A response to a conservative post against freedom of love:
"I confess I do have a problem of simplifying things so I appreciate your words of wisdom!
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I agree that salvation centrally concerns our life and the choices we make in this world but not on the belief of a heaven/hell afterlife paradigm as, quite frankly – if we take the Bible in terms of content, I am pushed to believe that people (the Israelites whose tradition we claim and/or strive to follow) were not motivated by a hope of an afterlife; rather, they spoke a lot more about salvation of this world, that salvation happens in this life, salvation is on this earth is it is in heaven.
Given that, what is salvation? Salvation means healing of wounds and that is central to understanding the idea of Love, all-encompassing and compassionate. The bible is a story of how our wounds are healed by life through God’s love. Economic and political bondage (e.g. to the Pharaohs, to the Romans, to the twisted democratic system in the US), or cultural and psychological bondage (e.g. to traditional belief systems – working hard = salvation, different = bad choice, heaven/hell, to our own well-being and lifestyle, to wounds suffered in childhood or in the workplace) is what we are freed from thanks to Jesus’ mission. Salvation is reconciliation, to be brought back from estrangement – living outside of Eden, Exodus – and to break down the walls of separation and hostility and ignorance and intolerance allowing all of us to reconcile with one another – which is essential if this is to be a shadow/mirror of the kingdom of heaven. Salvation is enlightenment, to have our eyes open to the presence of God in the world and in ALL of us. Salvation is forgiveness. We have to break free of our bondage to the traditional and popular “Christian” dynamic of sin and forgiveness (sin – judgement – need for forgiveness).
There are no “if” statements in God’s forgiveness. We, humans, are adding these “if”s (if you repent, if you reject, if you believe, “you don’t get something for nothing”…). Forgiveness is NOT a reward and it’s not based on conditions dictated by our choices. Forgiveness is unconditional grace, not about meeting God’s requirement. Being a Christian does not mean thinking about sin and forgiveness within the framework of eternal life or hell. Being a Christian means to learn to accept that God’s unconditional acceptance, living our lives in a relationship with God who already accepts us for what we are. Being a Christian is not following conventional wisdom, burdened by a life of measuring up, with a life hounded by constant guilt and fear of sin, which intrinsically is what affects all evils of society that in turn affect all of us negatively.“You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you” said God. To who? To all, of course, including those who walk away from him, or those who are not aware of him, or those who are, by tradition or choice, not “Christians.”Living with the knowledge of being so beloved, is truly comforting. Unfortunately, society perpetuates our bondage to hate, condemnation and discrimination in the name of God or Jesus - to what purpose make life for others so miserable and loveless?
As a present reality, how is the Kingdom of God being formed on earth? By perpetuating hate and intolerance, fascist groups (right-wing “Christians,” right-wing muslims, etc) feed on popular conventions and perpetuate the system of political, cultural and psychological oppression that essentially have nothing to do with God, reinforcing the opposite, in fact.
Why can’t they see the social vision as explained in the bible? The destitute are blessed, the hungry are filled, we all live together in freedom, released by the anxiety of self-preoccupation, of hurtful ways of being, of being unable to see the presence of God around us. With so much hate and pressure and flawed systems and vicious political institutions, how can anyone see any good around us? God’s love is not forced – but everything else, especially negative and non-constructive elements of life, is forced on people helping them walk away for what they think is God. Of course, you don't want to force your future wife to love you because then it would not be REAL love. However, if your future wife doesn’t love you, couldn’t it be also because her parents are forcing you not to be with you because you are Black? Or because you are gay? Or because you are penniless? That is the evil of society that for thousands and thousands of years we keep on perpetuating to oppress ourselves – and which has nothing to do with God at all.
In the meantime, God is the same. We may walk away from him/her, again and again and again, but God doesn’t walk away from us for any reason. God wills our salvation, our healing, here on earth, now. Christianity is about participating in this salvation, not creating constraints that will do the exact opposite.
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