The Premises

Normally, people always defend the premises. Whether it's home sweet home or long-cherished assumptions, we’re wired to dig in and fend off. I am not going to defend my premises. I am only going to define them, so that you can know how I am operating—the world in which I am moving.

You may be familiar with experiments that keep everything in a system static except for one element. That element is varied to see what difference that variation makes and so determine what part that element plays in the whole system. An example of this might be a recent episode of ABC’s “What Would You Do” with John Quiñones.

 

The larger experiment was to see how people would react when, upon giving cuts to someone in the grocery store checkout line, that person then won $500 for being the 5 millionth customer. You can imagine how that felt! The secondary experiment was conducted by changing what sort of person was asking for cuts. First, an elderly female actor was used, carrying only 2 items, explaining what a hurry she was in and asking to be let in ahead of an unsuspecting customer. She didn’t have much trouble, and when she won the $500, the people who “should” have won were generally accepting and happy for her.

The crew then made one simple change. Instead of a sweet elderly lady, a youngish burly male actor tried the same thing. As might be expected, the results were different. Yes, he was able to get cuts, but when he won the $500, people’s attitudes were quite different—visibly upset at the unfairness of it all, some even asking for a share in the money and storming off in defeat.

Change one factor; find out what difference it makes.

In this experiment I am going to change just one factor, suspend one premise. Here are the factors that I am not changing, the premises I am not interested in arguing at this point:

• I am not testing what I believe about the Bible. I will be treating it as a unified whole, meaning that it is legitimate to gain understanding of one passage by investigating others and the bearing they may have on the issue at hand.
• I am not testing the existence of God. I am assuming the existence of a God who created and sustains the universe as we know it.

I am testing whether the God of the Bible consistently measures up to the statement made twice in 1 John chapter 4 (verses 8 and 16): “God is love . . .” In other words, the question is not, "Is there a God of love?" The question is, "Does the Bible present a God of love or a capricious monster, or both, or something else entirely?"

And so, the factor I am changing in this study is my own commitment to seeing God as always loving in everything that the Bible records of His character, words and actions. For purposes of this project, I am suspending that belief and testing it.

For purposes of my life and how I live it, I am not suspending that belief unless and until I am forced by the results of my study. If you come along for the ride, I urge you to evaluate the extent to which I succeed in maintaining that dichotomous approach.

Before we proceed, we have one more item to take care of—a definition: What is love?

Stay tuned!