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The cracking of codes seems to be a universal fascination.  Uncovering what someone else wishes to keep secret is not only fun – but is power to be used in whatever way I decide it should be used.  I might decide to keep my decoding a secret – to have an “in” to whatever someone thinks is secret.  I might share it with a few of my friends or colleagues – maybe for a price – maybe for free. I get to decide.

Power.

The same fascination seems to apply to the bible.  To decode the code of God. To gain the power within.  To have the power within. To share it for free – or not.  But (I now think) to get one up on God.  To be as great as God.

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Intellectually and academically.

I used the think the same.  Bible study is essentially unlocking the code of God.  To reveal what is hidden.  To know the truth.  To find and gain salvation for all eternity.  Every religion and faith does it.  Every religion shares it.  Intellectually and academically.

But selling needs my emotional buy-in.

The “head stuff” of proof and evidence is not enough.  We are talking life-change, we are talking God here.  And just like the sales pitch of a car-salesman – we, the buyer, need to be “invested”.  We need the intellectual-academic facts-evidence to calm our emotional “spider senses” – we need to be “convicted”.  Because once convicted – publicly and privately – we are invested.  And then we use language like “sanctified” – like “paid the ransom” – like “brothers and sisters” – like “heavy burden” – like “carrying a cross” – like “the narrow door” – like “counter intuitive”.

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We lock ourselves in to our conviction through constant investment.

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I see no code in the bible. I see Love.

I see nothing complicated – nothing hidden – nor something I need to study all my life to understand.  And – even better – I see love everywhere I look – everywhere I am.  Love is not a bible-thing – Love is a Living Thing.  An everyday everywhere thing.  An all the time for no reason at all thing.

Love is I am.

Love needs no investment or conviction or sanctification.  Love needs no salvation.  Love is not counter intuitive.  Love cannot come with conditions.  Love is not something I study.

Love is I am.

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“But how do you know if God approves?”

I know because I know God and God is Love.  And Love does not distinguish between love and love.  Love is.  Love is I am.

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“But what about a believer who is a kiddie-fiddler and believes that is love?”

How can that be? How can “love” not desire the best for another?  How can “love” be deemed something that satisfies my urges whilst ignoring your silent fear?  How can a “believer” even think that is “love”?

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“But what about a believer who is gay and believes that is love?”

How can you even ask the question?  Unless your conditioning is of “sin and breaking the law”.  And then “love” comes second – is always conditional (not) love.  For if I am “gay” it is no different from not “gay”.  I either Love or I do not Love.  Just as with one who desires the acceptable “opposite sex”.  I either Love or I do not Love.  I am either kind and treat each as sacred, or I do not.

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“But what about love the sinner but not the sin?”

What about it?  Are you telling me that Love needs a manual to know who and when to Love and who and when not?  Do you see the bible teaching that distinction?  And if you do – how much of the (simple) repeated Love teaching do you have to ignore to reach that conclusion?  How many conditions do you prefer to find to not Love?  And if – through this “bible study” you find them …

Is that not the biggest “sin” of all?

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