Prince of Perfect Love

What is God’s relationship with us like? Here’s an immature, underdeveloped opinion from a twenty-one and a half year old, know-it-all, philosophy major.

I’m sure if I was a Scripture scholar I could cite you several passages that preach to the covenantal promise between God and His people. I could find a plethora of information speaking to the humble and gentle love of the Christ from the Gospels. I could find the renowned stories that the disciples of Jesus told after the meek and passionate self-giving of the God-man. Yadda, yadda, yadda. We’ve all been taught this in our Catholic schools. We’ve been instructed to regurgitate this information in our religion and theology classes. But what is God’s love?!? Let’s prayerfully try to dig down deep and figure out what the love of God is.

God loves you as if there were no one else to love.

Woah, baby. What’s that kind of lovin’ mean to you?

Oh, my roommate just drunkly puked all over my bed...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love. Oh, all of my professors decide to make their papers due the exact same week...I still love them as if they’re each the only person in the world to love. Oh, you decided to cut my work hours down by half...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love. Oh, you just ordered the death of 6 million Jews...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love. Oh, you’re “just a lump of cells” in the womb that will grow to become a massive inconvenience in my life...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love. Oh, you slept with my wife...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love. Oh, you broke my little sister’s heart...I still love you as if you’re the only person in the world to love.

Yeah, that’s what God’s love looks like to me. It’s perfect. No matter what my offense is, perfect love is the response. Wrap your head around that one. If you haven’t dropped to your knees and smacked your face on the ground in veneration, complete awe, admiration, wonder, and reverence then you need to spend a couple more seconds reflecting. This thought is powerful enough to bring the most prideful to their knees. Take this thought seriously and your prayer life will be revolutionized. Let’s prayerfully take a look on the flip side of the coin now.

I am the drunken roommate that puked everywhere. I am the professor that makes my student’s life inconvenient. I am the boss that screwed my employee over because he really needs to make that payment but he can’t because I didn’t give him the hours. I’m the mass murderer, anti-Semite, the racist, the sexist, the gay-hater, the pervert. I am the mother who went into the abortion clinic last Saturday. I am the dude that slept with your wife. I am the high school boy with raging hormones that made your sister stay up all night crying because she found out my real motivations.

Yeah, that’s what my love for God looks like. No matter the amount of love I’m shown or given, I always, without fail screw it up. If this doesn’t make you question yourself and bring you to the brink of absolute despair then you need to spend a couple more seconds reflecting. This thought is powerful enough to bring tears the most prideful eyes.

This perfect love is perfectly calling us back in to perfectly consume us. The forgiveness and mercy that is derived from this love can be triumphant in our lives only when we decide to continually sprint back to it.

Prince of Perfect Love, be with me, hold me, carry me, heal me.

B- in Logic

So after being subconsciously inspired by Sarah G. to eat White Castle after a dreadful day of boredom, I am now in the mood to take my pissed-offness out on somebody in the form of a philosophical rant. I will prelude this blog post with an warm thank you to school, and papers, and finals, and laziness for not have given me the desire/ability to post in awhile. For this, I apologize for failing my devoted disciples.

I will also start out by saying that I got a B minus in logic which (by my standards) qualifies me to make logical deductions and assertions. This last sentence may be illogical in itself and if so then we are in quite the philosophical/paradoxical/logical conundrum. Go ahead, ponder away on that one. Anyways, let us progress with my thoughts.

I just started reading Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. I think that it’s important to also say that I’m only 100 pages in so I will try and limit my remarks and refrain from drawing conclusions about the nature of this book. My reasoning for mentioning my current read was to state where my inspiration for this post came from which is in regards to atheism and its typically flawed logic. As I said in the above paragraph, I might not be the best but I’m sufficient in identifying faulty logic, misinformed information, and bullshit* opinions. I also should say that this post is not my attempt to convert the atheists of the world but rather  to enlighten them on how they should approach me when building an argument.

The first step that I take in deciphering someone’s thoughts especially on a  touchy topic is to see if they are respectful. There is a logical fallacy called “Appeal to Ridicule” which is a line of fallacious logic that uses ridicule in order to support a claim that is contrary to the original position on the basis that the original thought is supposedly nonsense. (Example 1: “Josh, God is like a fairy and fairies don’t exist, do they? [the ridicule] Therefore your idea that God exists is preposterous. [the conclusion that is based on the ridicule]”) How does your degrading make my thoughts invalid? If you were to ridicule my position how does that make my position wrong.

Appeal to ridicule is Dick Dawkins’ logical fallacy of choice and should be eliminated from the outset. As he uses ridicule with his philosophy, it is sometimes hard to read with much patience.  If one is to assert a certain claim then he/she must eliminate all fallacies. Even though Dawkins includes in chapter two a section which is titled “Undeserved Respect” where he warns his reader of sarcasm, he still owes a certain level of respect for all philosophical positions that aren’t the same as his if he himself wants respect.

Atheists seem to latch on to the appeal to ridicule (which is quite annoying). So you ask yourself, “Josh, aren’t you guilty of logical fallacy right now by saying that because they are guilty then they don’t present good arguments?” If I were to say that Dawkins isn’t making valid points only because he is unable to communicate respectfully, then yes I would be making a fallacy. But I believe that he does make significant claims that should challenge every reader. This blog post was not intended to disprove those claims or to support my own but rather to inform those who aspire for logical arguments to look out against falling to the transgression of the appeal to ridicule or disrespect.

I think that we can all agree that Thomas Jefferson was a wise man but when Dawkins quotes him saying, “Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus,” then I think that we can also agree that something is wrong with his logic. Of course the idea of the Trinity cannot be comprehended but I’m not here to argue for faith. Rather, I am here to say how crazy of an assertion it is to say that when you are having a discussion with anybody who doesn’t believe in the same thing that you do then ridicule is the only way to make any sort of progress. I might only be speaking for myself but when I have a conversation with somebody who talks to me like I’m three, I just want to punch them in the throat. If you want to have an intellectual conversation with me or even if you want to have a shot to convert me to Atheism then talk to me like an intellect and do not degrade my knowledge or beliefs by alluding to God as a “Flying Spaghetti Monster”, “Little Green Man”, or “a fairy at the bottom of a garden”. Or to talk on the Trinity and Mary like so, “But it is especially the Roman Catholic branch of Christianity that pushes its recurrent flirtation with polytheism towards runaway inflation. The Trinity is (are?) joined by Mary, ‘Queen of Heaven’, a goddess in all but name, who surely runs God himself a close second as a target of prayers.” (all within 70 pages of The God Delusion) Tell me what was necessary about any of this. And how was this at all intellectual? If you want to convert me then present me with evidence that is stronger than my evidence without sarcasm.

I may not have done very well in my Logic course but the first rule of conversation is to not be disrespectful especially in debate. Richard Dawkins, this goes out to you: I’m sure you have very compelling reasons for atheism, I just pray that I can have the patience to read them.

Anyway, this is a promise to my loyal readers, my next legitimate post will not take 3 months to write.

May God bless you for reading all of this. And if you don’t believe in God then I genuinely pray that you have a wondrous day.



*On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt is an excellent short essay

Twelve.

Outcasts, poor, weak, hated were the apostles. Yet Jesus chose them. God Himself chose socially and politically weak people that weren’t the brightest people of their time to follow Him. These twelve men were just like you and I. Jesus chose the twelve most unlikely people to spread the Truth that would profoundly change the world.

These men dropped everything. They were committed in their safe and unchanging lives as fishermen, tax collectors, and carpenters. They were willing to ditch everything for a life of simplicity and sacrifice. They had everything that they needed to be comfortable for the rest of their lives yet they walked away from it all. The apostles were settled into a life-long routine until this hipster came into their lives and said, “Let’s do this!”

I can see only three reasons why these men let go of their families, routines, and established life for a stranger:

- They were crazy. These men were psychopaths and didn’t head their parents’ advice to not talk to strangers. They were completely nuts to let go of everything that was comfortable and easy for this stranger. They were established in their lives but had they must have been crazy to have left their comfortable lives.
- They were desperate for change. They didn’t like their current life. They wanted to get the hell outta dodge and this Jesus guy was the one guy that was able to show them a life of adventure and spontaneity.
- Or they found and unreasonably powerful love overcome them. Something like no other that they hadn't ever felt before. In every single muscle fiber, comfort and peace filled them.

Who knows why these twelve men let go of everything that was guaranteed for a life that was not for certain? They knew nothing yet in time and with much trust, they became the most powerful men in the world. Because of their craziness, “despair”, and/or their ability to sense the awesome love of Christ these men dedicated their lives to our Lord and became the four cornerstones of the world.

The question that I’ve been wrestling with and am sharing with you is, what would you do? If some guy showed up on your campus recruiting people to spread this new and crazy concept to the world, would you join Him? Would you join Him because you are crazy and want to try something off the cuff? Would you joining His cause because you are bored with your life and are desperate for any sign of change to come and sweep you away? Or would you join Him because you are open to the love and beauty of God and are so committed to searching Him out that you recognize Him when He stumbles into you? What is your special quality that you can contribute to the Almighty King to help His divine mission? Why should He choose you? What do you have that He needs? Are you ready to drop everything for Him?

It’s obviously Advent. During the next couple of weeks I’m reflecting on whether or not I am ready to leave this life and join the War. He needs us, are we ready and prepared for  taking on His battle?

Listen.

My inspiration to write this blog post comes from Wednesday of Week II’s reading from Evening Prayer. But to be honest, when I first read it I thought to myself, “Tell me something my mum didn’t already tell me when I was 3.” I thought to myself that I have a practical knowledge of the statement that the apostle James so eloquently states in Chapter 1:

“[19]This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; [20]for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Then I said to myself, “Josh, if you know this so well and are confident that you are such a fantastic guy, then you must act on this and do the things that James talks about, right?”

I am writing this post on purely selfish instincts. I’m writing this as more of a reflection on my life rather than to lecture or instruct others how to live. I hope that you might draw from this whatever you can.

Anyway, there are several points that I’d like to attack here:
- James’ use of endearment, “My beloved brethren”
- “Be quick to hear and slow to speak” and
- The issue of anger

As I sit here in front of my computer screen, I reflect. How James can address people whom he doesn’t even know as he does? He is instructing the twelve dispersed tribes (major groups of people spread out among many countries) with gusto on how to live a better, more full, and more Godly life. This implies that these people weren’t living a very holy life in the first place. As I thought/am thinking about this I asked myself how I typically think about or address people who are not being intelligent. I call them things like “jackass”, “idiot”, “moron”, “dumb ass”, and they only get progressively worse. And yet James calls them, his “beloved brethren”. He speaks to them with almost serene patience. All the other letter writers in the Bible also use this language, addressing people as their brothers and sisters...even in the face of their idiotic tendencies.

“Be quick to hear and slow to speak.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were always right, Mum. I should listen before I talk. I should be a better listener than talker. I should listen to peoples feelings. Yadda, yadda, yadda. While all this stuff is great, I’m reflecting on what I think are the deeper cues and hints in which James might be trying to get at. I am just wondering what the world would be like if we took this statement, “Be quick to hear and slow to speak,” to its most extreme limit. If we could never speak and could only listen. What would the world be like then? Imagine the things we would hear: a more profound whisper of the wind, the intricacies of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, the howl of a distant coyote, the sigh of a stressed passerby, and the tick of the rushing second-hand of my watch. I have more than enough to say but how much of it is truly influential to the world or even to those that are immediately connected to me? I know for a fact that I have taken the common sounds that I hear every day for a grain of salt, but without that grain of salt I would have nothing, eh? I figure I should talk a whole lot less and perhaps not worry internally so much and genuinely listen to the beautiful sounds of things around me.

Also, on this note, not only would I hear just the physical things that surround me, I imagine I might hear the voice of the One who created these sounds. Maybe I should try this out more often.

Lastly, anger. Probably one of my greatest weaknesses. It rarely amasses to anything substantial but a little bit of it everyday always manages to squeeze itself into my daily routine. This little bit of frustration tends to sometimes overwhelm me. I think that in these situations, if the previous two points that James make are taken care of then we will be ready for action. Imagine for a second how incredible we could feel if we responded to a sticky situation with an address of endearment and then listened to the person or hear out a nasty situation. If I could only take a step back and comprehend what is going on and hear out the beauties of humanity, then I highly doubt there’d be any room for frustration. If I am constantly reflecting on the subtle complexities of what I am surrounded by, is there any room for any feelings other than the desire to call an idiot my friend and to embrace the internal beauty upon which I should be reflective upon?

With all this under our belts, we may not be as fantastic of people as we think we are. There is always stuff that needs fixing. End of story.