4. What does God want for humanity?
I believe God wants humanity to be free of shame, guilt, and Greed.
Not free of responsibility.
Not free of consequences.
And certainly not free to harm one another without accountability.
I believe He wants us to understand who we are, recognize our worth, and learn how to treat one another through the Lens.
Empathy.
Truth.
Joy.
Kindness.
Anti-Greed.
When these five virtues operate together, they become Love.
This is the Christian Essentialist understanding of the Lens.
Essentialism itself is not restricted to Christianity or even to belief in a deity.
People can practice the Lens without sharing my understanding of its origin.
But within Christian Essentialism, we believe the Lens is the Imago Dei: the image of God within humanity.
That means learning to live through the Lens is also learning to recognize something of God’s character.
And it changes how I understand what God wants from us.
I do not believe God requires someone to recognize Him before He will love them.
I do not believe He demands reciprocation, worship, or conversion as payment for that love.
He loves because He loves.
Only God knows why someone does not believe in Him or chooses to reject Him.
Their reasons may be complicated.
They may have experienced cruelty from religious institutions.
They may have been taught things about God that made Him seem frightening or unjust.
They may have reached different conclusions through their own experiences and reasoning.
Or they may simply not believe.
It is not my responsibility to invent explanations for their choices.
And it is not my responsibility to make them believe.
I believe God continues seeking ways for people to encounter love through other people, even when they never recognize Him as its source.
That is one reason the Lens cannot belong exclusively to a religious institution.
Love that is freely given cannot become the private property of those who claim to represent its source.
Nor should anyone have to pay for it through obedience or conversion.
Greed breeds cruelty.
And one of Greed’s cruelest expressions is turning freely given love into something people must earn.
This is also why consent matters.
I understand free will as an expression of God’s willingness to allow humanity to make meaningful choices.
Those choices may be wise or foolish.
They may produce healing or harm.
They may strengthen relationships or destroy them.
But if we are to exercise genuine responsibility, our choices must be our own.
We cannot develop Empathy by being forced to perform it.
We cannot practice Truth while being required to deny what we recognize.
And we cannot cultivate Love through coercion.
That does not mean our choices are free of consequences.
When someone causes harm, accountability becomes necessary.
When someone refuses to stop harming others, boundaries become necessary.
And when someone uses power to exploit others, the people being harmed deserve protection.
But consequences should not become an excuse for cruelty.
That is a difficult lesson, especially when we have been hurt.
I am writing this catechism while working through my own anger and grief.
There are people whose actions have caused me considerable pain.
There are times when I want them to understand exactly what that pain has cost me.
And there are times when I would very much like to see them held accountable.
I do not pretend otherwise.
But I also recognize that my anger does not give me permission to abandon the Lens.
Romans 12:19–21 reminds Christians not to take vengeance into their own hands and to overcome evil with good.
Ephesians 4:26 acknowledges anger while warning against allowing it to become sin.
Those passages matter to me because they do not require me to pretend that I am not angry.
They require me to consider what I will do with that anger.
I can seek accountability without demanding cruelty.
I can establish boundaries without denying another person’s humanity.
I can refuse reconciliation without making revenge the purpose of my life.
And I can continue doing the work I believe God has given me, even while I am healing.
That is part of what I believe He wants for humanity.
Not unquestioning obedience to whoever claims authority.
Not endless punishment.
Not the accumulation of status, power, or possessions at another person’s expense.
But people who understand their worth and recognize that same worth in others.
People who can make choices without being ruled entirely by shame or fear.
People who can admit when they have caused harm.
People who can repair what they reasonably can.
And people who can experience Joy without requiring someone else to suffer.
God wants us to learn how to Love.
In Christian Essentialism, the Lens is how we practice that Love.
And because Love is freely given, its practice must remain possible even for those who understand its source differently.