forced love

I went to a different church this week.

The pastor was a young man, hair challenged, thin and not particularly good looking, but his message was good.

He was assigned the task of talking about religious liberty, that tenuous thing that allows us each to see God a bit different, if we choose.

For sure he did not choose the topic, but he handled it very well.

Love, he said, cannot be forced.

There was a man caught in the carnage in Tucson last week, who fell on his wife to save her life. He saved hers and sacrificed his in the process. That kind of love, the pastor said, cannot be forced.

It is a good point and one that has some difficulties for Christians.

What our theology really says, as interpreted in our lives and actions (not what we say it says) is that God asks us to love him. But if we don’t love him, at some point he will torture us forever and ever.

Those do not square.

Gandhi is quoted as saying: “ I like your Christ. I don’t like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

Ouch.