day twentythree – a picture of your favorite book
Bruxy Cavey's The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus (2007, NavPress)
Mindblowing in many ways, and very challenging and encouraging. It helped transform my view on what it meant to obey Jesus to love one another, and in my frustrations and disappointment with the Christian religion.
When Jesus reiterated God's ancient command to "love one another", it means that if we do not love it is to miss his mark of perfection. When we just want to have nothing to do with someone we don't like or someone who impinges on our own desire for a comfortable socio-spiritual life, it is sin. Even if it is acceptable by social conventions. Because we have deliberately chosen not to love that person though Jesus has done otherwise for that person by dying for him/her and blessing him/her whether he/she believes in him or not.
"Rule-based relationships encourage minimum morality. I drive a bit over 100km/h on the highway that connects my home and office. Interestingly, although the speed limit is 100km/h (62mph), I still exceed it. Still, I only exceed it by what I believe I can get away with. In the back of my mind, especially when I'm rushing to an appointment that I define as important, is the question, How fast can I really go and still be ignored by the police? I have to admit that the focus of my attention is not on loving other drivers by traveling at a safe and courteous speed but the rule of the law and just how far I can bend it. Law tends to cultivate a what-can-I-get-away-with mentality. This in turn encourages egocentric morality - living a certain way so we don't have to pay the fine or go to to jail. Law is enough to keep a society in line, but it is not enough to change the world." (p. 191,emphasis his)
And in view of the futility of law in truly loving interpersonal relationships or relationships with God:
"My Wiccan friends have a saying that sums up their code of ethics: Harm none, and do what you want. In other words, as long as your actions are not harmful to others, then you are free to act according to your own desires, whatever they may be. This sentiment is a great first step, but it isn't exactly "loving". Love is other-centered and action-oriented. According to Jesus, it isn't good enough NOT to do bad, we must look for opportunities to actively do good! We must look for opportunities to express the practical care and loving concern to others that we would want expressed to us. This is a radical reorientation of morality for many people, religious and not. To put the emphasis of one's morality on not harming anyone, as many religions do, is to help people graduate to the morality of a stone. A rock doesn't hurt anyone - it just sits there, doing nothing. But we are made to love." (pp. 188-9, emphasis his)
When Jesus reiterated God's ancient command to "love one another", it means that if we do not love it is to miss his mark of perfection. When we just want to have nothing to do with someone we don't like or someone who impinges on our own desire for a comfortable socio-spiritual life, it is sin. Even if it is acceptable by social conventions. Because we have deliberately chosen not to love that person though Jesus has done otherwise for that person by dying for him/her and blessing him/her whether he/she believes in him or not.
"Rule-based relationships encourage minimum morality. I drive a bit over 100km/h on the highway that connects my home and office. Interestingly, although the speed limit is 100km/h (62mph), I still exceed it. Still, I only exceed it by what I believe I can get away with. In the back of my mind, especially when I'm rushing to an appointment that I define as important, is the question, How fast can I really go and still be ignored by the police? I have to admit that the focus of my attention is not on loving other drivers by traveling at a safe and courteous speed but the rule of the law and just how far I can bend it. Law tends to cultivate a what-can-I-get-away-with mentality. This in turn encourages egocentric morality - living a certain way so we don't have to pay the fine or go to to jail. Law is enough to keep a society in line, but it is not enough to change the world." (p. 191,emphasis his)
And in view of the futility of law in truly loving interpersonal relationships or relationships with God:
"My Wiccan friends have a saying that sums up their code of ethics: Harm none, and do what you want. In other words, as long as your actions are not harmful to others, then you are free to act according to your own desires, whatever they may be. This sentiment is a great first step, but it isn't exactly "loving". Love is other-centered and action-oriented. According to Jesus, it isn't good enough NOT to do bad, we must look for opportunities to actively do good! We must look for opportunities to express the practical care and loving concern to others that we would want expressed to us. This is a radical reorientation of morality for many people, religious and not. To put the emphasis of one's morality on not harming anyone, as many religions do, is to help people graduate to the morality of a stone. A rock doesn't hurt anyone - it just sits there, doing nothing. But we are made to love." (pp. 188-9, emphasis his)
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