I count love as caring-sharing, focused on being of service, Honesty, Kindness, & Respect for others....

I would go on to say that (what we understand as) Christ-Like love is unconditional...

Am I too 'Polyann-ish)? Horribly naïve? Old-fashioned??

Maybe it's only the LDS culture/experience.

I'm pretty much in love with every genuine person I meet. I'm of the offer it up immediately branch of humanity, rather than making people earn it.

Of course, I'm very, very discerning (in my own mind) and so I'll retreat when I think it's necessary. I really really loathe phoniness when I spot it.

Don't give up hope! There's no shame in being a "Pollyanna" or an "Elderolddog"!

What a wonderful surprise it was to find the world outside of Mormonism so filled with love! We were taught that Mormonism was a refuge, against the "lone-and-dreary" world. We were taught to fear and revile the world, and never be "OF the world", but merely "IN the world."

There is love and joy out here!

My love for my children has always been unconditional. That's why I didn't believe the Mormon teachings about having to "earn" love by good works for the cult. (Unfortunately, my parents did not love this way.)

The Mormon cult didn't teach me and my children love, honesty, service, kindness and respect for others. We felt that the cult was ANTI-all these nice things. Pro obedience. Pro money. Pro putting on an act. Pro recruiting. People were just numbers, just minions, working for something way more important than individuals. We grew up in areas of California where there were few Mormons, and our neighbors were great people. We learned from them. We learned from reading (including the Bible) writings from authors of many different philosophies and cultures. We learned from following our own heart.

The greatest lesson I learned in life is that it is the Love you GIVE that matters most! That's the love you really feel, the love you think about, the love you demonstrate. Love is a verb, and it's what you do. This is the love you KNOW, and believe in. Often, love is not returned. Often someone might love you without you even knowing about it. Love from others is elusive. It can be weak or strong, eternal or for-the-moment. My life was pretty brutal in the past, so I learned not to expect or count on being loved back.

I magnified my love for my children and parents, and it nourished me. (There was no love at all in the Mormon world--only criticism and competition.) I lived my whole life for love. I worked very hard to love, encourage, feed and house my children. I listened to them, communicated with them, read books on how to raise children to have joy and confidence and self-esteem. My "lack of authoritarianism" brought criticism from some Mormons, but my children were always good people. I'm proud of them!

Unexpectedly....years later, I have more love in my life than I ever dreamed was possible! All the love I gave out has come back to me! My children and grandchildren and I are very close, and we live close to each other, and we are happy.

It's a mistake to try to balance the scales, and not give love to anyone who hasn't loved you back, or who you might think doesn't deserve your love. I know a lot of divorced couples like that.

It's a lot like service. I like to volunteer anonymously, whenever possible. No one knows who to thank.

Oh, we all have haters and shunners, but they really don't matter. It's all about them. I feel like I walk around with an armor of love all around me, and it makes the Mormon rudeness sting a lot less.

Don't worry about being "old fashioned" or even foolish. Just jump right in! You have everything to gain!

I live in a very cold climate. I had moved to a small town and didn’t know a soul. A few weeks ago I went out to get something
From the garage and I fell and couldn’t get up. It was early Sunday evening and I had forgot my phone. People were down in their basement’s family rooms. I lay in sub zero weather for
Fourteen hours. I had hit my forehead and nose and started bleeding. I screamed and cried all night but no one came.
I seriously thought my life was finished but I was wrong. It was
Eight o’clock the next morning, barely light, and a little 11 year old girl told her school bus driver she heard someone crying and the bus driver got out of his bus and came and found me. In
Five minutes seven people were around me and three of them rushed me to the hospital with hypothermia and frozen feet and legs.

I spent 12 days in the hospital and not only fortunate to be alive. I only had three spots of frostbite that i’m Still nursing

While I was in the hospital I was visited by a Mennonite
Minister who asked if he could say a prayer
For me and he thanked God for sending a SQUADRON of angels to help me.

Do I believe in love. You bet I do. I see it every day

America was once that way.

In some places, still is.

BUT I was a Bishop's daughter....so I was held to a higher standard.....yes, I was. I had to protect myself from the loving members. I didn't trust. I was secretive.....I was rebellious....

But luckily, outside the church I found could love....and trust.
Whew....

I love unconditionally......It's all about giving love.
There is no perfect love or perfect trust.....because I'm human.

BUT my motherly/grandmotherly heart is a happy, loving heart.

KJ/Tutu

Depends on where you're looking. If you look for love, you can probably find it. If you look for hate, you can definitely find it.

My life is replete with people who love/care/help unconditionally.
It's just that none of those people are mormons. Almost none are christians or any other religion.

And that's not because I exclusively hang out with non-religious people -- I don't. It's just that, in my experience, religion fosters/produces "conditional" love. Especially any form of christianity.

As to the assertion that the bible Jesus character exemplifies/promoted "unconditional love..."

Sorry, no sale. That idea isn't supported by the bible:

"For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him."

(John 3:16,36)

"Some people try to avoid the idea of hell by saying, “That was the Old Testament God, back when he was in his junior high years and all cranky. But when God matured in the New Testament with Jesus—meek and mild Jesus—he was all about love and compassion.”
"The problem with this view is that when you start reading the Gospels, you find that Jesus speaks about hell more than anyone else. In fact, if you count up the verses, Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven. One of the most famous skeptics in history, Bertrand Russell, said in his book Why I’m Not a Christian that Jesus’s teaching on hell is “the one profound defect in Christ’s character.” If we want to avoid the idea of hell, we can’t ignore the problem by just focusing on “meek and mild Jesus.”"

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/7-truths-about-hell/