More of my calling for repentance…
Jesus said we could sum up the whole of written revelation at that time (the Old Testament) with two basic commandments:
1. Love God with all your being. That assertion has a particular flavor not easily caught by Western readers. Jesus is saying God is the ultimate Eastern Potentate, owning all which exists, since He created it. That means He owns you and me. Loyalty is not a matter of simply fulfilling obligations, but comes from a commitment of the whole self to whatever it is God wants. We ask no questions at all regarding His whims, only how He wishes them implemented.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself. Not more than, and certainly not less than, yourself, but a recognition the welfare of others is our welfare. Jesus noted this was the corollary to the first commandment.
Now, of course, we define “love” as the willful exertion of self in seeking the welfare of another. To love others is to love self, and to love self requires loving others. Both are the natural result of loving God, since He has indicated He loves all living beings. It’s not just acting in the interests of others, but committing the will (heart) to a life-long course. A mere warm personal regard is a symptom, but proves nothing by itself. It matters not a whit what you believe or claim about being “born-again” — this is God’s command for all humanity. He said this is the whole matter of justice as God sees it.
It results in a social system often called “civility.” You’ll notice civility as a body of principle contains more about mending broken relationships than it has about avoiding breaks. There is an underlying assumption we humans will fail the high standard, but remain committed. Personal warm regard comes and goes with the vagaries of emotional winds, but that commitment is the point. It is not wholly rational, either. It is a matter of acknowledged duty, with an assumption much of it will never quite make sense. It comes down from above, a partial revelation of God, in terms of what He demands. You don’t get there by constructing your own rational framework, but by accepting what’s given from the very authority which allows you to continue living.
This is all non-negotiable. Our silly notions about fairness and consent of the governed do not apply. God made you and offers one deal. Embrace it or suffer. You aren’t quite on His level of competence, so don’t pretend to question His decisions. Those decisions do have implications. You can seek clarification, but not on the grounds of what makes sense to you. Nor can you inquire by what authority He came to be in charge. If there is a higher court than God’s, it’s none of your concern; you are accountable to His.
The implications have at times been variously formulated and expressed. However, the summary remains a matter of personal commitment of the self. You cannot expect to substitute impersonal and objective performance for that. The fundamental sin of Western Civilization is depersonalizing, dehumanizing the structure of our social institutions. Objectivity is fine for examining the basic structure of matter, and will grant some hints of organic matter, but life itself is beyond such a framework of understanding. The very act of dismissing what cannot be measured and quantified by human intellectual inquiry is a sin. It is the anchor point for the damnation of Western Civilization. The other half of that sin is insisting the human intellect will someday obtain the measure of all things. God is not amused by that. Nobody is telling you to halt scientific inquiry, but to recognize limits.
Those limits include His demand you take humans as seriously as does He. Any thing you construct which serves to dehumanize people is just begging for God’s wrath. You should not imagine He will fail to grant that request. It might not take place on the time scale of any living human, but it most certainly does come as a result. God has revealed all too clearly there are no two people alike. To the fullest extent of your ability, you are obliged to Him to treat every human individually, as a unique expression of His divine image. Bureaucratic regulation is sin, by definition. You are expected to use your individual wisdom to discern when any supplicant or applicant is lying and trying to manipulate your performance, but when providing any good or service, exceptions are the rule — God’s rule. Within the constraints of resources, talent and skill — whatever it is you can’t change in any given situation — you are required give full time and attention to making your efforts fit the unique needs of the individual before you. Dealing with masses as a single whole is simpler, because it reduces your burden. The more people we have to work with at a given moment, the more formalized and structured it has to be. However, we are not permitted to artificially aggregate individuals in how we treat them. God holds us accountable.
It pays to seek with all your abilities to comprehend the implications of God’s command to love. It is the foundation of every promise He ever made for meeting human need. Peace, prosperity, health, security — He concretely promised all these things were available to anyone willing to walk in His commandments. He also warned a failure to try, for any reason, guarantees you’ll see none of those blessings. His Creation — the Universe itself — operates on the basis of those two commandments Jesus explained. It responds directly to living justly by love. That’s the real secret to all things, to matter itself. You can’t hope to measure and quantify love, but without it, this world will never yield its secrets, as it were.
