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arunangelo

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Everything posted by arunangelo

  1. In marriage husband and wife unconditionally surrender their own life to each other (Ephesians 5:25) to unite their lives into one common life. They are therefore no longer two but one (Matthew 19: 4-6). Furthermore, they surrender their common life to God by freely accepting children that God gives them through their union (Genesis 1:28). These two commitments, namely unitive and procreative, make marriage a covenant of love. Furthermore, because conjugal union in marriage expresses both these commitments it is sacred and an act of love. Conjugal union outside the marriage, on the other hand betrays the very meaning of love, because, although it portrays itself as an act of love, it lacks the very foundation of love-unitive and procreative commitments.
  2. Eternal life (John 17:3) is to know God. To know God is to know and accept His ways. Those who know Him, therefore, do His will (Marr 7:21-23). His will is this, that we love one another as He has loved us (John 12:15). He loved us by humbling Himself to take a human form (in the person of Jesus) and suffering the most painful death in order to bring forgiveness to us, who were unfaithful to Him, betrayed Him and killed Him. Eternal life, therefore, is a life that has surrendered its will to God; sacrificed its own interest to serve others; and has forgiven and healed those who have been unfaithful to it, betrayed it and hurt it.
  3. Forgiveness is true love because in forgiving we not only give up the claims we have over our offenders but also sacrifice our own interest in the process of bringing healing to our offenders. In God we see the fullness of forgiving love. Although God is the king of Universe and infinite in power, He humbled Himself to become a mere human being in the person of Jesus. In doing this He surrendered His will by subjecting Himself to human conditions of a sinful world. Furthermore, although we offered Him no love, betrayed Him, were unfaithful to Him and hurt Him by our sins, He sacrificed His life while suffering the most brutal torture, in order to free us from sin. In other words, He the victim compensated for the hurt we caused Him by sacrificing His own life. In doing this He stayed faithful to His covenant and showed us what true love is. If we want to follow Him we must love one another the way He loved us (John 15:12).
  4. With the fall of Adam and Eve human beings separated themselves from God. They, therefore, wrote the laws in a language that lacked the Spirit of God. These laws, therefore, prescribed stoning to death as a punishment for adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22), and permitted divorce (Mark 10:4) and revenge (Leviticus 24:1`9-21). Furthermore, their writings often described God as jealous, revengeful and violent. However, in the fullness of time God took a human form and lived amongst us to ransom us from the law by putting His Spirit in our hearts (Galatians 4: 4-6). Furthermore, by humbling Himself to take a human form and by enduring suffering and death to save us (who betrayed, abused and killed Him) from sin; He showed us that He is faithful, meek, humble, patient, selfless, gentle, all-forgiving, non-condemning, merciful and infinite in love. He also showed us that to love others is to sacrifice our own interest in the process of helping those who hurt and betray us; and commands us to love others the way He loved us (John 15:12). To live by His Spirit, therefore, is to live a life of unconditional love. We must therefore forgive our transgressors without any limit (Luke 17:4); fight evil with love; sacrifice our own interest in order to help those who hurt and betray us; give to everyone who asks and not demand back what others have taken from us; give our shirt as well if someone takes our coat; offer the other cheek if someone slaps us on one; love our enemies; pray for those persecute us (Matt. 5: 39-40; Luke 6: 27-36; Matt. 5: 44); never to divorce our spouse (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 6:18; Matthew 5: 31-32); and prefer to be wronged or robbed than to wrong others or rob them (1Cor. 6:7).
  5. God join husband and wife together (Matt 19:6)
  6. Marriage is a covenant of love which unites husband and wife to form a family unit. This covenant is sealed by God. Therefore, no one can break this covenant. Furthermore, they are no longer two, but one flesh. (Matt. 19:6). The relationship between husband and wife therefore is stronger than that between a father and his son or between a mother and her daughter. Therefore, even if one divorces one
  7. Our relationship with others must be based on love, because God who is love is the source of our life. True love is always unconditional. Therefore, when we love others, we do it irrespective of how they treat us and without expecting anything in return. God loved us first (1 John 4:11) by sacrificing His life for our sins although we rejected Him, were unfaithful to Him and killed Him. He told Hosea (Hosea 3:1), to return to his wife although she was an adulteress. God further told him to love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they were unfaithful to Him. As true followers of Christ we must be in His Spirit by being faithful to our covenant with our spouse, even when there is unfaithfulness and hurt; and bring healing to our spouse by our prayers, sacrifices and support. We must love our spouse just as Christ loves us (Eph 5:25). Some people quote Matthew
  8. To be a Christian is to follow Christ. To follow Him we must love Him. To love Him is to surrender our life to Him. To surrender our life to Him is to live a life that is His, and not ours. This means that we do and think what He does and thinks. We know that God is always faithful to us although we have been unfaithful to Him, and rejected Him by our sins. Furthermore, He sacrificed His own life so that we may be free of sin and have His life. To be a Christian, therefore, is to do likewise. In addition, since it is God who seals the marriage covenant no one can separate what God has joined together (Matt 19:6); and those who attempt to break this seal go against God. Divorce is therefore, absolutely prohibited for believers (Mk 10:11-12, Luke 16:18; Matthew 5: 31-32); and remarriage after divorce is adultery. Furthermore, a person whose spouse is unfaithful to him/her must stay faithful to his/her spouse just as God is faithful to us even when we reject Him (Hosea 3:1). God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and is not pleased with the offerings of those who divorce their spouse (Malachi 2: 13-14). Jesus tells us that before making offering to God, we must reconcile with those with whom we have grievances (Matt. 5: 23-24). Therefore, a divorced person must first reconcile with his/her spouse before making an offering to the Lord.
  9. Many people lose faith in God when they see evil and natural disasters in the World. They feel that, if God is really present or really loves us, He will not allow evil. This feeling becomes even stronger, when they see children and innocent people suffer. However, it is not God, but our sins, that produce evils in the world. Sin results from selfishness and selfishness causes hurt to others. Even natural disasters, which some people erroneously refer to as
  10. 1) Surrender our will to God in all matters of our life. We should do this because He is our Father who is infinite in wisdom and love. He demonstrated His love for us when He came as our Redeemer and sacrificed His life so that we (who betrayed Him and were unfaithful to Him) may have His life. We can surrender our will to Him by doing what we think is according to His will; and in our heart be willing to accept whatever result He gives us. This frees us of anxiety and selfishness. 2) Sacrifice our own interest in the process of serving others. This will enable us to love our enemies; treat all human beings as equal, irrespective of their status in life or developmental stage; unconditionally forgive others; and stay faithful to our covenant even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness. 3) Serve others selflessly and seek no reward for acts of love. Furthermore we should consider the opportunity to serve others as an honor and a gift from God. We must do the following to achieve the above mentioned goals 1) Develop intense love for God through prayers; meditation on Jesus
  11. Everything we see and feel is created by God and continues to exist because of God. Without God they would become nothing. On the other hand, God, who is love exist on His own accord; and is eternal. Therefore, love is the only reality or truth. The world makes us believe that material things and self-interest will bring us happiness and security. This is a lie; because they are devoid of love. That is why we lose peace when we pursue our own interest and material goods. The world has even corrupted the meaning of the word,
  12. Living organisms are in a constant state of well orchestrated activities. These activities cannot happen on their own; unless there is a force to initiate and sustain them. This force is the life of the organism. This force, unlike other forces in nature is not static, but dynamic and intelligent. It is dynamic because it sustains a life process that is extremely dynamic. It is intelligent because it orchestrates an extremely complex life process. For example it orchestrates the development of a single cells embryo into a fully grow human being with an extremely complex brain. Therefore, although a single cell embryo does not have a brain it does have a life that is extremely intelligent. One can get a faint idea about this intelligence if we look at computers. Computers do not have brain. Yet they perform some extremely complex and intelligent tasks. Some people call it computer intelligence. Life is however much more than a computer because it is dynamic, self-sustaining, constructive and reproductive. Furthermore, its intelligence is far greater than the most powerful computer we can ever build. This is evident by the fact that it orchestrates the building and functioning of multiple highly complex organs, including a highly intelligent human brain with memory capacity approximately equal to 20,000 computers. Life, therefore, is a dynamic and intelligent force that keeps organisms functionally active. Functions of living organisms include: growth, development, self-preservation and reproduction. These functions are all related to their bodies. Human beings however, also have functions that are not related to the body. These functions include: creative and rational thinking and moral decision making. Therefore, human life, which is involved in developing and maintaining these functions transcends the body and does not die with the death of the body. Furthermore, these functions mirror those of God
  13. Love is the Spirit of selflessness, sacrifice and service. Love therefore is sublime, selfless, sacrificial, pure and unconditional. Those who love, therefore, do not make distinction between friend or foe; will put other
  14. Love always has hope. It, therefore, never condemns another person. It can even alter destiny and change an evil person to a good person. God, therefore, never gives up on us; and even gave up His life in order to save us from sin. There are, therefore, countless accounts of sinners who became saints. Jesus did not give up on Judas although He knew that He would betray Him. He hoped that Judas would reject sin by following Him. He, therefore, brought him into His inner circle of friends. Unfortunately, Judas rejected His friendship by choosing a path of selfishness.
  15. We are created to love others the way God loves us. Therefore, we can never have true peace until we love our enemies and forgive them. Furthermore, we can never have peace in our heart if we hate, reject or condemn any person. When we betrayed God and rejected His friendship He did not take revenge, condemn us, give up on us or hold resentment against us. On the contrary, because of His love for us, He wanted to save our soul from death. He therefore, compensated for our sins (that we committed against him), forgave us, and put His life back in us by sacrificing His own. In other words, He (the victim) compensated for our crimes (we committed against Him) by His own life. In doing this He showed us that to truly love and forgive, is not only to give up resentment or claim we have against our offenders, but also to compensate for their wrongdoings (against us). We can compensate for the wrong doings of our offenders by helping them to overcome their weaknesses by our prayers and acts of sacrificial love towards them. Sacrifice empties our heart of selfishness. This makes our heart open to accepting God
  16. There are many ideas people have about love. Generally, most people agree that it is to care about others. It is, therefore, not about self, but others. Love, therefore, is selfless and unconditional; does not have self-interest; and does not seek self-gratification. Since it is unconditional there is no limit to what it can give. It forgives without any limit. It gives even when there is betrayal or hurt. It makes no distinction between friends or foe and it will never stop loving. Furthermore, it seeks no reward for acts of love; rather, considers the opportunity to love others itself a gift. To love is not a feeling. It is a decision we make in response to an inner calling (which is the voice of God) when we see people in need.
  17. Our humanity is determined by the human life we possess; and not by our shape, size, color, appearance or abilities. This is very evident by the fact that irrespective of who we are; when we die our body becomes a mere corpse. Human life is a human life-force within every living human being. This force forms, directs and sustains our state as a live human being. It does this by directing and coordinating our thoughts, words, actions and physiology. It is, therefore, the life of our whole being and the soul of our humanity. Therefore, for our body to be a human person we must have human life. We received this life at conception, when we were in our embryonic stage of life. Although we were just an embryo then, we were still a human being; because we were a distinct living entity with human genes and human life. The distinctiveness of the life of an embryo is evident by the fact it has genetic make up that is totally different from the mother; and it can survive in a test tube out side the mother. Furthermore, the life we have today is the same life we had as an embryo. This life, which began when we were conceived, continued without any interruption as we went through successive stages of development. Therefore, since we are a human person today, we were also a human person as an embryo. An unfertilized ovum will remain only an ovum (just like any other cell in our body) until it dies. However, if it is fertilized (which occurs at conception) human life-force enters the cell; which immediately lays the framework for the entire life of that human being. This means that the newly formed embryo has the foundation of a fully formed human being. Furthermore, the life-force initiates, directs and sustains a process that transforms that being from a single cell embryo to a full grown human being with 10 trillion cells; brain with memory capacity equal to 20,000 computers; and abilities to love, forgive, create, perform and think. This life-force, therefore, is not just the life of that cell, but the life of the entire humanity of that being. Since this life entered our being at conception, we became a human person at conception; and human embryos and fetuses are human persons. Furthermore, the declaration of independence of the United States, states that we are all created equal. Since, the time of our creation is at conception; we have equal rights from the moment of our conception. To destroy a human embryo or fetus, therefore, is to kill a human being and violate the fourteenth amendment. If one had to build a highly complex space station and keep it operational, it would not happen by simply possessing the blue print and building material; one would need a highly skilled work force. Similarly, to build a fully grown highly intelligent human being and keep him/her operational a highly intelligent life-force is needed; because the mere possession of the genetic codes and building materials are not enough. We can get a faint idea about what human life-force is if we look at ant life-force. Ants do not have brain. They, therefore, can not think, plan or learn. Yet ants are able build complex castles under the ground; find the right type of food; and inform other ants (by releasing chemicals) of the presence of food. They can perform these tasks because the life-force (which some people call as instinct) in them, propels them to perform these tasks. Some people may argue that it is acceptable to destroy a human embryo because it does not have brain or intelligence. However, the human life-force within a human embryo has more intelligence than the most intelligent human brain. This is evident by the fact that, this life-force can transform a single cell embryo into full grown human being with a very complex brain; a fete no human brain has achieved. Some people may have an honest doubt about human personhood of embryos and fetuses. However, they must err in favor of them beings human persons; just as we always err in favor of an accused person being innocent of a crime until proven otherwise. It is also similar to a situation where we are on a hunting trip; and are ready to shoot an object we are sure is a deer. However, we hold our fire, because some people around us express concern, that, what we are about to shoot could be a human being. Some people justify abortion because they want to protect the mother
  18. What is wrong with abortion? Those who exercise true love respect all human beings irrespective of their appearance or size. They, therefore, recognize the humanity of a one cell stage human being by recognizing that it is an independent life form with human genes; and has a human life force within it that initiates, directs and sustains a process to take that person through successive stages of development (over many years) to transform that person from a single cell individual to a fully grown human being with 10 trillion cells, multiple complex systems and a brain with a memory capacity equal to 20,000 computers. They, therefore see destruction of human beings in the embryonic and fetal stage as murder. They also see such an act as gross violation of human rights because it denies the victim from reaching his/her full human potential.
  19. What is true love? True love is selfless, unconditional and sacrificial. True love, therefore, does not make a distinction between friend or foe; will put other
  20. Can we support a candidate who does not recognize all human beings as human beings? We have human rights because we have human life. In other words if we did not have life in the first place, our rights would not be an issue. Therefore, if anyone accepts or promotes laws that allow destruction of human life-especially lives of the most helpless and innocent unborn babies, any talk about any other issue related to helping human beings and protecting their rights and well being becomes a mute issue. Furthermore, abortion is the worst crime because a helpless unborn innocent human being is murdered by a physician who is supposed to a healer and the mother who is supposed to protect and nurture the baby. How can anyone support a candidate who supports and promotes such a terrible crime and is unwilling to call victims of such a crime human beings: after they survived botched abortions)? Would not supporting such a candidate be similar to supporting a Nazi candidate?
  21. Who are Jesus' followers? Those who follow Jesus in the way they live. By His example and words Jesus taught us what His life is all about. He taught us to go out of our way and give of our self completely to love and serve others, including, those who hurt and offend us. He showed us to (Luke 6:27-35) love our enemies, do good deeds to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us. If anyone slaps us on one cheek, we must let him hit the other one too. We must lend expecting nothing back. We must give to everyone who asks for something. Even when there is unfaithfulness (Hosea 3:1) we must not divorce our spouse (Mark 10:11-12) and be merciful, just as our Father is merciful (Luke 6: 35-36). If someone takes us to court to sue us for our shirt, we must let him have our coat as well. We must walk an additional mile if the occupation forces ask us to carry their pack for one mile (Matt 5; 39-41).
  22. What is christian love? Christianity is more than just keeping the commandments or avoiding what is wrong or sinful or following the written words. It is about living God
  23. What rights do human beings have? Since God created us, we belong to Him. We, therefore, on our own do not have any right. We, however, have certain values that God instilled in us over which He gives us rights. They include: life, freedom, desire for Him and dignity. God gives us life;therefore, no one should destroy human life and human life must be protected at all stages of its existence. Protection of human life requires appropriate laws, and provision for food, shelter and health care. God gives us freedom to choose, so that we may have His peace and joy by accepting His life of unconditional love. No one should, therefore, deprive another human being of freedom. God gives us a desire to love Him and be one with Him. No one should, therefore, interfere with another person's religious life or worship. God gave us dignity by creating us in His own divine image(Genesis 1:27) ; giving us His Spirit (ability to love) (Ezekiel 36:27); and by becoming our Father (Matthew 6:9). We must, therefore, respect the dignity of every human being and treat them as our own brothers and sisters.
  24. Who is Jesus? In faith we know that Jesus is God (John 8:58) in human form; because in Him we see the Spirit of God-which is pure love. He expressed His love by sacrificing His life, in order to compensate for the sins (Matthew 26:28) we committed against Him. He is the love which sends our inner being into ecstasy, the compassion that the eyes of a desperately needy person generates in us, and the mercy and forgiveness we show towards those who hurt us. We can accept Him and find peace by living His life. We can live His life by accepting Him as the only desire of our heart.
  25. What is forgiveness? To forgive is to give up claim or resentment we have against our offenders in order to bring them healing. For example, if someone insults us we feel that our pride is taken away. To forgive in such a situation, is to sacrifice (give up) our pride and reach out to that person in love, in order to bring healing to that person. The best example of forgiveness is when God took a human form and came into this world to heal human beings who had betrayed Him and were unfaithful to Him (Luke 5:32). He forgave His executioners (Luke 23:34) and sacrificed His life so that they may have eternal life. He thus showed us that, love and forgiveness are the only positive responses to hate.
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