The Love of God

God's love is who He is. When we interact with God, we interact with His love. When we experience the bliss of the Eternal Life, or the fires of Gehenna; whether we are comforted in our sorrow, rebuked in our errors, or purged through fire, we are encountering the love of God. The only thing which changes throughout all of these experiences, is ourselves and how we perceive Him and encounter His love. This all penetrating, all-consuming love surrounds us and fills and penetrates us, because He surrounds us fills and penetrates us. God has no other mode of operation. He is love.

Why then can we experience Hell? Because of His love. The Fires of Gehenna are what we experience when we all we encounter is this all consuming devastating love and instead turn towards physical and transient cravings and desires which leave one continuously craving for more. The fires of Gehenna are what we experience when we refuse to let go of our fears and delusions of control and just accept His all consuming love on His terms. His all-consuming devastating love for us is also an all-consuming devastating hatred for the sin malfunction which afflicts every one of us, in the same way that the parent of a child with a disorder loves that child fiercely while at the same time curses and fiercely hates the child's affliction.

God does not move, we do. His love does not move, it is always there because He is always there. Why then do we not always feel it? The answer is that we do, but do not always understand what we are feeling, or we ignore it for the impermanent and relatively meaningless things our senses are telling us. We don't slow down long enough to pay attention to what is right in front of us.

The Love of God feels harsh at times, just like my love for my children feels harsh to them when they disobey. I hate their disobedience because I love them fiercely and I have a particular vision of the kind of people they can be if not for their disobedience. I want them to always experience my love in a positive way, but that depends on their perception, and I know that my love can't waver even if they have a misperception of it.

The love of God is purifying, and it can be painful in its purification as it burns away everything we still grasp for and crave. This is why a purgatory and a hell often feel the same, the difference between them is our response to this devastating and terrible Love. The difference between a purging and a damnation is literally whether we are willing to surrender to the Love of God and let go of all else.

He rages because He is love. He burns away all that we desire because He is love. He hates because He is love. He is still, unmoving, uncompromising, and unwavering because He is love. He comforts, encourages, pushes us onwards, and is unrelenting because He is love.

The love of God is devastating, terrible, and terrifying in its power, scope, and absoluteness. In the face of such love, we can either surrender and be enraptured and consumed by it, or be destroyed with all else we cling to.