As I'm sure you're aware...this isn't a traditional Christian position (to which my OP refers).
You have obviously questioned "traditional" Christianity? So have I. I was raised in the Anglican Church, a fairly old denomination which was originally a breakaway from Catholicism. Henry VIII just wanted a church that allowed him to divorce his wife. Wretched woman wouldn't give him a son!!! His fault, now that we know about these things.....
If you recall, it was their "tradition" that led Judaism to become something Christ did not recognize as true Jewish worship when he began his ministry. He said that the Pharisees had made God's word "invalid" because of following the "traditions of men" instead of the word of God.
Notice what Jesus said to the Pharisees...
"Why do you overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition?"
After giving them an example he said. . . .
"you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said: 8 ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. 9 It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, for they teach commands of men as doctrines.’” (Matthew 15:3; 6-9)
Have you ever investigated the origins of Christendom's doctrines? I know it blew me away when I did. I believe that it's the reason why, at the judgment, Jesus tells "many" who call him their "Lord" that he "never knew" them. (Matthew 7:21-23) Why do you think he calls these self professed "Christians", "workers of lawlessness"?
I agree. In fact, I don't think there is a religion teaching unconditional love. I see this as a flaw in all religion because I don't regard conditional love (I will love you if you please me) as genuine love.
The Bible says that "God
is love"....this means that it is his cardinal quality. He HAS many other qualities, such as wisdom, justice and power but LOVE is WHAT he is. So how is that love expressed?
The existence of love means that there must also be hate. Equal opposites exist in all things. Is it wrong to hate then? Does God hate anything? He most certainly does. (Proverbs 6:16-19) What do you define "unconditional love" as being from God's standpoint?
If a Creator exists, and I do allow the possibility, its love is unconditional. As Ghandi put it, we should "hate the sin, but love the sinner." A Creator would be capable of that. A Loving Creator would see Adolf Hitler as sick not evil. We don't hate or punish sick people even though killing them at times, when they are very dangerous, is necessary and an act of love for humanity..
Yes, this hits the nail on the head. God hates the sin, but does not hate the sinner....but if he clearly outlines what he hates, and then people still deliberately disobey his laws, that makes them "wicked" and he says that he will destroy wickedness and all who cling to it. For the sake of the righteous, he must eliminate all wickedness....it is his obligation. This is an expression of his justice and his love.....it is not an act of hatred for the person.
His love of righteousness and his hatred for wickedness means that he must eliminate from existence those, who of their own volition, practice what he hates. Because he has appointed Jesus Christ as the judge of all mankind, the prophet Isaiah foretold of him....
"And he will find delight in the fear of Jehovah.
He will not judge by what appears to his eyes,
Nor reprove simply according to what his ears hear.
4 He will judge the lowly with fairness,
And with uprightness he will give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth
And put the wicked to death with the breath of his lips." (Isaiah 11:3-4)
This is an incorruptible judge who sees deeper than a person's actions. He is not influenced by hear-say either. The "wicked" are not the "unrighteous" but those firmly entrenched in a wicked course by their own choice. The wicked have no future.....but both "the righteous and the unrighteous" have Jesus' guarantee of a resurrection. (John 5:28-29)
The death that the wicked experience is not like a natural death, it is a permanent penalty imposed because the person has been found guilty of breaking God's laws. The death they die is everlasting....their destination is "gehenna" (Matthew 10:28) where the wicked are "destroyed", as opposed to those in "hades" (sheol) who are promised a second chance when the dead return to life.
There was no higher penalty than death under the Mosaic law. So all who have died, have paid
"sin's wages". (Romans 6:23) Those who never knew God, who died in ignorance or for some other reason could not comprehend or act on the Christian message, can be resurrected with a clean slate because as Paul said...
"for he who has died is freed from sin." (Romans 6:7 NASB) No former sins are counted against them.
What do you believe the Bible says about the resurrection of the dead? (if you do at all)