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A Conclusion


Christians have ignored Jesus for too long, because they have been more concerned with defending their own tribes, arguing over theology, or trying to persuade people of what they think the “correct” view of God is, but if we read the Bible the message is clear.

 

 

Matthew 22:36-40

 

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.”

 

 

Mark 12:30-31

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

 

 

Romans 13:8-10

 

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

 

 

Galatians 5:14

 

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

 

And I could go on.

 

Love is such an easy command to give but it’s a hard one to do. For the most part, the church has done an exceptional job of ignoring this message, largely because it has become distracted by dogma, doctrine, and biblical interpretation. I have been part of so many churches whose mission has been to love people, but when they have encountered people, whether inside or outside of the church, they have not been able to love them because of the standards the church has set for itself, by way of the doctrinal and dogmatic barriers that they have laid down. This is a corporate problem that will only change as people in the church begin to understand what love means, and I don’t think many Christians really do know what love means.

 

The command to love your neighbour as yourself is fundamental to the Christian faith, but we have to remember that it goes two ways. We are called to love our neighbours, but we are also called to love ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves then how can we love our neighbours?

 

I have heard too many stories of people whose marriages have struggled or fallen apart, because they made the decision to marry as a way of healing themselves. They weren’t ready for marriage and entered into it without knowing who they were, and without being at peace with who they were. They weren’t able to like themselves, let alone love themselves, and they put all of their insecurities on the other person, crushing and suffocating them. This is how the church has been, when it has come to its relationships with other churches, and it’s how Christians have been when it has come to people inside and outside of the church. If we are to love our neighbours as ourselves, we need to be able to love ourselves. We need to have peace with who we are, and we need to know that God has peace with us. We need to know that God loves us, however that looks, however we balance that in our minds, because if we don’t know that God truly loves us, just as we are, then we can't express God's love to others. We need to know that God loves us, in spite of our theologies, irrespective of our doctrines, and regardless of our failures. If we don’t know this love then others will not know it through us, and we will keep crushing each other with our insecurities and fears. Until you really believe that God is love, and that you are loved, you won't be able to love anyone else, let alone your enemy.

For most of my Christian life, I didn’t believe that God was love. I knew academically that God loved me, because I had sung songs and listened to sermons, and heard people tell me that God was love, or that Jesus loved me. It was drummed into me, but I didn't know it. I knew that I had accepted Jesus into my life and that I was saved because he died for my sins, but I didn’t feel loved because of that, I didn't know that God loved me, because the theology I held didn’t reveal love to me. I only began to believe that God loved me, and that God was love, when I discovered a view of God that I understood to be loving, and I’m only at the beginning of that journey. In time I may find that my views change because that’s what happens when you continue to wrestle in your faith, and discover new meanings around God, but those views might not change either. I trust that my interpretations are good and true, at least for me, but if I find out that I am wrong, then I still know that God is patient, and slow to anger, and he will embrace my prodigal heart. We are always going to get things wrong. We are always going to mess up, and God knows that, and is big enough to deal with that.

 

I don’t think it ultimately matters to God if a church allows women to be leaders. I don’t think it matters to God if a church affirms same sex relationships, or if we believe the right atonement theory or concept of the Trinity. I don’t think God cares about our inconsequential doctrines, such as if we have been baptised as infants, or if we have been baptised as adults, or even if we have been baptised at all. I don’t think it matters to God whether we believe in Continuationism or Cessationism. I don’t think God cares about whether we know all the right Bible verses to back up our beliefs.  I don’t think God is keeping a ledger of everyone who has prayed the sinner’s prayer. I don’t think God cares about how much money we tithe to the church. I don't think God is bothered by the intricacies of our personal theologies.

 

I think God is ultimately concerned with our well-being and how we treat others. I think it matters to God that we know we are loved, and that the love we experience is shown to others, and that they know they are enough to be loved by God, just as they are.

 

That’s how I answer all of this, at least for now anyway.

 

 

Text taken from “Unanswerable: Exploring the Complexities of the Christian Faith and Biblical Truth”, which is available from Amazon, and from all good book shops. An audiobook is also available at https://mindmole.bandcamp.com/music

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