Dennis Prager makes a good point. Biblical wisdom teaches us that loving someone without conditions can too easily condone bad behavior. Young children may deserve it, but after that, people need to earn love.
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“Google charts the use of words and terms in English-language books from the beginning of the 19th century until the present. If you look at its chart for the term “unconditional love,” you will learn that until the 1970s, the term almost never appeared in English-language books. And then, all of a sudden, it was everywhere.”
“In other words, when America was religious, no one used the term “unconditional love.” Only as America became less religious, its culture more secular, did usage of the term soar. This alone should help dispel the widespread notion that unconditional love is a religious ideal.”
“It isn’t. In a lifetime of teaching Judaism and now writing volume four of a five-volume Bible commentary, I have never come across the concept of unconditional love. In fact, God makes it clear that His love is conditional on obeying Him. For example, he tells the Israelites: “If you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession.”