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Divine love Quote by Michael Reeves

“I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn’t God love? Shouldn’t divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That’s exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God’s wrath was a casualty of the war in the…” quote by Michael Reeves
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““I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn’t God love? Shouldn’t divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That’s exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God’s wrath was a casualty of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and over 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, my people shelled day in and day out, some of them brutalized beyond imagination, and I could not imagine God not being angry. Or think of Rwanda in the last decade of the past century where 800,000 people were hacked to death in one hundred days! How did God react to the carnage? By doting on the perpetrators in a grandparently fashion? By refusing to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirming the perpetrators’ basic goodness? Wasn’t God fiercely angry with them? Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love.[11] Were””

Michael Reeves

About This Quote

Source Book: The Problem of Evil, John Hick, 1966

The quote argues that divine wrath is compatible with divine love, suggesting that God’s anger toward evil stems from love for creation.

In simple terms: God’s anger shows love for the world.

Key Takeaway

Recognize that love can include righteous anger.

Themes

theity theodicy human suffering

Mood

sorrowful reflective thoughtful

Type

theological philosophical reflective

When to use this quote

  • War zones
  • genocide remembrance
  • theological reflection

Key Concepts

Divine justice compassion war trauma

Questions to Reflect On

  • How does suffering shape your understanding of love?
  • Can anger be a form of love?
A Different Perspective

The view may oversimplify complex theological debates about free will and divine nature.

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