Today at work, I was sitting around waiting for someone, and overheard two girls talking. One of them was complaining about her boyfriend, and how he'd go get drunk with his friends at strip bars on the weekend, or something. I grew bored, but focused on the conversation when she said "I just can't leave him though, we love each other unconditionally."
Weird stuff. So I started to think about that little phrase.
The term is used often in Christian religions for the love of God, and how our love as men ought to be like His. This is curious to me, since the phrase does not appear anywhere in the Bible. It seems to have been an invention or misinterpretation throughout the years. In fact, the New Testament is very clear that the reverse is true, or that God loves those who keep his commandments. I guess it makes people feel better to say "God loves us all the same."
Whether you believe in God or not, an analysis may be useful. If God’s love is indeed unconditional, it would mean that he loved someone who had murdered innocent children in cold blood as much as his faithful follower. Remember, the fact that you did not kill children in cold blood is a condition, or qualifier. Is this how we should love? Perhaps God’s love will never stop entirely, but it may decrease. It should thus be called infinite and eternal, in order to avoid confusion.
What most people mean when they say “unconditional” is that they will love forever. It is best, however, that we understand that this is not truly unconditional. Otherwise, it would be impossible to love someone more throughout the years, or as you saw the best inside of them.
Under unconditional love for all, you would be required to love the murderer as much as your family. The fact that they are your family, and that you know them, is a condition. Remember that the next time your sweetheart tells “I love you.” If it were unconditional, it would be equal to saying “You are a human.” Since all humans would be loved the same, without condition. Touching, isn’t it?
A qualified love is so much deeper, and so much more meaningful. I do not mean to imply that loving people is as simple as adding up their best qualities vs. their worst. I only suggest that we must understand and appreciate the best parts of that person in order to truly love them. I have not attempted to explain, nor shall I ever attempt to detail all of the feelings that love may produce. The joy and the pure feeling of endearment cannot be expressed adequately, and never are felt quite in the same way.
Perhaps I'm preaching to the choir, no?
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