There’s a saying that Actions speak louder than Words, and I’m not sure if it’s always true, but I bring it up because I think it is often relevant – even when discussing words. Perhaps especially when discussing words.
Right now, I want to talk about words – about words, and actions, and which words carry the most weight to me. And I want to talk about that in a very loaded context.
I’ve told people before, I don’t worship human beings for being torturers, I don’t intend to bow to them for torture or for the threat of torture, and I’m not going to worship a torturer as God either. Since it’s not exactly a secret that I believe in God, that means sometimes people want to know which one I believe in, and where I found him.
The answer is, I believe in the one who told his followers that not only were they forbidden from murder, they were not even to hate their brother. The one who told his followers they were to love their enemies, pray for those who persecute them, bless those who curse them, and do good to those who hate them – and why were they to do this?
In order to be like their Heavenly Father, who causes the rain to fall on the unjust and the just, and his sun to shine on the wicked and the righteous, without discrimination.
The one, who when he was being crucified, prayed for his torturers and executioners.
Fundamentally, that’s why I believe in this God. And a lot of people will ask me what I make, or what I do with, many other things he is reported to have said. Perhaps the parable about the sheep and the goats comes to mind, or maybe the one about the wedding party.
There are things I could say. I could go down the route some Universalists go about Greek words for ‘forever’, but those arguments always seemed fundamentally dishonest to me – and even more, besides the point. Even if hell is not eternal torture, it’s still torture, is it not? It really does not make much difference.
Or I could try to explain that isn’t the point of the parable or many other things.
I’m not going to, because that isn’t at the heart of the matter, certainly not for me.
What is at the heart of the matter, is that he gave his followers some very clear instructions about how they were to live and relate to others. And to me, those clear, down-to-earth, practical (by which I mean they are practice-able) commands mean a lot more than parables that, frankly, I don’t understand very well. I’d be inclined to say the parables should be interpreted in the light of the commands, but that might be running off again.
What I know is that the commands are clear and easy to understand. Maybe they’re not easy to follow, or maybe they’re easier to follow than most of us would expect. But they are, at least, easy to understand, and they paint a very clear picture, one that is utterly devoid of any attempt to rule by fear or hate. They paint a picture of actions that speak very loudly of love that embraces all – no matter what.
In other words, I worship the God who tells me to be most like what I would want God to be.
I worship the God who tells me to be like the God I want to worship, in order to be like him.
I do not want to worship a God who attempts to rule by fear or torture. I don’t even think I want to worship a God who guarantees me I will never have to face torture, though I’m not sure how I would believe in one, so it’s a bit of a moot point.
But I do want to worship a God who will give me the strength to face that threat, to endure through fear and torture and death – and to overcome. To not be defined or chained by fear or pain or hate, but reach beyond and live.
In other words, I believe in the God whom we represent when we follow these commands.
Enthralled By Love 