I don’t understand how God’s love can be perfect, but a good mother’s love seems to be so much more. Even if a son has completely abandoned his mother, done horrible horrible things to her and other people, and is just a horrible person, the mother will still love her son and wish the best for him. I know many mothers like this. There will never be a time when that son would live in the absence of his mother’s love…until the day she dies and into the afterlife she loves her son.
But God chooses to continue to love his children and send them out in the absence of his love? Yet his love is perfect? That is far from perfect. And you cannot make an argument that God loves those in hell. If he did, they wouldn’t be in hell. I can guarentee you the mothers of the most horrible people in the world would not wish for their children to live through everlasting torture. It doesn’t make sense. Either God’s love is not as great as that of a good mother, or hell does not exist unless after the person dies they choose to live in the absence of God’s love. That is the only way.
It really depends which side you look at sin from.
Take a mother who loves her child, but the child refuses to accept that love. Just because the mother makes it abundantly available, there are situations where her child will choose to refuse it, cut off contact, and live without familial (name removed by moderator)ut and support. In this case, the mother hasn’t stopped loving the child.
Saying that God doesn’t love those in Hell assumes that it is God’s choice to place somebody in Hell. However, if you view Hell as a choice to refuse God’s love, then it starts to look a lot more like the mother’s love from my previous example; that is, love is available but unclaimed.
Of course, the argument in the previous paragraph depends completely on free will. If you believe that people have free will, and you believe that God allows His children to make choices that will cut them off from him, then the idea of God loving those in Hell is just as easy to accept as the idea that God loves sinners.
You said earlier that “Even if a son has completely abandoned his mother, done horrible horrible things to her and other people, and is just a horrible person, the mother will still love her son and wish the best for him.” God is the same way. He still wishes the best for his children, but that doesn’t mean that they are required to choose it.
And as for your assertion that “Either God’s love is not as great as that of a good mother, or hell does not exist unless after the person dies they choose to live in the absence of God’s love,” you are correct. The only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against God, which is (as I understand it) defined as the acceptance and belief that God is your savior followed by the choice to live without his love. I personally think that everyone has the chance to make the choice (kinda like a point when truth is revealed to each person and they then make a choice). Do I think that a loving God would do anything less than provide ample opportunities? No. I also believe that the Church adheres to a stricter code of morals and behavior than God might necessarily require. It’s just that if you decide/believe that you can morally act in a different way, you are rolling the dice.
Also, there isn’t a single person on Earth who can tell you how God’s love actually works. I don’t sweat the small stuff and trust that God has abilities to save that I can’t even imagine. I also believe that there are people who would choose not to accept Him even knowing His love for a fact. That’s free will.
Eamon
