Hello Clem.
You continue to attack me and accuse me of not believing in the “unconditional love of God” which you seem to think exists and not only exists, but is a doctrine.
Your quotes do prove one thing for me: that the word “unconditional” isn’t found in them. What is found in them is this: that God forgives and that is His love expressed. But we as Catholics know there is much we are to do to attain forgiveness of our sins and redemption. If we do these things, that is meet certain conditions, then we stand a chance of being redeemed. Some of these things are Penance, Confession, contrition, good deeds, obeying the Commandments, loving our neighbor neigh even our enemies, etc. But none of this gains us Heaven. It is God’s work of Redemption with which we co-operate that gains us Heaven with Purgatory first! We live by His conditions.
Why are you continuing to ignore the Scripture passage that shows God’s hate towards men? (Malachi 1:3) Why aren’t you commenting on the Fall of man in the Garden? Why ignore the flood I brought up? If I were to mention Hell and it’s reality, would you feel the need to prove it doesn’t exist because God loves you? And Hell isn’t an acceptable reality to one who thinks God’s love is what saves him or her? Malachi 1:4 “…And they shall be called the land of guilt, the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.”
Your silence is doing more than you know.
I’ve already stated numerous times that I know God loves me. But I am also quick to say He does so with CONDITIONS which I accept. Why is it so hard for you to see the love of the Law as profitable to one’s soul? Is it because your own perception is skewed? You’ll never admit it here, but I hope you can take it to heart.
Love for God always probes one’s own heart and searches it and questions and finds ways in which the soul is lacking. When this lack is acknowledged then God can enter and fill up what is lacking. I do not love God as He should be loved. This I know. Presuming on His love doesn’t help me love Him one little bit better.
And here is a newsflash Clem, just because a Catholic says something doesn’t mean it is Catholic teaching. You claim that the “unconditional love of God” is Catholic teaching. It isn’t.
Glenda
glendab
This is not addressed to me but I would like to make a comment.
You wrote, “But we as Catholics know there is much we are to do to attain forgiveness of our sins and redemption.”
I happen to be Catholic and I know that all one needs do is to ask God for forgiveness and mean it and that is basically it, you can not speak for all Catholics and for that matter, I would say that you can not speak for anyone except yourself, if you think that the Catholic religion thinks that God is chintzy with forgiveness than you could say that too, but God became One of us and died for us to let us know that forgiveness is freely given.
You also wrote, “Heaven with Purgatory first! We live by His conditions.”
The Catholic Church has never taught that all that go to Heaven, go to Purgatory first.
You also wrote, “Why are you continuing to ignore the Scripture passage that shows God’s hate towards men?”
Do you realize that when it speaks of “God’s hate” in the bible it means to love less and even that is for a Godly reason?
Not everything in the bible is literal and even those things in the bible that are literal aren’t always literal in the way that the ordinary definition of the words would seem to us.
As I already pointed out, the “Fear of the Lord” has absolutely nothing to do with our normal, everyday definition of fear but it has to do with “reverence and awe”.
You then wrote, " If I were to mention Hell and it’s reality, would you feel the need to prove it doesn’t exist because God loves you?"
If you mentioned it to me, I would tell you that I “know” that hell is real but that your conception of hell might just be totally wrong in that if one were to wake up in hell, so to speak, they will come to the realization that they built it themself and put themself there, hell is not some monolithic place that God created to throw those that God hates into and I would also mention that Jesus “paid the price (ransom)” by going to everyone’s hell by the “work” that He did on the cross.
By the way, people are speaking back and forth about God’s Love being unconditional and God’s Love being conditional, what, exactly, would be your definition of the unconditionalness of God’s Love.
Since God Is a Being of Love, I can not see how anyone could say that God’s Love is conditional, that would be like saying that God Is conditional whereas it is taught that God is the same yesterday, today and always, or something to that effect, however if Love was merely an attribute of God, I guess some could say that God’s Love could possibly have It’s limits but Love Is God’s Very Being, this is merely my opinion based on the fact that I “know” that Love Is God’s Very Being, I am asking your opinion.
I shortened your post some so this could be posted.
Arbitrary limits are being imposed on infinite love.
