Therefore, the Church, to avoid ambiguity, uncertainty, dogmatically expresses (points to) its experience (knowledge) of God-Trinity in the verbal formula ‘God is Love’ (not: ‘God has love’ or
‘God loves’, which are rather pedagogical and which can be understood and interpreted, if necessary, to defend some heresy, ambiguously…).
That is, ‘God is Love’ means that the essence of God is Love. Thus, the Church says: that each action (energy) of God is an expression of Love, is a manifestation of Love, an incarnation of Love (no matter how the Hypostasis affects the Divine Essence – the result will be Love). Everything that God does, creates, says, thinks… – is Love. Since God is Love, Good, Kind, therefore only good, kind does He create. God cannot not Love! (This is the only thing He ‘cannot do’, which means that He cannot: be angry, be jealous, hate, retaliate, reward, punish, distinguish, prefer, love someone more, love someone less…).
“God loves everyone and everything that exists (evil has no essence, thus it does not fall into this ‘everything’); He wishes Happiness (deification) for all and does everything within His power to ensure that everything reaches the fullness of Bliss (so that ‘God may be all in all’).
God is Love means He does not punish sins nor reward good deeds and virtues. He has no ‘because’ (neither for good nor for evil), only ‘for’ (for achieving Happiness by every creature).
If indeed God is Love, as joyously preached by the Church, then God could not (or cannot) refrain from incarnating, could not (or cannot) refrain from saving, from deifying His creation—it’s only a matter of time, that is, the timing determined by the Loving God in His providential Trinitarian counsel. Therefore, either He has already saved, or He will definitely save (because if He is Love, He cannot but save)!
Thus, the very Gospel, this very Message that God is Love, is already a source of joy, hope for the fullness of being for all creation (even if it’s in the future, it is bound to happen). However, the Church implants something strange in our ears—it proclaims that the time has come, the time has been fulfilled (in Greek: kairos; as opposed to chronos—linear time)—God in Jesus Christ has deified, has blessed the whole world, that is, has granted everything Eternal Life, Happiness! And since God is Love, and since He has granted Eternal Life (the Kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit), He also gave the Power (the Holy Spirit) to accept and bear this Gift. And since the Church proclaims that the Kingdom of God has already been granted to us (and God, since He is Love (= Truth, which presupposes absolute responsibility), acts according to our capabilities, does nothing inappropriate, and aims at: joy, benefit, Happiness; for example, He gives milk to a baby and solid food to an adult man because if a baby were given sausage, it would be inappropriate, and if the baby were to eat it, it would harm its stomach. Or, imagine you were given an elephant, while you yourself are starving—such a gift is inappropriate and not at all joyful—you have to feed the elephant… Almost all our human gifts are of such irresponsibility, but with God, everything matches: the Gift is given according to each one’s capability), this means that we can already receive Him (the Holy Spirit), contain Him, and this is only possible if we have already resurrected, healed and are already capable of containing the grace of the Holy Spirit. (‘The Holy Spirit was not yet upon them, for Jesus had not yet been glorified’, but in Jesus the whole world—human nature is one—see Ch. I). Thus, the Church testifies that we have already resurrected (since we can already contain the Spirit of Resurrection; like attracts like), are saved, healed (in the Hypostasis of Jesus Christ—unmixed, unchanged, indivisible, and inseparable from God), and this, in turn, indicates that death has been destroyed (more on this in the following chapters).
Christians, members of the Body of the Church, express in the words ‘God is Love’, ‘we are saved’, ‘we have risen’… – the Reality they live. If everything the Church says is true, then it becomes clear the constant call to Joy, and what’s more, ‘FULL Joy’ and ‘ALWAYS Rejoice!’ (possible only if the act of salvation ‘has been accomplished!’). But this all must be checked, because ‘maybe they are drunk on new wine’ and thus speak of such unearthly (absurd, senseless) things?! But no, Christians say, ‘they are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day (9 AM—V.A.); but this is what was prophesied by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh… And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”‘.
“It is necessary for Christians to explain ‘how this can be’, how to understand what they preach, what objective arguments they have to convince me of the truth of their words, or at least to trust them responsibly, gradually verifying whether it is indeed so! Because if they cannot explain the facts verbally (of course, without contradictions in the theory) and do not have the fruits of what they speak about, then there is nothing to talk about with them. However, Orthodox Christians are bold (they stand in the truth) – they assert that their teachings are the most complete (and they prove it in every discussion, debate!) and have plenty of fruits (objective arguments).