Have an Enjoyable Thanksgiving

Cicero was quoted on the radio the other day as saying, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”  I think that there is a lot of truth to that.

While we should thankful throughout the year, Thanksgiving is a special time of opportunity to give thanks and enjoy a few of the blessings God has given us in the US throughout the year.  It is an opportunity to gather with friends and family and give thanks together.  It is an opportunity to come together as a nation and give thanks together.

Will we fall short of the ideal?  I’m sure we will.  Let’s keep in mind we can truly only control ourselves (and if you’re like me, you don’t do that very well, either).  It starts with us.  As the saying goes, it starts at home.

Abraham bargained with God in Genesis 18.  Would God destroy Sodom if there were 50 righteous there?  45?  40?  30?  Abraham dared to bargain down to 10.  Of course, I say “bargain” with a grain of salt.  After all, what did Abraham really have to bargain with?  I don’t want to get too hung up on that, but maybe another day.

Some preachers and commentators concentrate on whether or not God changed His mind here that I think they lose an important aspect of the story.  God was not requiring 100% of the city to be righteous.  God was not requiring the majority to be righteous.  God was not requiring half to be righteous.  God would have relented for ten (10) righteous people!  Even in a small town of 10,000 people, that would only be 0.1%!

It is our Christian duty to be thankful.  It is also a patriotic duty.  We don’t have to agree with how the majority live their lives.  In fact, we should know that we never will in this lifetime.  It is our duty to live a life worth living, however, and thankfulness is a huge part in this.

So, whatever your circumstances this year, be thankful.

I’m going to take a couple of days off from blogging to take care of other matters.  I plan to crank it back up this Sunday with the weekly Reflections article.  I wish everyone in the US a blessed Thanksgiving, and everyone everywhere an even more blessed Sabbath day this week.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,gratitude,thankfulness,blessings,national prosperity,national blessings,US,thanksgiving,america,sodom,abraham

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Thankfulness in a World Gone Mad

Toi is back home.  She arrived safe and sound.  She actually got up and went to work this morning.  I hope she can stay awake after the time change and jet lag.  Having her home provides a certain level of peace and serenity.  Or, at least it will until our first disagreement. :)

My serentity was somewhat circumvented when I opened up an email this morning.  NewEgg.com sent me their daily deal.  It says, “BLACK FRIDAY Starts Early This Year! At 3PM PST 11/25/09, come see our biggest deals ever.”

Now, I like NewEgg, but whether or not you or I like them isn’t the point.  Since I opted in for promotional emails, spam is not the point either.

It seems that in a society that is ready to party and make money at all costs, putting up those yard blow-ups of snowmen and nutcrackers before Halloween, finding an aisle of Christmas decorations on one side and Halloween w/ a token section for Thanksgiving decorations on the other – in September, that has no reservations about marketing Christmas to you in July, now has to stretch out one day into 3 to try to convince you to part with your dwindling supply of green.

I suppose if I made a prediction I’d get labeled a “prophet” (and a false one at that).  So, how about a wager instead?  I’ll wager … oh, let’s say a cubic inch of living room air (insert facetious smiley here, whatever that might look like) that within the decade, if we are around that much longer, Thanksgiving will be another Labor Day.  It’s one of those holidays you get off but spend it going shopping.  It’s practically that now, anyhow.

The only difference is that now stores make you line up for midnight so “Black Friday” shopping can begin.  Instead of spending time with family and friends, instead of spending time giving thanks for their blessings, they are lined up ready to buy something.  Chances are that somewhere, someone will get hurt in the stampede of mass consumerism again.

Usually, recessions are a time to trim the fat.  They are a time to get back to our roots.  Somehow, I think people who can afford to are just carrying on like they always have.  I still see people eating out as though nothing has changed.  Granted, people are spending less, but only because many of them have to.  They are still seeking to please #1.

When you read the story of Sodom’s destruction, there are shocking things in that story.  However, it boils down to a society gone mad.  The entire city were willing to seek their own pleasure, no matter who got hurt in the process.  Even Lot’s willingness to pawn off his daughters is proof of the idea that people were commodities to be traded.  We can applaud his willingness to protect his guests but still recoil at how he went about it.  The even more depraved of the city devalued human life even more.

Rome fell from moral rot because the average citizen was seeking pleasure for him or herself to the exclusion of all else.  They were obsessed with entertainment.  Do we really think we invented materialism?  The Romans turned it into an art form!  The once feared Roman army became more and more reluctant to fight, even as the US has lost its appetite for armed conflict of any length or duration (and, I might add, its appetite to truly win a war).

So, here I am, in a world gone mad.  Unlike Sodom and Rome, I don’t even have to leave my living room any more to see it.  It seems more and more that the world barges in.  It started with radios and TVs.  Now, emails, cellphones, text messaging, all barge in at unexpected times.  There actually have been times when I just set the Blackberry aside and walk away to do something else.  It’s difficult to concentrate when people call, text, etc.

So, you can well believe that I’m not going shopping on Thanksgiving.  I’m not going to line up at the store waiting for midnight to roll over.  Instead, I’m going to use the time as it was meant: with friends and family giving thanks to God for our blessings.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,gratitude,thanksgiving,giving thanks,black friday,materialism,society,culture,pleasure seeking,entertainment

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Herbert W Armstrong Church of God

This website belongs to Herbert W. Armstrong Church Of God. Here, you will find their latest news & information along with some of their Activities Scheduled.

~ From KillerStartups, http://www.killerstartups.com/Site-Reviews/holdfast2allthings-org-herbert-armstrong-church-of-god

Sometimes Google alerts hit on things that tickle your funny bone. Sometimes, the things are just odd. Sometimes they are oddly correct, even if what was written was by mistake. When you click on the link by the above, you are taken to Hold Fast to “All things”, run by Dan Cohran. All it says it “Church of God” on the site, but it is obvious that they do their best to stick to HWA’s interpretation of things.

So, who wrote the blurb above? I don’t know. The question is whether or not it is accurate in a logical, if not strict, sense. Cohran belonged to PCG for a time. Seeing as how much PCG used to venerate HWA (but now it seems Flurry has transferred that to himself), I can only wonder who they are worshiping when it seems there is more material about HWA than about God.

I could be wrong, of course. Let’s hope so.

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Reflections: Physical vs Spiritual?

The Gnostics eschewed the physical.  They believed that the “real” God was far above and untouched by His physical creation.  In some ways, this attitude is perpetuated in modern mainstream Christianity.  The trinity, for example, ensures that God is so different that we cannot relate to Him.

Well, I actually was going to write about something else this morning.  However, life is an interesting journey.  It is a spiritual journey, no doubt.  Yet, we are physical creatures who often relate best to the physical.

That’s why Jesus spoke in parables.  Sure, He did it to confound those who weren’t meant to understand.  However, let’s not ignore: 1. The parables that others did understand (such as when the Pharisees perceived He was speaking about them and so plotted to kill Him), 2. The ones who did understand His parables had a lasting physical parallel in mind that helped them to remember the lesson.  It’s this latter point that is important for our discussion.

Perhaps that is also why we have the Holy Days.  An elder described them once as “a bit of theater”.  Every year in the appropriate season, Israel was to put on a play.  They were to act out things in their lives that reflected God’s perfect plan.  Of course, they never really did understand because of their failure to keep them up year after year combined with their other idolatrous and sinful acts.

To understand either the parables or the Holy Days, one’s mind must be opened by God.  The Spirit opens our mind to understanding the why of the physical.  The vivid imagery of the physical in turn helps us to understand and remember the spiritual.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  They become intertwined and part of our very character.

I want to dissect this even further.  What we do in the physical realm affects our spiritual well being.  Our spiritual well being affects what we do in the spiritual.  In other words, our physical actions affect our attitudes and vice-versa.  This can lead to an uplifting, a building up of spiritual progression.  However, it can also lead to a  downward spiral that can nose dive into a crash in our physical and/or spiritual lives.

In short, this entire physical existence is a bit of theater.  It is an acting out of our spiritual condition.  However, even going through the actions in the physical realm turn around and either improve or take away from our spiritual condition.

When we have a bad attitude, we can begin to treat others badly.  There are consequences for this.  All of this is fed back into our spiritual condition and leads to a decline in our attitude, which creates a negative cycle downward.  We can realize our worst fears because we actually bring them about.  We justify our bad attitudes because we are bringing about attitudes around us that were created by our own bad attitude.  It quickly becomes a cycle that will either have to be broken or it will break us.

However, when we have a good attitude, just the opposite can happen.  A positive cycle of encouragement also encourages others.  Their own uplifting of spirits in turn reinforces our own attitudes to the positive.

Friends, even those in the world understand these things.  Shouldn’t we who have God’s Spirit within us understand them the more?

 ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8, King James Version)

 ¹¹Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

 ¹²I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

 ¹³I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:11-13, King James Version)

I have seen those who would allow themselves to become so bitter that they begin to mistreat their spouses, withdraw from others and eventually leave the Church entirely.  That’s a perilous position!

Seek help.  Seek counseling.  Do whatever it takes to endure.  That word is used many times in the Bible for a reason.  However, to be able to endure, we must be in the right attitude to begin with.

Question: If God will grant us the Holy Spirit if we ask, if God will grant wisdom if we ask, if God will grant us forgiveness if we ask, then why can’t we ask Him for the power to have the right attitude?  And, if it doesn’t happen the first time, then shouldn’t we seek it like the woman who bothered the unjust judge (Lk 18:1-8)?

God is not unreachable, unlike what the Gnostics taught.  That’s why certain religions have numerous intermediaries, as their “God” cannot be contaminated by the physical.  The real God makes Himself accessible to us.  He will hear our outpourings, but He does test us to see if our outpourings are sincere and based upon the right motives.  So, we must continually come before Him.  If we quit asking, how can we possibly say we "endured"?

Our attitudes and spiritual condition affect what we do in this life.  What we do in this life is a lot like theater.  But, even as actors on a stage become transformed by the parts they are playing, so are we changed and conditioned by the actions we take and the words we speak in this life.  They will in turn affect our spiritual condition and our standing before our Creator.

If we forget this, if we try to compartmentalize our lives, as Americans are so wont to do, then we can lose sight of that connection.  Our actions and thoughts become disjointed.  We are then in a state of cognitive dissonance.  Eventually, they lead to a sort of hypocrisy that will eventually start to poison us.  This poison can and does kill – quite permanently.

We must allow God to write the story, His story, within our lives.  God wants us – heart, mind and physical life.  Rather than being separate from our physical lives, He wants us to live our physical lives out in His way.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,practical christianity,gnostic,gnosticism,modern gnosticism,cognitive dissonance,hypocrisy,bitterness,attitude,positive,negative

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Random Thoughts

It’s been one of those weeks.  People who don’t know the Sabbath might look forward to their weekends, but I honestly believe only a few of them can really relate to the relief of coming to the end of a really hectic week.  A relief because in just over 24 hours, I will be with God’s people again, worshiping and putting most everyday concerns out of my mind.  When you don’t know God, it’s hard to relate to the blessing that is the Sabbath.

At any rate, some random thoughts as I look at current events in but mostly outside of the Church:

Ronald Weinland has been promoted (or, is it demoted?) to Apostle.  I’m just trying to figure out how all these guys can be the End Time Apostle and yet so can HWA.

I guess there has been work on replicator-type technology for some time now.  Trekkies can relate to food appearing out of thin air.  So, the debate now is how would the economy work if food actually was in unlimited supply.  Makes you wonder how the economy works when you become a spirit being.  After all, you don’t truly need food any more.

Our doctors keep telling us to reduce fat, etc., to be healthy.  They push statins like the drug peddlers they are.  Yet, there has been no real evidence that high cholesterol causes heart problems.  They used to push a form of plastic at us all to control cholesterol and renamed it to “margarine”.  In some people, it actually increases cholesterol!  Well, now they have found out that “Children who drink full fat milk weigh less than those who do not”.  One of these days, maybe we will quit trying to out-do God.

An atheist reluctantly saying “Maybe religion is needed”?

BTW, speaking of scientists, “Zombies would most likely wipe out humanity if they really existed, claim scientists”.  So, how am I supposed to take it seriously when I read that “Scientists discover that Neanderthals hated Brussel sprouts”?  For that matter, how serious am I supposed to take anything they “know” about a million years ago?  I have trouble keeping track of last week.  History books are full of bias, but somehow “science” will tell us what happened 50,000 years ago?

And, of course it was all an accident!  Evolutionists scoff at the analogy of a tornado hitting a junk yard and making a 747, but a 747 is far less complex than nature!  In “Secret abilities of animals revealed”, we read that “scientists are starting to uncover a multitude of secret abilities that animals have evolved [emphasis mine] to help them survive.”  If you mean unguided, uncoordinated, unintelligent, blind chance over billions of years, then that has been shown to be mathematically flawed.  Elephants listening with their fee?  Rats using something like Morse code to communicate?  C’mon!  That didn’t just happen.  There had to be thought and intelligence behind it, and intelligence does not come from non-intelligence!

And, why such variety?  What I don’t understand is that even if it were possible to get life from non-life (which violates fundamental biological laws), then why all of this variety?  I mean, if everything adapts to its environment, then why would they be different?  Think about it.  What’s the incentive to become a complex multi-celled organism?  Why aren’t we all bacteria?  Simple survives much better.

And, if we are just accidental blobs, then where does morality come from?  No one has convincingly shown me that another person has any right at all to tell me what is right and what is wrong.  If there is no objective morality, then there truly is no reason for me to care about it.  While I’m glad that some atheists have developed a sense of morality instead of leading lives of anarchy and mayhem, there are others who actually espouse anarchy as a means to an end.  Who is to say they are wrong?  What right do I have to tell them they are wrong?  If I do not have that right, then neither do you, and we need to quit spending money on jails and police.

If we are just blobs of tissue, then there is nothing horrific about Darfur, Hitler or the abuse and death of Shaniya Davis.

And, since when is a 5 year old a “toddler”?  Is she wearing a diaper?  Is she potty trained?  Do our news reporters have more than a 7th grade education?

You see, we have a Creator.  He gave us His way of life in written form.  Then, He sent His Son to show us how to put it into action.  Without Him, we are a lost world indeed.  Without Him, are differences and short-sightedness will just lead to anarchy and ultimately to destruction.

He gave us the Sabbath day – a day which looks forward and symbolizes the rest we can have in Him.  A day which symbolizes the rest the whole world will have when His Kingdom comes to earth.

Have a blessed Sabbath, everyone!

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,random thoughts,current events,rabbit holes,off-topic,rambling,sabbath,evolution,creation,morality,apostle,two witnesses,health,science,medicine,playing god

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Birthdays, Part 1: The Book of Job

¹ In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. ² He had seven sons and three daughters, ³ and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

    ⁴ His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

~ Job 1:1-4 (TNIV)

There are those who would take exception to the above translation.  I’ll be the first to admit to you that “his day”, which is the language used in the KJV,  is pretty ambiguous.  However, that is also just the point.  We do not know for sure what they are celebrating here.  However, I intend to show that the above could be a valid possible translation, although it should not be classified as a definite translation.

There are those who would oppose the idea that they were celebrating birthdays will tell you that ancient cultures had all sorts of celebrations.  They had the feasts, they had new moons, they had parties after a harvest, etc.  Frankly, I find this view somewhat deficient.  People who advocate this view make it sound like life back then was just one big long party.  We need to remember there weren’t any tractors, no hospitals, no power tools, and often life was just plain hard, even if you were wealthy.

We should keep in mind, too, that Job was a righteous man.  Even God tells Satan that!  Back then, the patriarch was in charge of the family.  Chances are, Job’s children were righteous as well, at least on a physical human level.  Back then, you toed the line or you were cut off from the family!  Righteous people have a work ethic, and it often shows up in physical prosperity, as it did in Job’s case.  Undoubtedly, Job’s children would have picked up on that as well.  I’m not sure when they were supposed to get any work done if they were partying all the time.

So, the idea that they were somehow living riotously partying at all times is a pretty big stretch.  Frankly, we don’t even know if they kept the observance of the new moon or not, let alone hold big parties beyond a few in a year.  In fact, the word “feasted” comes from Strong’s H4960, “mishteh”, which seems to only be used in connection with the celebration of an event (birthdays, being weaned, weddings, and so on).

Could these parties actually be new moon festivals?  That’s a possibility, but since it is ambiguous, I don’t find that likely.  I would think it would have said “full moon feasts” or something like that.  Instead, we are told “his day”.

No, speculation isn’t what is called for here.  What is called for is to let the Bible interpret the Bible.  In fact, it would help us out if the Book of Job interpreted the Book of Job.  Fortunately, it does!

Let’s compare the KJV, shall we?  Job 1:4 says:

 ⁴And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

So, we see them feasting on “his” day.  Somehow, they own that day.  At very least, it would appear that they were expected to host the feast or celebration.  So, what are they celebrating?

While we cannot know for certain, we can look to see if there is another instance where “his day” is used.  And, in fact, it is in the Book of Job!  In Job 3:1, we read:

 ¹After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

What “day” was he cursing?  “His day”.  And, if there is any confusion about what day that might be, we are told in verse 3:

 ³Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

He was cursing the day of his birth!  The author of Job is using the same term to describe Job’s day of birth as he used in describing the feasts that Job’s sons put on.

While this isn’t strong proof they were celebrating their birthdays, it is close enough for me to keep me from judging someone who wants to honor God by giving Him thanks for being born.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,birthdays,celebrations,pagan,book of job,day of birth

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Why There is a God, and Jesus is God

I just finished reading an excellent sermon by a Quaker minister, Pastor Tim Henry, on Associated Content.  In “And He Lived Among Us: A Sermon Based on John 1:1-18”, Pastor Henry starts out giving us evidence that there is a God.  Not just any God, but a logical God.  In fact, “logic” comes from the Greek word “logos”, which you have probably heard before.

From there, though, why did Jesus as God become a man?  Why did He choose to dwell “with us”?  Why is that the action of a Logical Being?  So He could understand us better?  No, so we could understand better!

Excellent article.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,jesus,immanuel,emmanuel,does god exist,is jesus god,empathy

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FTC Guidelines Affect Bloggers Too

Since some of you have your own blogs and, presumably, you are all interested in blogs if you are reading this, you might be interested in knowing that on 1 December 2009, new FTC guidelines will come into effect to close certain loopholes in product endorsements in all sorts of media, including blogs.

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President Obama Meets with His Bankers

The CNN Daily yesterday mentioned that President Barak Obama is meeting with China, and one of the items on the agenda is the artificial deflation of Chinese currency.  This is currency, of course, that is helping to boost up all of the spending going on of late.  The reporter made the remark that was similar to Mr Obama meeting with his bankers.

His trek through Asia isn’t all bad, though.  He called for the release of Myanmar political prisoner Aung Sang Suu Kyi and spoke to Chinese college students about freedom on the Internet and human rights.

The irony, though, is that most of Chinese television censored the talk.  Even more ironic is that a reporter who tried to interview students afterwards was asked to stop.  Perhaps he was being rude, as some reporters are wont to do, but I didn’t see any rude behavior during the few interviews that were shown.

Whether the President can even have a signficant positive effect upon China under these circumstances is questionable.

One thing we do know is that our economic situation is going to continue to grate upon our foreign allies, and it certainly will restrain China’s economic ambitions.  The most likely result will be China stepping up trade relations with Europe, which will strengthen Europe even more as the US continues its decline.

I am reminded of what was prophesied about Japheth.

 ²⁶And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

 ²⁷God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9:26-27, King James Version)

Cooperation between Asia and the US as well as Europe is not unusual, given this prophecy.  But, Japheth will still be in the shadows of Shem, and this will continue until Europe becomes the dominant player in the time leading up to the return of Jesus Christ.

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,obama,china,shem,japheth,prophecy,current events,end times,american decline,economy,aung san,suu kyi,censorship

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Bizarre News: Marrying a Dead Guy

Well, I don’t know if anything else will trip the wacky meter this week, but this is an odd one.  Magali Jaskiewicz and Jonathan George had originally planned to wed last November.  However, he was killed in a traffic accident just 2 days prior to the ceremony.  According to the Telegraph article, “French woman marries boyfriend one year after he died”, Jaskiewicz took advantage of an obscure French law to “marry” George by proving that all of the formalities in preparation for the wedding had already taken place.

According to the article, about 10 of these are held each year in France.

Marriage is a sacred act (or, at least it is supposed to be).  However, since it is also a legal ceremony in most cultures granting certain legal rights (inheritance comes to mind), I think this is an interesting situation.

What do you think?  Since he was killed just before the ceremony, should one just take the attitude that it was somehow God’s will and not follow through with it?  Or, since there are legal (and probably emotional) considerations, and since there is nothing in the Bible (AFAIK) against it, is this morally permissible?

Of course, if you want to weigh in on the sanity of the act, feel free as long as it doesn’t turn into a slanderfest. ;->

Technorati Tags: cog,church of god,marriage,death,morality,ethics,sanity

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What’s Love Got To Do With It?

[The dog ate my homework, but it wouldn't stay down. :)]

I love spaghetti.

I love my wife.

I love my child.

I love my country.

You know, the Greeks had different words for “love”, while English has one word with a vast number of synonyms.  Love is often elevated as the ideal, but if we don’t know what it is, then how do we know if we match up to the ideal?

Yesterday morning, I read an excellent blog article by UCG’s Mike Bennett on the Forward to the Kingdom! blog.  In the article “By This All Will Know…”, he wrote:

But though many of these things [keeping the Sabbath, obeying and bearing fruit] are visible to our neighbors, what was the one thing that Jesus Christ said would be the way “all will know that you are My disciples”?

Love. “If you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

But don’t all groups, from animists to atheists, have love for their own members? How does God’s Church stand out in this?

An excellent question, if you ask me!  At its foundation, though, is the question “What is love?”  Yet, when asked what constitutes love, you too often get the reply “keeping the commandments”.  I would suggest to you that people who rotely spout that off are thinking one dimensionally.  No, the commandments stem from love; they are the expression of it.

Put another way: What are the 2 greatest commandments?  I think you know the answer.  All others come from those 2.

What did Paul say about doing all sorts of great things but not having love?  Wouldn't keeping the commandments, at least in the letter, qualify for his list as well?

Godly love was considered so important that a special Greek word was used to describe it.  You have heard it: “agape”.  It wasn’t a common word.  In fact, some preachers used to teach that the NT writers made it up because it was so rarely used!  According to Wikipedia, Thomas Jay Oord defined it as: "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being."

It was used to describe a love so great, yet so humble, so unselfish, that a person of the Godhead would die for a bunch of selfish, sinful, despicable pieces of animated dirt!

The Greeks probably had it right in the regard of different categories of what might be better classified as either “affection” or “desire”.  They distinguished between love of fellow human beings and erotic love with different words.

I wanted to say I love chocolate as much as the next person, but I’ve noticed that there are times I can turn it away.  There are some that really love chocolate.  That’s OK, because I love spaghetti.  I might just eat some of that leftover spaghetti for breakfast this morning.  However, this is a worldly love.  It is based upon the desire for pleasure (in this case, pleasure of the taste buds).

Now, some might put sexual pleasure as a love of that type, but within the proper confines it doesn’t have to be strictly that way.  I can be romantic with my wife, for instance, and while it is pleasurable, it is also about pleasing someone else.  It is this romantic type of love, and the perversion of it, that make so many movies, plays and romance novels.  The problem is that people don’t put this type of love in its proper context, and it is often confused with the seeking of pleasure.

Going down a different path, I love my child.  There is a bond between members of the same family that is the glue that keeps them together.  It is often seen as a more “pure” type of love, and yet how different is this type of love than what you often see in the animal kingdom?  The “extended self” theory would hold that by viewing your family members as an extension of self, loving and protecting them is really just loving and protecting self.  While this seems crassly cynical, I think it applies in some cases.  Just watch the news and think about how some people might really think that way.  Having said this, it would appear that since God is building a family, it comes about as close to Godly love as one can get.  In spite of the evening news, it is more normal for a parent to want to lay down their life for their child than to harm it.

I love my country.  Of course, I don’t always love what my country does, perhaps even less than I sometimes don’t love what certain family members do.  If you buy into the extended self theory, though, even this far too often boils down to an “us vs. them” mentality that causes strife and wars all over the world.

Yet, each of these are rooted in desire.  So, the obvious question is: Is desire wrong?  No, not in and of themselves.  Even temptations are desires, and temptation is not a sin.  It is the giving in of temptation that is sin.  Therefore, desires are not in and of themselves sin.  Part of human life is about fulfilling desires in a Godly manner.  By putting our desires into context, we more closely align ourselves with God’s will in our lives.

 ⁴Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4, King James Version)

In reality, God wants us to desire Him!

 ¹¹O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer. (Nehemiah 1:11, King James Version)

And, even God Himself desires!

 ¹⁴If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

  ¹⁵Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. (Job 14:14-15, King James Version)

 ⁵Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

 ⁶For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:5-6, King James Version)

Not only that, but God Himself experiences pleasure.

 ¹⁰Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:10, King James Version)

 ²¹Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. (Psalm 103:21, King James Version)

 ⁹Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9, King James Version)

Notice, though that it is an unselfish type of pleasure (a “good pleasure”), quite unlike many normal human pleasures!  It is God's pleasure to give!

 ³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32, King James Version)

OK, so keeping the commandments, all of them and not just 9 out of 10, is important.  However, let us also remember to keep them in spirit and not just the letter.  That spirit is a spirit of love!  Remember, God is a spirit, and God is love.  Therefore, His Spirit is full of love!

Too many factions within the Churches of God seem to decry the “emotionalism” of some religions on the one hand and drain any real emotion out of their worship services, but they turn around and charge others with a lack of zeal.  This is a hypocritical view of worship designed to do nothing less than justify their superior attitude.  Jesus said to love God with “all thy heart” (“the vigour and sense of physical life”, the seat of emotions) and “all thy mind” (the “faculty of understanding”), not just one or the other.  We are to even love God with “all thy soul”, meaning “the breath of life”, i.e., even our daily life processes.

God wants a balance.  Religion based upon emotionalism guarantees a rollercoaster ride, seeing as we cannot artificially keep our emotions elevated at a constant rate.  If nothing else, life throws too much at us.  However, religion based only upon facts, evidence or “the truth” and nothing else is perhaps even more hollow.  I would even suggest to you that Mr Spock of Star Trek, if he existed, would not make it into the Kingdom.

So, while I “love” many things, it helps to keep it all straight to remember that “love” is a rather ambiguous word.  Loving God is most important, but there is a type of love for my wife, my child and my country.  And, now I’m hungry, so I’m going to eat that spaghetti that I love for breakfast now.  Everyone have a blessed day!

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