Unconditional Love of God in a performance-based religion

[Anonymous]

mikegriffith1 wrote:

Just because God loves you unconditionally does not mean he will or should reward you unconditionally.

If a parent loved his two children the same but one of those children frequently disobeyed him, that parent would not give both children the same reward, for that would be unfair.

There is no conflict between God’s unconditional love for us and his requiring us to do certain things to return to live with him. No conflict whatsoever.

This paradigm assumes several things that I’m not convinced of.

1) That living with God again is a “reward” given by God

2) That God requires us to do certain things so he will let us live with him again

3) That sin equals disobedience

[Anonymous]

bumping this thread due to contemporary discussion of this same article.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Nibbler wrote: For certain personality types (mine) the demands of a performance based religion could never be satisfied. I always judge my efforts to be lacking, I always see myself as less than perfect. Those feelings weighed me down like a yoke that became too heavy to bear. The only way forward was to seek for mercy, to make that yoke light and easier to bear.

As somewhat of a perfectionist .. Or a full-on Control Freak in the right situation .. The LDS culture feeds into my basic feelings of never being able to be good enough. The idea of mercy and grace is very freeing to me. I can be trying and striving to do everything right, and still feel lacking. I can watch someone else do a half-baked job and fell quite certain of their place in God’s eyes. We are all made so differently. We are not better or worse .. Just different.

I am grateful that my savior doesn’t compare me to anyone but me. He knows my heart, he knows my trials, he knows my fears. He loves me.

Quote:

mikegriffith1 wrote: “If a parent loved his two children the same but one of those children frequently disobeyed him, that parent would not give both children the same reward, for that would be unfair.”

That above statement is classic LDS culture. I wish it was true. I see health and wealth and fertility and happiness given equally to the wicked and the righteous. Rain falls equally of the wicked and on the righteous. The belief that we somehow earn our blessings is a nice thought, but it leads to the thought that we earn our trials. Those who believe such things are the people who come to me –and because 3 of my children died — they ask me how I sinned against God. Their comments and their judgement hurts me deeply, it hurts my family, and it is not Christian.

The scriptures tell us that the Master hires people to work in the vineyard. Some work all day, some work part of the day, some work a very short time. The Master has made a contract with each worker separately. The worker who worked all day shouldn’t be concerned about what the half-day worker is paid. It isn’t any of his business. Each contract is directly with the Master. If our heavenly father gives another of His children a gift that is different from mine, it is between that person and God. It isn’t a punishment of me. It has NOTHING to do with me. It is solely between God and that person. Too often we look at other people’s lives, and we try to figure out how their failures or successes reflect our relationship with God. I believe that they have nothing to do with it.

If a parent loves two children the same, but one child frequently disobeys him, that parent is going to treat those children very differently. Children do not just randomly disobey their parents. They have fears and motives and issues behind those acts of disobedience. I think God cares more about those underlying issues .. and less about the simple act of disobedience itself.

[Anonymous]

Well said, ap.

I think God’s ways are not our ways – and accepting that simple idea can be incredibly liberating and faith-amplifying.

[Author]

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