Unlove

God Must Allow Loving Beings to Create Their Loving Actions Anew

There is perhaps a simpler approach to seeing God’s dilemma. If God is to create a being capable of love, then He would have to allow this being to make that love its own; otherwise, the being would be like a marionette – only behaving according to a program or cause other than itself. Now, if God is to allow a being to make love its own, He must allow that being to create its loving actions anew, that is, to have the loving action originate with the self, and not merely with a program or cause other than the self. If this being is to create its loving actions anew, it must have a choice either to perform a loving action or not to perform it. If it does not have such a choice, its actions would originate from programs, instincts, causes, or stimuli other than itself. The “loving” action would not be created anew by the self, and hence, the “loving” action would not belong to the “loving” agent. It would not be love but merely an instinctual, caused, or stimulated behavior with beneficial consequences. Just because my computer’s actions are beneficial to me does not mean it loves me.

God’s dilemma now becomes apparent. If God is to create a loving being, He must create that being with the capacity to create a loving action anew; and if He is to create a being with that capacity, He must create a being with the capacity to choose love or unlove; and if He creates a being with that capacity, He creates the very possibility of unlove leading to suffering.

Note, here, that God does not create the actuality of suffering in the world, but only the possibility of suffering, by creating agents who have the real choice, the real power, to act contrary to love. God must create this possibility; otherwise, He could not create a free agent, and therefore, could not create a loving being – that is, He could not create a beloved with the freedom to love others with a love that is its own. God’s purpose in creating “little beloveds who are loving” would be frustrated.