John 3:16-21
God LOVES the World
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
1 John 4:7-21
God's LOVE and Our Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Acts 17:24-31
We Are God's Offspring
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
God is LOVE and it is a very interesting concept…St. John, the Disciple of Love, wrote let us and told us to love one another, for love comes from God...This is how God showed His love among us and for us: God sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him...This is LOVE: not that we loved God, but that He LOVED us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...Dear friends, since God so LOVES us, we also ought to love one another...No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His LOVE is made complete in us...This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Holy Spirit...And the Disciples and others have seen, testify, and were eyewitnesses that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world...If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God...And so we know and rely on the LOVE God has for us...God is LOVE...Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them...This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have the confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus...There will be this fear on judgment day, but LOVE will be there...And punishment will come on judgment day...But there is no fear in LOVE...Because perfect LOVE drives out our fears, because fear has to do with things not of love...Love is this attraction and wanting to be with others, fear is not an attraction to be with someone else...The one who fears is not made perfect in LOVE...We love because God has LOVED us first...God sent His One and Only Son to save the world and He did it out of LOVE…Love is mankind’s greatest virtue and it comes from God, because God has LOVED us first…
This concept and these verses about LOVE and God’s LOVE has me looking at evolution and asking questions about it, because of how I believe in God…The way I read the theory of Charles Darwin, may be different than others…It seems to me that natural selection, the theory by Charles Darwin, states that organisms evolved by an evolutionary change that came through by the organism varying itself in a selfish or in an biologic altruistic way so that the organism would survive and have a stronger and better chance to survive and reproduce, and thus maintain its survival opportunities in the future...Natural selection seems to me points to ways that would increase the organisms own health and well-being to survive, more so than to save others around them...
Could have love evolved or did God just inherently give us faith, hope, and love all at once?...Are the evolutionists saying that the offspring of the organism were as important or more important to the father and mother as their own self?...If they are saying that, then that would definitely would be a sign of love...A great love for their offspring...However, I have not read this about natural selection...
God is LOVE...And God’s LOVE is different than our love...I do not see God having one iota of selfishness in Himself...St. Paul said we are God's offspring, and because of this we seek Him, and reach out to Him, and He is not far from any of us...God sent His Son, Jesus to die for us and save each of us from our sins...For God to make such a sacrifice that resulted in great personal suffering for not only His Son, but also for Him, does not in anyway, to me, sound like natural selection theory...Natural selection is about surviving...(Or is there a concern in natural selection about one's love for their offspring?)...Jesus is morally, physically, and Spiritually unique...Jesus did not survive His Own physical death on the cross, but gave up His life for us...God has sacrificed His Son without any assurances that we as mankind would survive and be stronger or better in the process...God sent His Son out of an unconditional LOVE without any evidence that He might have a more righteous world after His Son died on earth for us...This is a sign of Great LOVE and a sign of Great Forgiveness...