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Grow in Love each day

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posted on May, 19 2006 @ 03:24 PM
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"God is love" 1 John 4:8

"Love one another" John 15:17

Create a foundation of love through Holy Bible reading, prayer, and Church attendance.

Be proactive in love; sometimes you must be first in expressing love, not second. The giver of love is holier than the receiver of love.

Create love in your heart, soul, and mind; through time you will have a great heart, soul, and mind.

Love all "races", colors, and nationalities.

Be godlike.



posted on May, 19 2006 @ 09:41 PM
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'Be Godlike', you are looking at the bible through rose tinted glasses. God did not just give love he also gave plenty of hate, you've only got to look at Genesis and other passages in the bible to see that:

God will destroy entire cities, and "execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen such as they have not heard." 5:14-15

God will make his people sick, hungry, and desolate. Those who survive he will "give up to the sword." 6:13-16

God doesn't just get even. He drowns his enemies. 1:8

God plans to kill every living thing. 1:2-3

God will kill the Egyptian children to show that he puts "a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." 11:7

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 21:24-25

if you make God angry enough, he will kill you and your family with his own sword. 22:24




[edit on 19/5/06 by Phil123]



posted on May, 19 2006 @ 10:01 PM
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Thats a bit negative isn't it?

Whether one believes in God or not, there are wonderful lessons in the Bible (particularly the New Testament). I know many non-religious types who fully subscribe to the Christian code (love one another, love thy neighbor etc).

The power of Love can be, and is, experienced by many people on a daily basis. It is fundamentally a GOOD thing and the world would be a much better place with more compassion, tolerance and understanding (all of which draw from Love).

Although I believe God is Love, you don't need to in order to experience it. It's free, and the more you dish out the more you get back.



posted on May, 19 2006 @ 10:33 PM
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Originally posted by Trinityman
Thats a bit negative isn't it?

Whether one believes in God or not, there are wonderful lessons in the Bible (particularly the New Testament). I know many non-religious types who fully subscribe to the Christian code (love one another, love thy neighbor etc).

The power of Love can be, and is, experienced by many people on a daily basis. It is fundamentally a GOOD thing and the world would be a much better place with more compassion, tolerance and understanding (all of which draw from Love).

Although I believe God is Love, you don't need to in order to experience it. It's free, and the more you dish out the more you get back.

I totaly agree, love is a great thing it makes the world go round. I was brought up as a Christian but got totaly fed up with it around the age off 11. I agree with the a lot of the Bible for example love your neighbour, don't steel, don't kill people etc etc but I don't need a book to tell me that, it's just human morality that stops me killling people or stealing from them. The problem I have with the christian religion and the bible is that one part of the bible will say one thing and another will say to do the total opposite there are so many contradictions, another thing I don't like is there are a lot of very nasty things in the old testament and when I ask a christian about that part of the bible they usually just say it shouldn't be taken litteraly well how do you decide which bits should be taken litteraly and which shouldn't. Another problem I find with the bible is there's a list of things we shouldn't do called the 10 commandments yet god is doing half of them or encouraging others to do them in the old testament.
The problem with religion of any kind is it causes a lot of war and death. People of various religions like to kill people of other religions regardless of what their Bible tells them, this is because you can interpret anything the way you want to.
In my origanal post I was just trying to point out that the Bible isn't just full of love it's also full of hate.


[edit on 19/5/06 by Phil123]



posted on May, 20 2006 @ 05:48 AM
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Yeah, I know what you mean about the Bible. I'm not one of those Christians who believe the Bible is the 'breathed word of God' and that everying in it is literal - there are too many contradictions for that. Did you know that if you havent been circumcized you're going to Hell? Apparently.

The Old Testament is where a lot of the difficulties lie for non-Christians. The stories contained therein must be taken in context, in the Age when they were written. Parables and analogies abound - like, do we really thing the world was created in 7 days?

The New Testament is where the real message lies - the ministry of Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Even if you believe its a work of fiction its still worth a read for all the good advice it contains. Where do you think the Western World got its values and morality from?

Everyone should read the story of Jesus, and then at the end of the book one can sit back, like we do with a lot of good books (Da Vinci Code anyone?) and say...

.. what if it was true...



posted on May, 20 2006 @ 11:13 AM
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Originally posted by Phil123
'Be Godlike', you are looking at the bible through rose tinted glasses. God did not just give love he also gave plenty of hate, you've only got to look at Genesis and other passages in the bible to see that:


You raise an interesting point, Phil. There are many times in which God's wrath was poured down upon the Earth...Why? How could an honest and just God say that He wants to save the entire world while also decimating Sodom? If you don't look at the Bible as a whole, it makes no sense! When you read this next line, keep reading, because I'm going to explain it. God has poured His wrath upon the earth not because He hates His creation, but because He loves it.

Say what now?

I don't know if any of y'all are parents, but even if you aren't, I'm sure you've been children at one point in time or another. When a parent disciplines their children, they do not do it out of hatred for that child, they do it out of love to bring the child up knowing right and wrong, and to be of strong character. You love that child, and as you see them making mistakes, you need to make them understand just how severe those mistakes can be if continued into adulthood. So you spank your kids. You ground them. You take away the car. You don't do it out of hatred, you do it out of love.

God's child is the world, so to speak. He created the Earth, and us, and loves us. All of us. As such, there are times he has to punish people. Because the world is so large and our concept of discipline so small, it seems harshly severe to see God take down a city, force a people to wander a relatively small desert for 40 years, enslave His people, and allow His people to suffer. Yet, obviously, those lessons were loudly heard, and still echo through the world thousands of years later, through the generations. Every time He did something along those lines, too, you see the people being corrected and living more in line with His will for humanity.

Again, though, it does seem pretty severe and sudden if you just look at those passages. However, there are children who, when trying to stick their finger into an outlet, get spanked. They try again, get spanked. Again, spanking time. Finally, they manage to get away with it and they find out those spanking really were not that bad compared to 110 (or 220) volts going through your body.

Also a note on one of those statements you made. God will be destroying every living thing, but only to make room for a new creation that is without sin. The original plan for Eden, but with all of us who choose to come with him along. How do we choose to come along into the new, perfect, Eden-like creation? We need to accept Jesus Christ as our savior. If you want more information about that, feel free to U2U me and we can talk.



posted on May, 20 2006 @ 11:20 AM
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Trinityman, I highly encourage you to see if you can take some Biblical studies classes at a local Christian college (especially something along the lines of "understanding the Old Testament"). This is a misconception that many Christians have, that the true message is found in the New Testament, and God changed in the OT. There are no contradictions; it's remarkable when you really get down to brass tacks what you discover, how the Old Testament fulfills the new. God hasn't changed from the garden to Babylon to the Cross to today. He is alpha and omega, meaning Hi is who He is, unchanging, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

There are also many things that can be taken out of context, as well. While the Bible is composed of 66 books, it is one book unto itself, fluid and dependant on all its context to be understandable. I used to be of the thought you appear to be, in that the NT is what's important, and God changed at the Cross. I also believed the Old Testament contradicted the New. A lot of research later, I realized that not only was there another layer to the onion, but I hadn't even dug it out of the ground yet!



posted on May, 20 2006 @ 06:12 PM
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Thank you for the probing u2u junglejake and the inspirational story (JJ's Story).

There are many ways of applying love each day:

1) Feeding a child who has not eaten for days.

2) Visiting a terminally ill elderly lady in a hospital; she may have not seen a family member or a friend in 15 years.

3) Building or taking part in the construction or reconstruction of a home for the homeless.

4) Building or taking part in the construction or reconstruction of churches, convents, monasteries, hospitals...

5) Expressing humility, liberality of love, brotherly love, meekness, chastity, temperance, diligence, justice, forbearance, prudence, faith, hope, and charity in everything we do.



posted on May, 21 2006 @ 12:03 AM
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Originally posted by GreatTech
There are many ways of applying love each day:


Those are some dramatic and blatant displays and acts of love; of that there can be no doubt. However, there are some far smaller and, in many ways, far more difficult ways in which to apply and work towards growing in love. I know that, for me, when there's as big a challenge as going out, finding a child that hasn't eaten for days and feeding them, or finding someone who needs a home and helping them to build it in some way, I rise to the occasion. Then I find myself leaning on that action, though, for a long period of time. See how I love? I sought out that child to give them food! See how much I love? I helped that man get off the streets by building him a home.

It is the smaller, thankless things you can do that, I believe, truly help you grow in love and define your character. For instance, driving in rush hour traffic, if someone wants to come into your lane, ease up on the gas and let them in. If someone cuts you off, don't tailgate them, just back off, forgive them, and let it go. Help an elderly lady load her groceries into her car if you see her struggling. Grab the door for a stranger whose arms are full.

It is the little, day to day acts of love that grow us far more than the major achievements, I believe. Those major acts do, most definitely, grow us in love, but they are often few and far between, whereas other, much smaller acts, are small steps we can take tons of times every day in furthering that loving spirit in ourselves.




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