The Generous Mr. Lovewell

[kerravonsen]

"The Generous Mr. Lovewell" by MercyMe is a great album. It makes me want to write fic about The Generous Mr. Lovewell, who performs random acts of kindness and then vanishes as mysteriously as he appears, leaving people saying "Who was that man with the bowler hat and the balloon?"

Only I'm now wondering if he has an evil twin, The Dutiful Mr. Meantwell.

The last two lines of the last song on the album niggled at me:

But if all that we do is absent of Jesus
Then this so-called love is completely in vain.

Is it?
What did they mean by that?

Then I found http://mrlovewell.com/ and I became uneasy. And this article confirmed my unease.

Mr. Meantwell was stepping up to the podium.

The idea of the Mr. Lovewell website, is, apparently, for people to do good deeds and give out Lovewell business cards and/or a bible verse while they're doing the good deed.

But if all that we do is absent of preaching
Then this so-called love is completely in vain.

There are so many things wrong with that idea, that I'm finding it hard to articulate them. So I'll step back a little.

For decades, Christians have been doing a very good job... at inoculating people against Christianity. And, yes, a lot of it has to do with a lack of love, and MercyMe are correct in putting their finger on that. We've had loudmouthed Christians preaching hate against sinners, preaching condemnation rather than repentance, full of self-righteousness and judgement. We've also had the classic Evangelical mode of "witnessing", which basically means preaching at people out of duty (and guilt), and it shows. From the outside, there is no love in it, just increasing your score in the "saving souls" game. People are not stupid. They do notice what isn't said, and they aren't going to buy an impersonal religious message. And a religious message with a good deed attached is still a religious message, and it gives the good deed suspect motives. "You aren't doing this because you care about me; to you I'm not a person, I'm just a notch in your bible."

Now, I'm not saying that doing good deeds in the name of Christ is always destined to backfire - there are numerous examples of organizations that do that, such as the Salvos, and LINC (Love In the Name of Christ) but the difference with those is that they do their good deeds with no conditions, not even the condition that "I've done this good deed so you have to sit and listen to me preach now."

And that's what the Lovewell site does - it's conditional love, love with preaching.

I'm not saying that preaching is always a waste of time, either. If one has a calling and a gift of evangelism, it can be wonderfully powerful. But most Christians don't have such a gift. For the rest of us, we are called to bear witness... and that doesn't mean shouting at people, it means answering questions when we're asked. And living a life such that people will want to ask those questions and believe you when you answer them.

But it isn't only the preaching aspect of the thing that bothers me.

Then this so-called love is completely in vain.

No. Just no.

Love can never ever be in vain.

Why do they say that God is Love? What did Jesus say about the Good Samaritan? Love is patient and kind and bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Love never ends.

Love can never ever be in vain, because love is not a means to an end, it is an end in itself. Love is its own justification.

(Crossposted to Bearing Witness)

Comments

[watervole]

It sets my teeth on edge.

The implication is that:

a. Acts of kindness are only done by Christians

b. An act of kindness by atheists/Jews/Muslims/etc. don't count (even supposing that they happen at all)

I know you don't feel that way - you say, quite rightly, that love can never ever be in vain.

I know so many kind/loving people who aren't religious at all. (which isn't to deny religion, just to deny those people who individuals that people need the threat of hellfire to help one another)

[kerravonsen]

The implication is that:

a. Acts of kindness are only done by Christians

b. An act of kindness by atheists/Jews/Muslims/etc. don't count (even supposing that they happen at all)

It's a possible implication, but I don't think they meant that. If I thought they had meant that, I would be more than uneasy, I'd be outraged.

The rest of the album has so much good stuff in it, I don't want you to think these guys are hopelessly narrow-minded.

[travels_in_time]

Sounds backward. Doesn't I Corinthians 13 say that without love, everything ELSE is in vain?

[kerravonsen]

Oh yes, very true! Thank you for reminding me of that.

[tree_and_leaf]

Of course, in one sense it's true to say that without Jesus, everything is in vain. In the 1 Cor 13 sense, of all one's good works being meaningless without Love.

But I very strongly resist the suggestion that Jesus is only there if you're stuffing tracts down people's throats. In fact, if you're doing the notch-on-your-Bible thing, which is fundamentally ego-driven, it's quite a good way to make sure he isn't there....

[kerravonsen]

Of course, in one sense it's true to say that without Jesus, everything is in vain.

True... which is why initially I wasn't sure which meaning they were aiming for. Most of the content of the album is very good in what it says about love, which is another reason why I went "Whut?" at the very end of the album, because it seemed to be contradicting everything that came before it.

Here's some examples of the good stuff that was also there:

Is it so strange to think that one day
we will truly see everyone the same
Oh could we be so kind? (could we be so kind?)
To sing along when life's playing their tune
And cry with them when their hearts broken in two
Have I lost my mind?

------

Separated until the veil was torn
The moment that hope was born
and guilt was pardoned once and for all
Captivated but no longer bound by chains
left at an empty grave
the sinner and the sacred resolved

-----

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to die!

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, I was just about to chip in with that!

[infiniteviking]

This non-Christian religious theist approves of your message.<3

Love is not a means to an end, it is an end in itself

Yes.

[kerravonsen]

8-)

[vilakins]

I very much like what you say too. Thank you.

[kerravonsen]

*hugs*

[vilakins]

[big hugs back]

[dreamflower]

Love can never ever be in vain, because love is not a means to an end, it is an end in itself. Love is its own justification.

I couldn't agree more. As a new Christian, I was schooled in the "pass out tracts on the street corner" tradition. I was never comfortable with it, but I thought it was my "duty". Over the years I've come to understand that a loving life is its own witness, and it doesn't need any embellishment or sermons to justify it.

When Jesus tells us to feed the poor, care for the sick and visit the prisoner he doesn't qualify it by saying "preach to them". He does say that what we do to the "least of these" is done to him. Would we preach to Jesus himself?

But if all that we do is absent of Jesus
Then this so-called love is completely in vain.

Without what's on that website, I'd have interpreted that line quite differently, "absent of Jesus" meaning absent of his spirit of sacrifice and selflessness. In other words if we show mercy for ulterior motives.

But as you put it, "putting a notch in the Bible" is exactly that, an ulterior motive.

[kerravonsen]

As a new Christian, I was schooled in the "pass out tracts on the street corner" tradition. I was never comfortable with it, but I thought it was my "duty". Over the years I've come to understand that a loving life is its own witness, and it doesn't need any embellishment or sermons to justify it.

(nod nod nod)
Me too. Being brought up multi-denominational, but always of the Evangelical stripe, I got that message over and over - that particular strange interpretation of the word "witnessing" which turns it into something that isn't part of the English language at all, but their own special dialect.

Without what's on that website, I'd have interpreted that line quite differently, "absent of Jesus" meaning absent of his spirit of sacrifice and selflessness. In other words if we show mercy for ulterior motives.

Yes, indeed.

It doesn't help when their own words about that song on their blog is this: The best way to explain “loving well” is if whatever we do does not revolve around the cross, then don’t bother. Amen.

Again, that depends on what they mean by "revolve around the cross". Having Christ in your life, having Him foremost in your thoughts - "pray constantly", yes. "Preach constantly", no.

Yet I would not agree with the "don't bother" remark. That gets back to the question of whether love can be in vain.

[dreamflower]

I agree too.

Or put it in another context: many people of other non-Christian faiths have accomplished great things in the name of love (for example, Ghandi) and the world is a better place for it. Were their accomplishments in vain? God can turn all things to his glory. I wouldn't say that any good thing is "in vain"!

Evangelical tradition does have a lot of good to its credit, but there are a lot of things that simply do not work for me after the distance of years and more life experience has shown me that there's a certain sort of smugness and self-righteousness that glitters around the edges of many groups who follow that tradition.

In recent years, I've come to the conclusion that for some who follow that tradition religion is more like a fandom than a spiritual path. Bumper stickers, t-shirts, "special" sayings, the notion that everything has to be marked "Christian" from wall-art to home furnishings to music, movies, TV and fiction.

Thirty years or so ago, I wouldn't have been able to see this. I bought into it without thinking. But over the years I've seen too many who display all these things behave in a less than Christian fashion. I don't doubt that most of them are Christians, but I sometimes wonder if in displaying all the outward signs makes them complacent about doing the hard inner work needed to find a Christian attitude.

[kerravonsen]

I think... the two most important things about Christianity are Love and Grace.

[dreamflower]

Love and Grace, yes, which are a part of one another and can't truly be separated.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I agree so much with you, here.

To the point that the one thing in the "statement of faith" at my current church (which is Episcopalian) that I disagree with is their comment that good deeds done before one receives Christ are (technically) sin, per the Bible verse "anything does apart from faith is sin."

Misinterpreting ahoy.

Thank you for this, so much!

[kerravonsen]

their comment that good deeds done before one receives Christ are (technically) sin, per the Bible verse "anything does apart from faith is sin."

Ouch. Ouch. (bangs head against wall) Ouch!

Similar to one of the pieces of Presbyterian dogma that I disagree with: "total depravity".

I mean, there's fragments of truth in it - good deeds cannot gain you merit in God's eyes, they cannot cancel out sin, one cannot earn one's way to heaven: all that is true. But it doesn't mean that those good deeds are not good! It just means that good deeds are not sin-remover. Sin is a stubborn stain that can only be removed by the blood of Christ.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Yes and yes again.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I suppose it depends on why you are doing the good deed. After all a lot of people give to charity for all the wrong reasons - tax breaks - make themselves look good and so on.

Think of Jimmy Saville doing all that charity work - it wasn't just out of the goodness of his heart, he had a much darker motive for getting closer to kids.

It's not enough to do good deeds - the motives behind them are just as important.

Now if you take

But if all that we do is absent of Jesus
Then this so-called love is completely in vain

in that context then it does make sense - without all that preaching.