God's love is unconditional. . . or is it? The idea is current that God accepts us as we are and loves us that way. Of course, it is true that God loves us, but God cannot love sinfulness and evil. God cannot love the evil within us, or put otherwise, cannot love us committing sin. God loves who he created us to be, and is constantly faithful to "us" in wanting to forgive and draw us into that person, who is close to God and in whom God abides.Philosopher Robert Spaemann calls "unspeakable nonsense" the idea that God accepts us as we are. Spaemann, "The Paradoxes of Love," in Love and the Dignity of Human Life, 16. Spaemann goes on to say:
"If that were true, then there would be no such thing as forgiveness. To say to someone who has done me wrong, 'Well, that's just how you are,' is the opposite of forgiveness. Forgiveness means not to pin someone down on being what he is -- a coward, a liar, or a traitor -- but to allow him to distance himself from his being that way, and to begin anew. Being able to do so is characteristic of a person. Because love aims at the person, it can let go of the 'that is just how you are,' and allow the other to distance himself from himself and have a new beginning. To accept someone as he is, is the ultimate form of resignation. The proclamation of Jesus does not begin with the words, "God accepts you as you are," but with the words: 'Repent, change! Be different from what you are now.'"
All of morality depends on man's ability to take a distance from himself and to change his future behavior in response to the call of conscience. Forgiveness, as Spaemann points out, gives a person the moral space to forgo what he has done before. To say to someone, whatever you've done is OK because you were born this way, may be unconditional, but it isn't love.
Jesus' words in this 6th Sunday of Easter's gospel are congruent: "If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love." (John 15:10).
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