Everyone wants a ‘nice Jesus’.

We want a Jesus who will pat us on the head and approve of anything we want to do. Why? Because ‘God is love.’

When I hear people excuse biblical sin by crying, “God is love!”, two responses come to mind:

First, “Tell me more. What do you mean by ‘God is love?’

Second, “True. God is love. But he is also just. Which doctrine do you want to visit about so we can look at what the Bible says about it?”

I’ve found that almost always, those who defend unbiblical behavior with ‘God is love’ have cherry-picked passages out of their greater context to support their worldview. They’ve compartmentalized the attributes of God, reducing God to spokes in a bicycle wheel and acknowledging only the “spokes” they like while dismissing the rest.

In all four accounts of the gospels, rather than enjoying increasing acceptance, Jesus is the target of escalating hatred, vitriol, and disgust. Why is that? Because Jesus said things – a lot of things – the crowds found offensive, bigoted and intolerant.

Clearly, scripture testifies that “God is love”, but not once does the context imply,  “I can, myself, define what is right and what is wrong and it mean nothing to God because ‘he is love’ and just wants me to be happy.” If that were true, why would Jesus have confronted the “rich young ruler” with a standard of devotion the young man didn’t like because it wouldn’t make him happy?

If I wasn’t a Christian, and I was honest about what the Bible says…

How do I reconcile the view of only ‘God is love’ with a God the Bible says has created a place of eternal torment and torture he calls hell, prepared for those who reject faith in Jesus Christ?

How do I reconcile only that ‘God is love’ with the hatred people had for Jesus as he taught truth.

How do I reconcile only ‘God is love’ with a Jesus who taught what was right and wrong regardless of whether it would make me happy, giving me permission to live my life however I choose?

How do I reconcile only that ‘God is love’ with the author of Hebrews writing, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Logic dictates, if ‘God is love’ and that’s all there is, why would it ever be a terrifying thing to meet him?

In John 6, Jesus’ followers were so disgusted with what he said, “they turned back and no longer followed him.” The Greek wording indicates “finality.” In other words, people looked at their families and friends and said, “We’re done with this guy!”

In John 8, Jesus exposed the religious leaders’ true selves by telling them, “Your father is the devil.” How do you think that went over? The religious leaders then fired back, accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed.

And how would Jesus address the white-hot topics of today?

He said more than once that biblical marriage is between one man and one woman.

Jesus, being God, inspired David to write that life begins at conception and is sacred.

He never said “everyone goes to heaven.” On the contrary, he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.”

In other words, he shattered mainstream religiosity by claiming, “All religions don’t lead to God. Only God leads to God, and he’s done that through me.”

If we’re brutally honest we can agree on the following:

Jesus would’ve been accused of hate speech and “canceled” a long time ago if he’d walked this earth in our modern culture.

That’s precisely what happened twenty centuries ago. He boldly told people there was a holy standard. Many believed. But many hated him for it – and “cancelled” him by having him tortured and executed.

This post certainly won’t win me any friends.

There will most likely be those who hate me for posting this. They’re unable to comprehend that disagreement doesn’t mean hate.

They refuse to admit that Jesus was able to profoundly love people while simultaneously condemning their lifestyle.

So, accusing me of hate, they will self-righteously hate me. Accusing me of being bigoted and intolerant, they will hypocritically expose their bigotry and intolerance.

But their problem is not with me. It’s with Jesus, who warned his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Once again, if I weren’t a Christian, and honestly wanted to consider the scriptures, how would I reconcile the following?

Revelation 20:15 closes a passage of scripture known as the “Great White Throne Judgment.” John wrote,

“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” 

If God is love, defined by those who say “’God is love’ means he allows and celebrates anything we think is right”, why would John write this? Why will some names not be found written down in this Book of Life?

If there is no objective biblical standard of right and wrong, the following passage shouldn’t be in the Bible…

“There is an appointed time for all of us to die. After that to face judgment.” (Judgment for what??)

If I wasn’t a Christian, and honestly investigated the claims of Christ, it wouldn’t take much mental effort to see that logic dictates there is a standard of holiness and righteousness defined not my subjective humanity, but by the objective love and justice of God.

Everyone wants a nice Jesus. But Rome didn’t execute people for being nice.

The British apologist, Dorothy Sayers, offered this observation,

“The people who crucified Christ never,… accused him of being a bore – on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations (us) to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild’…”

Is God love? Absolutely. But he also made a whip, flipped over tables, and said things so offensive people abandoned him, tortured him, and killed him.

Please don’t misunderstand my post as saying ‘God isn’t love.’ Of course he’s love. This is recorded verbatim by John in his first letter. Paul described God’s love:

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

My argument is not that the claim that ‘God is love’ is biblically wrong, it’s just biblically incomplete.

nw