God is Love
The Christian Scriptures say, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:4-6
“…His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.” Isaiah 52:14, (written at the same time). All of this is prophecy – things written down before they happened.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends“. John 15:13. These words of Jesus were recorded by John, a disciple of His. John was one of Jesus’s disciples, and personally knew Him. Jesus laid His life down for all of us.
Original Sin Became Everyones’ Sin Passed Down From Generation to Generation
Adam and Eve sinned, and they died. They brought sin into the earth by breaking covenant with God which separated us all from God as a result. And every man, woman, and child has sinned since then, which breaks relationship with God.
To we who are the recipients of this fall from Grace, it may seem mean. But God is pure and that is His character.
Look at this verse from Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.” Sin actually goes against God’s nature like the north end of a magnet is repulsed by the south end. And God is Love – that’s His character.
Isaiah 59:2 says, “…[Your] iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
And, Galatians 5:19-21 says, “…[The] deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” So, sin separates us from God.
Something had to be done to restore that relationship between us and God. The first man, Adam, broke relationship with God through sin. Jesus, who was completely God, but completely man – was sinless. Because of that He was the one person qualified to pay the price of sin, so He paid that price for us. He must love us a lot to do that.
If God Is Love, What Is Love?
1 Corinthians 13 says, “If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.“
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.“
What Love Is Not
The passage above tells us what Love is. And God is Love, therefore the passage describes who God is. Most often we see this kind of love described as “selfless love” or “Agape love” refering to the Greek word for love that translates as “selfless love”.
We would like readers who are Gender Dysphoric or “Gender Fluid” and those who support that philosophy to carefully read what we say next without judging us.
We strive to practice love as described in the previous section. This website testifies to our commitment and genuine belief in God. He is real – we sincerely believe that. We stake our lives on that. We do not want to be mean to anyone, and what we have to say here we sincerely believe. It not only applies to Gender Dysphoric people, but anyone who engages in a number of sexual behavior choices God outlines as sin. And we have all probably been there – facing a cross-road and needing to decide whether to sin or follow God. Sometimes we fail, and sometimes we succeed. Sin is not about the person; it’s about the choices.
The key is transformation. When you realize who God is, and you receive His love, things change and you want to practice the same kind of love…even if that means laying down your life.
Eros Love
Love is not lust. It isn’t that “butterflies in the stomach” feeling. The Greek root word for this form of love is “eros” and it’s use in English can mean “erotic“. It is a lustful kind of love.
Erotic love is sensual in nature. Its extremes are “puppy love” and “pornography”. This is a self-centered form of love. It seeks what it can get from others, not what it can give in a relationship. This form is not a deep form of love. It tends to be shallow, hollow, and unsatisfying. It can take the form of selfless love, but it would be called agape love.
Erotic love typically manifests in all forms of sinful sexual behaviors, like fornication, adultery, masturbation, viewing pornography, a lustful eye, and worse. It also includes every sexual behavior of the LGBTQ+ community according to Scripture. Please, don’t shoot the messenger.
What we would like to convey to the LBGTQ+ community is,
1) We do not single you out to judge, hate, or persecute you in any way.
2) We have sincerely held beliefs – it’s our way of life to follow God, and we do not condemn anyone for their behavior choices. We aren’t making this up to have an excuse to practice hate.
Philos Love
Philos love is a fondness found in friendship and family relationships. This form can take a selfless tone, though if it does, it would be called agape love.
God set us up with free will and independent ability to make choices, and to try to take your choices away is to go against God. Your choices become your testimony, and that is between you and God.
Remember, this life is temporary and eternity is a very, very, very long time. Would you trade eternity for a temporal experience you think you would like? Looking at life from an agape perspective changes everything.
Food For Thought You May Not Have Considered
The feeling of being judged, persecuted, or oppressed are more likely guilt pangs in your own conscience for judging others than us judging you. Conscience is one way God talks to us. Remember, we strive to practice selfless love.
We only want to help you by warning you where those behavior choices will carry you in eternity. It isn’t helpful to throw barriers in front of us for disagreeing with you, or try to force us to practice your behavior philosophies.
Did you know? When you condemn God and what He considers sin, and you persecute His followers for agreeing with Him about sin, you put yourself on God’s throne and override Him. That is a sure way to get left out of Heaven when you pass on and face God on Judgment Day.
Scripture gives us a clue about why He considers eros related behavior a sin. God is relationship oriented and wants us with Him. His first commandment to us after creating us was to “be fruitful and multiply“.
Specifically, many of the sins listed above keep us from multiplying. Masturbation, viewing pornography, a lustful eye, any of the sexual behavior choices made by LGBTQs, among other things, are all sterile activities.
God is also family oriented. He wants us to have monogomous relationships. He set up the family to be mother and father to the children.
The Judeo-Christian God is Love – He Is Relationship Oriented.
These verses all address knowing God. God is Love. (Italicized emphasis by the author of this page)…
John 14:6 NASB
“Jesus said… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.“
Luke 13:23-30 NKJV
… “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many…will seek to enter and will not be able.
When once the Master of the house has … shut the door, and you … stand outside
and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer
and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then
you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in
our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where
you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ …”
1 John 4:7-8 NKJV
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone
who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God,
for God is love.”
John 17:1-3 NKJV
“Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify
You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life,
that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
“Eternal life isn’t praying a prayer, it’s knowing God.” Dan Mohler
Matthew 6:5-7 NASB
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to
stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be
seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when
you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your
Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in
secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless
repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for
their many words.”
1 Corinthians 8:2-3 NASB
“If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he
ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.”
And of course, the following passage explains what Love is.
It is important. We need to know what God is calling Love so we can know Him…
2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB
“But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Getting to Know God and Not Just About Him
What is the purpose of going into your inner room, closing the door, and
praying to your Father in secret? Is it strictly so that you don’t put your
prayer on public display? Why bother praying? Is it so you can get something
out of God? What is prayer?
All of the above Scriptures hold the answers to these questions.
When you go into a secret place and you put away all distractions, you can
focus on conversing with God. Prayer is conversation with God.
When we want to know someone, (as opposed to knowing about them), we spend
time with them; we do things with them and discuss things with them. We partake
in the things they like and do themselves.
Reading Scripture is good; it’s like taking nourishment for the soul. But at
best, reading about someone can only help you know about them…not to
know them. It’s the same with Scripture.
God is Love. Scripture instructs us that we have to love to know God.
1 Corinthians 13 tells us what love is. Eternal life is to know God. It’s
all connected.
We don’t get eternal life by praying the prayer of salvation. It’s knowing
God. It’s praying earnestly in our hearts, believing that Jesus died to
reconcile us to the Father. we are in a New Covenant, the “Covenant of
Blood”, which Jesus described on the night He was betrayed. Jesus
described the covenant during their meal on the night Jesus was betrayed. That
was the first communion meal. We take that meal symbolically when we have
communion.
Old things have passed away, and new things have come. You are a new
creation! Sin is a thing of the past, spiritually speaking. Every time
you take communion, you re-affirm your commitment to the “Covenant of Blood”
you have with Jesus; His life for yours. It is no longer you who lives,
but Christ in you.
2 Corinthians 5:14-19 NASB
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one
died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who
live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again
on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according
to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now
we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Now all these things are from God…”
What is Covenant?
Covenant is different than a formal agreement. Covenant, according to
Scripture, is an exchange of life for life. That is a full-on, irreversible
commitment. You can’t sue to get out of that agreement. You may have been told
when you prayed the sinner’s prayer, that you give your life to God, and that
you are no longer your own, but His. If you weren’t told that, you should have
been told because that is the reality of entering into the blood covenant with
Jesus.
And if you are not your own, how can you take offense at anything? How
can you seek love for yourself? You are on this earth to Love and Serve
others.
Matthew 26:27-29 NASB
“And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to
them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant,
which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say
to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day
when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom.””
Matthew 16:24-25 NASB
“Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after
Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For
whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My
sake will find it.”
Love does not seek its own. Love does not take offense at a wrong suffered.
This is how we “lose” our lives and take on the life of Jesus.
This is why we can’t just pray that “sinner’s prayer” as though we
signed up for an eternal life insurance policy and expect all is good. It’s far
more than the assurance of eternal life. It’s why we can’t treat the Christian
life as a social club, going to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night,
and going to Christian concerts and calling that worship. Or praying for
something from God and calling that prayer. Meanwhile, the rest of our life is
just like it was before we prayed that prayer; fully engaged in the fallen
world. We are in the world but not of it.
In prayer with the Father, Jesus said the following…
John 17:15-16 NASB
“I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them
away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of
the world.”
We have come from a fallen world that has been that way since Adam & Eve
ate the forbidden fruit. We were transformed from that fallen state, into a
state of grace and mercy by entering into the blood covenant with Jesus. And
the stakes are very high. On the one hand, eternal life. But on the other hand,
in the fallen world, eternal condemnation.
That initial decision you made to pray the Sinner’s Prayer was a good one.
Stick with it! Remember what it was that made you pray that prayer! Don’t give
up on it because now you realize that there are consequences to entering into
the covenant with Jesus.
In this life, Christians will see tribulation, (e.g., “distress or
suffering resulting from oppression or persecution”). But it will grow us
spiritually if we allow it to happen. But we will also dwell in Heaven with
Jesus forever. And that’s the best consequence of all.
John 16:33 NASB
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In
the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world.”
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NASB
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
God gives us everything we need to overcome, and to be transformed into His
image.
Revelation 12:10-11 NASB
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the
death.”
It’s all tied together. Knowing Him, being obedient to Him, and not
loving our lives unto death, are all conditions to eternal life.
You won’t regret it, even if you don’t see the reward in it right now. But
if you get to know God, and you become love too, you will see that reward begin
to manifest while you are still on this earth. And on Judgment Day, you will be
so glad you stayed with that decision.
Revelation 12:10-11 NASB
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the
death.”
It’s all tied together. Knowing Him, being obedient to Him, and not
loving our lives unto death, are all conditions to eternal life.
You won’t regret it, even if you don’t see the reward in it right now. But
if you get to know God, and you become love too, you will see that reward begin
to manifest while you are still on this earth. And on Judgment Day, you will be
so glad you stayed with that decision.
Luke 9:61-62 NASB
“…“I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to
those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand
to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was making a point about commitment to the covenant we strike when we
pray the sinner’s prayer. He was teaching us not to look back at that former
life. We are considered dead to sin. Do we still make mistakes in the flesh? We
can. But the fact it bothers us tells us that we aren’t the person, (in God’s
eyes), that we feel like we are when we make a mistake.
Romans 6:1-3 NASB
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may
increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death?”
1 John 2:1-3 NASB
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that
you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins;
and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. By this we
know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.“
So, what is the theme of these passages? They are about the born-again life
Jesus was referring to, and about knowing God, and about maturing and
conforming to the image of Christ. Do we believers in the modern Christian
church, especially in highly developed nations, do we strive to live this way?
These are passages that most American Christians pass over and forget about
in their quest for church life. But we aren’t called to “do” church.
We are called to “be” the church. We are the church when we do all of
the above.
From the chapter in the Bible that explains what Love is…
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NASB
“Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag,
it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its
own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps
every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails…”
If Scripture teaches us we know God only by Loving Him and each other and
keeping His commandments, then we don’t know God if we don’t do the things in
the previous paragraph. Also, God considers it loving Him to keep His
commandments.
John 14:21 NASB
The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;
and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.
Jesus said…
Matthew 22:36-40 NASB
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost
commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the
whole Law and the Prophets.”
An interesting point someone made about loving others as we love ourselves
is that we can’t love others if we don’t love ourselves. That isn’t meant
in a narcissistic way. It means knowing who we are in Christ; what our
purpose is and the vision God has of us when He created us. We need to
see that about ourselves before we can love others. If you can look in
the mirror and see that, you understand how to love others.
If we are busy not seeking our own benefit, we aren’t focused on only loving
those who love us.
And when we prayed for Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, (when we prayed the
sinner’s prayer), we were born again. This was symbolized in the New
Testament by water baptism every time an account of people receiving the Lord
was written about. We submerged under the water a sinner who was hopeless, and
rose up out of the water a new creation full of hope and guilt-free!
We became new creations; the old passed away, and the new has come.
And it has huge spiritual ramifications. It isn’t just a simple physical
ritual.
John 3:3 NASB
“Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
When God uses “truly” two or three times in a row, the passage is
emphasized.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 NASB
“Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we
have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old
things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things
are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…”
And as new creations, we are capable of loving as Christ loved. If we
weren’t able to love as Christ loves us, He wouldn’t have asked us to Love Him
and Love each other with that Love.
So Beloved, Let Us Love One Another!
Send your thoughts and questions on our view of God is Love
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