This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
We get a fragmented understanding when we try to understand The Word “bottom up”. The “top down” perspective is the right one.
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We have touched on many principles revealed through The Word, one of which is the unity of God’s Love and God’s Will (ref. “Is His Love Blind?“).
We have discussed the fact that since God needs nothing (ref. “God ‘Wants’ Nothing”), everything that He wills is only Willed out of Love. In other words: His Will is inseparable from His Love. They are One in Him.
Let us explore Christ’s explanations on this.
Is The Will Loveless?
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?
— KJV, John 7:19
None of the people kept the law?
Not the pharisees? Not the sadducees? Not the scribes? Not their followers?
This must indicate some fundamental misconceptions on the part of all men.
We gave an example of this in “Is His Love Blind?“:
Instead of understanding that observance of the Sabbath Day is to prompt man to regularly put aside time to reflect on his spiritual journey (and thus become more spiritualized and less materialistic), man focused on physical rest on Sabbath Day.
Men believed they were righteous if they remained physically idle on that day, even if they were spiritually inactive. They lost the actual meaning of the commandment because they focused on the earthly instead of the spiritual.
The problem here, which is not immediately obvious, is the attempt to interpret God’s Will (as represented in the Commandments) without reference to His Love.
Commandments or Advice?
God only gives. Therefore God’s Will for us as outlined in His Commandments and instructions and in The Word are gifts i.e. loving advice.
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To construe the Commandments as commands (i.e. the sort of instructions that bossy human beings give) smacks of anthromorphism (ref. “God Is Neither Superman Nor Santa“).
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
— Matt 22:37-40
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
In other words: the Almighty’s Will for man is inseparable from Love.
The Why is Always Love
When we apply this “unified” perspective to a particular Commandment, we are led to ask why such loving advice has been given. We then arrive at a deeper understanding that makes our obedience authentic and knowledge-based, instead of forced and external.
For example:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
— Matt 5:21-22
Thou shalt not kill;
and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you,
That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
Human beings had focused on the physical aspect of the word “kill” i.e. murder.
But physical murder arises from a desire to cause harm or to destroy. It is the desire (the will, the volition) to harm that is the real problem.
The physical action is an after-effect of an inner volition. It is our inner volitions that we must pay primary attention to.
If, ab initio, we had considered the word “kill” and other “sins” from the spiritual perspective of Love, this would have become obvious to us. We would then have paid more attention to our inner selves, with the attendant spiritual benefits.
We can also infer that certain things that are viewed as less serious than murder are only different forms of the same thing. For example, slander can be viewed as a form of moral murder because it stems from the same desire to cause harm to another, only that the volition is directed at the person’s reputation and not his physical body.
God’s Will and God’s Love are One. We must understand this if we are to understand how Creation works.
Today’s Resolution
- We will unify the concepts of Divine Will and Divine Love in our minds, so that we can gain a true spiritual appreciation of The Word.
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