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dragoness_eIn this essay I struggle to express my thoughts on what God most requires of us, through the lens of Christianity. I know that not everyone who reads this is Christian; I am also not so arrogant as to believe that Yahweh is the only name and aspect of God. I do believe that no matter what name He or She is called by, love is still the greatest of commandments.
Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV):
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Saducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The last phrase is significant; the Apostle Paul elaborates in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 13:8-10 (NIV):
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery,", "Do not murder,", "Do not steal,", "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Throughout the New Testament letters you will find the same theme repeated: Love your neighbor is the greatest commandment, do not quarrel with your neighbor, love is more important than sacrifices and offerings, love one another. Yet this theme is not a novelty of the New Testament; it is an emphasis of an important theme in the Old Testament as well. Leviticus 19 alone is a long list of rules that come down to "Don't be a dick to your neighbor", and includes the command, "Love your neighbor as yourself".
From a century before Jesus, we have the great Rabbi Hillel, founder of the rabbinic tradition of Judaism, who is credited with the Golden Rule: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn" (Shab. 31a).
These two commandments are the core of Christianity and Judaism. All else is clarification or elaboration or specification. Clarification: don't do this, this and this, because it harms your neighbor. Elaboration: who is my neighbor? What is love? How do I love God? How should I love my neighbor? Specification: rules for a particular time and place.
The Apostle Paul described love in one of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV):
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
If you treat people badly, no matter what your excuse, that's not love. If you look down at your neighbor and congratulate yourself on how much better you are, that's not love. If you ignore your neighbor when she needs help, that's not love. If you hate your neighbor because he's "not one of us"/"not supposed to be here"/"taking my job"/"wasting my tax dollars", that's not love.
But, not everyone is my neighbor, some might protest. Two thousand years ago, some nameless student of the Torah felt the same way, asking Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The point of that parable? Don't stop to ask 'who is my neighbor?'--be a neighbor instead. People who stop to ask if someone is their neighbor are already trying to qualify the Law of Love, to restrict it to some group they think is worthy and exclude others.
Even the Apostle Peter had trouble with that one. Perhaps he had trouble with being patient to people who repeatedly wronged him, and thought there had to be a limit when he asked Jesus, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus's answer: "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Then he elaborated with the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35), the point of which was if we want God to be infinitely forgiving of our faults, we need to be infinitely forgiving of other's faults.
Everyone you can be a neighbor to, is your neighbor. Love them.
I once had an interesting epiphany on this commandment: to love your neighbor, you must be able to love yourself, and vice versa: to be able to love yourself, you need to love your neighbor. If you learn to love your neighbor in spite of his faults, learn to appreciate all that is good in him or her and forgive the rest, you will find that you can be patient with your own inadequacies and start to see things in yourself worth appreciating. Conversely, if you own your own faults and accept them and forgive yourself, you can look at your neighbor and realize, "Hey, she's got the same faults I do, who am I to hold her in contempt?"
But if you hate yourself, how much lesser must other people seem to you? Or how easy it is to resent other people who seem to be so much better than yourself with no effort? Yet another way depression screws us up--it makes it hard to love. It is not God who causes us to hate ourselves, and whisper in one's mind that one is worthless and useless. God says instead, "I love you and have plans for you and you are priceless to me". Blame rather the father of lies and murder for the message of worthlessness and self-hate on those days when telling yourself "it's just broken neurochemistry" isn't enough to keep the demons at bay. Those demons lie, and they hate you and want you to suffer and try to drive you away from God and love--be they metaphorical demons or real ones.
This was a big conundrum for me; I still think about it. To love someone, particularly "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind", requires more than having a warm fuzzy feeling about them. If you are married or have a lover, how long would that relationship last if all you did was feel nice thoughts about your lover, but did absolutely nothing for them or with them? Love is a verb, as so many preachers like to point out.
That helps when it comes to "love my neighbor" -- help my neighbor, don't hurt my neighbor, be patient and forgiving with them, etc. How do I apply that to God? He's God; he certainly doesn't need my help in anything, and I didn't see how I could hurt him. At first, all that seemed to leave was feeling nice thoughts.
I believe it comes down to the subtle things Paul mentioned. Trust God to know what He's doing and to love each and every one of us. Just grasping all the implications of that can take a while, and they are profound. There's a great many things you can stop worrying about if you trust that God can handle the big picture while you handle your business, such loving your neighbor. The scheduling of the Apocalypse and the number of the Beast isn't your problem; how you treat the cashier at grocery story check-out is. The moral decline of our age isn't your problem unless you're contributing to it; if you think that specific person right there that you know is doing something wrong, it's the right thing and loving thing to say "Hey, I think you're going wrong here, because...." and it stops there. Protecting people from the malice of others is your concern; sitting in judgment of whole groups of people you don't even know is not.
We are patient with people we love and trust. Be patient with God; He sees the big picture of the entire universe and the breadth and depth of Time, and the little picture of every single person's heart and soul, and you... do not. Trust Him to know what he's doing. (Which was the whole point of God's rebuke to Job, not "might makes right" as some people misunderstand it).
If you love someone, you care about what makes them happy, and you care about what they care about. You respect their wishes and requests; you respect them. God loves us, and wants us to love each other; to love your neighbor is to make God happy, and love Him. To obey God in a spirit of love, not fear, is also loving God. Accepting His (or Her) wisdom and being guided by it, because you want to, is loving obedience. Following rules because you want to do right by people and help them and not let God down is loving obedience. Following rules because one is terrified of punishment is not.
If you love someone, be it God or your neighbor, you treat them with respect. You don't speak their name with contempt, you don't make vulgar jokes about them or otherwise demean them, and you don't respect those who do. Contempt is the first cousin of hatred, and does not belong in a heart of love.
There are many Levitical laws that were written to address a very specific time, place and society. They simply aren't relevant to here and now; ignore them. Love is the fulfillment of the Law.
So? The Apostles did that from the beginning, back at the first Apostolic Council when Peter and Paul argued over what regulations Gentile Christians should follow. They settled on a very limited set, NONE of which included killing anyone for anything. If you think that Peter did wrong to pick and choose, and that you're better, please go sit on the bench with the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not a sinner like other people.
Paul even gave us the guideline for doing our picking and choosing: the passage quoted above from Romans 13. Love does no harm to its neighbor. If a rule, law, doctrine or dogma does harm to your neighbors, it's a bad one and should be discarded. Conversely, if a law, etc. requires you to avoid harming people, it's probably a good one. "By their fruits you shall know them" applies to laws as well as teachings and people.
Every single person has to choose for themselves what they believe in. You have to pick and choose what God/Goddess and doctrines you follow; no one else can do it for you. Lord knows, plenty of people are willing to try to do it for you, but they aren't the ones who are responsible for what you do. You are.
Go in peace, and the love of the Lord be with you all.
Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV):
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Saducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The last phrase is significant; the Apostle Paul elaborates in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 13:8-10 (NIV):
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery,", "Do not murder,", "Do not steal,", "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Throughout the New Testament letters you will find the same theme repeated: Love your neighbor is the greatest commandment, do not quarrel with your neighbor, love is more important than sacrifices and offerings, love one another. Yet this theme is not a novelty of the New Testament; it is an emphasis of an important theme in the Old Testament as well. Leviticus 19 alone is a long list of rules that come down to "Don't be a dick to your neighbor", and includes the command, "Love your neighbor as yourself".
From a century before Jesus, we have the great Rabbi Hillel, founder of the rabbinic tradition of Judaism, who is credited with the Golden Rule: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn" (Shab. 31a).
These two commandments are the core of Christianity and Judaism. All else is clarification or elaboration or specification. Clarification: don't do this, this and this, because it harms your neighbor. Elaboration: who is my neighbor? What is love? How do I love God? How should I love my neighbor? Specification: rules for a particular time and place.
What is love?
The Apostle Paul described love in one of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV):
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
If you treat people badly, no matter what your excuse, that's not love. If you look down at your neighbor and congratulate yourself on how much better you are, that's not love. If you ignore your neighbor when she needs help, that's not love. If you hate your neighbor because he's "not one of us"/"not supposed to be here"/"taking my job"/"wasting my tax dollars", that's not love.
Who is my neighbor?
But, not everyone is my neighbor, some might protest. Two thousand years ago, some nameless student of the Torah felt the same way, asking Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The point of that parable? Don't stop to ask 'who is my neighbor?'--be a neighbor instead. People who stop to ask if someone is their neighbor are already trying to qualify the Law of Love, to restrict it to some group they think is worthy and exclude others.
Even the Apostle Peter had trouble with that one. Perhaps he had trouble with being patient to people who repeatedly wronged him, and thought there had to be a limit when he asked Jesus, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus's answer: "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Then he elaborated with the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35), the point of which was if we want God to be infinitely forgiving of our faults, we need to be infinitely forgiving of other's faults.
Everyone you can be a neighbor to, is your neighbor. Love them.
Love your neighbor as yourself
I once had an interesting epiphany on this commandment: to love your neighbor, you must be able to love yourself, and vice versa: to be able to love yourself, you need to love your neighbor. If you learn to love your neighbor in spite of his faults, learn to appreciate all that is good in him or her and forgive the rest, you will find that you can be patient with your own inadequacies and start to see things in yourself worth appreciating. Conversely, if you own your own faults and accept them and forgive yourself, you can look at your neighbor and realize, "Hey, she's got the same faults I do, who am I to hold her in contempt?"
But if you hate yourself, how much lesser must other people seem to you? Or how easy it is to resent other people who seem to be so much better than yourself with no effort? Yet another way depression screws us up--it makes it hard to love. It is not God who causes us to hate ourselves, and whisper in one's mind that one is worthless and useless. God says instead, "I love you and have plans for you and you are priceless to me". Blame rather the father of lies and murder for the message of worthlessness and self-hate on those days when telling yourself "it's just broken neurochemistry" isn't enough to keep the demons at bay. Those demons lie, and they hate you and want you to suffer and try to drive you away from God and love--be they metaphorical demons or real ones.
How do you love God?
This was a big conundrum for me; I still think about it. To love someone, particularly "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind", requires more than having a warm fuzzy feeling about them. If you are married or have a lover, how long would that relationship last if all you did was feel nice thoughts about your lover, but did absolutely nothing for them or with them? Love is a verb, as so many preachers like to point out.
That helps when it comes to "love my neighbor" -- help my neighbor, don't hurt my neighbor, be patient and forgiving with them, etc. How do I apply that to God? He's God; he certainly doesn't need my help in anything, and I didn't see how I could hurt him. At first, all that seemed to leave was feeling nice thoughts.
I believe it comes down to the subtle things Paul mentioned. Trust God to know what He's doing and to love each and every one of us. Just grasping all the implications of that can take a while, and they are profound. There's a great many things you can stop worrying about if you trust that God can handle the big picture while you handle your business, such loving your neighbor. The scheduling of the Apocalypse and the number of the Beast isn't your problem; how you treat the cashier at grocery story check-out is. The moral decline of our age isn't your problem unless you're contributing to it; if you think that specific person right there that you know is doing something wrong, it's the right thing and loving thing to say "Hey, I think you're going wrong here, because...." and it stops there. Protecting people from the malice of others is your concern; sitting in judgment of whole groups of people you don't even know is not.
We are patient with people we love and trust. Be patient with God; He sees the big picture of the entire universe and the breadth and depth of Time, and the little picture of every single person's heart and soul, and you... do not. Trust Him to know what he's doing. (Which was the whole point of God's rebuke to Job, not "might makes right" as some people misunderstand it).
If you love someone, you care about what makes them happy, and you care about what they care about. You respect their wishes and requests; you respect them. God loves us, and wants us to love each other; to love your neighbor is to make God happy, and love Him. To obey God in a spirit of love, not fear, is also loving God. Accepting His (or Her) wisdom and being guided by it, because you want to, is loving obedience. Following rules because you want to do right by people and help them and not let God down is loving obedience. Following rules because one is terrified of punishment is not.
If you love someone, be it God or your neighbor, you treat them with respect. You don't speak their name with contempt, you don't make vulgar jokes about them or otherwise demean them, and you don't respect those who do. Contempt is the first cousin of hatred, and does not belong in a heart of love.
What about all those Old Testament rules that say to kill people who do X?
There are many Levitical laws that were written to address a very specific time, place and society. They simply aren't relevant to here and now; ignore them. Love is the fulfillment of the Law.
But that's picking and choosing what parts of the Bible to believe/obey!
So? The Apostles did that from the beginning, back at the first Apostolic Council when Peter and Paul argued over what regulations Gentile Christians should follow. They settled on a very limited set, NONE of which included killing anyone for anything. If you think that Peter did wrong to pick and choose, and that you're better, please go sit on the bench with the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not a sinner like other people.
Paul even gave us the guideline for doing our picking and choosing: the passage quoted above from Romans 13. Love does no harm to its neighbor. If a rule, law, doctrine or dogma does harm to your neighbors, it's a bad one and should be discarded. Conversely, if a law, etc. requires you to avoid harming people, it's probably a good one. "By their fruits you shall know them" applies to laws as well as teachings and people.
Every single person has to choose for themselves what they believe in. You have to pick and choose what God/Goddess and doctrines you follow; no one else can do it for you. Lord knows, plenty of people are willing to try to do it for you, but they aren't the ones who are responsible for what you do. You are.
Go in peace, and the love of the Lord be with you all.
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Date: 2010-12-18 04:43 pm (UTC)That's why the message of 1 Corinthians 13 is so important. Love isn't just a fuzzy emotion we feel for each other. God is LOVE and all good things (hope, faith, and all things bright and beautiful) stem from love. Love is radical, powerful, and overwhelms us to restore us to God's image. It was by our own rebellion that we became estranged, and it was by God's love that we were reconciled. With a love that great freely given to us, how can we not show that love to others? That includes gay people and people of different religions, and people we just plain don't want to like very much. If the love of God is in us because the light of Christ is in us, love should pour forth from every part of us.
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Date: 2010-12-18 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 10:09 pm (UTC)http://evilnel.livejournal.com/1110442.html#cutid1
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Date: 2010-12-19 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-20 07:05 pm (UTC)