Scriptures I love, that evoke the idea of a loving God:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11
Scriptures that make me feel very unsettled, evoking fear of a harsh God…
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven…Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:21, 23
…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12b-13
Lots of people have tried to “talk me out” of this unsettling concern. I have studied the bible to try to talk myself out of it for years. But it persists. It usually isn’t the bible that makes me feel loved; it’s talk of God in other areas, like the book I mentioned in the video (called God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience) that makes me feel loved unconditionally rather than judged conditionally. I wish this weren’t the case. But it just is for now.
The God I personally want to imagine, before the bible messes with me, is one who is pure, solid love. One who can’t wait to see me, to hold me in his arms, to cuddle me and stroke my hair, to protect me, to whisper sweetness in my ear and tell me I’ll never be separated from his love. The way my mom and dad loved me. If the God I follow is not those things, if he leaves out others, if he tells us to give everyone second chances but doesn’t do the same, that leaves me confused.
There should be no confusion about a pure, loving God. Shouldn’t it be the one thing I can feel confident of?
