A while back
one of my friends brought up the topic of God. She admitted that she was having
difficulty understanding Him as well as the concept of sin. My college roommate
Gertrude and I discussed this with her but I felt that I hadn't given her
adequate responses, especially since I am introverted and better explain myself
in writing. The following is the email that I sent her.
I wanted to add
some further things for you to think about from our conversation earlier about
God. These things can certainly be confusing, yet you brought up interesting
thoughts.
Let's get the
records straight, God is not a cold, power-hungry, sadistic, and hateful God
that wants to make us all miserable. Pope Benedict the sixteenth wrote an
encyclical (a special letter that the pope writes to the whole world,) called
"God is Love." Everything that He does for us is done out of love.
The laws that He has given us are really for our own benefit. He is
all-knowing, so He sees everything that can harm us physically, emotionally,
mentally, and spiritually. Remember that we call Him "Our Father"
like in the prayer that Jesus gave us. If someone were to add up all of the
love that every father from the first father to the last one that exists it
would all fail in comparison to the love that Our Heavenly Father has for us.
God had no need
to create us and to give us the world that we live in, but He did. He didn't
have to give us mercy, prophets, or even a promise of a savior (Jesus,) but He
did. He didn't have to agree to His only begotten Son's horrific death so that
we could have the ability to be with Him for all eternity in heaven, but He
did. He doesn't have to give us unconditional love, but He does.
"For God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through
him" (John 3:16-17).
He didn't come
to declare that we are going to hell, but to call us to change. Just like what
Gertrude said about the story of the woman caught in adultery, we are not to
judge but notice what Our Lord also said. Once the people that wanted to put
her to death had left, He said to the woman, "Go, [and] from now on do not
sin any more" (John 8:11). He didn't tell her to go and continue to live
the same destructive lifestyle that she had been living, but lovingly called
her to turn away from her sin. He tells us the same now and always, for as I
quoted from the bible earlier, that He came so that we might be saved through
Him, instead of continuing to live in the darkness of sin apart from the light
(John 3:17-21).
We are given
two options in this life, to love and serve God or to not love and serve God.
If we chose to love and serve Him then we must keep His commands, not out of
fear, slavery, or obligation but out of love for Him. Why do we do this? Why is
it that we must love Him by obeying Him? Because when you love someone, it's
not enough to just say that you love them: you need to show it, so that they
know that you really do care. Just talking is cheap, but our actions convey
that we mean what we say. Jesus Himself said, "As the Father has loved me,
so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will
remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in
his love...You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:
9-10, 14).
He doesn't
force us, guilt trip us, or pressure us into doing anything. He certainly does
want us to choose to love and serve Him, but He gives us the gift of freewill,
which proves His love for us. For if He were to make us love and serve Him,
then we would not love Him, but would be His slaves. He even loves us enough to
allow us to go to hell. (Doesn't that sound ironic? But it's true.) It hurts
Him very much (and that's putting it very lightly,) when we choose to reject Him,
for no one loves us more than Him.
Grant it we
don't always understand why He allows certain things to happen, but He is so
far above us in knowledge and wisdom that even the greatest scholar could be.
Essentially, the terrible and painful consequences of sin and suffering in
general help us to grow as people, conquering ourselves, even drawing us closer
to God during these times, for we come to completely depend on Him during the
hard times (or at least we are meant to.) We are inclined to weakness and sin
but with God we can do anything.
Venial sins are
smaller sins committed that weaken our relationship with God, but mortal sins
are much more serious than that that involve grave sins. Grave sins are things
like murder, incest, rape, adultery, practicing homosexuality, slander, libel, and
intentionally skipping mass when we are capable of making it, etc. These are
very grave sins, but in and of themselves are not mortal sins. In order for a
sin to be mortal it must not only be a grave sin, but also be done with full
knowledge of the sinfulness of these grave sins, and also be done under one's
own free will. When a Catholic has in fact committed a grave sin then they must
not receive Our Lord in communion until they have gone to confession, for
consuming Our Lord with such a great stain on one's soul is described as
"murdering the Lord."
Jesus wants us
to turn away from our sin and to be reconciled to Him, notice how I say
reconciled to Him. When we sin we hurt Our Lord and through the gift of
confession we are reconciled in our relationship to Him. It's just like in a
song that I've heard at Mass before. "Come back to me with all your heart.
Don't let fear keep us apart. ...Long have I waited for your coming home to me
and living deeply our new life." Our Lord is merciful and forgives us when
we are sorry for the hurt that we have caused Him and is always awaiting for
our return to Him.
God bless.
