I've been meditating on the type of "parent" God is. Being a Catholic, I use Jesus' example of God, and so refer to God as a "He", and as a "Father". Since Jesus and the Father are one, and Jesus comes to give love and peace unlike anything we have ever been shown on Earth, I began to wonder how that type of love would look. I think that this love would emulate the Prodigal Son, where it is not a reward and punishment based system. I have been introduced to Dr. David Jeremiah who preaches about heaven. He has a very nice composure and demeanour and it's interesting to think of the hereafter, something I haven't before really. After my mediation, I read his email which referenced the passing of the old world:
But God's love is not like the world's love. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27). Therefore, I believe it takes radical faith to believe that God's love is not in fact fully represented until we meet Christ, and why as Catholics we call Jesus the completion of God's revelation to us. (Catechism). So I searched for any other view points on God's love not being a reward and punishment based system, and I found something interesting.
This article on "gentle parenting" suggests a way of parenting that makes a lot of sense, but also shows why it is so difficult to get away from our traditionally rigid and I believe damaging method, even with Christians who defend the faith in claiming that we are not in fact judged by works. I saw a lot of modern psychology in this article, which involves looking at the root of the behaviour, instead of what is apparent to the eye. But maybe why it is the most elusive is because it requires restraint and compassion - two characteristics that do not come naturally to us and need to be cultivated (and I believe that is the result of a reward and punishment system that is riddled in all sorts of trauma).
It's not so simple to untangle a lifetime of embedding that chronically threatens us either with pain or with not getting pleasure, and it's just as hard to divorce a belief that threatens eternal retribution as well. However there comes a point in our lives should we want to mature in our material and spiritual development, when we must take that leap of faith. The action that says, "Okay God, you say your love and your peace is unlike anything I have ever known, therefore it is not this cruel and dismissive method of discipline that is keeping me static and scared. I'm ready to know what you say to be true."
It takes a lot of strength, of my will working to merge with God's will, to take that first step into the unknown, but after that, I trust that I can ride on God's power. In believing that there is something so much greater than a fear-based approach to life, I can see how vengeance and evasion of responsibility permeate every level of society. But this is exactly where God is exceptional, and where we are given the ability to be released from that toxicity of manipulation through a false reward and destructive punishment system, into one of patience, support, and encouragement.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)I thought about the Christians who I like to follow on social media, and who consistently teach a "saved by faith alone" doctrine, but whose lives would suggest other. Their "works" are actually hypervigilant, through the guise of correction of false-doctrine, afraid of a misstep that could lead to punishment. I sympathize, I am the same way, which is why they came into my mind. When I wanted to imagine a faith-based system, where our hearts guide us, even in its imperfection, to God, it's just too scary: all of their fear-based "warnings" creep into my mind. And they are convincing. All of the stories in the Old Testament of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and their kings and the punishments thrown on to the people on account of their kings, and the people's own transgressions of inappropriate worship, says to me that God governs on a system entirely run on earned blessings and deserved consequences.
But God's love is not like the world's love. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27). Therefore, I believe it takes radical faith to believe that God's love is not in fact fully represented until we meet Christ, and why as Catholics we call Jesus the completion of God's revelation to us. (Catechism). So I searched for any other view points on God's love not being a reward and punishment based system, and I found something interesting.
This article on "gentle parenting" suggests a way of parenting that makes a lot of sense, but also shows why it is so difficult to get away from our traditionally rigid and I believe damaging method, even with Christians who defend the faith in claiming that we are not in fact judged by works. I saw a lot of modern psychology in this article, which involves looking at the root of the behaviour, instead of what is apparent to the eye. But maybe why it is the most elusive is because it requires restraint and compassion - two characteristics that do not come naturally to us and need to be cultivated (and I believe that is the result of a reward and punishment system that is riddled in all sorts of trauma).
It's not so simple to untangle a lifetime of embedding that chronically threatens us either with pain or with not getting pleasure, and it's just as hard to divorce a belief that threatens eternal retribution as well. However there comes a point in our lives should we want to mature in our material and spiritual development, when we must take that leap of faith. The action that says, "Okay God, you say your love and your peace is unlike anything I have ever known, therefore it is not this cruel and dismissive method of discipline that is keeping me static and scared. I'm ready to know what you say to be true."
It takes a lot of strength, of my will working to merge with God's will, to take that first step into the unknown, but after that, I trust that I can ride on God's power. In believing that there is something so much greater than a fear-based approach to life, I can see how vengeance and evasion of responsibility permeate every level of society. But this is exactly where God is exceptional, and where we are given the ability to be released from that toxicity of manipulation through a false reward and destructive punishment system, into one of patience, support, and encouragement.
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