Defining Unconditional love

IMHO, Jesus' supposedly sacrifice was not a demonstration of unconditional love. Let's look at the 2 words.Love is, well, love. Unconditional... also self-explanatory. No condition is required to attain the love of the creator. In other words, you don't have to be a good person to be loved.Would a god that shows unconditional love for his children cast the ones he doesn't like down to the eternal pit of hell? That's not unconditional love.In other words, for me at least, unconditional love is when god decided NOT to bring me into existence so I wouldn't have to suffer for an eternity in hell. That's unconditional love.

I see nothing wrong with this.

But throwing your children into the pit of hell for all eternity? That's anything but unconditional love.Look, I'd rather not exist at all then be tortured for a very very long time.Here is another way you can look at it. My wife and I are on an island. We decide to beget a child and love it unconditionally. When the child is 10, we tell him, "don't ever go to the other side of the island or I will beat the crap out of you." He goes to the other side of the island. I tie him up and start whipping him until he passes out. I wait for him to recover and whip him some more. Everyday, I'd whip him until he passes out. I do this until he turns 20.Does that sound like unconditional love to you?Remember that god is all knowing and all powerful. He knew that at age 20 I was going to turn into an atheist. So, he allowed me to enter this world simply to throw me into hell for all eternity. Does that sound like an all loving father figure to you? If it does, I'm sorry but you need help.

How many believers you know actually believe in an eternal hell for atheists like myself and for believers of other religions? And you're missing the point.(A) God is all knowing.
(B) God loves me unconditionally.
(C) God knew that I was going to turn atheist at the age of 20.
(D) According to christians, I owe my existence to god.
(E) God specifically created me so I could exist in hell for all eternity after I'm dead.Again, does that make sense to you? Would an all loving father figure who loves his children unconditionally torture his children for all eternity if they don't listen to him, especially when he knew before they even existed that he would have to cast them down to hell regardless? Sure, go back and undo existence or redo it without a hell and eternal damnation.Going back to first quote. When I was in sociology in college a million years ago, we studied some of the worst child abuse cases in history of the country. (I just found it interesting that almost all of them involved religious parents.) There was one case in particular that caught my eyes right away. A retarded teenager was raped and got pregnant. Her parents made her put the resulting child in the barn without any parental love. The teen was allowed to feed the child several times a day and then put it back in the barn. This went on until the child was 6 when someone noticed this and alerted the authority.The child grew up without any social interaction whatsoever. Psychologists were intrigued because the child had no idea how to react to things like pain, meaning he didn't even cry out when he's hurt.Oh, and did I mention that the teen's parents claimed they did that because they "loved" their daughter and grandkid? Abortion was out of the question because of their religion, and the kid was a result from rape so it didn't deserve to live with the family. Sounds like a classic case of christian hell to me.I'm not saying all christians are like this. I'm saying this is a real live demonstration of what the true christian idea of an all loving parent figure with a hell on the side. Do you or do you not agree that the teen parents loved their daughter and grandson unconditionally like they claimed?

Ok, so god loved everyone unconditionally so much that he created Hitler just so Hitler could torture and kill millions and millions of people just so Hitler could go to hell for all eternity. Phat, in order for you to solve one stumbling block you created yourself a kazillion others. Ok, mumble jumble aside, address the issue directly please. Is god all knowing or not? If so, then he knew I was going to turn atheist and thus will go to the christian hell. If he didn't, then he's not god and we need not worry. Gee, you didn't address my issue at all.Christian doctrine specifically says that everyone is damned from the start, and it is only accepting Jesus Christ as one's personal savior will one be spared of eternal damnation.The fact remains that I'm an atheist. I turned atheist when I was about 20. If god was all knowing, he would have known that I would have turned into an atheist and thus be damned. He created me anyway.At this point, I only see 3 possible choices.(1) God is all knowing, he created me anyway just so I could go to hell, and thus he does not love me unconditionally.(2) God is not all knowing, he didn't know I was going to turn atheist, and thus he is not really god.(3) God is all knowing, he created me knowing I would reject him when I turned 20, he loves me me unconditionally, and so there is no hell.

Christianiy claims to have the monopoly on truth. You're a christian. Huh? I've attended dozens of churches... Ok, let's take another approach.Do you or do you not believe that everyone is born with the "original" sin and that through baptism one is absorbed of this sin? If you do believe this, then how is this different than being saved only by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior? If you don't believe this, then what is the point of christianity? Can't we all just live and not bother with religion? Ok, so you don't believe in hell. What happens to all the bad people after they die, according to your christian belief?

Let's cut through all the nitpickings. What happens to people like Hitler after they die?

I just love answers that are nonanswers. Actually, I don't.

For me, I have two answers.(1) I'm not sure that I can spell out what unconditional love is, but I sure as hell know what it ain't.(2) While I can't spell out what unconditional love is, I sure as hell know it when I see it.It's like the difference between pornography and indecency. I know it when I see it.

I agree. But knowing it doesn't mean you can define it in such a way that everyone else can understand it.You should read this wiki link to see what I mean when I say "I know it when I see it".

Well, that's the point. Nitpick: "E" before "i" when preceded by "c".Your mistake proves to me that you do not love me unconditionally. You want to look for a way to make unconditional love objective rather than subjective?

Simple. All god has to do is undo hell and voila I can't choose to go to hell anymore. Same thing with children. We don't present them with sharp objects and they won't hurt themselves or others. Simple concept to understand.The rest of your post is just a mishmash between random thoughts and christian self-righteous preaching.