The World as the Womb of Divine Love

By Randall Smith But first a note from Robert Royal: The Christian story is unbelievable to many people today. But as Professor Smith argues below, it makes perfect, literally unavoidable sense. One reason TCT exists is to explain the faith in terms that bring the great mysteries home to us. We're getting near the end of our fundraising campaign and still have several thousand dollars to go to meet our needs. I have faith in the intelligence and benevolence of TCT readers so I just ask: If you understand and want to further this mission, now's the time to become part of the work of The Catholic Thing. Now for today's column... Some people wonder: Why stick around in this life if the next life is so great? In fact, why has God sent us into this world at all if His ultimate goal for us is union with Him? Why not just get us there? Why send us here, risking the possibility that things might turn out badly? It's as though God was saying: "I am putting you in this very fragile ethical situation where you'll be pretty much over your heads, and although I want you to succeed, if you screw up, you're doomed. Good luck!" Everything about the Christian faith tells us that is not what God is doing. So why are we in this world when we're meant for the next? Perhaps it will help to engage in a little thought experiment. Let's say there is a loving Creator who freely wants to share that love with some creatures, a God who, as Pope Benedict XVI put it, "created the universe in order to enter into a history of love with mankind." How would He do this? Love must be received and given freely. So God can't keep these creatures with Him, "under His wing," so to speak, because that wouldn't allow them any real freedom, any more than children kept at home, even with very loving parents, have any real freedom to become who they are meant to become. So God's creatures cannot remain always and only with and in Him; they must go out to develop in a place and in circumstances where they can learn to love freely. It would have to be in a place that was vast enough to keep their minds always expanding, preparing bit by bit for union with their transcendent Source. It would need to have sufficient resources to support these creatures but not be perfect in every way. If it were, then people might only choose God as a source of pleasant things, as though He was simply the divine "caretaker." That's not love; it's dependency. To learn to love like adults, they can't be treated like children forever. So this Creator would have to put us out and away from Him, in some sense. And He can't make Himself visible at every moment lest we simply depend on Him constantly to mend our troubles and pains and to provide for us and others. If He does, we don't grow in love. We simply exist, like spoiled children. To learn to be selfless lovers (which is the only real kind), these creatures would need to learn to put the needs of others ahead of their own. But how would they do that if they were in a world with no needs? So too, without struggle, there can be no real virtue. To develop virtue, people must be tested, "like gold tested in fire." And if we're in a world with others like us – as we must be if we're going to learn to love (loving trees or dogs will not be enough because they're too subservient to our wills) – and if those others are as free as we are – free to love or not love – then it simply is the case that, occasionally, or maybe quite a lot, they will choose not to love. They will choose to be selfish rather than selfless, to dominate others rather than serve, and to take what they can get rather than share. What then? You don't have to struggle much to love people who are perfect. Love is perfected by the challenge of loving people who aren't perfect. Learning how to deal with those who say NO to love and who decide instead to dominate would be another important way of developing the love these creatures need. It would also be especially important since...