opposite of what it does.

Since CARM cited these “quotations” it is up to them to provide the link/source. It’s hardly fair to ask Catholics to explain sentences ripped from their context or misquoted.

 

[Milliardo]

A few years ago, I read a column by Fr. Bel San Luis wherein he had a talk with his seminary professor about this. His professor, also a priest, said that, contrary to popular belief, God’s love is not unconditional, and in fact is hinged upon obeying His will. Fr. San Luis then reflected on this in his column, and disagreed with his professor. He maintains that God’s love is unconditional; it’s His justice that’s hinged upon obedience of His will.

 

[Wendy-Kay]

Sorry guys. He is actually pretty partial to me.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Re loving equally see Malachi 1:3

Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? says the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, but hated Esau; I made his mountains a waste, his heritage a desert for jackals.

 

[Mommyof02green]

May God be with you!
I was just on CARM and a new thread put up this quote supposedly from EWTN’

“God does not love all persons equally and unconditionally. The first distinction is between those in supernatural grace and those not in grace, and then within grace there are further degrees of love.”

“God loves the Blessed mother ABOVE ALL creatures, including the angels. God loves in accord with the degree of supernatural charity that exists in each person, so both in Heaven and on earth, the saints are loved in accord with the degree of charity possessed. The love of God is NOT unconditional.”

Any explanations out there? I have heard something like this but I haven’t had time to check the CCC.God bless you!

Seeing you said that the Above Quote is from EWTN; I went to EWTN and did a keyword searches on all their documents.

word searches for: Unconditional; Equally; Unconditionally; supernatural charity; degree of charity; supernatural grace; and degrees of love

I could NOT find any document that had this “quote” you gave above. I could NOT find it anywhere on EWTN web site.

Here is what the CCC says about God’s Love:
God is love CCC paragraphs 218-221:

218 In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them, a single motive for choosing them from among all peoples as his special possession: his sheer gratuitous love. And thanks to the prophets Israel understood that it was again out of love that God never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins.

219 God’s love for Israel is compared to a father’s love for his son. His love for his people is stronger than a mother’s for her children. God loves his people more than a bridegroom his beloved; his love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”

220 God’s love is “everlasting”: “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.” Through Jeremiah, God declares to his people, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

221 But St. John goes even further when he affirms that “God is love”: God’s very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.

Source: click here

1604
God who created man out of love also calls him to love—the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator’s eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: “And God blessed them, and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.’”

Source: click here
CCC paragraph 1:

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

Being “adopted” children of God, means that he is our “Father”. I believe that God, like all parents loves us unconditionally, mean he loves us no matter what… However, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get upset with us from time to time. I have moments where I don’t care for what my kids do… I don’t like their “actions” but I love them. I will always love them.

I believe that God always will Love us, I just think at times he doesn’t care for our actions. Also, in my opinion, if He DIDN"T Love us All the time (unconditionally) confession would be a lie.

Clearly confession is not a lie, God does always forgives us. He always forgives us because He always loves us. (unconditionally)

 

[FCEGM]

God the Father’s love is simple, singular: He loves the Son. The Father loves all that has been created because it is an image (in varying degrees) of the One through Whom and in Whom all things are created: the Son. The Father loves all humanity as part of creation, humanity being the crown of creation. Those who more fully image the Son (by supernatural grace, the grace of baptism transforming the beloved creature into a child of God, an image of the Son) are thus the most beloved because they participate in the one Love of the Father of the Son - the Blessed Mother being the highest example of this “received” Love. Since those in the state of grace are so in varying degrees, the love of God for the soul is concomitant to the image of the Son the Father sees in the given soul.

I answer that, Since to love a thing is to will it good, in a twofold way anything may be loved more, or less. In one way on the part of the act of the will itself, which is more or less intense. In this way God does not love some things more than others, because He loves all things by an act of the will that is one, simple, and always the same. In another way on the part of the good itself that a person wills for the beloved. In this way we are said to love that one more than another, for whom we will a greater good, though our will is not more intense. In this way we must needs say that God loves some things more than others. For since God’s love is the cause of goodness in things, as has been said (Article [2]), no one thing would be better than another, if God did not will greater good for one than for another. The Summa Theologica, question 20, article 3.

I answer that, It must needs be, according to what has been said before, that God loves more the better things . For it has been shown (Articles [2],3), that God’s loving one thing more than another is nothing else than His willing for that thing a greater good: because God’s will is the cause of goodness in things; and the reason why some things are better than others, is that God wills for them a greater good. Hence it follows that He loves more the better things. The Summa Theologica, question 20, article 4.