And on day 19 of Lent? Love...Again

I really don't like do-overs. I like when things are fresh, new, and revolutionary. I like eye-opening experiences. I like for everything to feel amazingly original.

As I've noted before, I'm addicted to Korean dramas. However, I won't watch the same one twice, except for in an attempt to create another addict. And even then, I just start them out watching it. I'll be asleep by the second or third episode. Because I think I've seen and heard it all.

I won't read the same book twice. When I was a teenager, I used to read so many books that I began to keep a list. It must have been my early teens because I remember that the list was printed on that paper that had the perforated edges with the little holes. It might have even been the product of a (gasp) word processor. I started keeping that list because I hated that moment, 45 pages or so into a book, when I realized I knew everything that would happen! That I'd read this a mere 2 years ago and had forgotten. It was a tragedy.

I understand that everyone is not the same. My mom, for example, has seen Secret Garden, Boys Over Flowers, and Greatest Love so many times, I think she could narrate it. In Korean...nah, she can't. But she could probably narrate the English subtitles. She just loves certain scenes so much that it brings her joy to see it again. She has favorite parts. Favorite facial expressions. And she goes back to them when she wants a surefire laugh. There are people who can read certain books over and over again, because the love the story. And what more? They love the storytelling. It's great to them!

I'll admit this one thing: I love a horrible movie. There is a movie that I've seen more than a few times. I don't know why this particularly ridiculous movie speaks to my heart...but admittedly I've watched The Saint (starring Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue) and embarrassing number of times. It never gets old to me.

But yet there is one Bible topic that gets very old to me. Every time: LOVE.

I'm not sure if it's because sermons on love are so damning, or if it's because I'm thinking: "I know, I know! I get it already!" but love, though a simple concept, is the most difficult thing to come to terms with in scripture. That if you are not loving...you have a problem.

And that's a problem, because people often love to be haters.

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:7-11

I won't mislead you. This is difficult subject matter. Why? Because, honestly, you can look to the Bible and create a reason to hate others. To maliciously hate others. And if you were to just read or listen to that reasoning in a vacuum...it would sound a lot like the truth! We don't have to love everyone. Everyone is not our neighbor. And everyone is not our brother. We can pick and choose who we treat with dignity, respect, and...love. 

Just writing that felt REALLY scary to me, because...it's difficult to combat views like that without a holistic view of scripture. And even then we have people saying: "but..."

I fear I take this scripture too far. This scripture is, in fact, speaking to loving other Christians. However, I'm hard pressed to believe that the person who is hating brothers (other Christians) is loving out there loving neighbors (non-Christians). 

There are people who believe it's biblical to hate both the sin and the sinner. And if we believe that...then we technical should hate everyone. Including ourselves. Try to wrap your mind around this, a life of both internal and external hatred. Because nothing is good enough to warrant love. 

I feel like...I don't know where to go from there. I'm not sure if that's what John meant, but looking at life through that lens is very dark indeed. What should I do next? How do I bring meaning to life? Is there any point if nothing can be loved? The person who hates has no idea where to go. 

In a previous blog, I referred to Christ at the sign. He's a light. A beacon of light. And light, generally, is to be followed. We spend a lot of time in scripture trying to determine who it's okay to hate/look down upon/treat badly. And we don't always come up empty (which is mind boggling)!  Who is my brother? Who is my neighbor? 

Well...who was Jesus' brother? And who was Jesus' neighbor at the time of His most thrilling act of love? Submission to death on a cross. Who?!

Good luck stumbling around for that answer in the dark. 

For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
 - Romans 5:10