Diocesan
Life Columns
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bishop Paul's writes a monthly column for the Diocesan Newspaper, Diocesan
Life, edited by Communication
Minister, Bill Lewellis.
For more features from the life of our diocese, check Diocesanlife....ONLINE; and Bethlehem
News.
Is behaving well because we are afraid of God good behavior?
Living With a God of Endless Gifts
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, September 1999
To what extent is our behavior controlled by a
half-forgotten memory of a parent saying, "God will punish
you for that?" The secular Christmas song, "You better watch
out, you better not cry, etc.," trains kids to be afraid, be
very afraid, and has no room for Grace... The Christian vision
is not just to stop being bad, but to discover a whole new
world of goodness... For us to behave well because we are afraid
of God is not really good behavior..
In Austria, parents can call a special hotline to report badly-behaved
children. Then a terrifying kind of anti-Santa gnome arrives and
threatens the children: if they do not shape up, there will be
no Christmas presents. There is a fee for this "service." (source:
MSNBC website)
There is something frighteningly sadistic about this, of course,
and I don't like seeing Christ's birthday used as a stick, but
two aspects of the story are even more chilling.
The first is the reminder of our tendency to have somebody else
take care of our moral or emotional business. Parishioners who
can't confront each other directly often ask the priest to "do
something" about John or Sally. Friends ask other friends to straighten
out situations for them. Many people have lost the ability to disagree
without a fight, to express themselves with self-confidence. They
rely on others to be mature for them, and never grow up emotionally.
This is usually an unwise approach. When people are added to a
situation, it can get more complicated, even disastrous.
Someday little Hans or Anna-Magdalena is going to grow up enough
to figure out just who called the ugly gnome to come and scare
them into behaving. Then the family will have heavy dues to pay.
When John or Sally finds out just who dragged a third person into
their private business there can start a very nasty feud.
When asked to intervene, my usual approach is to say that I will
meet with both sides and help them to talk and listen to each other.
Then they can take responsibility for themselves and often feel
good about the outcome.
The second troubling aspect of the Austrian story is the idea
of discipline by terror. The children visited by the ugly gnome
are left with the impression that they are under constant surveillance
by forces ready to punish them severely. Does one think here of
Stalin, Kafka, the CIA?
Does one think of what we were told about God? To what extent
is our behavior controlled by a half-forgotten memory of a parent
saying, "God will punish you for that?" The secular Christmas song, "You
better watch out, you better not cry, etc.," trains kids to be
afraid, be very afraid, and has no room for Grace. Don't ask me
how I know this.
The history of faith in the scriptures is the transition from
thinking of God as a bloodthirsty partisan in tribal wars to worshiping
the God who wishes the entire world to live in justice and peace.
By the time the Old Testament concludes, this vision is firmly
in place. While the New Testament certainly has the idea that evil
deeds have consequences, St. Paul in particular emphasizes that
this is a matter of choice, of cause and effect.
But Paul understands God's law, the rules, as a starting point.
His goal is for those who come to spiritual maturity to live in
partnership with God, led by God's spirit. He assumes that our
life will be real when we listen for the spirit and live free in
Christ. In crude words, the Christian vision is not just to stop
being bad, but to discover a whole new world of goodness.
That can't happen if our basic view of God is that of the Austrian
Christmas troll. To make his point crystal clear, Paul uttered
one of the most startling sentences of the New Testament: "whatever
does not proceed from faith is sin." (Romans 14:24)
He is actually saying that for us to behave well because we are
afraid of God is not really good behavior! That is very hard to
swallow. But it is Paul who said in another context, "I will show
you a better way." That better way is the living of each day, the
taking of each action, aware of the love, grace, and power of God
made known in Jesus Christ. Christians keep the commandments not
out of fear, but as a way to honor God's will and love their neighbors.
We control our behavior because we have a goal in mind - to love
and become more like Jesus Christ our Lord and liberator.
It is important to note that this was what God has been looking
for all the time. If you re-read the giving of the Ten Commandments
(Exodus 19), you find that God tells Moses to announce them to
the people in terms of what God has already done for them in the
Exodus, and now it is up to them to choose to respond.
It is slower and harder to teach children to respect their parents
because they gave them life and love them. It is slower and harder
to teach them that we act in certain ways as response to the love
of God. On the other hand, to work this way with our children teaches
them not to fear a limiting and threatening Cosmic Christmas Gnome.
Rather it teaches them to live in a faith relationship with a God
of endless and wonderful gifts.
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