Love Demands Justice

        The New Age movement tells us that God is a god of love, and that he will eventually bring all people to himself, that his love will never let anyone be separated from him. From this perspective, all sins are mere mistakes, which will be corrected in time; they have no ultimate consequences and certainly no need of forgiveness. “A loving God would never send his children to any hell,” the New Age proposes. Sadly, many Christians are being swayed by this logic, perhaps leading either to belief in a God who cannot be separated from his creation, or else leaving the faith altogether, because they understandably just can't see how a loving God and eternal hell could co-exist. It is easy to fall into this state of belief without taking into consideration the fullness of love, and all its extents. True love, however, demands justice for all, not courteousness and niceness to all; love is not an empty benevolence.

        First, let's define several items while we attempt to show the orthodox understanding of God's love. Hell, in a very simple definition, is the permanent separation from the God of Love for all eternity. In New Age beliefs, oftentimes, the soul is the only permanent thing about a person. In Catholicism, the body is also meant to be permanent, and will be resurrected and perfected; body and soul make up an entire human being. In the New Age realm, there is often a belief in a nearly infinite amount of time to “get it right” or to reach God, perhaps through multiple life-times. There are also other forms of universalism that teach all souls will go to heaven. Catholicism teaches that it is appointed for human beings to die once, then there comes a judgment to solidify one's life decision for God or against God, for Love or against Love, dying either in a state of repentance or in a state of sin.

        Those items being defined a bit, we now have two paradigms. The first, which is a belief that sin against Love has no permanent or eternal consequences, holds that God “forgives” every soul, because God loves every soul equally. Eventually, a time comes under this logic for the Crucifixion of Jesus to be irrelevant, since all sins are mere mistakes that can be corrected. In the diagram below, I show this first paradigm in its simplest form.

Diagram A, Note: Blue arrows represent benevolence

In this paradigm, all persons are forgiven and received, in the end, into God's presence (at minimum). When looking at this diagram, God's love seems so right, as it encompasses everyone impartially. No one is left behind; no one is hurt by a God who judges mere limited creatures with unlimited weight and burden. Love wins over all “evils” in this view, if evil even truly exists (as some believe it does not). God's mercy and love is perceived to have no bounds and no limits, reaching all souls equally.

        Before we get to the Catholic and orthodox Christian paradigm, let's show what is really going on behind the scene of this first paradigm. In reality, God does not deal with just objects of people, who have things “happen” to them. Instead, God is in relation with persons who are both sinners (those who commit evils) and also victims of sin (those who are hurt by evils committed). All of us fall into both categories, in truth. What, then, would happen if God were to show his forgiveness towards both victim and sinner, without the sinner repenting of his or her willful sin? For example, if a murderer or an adulterer is utterly unrepentant and will continue in his or her way against love toward God and neighbor (or spouse), but God shows the same forgiveness towards that person as to the victim of that murder or that adultery. Let's use, for the sake of gravity, the example of a child abuser who is unrepentant. What would happen if God were to forgive and bless the abuser, while at the same time that he forgives and blesses the victim child supposedly in the same manner of any wrongs they've committed (however small or large)? In this latter example, the victim has no defense, especially not by God. The Catholic understanding of sin is one that understands an effect on the community – on our neighbors. In other words, there is always a victim of sin, even secret sins.

        When we take into account that there are victims of sin, we start to see a little more clearly. God would not be loving the victim of sin at all if he were to bless the unrepentant murderer, the adulterer, the abuser. No, he would be allowing and blessing injustice against the victim to continue. He would no longer be defending the justice due to those victims of sin. Injustice has no part in true love. So, then, while taking into account the victim of sin, we see that if God forgave and blessed all persons “the same,” then the first diagram would look more like the one below.

Diagram B, Note: Blue arrows represent benevolence, while red represents injustice

God himself would be enabling and contributing to further injustice. There would be no true love for the victim of sin who would continue to be under abuse and oppression.

        The Church knows a God who is much greater, who truly is Love and who defends those who are victims of sin. She knows a God who rescues the oppressed, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and sets captives free. Therefore, she preaches justice – justice for all those suffering from sin, whether by disease of sin or by injury of sin against them. All of God's works are crowned with Mercy. So, he seeks out to make right all things, to restore us all to righteousness, to wholeness, to peace. The diagram below shows the Catholic model of God's love and forgiveness with all parties cooperating: God forgives the sinner, while the sinner repents and turns to love his or her neighbor; the victim is also healed by God's love, as justice is restored.

Diagram C, Note: Blue arrows represent benevolence and justice

        We can take this above image a step further. God's love demands justice for all those under oppression and who are wounded by sin, especially those who are in weakened states of life – orphans and widows. Yet, we believe that God's love demands justice for the sinner, too. That is, God wants to bring healing to the sick and diseased, especially those diseased by sin itself. He wants to bring the dignity of each individual back to its rightful status, as we were created to be, especially the sinner. So, of course, for him to forgive and heal, the sinner must repent and turn towards Love in all ways. Then, the soul's dignity is restored. This is called “righteousness,” making things right. So, we see that God's love is all-encompassing in justice – for victim and sinner. This is why Jesus spoke of himself as the shepherd who seeks out even the one lost sheep out of ninety-nine; he desperately desires the restoration of each soul.

        Taking the paradigm even a step further, God wants to not just defend the victim, but to heal the victim of the wounds. “By his wounds we are healed,” has a multifaceted meaning here (Is. 53:5); for, he calls us all to forgive our debtors. Jesus died not just for the sinner, but for the victim of sin. By his wounds, we can forgive those who have oppressed us and abused us. This is so important, that Jesus told us that “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15 NRSVCE). All justice belongs to God. We must allow him to seek justice for ourselves and for others, whether sinner or victim of sin. If one does not forgive, the grudge is an injustice to the dignity of the other and their opportunity to be restored to wholeness.

        So, then, we find that God is not unjust towards souls. He is not unfair. Hell is not something for those who simply break the rules of God, as if this life were a Monopoly Game, but is an ultimate consequence of choosing to separate ourselves from Love. By not loving God and others, we are personally responsible for the willful destruction we spread, for the wounds that we give, and for the diseases that we perpetuate. How can God, who is Love, not seek the defense of those victims of sin, even the defense of our own selves who are slaves to sin? Love demands justice. God is not seeking empty benevolence for all; he wants justice for all – the healing and defense of each person's dignity. If we will not let him heal us, he cannot do so, by fact of our own free-will, for he is not an abuser himself.

Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

                – Isaiah 58:6-9 NRSVCE

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?

Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

                 – Ezekiel 18:23,25 NRSVCE