Forgiveness is the cornerstone of our faith, and like so many aspects of our faith, it defies our notions of justice and equity. This is because forgiveness is an act of love, and any act of love is a challenge to comprehend. Why should God, who made us from nothing and gave us all that we have, forgive us for returning His love with indifference or malice? How would you feel if you offered a homeless person money and food, but they were apathetic toward your gift or hateful to you for giving it to them?
But what about a scenario where the other person is not an adult but a child? Put yourself in the position of a parent (if you aren't in that position already). You have brought another human being into existence and given it every care: food, clothing, and shelter for the body; love and kindness for the heart; education and experience for the mind; and faith and hope for the soul. Yet children are not always as grateful as we'd like in returning the love we give them, and the older they get the more true this seems. Yet a good parent does not turn his/her back on the child; a good parent understands that a child does not yet comprehend the value of what they have been given, but will in time.
No matter our age or experience, and in spite of our wealth or place in the world, we all remain as children to our God. God has given us great gifts and blessings, not because we deserve them, but because God loves us and wants to meet our needs. Let us then be good children to our God, recognizing God's care for us and returning the love He has so generously given us.
Cody Ford is a Masters student in Public Administration here at WVU.
Recommended Reading:
The Book of Hosea (Old Testament)
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
Question of the Week:
The Old and New Testaments contain different images of God; some infinitely merciful and forgiving, some as a just judge who renders due consequences for disobedience and sin. How do you see God? How do you reconcile these contrasting views?
I see God as a fairy tale out of a book that didn't start getting compiled until 30 years after Jesus's death and has about 40 different authors. To me, man created God in the image of himself, not the other way around. In the Old Testament, God does not act as a "just" judge. The supposed flood that Noah was prepared for is estimated to have killed 20 million people alone. But, the biblical number ballparks it at around 2.4 million total throughout the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThanks WVU! You bring up several very good points; we each tend to imagine God in an anthropocentric way, the scriptures were written and compiled by multiple authors at different times in history, and the scriptures are not always "historically accurate", particularly when it comes to numbers. In German there are two words for history: "historie" (facts about past events) and Geschichte (stories that convey a Truth about life, a culture, God, etc). The depiction of the flood in Genesis conveys the importance of YHWH's renewed covenant with humanity; life and growth that comes out of destruction. The original authors of the story of the flood (who would have passed it down through oral tradition) are trying to reconcile a historic event (a destructive flood) with their ideas of a just God who controls the weather.
ReplyDeleteThe Hebrew Scriptures are full of stories in which God punishes those who have turned away from relationship with YHWH, or covenant. For example, God instructs the Israelites to lay siege to the land of the Canaanites and destroy everything; the Canaanites were idolaters. YHWH is very clear that YHWH is a jealous God, and likewise punishes the Israelites, the Chosen People, when they turn to idolatry periodically throughout the Old Testament.
I see these passages depicting God's very human-like love for us; when we don't return God's love with love, or we put other things/relations above our relationship with God, God is hurt and angry, like a jealous lover.