Is God All Loving?
Question:
Is God all loving? This might be a strange question for a new Christian, but this is legitimately important. The reason I questioned this is because of God saying that these people are abominations, mainly (Leviticus 18:22) and (Deuteronomy 22:5).
But as I wrote this, I realized the potential that maybe it was up to the person to accept this love. Please answer. I know John 3:16 as well; another Christian discussed this with me and said that God isn’t all loving to specific men but loving to mankind as a race. He said He is willing to love all those willing to obey Him and not sin. As sinners are not heard?
Please answer. I’m wondering. I think I have the answer, but my brain has been slower due to school, so I don’t want to think about it very hard.
Thank you.
Answer:
I have to be careful how your question is answered because people have conflicting ideas about what love really is and how it is displayed. Then you asked if God is all loving, which would imply that God has no other attributes but love.
First, God is love. "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (I John 4:16). God epitomizes what love is. We only understand love well when we understand God's love for us. "We love, because He first loved us" (I John 4:19). That love draws us close to God and should cause us to want to do God's will.
How do we know God loves us? "By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John 4:9-10). God loved us so much that He was willing to attempt to save us, even while we lived in rebellion against Him (Romans 5:6-8). Justice requires that we die for our sins (Romans 6:23), but out of love for us, God desired to show us mercy without violating justice. See God is Love.
If you love your child, do you desire that he grow up to be good or do you leave him to follow the paths of sin? "He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently" (Proverbs 13:24). Thus, out of love for us, God punishes the wicked and also chastens the righteous to get them to grow stronger (Hebrews 12:5-14). See Gentle Cords and Bands of Love. Love does not mean blind acceptance of whatever a person chooses to do.
Sadly, because people have free will, God must punish those who refuse to leave their wicked. It isn't because God desires this, but it is because He must uphold justice. See The Judge of All the Earth. Leviticus 18:22 states that a man having sex with another man is disgusting. This is not the way God designed people. It is a perversion of what God wants people to do. Deuteronomy 22:5 states that a woman must not pretend to be a man, and a man is not to pretend to be a woman. God finds it disgusting, and the reason for this is straightforward. The pretense is a lie (Proverbs 6:16-19). It is a statement that the person thinks God made a mistake and doesn't know what He is doing.
God's love is shown in that He is willing to accept a repentant sinner back regardless of what he has done. But God's justice remains for those who rebel against God. "Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again" (Romans 11:22-23).
