"Divine love is perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal. The full flower of divine love and our greatest blessings from that love are conditional -- predicated upon our obedience to eternal law."
Stephen, this statement seems to negate your earlier idea that love is conditional. It seems to me that Love from our Father and our Savior is unconditional and as part of that they want us to receive as much as we can, but no more blessing than we can handle. The blessing may be conditional, but surely not the love. If Elder Nelson said any different than that I would be disappointed, but I will read the article. George ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Beecroft" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 9:32 AM Subject: [ZION] Conditional divine love > Some time ago on this very list (probably its incarnation on zilker.net > or some other pre-Topica server), a rather heated discussion -- imagine > that! -- arose regarding, of all topics, God's love. Some of us claimed > that the scriptures clearly teach that God's love is conditional, given > to some more than to others, and dependent in its intensity on the > actions and heart of the recipient; while others steadfastly maintained > that God's love is unconditional, that he loves the rankest, vilest > sinner just as much as he loves the most virtuous of men and women. > > I thus find it interesting that this month's Ensign includes an article > by Elder Nelson extolling the *conditional* nature of God's love. I > definitely recommend the article to all, which starts on page 20 of the > February 2003 Ensign. Some relevant quotations follow: > > "While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and > universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as *unconditional*." > [emphasis in original] > > "With scriptural patterns of conditional statements in mind, we note > many verses that declare the conditional nature of divine love for us. > Examples include: [John 15:10; D&C 95:12; John 14:23; Proverbs 8:17; > Acts 10:34-35; 1 Nephi 17:40; John 14:21]" > > "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." > > "Divine love is perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal. The full > flower of divine love and our greatest blessings from that love are > conditional -- predicated upon our obedience to eternal law." > > Stephen > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// / > > > ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
