A World Without Love? (January 10, 2016--Bulletin Article)

“God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

 

                 Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, in a song penned by Paul McCartney, once popularly lamented, “I don’t care what they say, I won’t stay in a world without love.” This curious sentiment (demanding the world come equipped with “love”) is, by all accounts, not just unrealistic, but unreasonable. For what reasonable right does mankind have to expect—much less demand!—that the world be inhabited by love? If the world is composed of relationship systems which the naturalists describe as competitive and a fight for survival, what reason do we have to expect anything like love, mercy or compassion? These are not just out of place in a world driven by natural impulses, they are downright counterproductive. For who has ever heard of a merciful lion, a compassionate shark or a sympathetic bacteria? If these organisms are hungry they eat. In order to eat they must kill (or at least learn to order carry-out).

                The philosopher Ayn Rand once wrote a little book called The Virtue of Selfishness in which she advocated for what sounded like a realistic basis for ethics in a world like the one we just described. Rand believed if everyone would just act selfishly, in their own interest, then everyone would do what was best, even altruistic, for (she claimed) it is in our own self-interest to help our neighbors; their happiness leads to our happiness. If our neighbor has all they need, they won’t be after us and ours.

                What upsets the proverbial applecart in this scheme, however, is mankind’s endless capacity not only to act irrationally, but to receive without giving. Like the Dead Sea at the terminus of the Jordan River, men have a seemingly endless capacity to receive or consume but very little capacity (and with Ayn Rand’s ethic very little motivation) to give anything in return. It may be in our best interest to make sure our neighbor is happy, but for some strange reason no one seems willing to make the first move, to begin the sacrificial giving. Instead, we ask ourselves, how long would a merciful lion survive in a world where only survival matters? Indeed, how long wouldanyone last?

                And yet, in spite of their remarkable nature, love and mercy do exist in our world! If (as we are told) survival is the most basic drive, then there is no reason for anyone to do anything altruistic; it is absolutely nonsense to expect anyone to make sacrificial choices. And yet we do! For the truth is, this world comes equipped with love because this world was created by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...and, as we all know,“God is love.” (1 John 4:16)