The Charter for Compassion

It’s very simple and maybe even obvious but that’s kind of what I like about it.    I think most people would agree with the general spirit of the charter even with all our diversity of opinion and belief.  The Charter for Compassion was the idea of author Karen Armstrong.  She won the TED prize in 2008 and got to make a wish from the organization (Technology Entertainment Design, TED).  So she asked for help in promoting and propagating a Charter of Compassion.

The website for the charter is a place you can go to read it and endorse it if you like.  Over 60,000 people have affirmed it so far.  The website is http://www.charterforcompassion.org

Here is the text of the charter:

“The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

 “It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

 “We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

 “We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.”

I think that puts it very well.  Compassion is essentially what it’s all about.  Compassion is more than just feeling sorry for someone.  “Com-passion” means to feel a union with another person.  In my understanding of Christian theology this is the most important teaching we have.  It’s akin to the Greek agape, or love, Paul spoke of to the Corinthians.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.  And if I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my goods, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  Love suffers long; is kind; love is not envious; love does not vaunt itself; is not puffed up; does not behave unseemly.  It does not seek its own; is not provoked; does not keep record of wrong; it does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”  (1 Corinthians 13:1-8)

Who Is God?

It is general practice to begin a study of systematic theology with the question of God.  To start, the most basic question to be answered can be put “Who is God?”  Usually, Christian theologians have stuck with the tried-and-true basic attributes.  For example, God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, impassible, and practically perfect in every way (did I just describe Mary Poppins?).   Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with these statements, I’m just not sure they are so important.  So if God is omnipotent, could he make a burrito so hot that even he couldn’t eat it?  Than one even tripped up Ned Flanders.  Please excuse my playful blasphemy.  But I think there is something more fundamental, more scriptural, and more important to understand about God.

The strongest definitive statement I can think of in all scripture is “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  To me this seems like a very simple, concise and powerful definition of God.  It could even be written as an equation: God = Love.  Blake Ostler is the only philosopher or theologian I know of who has begun a discussion of God from this premise [1].  And I think this is the best place to start for two reasons:

1.  It is accurate.

2.  It is essential.

First, it is accurate.  If you want to learn of God and understand God than learn to love.  Pray to be filled with this love “that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him” (Moroni 7 48).  There is a lot that can be interpreted from this scripture.  Is God literally love?  Is this any more than an abstraction?  I understand it to mean that God is loving, so loving that everything God is and does manifests pure love.  This is very comforting.  Proper understanding of grace and Atonement can be found in the context of a God of love.

Second, it is essential.  Worshipping God means to love God and to love our fellow man.  These are the first and greatest commandments (Matthew 22:36-39).  This directly impacts one’s life.  Worshipping a God of love is essential.  I believe it is essential because to follow any god that is not love is to go after a false god.   To the extent that a religion teaches hate and division, that religion is false.  The more religion approaches the pure love of Christ, the truer that religion is to the one true God.

Christ himself revealed God in his own life (John 14:6-11).  There is a curious passage of scripture that is often quoted but not often noticed for its strangeness.  Jesus said: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34).  A new commandment?  Isn’t that a basic principle of the Gospel?  Was this something completely revolutionary?  Well, it sort of was and still is actually.  It’s not that this had never been mentioned before, but the message has always been a hard sell.  We have done pretty well with the God of Requirements throughout history, but we have had a harder time following the God of Love.  Slaughter a lamb, cut it up in pieces, burn some parts of it, eat other parts, no problem.  No beer, no smoking, no tattoos, no crazy hair-dos, no blue shirts in church, got it.  But love one another?  That is a new commandment, again and again, because we always forget it.  But Jesus revealed to us the true God, the God of Love.

Who is God?  God is love.  This is the most basic and fundamental attribute of God to comprehend.  It is this attribute that governs all other divine attributes.  Furthermore, it is this attribute that we, God’s children, are to take upon ourselves just as we take on the name of Christ.  “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).  This is really hard.  It’s a good thing we have a perfectly loving Heavenly Father to help us along the way.

[1] See Volume Two of Ostler’s Exploring Mormon Though: The Problems of Theism and the Love of God.  The reference is from the first chapter.

Love Your Enemies

“How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?"

Enoch saw the earth and all the people living in it. He saw wickedness and hatred and Satan with a great chain in his hand veiling the face of the earth in darkness. Satan looked up toward Heaven and laughed. And the Heavens wept.

“How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever... and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?”

And the Lord said: “Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood... Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” (Moses 7:28-37)

We all have the capacity to choose our own progenitors. We can be children of God of children of Satan and the choice is made by the doctrine we choose to follow. The Title of Father is given to God the Father (Matthew 5:48; 6:9; 16:17), Jesus Christ (Mosiah 5:7; 15:1-3) and Satan (Moses 7:37; 3 Nephi 11:29; 2 Nephi 9:9). As children share the attributes of their parents, so do the spiritual offspring of God or Satan share the characteristics of their spiritual parents.

John said: “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1 John 3:8-11)

The simplicity of the message is striking—that we should love one another—this is what makes all the difference. Nephi prophesied: “For behold, at that day shall he [Satan] rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.” (2 Nephi 28:20) These are the fruits of Satanic progeny—hatred, anger, emnity.

Conversely, Christ says “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) And this call is universal. Loving our own friends just won’t cut it. Jesus says “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven...” (Matthew 5:44-45) This is a hard saying. Are we able to hear it? (John 6:60) This doctrine must be taken seriously because it is forms the basis of our relationship with God. We become children of our “Father which is in heaven” by loving all, including our enemies.

I think it is safe to say that what is taught here is that we should not only love our enemies but we should in fact have no enemies at all. If we have enemies, let it be by their will and not by our own. Let our enemies be conquered not through violence, but by turning enemies into friends. This does not mean that our friends will respond in the same spirit of friendship. But as Disciples of Christ let us be friends to all and thus become children of Christ and children of our Heavenly Father.

The Second Creation Narrative: Eve

This is my second post in the two-part series on the creation narratives of Genesis. This second narrative is found in Genesis 2:4-25. After reading the first two chapters I noticed very distinct messages and approaches in each chapter. I also noticed the clear demarcation of in Genesis 2:4 opening a new account: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth...” One detail of note is that in Hebrew the scriptures began referring to the creator as “Yahweh”. The previous creation account referred to the creator as “Elohim”. For this reason, the second creation narrative is often credited to another author called the Jahwist (J). The name “Yahweh” is often translated in English to “Jehovah”. However, Jews prefer not to vocalize the name “Yahweh” when reading the Torah and substitute this name with “Adonai”, meaning “Lord”. The King James Version of the Bible follows this practice with few exceptions. Therefore, the change in the name of the creator can be observed in English by the use of the word “Lord”.

One obvious indication that this is a separate creation narrative is the statement in the fifth verse: “and every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before it grew... and there was not a man to till the ground”. This verse is going back to the time before there were plants or people. Later, in the story we find that there were not yet animals. But in the previous creation narrative God had created plants, animals and man. It appears these creation accounts are not sequential in time but parallel. I see these two accounts portraying the same story but for different purposes.

God creates man “from the dust of the ground”. The word for “ground” in Hebrew is “adhamah” which is something of a play on words. The word “adhamah” is composed of four Hebrew letters: aleph, daleth, mem, he. If the last letter “he” is removed, the three letters that remain form the word “adham” or “mankind”. Thus, in Hebrew, “mankind” is literally taken out of the “ground”. Yahweh then animates the body of man by breathing into it the breath of life so it becomes a living soul.

Now that there is a man to till the ground, Yahweh plants a garden and places the man in it. He plants many trees and is permitted to eat from all but The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He is warned that if should he eat the fruit of this tree he will surely die. The account also gives the geography and rivers of the surrounding area. I will skim over a lot of this to get to the part that I think is the most important part of the story.

Yahweh says “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (verse 18). The word “meet” in Hebrew is “neghedh”, meaning a front, i.e. part opposite; specifically a counterpart, or mate. Yahweh then forms out of the ground every beast of the field and fowl of the air. These are presented to Adam and he names them. All these creatures are created from the same source as man himself, the ground or “adhamah”. But among all these many useful beasts and creatures there is found no aid “meet” for man, or “counterpart” corresponding to him.

Finally, Yahweh causes Adam to sleep and takes part of the man’s own flesh to create a companion: a woman. The woman is made from Adam’s rib, in Hebrew “tsela”, which can also be understood to mean “side”. Adam then says, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (verse 23). This companion is named “ishah”, which is woman, because she was taken out of man, “ish”.

As I have mentioned previously, I don’t think the literal, historical veracity of this story is what is important. I doubt that Eve was literally created out of a rib. But who knows? Maybe it is literal. But I think this story is creating an image to portray an important meaning. The man was alone. He needed a counterpart, an opposite, a mate. All the animals with their many uses were not able to fill this role. They were made of the same materials. The cattle of the field are useful for food and labor. But none of these corresponded to man on the deepest and most important levels. For this, the Lord needed to create a new life out of the man himself—someone who he could connect with as if the two were one soul. This was done by creating woman, the final act of creation.

This is the great lesson of the second creation narrative. Men and women should be connected to each other in every possible way. They are opposite and similar, contrasting and complementing. They are as one flesh though in two separate bodies. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”.