Well, Lather, what sort of love do you suppose would subsist between the Creator and creature? Considering the radical inequality of the relationship, I think these conceptions boldly humanize Divine Love. You say you would reject the latter, and that is your prerogative, of course, but God and you are not adult equals, on any conception. Even were it Zeus or Odin, it would be false to the situation, how much more so if it is the One Who existed before the world, and made the world.
Anyway, the intentions are clear and declarative, and, in the case of David, express exceptional commitment. They are not, however, the same as the sweet nothings one might speak on a date. I cannot see that that matters. And, by the way, the conditionality is no great matter, especially considering the "history", where God continually, in the prophetic period, refuses to abandon Israel, even when she has become a "harlot". We do not say that people did not love one another automatically because they grew apart and got divorced, there is always an implied conditionality in human love.......... |
