Regardless, God wants (if he does not need) our cooperation; we certainly need God’s help. But, because we are used to dealing with human beings, we assume that God will not give his help to us freely. We assume that there is bargaining involved. Mind you, I am not talking about “Say these prayers, get this indulgence.” That sort of mathematical calculation can lead to problematic spirituality—which is why Luther critiqued it, and why the Church, though she still uses the concept of indulgences in talking about grace and works, discourages literal interpretations of old indulgence books. That sort of tit-for-tat spirituality can be a problem; but what I have in mind is something worse. I’m thinking of the sort of spirituality in which one fears that becoming holy means God will take things away from you.
For example:
“I feel inspired to give up that piece of chocolate. But what if I feel inspired to do this every
afternoon? What if being holy means I can
ever eat chocolate again?”
“Hmm, I could read this novel, or that book of spiritual
reading. The spiritual reading book is objectively
better. *sigh* I guess I won’t be reading novels anymore.”
You’re laughing right now, but it gets more serious.
“If I get really holy, will God take my job?”
“God sends holy people a lot of suffering. I don’t think I’m ready for a serious disease
right now.”
“If I keep praying and get closer to God, will he decide I’m
ready to lose a spouse or a child?”
Spoiler alert: The answer to all these questions is … no … maybe … but you’re making the wrong connections … you’re asking the wrong question.
No comments:
Post a Comment