A compassionate Bible. When I think of religion, I like to associate compassion and love with it. However, throughout history, religion itself has been a source of violence, argument, doubt, and conflict.
The Crusades
Why should something that it supposed to instill compassion in people, create so many problems. We may not all have the same values, but surely at the core of all religions (and those who do not even practice a religion) there is one main idea: that we should love each other and treat each other with compassion.
However, Jesus was hardly brought into the most compassionate environment. From the night of his birth, the world proved to him that it was in need of more compassion. His mother was denied a spot in an inn and forced to give birth in a stable and Jesus himself was “lying in a manger” instead of a bed the night he was born (Course Anthology 128). However, it seems that this could be a source of the meaning of his birth. Jesus came to this world of greed and hate to send a message: “Love one another, as I have loved you” (132). I also particularly appreciated the lesson that the lawyer learned about “who is my neighbor?” (130). In the lesson, it is quite evident who the “neighbor” is. But I got more out of it; I enjoyed reading about the man’s compassion for a complete stranger and found myself wishing that the world could be as compassionate as this story implies it used to be. However, it seems that our society is marked more by the initial part of the story: the part in which the man is robbed and left to suffer. Why should it be, though, that the Bible is the only thing teaching us compassion? It seems like the lessons in it don’t have to be about God, and are often not if you look at it in a certain way.
The lesson from Luke 10
Many people in the Bible act in a certain way to ensure their spot in heaven someday. What if we just acted out of kindness for the sake of being compassionate? I find myself helping others not because I want to go to heaven someday, but because it is rewarding and gratifying to help others and see the effects of your kindness. I like to help people for two reasons: one, that it is hopefully bringing happiness to the person I am helping and two, that it makes me feel good to do this. So, do we live in a selfish world because I help people for the feeling it gives me as well as for them? I have to be honest with myself: as I read the bit about lending and “hoping for nothing again” (129). Is that possible in our world? It seems like most actions whether compassionate or not benefit the person doing the action. Most people cannot go about their daily lives in a selfless manner. Why do we go to school? To get a good education, prepare ourselves for a job in the future, so that we can support ourselves and live on our own. It doesn’t seem like we go to school to learn how to help others, that’s just something we do on the side—things like community service. And do people even do community service anymore merely for the sake of helping people? I specifically remember something in one of the clubs I was a member of in high school saying “if nothing else, it looks good on your resume.”
Why do we do community service?
However, I don’t want to be a total raincloud on this situation. I think that helping people, whether it’s totally selfless or has benefits for you as well, is something to be valued. I appreciate the lessons taught in the Bible as life lessons, not necessarily lessons in religion. It is interesting to find messages the Bible sends that dictate our actions, even those who are not religious. For example, many vegetarians give up meat because of the poor treatment of animals. Stephen Webb seemed to find in the Bible the very message that these people are trying to convey: that the “abolition of all suffering is confidently hoped for and expected” (135). Also, we do indeed find it hard to “recognize and confront…the suffering of Jesus…[and] animal pain” (137). I’ve talked to many people about the documentary “Earthlings” that tell me straight off “oh, I could never watching something like that.” This is because people are unwilling to accept the pain that they are causing others. To recognize that pain would be inconvenient and perhaps even painful to those people.
There are so many parallels between the morals the Bible teaches to those of our society. You don’t have to believe in the Bible to recognize the value of its lessons. I have actually never read the Bible, and I was surprised at how similar the Bible is to what I believe in concerning my actions to other people and my idea about compassion. So, while the Bible intimidates me a little when it talks of God’s wrath and the anger he/she can have at a sinner, I like the lessons it teaches concerning kindness and compassion.
It seems a contradiction that a God who is love can also hate. We are created with the capacity to both love and hate; it is part of our being created in the image of God. The fact that we are all tainted with sin does not negate the fact that the ability to love and hate is part of the image of God that was created within us all. Therefore, if it is no contradiction for a human being to be able to love and hate, then much more so would it not be a contradiction for God to be able to love and hate.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Bible does speak of God hating, the object of God’s hatred is usually sin and wickedness. Among the things God hates are idolatry (Deuteronomy 12:31, 16:22) and those who do evil (Psalm 5:4-6, 11:5). Proverbs 6:16-19 outlines seven things the Lord hates: pride, lying, murder, evil plots, those who love evil, false witness, and troublemakers. Notice that this passage does not include just things that God hates; it includes people as well.
The question that begs to be answered at this point is why does God hate these things? God hates them because they are contrary to His nature—God’s nature being holy, pure and righteous. In fact, David writes, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you” (Psalm 5:4 ). God is holy and hates sin. If He did not hate sin, He would not be holy. God is love, but He is also wrath, justice, and vengeance. But His wrath is a holy wrath and His justice and vengeance are holy as well. God’s love is holy. Therefore, He cannot "love everyone all the time no matter what they do," as some like to claim. Nothing could be further from the truth. God loves righteousness and holiness and hates sin and evil. If He did not, He would not be God.
So if God hates sin and loves holiness, how does He love us? Simple. He loves us because we have the righteousness of Christ who became sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). He poured out His wrath and vengeance against sin on His Son, so that He could pour out His mercy and love on us. But without that sacrifice credited to us, His wrath and hatred remains on us because He hates our sin. The Bible never says He ‘hates the sin, but loves the sinner.’ In fact He is “angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). Is there a sense in which God loves everyone? Yes. Does that love preclude God from also hating sin, wickedness, and evil? No.
Emily, maybe you would enjoy reading The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson. BTW the word "doctrine" means teaching.
Have a blessed day :-)