There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and
the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
I am being confronted ever more closely
by commonly accepted paradigms about love, punishment and the truth
about how God relates to us. Because all of our intuition, our social
norms, our culture and upbringing and our shared 'common sense'
beliefs are infected with lies about God due to the distorted
assertions of the accuser, it is a constant struggle to embrace
truths that seem to fly in the face of what makes sense to us.
In the last day or two I came across a
quote on Facebook that grabbed my attention. This is during a time
when I am grappling with thoughts stirred up after finishing a book
challenging our assumptions about God using violence in any way,
shape or form. I am having discussions with people along these lines
that raise doubts and serious questions as to how this can really be
true. And I have questions of my own that I do not want to ignore,
but neither do I want to rely on false criteria to satisfy them.
Here is what I read on the internet
that caught my attention. It is a contrast between discipline and
punishment and reminded me immediately of the above verse that I have
been pondering for quite some time now.
Discipline:
Meant to guide and help children, gives children the tools of
self regulation. It builds self esteem, respects, heals,
encourages, emotionally supports and facilitates trust. |
Punishment:
Adult Oriented, Imposes Power and Control, Lowers self esteem,
Humiliates, Hurts (physically and/or emotionally), Angers,
Embarrasses, Discourages, Emotionally abandons, Frustrates. |
As I compared these thoughts to what I
am learning from John, it suddenly occurred to me how clear this
passage is on this topic.
In verse 8 John states explicitly that
God is love. Most of us won't argue with that but we generally either
are ready to list exceptions to it or choose to redefine the meaning
of love to include some elements of violence when considered
necessary. But even non-Christians are struggling with this issue
because violence and force somehow don't seem to make sense as a
legitimate description of love. Violence is related to the word
violate which seems to be more closely associated with sin than with
rightousness. We are quick to talk about violations of various laws
as being wrong. Yet when it comes to violence we seem reluctant to
embrace the idea that God refuses to resort to such methods and
instead may use ways that are beyond our current appreciation or
comprehension at this point.
I know that in my own upbringing it was
acceptable to use violence, as in spanking, to punish children for
nonconformity to parental expectations. I also know that my brother
to this day insists that I did not have near enough of this treatment
and as a result I have been malformed in my character. Yet this whole
belief that violence is an integral part of God's plan for our lives
seems to conflict with the clear messages about Him that I find in
the writings of John.
If God is love and pure agape love
cannot exist if anything dilutes it, then the above verse seems to
preclude punishment being involved in the tactics of anyone choosing
to live in true love. The purpose of punishment is to instill fear
and depends on sufficient fear to be induced so as to deter the
recipient of the punishment and others observing it from making any
more choices similar to what brought about the punishment. This is
the common logic for applying punishment. But though it may sound
logical to many, its effect on the heart is always more damaging than
beneficial.
I say this from tragic personal
experience, both my own and that of those I have punished. Yet the
problem that I struggle with is that because I have never been
mentored by anyone who could demonstrate any viable alternative
methods based on real love for effectively dealing with rebellion and
resistance to authority, my brain has very little to draw on in times
of stress created by disruptive behavior by others. I still don't
have the answers that everyone wants to know on these issues.
Yet just because I cannot envision
viable alternatives to using punishment, force and violence because
of my own sad lack of resources does not imply that they do not
exist. This is the problem I believe we have with trying to perceive
a God who does not need to resort to violence in spite of all the
reports about Him recorded in Scripture that seem to imply the
opposite. This is where the real dispute sharpens, for as soon as
assertions about a non-violent God are raised, many are sure to ask
about specific incidents in the Bible where it is assumed God did in
fact employ violence to get His way.
But this is often where the discussion
gets off on the wrong track. We want to argue about whether or not
reports about God using violence are accurate or not while neglecting
to face the much clearer statements about what God is like from His
own Son who came to show us the truth about Him. And as one of the
closest confidants of Jesus, John seemed to have the clearest grasp
on the truths that Jesus tried to convey more than any other Bible
writer. So why do we find it so hard to believe what John so urgently
seeks to get across to us about God?
There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and
the one who fears is not perfected in love.
It seems clear here that God, who is love, is not compatible with
fear in any way. In fact, John is stating here that anyone who is
still involved or addicted to using fear has still missed the main
point of the gospel; they are not yet perfected or matured in love.
This verse shows unequivocally that fear and punishment are
intimately associated with each other and both of them are outside
the boundaries of what is acceptable for anyone wanting to live in
love.
It is starting to
become clearer to me that the enemy of our souls will stop at nothing
to discredit love. It has been reported that he even denies its very
existence and this fact is evident when one considers the wide
variations of how people define the word. Almost no one is willing to
believe that God is as loving and selfless and humble and kind as
Jesus made Him out to be. We seem hell-bent on diluting the purity
and intensity of an agape love that so challenges our sense of
reality, assaults our common sense and challenges everything we have
ever assumed or learned from religion.
I have come to
believe that fear, along with deception, is our greatest enemy
intended to keep us away from God, our only source of life. That is
why I am so compelled to seriously question the assertions by sincere
Christians that there has to be allowance made for a certain amount
of fear and even punishment and force to deal with problems that sin
creates. But because this directly contradicts these plain statements
about God by one of the disciples who came to best know Him, I feel
that the weight of evidence is stronger in favor of believing in a
non-violent God than in the more traditional and religiously
acceptable views about Him.
That does not mean
that everything attributed to God throughout the Bible does not raise
serious questions that need to be grappled with. But it does mean
that the basis and underlying assumptions about what criteria we use
to evaluate those reports must first be put on a solid footing before
launching into any investigation about why certain stories read the
way they do. What appears certain on the surface in many of these
stories can quickly change when one is willing to ask tough
questions, dig deeper into the context and particularly when Jesus
Christ is made the highest and primary criteria for determining what
is true and what is false about the nature of God.
This is the message we have heard
from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is
no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth. (1 John
1:5-6) When we try to weave dark views of God back into the clear
revelation found in the life of Jesus, we are in danger of being
liars according to John. No matter how religiously correct or
plausible or logical it may seem, it is very hazardous to insist that
God participates in activities and methods that originated from the
father of lies and violence.
An even greater
danger is that as we smugly rest on our arguments in favor of
justifying our diluted opinions about God and His ways, we actually
construct obstacles inside of us that inhibit our own growth and
prevent that very love from maturing in our own lives. By denying
that God is as perfect and selfless as He claims to be we also dim
the image of Him that we reflect and open the door to potential
choices to use violence when we come into extreme circumstances
ourselves.
I have come to see
that this is the real power as well as the scandal of the truth about
the cross of Jesus. Rather than being a symbol of a violent God
pouring out His wrath and anger about sin onto His Son to appease
Himself, the cross is the most extreme exhibition of self-control,
compassion and selfless, forgiving love that has ever been witnessed
under the most extreme environment of duress designed to induce the
very opposite. The fact that Jesus did not resort to even a desire
for violence or retaliation during all of that treatment should be
the clearest conviction about the fallacy of our insistence on
justifying violence and punishment and fear as valid methods to use
in any of our relationships.
I believe the
underlying reason we are so loathe to give up our beliefs in a God
who at times is willing to resort to violence is that we want to
vindicate ourselves for times when we fail to respond in agape love
but rather react in self-defense or entertain feelings of resentment
and desires for revenge. As long as we can claim that there are times
when God chose to react in any of these ways, we can justify our own
natural desire for self-preservation and self-defense with an excuse
we are following His example. But the Old Testament is not completely
a reliable revelation of the real truth about God, for it is shrouded
in the shadows of misapprehensions and misunderstandings about Him
that were never cleared until the true Example finally came in person
to show us the Father.
Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last
days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of
all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the
radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his
nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his
power.... (Hebrews 1:1-3 ESV)
For the Law, since it has only a
shadow of the good things to come and not the
very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they
offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
(Hebrews 10:1)
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 perfection comes,
the imperfect disappears. Now we see but a poor
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. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 12-13 NIV)