Holy Scripture is a real funny thing. How often have you heard someone speak out with great zeal and authority to quote a section of scripture, chapter and verse, to support their opinion or to condemn individuals? They might argue that it is not even opinion, that since it is scripture it is fact. And yet in addition to bad translation, taking passages out of context and being filled with self righteous hypocrisy, there are many other passages that can be read that will essentially convey the exact opposite of what this individual is professing.
I am of the notion that the final arbiter of scripture is love. While good translation, context and solid scriptural knowledge is key, the final arbiter is what God wishes to convey to us. Again, that is love. God is not hate, tyranny, vindictiveness, divisiveness, jealous or any bad attribute. God is love. I was taught that over and over. After all these years and all the rules and rubrics, the scandals, the circular logic, the insane mental gymnastics to convey what the so called "one true faith' states, the final and only message of import is that God is love. Thankfully, that alone remains as one and true.
And so we come to this passage which is from the oft quoted Old Testament. The words that contain life, death, prostitutes, and sins of the most grievous proportions but also and crucially, contains messages of God's love alive. Passages of scripture that note committed love of same sex couples, passages that convey heart breaking journeys of faith and wisdom almost beyond human comprehension. The stories of Scripture are stories of a journey of a total love relationship.
This text of Wisdom speaks such flagrant love and acceptance of ALL of God's created world. Such knowledge that does not come from tirelessly weaving intellect and creating philosophical treatises but knowledge that one can grasp by simply opening one's eyes to the created world all around us.
If we acknowledge God as the creator of all that is, no matter what specific religious denomination we are, we are saying that everything that he or she or it created is good. Everything that is created contains at least a seed of the creator. There is a facet of love and beauty in everything for us to recognize and learn from.
In our self importance, when we think we are actually in control of life, we fail to remember that if God does not love us, we would not be able to take in a single additional breath. We would simply cease to exist. As I often say, God loves each of us with reckless abandon and that God loves us at least as much as God loves every other created being in this universe.
When we come to know that, through whatever means or whatever journey, we can grasp that even as a single grain of sand in the universe, every strand of hair on our head, every being large and small is loved and cherished by God. When we know this in our heart and hopefully in every fiber of our being, how could we will to act in a contrary manner? How could we hate? How could we cause pain in another by actually using the inspired words of God in a manner that causes divisiveness, pain, hurt or condemnation?
If love is the final arbiter, isn't God the only one who can judge? So much information that we create can be used for either good or bad, God is the only one who knows the truth and has the capacity to love that encompasses all. Compassion. Total forgiveness. Inclusiveness. and Love. Always love. Love is the final arbiter.
I am of the notion that the final arbiter of scripture is love. While good translation, context and solid scriptural knowledge is key, the final arbiter is what God wishes to convey to us. Again, that is love. God is not hate, tyranny, vindictiveness, divisiveness, jealous or any bad attribute. God is love. I was taught that over and over. After all these years and all the rules and rubrics, the scandals, the circular logic, the insane mental gymnastics to convey what the so called "one true faith' states, the final and only message of import is that God is love. Thankfully, that alone remains as one and true.
And so we come to this passage which is from the oft quoted Old Testament. The words that contain life, death, prostitutes, and sins of the most grievous proportions but also and crucially, contains messages of God's love alive. Passages of scripture that note committed love of same sex couples, passages that convey heart breaking journeys of faith and wisdom almost beyond human comprehension. The stories of Scripture are stories of a journey of a total love relationship.
This text of Wisdom speaks such flagrant love and acceptance of ALL of God's created world. Such knowledge that does not come from tirelessly weaving intellect and creating philosophical treatises but knowledge that one can grasp by simply opening one's eyes to the created world all around us.
If we acknowledge God as the creator of all that is, no matter what specific religious denomination we are, we are saying that everything that he or she or it created is good. Everything that is created contains at least a seed of the creator. There is a facet of love and beauty in everything for us to recognize and learn from.
In our self importance, when we think we are actually in control of life, we fail to remember that if God does not love us, we would not be able to take in a single additional breath. We would simply cease to exist. As I often say, God loves each of us with reckless abandon and that God loves us at least as much as God loves every other created being in this universe.
When we come to know that, through whatever means or whatever journey, we can grasp that even as a single grain of sand in the universe, every strand of hair on our head, every being large and small is loved and cherished by God. When we know this in our heart and hopefully in every fiber of our being, how could we will to act in a contrary manner? How could we hate? How could we cause pain in another by actually using the inspired words of God in a manner that causes divisiveness, pain, hurt or condemnation?
If love is the final arbiter, isn't God the only one who can judge? So much information that we create can be used for either good or bad, God is the only one who knows the truth and has the capacity to love that encompasses all. Compassion. Total forgiveness. Inclusiveness. and Love. Always love. Love is the final arbiter.
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance
or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;
and you overlook people's sins that they may repent.
For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
But you spare all things, because they are yours,
O LORD and lover of souls,
for your imperishable spirit is in all things!
Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,
warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing,
that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!
