THE DALAI LAMA, SINCERITY, FORGIVENESS, AND COMPASSION

Are our beliefs irrelevant to the way we live our lives, or is belief and life intimately connected? The Dalai Lama had generously and popularly stated

·       It does not matter whether you are a theist or atheist, what matters is sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.

Certainly, “sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion” are key. However, it doesn’t seem that our beliefs can easily be detached from the way we live our lives. I have known numerous atheists, some intimately. One in particular had been so compassionate that he would do anything for anyone. When we thought of virtue, we thought of him. However, with the passage of the years, he became quite jaded and anti-social. I suspect that he still likes to give to others. However, his beliefs now take him in another direction.

Time is the final judge. Time shows us that our beliefs and experiences will eventually overcome our natural compassionate endowment. College students march with banners reading, “Make Peace not War.” They want to open the boarders and embrace refugees and the oppressed. However, time often reveals that compassion turns into bitterness, in the same way that love often screams for divorce after just a few years.

The atheist Bertrand Russell had been convinced that his atheistic worldview provided the tools he needed to live a fulfilling life. However, years later he confessed:

·       I wrote with passion and force because I really thought I had a gospel. Now I am cynical about the gospel because it won’t stand the test of life.

Cynicism will not help us live a life of “sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.” Instead, it will sound a retreat from all of our ideals. However, there are other beliefs that enable us continue the battle. When we know that we are loved by God, His marching orders become a welcome battle cry:

·       Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4-8)

This is a hope that will carry us beyond death, a hope worth any sacrifice.

UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF JOB

The Book of Job is essentially about our ignorant self-righteous judgments. Job’s three friends were good friends. Remember, they had sat with Job for a week, mourning with their friend, without saying a word. However, in ignorance, they judged him guilty of having committed terrible sins, wrongly convinced that his sins had brought Job’s great misfortunes upon him.

The friends understood far less than they thought they did. Their understanding of God had been too limited, and their understanding of Job was both degrading and totally off-base.

Instead, Job had been the most righteous of men, but he too had judged God wrongly:

•                Job 9:21-24 "Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. It is all the same; that is why I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?”

•                Job 10:2-3 “I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?’”

•                Job 27:2-6 "As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul.”

•                Job 16:12-17 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior…yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.

Had Job been judging himself correctly? Not according to the narrative:

•                Job 32:1-5 These three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

At this point, the prophetic Elihu began to speak, and he accused Job of self-righteousness:

•                Job 33:8-12 "But you have said in my hearing--I heard the very words-- 'I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt. Yet God has found fault with me; he considers me his enemy. He fastens my feet in shackles; he keeps close watch on all my paths.' But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man.”

Preparing Job for his confrontation with the One whom Job had been accusing, Elihu charged that humankind does not have the wisdom to bring indictments against God:

•                Job 37:19-21 "Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. Should he [God] be told that I want to speak? Would any man ask to be swallowed up? Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean.

If we are unable to look at the sun, how can we expect to look at God accusingly? Only someone who has an inflated estimation of his understanding would attempt to do so.

In many ways, God, who then came upon Job in a whirlwind, affirmed Elihu’s denunciation of Job:

•                Job 38:1-2 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

In order to make His point clear, God asked Job a series of questions, which Job could not even begin to answer. The lesson was clear – Job lacked the understanding to bring indictments against God:

•                Job 40:8 "Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

This is exactly what Job had been doing, and this is what we do when we have to experience trials. Since we lack understanding, we blame God. However, even the most righteous need God’s correcting fires, as Elihu had explained to Job:

•                Job 33:13-18 Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words? For God does speak--now one way, now another--though man may not perceive it…. to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

Job had been prideful and self-righteous. In love, God had been correcting him so that Job would not perish. However, Job had only blame for God and asserted his own righteousness. However, God used these afflictions to bring Job to repentance twice:

•                Job 40:4-5 "I am unworthy (“vile” NKJV)--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more."

•                Job 42:3-6 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Meanwhile, The Jewish Study Bible comments that “Suffering is Incomprehensible!” Accordingly, Job had nothing to confess or repent of. They too are judging God wrongly, leaning to their own very limited understanding.

God also corrected the judgments of Job’s three friends:

•                Job 42:7-8  After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

The friends had misjudged both God and Job and needed correction. However, it seems that God contradicts Himself. Twice, He charged that the friends “have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” However, before this, He had charged Job with NOT speaking rightly about Him.

Contradiction? Not really! Why not? When we confess our sin, He forgives and cleanses us (1 John 1:9). Job had learned his lesson, and God had wiped his slate clean. “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

IS ABORTION REALLY DESIGNATED A SIN IN THE BIBLE?

Although there is no verse that explicitly mentions “abortion,” there are many that would designate it a sin. Of course, there is the general injunction against taking the life of a human:

•                “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. (Genesis. 9:6)

The Bible makes no distinction between the human pre-born and the human post-born. A human is a human and not an animal. There is therefore no reason why this prohibition wouldn’t also apply to humans in the womb:

•                "Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.” (Numbers 35:33; Gen. 1:26-27)

The next verse identifies what happens when a pre-born is killed:

•                "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury [to the fetus], the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury [to the fetus], you are to take life for life.” (Exodus 21:22-23)

If there is serious injury to the fetus, the penalties seem to be the same as the penalties for injury to a post-born. If the pre-born dies, there is to be a life for a life. Clearly, the pre-born is regarded as a human life in the same way the post-born is.

We also observe that God has profound interest in the fetus, as He does with any human:

•                For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)

God tells his Prophet Jeremiah that even in the womb, he was a “you” not an “it”:

•                "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)

Even in the womb, the pre-born is considered a “baby”:

•                As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1:44)

The baby is God’s workmanship:

•                “Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?” (Job 31:15)

Abortion was explicitly condemned by the early church:

•                “Love your neighbor as yourself…You shall not murder a child by abortion nor shall you kill a newborn.” (Didache)

•                “You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not murder a child by abortion nor shall you kill a newborn.” (Barnabus)

•                [In a vision of Hell] “I saw…women…who produced children out of wedlock and who procured abortions.” (Apocalypse of Peter)

In fact, there exists no Biblical evidence that we should not regard the fetus as a human being created in the image of God.

If you have had an abortion, confess your sin to the Lord, and He will forgive and cleanse you of your sins (1 John 1:9) that you might find the healing you will never find by trying to convince yourself that you did what was right.

CAN WE ACHIEVE SINLESSNESS?

To understand the Bible, we have to understand the Bible’s use of its terminology. This principle is centermost in the question of “blamelessness” and “righteousness.” Because of confusion about these terms, some have argued that we can be sinless in our present life. This theology also makes others feel guilty if they haven’t attained sinlessness.

Therefore, we have to ask, what does it mean to be “blameless” or “righteous?” It certainly doesn’t mean to be sinless:

·       “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—“ (1 Kings 8:46; ESV)

·       as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

Well, what do these terms mean? We need to understand them as the Bible uses them. Paul referred to himself as “blameless”:

·       as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:6)

However, “blameless” evidently only pertained to certain specific performances under the law, not to sinlessness, since he also admitted that he had been a “persecutor of the church” and the “worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

We can understand Zechariah and Elizabeth in a similar way:

·       And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. (Luke 1:6)

Were they sinless? Apparently not, since the archangel Gabriel charged Zechariah with disbelief:

·       And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” (Luke 1:20)

Elsewhere, “blameless” is used to denote the absence of great sins:

·       Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Psalm 19:12-13 (ESV)

What then does it mean to be “righteous before God?” Under the Mosaic Law, it meant to be forgiven or reconciled. King David had committed adultery and then had killed the woman’s husband. However, he considered himself among the “righteous before God” and the “upright in heart”:

·       Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Psalm 32:11)

How could he conceive of himself in this manner? Because he had confessed his sins to God and had received mercy:

·       I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)

We find the same principle at work in the life of the most righteous man, Job. Even he had sin, but he confessed it to God on two occasions (Job 40; 42). As a result, God regarded Job as if he had never made his wild accusations against God:

·       Now therefore [you three friends] take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:8)

Evidently, Job was not sinless, but, more importantly, God regarded him as such.

We cannot ignore the many verses that teach that we all are dependent upon the mercy of God because all sin:

·       If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)

·       For we all stumble in many ways. (James 3:2)

These verses do not in any way justify a cavalier attitude about sin. We are commanded to be holy as Christ is holy (1 Peter 1:15). Instead, they point to the glory of our merciful God and Savior, Jesus, who took our sins upon Himself that we might become the righteousness of God (1 Cor. 5:21).