As Christians, we should never shy away from the hard question. In fact, we should continue to ask; be challenged by; and never stop working towards answers searching for the love principle that puts God and others above self.
I am reading Sam Harris’ book: The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. I am not done with the book yet. I find that he and I are starting at very different starting places. His arguments thus far, are very well thought out, but I find he continues to start with foundational premises that I feel are not logical starting places. I am a lifelong protestant Christian, who brings to the table some preconcieved notions about life that Harris (a well renouned atheist) just wouldn’t. I can accept that, but I think as a follower of Jesus, asking deep questions, I can find some answers from make logic deductions about life and the universe make more sense of life with God (or at least the God of Christianity). In the next few, short contracting viewpoints below, I hope to make sense of the short-comings of Harris’ starting points and erred thoughts on the depths of Christian belief. I think it isn’t fair to ask people to think deeply about life as adults, while holding Christianity hostage in a elementary Sunday School theology. (Maybe that is too strong of a statement, sorry.)
At nearly every point Harris is suggesting that Christianity is similar to other religions, it’s not. He is suggestion that life is important, years of life to be cherished, but never come to describe why? Christianity answers the question about why life is important. Why there is life in the first place and what the essence of life is in one verse and examples it through out the whole of scripture like any other religion. Love is the key: for God so loved… that He created the universe, you and me. Love is the key to the necessity of free will. Love is the key to our calling and sin is a by product of the necessity of free will. When we sin we put ourselves before others, negating relationship for individuality. That is the difference between Christianity and other religions and philosophies. Christianity is not about us choosing the condition of our life or where we end up in life, but instead it is about God desiring to be in relationship with us and desiring us to be in good and healthy relationship with one another. The difference is as big a difference as the difference between good soil and bad soil. Even more so it is the difference between the yield of a “good” normal life and life in miraculous abundance.
Another argument he makes is that people of faith abandon reason, logic, and science for religion and faith, which for him is the problem. At no point does Christianity abandon reason, logic, and science. Healthy, good Christianity embraces those disciplines and wrestles deeply with those cognitive-emotional abilities. When we ask deep questions and search for answers Christians, compelled by Jesus and the scriptures, search for the God’s love principle in the depths of life and creation which yields deep answers that compel us (as followers of the Christ) to put aside all selfishness for loving and sacrificing for sake of the wellbeing of others over self.
For Christians, in opposition to his understanding, following Jesus is not about blindly doing things because God tells us to, but doing and searching for lifestyles and habits of love out of our desire that strives to understand the depths of creation in ways that profoundly magnify love in the universe for the benevolence of others. It is the love principle that drives our belief to strive for sanctification. Eternal life and blessing are not prizes to modify our behavior in order to gain, but are mere by-products of the love we have experienced, thus followers of Jesus work at exemplifying for the people and world around us. The Bible and rules within the scriptures are monuments and guide posts of love expressed between God and creation and between humans that can teach and lead us to grow in the depths of our love of God and wholeness of self and community.
As Christians, we should never shy away from the hard question. In fact, we should continue to ask; be challenged by; and never stop working towards answers searching for the love principle that puts God and others above self. Christians should never stop!
It is my belief and the belief of many followers of Christ around the world, that God actually created science, logic, philosophy, and alike so that we might discover the depths of life and universe, which always and ultimate point to the fact that God is with us and loves us with such a profound love that it is so amazing that it is unending (which in and of itself is inexplicable). We have the choice to use these God-give, God-created tools to either magnify God and the purpose of creation — loving relationships or use them to self-aggrandizing goals (which perpetuates sin, evil, death, destruction, hate, etc.).
And all you have to do to start this journey is give yourself to the relationship that God is desiring to have with you. Jesus already provided the way for the possibility.
It is like a marriage. When I was young, I dreamed of marriage. I played with rings and pretended I was married. It was a fantasy. Security, love, kindness. But as I grew and found someone, the desire became nothing more than wanting to give myself to Denise. To give of myself because I was at the early stages of the relationship and I LOVED her. Prevenient grace is like dating. Justification is the next step when you realize you want to give/commit yourself to someone you have fallen in love with. Sanctification is living day in day out, learning to love more deeply and sacrifice more incredibly for the object of your love. While this commitment requires sacrifice over survival of self, through God’s passionate display of love for us in Jesus Christ, we can be empowered to learn and work at towards oneness. For those brave souls that courageously take the journey of putting someone else above themselves, the individual finds that the deeper the sacrifice, the more whole they become and the richer the experience of life gets. As one strives to grow to the point of total sacrifice of self for the benevolence of other, that person will come to realize a new level of being that make us even more than ever could have achieved as self. This sanctification means life in abundance, eternally, provided and freely given by God, not earned. It is living into the contradiction of life and love (the more you give, the more you receive) without striving at all for the prize, but instead striving out to love out of seer gratitude.
God wants a relationship with you not for a prize to have, but is desiring that relationship just to love you.
