A Contradiction in Terms

I remember a riddle from way back in my Junior School days – one that I’ve also heard in different forms from many older and cleverer people: 'Yog Vajtswv yog tus muaj hwjchim, can he create a stone that is too heavy for him to lift?’ Most folk struggle with this one. If he can, then he is not omnipotent: and if he can’t, then he is not omnipotent either. So how can there be such a thing as an omnipotent God? Actually, it’s really just a clever play on the meaning of words. Could there ever be such a thing as an immovable stone? Tsis muaj; it’s a purely abstract (i.e. non-existent) concept. And what does the word, ‘create’ txhais tau tias? To bring into existence. So can you bring into existence something that, by definition, cannot exist? Tsis muaj. The nature of the thing and the action defined makes the entire question a logical self-contradiction. Now consider this…

The Nature of Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. (1Jn 4:7-8)

Yexus hais rau nws, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Mat 22:37-40)

We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. (1Jn 4:16)

This is one of the most profound theological concepts in the Bible; tab sis, as just stated, it is vitally important to understand that no word in the English language has ever been more dangerously devalued than this word, ‘love.’ There are many kinds of behaviour or feelings that we call ‘love’; and the Greek language actually uses several different words to distinguish them. ‘ But the love being spoken of here is the Greek word, ‘agape‘ (pronounced ‘agapay'). In Old English this was called ‘charity:’ though nowadays the meaning of that word has been changed almost beyond recognition. Satan is desperately concerned to keep us from understanding the true meaning of this word. I would strongly recommend that you read the whole of 1John 4:1-21, followed by 1Corinthians 13:1-13; John 13:34-35 & John 17:1-26, in order to get a better understanding of what it really is.

‘Agape‘ is a love that is willing to give and keep on giving, no matter what the cost to the giver. It is God’s fundamental nature; the very foundation and currency of heaven. Without it, heaven could not be heaven. The opposite of this love is not hatred: it is self-centredness and indifference. That is the deadly poison that destroys love; and to which God is therefore implacably opposed.

But the inherent weakness of love – the seeming flaw that causes so many to believe that self-interest is the easier alternative – is, yuav ua li cas thiaj li raug yuam? There’s a double moral problem here. Yog tias muaj tus yuam sij, yuav tsis hais tias ib tug yuav raug liam tias ua tawm ntawm tus kheej nyiam? And how can a person act out of love unless they are free to choose? The first of these issues we’ll tackle tom qab: but right now, let’s think about the second.

Why Love Can Never Be Compelled

When someone acts in a loving manner because they have been threatened with punishment if they don’t; that is not love: but self interest. If they have been so conditioned that they automatically act in a loving manner, that isn’t really love either. It might result in a Utopian society: but they might just as well be unthinking robots. And if they evaluate the situation and conclude that a loving choice will work out better for themselves in the end, that is also self-interest. The only true acts of love are where people make a free and conscious choice to benefit another, at some personal cost to themselves, because of the value they place upon the thoughts and feelings of the other.

Our Phoney Ideas of Heaven

We often think naively about Heaven as if it were a place where everything is organized for our personal satisfaction, rather like a luxury retirement resort. There will be no squabbling or theft, complaining or jealousy because all our wants will be supplied. There’ll be no more sickness or fatigue, so we won’t get grouchy. There will always be new wonders to behold, so we won’t get bored. There’ll be no Devil! (Hip, hip hooray!) So there’ll be no temptation to sin any more, will there?

But it’s not that simple. Yog nws yog, where is the opportunity for us to exercise the love that God values so much? Why would we need the enduring faith and hope described in 1Cor 13:13? Remember, Adam sinned in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:1-8); and Satan himself sinned even in God’s presence, and was cast out (Luk 10:18, Rev 12:7-9).

Qhov tseeb, heaven is no retirement home: its a place of mutual co-operation and service – a community of love – where those who serve best are rewarded with positions of greater trust and responsibility. It’s an ‘upside-down’ hierarchy; where those who have the highest rank are the most devoted to caring for others (Mk 10:42-45).

Thawj tug tuaj ua ntej nws, lus hais, 'Tus Tswv, koj mina tau ua kaum minas ntxiv.’ “Nws hais rau nws, 'Ua tau zoo, koj tus qhev zoo! Vim koj raug pom kev ncaj ncees nrog tsawg heev, koj yuav tsum muaj cai tshaj kaum lub nroog.’ “Qhov thib ob tuaj, lus hais, 'Koj mina, Tswv, tau ua tsib minas.’ “Yog li ntawd nws thiaj hais rau nws, 'Thiab koj yuav tsum tshaj tsib lub nroog.’ (Luk 19:16-19)

Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mar 10:42-45. Saib thiab Jn 13:12-17; Lk 22:26-27.)

The truth is that, even when things are going well – when we are perhaps relaxing on holiday in the sun – we would still struggle to go a single day without some kind of sinful, critical or self-centred thought or reaction creeping in! And we all know how quickly and easily one bad deed leads to another bad reaction. How long do you really think you could last? We sort of hope that God will be prepared to overlook our ‘little’ sins: but Scripture reveals God as a being of such absolute holiness and power that even angels have to shield their eyes! (Isaiah 6:2-3). It’s going to require some very fundamental changes to our character to make us fit to live in such an environment.

We Must Choose Who We Want to Be

Hais ncaj, we are a long way from really understanding just how far-reaching those changes have to be. Tau kawg, Vajtswv could just ‘throw a switch’ and render us incapable of ever making wrong choices again. Tab sis, if love is to be love, and is to become the primary motive for our lives, this transformation has to be the result of conscious, unforced choices on our part – of our really wanting to be more like Him. Love has to be voluntary: or it isn’t love at all.

In Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man pleads with Abraham:

” 'Kuv nug koj yog li ntawd, txiv, kom koj xa nws mus rau kuv txiv tsev; vim kuv muaj tsib tug kwv, xwv kom nws yuav ua tim khawv rau lawv, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’ “Tiamsis Aplahas hais rau nws, ‘Lawv muaj Mauxes thiab cov cev Vajtswv lus. Cia lawv mloog lawv.’ “Nws hais, 'Tsis muaj, txiv Abraham, tab sis yog hais tias ib tug mus rau lawv sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los, lawv yuav hloov siab lees txim.’ “Nws hais rau nws, ‘Yog lawv tsis mloog Mauxe thiab cov cev Vajtswv lus, thiab lawv yuav tsis raug ntxias yog tias ib tug sawv hauv qhov tuag rov los.’ ” (Lk 16:27-31)

The crucial issue is that the rich man had been living in a state of luxurious indifference to the needs of those around him. Qhov no yog txawm tias qhov tseeb tias Txhua tus neeg Yudais tau raug qhia txij thaum yau tias tus cwj pwm zoo li no tsis tsim nyog rau Vajtswv. The rich man’s thinking was, ‘Surely, yog tibneeg yeej paub tias tej uas phau Vajlugkub qhia muaj tseeb, ces lawv yuav ua qhov yog.’ But Jesus is telling us that the real problem is not that they don’t know what they ought to do: but that they don’t really care. Providing additional proof of the penalty that awaits them might scare the brothers into action: but it will not make them any more loving.

Nyeem rau …