IN Genesis Chapter 22 of the Old Testament, God put Abraham to test by asking Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a human sacrifice only to be held on when Abraham was about to kill Isaac.
Many atheists would point to this Scripture story as another proof of the absurdity of a God who asked a father to kill his son but stops him when His creature was almost done obeying Him. Atheists would claim that this Christian God is playing games with His creatures. Therefore, according to them, it’s another proof that He does not really exist.What the atheists don’t understand was the purpose
of the test. It was all about fulfilling the virtue of Charity. God
wanted to see if Abraham loves God above all, even more than his
son. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Theological
Virtue of Charity as the virtue by which “We love God above all things for his
own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.” (CCC
1822) Theologians would say that it was also a test on the faith of Abraham, that’s
why after passing the test, Abraham was given the title the Father of
Faith.
The definition of love or charity is to will the
good of the other for the other’s sake. Love means we want what is good
for another being whether that being is God or our neighbor for their own sake
without expecting anything in return or regardless of their behavior.
That’s what true love means. When a parent truly loves a child, that
parent wants what is only good for that child even if that child misbehaves and
often displeases the parent. That’s how God loves us. A parent who
disciplines a child for playing with fire for example, truly loves a child
because the parent seeks the greater good of that child over the temporary joy
of the child enjoying his play, because it could eventually harm him.
Love sacrifices things for the greater good of the beloved.
In principle, only God can truly love because God
is absolute and perfect, and He does not need anything or anyone to make
Himself happier or to make Himself more perfect. We humans
when we love, somehow, we expect to be loved in return because that’s what
makes us happy. In fact, when a human being practices true love or
unconditional love by willing the good of another person without expecting
anything in return, it is because of God’s grace. Without God’s help
it’s hard to practice unconditional love. Perhaps, you can practice
loving others for their own sake for some time but without God’s grace it would
not last.
The concept of love cannot be arrived at by our
intelligence or reason alone, God had to reveal it to us through the Holy
Bible. Philosophers like Aristotle who lived before Christ never
came up with the idea of love. The same with Plato, Aristotle’s
teacher, who authored the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, prudence and
temperance but never came up with the virtue of love. It was Christ who
introduced us to this highest virtue of Charity by giving us the summary of the
Ten Commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew
22:37-39) When we love God above all things, our life is put into
order. When we love something else or someone else above God,
our life disintegrates. And life falls apart to the degree of how
far we have separated ourselves from the love of God.
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