Take a less logical approach to 1 John

Once more, it is rather annoying (sorry for the choice of word) to say the least, to continue reading John's epistle which is littered with so many logical flaws. Perhaps it was a matter of Hebrew style to express the same idea twice, once in an affirmative manner, then in a negative. Perhaps I have been demanding too much from 1 John. Can we read John's epistle in a less logical manner? After all, John was dealing more with ethics than with philosophy. Ethics assumes that we are living and acting in a less than ideal world. There are always exceptions to the rule. Every moral principle/norm must provide for exceptions. E.g. killing the innocent is to be avoided at all costs. However, we condone people who sacrifice their lives for the sake of saving other people. We console ourselves, saying that we are saving lives, not killing people.

For these reasons, we should perhaps be less exact in logic in scrutinizing John's exhortations.
for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7b).
John put forth his idea in a positive way. Love comes from God. It is a characteristics of God. Then love is a part of God. God must possess many more qualities other than love, such as justice and mercy. If a person loves, it indicates that he knows, however incompletely, God. For how can we tell whether a person knows God or not. If he loves, surely he knows because love comes from God. Love is a part of God. In a way, the action of loving becomes an operational definition of knowing God.
Next, John repeated his idea in a negative manner in order to emphasize his point.
He who does not love does not know God; for God is love (1 John 4:8).
This time, John made his idea explicit in claiming the equality of God and love. God and love are identical. Such a claim is in fact a leap of faith. Procedurally,John has shown that love is a part of God. If he wants to show the equality of God and love, he needs to show that God is of love, that whatever God does proceeds from love. But this is impossible.

Earlier on, John says that God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20). We can only have a partial knowledge of God. At most, we know all that He reveals. But there is much more in God which is beyond our capacity to know. Therefore, there is no way to establish that God comes from love, that God is of love. Only when we are able to establish the equality of God and love can we confidently say that "he who does not love does not know God."
Even so, it is still possible for people to know what love ideally is; and yet are incapable of loving. Moreover, man cannot love equally. Love is a reciprocal relationship. People may have reservation accepting our love. They keep a distance from us. In short, love comes in different degrees. Therefore, it is impossible for people to establish a loving relationship with all people equally and absolutely. There are others whom one loves more, loves less. It is impossible to establish that one has never loved (absolutely). Therefore, it is impossible to say that one does not know God.
Can we say that love provides us with the opportunity to know God? If we do not love, we will never have the chance to know God. The more we love, the more we know God. However, Matthew 25:31-40 seem to teach otherwise. When we love, we may not even know that we are loving Christ!

Modern theologians would tell us that when we began to exist, God so made us that, even before we were able to exercise our free will, He had transformed our mortal nature so that it was capable of accepting His love and loved Him back. This disposition, this existential would drive us through continuous self-transcendence etc. Somewhere, somehow, at the depths of our hearts, there might be stirrings which yearn to love God, but which do not reach our consciousness. Such people may never be able to explicitly profess their knowledge and faith in Christ. Yet, the possibility of an implicit faith cannot be denied. Whether they are able to attain salvation is God's business.

Dear Lord, I thank You and praise You for helping me finish this 2-year cycle. My heart is still hard and rational. I long for the day when Your Spirit shall softly caress my soul. Amen.