{"id":695,"date":"2018-06-29T17:48:15","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T00:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=695"},"modified":"2018-06-29T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T00:48:15","slug":"love-or-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Love or Fear?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In 1 John 4 we are told God is love.\u00a0 Not that God is loving, or loves to love, or is nice, caring and so on, but that God is<\/em> love.\u00a0 Love is not so much a characteristic, quality, or aspect of God, as it is God\u2019s ontological nature\u2014the very core of God\u2019s being\/existence.<\/p>\n

We are also told in chapter 4 that \u201cthose who say, \u2018I love God\u2019 and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars.\u201d\u00a0 And there are many ways people try to say they love God, without coming right out and saying it.\u00a0 They hope it\u2019s implied.\u00a0 They try to say it in their moral and ethical assertions, piety, and theological assertions.<\/p>\n

When we hear people say they want more morality in culture and media, prayer in schools, and laws passed that uphold their view of what they believe the Bible teaches, what they are often trying to communicate at the same time, is: I love God.\u00a0 When we hear people say how often they go to church, pray, tithe, read their Bibles, and tell others about their faith, what they are often trying to communicate at the same time, is: I love God.<\/p>\n

However, none of those assertions regarding morality, culture, law, theology, or certain habits or actions tell us much about one\u2019s love for God.\u00a0 We could do all those things and still hate others.\u00a0 And if we hate others, we are told we can\u2019t assert, at the same time, we love God.\u00a0 If we do, we are liars.\u00a0 Thus, God is love and we cannot mirror that love, while hating others, regardless what else we might do or believe.<\/p>\n

In the same chapter we read that, \u201cThere is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment\u2026\u201d\u00a0 In God there is no fear and the passage goes on to suggest that as we learn more and more to love as God does, we too begin to operate less and less out of fear.\u00a0 It would seem that love and fear are diametrically opposed.\u00a0 Where one dwells, the other cannot.<\/p>\n

I would suggest that those Christians who believe their love for God is shown in their being opposed to declining moral or family values, their theology, their political leanings and choices, or their habits of church attendance and piety might be operating more out of fear rather than love.<\/p>\n

Here are three areas I believe demonstrate the possibility we might be operating more out of fear rather than love:<\/p>\n

In our eschatology:<\/strong>\u00a0 If our eschatology leads us to buy buckets of food<\/a> and claim that half of America \u201chates Jesus,\u201d we might be operating more out of fear than love.\u00a0 If our eschatology leads us to buy more guns and build more walls, we might be operating more out of fear than love.\u00a0 If our eschatology leads us to imagine every major news event, natural disaster, or violence caused by humans is an indicator of some divine time-table, we might be operating more out of fear than love.<\/p>\n

In our motivations for Christian living and community:<\/strong> If our morality or ethics is driven by the fear of torturous eternal flames, we might be operating more out of fear than love.\u00a0 If we view those different from ourselves, whether gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views, as evil, unclean, animals, unholy, dangerous, dirty, or with deep suspicion, we might be operating more out of fear than love.<\/p>\n

In our political motivations:<\/strong> If we vote for people who tell us they are going to protect God, Christianity, being able to say, \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d and 1950s family values, we might be operating more out of fear than love.\u00a0 If we vote for people who tell us they are going to protect us from atheists, Muslims, immigrants, and gay people, we might be operating more out of fear than love.\u00a0 If we vote for people who stress law-and-order and strong borders over and above human kindness and generosity, we might be operating more out of fear than love.<\/p>\n

If a Christian wants to learn more about themselves, always an uneasy prospect to be sure, he or she might begin by asking where their motivation, thinking, believing, acting, and living, is coming from.\u00a0 Love, or fear.<\/p>\n

For further explorations on the topic see here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have a Patreon<\/a> Page; please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1 John 4 we are told God is love.\u00a0 Not that God is loving, or loves to love, or is nice, caring and so on, but that God is love.\u00a0 Love is not so much a characteristic, quality, or aspect of God, as it is God\u2019s ontological nature\u2014the very core of God\u2019s being\/existence. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[542,137,539,548,245,344,545],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-community","tag-eschatology","tag-fear","tag-god","tag-love","tag-political","tag-social"],"yoast_head":"\nLove or Fear?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1 John 4 we are told God is love.\u00a0 Not that God is loving, or loves to love, or is nice, caring and so on, but that God is love.\u00a0 Love is not so much a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love or Fear?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1 John 4 we are told God is love.\u00a0 Not that God is loving, or loves to love, or is nice, caring and so on, but that God is love.\u00a0 Love is not so much a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-30T00:48:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2018\/06\/fear-2019930_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"590\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/\",\"name\":\"Love or Fear?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-30T00:48:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-30T00:48:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"In 1 John 4 we are told God is love.\u00a0 Not that God is loving, or loves to love, or is nice, caring and so on, but that God is love.\u00a0 Love is not so much a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/29\/love-or-fear\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Love or Fear?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - Evangelicalism\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\",\"name\":\"Darrell Lackey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Darrell Lackey\"},\"description\":\"Darrell Lackey has served as a lead pastor and currently works in the private sector. 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