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Bovine Feces

"God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us." - Martin Luther

Bovine feces. I wouldn't even fertilize my garden with that. [You don't have a garden.--ed.] The thing that irritates me most is that people think this is 'the gospel.' The gospel is this: God is Love. God loves us because he loves us. The fact that God loves proves that we are inherently valuable. There is absolutely no warrant for the self-hatred suggested by this dualistic man-hating excuse for 'the gospel.' God sounds like an abusive father.

In fairness, everything ultimately gets its value from God. But we are valuable AND God loves us. If humans were not inherently valuable, there would be no Hell, because the judgment comes by the rejection of God who made us. And it means that sin is a kind of self-hatred.

God loves us more than we can possibly love ourselves. Pride does prevent us from loving God, but there are two kinds: the "God is lucky to have me" pride, and the "God cannot possibly love me" pride. Calvinists generally incline toward the latter.

I can see why monergism is so attractive; you want the most foolproof theology you can find, given the fact that you don't like yourself, and don't see how anyone (including God) could.

It's still crap. How's this for good news: God actually loves you. Not redeemed you, not "my sin is covered" you. Just you. Actually, He never stopped loving. Anyone. Ever. But He wants you in on it. He wants to change you. You in?

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