laws of love

A friend's recent query got me wondering: why did God establish so many detailed rules and regulations for the Israelites? The sheer volume of it all seems oppressive. These people just came out of generations of slavery, for crying out loud!

Then it dawned on me that God set forth such detailed rules because the Israelites had been enslaved for generations. They had no idea how to govern themselves. All they had known of law and order came from selfish masters who wielded authority like a whip. The Israelites needed to be taught how to live as free people, how to act out of love rather than fear, how to take care of their economy and health and families. Fortunately for the Israelites, they had a Teacher and a TA (Moses) who, in spite of the occasional tough-love incidents, deeply loved and cherished them.

I've often wondered why so many African nations fell to despotism and/or violent disorder shortly after independence. It makes a bit more sense now. Most African nations were ruled by colonizers much like the Egyptians. But when given independence, these nations did not have good teachers to help them to stand as free nations. Instead, their teachers were the very people who oppressed them, who stayed on to pillage valuable natural resources. These nations weren’t really granted independence; they were merely paroled. When they “mis-stepped” – by, for example, democratically electing leaders disfavored by a certain global power – interference and penalty came swiftly and severely.

It makes me angry to think about this, in part because I can’t think of any solutions. It does make me wish, however, that there are more true believers in positions of power, who can step in the breach and be good TAs, ones faithful to the Teacher and not their own interests.

count and discount

I can't recall the precise train-wreck of thought that led to the conversation, but over Christmas weekend, I talked to my mom about child birth. I asked her: (1) whether it hurt like a bugger to give birth to my brother (the first-born); and (2) why in the world did she subject herself to more and decide to have more kids.

My mom more or less answered: (1) yes, hurt very much, never knew anything could hurt so much; (2) loved him, right away, very much, never knew could love a stranger so much, forgot about the pain. Forgot about the pain? Just plain forgot the excruciating pain of squeezing a melon out of an orifice typically the size of a dime?

A C-section, albeit somewhat gross in its own right, sounds a lot less painful than a natural birth. What if we can C-section other parts of life? What if we had the option of drawing a curtain and feeling no pain through dark times? Would we take it? Should we?

It seems that God intends for us to experience a natural birth life; C-sections are man-made alternatives. There was no C-section available for Jesus in Gethsemane. Likewise, most of us do not have (or do not choose to draw) that anesthetizing curtain as families splinter, children are born unhealthy, parents fall ill, friends pass and dreams evaporate.

In reality, my mom didn't forget about the pain. She acutely remembers (and gladly detailed) the pain and the precise number of hours of pain she endured. But pain (or the fear of it) bowed before love, a mightier anesthesia than man could ever invent. So it was with Jesus. Love both counts and discounts the costs. And it has given me life both here and hereafter.