Great topic, guys.
HiJolly wrote:
We first start out obeying due to either example or coersion. At least, I did. Then it was reinforced by the Church's social/cultural 'norm' of (surface) obedience.
Then I found as I obeyed at length and did so because *I* mostly wanted to, that the reasons for the commandments began to be clear to me.
Then after a while God blessed me with His Love (a mystical consciousness kinda thing) and then at last, for the first time, I knew what love really was! I also knew the significance of the statement "We love Him because He first Loved us".
Then at last, the commandments became a joy to live, as I understood "If ye love me, keep my commandments".
That was/is my journey.
HiJolly
I think this is absolute poetry.
Commandments aren't made to be kept. They are tools to be used.
That
duty driven obedience is good starting out, good for getting us into good habits. But invariably we ask ourselves 'what am I
doing?' just like Daniel Caruso in the Karate Kid (YES, I did just cite the Karate freaking Kid. Rent it.)
But we're not
using the rules the way they were meant to be used until we see what they're
for. Daniel-san had trouble obeying 'wax on wax off' until he saw that doing it made him awesome. Suddenly the idea of
obeying disappeared, swallowed by the idea of becoming.
There comes a point where we stop
obeying the rules. Instead we
do things for love of a purpose. So, in my foggy brain (a brain that cites 80s movies as much as humanly possible), comparing perfect obedience to perfect love is like comparing waxing cars to winning a fight. They can't be at odds. Commandments are tools. We use them or we don't. When used without insight, we grow resentful. When used with insight, we grow in love.