06/01/2026
Does "Love" ever say "No?"
If a toddler wanted to play with a copperhead, or with toys in the middle of the Bypass, would a loving parent allow this play? Of course not! Such action would be deemed neglect and abuse of a child. Love is willing to tell the person we love, "No."
In our current culture, we are hearing people proclaim a false ideology that love allows any behavior. Proponents of this narrative claim that since God loves everyone and offers His love to everyone, then any behavior a person desires in the name of pleasure and emotional satisfaction must be good.
This is a false claim. True love will love a child enough to say no to dangerous activities and play. True love will love enough to say no to licentious indulgence.
Physical union of two people was given by God as the sign of a marriage covenant. It is intended by God to be kept within this covenant. Scripture plainly admonishes any other use of physical union and proclaims these activities as sin, a violation against the holiness of God.
Yes, God loves everyone. God offers restoration of relationship with Him to anyone. God's love is good. To accept this love and have relationship with Him, we must repent of our sin (violations against His holiness) and self-will. We must accept His self-sacrificial death as a substitute for our sin's punishment. We must place our hope, trust and faith in Him for our eternity.
This repentance and faith is what allows us to receive His forgiveness, His love and be restored in relationship to Him.
As a church, we lovingly call all people to receive the love of God and will seek to help any person understand and know the goodness of the love of God. We will also love people enough to warn them of sin. This means we must also lovingly call all people to repent of lifestyles or behaviors that stand in opposition to the holiness of God. We believe in the goodness of God who desires that all people should come to repentance and faith in Him.
