It and Thou - Part 2

Buber’s point is that at the heart of human life is ‘I-Thou’ relationships; we have been created for relationships, firstly and centrally with God, and then with others. This is in line with Jesus’ summary of the Law in two commandments: to love God with all our being, and to love our neighbours (Matthew 22:37-40).

We note in the two sections of the Ten Commandments that we must treat God as God and other human beings as persons. Anything less would destroy our humanness.

Satan tempted the first humans to throw away relationships for the pursuit of knowledge and power. We too are tempted to pursue ‘something’ rather than Someone, to fill our lives with ‘Its’ rather than ‘Thous’.

In this sinful pursuit, people are reduced to ‘Its’ over whom we can exercise power and knowledge so that we can use them for our own purpose. But true knowledge (as depicted in the Bible) is relational in nature, and it begins with our relationship with God.

God treats us as ‘Thous’ and it is from Him that we learn the rudiments of the ‘I-Thou’ relationship. This means that when we read the Bible, we need to ask God to speak to us. We must hear His voice through His Word more than merely learning facts and biblical trivia.

When we pray, we must stop treating God as a divine ‘It’ at our beck and call, but as God who loves us and seeks our love in our conversations with Him and conduct. We must avoid all temptation to reduce God to an ‘It’; to a dry doctrine, institution, programme, or method. We should not domesticate God whom we seek to control.

We know we are on the right path when we learn to relate to God as the divine ‘Thou’ and as a result begin to treat others as ‘Thous’ created by God.

Self-examination and reflection over what we actually do in our daily lives, and how we relate to God and others will show whether we are still living in Satan’s old lie or living in the Kingdom of God where, as Paul says (1 Corinthians 8:1), love (knowing God and others) is more important than non-relational knowledge (knowing bare facts and information, or technical skills).

Discussion Questions:

How does God consistently treat us as ‘Thous’? How does this help us to treat others as ‘Thous’? How can we consistently keep the ‘royal law’ (James 2:8) in the way we relate with others in daily life – even if others may choose to treat us as ‘Its’?

In idolatry, we treat God as an ‘It’. In what ways do Christians treat God as an ‘It’ in their personal lives and in church? How can this be avoided? What does it mean to treat God as a ‘Thou’? How would this affect our relationship with Him?