Page | 115 Second, God must be real. If God is real, a Christian (at least, experienced in relationship. Such the modern evangelical Christian) should churches invite congregants to experience the emotions that one would experience God in their imaginations as feel if one were loved unconditionally. a person. Again, this violates a basic Most do not. It is, in fact, difficult for psychological expectation: persons have humans to experience themselves as faces to observe and hands to shake. unconditionally loved because no matter Human relational interactions are based how warm and loving a parent may be, on sensorial response. Churches like the at some point the child is expected to Vineyard explicitly suggest that one control his or her behavior and parental should imagine a sensorial response love will becomes contingent. The task from God and encouraged congregants of feeling unconditionally loved imposes to participate in a kind of let’s pretend upon the congregant not only the burden play in which God was present. The of identifying and relating to an invisible pastor suggested one Sunday morning being, but experiencing emotions in that congregants should put out a second response to that being’s love which the cup of coffee for God, and sit down with congregant rarely, if ever, truly him to chat. People went on “date night” experiences. Congregants talk about the with God. They would get a sandwich, experience of unconditional love as rare: and sit down on park bench to talk with they speak of “those moments” when God as they imagined his arm around one really feels God’s love. their shoulders. They would ask God a _ . . . I was driving home from grocery truly trivial questions like what shirt they oo . . shopping in the car and I stopped at a should wear in the morning and what : . : light and suddenly for no reason that I movie he thought they would like. These : . . . could come up with, I was weeping and I behaviors were clearly play-like. One , art felt a