Prosím, je could v prvním souvětí minulý čas nebo podminovaci způsob?

Sometimes, I wonder how God could have looked down on us and loved us. We are so unlovable, so mean sometimes, so unworthy. In his mercy, God still says to each of us, “I want you; I choose you because I want to be a Father to you.”

Překlad: Někdy se divím, jak by na nás mohl Bůh shlížet spatra a přitom nás milovat.

Je to správně?

Asi je potřeba ještě mnohem více kontextu, aby bylo jasné, o čem přesně se mluví. Ta věta s could je totiž pravděpodobně spíš v minulosti + sloveso může být look down nebo look down on.

There is no other condition. God didn't wait until I became „good enough“ to be his son. He didn't wait until I had all my doctrines figured out. No – he said, „Even when you were lost in sin, I came to you to be reconciled. I loved you when you were wallowing in filth. I called you, chose you and adopted you for no other reason than that I love you!“

Sometimes I wonder how God ever could have looked down on us and loved us. We are so unlovable – so mean sometimes, so unworthy. But in his mercy he says to each of us, „I want you – I choose you – because I want to be a father to you!“

„Beloved, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…“ (1 John 3:1).

„Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins“ (4:10).

I agree with Franta on both counts here.

1. „Could“ is definitely the past tense. It's clear in the context that God did/does look, and the speaker wonders how that was possible (not how it might have been possible) in the circumstances (that we are unworthy, unloveable). We're not talking about a hypothesis (jak by (býval) mohl …), but a fact (jak mohl …).
2. The sense here is not the phrasal verb „look down on“ (shlížet spatra – treat someone as not worthy of respect), it's „look“ + where? (Up, down, in, out, over, across, through etc.) on who/what? (On the sea, on the courtyard, on the road, on us). So (maybe) sklopit pohled, (po)dívat se dolů.

• hrad má výhled na město … the castle looks down on the town ….

Thanks, Dan.

S kontextem už je to jasná minulost, vztahující se k zmiňovaným událostem. 🙂