The Code

I met her on Christmas day. Like me, she and her boy were traveling on a train to Washington state for the holiday. We discussed politics, environmental issues over our dinner and finally the conversation drifted to religion. With an emotional yet composed tone, she described a childhood with a mother who taught her that God would send her to Hell if she was not a good girl. The definition for good behavior eluded her young mind leaving her vulnerable for failure over and over again. Then, with clear and determined eyes, she shared that she no longer believed that God was this ugly monster picture her mother painted. She had finally found a church that taught  her that God was a loving God, full of compassion and goodness.

It was at this point I knew I could cross the threshold of sharing more of the Servant God, for she obviously had met Him too. Her eyes lit up as we talked about how God was not as some would have us believe. This young woman is not alone. She is not the first person to grow up under the Deuteronomic Code - the idea that one must repent before they are worthy of God's love. This slippery and slimy lie cannot be further from the truth! God's love is not something we earn, it is something we gain automatically by simply existing. Good news, don't you think? The Deuteronomic Code goes like this: You sin, God punishes you, you repent, God loves and rewards you. Hideous.

 

Three stories immediately come to mind right off the bat that blow the Code in the dirt, they involve a sheep, a coin and a young rebellious man - all lost but then found. Luke 15 is very clear that God loves unrepentant sinners. Psalms says,"Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth." And, Romans 2:4 echoes this truth,"...the kindness of God leads you to repentance." I like how author Dennis Linn puts it, "I sin, I am unrepentant, I am loved, and rewarded by God, this heals me so I can repent." This is a total turn-around from the Deuteronomic Code that teaches vengeful punishment rather then redemptive healing. 

God loves us despite our broken spiritual state for this is how Love operates, it cannot help but extend, envelope and woo.  Even as rebels, even as sinners, God loves us! 

-S.N. Bemonte  2008