Authentic Love

8.17.10


An excerpt from "The Ranting Rector" -Cam Miller @ Trinity 


"Authentic agnosticism (neither yes nor no) about anything related to life after death is the most radical form of trust in God.
 
A feverish fear of Hell on the other hand, reveals other problems than a lack of trust in God.  If we are motivated to do good by our fear of Hell or our hope of Heaven then our impetus is essentially self-centered.  The nature of authentic love is that it compels us to desire what is loving rather than requiring negative reinforcements like the threat of punishment or fear of retribution.  Love compels itself toward loving-kindness and fear compels itself toward self-centeredness. That is not to say that competing choices between various forms of good in a given situation, or even choices that seek the lesser of several evils, do not exist at every turn.  The world we live in is composed of such gradations of good and evil but authentic love compels itself to discern the best possible choices simply because it loves rather than fears reprisal for the wrong choice. A faith that is rooted in the fear of Hell or the hope of Heaven is a faith that holds as its core concern the future state of the Self and so dominated by love of the Self. While there is nothing wrong with loving oneself, and in fact Jesus tells us there is something very right about loving oneself, authentic love lifts us to more transcendental desires and motivations.  Authentic love compels us to seek loving-kindness as the prime mover rather than self-centeredness and self-preservation."