One thing people have gotten confused about is the difference between love and approval. God loves sinners (Romans 5:8) but does not approve of and accept them until they repent (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30-31). God will reject many people whom He loves (Matthew 7:13-14, 21f). He chastens those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). So, chastening may feel hurtful, but love does not let a person do as they please. If we love our children, we say hard things and do things that may hurt in the moment to get a better long-term result. Love chastens and corrects.<\/p>\n
We love adulterers, fornicators, and homosexuals. Because of love, we have to tell them the truth that they are headed for hell (I Corinthians 6:8-10). We don’t say this because we hate them as human beings. They are neighbors we must love. We want them to have a chance to go to heaven, but they won’t get to heaven unless they repent.<\/p>\n
We love people we cannot approve of and accept into fellowship. The world spreads the idea that if we speak the truth about the morals that will ruin a person now and forever, then we are “hateful” and that we are spreading “hate speech.” Are they being hateful toward us?<\/p>\n
Using their own ideas of hate will backfire since they show indignation toward us. Remember, disagreeing with someone’s life behaviors is not being hateful. Sometimes it is love at its most responsible.<\/p>\n
Telling God’s truth is love. Don’t get confused! We can and should love all people, and we must not approve of what all people do and pretend it doesn’t matter. Chastening is part of love. Telling the truth so that someone can repent and be saved is love.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven One thing people have gotten confused about is the difference between love and approval. God loves sinners (Romans 5:8) but does not approve of and accept them until they repent (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30-31). God will reject many people whom He loves (Matthew 7:13-14, 21f).…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[65,255],"class_list":["post-97841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-love","tag-tolerance"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84074,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/romanticizing-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":0},"title":"Romanticizing Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Different things come to mind when we think of \"love.\" We often think of love as a feeling of infatuation, where we are walking with our heads in the clouds with a romantic feeling toward someone. But, while that may be pleasant, it is not the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-your-neighbor-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":1},"title":"Love Your Neighbor (Benton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The command to \"love your neighbor as yourself\" is a wonderful rule to live by, but even it can be misused. For example, politicians who have little to no regard for the rule of God will reach into the Bible when they think it makes a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69478,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-god-all-loving\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":2},"title":"Is God All Loving?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-obey-god-even-though-i-dont-want-to-is-that-proof-that-i-love-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":3},"title":"If I obey God even though I don’t want to, is that proof that I love God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, When I do something because it's a commandment from God, and even if I don't want to, is that not proof that I love God? So there are things I don't like to do but because I love God I do it anyway. And on the other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-we-love-god-how-do-you-define-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":4},"title":"When we love God, how do you define love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been writing a paper on what it means to love God.\u00a0 I have some parts and to love God you follow his commandments; if you don't, you don't love God. But how do we define love? I have been thinking about it for a long time. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40103,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unconditional-love-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":97841,"position":5},"title":"Unconditional Love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Benton in Answering Religious Error, April 15, 2015 That God's love is \"unconditional\" means one thing to one person and a different thing to someone else. The Bible does not use the expression \"unconditional love\" but does imply it. God \"so loved\" the world (John 3:16). 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