STARTING WITH LOVE [W, 6-7-23]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter—STARTING WITH LOVE [W, 6-7-23]

 

Be careful where you start, because where you start determines where you finish. At least in thinking about God…

In the column for 5-11-23, I mentioned the Reformation theological division between John Calvin [1509-1564] and Jacobus Arminius [1560-1609].

John Wesley [1703-1791] was a follower of Arminius, because he started his theology in a different spot than Calvin. The starting point… that’s the main cause of different systems of thinking in any field.

From long before the time Luther started the Reformation through the time of Wesley, the main theological discussion was about heaven and hell. In the days of the Reformers and Wesley, heaven and hell were very real geographical places, and everyone went to one or the other upon death. Forever! To eternal bliss or eternal misery! So, it was rather important, especially since life expectancy in the body was rather short in those days, and eternity quite long.

Calvin started his thinking with the power of God. If God is omnipotent [all powerful] and omniscient [all seeing], then God already knows where each person will go upon death. It’s called predestination. You might live the most blameless life in this world, but it makes no difference. Your fate is not determined by the choices you make on earth, but by the choice God has already made about you in heaven.

Wesley, though, started his thinking with the love of God, as seen in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Step by theological step, that led to everyone having a chance in this life, by our individual actions, to get into heaven.

Essentially, Calvin was a philosopher, starting with an idea. Wesley was an historian, starting with the story of God’s interaction with God’s chosen people, and the Messiah [Christ]. From that story, Wesley concluded that God is loving, which means giving us a chance to make our own decisions about how we want to live, and thus where we’ll end up for eternity.

God is power, but God is love. You can’t choose both of those as your starting point. Where you choose to start out makes all the difference in where you end up. If you start with the love of God, then the purpose of life is simply to love.

Love is sometimes a feeling, often an action, but always a decision.

 

You make the loving decision, Wesley said, by using what church historian Albert Outler called “The Wesleyan Quadrilateral:” You consult the Bible, tradition, experience, and reason. You will make the most loving decisions if you use all four of those together.

What is most important, for where you end up, is where you start.

John Robert McFarland