Ultimate Issues: Is it Natural to Love God?

Can you love God and not behave properly? And can you behave properly and not love God? How's this? Are you ready for a confession? I don't find it easy to love God. I never did. I am God-centered. I want to do what God wants me to do. I've always felt that deeply. It is the animating impulse of my life. But I don't find it easy. The amount of suffering that is built into this world is not— does not make it easy for me. I've had a great life. I mean, I've suffered, but everybody suffered somewhat. But compared to others, I haven't, um, on scales that I know exist. And I, by the way, I think I am a reason that there is a commandment to love God, because if it came naturally, there would be no commandment. As I said earlier, there's no commandment to love your child. That comes naturally to normal people. So, this is a very real question. Believe me, there are people who think they love God and they don't act very well. All right, let's see here. Tim in Detroit, thank you for calling.

Hey Dennis, I got a, I got a quick question. You said earlier that, uh, that a commandment that comes, something that comes naturally, naturally to you, God did not command us. Commandment. So I was wondering, right when you said that, I'm a yeshiva student, so I study, I study the Torah the whole day. And so one question came up to me is that we are commanded to love our parents, right?

No, we're not.

Uh, we're obligated to honor them and love them.

That's right. No, no, just honor.

Just honor.

Yep.

Okay.

In fact, I write about that in, uh, take a look at my Torah commentary, The Rational Bible. I write, when it says honor your father and mother, it's unique. We're told to love God, love the stranger, love our neighbor, but we're never told to love our parents. So too, we're never told to honor anyone except our parents. Parents are unique. Whether you love them or not is your business, not God's. Whether you honor them or not is God's business. Very important call. Glad he did. Okay, let's go to, uh, uh, let's see here. David in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Hi.

Dennis Prager.

Yes, sir.

First-time caller, long-term listener.

Thank you, my favorite.

Very good question to ask, sir. Uh, you brought up the issue of the Ten Commandments, and rightly so. My perspective on that from a 5,000-foot foot view and looking at the Ten Commandments, we use those as a measuring stick to see how well we're doing. Now, looking at loving the Lord, we have to look above and get ourselves away from the world. How do we do that? We have to pray, spend time reading the Bible, because if we love the Father, we want to get to know him.

So, all right, so, all right, let me, let me ask you the questions that I posed. Is it possible to love God and, and not do what he commands?

Yes, because we're sinners and we constantly—

No, no, okay, well obviously, I understand.

Yeah.

Let's put it that way. Is it possible to love God and be a serial murderer?

Um, I wouldn't think so.

Is it possible to do what God wants and not love him?

That, uh, informs some type of detachment from God, which, um, no, it's an emotional detachment, not detachment.

It's emotional detachment, right? But it's, but it's not detachment. Look, I'm a living example of that. I admit it, and, uh, it may be disappointing to some of you, but Uh, it's okay. I'll just— we'll both have to live with it. I just— by the way, my theory, and I know I've done this so long that I, I know this theory is actually, actually works. The more real you are, the more people will take religion seriously. A lot of religious people, uh, in, in a well-intentioned way, they— but they, they offer some sort of pre-written script about their religious convictions, and it doesn't come across as real. There's nothing quite as influential— that is, influencing of others— as real. Then people can relate.