Monism and the personal God
Is love at the very center of reality? and the Bible give different answers. says the highest reality has no qualities at all, love included. The Bible says love is what God is.
The Hindu claim
In ( school) there are two ways of speaking about God. , "without qualities", is ultimate reality as it truly is: one, with no personality, will or love. , also called , "with qualities", is that same reality as it appears through : a personal Lord who creates, loves and receives worship. Devotion to the Lord is real and valued, but it belongs to the everyday level. At the highest level the worshipper, the Lord and love itself merge into the one reality. The calls God's own divine power, hard to cross. The classic source for this view is the , in lines like "", "That you are" ().
The apologetic argument
- If ultimate reality has no attributes, love and justice are not ultimately real.
- The word "love" is then used in two senses: real at the human level, unreal at the ultimate one.
- Personal relationships need a personal foundation that is eternal.
- So cannot ground the love it values. The can, because love exists within God before anything is made.
What your friend may sayWhat Hindus often say
- "Not all Hindus are ." and insisted God is personal with real qualities. The itself is deeply personal: speaks as "I" and tells he is dear to him ().
- " is not simply unreal." say the world is neither real nor unreal (), so love is fully real at the level we live in.
Your strongest answerHow a Christian answers
Agree that the 's verses are personal, then ask: before anything was created, whom did a personal God love? A single-person God needs creation to have an object of love. answers with eternal souls alongside God, which makes souls uncreated and God dependent on them. Only a God who is three persons in one being has love that is complete in Himself. And that love has come to us in Jesus Christ, who is Himself God the Son: if you want to know whether God loves you, look at the cross. For an , test the "levels" answer by asking: if love disappears at the highest level, is it really ultimate?
Love is not only an idea at the center of reality. It has a face. The Son, who was with the Father before the world began, came and made God known (). If you want to know whether God loves you, look at Jesus Christ.
If the highest reality has no qualities, then love is not ultimate. The Bible says God is love in Himself, Father, Son and Spirit, and showed it in Jesus.
Why the next step followsKarma explains today by yesterday. Next: what explains the very first act?Karma and the endless chain →Do you long to be loved by someone, or to be absorbed into something? What does your heart say love needs?