Formula for peace & joy
I. Introduction:
In this world there are countless situations that cause us to lose peace and joy. Some of the situations include concerns about job, health, wealth, relationships, injustice, and spiritual well-being. Even when everything is going well, we worry and get anxious, because we are dominated by worldly temptations, which make us slaves to pride, fame, power, money, greed, selfishness, drugs, alcohol, entertainment, gluttony, and lust. These in turn cause us to lose peace and joy, and make us envious, revengeful, hateful, and restless. Furthermore, they never satisfy us.
God created us in his divine image by giving us the ability to express his pure and sacrificial love. In doing this His makes us His own. His love frees us of hate, pride, revenge, greed, lust, and envy. This brings us peace and joy. Unfortunately, we rejected His love and chose sin. God, however, did not give up on us. To help us overcome sin and re-kindle His sacrificial love in our heart, He took a human form, and freely accepted the painful and humiliating death on the cross for preaching the infinite love of God for us through His words, humility, love, compassion, and forgiveness towards sinners and those who hurt and betrayed Him. His sacrifice rekindles his love in our heart. This enables us to love and trust Him, repent for our sins, accept His will, forgive our enemies, and look for the good of others. It also enables us to completely trust God, give control of our life to Him, and accept any tragedy or misfortune, knowing that in the end when our journey on earth is over, our oneness with God will put us in heaven for all eternity. This trust frees us of fear and anxiety. The aim of this book is to bring us peace and joy by knowing the truth about God.
II. KNOW & LOVE GOD
What is the substance of God? God is the Spirit of pure love. His Spirit is the infinitely intelligent dynamic and creative force of love with endless energy. Just as force and energy are invisible, God, is invisible and has no physical form. Because pure love is unconditional, God, who is the spirit of love, has no limit. He, therefore, is infinite, omnipresent, and omnipotent. God has taken visible forms to communicate with humans. They include the human person of Jesus, pillar of cloud, burning bush and brilliant light of love. His Spirit holds us together as a human family and propels us to perform acts of pure love. Furthermore, His Word gives us the energy and desire to persist in our mission of love.
What is the reality in the universe? Force and energy cannot be created or destroyed. They, therefore, always existed because they are part of God. Elements that form the universe are made of atoms. Atoms are made of energy held together by the force. This is clear from the fact that when atoms are destroyed, they transform in to force and energy. The energy is the word of God. The force is the love of God. The force is the love of God because all its actions are acts of love. For example, in the formation of new atoms, molecules, and compounds opposed polarities are held together by the force to form stable atoms, molecules and compounds. Furthermore, contributing molecules or compounds sacrifice their own polarity to form a new molecule or compound. Even the whole universe is held together and kept in perfect harmony by the force. In addition, propagation of life occurs through union of opposite sexes (polarity) through the force of love. In such union there is also sacrifice, which is the hallmark of love. For example, in the union of man and woman, each lose their individuality to form a new entity, called, family. Based on the above observation we know that God is love, because love is the foundation of His created universe. Furthermore, since force and energy always existed, and they can not be created or destroyed, God from whom the force and energy emit, also always existed. Furthermore, the fact that visible matter is nothing more than the invisible force and energy means that the ultimate reality is in the invisible God, who is the source of force and energy.
How did God create life. God created living entities by putting life in them. Life is dynamic force with complex programs, which enables it to enable it to perform its essential functions for metabolic activities, reproduction, and survival.
Human beings also have a life. Their life force is called, spirit or soul. It does not die because God sustains it. It is our reality, and essence, that interacts with our conscience to make moral decisions.
The universe is unending, extremely complex, and continually growing. Furthermore, the force of God keeps it in perfect balance. Therefore, the earth rotates round itself as it is rotating around the sun, with absolute precision; and has done it for millions of years. The precise movements of the planets and the immeasurable amount of energy needed to do this requires an infinitely powerful and intelligent being. This being is God.
Creation is God’s imagination. When God wills or imagines, His word (energy) goes forth and is bound together by His force (love) to form the universe and the matter within it. God lives in infinity. For Him, therefore, it is always now. Therefore, there is no timeline for creation. In other words, the universe always existed, though planetary systems in the universe do have life cycles with birth and death.
Humans are God’s special creation because He created human beings in His own image by giving us the ability to express His pure love and be intelligent and creative. In doing this we become His created children.
A single authorship of all creations is obvious by the fact that, there is similarity of design in creation. For example, there is similarity in structures of atoms, solar systems, and living cells. All have a central nucleus (sun in the case of the solar system), surrounded by substructures, such as electrons in the case of an atom, planets in the case of a solar system, and organelle in the case of a living cell.
Some people give credit for creation to nature. However, nature is not a being. It is a system in the universe that is created and programmed by our creator. It enables small creatures like ants with no structural brains to build complex castles under the ground and bees without a structural brain build beehives based complex geometric principles. If we look at a high-powered computer, we will never say that it came into existence on its own by chance happenings. It is the same with everything God has created. Even the knowledge about a simplest atom is so complex that there many details about it that are unknown after extensive research for over the last two hundred years. Furthermore, a human body is astronomically more complex than the most advanced computer. It can regenerate, repair, and reprogram on its own. It has 30 trillion cells. Each cell has 3.2 billion pairs of genetic codes (DNA) packed into a space of 6 microns across. The total DNA length in the body equals twice the diameter of the solar system (37 trillion miles). Human brain has 110 billion cells, 100 trillion connections, and by one estimate, a capacity of 20000 computers. The creation of such a brain, therefore, is impossible without a highly intelligence and skillful creator. Furthermore, the fact that each of us is unique in our genetic make up shows that each one of us is very precious to God. Furthermore, humans can unconditionally love those who hurt and hate them. Therefore, we see people who have abandoned their own comfortable lives, gone to far away places and put their life on the line to help those who hate them and want to kill them.
What is the visible sign of God’s presence? God is the dynamic force of love with endless energy that encompasses the universe, and beyond to infinity. Since force and energy cannot be seen, God is invisible. However, the matter that forms the endless visible universe is made of force and energy that emit from God. The Universe, therefore, is the visible sign on God’s presence. In addition, the super intelligently designed and harmoniously functioning universe with the life forms within it shows God’s presence.
God’s Spirit is present in every human soul, and we are all created in the image of God. Therefore, if we given control of our life to God, His Spirit working through us will make Him visible through our thoughts, words, and actions of pure love. Examples of such actions include people who have risked their lives to help those in need, including those who hate them; missionaries have given up everything to go out into dangerous areas of world to preach the good news of God’s love and help those who have great physical and spiritual needs; and ordinary people who selflessly do their day-to-day duties with diligence and complete trust in God.
Who is the real God? Most people believe that God is a good, omnipotent, omnipresent who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. Some also think that God is jealous, revengeful and destroys evil doers. They, therefore, are constantly trying to please Him to win heaven through prayers, gift offerings and good works. There are some who try to please God by trying to remove evil in the society by force converting unbelievers or killing those who do not convert. Unfortunately, such methods do not bring us peace or make our heart pure and holy.
Deep within our heart we long for pure love, because only pure love brings us complete peace. This shows that we are created for love, and the nature of our creator is pure love. Pure love is eternal, selfless, unconditional, meek, humble, healing, ever forgiving, merciful and even willing to die for us. Among the different concepts of God, only a God who stooped down to earth as a human person in Jesus meets the criteria for pure love. Jesus freely accepted the most painful death on the cross for speaking the truth about pure love, so that His act of pure love on the cross will save us from sin by evoking humility and repentance in our heart. He did not condemn sinners, instead, he saved a woman from being stonedto death for adultery and forgave her sins. He taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who hurt us, not use a sword against our enemy, offer the other cheek if struck on one, if someone takes our cloak give them our coat also. Many of us recognize the true God and allow Him into our life when the world betrays us, or we become sick, feeble, and terminally terminal illness. We, however, do not have to wait for us to get to that state to meet God. If we look deep into our heart, we will realize that we are created for pure love and will find fulfillment, peace, and joy only by embracing His love. This realization will be our first encounter with God. This realization will be further strengthened through His grace, by the realization that the love he expressed on the cross is our only hope, treasure, and legacy, which no one can take away from us; and everything else will pass away like a mirage. We will then be able to surrender our life to God asking Him to do whatever he wants with our life, and unconditionally accept what ever comes our way with full confidence that in the end all will be good. When we do this, we will hear His voice every step of our way reminding us to do what is right. He will even humor us with some small miracles we did not ask for, and comfort us when you are worried or sad.
How is Holy Trinity one God? God is the Spirit of love. His love is creative, instructive, and sacrificial. His substance is the Holy Spirit, that is omnipresent, and continually counsels us to do what is right. His creative love is God the Father, who created the universe through the energy of His word and force of His love. His sacrificial love took a human form as the Son of God, who came into this world to free us from sin through His sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus emphasized His oneness with the Father when he told Phillip, “I and my Father are one, and if you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). Similarly, in Genesis 1:26, God refers to Himself as, us; and Isaiah (9:6), referred to God as Son, wonderful Counselor, and everlasting Father.
Where is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the presence of pure love. It is not something that is visible, because it is a Spirit, which we accept into our hearts. Its effects are visible through its expressions of humility, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, peacefulness, sacrifice, charity, purity, and selflessness. His glory is seen in Jesus on the cross, who freely accepted the most painful death, to heal us, who betrayed and killed through our sins. His kingdom is perfectly present in heaven, where all express God’s pure love. Even on earth, the kingdom God has begun in the hearts of believers after God as Jesus entered the human family.
The love Jesus expressed for us on the cross is infinite; because an infinite God stooped down to become a finite being and accepted the most humiliating death, so that, we, who betrayed and crucified him by our sins, may have eternal life. Because, infinite love, which is the glory of God, was expressed on the cross, the cross is the throne of God, and the crown of thorns is His Royal crown. God’s glory is infinite. Therefore, no one can add to it or subtract from it. However, our expression of His love in our thoughts, words and actions makes His glory visible to the world.
Can God take visible form? God is omnipotent. He can, therefore, take any form he wants. He appeared as a burning bush to Moses, and pillar of cloud to lead the Israelites to the promised land. Finally, He stooped down to us and took a human form in the person of Jesus, to reunite humanity with God. He lived amongst us as a common person and showed us that God is meek, humble, forgiving, gentle, compassionate, sacrificial, non-violent, and selfless. He did this through His teachings, healings, miracles, and finally by freely accepting the most painful and humiliating sacrifice on the cross. Through his resurrection He showed us that when we abide in His love, death has no power over us, because true love within us will never die. T he repentant thief next to Jesus on the cross, saw Jesus as God, because of the perfect love Jesus expressed. This enabled him to repent and receive eternal life. Jesus also instituted the memorial of his sacrifice in the Eucharist, so that we can see, feel, and receive His sacrificial body in the form bread and wine. This renews and sustains His love within us.
God has also been made visible in the many other ways. At transfiguration, God, as Jesus, was seen by His apostles as dazzling bright. St. Paul also saw Jesus as a bright light, that blinded him and drew him to the truth. I personally have never had such an experience. However, I prayed for my son, who was having personal problems in his life, to have similar experience. He did not know about me praying about this. I prayed for him daily for a year. Then one night, he called me up and told me about an incident that just happened to him. He was in his car in a parking lot late in the evening. Then suddenly the whole place lit up with a brilliant light that enveloped him with intense pure love and sent him into tears of joy for several hours. During this experience he clearly saw the distinction between good and evil, and repented for his sins. It changed His life forever.
No one can see light. However, when it is reflected, it makes everything visible and shows us the truth. Similarly, we cannot see God. However, when his light, which is true love, is seen on the cross, it enlightens us by showing us the truth that God is Love.
Does God talk to us? God’s Spirit dwells within our heart. Therefore, if we stay still and keep our heart open to His voice, we will hear his voice in our heart as our true conscience. In His conversation with us He will give us all the reason to follow the path of pure love and even remind scripture passages. The path He gives us is narrow and least traveled because it needs humility, contrition, selflessness, sacrifice, forgiveness, undying faithfulness, and total trust in God (love). It is, therefore, always associated with suffering When we want to give up, God will console us and give us the strength to be steadfast in our mission to love others.
What is the Grace of God? Grace is God’s gift of his Spirit of pure, sacrificial, selfless, and unconditional love through His sacrifice on the cross. God wants all of us to accept His grace, because he wants everyone to join him in his eternal life of peace and joy. God, therefore, is constantly with us, helping us to make this choice. The Old Testament prophets taught and guided people to the truth about God’s love. In the end God ushered His kingdom in human heart by taking a human form as Jesus. Jesus taught us pure love, healed us, forgave us, and showed us pure love by accepting the most painful death on the cross to bring us forgiveness of sins through humility and repentance. Then he also sent us his Holy Spirit to guide us, in every step of our earthly journey. His spirit constantly talks to us as our conscience and guides us to the path of His truth. We can hear him, if open our heart to his voice and trust Him. This requires humility and faithfulness. To reenforce his sacrificial spirit in us he makes his sacrifice on the cross ever present in the holy communion. To hear His voice and accept his grace we need quiet time and ponder his sacrificial love for us. This will enable us to see all human beings as precious children of God; and see God’s presence in them.
Who are we? We are important creation of God because God’s spirit is imprinted on our spirit, giving it the likeness of God. This makes all human beings equal and gives us the capability to express God’s love. It also makes us all brothers and sisters and created children of God. God, therefore, dwells in our heart as our conscience and directs us to live His life of pure love. We must, therefore, unconditionally love others, be humble, selfless, meek, charitable, forgiving, sacrificial, forgiving and love our enemies.
What is our purpose in life? God created us, so that we can live his life of selfless love, humility, charity, sacrifice, purity, forgiveness, and holiness (1 Peter 1:16); and share in His peace and joy for all eternity in heaven. Since, to love is a choice, we are on this earth to choose a life of pure love. If we reject it, we reject God, who is the light of the universe. This puts us in total darkness of the blackhole for all eternity. If we accept it, we are in heaven in the brilliant light of God’s love.
In the present state of life, we face many challenges because there is sin in the world, which create temptations, tragedies, and suffering. In addition, all of us inherently have sinfulness in us, because of sin in the world. Throughout our life we slowly overcome it by accepting God’s love and imitate Jesus in everything we say, think or do. Furthermore, Jesus who is God in human form accepted the most painful death on the cross on the cross for speaking the truth about God’s pure love. His sacrifice changes our heart to free us sin through repentance.
We all have inherent value because we are created in Gods image with the capabilities to love unconditionally and be creative. We have value because God loves us infinitely and died for us on the cross to save us from sin. Furthermore, we are children of God and called to share in His peace and joy for all eternity.
What happens when we break God’s natural laws? Atoms, molecules, and compounds come into existence, by union of positive and negative charges; conception of a new human being occurs through union of male and female; and electric light is produced by union of positive and negative charges. When this rule is rejected, and bonds within atoms are broken, it can result in catastrophic nuclear explosion. Similarly, in humans, when reproductive physiology is desecratedby same sex activity, contraception, fornication, adultery, surrogate motherhood, and in-vitro fertilization, it causes breakdown of the moral fabric of the society, resulting in divorce, abuse, violence, pornography, abortions, greed, indifference towards others, selfishness, and infidelity. When the society considers these evils as acceptable, it rejects God’s control over nature. This results in unnatural behavior in nature leading to disasters.
III. LOVE ONE ANOTHER
What is love? Love is the Spirit of God. It is a force that pleads us to unconditionally help others in need and the energy to persevere in it, despite pain, suffering, physical danger, betrayal, and failure. This Spirit is imprinted on every human soul and speaks to us as our conscience. Love took a human form in Jesus, who sacrificed his life on the cross to heal us of the sins we committed against Him and bring us forgiveness through repentance. Therefore, if we are humble and contrite heart, we will hear His voice and imitate Him. This will bring us complete peace because our trust in Him frees of sin.
To love is a choice. God gave us the capability to love, so that we will accept it and have His peace and joy for all eternity. Though there are many expressions of love there is only one love, because there is only one God. This Love is infinite and never dies because it is unconditional. Love has nothing to do with attraction or emotion. It even enables us to put our life on the line to help those hate us. Love is always meek, gentle, peaceful, and free of pride, hate, lust, and revenge. When we choose love, we look at all human beings as precious children of God and our brothers and sisters. Pride is the exact opposite of love, and it leads to hate, greed, lust, revenge, and wars.
True Love expects nothing in return. It is love for the sake of love. When we expect something, it is not love, because it has a selfish motive. This may be hard to swallow because in the present world it always about me. However, when there is a “me,” there will always be hate, anxiety, jealousy, revenge, and depression. On the other hand, a one-way love (pure love) has peace and joy because it is selfless.
Love does good for others, even when there is hate and betrayal. Jesus, therefore, told us to love our enemies, do good to those who hurt us and pray for them, offer the other cheek if slapped on one, and do not retaliate when we are hurt, give to everyone that asks, and do not ask it back, and forgive without any limit. On the other hand, all other forms of so-called love have limits and will die, because they are conditional.
The spirit of love is imprinted on our heart. We have a choice to accept or reject Him. If we accept love we will be free of hate, and we will unconditionally love others. We cannot love some and hate others, because no one who loves God can hate another human being. Therefore, if we hate even one person, we cannot anyone; even though we might show affection towards them. Therefore, if selectively care for those we have affinity for, it is not love.
Because love is unconditional it has no limit, it is infinite, it is always perfect, and it is unbreakable. Love is all or nothing because it is unconditional. Because God is love, to love is to allow the spirit of God within us to take complete control of our life. This requires complete trust in God by surrendering our will to Him. Those who unconditionally love others, therefore are never concerned about themselves, and take delight in caring for others, especially those who hate them. They are also willing to sacrifice their life and self interest in helping others. Their yes is always a yes. This frees them of fear, anxiety, greed, and hate.
How to love God?
God is love, therefore, to love God is to delight in doing good for others. God wants us to be humble, contrite, and detest pride and sin. God wants us to keep the commandments (John 14:15-24), we should therefore keep the commandments out of pure love for God and our fellow human beings. God wants us to live for others, we should therefore we must do good for others in everything we do. In doing this we do the will of the Father. This will make us members of His family (Matthew 12: 48-50).
Why must we unconditionally love others? It is in our nature to love, because, we are created in the image of God’s, who is love. To love is to let God dwell in our thoughts, words, and actions. Love, therefore, brings peace to us and everyone we meet. To love, also gives us the privilege to be one with God and help His children. Love, therefore, is the innermost desire of our heart. God, who loves us, therefore, commands us love others as He has loved us.
When we express true love, we will never feel like a victim, because our concerns will only be for others. Furthermore,we will always be a healer and be on a mission to love and serve God and our fellow human beings. Furthermore, when others hurt and persecute us, we will be concerned about the hurt they are causing their own souls by their acts, rather than the hurt they caused us. Furthermore, we will not seek reward for the good acts we perform. On the contrary, we will see the opportunity to serve others as a gift from God; and will joyfully thank God for that gift. To us, then, God’s will, will be the joy of our life.
Why is true love associated with pain and suffering? True Love is always associated with pain and suffering because it requires selflessness, humility, and sacrifice. Furthermore, true love holds back nothing. Those who express it will, therefore, take risks in helping others. The good news is that it brings us peace; because when we love unconditionally, we are in sync with God. This frees us from hate, greed, lust, jealousy, and pride. Furthermore, it brings us joy because it gives us an opportunity to partake in God’s work. Most importantly, we bring joy and hope to those who are suffering. We should, therefore, quietly bear all the sufferings and pain that come from such work and find peace and joy in knowing that God is with us, and with his help we will overcome all our difficulties.
What is redemptive suffering? No one wants to suffer. However, redemption came through Jesus’ sacrificial suffering and death on the cross. His sacrifice on the cross makes us realize what true love is. From our own experience we know that when we go out of our way to help others, we may have to sacrifice our own interest and accept hardships and suffering. However, suffering brings us endurance, endurance brings us hope, and hope brings us joy. Furthermore, suffering makes us humble, and humility makes us trust God, and trust in God makes us kind, gentle, charitable, and forgiving. In other words, there is no redemption without suffering. Jesus brought us redemption through the cross. Through our faith in Him, we too can accept suffering and pain in helping others. Therefore, in marriage we must unconditionally serve our spouse and children and bear each other’s shortcomings quietly.
What makes our works good? Irrespective of how good our work is, if it has even the smallest element of selfishness, it is not charity, because love and selfishness do not coexist. Though work with selfish motives may help people financially and socially, it will not heal the spirit of the sufferers, because healing of the spirit only comes from the spirit of God, which is present pure love. Therefore, to keep purity of love in our charitable work we must keep it a secret and thank God for giving us the opportunity to be a partner in His work.
What are fruits of pure love? Pure love brings life to those whose spirits are dead from hopelessness and despair. It frees us of hate, jealousy, and revenge, and enables us to see goodness even in those who hate us and are despised by others. To express pure love, is to completely trust God, and accept His will, without knowing what it is. This frees us from fear of tragedies and death because we know that God is always with us, and with Him at our side, everything will be okay in the end. Then, even if tragedy should strike us, we will dwell on the love of God for us, and, not on our tragedy. We must, therefore, pray with a sincere heart to have pure love in our heart; and repent for the times we did not choose to express pure love.
What are the differences between Love and selfishness? Selfishness is about money, power, revenge, self-gratification, and lust. Love is about selflessness, humility, sacrifice, forgiveness, purity of body and mind, and charity. Selfishness is fearful because it is self-centered. Love is fearless because it is selfless and trusts God completely (1John 4, 17-18). Selfishness is sterile because it does not go beyond self. Love is life giving, because it dies to self (Ephesians 5, 1-5) so that others may have life (John 15, 14-16& 1John 3, 16). Selfishness condemns others because it does not see goodness in them. Love is always forgiving because love sees goodness in others. Selfishness produces anxiety and turmoil because it is out of tune with God. Love produces peace and tranquility, because it is in unison with God (1John 4, 9). Selfishness makes us defensive and suspicious of others. Love enables us to trust and understand others. Selfishness makes us depressed. Love makes us resilient. Selfishness makes us accusative and oppressive. Love makes us forgiving and compassionate. Selfishness leads to revenge. Love leads to forgiveness. Selfishness is destructive. Love is life giving. Selfishness makes our soul lifeless. Love gives eternal life to our soul. Selfishness results in despair. Love brings hope to the hopeless. Selfishness has value for only those human beings from whom they can gain something, they therefore do not mind killing unborn babies. Love has value for all human beings, including those who are helpless and the unborn. Selfishness is always associated with hate because it thinks only about itself. Love cares for all human beings and dislikes none. Selfishness is arrogant, proud, and conceited. Love is gentle, humble, and gracious (1 Cor. 13, 4-8).
What is the difference between God and devil? God is the spirit of love that eternally existed. His Spirit is selfless, sacrificial, pure, life giving, unconditional, meek, humble, gentle, and forgiving. When we sinned against Him, He did not condemn us. On the contrary He redeemed us from sin through repentance by dying on the cross for our sins. He is the only reality and truth because He is always faithful, and His love never dies.
The devil is the spirit of evil. Although was an angel created by God, because of his pride he rejected God and became evil. He then temps us to sin with false promises. If we fall for it, he accuses us of sin to make us loose hope. Many a times he will also present us with some good sounding values and inserts pseudo justifications to commit sins and atrocities in the name of God. God, however, does not give up on us. Through His sacrifice on the cross He rekindles His love in our heart. If we accept His love, we will repent and receive forgiveness for our sins.
Why should we love our enemies? Our enemies are usually people whom we dislike because we disagree with them, or they have hurt and offended us. Unfortunately, hate and love cannot coexist in our heart, because to hate is to reject God who is love. Therefore, if we hate even one person, we cannot have true love for anyone. Hate creates turmoil in our heart and takes away peace. To overcome hate and revenge we must remember that God forgave us and died on the cross for the sin we committed against Him. Furthermore, God, commands us to forgive and love our offenders. In addition, even if our enemies have taken something most precious from us, they have taken nothing, because God’s love for us is our only true valuable possession which can never dies. Furthermore, those who hurt us are our brother or sister in God and children of God. We must therefore love them even if they have hurt us.
IV. BE TRUTHFUL
What is Truth? God’s love is the only truth; because it does not change, it does not die, and everything that exists is created and sustained by Him. Truth is present in God’s commandments and in his natural laws. Truth is pure, unchanging, sacrificial, unconditional, meek, forgiving, eternal, and free of greed, lust, hate, revenge, jealousy, and pride. Those who have pride and hate in their heart cannot see the truth, because their pride and hate, blinds them to truth.
Truth is eternally pure because it is from God. Truth therefore does not exist when there is pride, false accusations, slander, gossip, perversion, or revenge. Pride is total disrespect and disregard for others because of our selfishness. Hate is condemnation of others because of pride and hate. The worst hate crime is to destroy innocent and helpless human beings in the womb through abortion because there is no greater violence than the violence of abortion.
Truth is present in those who love God. They are pure, holy, moral, meek, humble, sacrificial, charitable, and follow God’s natural laws. They, therefore, have peace and joy. On the other hand, everything that is popular, glamorous, self-centered, money oriented, immoral, and sinful comes from rejecting God. It therefore leads to violence, immorality, and perversions.
Truth divides people because Truth has no gray zone. Therefore, we cannot water down the truth out of a false sense of sensitivity or compassion. True compassion is to look at the eternal life of others, point out their obvious error (Luke 17:3), and tell them the truth in a firm but charitable way. In the end truth will always prevail because truth never dies and is infinitely more powerful than evil.
What is the only reality? Everything we see, own, and achieved in this life will all be gone when we leave this earth; however, the love of God for will never diminish or disappear because God’s love is eternal. God showed the depth of his love for us when he took a human form and died on the cross to compensate for the sins we committed against him. This shows us that he will never give up on us, and the more we sin the more he will pursue us to bring us back to the truth.
The love of God for us sets our heart on fire and enables us to forgive and love our enemies, pray for those who hurt us, offer the other cheek if hurt on one, lend to the needy and do not ask it back, be ,charitable, compassionate, selfless, meek, humble, and bring healing to those who hurt us, through prayers and acts of sacrificial love. Furthermore, it enables us to speak about only the good we see in others, never divorce our spouse even if there is betrayal and infidelity and accept hurt and loss rather than sue our fellow human beings.
Everything God has created, is in love and for love. Only the law of love that God has put in our heart, is true law. This law never changes. All other laws come from the evil one, and they enslave us with hate, revenge, and fear. Furthermore,just as the truth in love, love is also present in the truth. To go along with, and promote the false, such as perverse sexual and gender behaviors, out of sensitivity or false compassion, is not love; because when we live in the false, we reject God’s love expressed in the procreative functions of human beings. Furthermore, by going along with it, we encourage those suffering from it to continue with their harmful behavior.
Why should we be truthful? We must be truthful because God is the truth, we love our fellow human beings, and we do not want to deceive or falsely accuse them. Unfortunately, because of power struggles in politics there is a lot of lie in the world. The greatest lie is the killing of 73 million babies annually worldwide through abortion in the name of women’s right.
When we abandon our integrity and do not speak the truth to be in-woke with society, we may have a lot of friends. But when the rubber meets the road and their self-interest is on the line, they will abandon us, and work against us to protect their own interest. On the other hand, if we speak the truth, we may be persecuted. However, our truthfulness will help many to know the truth and have abundant life.
How to become righteous? Law-abiding people are usually considered righteous. However, true righteousness is based on what is within our spirit. If we keep all the laws, but have pride, hate, greed, lust, selfishness in our heart and are unwilling to forgive and love those who hurt and betray us, then true righteousness is lacking in our heart.
To become righteous, we must embrace the love of Jesus expressed on the cross and make it our way of life. We must therefore keep his love alive in our heart always by loving our enemies, prayers for our persecutors, forgiveness, holiness, humility, selflessness, avoidance of gossip, and dedicating our life to serve others.
Is science Truth? Science is deductions based on well-organized observations and scientific methods. Since scientific methods are continually evolving, there are many previously valid scientific statements that are now invalid. Therefore, the more we know about science, the more we know how far we are from the truth. Some of the so-called scientific fact that are now wrong include, fish theory of human development, the structure of atom proposed by Bohr, and electrons as tiny balls.
Where do we find the Truth? Because of pride, greed, and lust in the hearts of many, the concept of love, morality and truth are often governed by pride, revenge, lust, and selfishness. Even those who are religious have fallen into this error. People even change the Bible to promote their narrative. However, the truth is written on our heart, in the natural order and in the life of Jesus, who is God in human form.
Deep within our heart we know right from wrong because God is our conscience. We know that true love is unconditional, it never dies, and it will even risk its life to help its enemies. We are all aware that adultery, fornication, cheating, revenge, lies, hate, murder, lust, sexual perversions, greed, and loathing are wrong. Unfortunately, because of societal or cultural pressure, pride, greed, lust, hate, revenge, or following a religion or cult that promotes evil as virtue, we disregard what is truly in our heart and do evil.
A Love that is pure, unconditional, and selfless is the only Truth, because it never dies. This love is God. His love was made visible in Jesus, who is God in human form, and who freely accepted the most humiliating death on the cross for speaking the truth, so that we, who betrayed him through our sins, will repent and embrace the Truth, which is His pure love.
V. HAVE FAITH
What is faith in God? Faith is complete trust in God. God is love; therefore, faith in God, is faith in the pure love God expressed on the cross when he freely accepted pain, suffering, and death to bring eternal life to those who betrayed and sinned against. This love is free of violence, hate, anger, jealousy, lust, greed. It is selfless, sacrificial, and pure. If we truly have faith in God, we will express His love towards all our fellow human beings, especially those who hate and hurt us. Furthermore, to have this faith in God is to know that all our problems in life can only be solved through His love. It is also to accept God’s will unconditionally, even when we do not know what it is. We do not have to struggle to have this love because it is imprinted on our soul. All we must do is to surrender our will completely to God and tell Him to do whatever He wants with our life. When we have this faith, laws become obsolete, because all good laws are based on this faith in the love of God.
We can trust God because he loves us enough to die for our sins. Furthermore, He is infinitely wise and resourceful. We can, therefore, always trust Him to do what is best for us. When we trust Him, we allow him to help us. Since God is love, to trust God, is also to believe that His love is the only way to live; and have absolute trust, that through love we can overcome all obstacles in life. For example, if someone offends us and we retaliate it will certainly lead to more violence. On the other hand, if we show love, there is a good chance that the other party may change.
To trust God and pray for help, means, to leave the outcome of the situation completely in God’s hands. This gives control of the situation to God; thereby allowing Him to give us the best help. On the other hand, when we pray for something, but want the results according to our own design, we are refusing to give control to God; thereby, rejecting his help.
Who is the true God?
There is only one true God. He is the Spirit of pure love. We know this for sure, because universally pure love is the innermost longing of most human beings. Furthermore, in all creation we see pure love, starting with the tiniest atom. Atoms exist because one charge bonds with an opposite charge. In doing this they neutralize their own identity to form a stable atom. This is a form of sacrificial love. Similar, process is present in molecules and compounds which eventually become the cornerstones of life. Furthermore, solar systems and the entire universe is in perfect balance because of gravitational forces, which are forms of love bonds. In addition, there many examples unconditional love expressed by human beings throughout history. The greatest example of pure love was done by God, who stooped down to earth and took a human form in Jesus, and freely accepted the most painful and humiliating death on the cross for speaking the truth, so that the love he expressed on the cross will bring forgiveness of sins through repentance for us, who betrayed Him. This clearly show that the true God is not a god of vengeance, killing, destruction, revenge, jealousy, pleasure, or pride. On the contrary He is merciful, healing, ever-forgiving, meek, humble, sacrificial, redeeming, counseling and fatherly, who wants no one be lost.
When there are disasters and tragedies people think that God is doing it; and think He is the God of vengeance, punishment, and jealousy. They, therefore, fear God, and consider it righteous to kill or hurt others in name of God. Tragedies and disasters occur because we live a world plagued with sin, which adversely affects everything around us. God, on the other hand, helps us in such situations by evoking his love in faithful people who help those are suffering.
Who gives us faith? The Spirit of God is the faith giver. He is continually guiding us to lead a life of faith. However, since God is love, and to love is a choice, to have faith in God is a choice. Though the choice is straightforward, we often get distracted by the wealth, pleasure, technology, power, and pride offered to us by the world. These things lead to every kind of evil that condemn us to eternal death. God as Jesus, therefore made it easy for us to come back to Him, by showing us true love through His meekness, mercy, selflessness, undying forgiveness, purity of love, and sacrifice on the cross. This has drawn many to the faith in God’s love.
Does God answer our prayers? When we do not get what we ask for or receive the opposite of what we asked for, we doubt God’s ability or desire to help us. However, God always answers our prayers. He answers them in such a manner that it will make us people with greater faith and love. Therefore, He may not give us exactly what we asked for, or He may delay granting our petition, or may even allow tragedy to come upon us (like He did to Job). However, we should remember that he has already given us the only gift he we really need, namely, the ability to selflessly love others. This ability is the life of God which gives us eternal life. This is the only treasure that cannot be destroyed, not even by death. If we accept His will, the sufferings of the world will be nothing compared to the heavenly peace and joy that awaits us. We should, therefore, trust God, accept God’s will without even knowing what it is, and (in our heart) ask Him to do whatever He feels is right for us.
Sometimes, everything seems to go wrong in life. We pray, but it does not make a difference. In fact, it seems like, as we intensify our prayer, our problems increase. We feel that even God has abandoned us. As our problems increase, our prayers become lifeless, and we cease to feel the presence of God. However, this is the time when our heart can find victory in God because this is the time when we are most likely to become humble and surrender our will to him. This allows us to accept God’s help; and turn our life around. We should, therefore, seize this opportunity by surrendering our will totally to God.This means that we are open to whatever God asks of us; and always live for God, by focusing our attention on the needs of others, rather than our own. Furthermore, we must keep this resolve alive in our heart by constantly meditating on God's love for us. Furthermore, even though we may feel that our prayers are unanswered we must continue to petition God, because it shows our undying faith in him; and it will increase our closeness to Him. Remember that St, Monica prayed for thirty years before St. Augustine changed.
How to overcome anxiety and fear? In this earth it is easy to have anxiety and fear because we live in a constant state of uncertainties about our relationships, wealth, health, and well-being be of our families. It is common when we think everything is fine, we are slapped with another problem.
To overcome fear and anxiety we must always keep in mind that our present lifespan is infinitely smaller than our eternal life. In other words, our lifespan in this world is nothing compared to the infinite lifespan in heaven. Therefore, the pain, suffering and failures of this life will be nothing compared to peace and joy in heaven. To overcome fear and anxiety we must also trust God completely like the little children who trust their parents. Through His sacrifice on the cross God showed us His love for us. We can therefore trust Him to do what is best for us. Many a times we do not get what we asked for. We must still trust His wisdom because He is infinitely wise and powerful. Furthermore, he can see the future and gives us what we need to bring us into His kingdom. We must, therefore, surrender our will to God, and say, may it be done according to your will.
Should we fear God? We should open our heart to God and not fear him, because in Jesus we see a God who is kind, meek, humble, forgiving, selfless and sacrificial. He died on the cross to bring us forgiveness of sins through repentance. He made this infinite sacrifice for us because He loves us. He created us in His own divine image and called us His children. Furthermore, His spirit is always with us and guides and console us. We can. Therefore, go to Him for love, forgiveness, and redemption. He is our Father, redeemer counselor and best friend who will never give up on us.
How to respond to failures? Because God is love, no failure is a true failure, and we can always overcome every failure in life if we trust God and follow His ways. Furthermore, His love is our only true treasure, which no one can take away from us. When we die, all our success and possessions we have in this world will be nothing to us. However, the love of God for us, that brings us complete peace and joy, will be with us forever.
There are many types of failure in life. In some cases, we are responsible for our failures. In other cases, we fail to due situations beyond our control. In either case we must put our complete trust in God and remind our self that if we give control of our life to God and accept His will unconditionally, in the end we will get through the problems and find peace. To follow God’s way is to do our best, love those who hurt and betray us, be faithful to God’s commandments, and unconditionally forgive others.
Is there faith without works? To have faith in God, is to do everything out of pure love. Therefore, if our works are out of pure love, it is done with faith. It is therefore redeeming. On the other hand, if our works have even a hint of selfish motive, it is without faith and void of redemptive power, because there is no redemption without faith in God’s love. Furthermore, if we say we have faith; but do not express it by our actions, we truly do not have faith; because faith in God is to embrace his love, and his love is expressed through actions. This is precisely why God took a human form and expressed his love through his acts of mercy, forgiveness, and sacrifice on the cross.
Why is there suffering in the world? God created everything in perfect balance and harmony through the spirit of His love. He imprinted His spirit of love on our heart and gave us dominion over the earth, so that through our expression of love the earth will continue to stay in perfect balance. Unfortunately, many of us rejected pure love through pride, greed, lust, selfishness, revenge, character assassination of our opponents, murder, cheating, lies, contraception, divorce, abortion, sexual perversions, gender perversion, reproductive perversions and idolatry towards money, fame, name, and power. In other word we rejected God and chose pride and selfishness as our god. Since nature is made for pure love the balance in nature is disturbed by our evil, resulting in severe disturbance in nature, pain, and suffering. This affects even those who follow the true God because we collectively form a human family. To clean our hearts of evil and accept love, God showed us pure love by accepting the most painful death on the cross to bring us eternal life. Furthermore, He gave us hope by overcoming suffering and death through his resurrection. Furthermore, He gave pain and suffering redemptive value by showing us that they can purify our hearts by making us kind, compassionate and humble. This helps us to build endurance and character. We must, therefore, embrace suffering without fear, knowing that it will make us better people. In addition, we must always keep in mind that the suffering of the present is nothing compared to infinite peace and joy that awaits those who are humble and contrite through their faith in God.
What is true wisdom? True wisdom is to realize that God’s sacrificial love is the only reality because it is pure, unconditional, endless and life giving. True wisdom makes us contrite, sacrificial, selfless, humble, charitable, pure, peaceable, kind, gentle, sincere, proactive, and dependable. Then, our yes is yes, and our no is no, and our good works are done in secret. True wisdom comes from an earnest desire to seek the truth in a humble and contrite spirit.
How does faith save us? When we trust God, we accept His will in every situation of our life. This allows Him to help us, and frees us of anxiety, hate, jealousy, fear, lust, and greed. Furthermore, the fact that we have faith in God, means we love God and want to live a sinless life. Most importantly, when we are in sync with God, we reject sin, because we know that God’s way is the only truth. This saves our soul from death.
Who will console us? We will find our true consolation only in God because only God will always love us and be faithful to us, irrespective of how bad we are. Furthermore, he has already made the greatest ever sacrifice for us on the cross, to bring us redemption through forgiveness. Therefore, if we repent for our sins, and let God take control of our life, we are guaranteed to have His peace and joy for all eternity. Furthermore, when we trust Him, we will peacefully accept sufferings in this life, because we will be convinced beyond any doubt that we will be united with God for all eternity in His kingdom.
VI. KEEP AWAY FROM SIN
What is sin? To sin, is to disobey God, pervert His natural order or break His commandments. When we sin, we go against God, His creation, our fellow human beings, and our self, through our thoughts, words, and actions. God created all of us in His own image, so we can express His love and partake in His life. When we sin, we reject God by go against the spirit of God that is within us. This makes us spiritually dead.
All sins are against God, because all of them are against His love, His children, and his natural laws. When we blaspheme God’s Spirit by not following our true conscience, take His name in vain, speak against Him or reject Him, we sin directly against Him. Some sins are against our fellow human beings. They include, rape, molestation, murder, discrimination, abortion, hate, physical or mental abuse, character assassination, infidelity, and exploitation. The human body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, sins against our body are profoundly serious. Some of the sins against our body include masturbation, fornication, pornography, same-sex activity, other deviant sexual activities, so-called sex affirming procedures, contraception, adultery, prostitution, and suicide.
Who is satan? Satan is the spirit of pride. Pride is the precursor of hate, lust, greed, self-indulgence, lies, unfaithfulness, murder, and character assassination. When we see the humility, meekness, and love of God on the cross, we should have no pride. Similarly, when we realize God’s infinite wisdom in His creation, we should have no pride.
What is hell? Everything that exists, exists because the spirit of God holds the universe together. Even our spirit draws its life from God. Since God is love, and to love is a choice, for our soul to have life we must choose God. If, we hang to pride we will want nothing to do with God and His heaven, which is a place of pure love, selflessness, meekness, humility, charity, life-giving, nonviolent, sacrificial, merciful, and forgiving. By rejecting God, we become Godless. In the absence God our spirit becomes lifeless and lightless putting us in a blackhole. Because of pride, the resistance to God is so high in the black hole that light cannot penetrate it. In other words, when we reject God due to our pride we refuse to enter heaven.
Why does the Church have sinners? Christ came for sinners. Therefore, the Church, which is his body, is a hospital for sick souls. That is why we find sinners in the Church. Furthermore, since none of us are without sin, we all need Christ to heal our souls and make our faith strong. Even, members of the church hierarchy are sinners, including all the apostles chosen by Jesus. However, we are guaranteed to be cured if we stay in the church and accept the cure Jesus offers us.
How to distinguish between good and evil? We all know the difference between good and evil. However, because of our pride and selfishness we often make ourselves believe that evil is good, and even justify it as compassion and justice. We even go further to justify our evil by accusing those who are righteous as evil. This situation is becoming increasingly prevalent in many parts of the world.
Good is pure love. This was expressed by Jesus on the cross. His sacrifice shows us that pure love is always selfless, sacrificial, pure, peaceful, non-violent, forgiving, life giving, and charitable. On the other hand, evil is jealous, hateful, proud, selfish, rude, impure, revengeful, combative, violent, and self-serving. Evil leads to violence. The worst violence is against unborn babies killed through abortions at a rate of 73 million annually worldwide.
Why is humility the mother of all virtue? When we are humble, we realize our limitations. Humility, therefore, enables us to see the truth, which is the love of God for us, and accept it as our life. It also enables us to see the spirit of God in others, which in turn helps us to respect them. It also makes us honest and appreciate the love God expressed for us on the cross. This in turn makes us forgive others unconditionally and bring healing to those who hurt and betray us, through our acts of sacrificial love towards them.
How to avoid sin? To avoid sin we must love God, and love others as God loves us. We must love God, because He is pure love, and the innermost longing of our heart. Furthermore, he sacrificed his life on the cross for us, although we sinned against Him. In addition, He told us to love our enemies, forgive them without any limitations, and pray for them. We must love and have utmost respect for others and ourselves, because we are all brothers and sisters, children of God, and temples of His Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we have temptation to sin against others or even ourselves, we must remember the above-mentioned facts. Furthermore, we must remember that we will profit nothing, if we win the highest honor, become the wealthiest person, or avenge those who hurt us; but lose our eternal life. If it is still difficult to avoid sin, give complete control of our life to God by asking Him to do whatever He wants to do with our life. This enables us to hear his voice as our conscience in every situation in which we have to make a decision.
What does it mean to be compassionate? Compassion is to be one with those who are suffering, without any distinction between friend and foe or saint and sinner. To be one with them is to heal their spirit by entering their sufferings. This is precisely what we see on the cross.
Sin is the most serious form of problem for human beings because sins condemn and destroy us. Therefore, to be compassionate it is necessary to make others aware of their errors in a kind and charitable manner. Pointing out their error is not condemnation or judgement; it is merely telling the facts out of pure love for them. Therefore, when Jesus healed and forgave people, he always told them to repent and sin no more. When we do not point out the evil others are doing, because we do not want to hurt their feelings, we condemn them by allowing them to destroy themselves through sins. Similarly, when we do not recognize our own sins and refuse to repent for them, we destroy ourselves.
What is the worst form of slavery? Slavery to sin is the worst form of enslavement because it kills our spirit and affects our ability to express pure love. Furthermore, to sin is to reject God, who is the source of our life. Therefore, when we persist in sin and refuse to repent, we choose hell for all eternity. Although physical slavery affects our physical human rights, it cannot touch our spirit, because we can continue to express pure love in everything we do and be in communion with God. That is why in the Church there are 10 canonized saints who were slaves. Similarly, there are many prisoners of war who kept their sanity because of their close relationship with God. Furthermore, although there was slavery during Jesus’ time, He only spoke against slavery to sin, because His mission was to bring us eternal life.
How to overcome worries? Worry is a form of enslavement which affects everyone. It can affect our peace and joy by making us feel irritable, short tempered, and depressed. Though it seems impossible to be free of worries because of uncertainties and temptations in life, with absolute faith in God it can be overcome. If we realize that everything we feel and see, and call matter, is nothing more than energy held together by forces that emit from God, we will become aware of God’s power and the nothingness of matter. Furthermore, if we believe that, because of His infinite love for us God accepted the most painful death on the cross to save us from sin, we will be confidant that irrespective of what happens in this life, in the end God will bring something good out of it. We must, therefore, give complete control of our life to God by accepting whatever comes our way knowing that God will bring something good out of it. To trust God, we must look at the cross and meditate on His love. We must also pray for the grace to trust God and accept His will unconditionally. If we are sincere about it, we will accept this grace.
What is our destiny? We are created by God in His own image so that we can be His children and share in His peace and joy for all eternity. To be one with Him in everything we do, say, or think is our destiny. Furthermore, by imprinting his spirit on our heart, Gods gives us the ability to achieve this goal. All we must do is accept his spirit and live his life of purity, unconditional love, humility, selflessness.
What is true conscience? True conscience is God talking to us; and His word is the Truth. This truth never changes because God does not change. God can never change because He lives in infinity, and infinity is always now. Furthermore, He is the truth, which is always the same. Truth was fully revealed in the pure love Christ expressed on the cross. Unfortunately, because we are all sinners, we ignore the truth, create our own truth in the name of “changing with time.” This pseudo-truth then occupies our heart, making us think we are truly following our conscience. Some of the pseudo truths are abortion, euthanasia, contraception, fornication, divorce, artificial fertilization, and sexually deviant behaviors.
How to overcome hate? Hate is to condemn others in our heart and have disdain and indifference towards them. Hate is one of the worst spiritual diseases, because if we persist in hate, we will have no life and will spend eternity in the black hole that is devoid of light.
There are many causes of hate; but the root cause is our failure of to see others as children of God, our brothers and sisters, and temples of the Holy Spirit. It also results from our failure to recognize our own sinfulness, and the mercy of God towards us.
To overcome hate, we must realize that we are all sinners, forgiven by the love of Jesus on the cross, and brothers and sisters who are on a journey to our Father’s house. In this process we must help each other in love and compassion, surrender our will to God, and forgive one another without any limit. We must also get out the habit of criticizing others because it only increases hate in our heart. Instead, we must find goodness in them and use that to help them overcome their shortcomings. It is hard to do this when there is injustice and betrayal. However, if we look at the cross and ponder on how God forgave us through his sacrifice, it is possible to overcome hate through prayers.
Why is self-pity harmful? Self-pity is selfishness because it is focused on self. It is destructive to our mind and spirit because it makes us anxious, depressed, sad, dejected, bitter, jealous, angry, and revengeful. On the other hand, when we focus on those who are suffering more than us, we will find peace, because it brings us in sync with God.
When others hurt us, they are hurting themselves, because their offense against us is a sin, and sin hurts their spirit by cutting them away from God. If our response to is take revenge and retaliate, we too cut our self from God. On the other hand, if we forgive them, and heal them through our prayers and acts of sacrificial love, we will find peace and joy during our hurt, because we will be one with God. In addition, our love for them may heal them and bring them back to God.
When Jesus was carrying His cross, he was not concerned about His own suffering. He kissed the cross and carried it without demanding any pity, because He was doing it out of love for us. Furthermore, when He met the women of Jerusalem, He was concerned about the suffering that was to come upon them, and not his own suffering (Luke 23:27-29). Similarly, he was concerned about the eternal life of those who were killing him. He therefore forgave them (Luke 23:34).
Why must we love our enemies? We must love our enemies because God loves them and died on the cross for their sins. Furthermore, we too are sinners like them and are forgiven by God. Furthermore, the kindness, humility and love, God has put in our heart through his sacrifice on the cross, makes us see the hurt our offenders have brought upon themselves. This compels us to reach out to them. We also want the very the best for them, because they are our brothers and sisters, children of God and temples of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, it is always better to forgive than to condemn, because to condemn is to express hate, and hate destroys our spirit and leads to turmoil in our heart and in the world. On the other hand, when we forgive, it heals us and our offenders.
What is true freedom? For our spirit to be free, we must have complete trust in a God who sacrificed His life for us, be free of sin, and be one with God. When we are free of sin and express His love, we will have His peace and joy, that no one can take away from us. We will, then, be what we are created to be by being selfless, sacrificial, and pure of heart. This will free us of hate, revenge, lust, greed, selfishness, and pride. This in turn will make us free of fear and anxiety. Then, neither imprisonment, nor enslavement will touch our soul.
How to change the world? The battle between good and evil in the world is an ongoing process. However, the biggest battle is in our heart. Therefore, to change the world each one of us must aim for holiness by imitating Jesus in everything we say, do or think by focusing completely on His sacrifice on the cross, and making His sacrifice known to world. We might know everything about good values in life and love them, but if our spirit is not completely in sync with Jesus, we are bound to abandon these values when our self-interest is on the line. Therefore, to help others change their lives we must proclaim Jesus’ sacrifice to others. This will help them to repent and change their lives. This will automatically lead to social justice. That is why Jesus focused on saving us from the slavery of sin through repentance, and never addressed the social injustice of slavery and Roman occupation.
Is war worth it? No one wins a war because war destroys human lives on both sides; leaves countless people with physical, mental, and spiritual disabilities; creates orphans and widows; and tears families apart. Furthermore, war generates hate, revenge, cruelty, brutality, and murderous behavior. These evils are harmful to our spirit and deprives us of peace and joy that comes from God. Even when we fight for freedom or for a worthy cause, and win, we will not have true freedom in our heart, because hate, anger jealousy, and revenge created by the war will linger in our heart forever; and it will be passed onto successive generations. Furthermore, when we win a war, its hateful and destructive methods get glorified. This promotes violence and hate as a means of solving our problems in life.
The best defense is to negotiate, and even give to the opposing party a little more than what they asked for, because they too are children of God and our brothers and sisters. This will help both sides by preventing deaths, destruction, hate, revenge, and endless war. This will also create friendship and trust between the two sides, which will prevent further wars.
The greatest war we will ever fight is the war within our heart, when we must choose between good and evil. Because we all have the spirit of love imprinted on our heart, most people will want to choose good. Unfortunately, we are often tempted to choose evil because it is attractive, it is the easy way out, or it is pleasing to the senses; while good requires sacrifice, selflessness, and forgiveness, which are foreign to the world. Sometimes we want to choose good, but we choose evil to be in sync with society, or we feel that we cannot solve our problems through love. Unfortunately, we can never find peace and joy through evil, because we are created to be good. Furthermore, evil has no life. It, therefore, brings death to our spirit. It also leads to hate, violence, and despair. We must therefore remind ourselves that the power of love is infinitely greater than the power of evil because God is love. We should, therefore, overcome evil through our sacrificial love towards our enemies. This may involve offering them the other cheek if slapped on one and giving them more than what they asked for. This effort is worth it because only love will bring us lasting peace and healing.
What is the unforgivable sin? Through his sacrifice on the cross Jesus brought forgiveness to the whole human race. However, “to be forgiven,” means cleansing and healing of our soul. This requires humility, accepting our sins with sincere contrition, and a firm resolve to never sin again. Therefore, when we refuse to call our sins as sins, or refuse to reject sins, we reject the Holy Spirit (our true conscience) and refused to be cleansed of our sins. Our sins, therefore, continue to hang on to us.
VII AIM FOR HEAVEN
What is heaven? Heaven is a place where everyone is completely in sync with God. To be in sync with God we must be humble contrite and express the pure love that Jesus expressed on the cross to make our heart pure, humble, charitable, selfless, and free of pride, greed, lust, and hate. Because everyone is free of sin in Heaven, it is free of evil and suffering. It is also the place where God’s presence is fully experienced, and God Himself enlightens the place. Furthermore, since its residents are godly, they all have eternal life. God wants all of us in Heaven, “The new and eternal Jerusalem.” All we must do to be in Heaven is to repent for our sins with a firm commitment to sin no more, embrace the love Jesus expressed on the cross, and live His life of pure love.
What will happen on the last day? At the last moment of our life on earth, those who have repented for their sins, are completely free of hate, jealousy, lust, revenge, worldly attachments, and pride, and have completely accepted the infinite love of God expressed on the cross, will see the glorified Jesus come and receive us into His heavenly home. For those who wanted to accept His love and are sorry for their sins but have not completely got rid of their pride and sinfulness, will get a glimpse at God’s pure love on the cross. This will penetrate their souls with intense pain for offending God, and make then repent, and reject all their worldly attachments. After this they will enter heaven. Many of us who are sorry for our sins and have quietly endured suffering in the process helping others will go through this purification process during our earthly life. Those who are proud and refuse to follow their true conscience, refuse to repent for their sins, and reject God’s life enter a state of total darkness, because without God there is no light.
Purgation or purification of our soul begins can happen even in this life if we realize the infinite love of God expressed on the cross; and therefore, repent for our sins with a firm commitment to not sin again. Because we live in a world full of sin, we will have failure from time to time. However, if we surrender our will to God by accepting His decisions unconditionally, we allow Him to navigate our life. He, then, will do whatever is necessary to get us out of our sinful habits. This necessarily will include pain and suffering and worldly failures. However, it will make us humble and contrite, which will help us overcome sin. Once we overcome sin, we become full citizens of Heaven and enter Heaven when our earthly body becomes lifeless.
What is eternal life? Eternal life is to know God. To know God is to be in intimate relationships with Him. God is the spirit of pure love. Therefore, to be in an intimate relationship with Him is to have pure love as our life. This means that our spirit is pure love, which is same as being completely in-sync with God. When pure love becomes our life, our life (spirit) cannot die, because pure love is unconditional.
How to overcome fear of death?
It is normal to have trepidation about death because life after death is unknown to us. Furthermore, we all want to preserve our life, because we cannot think about something beyond our present life. The good news is that at death, our life does die, because life is not matter; it is a spirit sustained by the love of God. Therefore, if we accept God’s love, which is unconditional, full of humility, selflessness, forgiving, compassionate and pure, and repent for our sins, we will have life. Therefore, at death, our life will leave our present body and get a spotless body in heaven. We know this for sure, because Jesus resurrected from death, spent 40 days with his followers, and even cooked fish for them and ate with them. Furthermore, Jesus told us that He has a place prepared for us (John 14: 2-4). Furthermore, if we know that God loves us and died for our sins, we will trust Him. This will free us of all fear.
Our life began as embryo, and is created to last for all eternity, because it is created in the image of God, who is eternal. God is eternal because He is the spirit of pure love, and pure love never dies. Therefore, for us to live eternally we too must accept His life of pure love. If we accept to live His life of love, at death, our life (spirit) will continue for all eternity with a spotless body.
How to stay close God? Keep all the commandments out of love and obedience to God and love for our fellow human beings by doing good for others in everything we do. Go for daily mass and spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist. Do daily Bible reading, especially the gospels, and meditate on the love of God expressed for us on the cross. Always keep in mind that whatever happens to us, no one can take maway the love of God for us. Surrender completely to the will of God, without knowing what it is; and say, “may it be done to me according to your will.” Furthermore, avoid all occasions that may lead to sin. In every thought, word and action of ours we must imitate Jesus. Let every moment of life ours be a prayer in which we are in communication with God and are seeking His will.
Do not gossip or say anything bad about others. Speak about the only good we see in others. Avoid loud music. Forgive by healing our offenders. Pray for humility. Remember that only the love of God keeps us in existence. Turn the radio off in the car and meditate on God’s love. Avoid entertainment and luxury. See the Divine within every human being we meet and treat them as with profound respect.
Remember that we are on a mission in this life to bring the sacrificial love of God to others by being Christ-like to them through our thoughts, words, and actions. Furthermore, we must always remind our self and others of the infinite love of God.
VIII. BE JUST
What is Justice? Only God is just because He is pure love, sinless, sacrificial, and selfless. To be just, therefore is to think, talk and do what is godly. Since God is pure love, to be just is to have a life of pure love. Pure love is selfless, sacrificial, charitable. Therefore, true justice is unbiased, selfless, charitable, and always takes every step possible to make the offender a better person. This is precisely what Jesus did to the repentant thief on the cross next to Him. Through the love he expressed on the cross, he put repentance into the heart of the repentant thief on cross next him. Because pure love is eternal, everything is now. Therefore, even those who repent at the last moment of their life will be saved, same as those who are faithful all their lives.
Justice of God is not about eye for an eye or tooth for a tooth or about my rights or destroying the unfaithful or condemning sinners; rather, it is about mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and healing through acts of sacrifice and charity. True justice occurred on the cross, when God in the person Jesus, willingly accepted the most painful and humiliating death; so that those who were killing him may repent for their sins and embrace true love. Therefore, true justice does not condemn or sue others. On the contrary, it exercises mercy by forgiving others, and by sacrificing self to help them to recover from their weaknesses. Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good to them, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. Furthermore, if someone takes or borrows what is yours, do not ask it back (Matt. 5:38-40); and forgive others without any limit. Similarly, St. Paul teaches us that, the fact that we have legal disputes amongst us, means that we have morally failed; furthermore, it is better to be wronged or robbed than to sue another person (1 Cor. 6:7). These teachings are contrary to modern day practices. This shows us how distant we are from God’s justice.
What law should we follow? In the Old covenant, because people feared God, they followed the letter of the law. It was, therefore, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Lv. 24:20). In the New Covenant, we live by the Spirit, because the Spirit of God is active in our hearts (2 Cor. 3:3), and we follow the laws because we know and love God. We must therefore, (Matt. 5: 39-40; Luke 6: 30; Matt. 5: 44) fight evil with love; help those who hurt us; give to everyone who asks, and do not demand back what others have taken from us; love our enemies; and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus showed us that to love and forgive, is not only to give up resentment or claim we have against our offenders, but also to heal them by compensating for their wrongdoings through our love and sacrifice for them.
Jesus showed us true justice. When a woman was being stoned to death for committing adultery, he asked those without sin to throw the first stone. To the repentant criminal on the cross next to Him, he took him to heaven that very day. To the soldiers who were mocking, spitting, scourging, and killing him, he forgave them and died for their sins on the cross.
When we are hurt, we suffer from pain and insults. If we do not forgive and hang on to the hurt, the hurt will increase as the time goes by and result in hate, which takes peace out of our heart and destroys our soul. On the other hand, if we forgive with love in our heart, it will not only heal our spirit, but also bring us peace and joy. The love we express in forgiving others also heals and brings repentance to the offenders, because the love we express in forgiving, is God.
What is social justice? Social justice is to treat all people equal irrespective of their age, sex, race, or abilities, and give them equal opportunity to reach their full potential. Although our bodies come in varied sizes, shapes, colors, and abilities, we are equal, because our inner most being (our soul) is created in the image of God. We must, therefore, respect and love every human being, as we respect and love God. Unfortunately, because of our pride, envy, prejudice, greed, hate, revenge, and selfishness many of us have either forgotten God, or have rejected Him. This results in social injustice in many forms.
What is the worse injustice? There are many forms of injustices in the society, and all of them are important, however, the worst form is killing of innocent unborn babies in the million. (76million) worldwide, annually. This is more than all other causes of deaths combined (68 million). Furthermore, although it is the worst form of injustice, it is legal in most countries. This shows that our present-day society is morally bankrupt. Furthermore, since this worst form of injustice is legal, every other form of injustice becomes a normality in the mind’s set of many.
Although laws and value-based education can reduce injustice, injustice will continue, until everyone loves God and sees His presence in every human being, including the littlest ones. This will happen only when we are in-sync with the true God. Therefore, drawing people to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the key to bringing social justice.
How should we treat the rich and arrogant? It is easy to take care of those who love us and those who are poor, humble, and needy, because we do not feel threatened by them. It is, however, difficult to love those we judge as arrogant, hypocrites, racists, and wealthy. We often feel threatened by them and envy them. We even blame them for all the evils in the world. However, they too are our brothers and sisters that have spiritual and emotional needs like everyone else. Furthermore, we have no right to judge them as bad because we too are sinners. Even those who do evil acts cannot be shunned. God helps everyone; especially those whom the world considers as hopeless. He is with them till the end, doing His best to bring them back to Him. Jesus, therefore, did not condemn the tax collectors who were wealthy and cheaters, or the prostitutes. He healed them of their sins and brought them back to God. Wealthy people have more suffering than the poor because their wealth takes them away from God. Poor people, on the other hand have many physical needs, but because of their humility they are spiritually rich and closer to God. We must therefore never forget the rich and the arrogant.
Should we admonish those who are in error? When we admonish someone, we point out the obvious fault or the evil they are doing to make them aware of the fault, repent for it, and come back to the truth. The idea is not to condemn them, but to help them correct the wrong they are doing. When we judge another person as evil, we try to read their mind and condemn them as evil. When we do this, it shows hate in our heart. In other words, the devil (the accuser) condemns those who sin and makes them despair. On the other hand, though God can judge us, because He is sinless, and can read our mind, He does not condemn us, because He is love. He, therefore, came into this world in human form and accepted the most painful death on the cross, to bring us forgiveness of sin through repentance; thus, saving us from condemnation that our sins bring.
Though, it is an act of love to admonish those in errors, only the spirit of love in our action will change them, because love is God. Furthermore, our peace does not depend on what others do; it depends on how we respond to their actions and to our relationship with God. If we respond in the spirit of Christ’s healing love, we will always have peace in our heart, because it involves putting our complete trust in God. It will also affect those in error positively because they will see and feel God’s love in our actions. Therefore, in addition to pointing out their errors in a charitable way, encourage them by mentioning the good we see in them. This will encourage them to do better and help us overcome the resentment we have against them.
What will bring peace on earth? If all of us accept pure love as our life all problems in the world will be gone. Pure love is selfless, sacrificial, forgiving, charitable, eternal, meek, humble, and free of pride, prejudice, violence, lust, greed, anger, hate, jealousy, lies, litigation, and hunger for wealth and power. Pure love is God, and love was made visible on the cross.
IX. WORSHIP GOD
How to worship in spirit and in truth? Many of us worship God through our prayers, songs of praise and sacrificial offerings to thank God and let Him know our affection for Him. This lifts our spirit to Him and positively changes it. However, the most important thing God desires from us is to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24) with a merciful, humble, and contrite heart. To worship in spirit and in truth is to bring our spotless spirit to God and make an unconditional (truthful) offering of our life to him, as a thanksgiving (Eucharist) for all he has done for us. Unfortunately, we are incapable of making a perfect offering because we are sinners. Therefore, Jesus, who is pure and sinless, on our behalf, made an offering of pure love to the Father by freely accepting the most painful and humiliating death on the cross for preaching and practicing pure love. The love Jesus expressed on the cross for us, makes our heart humble and contrite. This is a pleasing offering to God. Furthermore, Jesus made an offering of His eternal sacrifice under the appearance of bread and wine (Matthew 26:26-28) to the Father, as a thanksgiving (Eucharist), on the night before He died, and asks us to consume his sacrificial body and blood with a humble and contrite heart (1 Corinthian 11:29) so that we may have His life in us (John 6:51). Furthermore, He asks us to do this as often as possible so that His Spirit will always dwell in our heart (memory) (Luke 22:19). Furthermore, when the Holy Sacrifice of the mass is offered throughout the world, it fulfills Malachi’s prophesy (Malachi 1:11) which states, “from the rising of the sun to its setting, in every place a pure sacrifice will be fulfilled Furthermore, the reception of His body and blood is an intimate communion (1 Cor. 10:16) with Jesus, and the celebration of the Eucharist is the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 5:6) in which Christ unites with us.
At the Holy Sacrifice of the mass, we re-enter Jesus’ eternal sacrifice on the cross, which He offered to the Father the night before He died, to bring us forgiveness of sins through repentance. He asked us to offer this sacrifice as often as possible to keep His Spirit alive in our heart. Furthermore, He told us that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will not have life. We can enter His sacrifice even now because it is infinite; and therefore, is always present through all ages. Therefore, the priest, in the person of Jesus (the high priest) offers this sacrifice at mass. We through our baptism and repentance for our sins can join Jesus during this offering. Paul tells us that we cannot share in His sacrificial meal unworthily, because in doing so we bring condemnation upon ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:27). We must therefore confess our sins and be truly repentant for them. In addition, if we have hated against anyone, we must first reconcile with them (Matthew 5: 23-24) before taking part in offering.
How do we believe in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? Since God made the Universe out of nothing, he can take any form He wants. For example, Moses Saw Him as a burning bush. He took a human form as Jesus. During Jesus’ discourse on eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:51), he said, that the bread he gives us is his flesh. After that, some people stopped believing in Him. One of them was (Judas) who later betrayed Him (John 6:64) and walked away from the Lord’s Supper (John 14:30). The other apostles did not leave, although they did not fully understand, how the bread would be His flesh (John 6:51). They simply accepted it in faith, because they believed that Jesus had the Words of eternal life and was the Holy One from God (John 7: 68, 69).
To take part in the Lord’s Supper and receive his body and blood, is to have communion with Christ. This is what it really means to have a personal relationship with Him. This is what we are made for. It makes us part of His family. Then His Father is our Father, His mother our mother and His house our house. Oneness with Christ brings us salvation because He is the only source of true goodness. Furthermore, Eucharist is the love of God made visible through his sacrifice on the cross
Although it is possible to have spiritual communion with the Lord in meditation and intense prayers, perfection of communion can only occur when there is, both physical and spiritual communion. Therefore, although the prophets and holy people of the Old Testament did have spiritual communion with God, God had to come in the physical person of Jesus to bring us salvation.
When we love someone, we are not content with mere phone conversation; we also want physical communion, because we are both physical and spiritual beings. Furthermore, holiness is not only spiritual but also physical; because God took physical form (in the person of Jesus) to make us holy; and, because expression of God’s love (by human beings) requires the physical acts. We, therefore, need both, spiritual and physical union with God. This union occurs when we receive the Holy Communion in a humble and contrite heart.
Why do we go to church? Church is the hospital for sick souls and Jesus is the physician. The medicines are the Scripture and the Holy sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which we re-enter and receive in His sacrificial body and blood. We can renter His sacrifice even now because it is eternal, which means ever present. The priest in the person of Christ offers this sacrifice. We, who are sinners, therefore go to church to acknowledge that we are sinners, confess our sins, reaffirm our friendship with God and the receive healing for our souls through the scriptures and the sacrifice of Jesus on cross.
What is prayer? Prayer is communication with God, in which we listen to his voice and respond to it by our thoughts, words and actions. During prayer we can express our thankfulness to God for the love He expresses for us; our contrition for the hurt we caused Him by our selfishness and pride; and express our confidence in Him in times of trouble.
In our prayers we must meditate on God’s love and forgiveness for us, which He expressed by dying on the cross to compensate for offenses. This should help us to bring love and forgiveness to our heart for those who offend us. Our prayer should also be to make our joy, suffering and desire known to Him, because He is our father and best friend. It should also be a time to surrender our will to Him and accept our total dependence on Him. Furthermore, it should also be a time to plan for further actions to do God’s will.
Our prayer can also be to petition God for favors. God already knows what is good for us and will do what is best for us. We must therefore trust Him and accept whatever He gives us. However, it is OK to persists in our prayer when we do not get what we asked for, as long as we leave the final decision to God. When we continue to pray, even when we do not get what we asked for, we express even stronger faith in God. This faith helps us to have peace and joy by making us aware of God’s love for us. Prayer is important for peace because prayer brings us in communion with God. In this communion we let His spirit permeate our heart. This makes us one in spirit with Him and brings us peace.
God is constantly speaking to us. He is our conscience that constantly instructs us to do what is tight. Even when we are not called to help, he talks to us and tells us to quietly help others to loosen their burden. When we want to say something bad about others, or gossip about unpleasant things in other people’s life, or want verbally to retaliate in an argument, or say something thing negative about others because of our hate or jealousy towards them, he tells us hold our tongue and stay quiet, say something positive about them and pray for them. His voice is the ardent desire in our heart to unconditionally love others and be merciful and forgiving towards them. His voice is also the sense of comfort and consolation within our heart in times of trouble, constantly reminding us to pick up our cross and follow Him. We often do not hear Him because the turmoil of the world distracts us. However, if we free ourselves of all distractions, we will hear Him and feel His love.
Is there difference between God of the new and Old Testament? Some people feel that God may not be as loving as we think, because, in the Old Testament He is often portrayed as violent, jealous, and vengeful. It is, however, important to remember that, although the authors of the Old Testament were divinely inspired, they wrote down the truth in the language of their times. For example, if they saw a person having seizures, they described them as being possessed by demons. Similarly, when they saw sad things happen to people who went against God, they described it as revenge or punishment from God. Jesus showed us the true face of God when he freely accepted the most painful and shameful death on the cross, for us, who betrayed him and hurt him; so that we may be forgiven of our sins and receive eternal life. He showed us that God is humble, merciful, all-forgiving Father who never condemns us or gives up on us. If we follow the true face of God there will be no wars, retaliation, revenge, hate, greed, or pride. In other word, it will be heaven on earth. Individually this is possible if we embrace God’ merciful love.
How do we recognize the presence of God? God is love, and Love is a spirit. Love therefore cannot be seen. Love, however, can be experienced through acts of love. The following are some examples. Soldiers who carry enemy combatants on their shoulders for medical care. People who stay faithful to their marriage vows although their spouses have hurt and betrayed them. People who go out of their way and even put their life on the line to help those who have hurt them. People who give away everything, including their own desires, and go to countries that are devoid of basic sanitation and comfort to bring the good news of God’s love for them. We can also experience the presence of God when we ponder the infinite sacrifice God made for us on the cross and reenter it at the Holy Sacrifice of the mass. We find His Spirit within our heart if we stay still and open our heart to him. He is there as our conscience that prompts us to sacrifice our own interest and reach out to those around us. He is there as our faith, which enables us to see good in ourselves and in others; and gives us the surety that in the end love will always prevail.
X. FORGIVE
What does it mean to be forgiven? To be forgiven means to be cleansed from the stain of sin. To remove the stain of sin, we must reject sin and embrace God. This requires true repentance, and a firm commitment to never sin again. To bring us repentance, Jesus shows us true love through his sacrifice on cross. His sacrifice infuses true love in our heart. This happened to the good thief on the cross, next to Jesus, who repented for his sins.
What does it mean to forgive? To forgive is not only to give up any claim or resentment we have against our offenders; but to wipe away their offenses (which is to heal their spirit) by bringing a change in their heart (repentance) through our expression of sacrificial love towards them. Jesus did this by dying for us on the cross. Jesus, therefore, tells us to love our enemies, help those who hurt us, pray for our persecutors (Luke 6: 27-36), and forgive without limit. If we do not forgive each of our offenders from our heart (Matt. 18, 35) and sue them (1Cor. 6:6) we do not have His Spirit in our heart. Furthermore, it is better to be wronged, than to sue others.
Why should we forgive without limit. If we do not forgive each of our offenders from our heart (Matt. 18, 35) we do not have the love of God in our heart. When people hurt us, we feel we have lost something. This makes us vengeful and hateful. We demand compensation to take revenge and get back something in exchange for what we have lost. However, if we realize that God's life in us is our only true treasure (which no one can take away from us), and that everything else is temporary (and therefore worthless), we will never feel we have lost anything and have resentment. Furthermore, if we believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we will want to show the same mercy to others.
Should criminal be punished? Violent criminals need to be incarcerated to prevent them from hurting others. However, they need to learn what true love is so they will repent for their sins and change their life. This can happen if they are treated with utmost respect and love. They also need spiritual counseling to help them overcome their spiritual deficit. This approach also applies to non-violent criminals, except that instead of incarcerating them, they should do community service and pay back twice the amount they have stolen.
What prevents us from getting forgiveness? We cannot be forgiven if we refuse to forgive others. To be forgiven is to be healed of all evils in our heart. through contrition. Therefore, if we have hate, and revenge in our heart for others we cannot be forgiven.
We cannot be forgiven without repentance. To be forgiven means that we want to change and be free of sin. This can happen only when we have true contrition with a firm commitment to never sin again. Therefore, to be forgiven of our sins, repentance is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, if we refuse to call a sin, a sin, and refuse to change, we are not forgiven even if the victim of our sin forgives us. This is an unforgivable sin.
Are wars ever won? Although people go to war as a means of self-defense, wars can never bring us freedom from sin; and freedom from sin is absolutely needed to bring us peace and joy. Furthermore, because war involves deliberate violence and killing of human beings, which goes against our human spirit, it causes severe physical, mental, and spiritual trauma to soldiers and the victim’s war. In addition, it perpetuates evil and hate, instead of ending it. Only changing hearts through love can resolve conflicts and end injustice.
Why did Jesus not fight the social injustice of slavery and Roman oppression? Only changing hearts through expressions of pure love will end these evils. Jesus, therefore, did not fight against the evil of slavery and persecution of his people by the Romans. Instead, He redeemed us from slavery to sin, through his teachings, forgiveness, compassion, and sacrifice on the cross. Furthermore, when soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. Therefore, Christians did not fight back when the Romans persecuted and killed them. Furthermore, they knew the suffering and death they were facing were nothing compared to the eternal peace and joy that awaited them. This was great witness to Romans and other pagans, who later embraced Christianity.
How to love our enemies and overcome hate? Remember that we are sinners, and our offenders are our brothers and sisters with God as our father. Look at the cross and see how Jesus forgave and healed us by dying on the cross for our sins. Surrender our will to God without holding back anything and pray for deliverance from hate and revenge. Out of pure obedience to God do something that is an act of sacrificial love for our offenders.
When others hurt us, they hurt themselves more than they hurt us, because, by hurting us they hurt their own soul, which deprives them of peace and joy. Mercy is to set aside our own pain and suffering, and bring healing to those who have offended us, through our acts of sacrifice on their behalf. Initially they will be suspicious that we have an ulterior motive. However, if we persist in our goodness without any expectation, our love for them may heal them, by making them repentant. To have mercy, however, is not to go along with the wrong others are doing, because the wrong they are doing will destroy their spirit. Therefore, we must point out their errors in a charitable way without judgmental comments.
XI. PROTECT ALL HUMAN BEINGS
What makes all human beings equal? Although our size, age, physical appearance, skin color, abilities, mental status, and intelligence are not equal, we are equal because we are created in the image of God, His Spirit is imprinted on our hearts, and we are brothers and sisters with God as our Father. This also makes every human being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the life we have today is the same life we had when our life first began as an embryo. Even those formed, out of wedlock, incest, or rape are still innocent and precious human beings. Even when a mother’s life is in danger, treatment should aim at protecting, both, the mother, and the baby.
A human embryo or fetus is a being (separate living entity) with human genes and human life. It is therefore a human being. Since killing a human being is murder (USC 18,51:1111), abortion is murder. There are no exceptions for murder in the USC system. Therefore, reproductive rights or privacy become mute points. Furthermore, the right to life takes precedence over all other rights because without life there are no rights.
Why is abortion the worst crime against humanity? Our creator gave the mother the privilege to provide safe sanctuary in her womb to her developing baby as a sign of her deep love for her baby. Similarly, doctors have the vocation to heal and protect life. Therefore, when a mother and a doctor collude and kill a baby it is the gravest atrocity in human history.
It is estimated that 73 million innocent human beings get killed each year in the world by abortion. This number is greater than those who die from all other causes (67 million). Abortions are performed by burning them to death with chemicals or by tearing them apart or by sucking their brains and then crushing their skulls. It has killed more human beings, than all the wars combined in human history. Those who promote, and support politicians who promote and support it, become participants in the worse crime against humanity.
Most people realize that abortion is wrong; however, they do not want to force their belief on others. However, protecting the life of innocent human beings is our civic duty, and has nothing to do with our belief. We have laws against murder, although it is a religious belief that murder is wrong. In this case we do not say that we are imposing our belief on others. Others argue that a woman has a right to choose to not have a baby. They call this, “reproductive rights.” However, when a mother seeks abortion, she already has reproduced a baby that is growing in her womb; therefore, reproductive right is not an issue.
Killing of innocent unborn baby can never be justified. Some people try to justify abortion because the mother's health or life is in danger. Since every human life is precious, every effort must be made to treat both. Furthermore, rape or incest does not diminish the humanity of the unborn babies. Many people want abortion to be legal and done by physicians because the mother could get hurt or killed in a back-alley abortion. This is like saying that since murderers could get hurt or killed in killing their victims, we should make it legal for them get professionals to do the killing.
The right to life is the single most critical issue to humans, because without life we have no rights. Therefore, those who promote brutal killing of innocent babies, and then talk about other human rights have no truth in them. Furthermore, it is even worse when they try to justify abortion on the grounds of privacy. How can privacy be more important than an innocent person’s life?
An unborn baby is separate from the mother. It receives nutrition and life support from the mother via an umbilical cord and placenta. It is also genetically and physically different rom the mother. As human beings we take care of our children, especially when they are small and helpless. Even animals do that. Therefore, argument about forced servitude is a mute issue. Furthermore, it is not legal to kill a family member because he/she lives in your house and is very burdensome.
Unfortunately, many politicians who claim to be devout Christian’s support and promote it. There is no greater treachery and villainy than this crime. It goes to the very heart of our existence in which our mother bears and protects her baby. Furthermore, without life there are no rights. Therefore, right to life, which is a right given to each human being by God, and all other rights are based on it. When we deny this right by promoting those who support abortion we go against God. Furthermore, abortion and destruction of human embryos is the worst form of discrimination against the unborn. Furthermore, just as slavery was legal because selfishness had blinded us to the truth, today we have abortions because of selfishness.
Does capital punishment deter violence? Capital punishment is chosen to deter violent crimes and to make criminals pay back for the crime they committed with their own life. Because, this form of punishment involves killing human beings, in imposing this punishment the society performs the same violent act it is trying to deter. In addition, it teaches society that violence can be treated with violence. This increases violence in society. Furthermore, since God is the author of all life, no one has the right or authority to kill another human being. In the old days, when it was not possible to securely imprison violent criminals, capital punishment was accepted as a form of self-defense. However, nowadays, when it is possible to securely isolate violent criminals from society, there is absolutely no justification for capital punishment.
What are Euthanasia and suicide? Euthanasia and suicide are violence against human life. It is, therefore, a crime against God and humanity. Some people choose them because they feel hopeless or want to end their pain and suffering. However, irrespective of how bad our situation is, we can always find hope, because God loves us; and there is no greater joy, than to be loved by God. This joy will overshadow our pain and suffering in this life and brings us eternal life that is free of pain and suffering. Furthermore, we can give our pain and suffering redemptive value by quietly accepting it as a sacrifice on behalf of others, so that the humility this sacrifice generates in us, opens our heart to accept God’s graces for us and those dear to us. Pain and suffering accepted in this spirit brings us endurance, endurance brings us virtue and virtue brings us hope. Many people feel that to live with pain, suffering and severe disabilities is undignified. However, our true dignity comes from God's love for us, and His life in us; and not from our social, economic or health status. Furthermore, human beings who are terminally ill or totally disabled, are also contributors to the society, because they bring out the spirit of love in the people who take care of them. This enriches society by making it more compassionate and caring.
When a person is in coma, that person is still a person with equal dignity as all others. We, therefore, must treat him/her the same way we would treat anyone else. To withhold nutrition or water or any other form of necessary care is euthanasia. Similarly, when there is a reasonable chance for cure, to withhold treatment is euthanasia.
XII. KEEP MARRIAGE HOLY
What is marriage? Marriage is a covenant of love between a man and a woman, in which each forgoes their own life to form a new life with their spouse. It is also union of two souls, because the soul is the essence of a human being and makes us capable of expressing God’s unconditional love. Because giving of oneself to another is an act of this love, and God is love, marriage is God’s love expressed in human relationship. God, therefore, is the binding force in marriage. Because God is love and He is unchanging, this covenant is permanent. It mirrors God’s union with us, in which He put His Spirit in our heart. Furthermore, it is also a precursor of our own perfect union with God when we enter His Kingdom.
What is the physiology of marriage? Marriage is a union of two lives to form a new entity called family. Since life is physiological, to unite lives in marriage husband and wife must unite their physiologies. The only physiology in which two human beings can unite to form a union of life, is reproductive physiology. Since only a man and a woman have complementary reproductive organs to complete this physiological union, union of life can occur only between a man and a woman. Therefore, biologically marriage is only possible between a man and a woman; and union of reproductive physiology is the hallmark of marriage. In addition, through marriage a man and a women become complete, because without their physiological union in the reproductive process, human race will become extinct. Furthermore, just as, in the formation of a new compounds, two other compounds of opposite poles combine, so also, in the formation a new human being, two people of opposite sex unite.
The physiological purpose of reproductive union is to bring new human lives into the world and raise them in a family. This makes reproductive (sexual) union an act of love. This is a unique expression of love because its intention is to propagate humanity. When this act is outside marriage, the couple are abusing each other’s bodies by uniting their physiology without uniting their lives in marriage. In addition, they are being irresponsible to the potential children that can result from their act, by not having a full family unit for them. Paul therefore tells us that adulterers, fornicators, and those who engage in homosexual acts will not inherit Heaven (1 Cor. 6:9).
In marriage neither party can bring forth a new human being by themselves; so that each complements the other to make one unit of life (Mark 10:8). This makes it a one-to-one relationship. Furthermore, since love in marriage is total giving of oneself to the other, it cannot be divided. For these reasons, one man marries only one woman, and one woman marries only one man.
What does marriage have to do with love: To love is to surrender our own will, sacrifice our own interest and unconditionally do good to others. Marriage, therefore, is a mission in which we surrender our own will to God by unconditionally accepting our spouse and the children that result from the union under all conditions, sacrifice our own interest and serve our spouse and children, who are the fruit of our union of love. This mirrors God’s mission for His people when He surrendered His will to the Father by taking a human form, sacrificed His own interest by accepting the most hurtful death on the cross to compensate for the sins we committed against Him. Furthermore, He serves us by healing us of our sins, comforting us in our brokenness and feeding us with His own sacrificial body and blood. In God’s communion with us, God shares His body and blood with us. In our communion with our spouse, we share our reproductive physiology with our spouse to form a common life, and freely accepting children that result from our physiological union as gifts from God. When we do this, conjugal union becomes an act of love.
Is contraception against humanity? Contraception is to prevent conception of a human life. It is therefore against humanity. It is also against women’s health, because it interferes with the normal female reproductive physiology and hormonal balance.
Sexual union between husband and wife is self-giving love because it is physiologically a reproductive act. Contraception, therefore, by eliminating the very purpose of such a union, removes love from it; making it a purely selfish act, in which one uses the other for pure pleasure. It is like eating food, while putting a barrier in the stomach so that the nutritive value of the food is eliminated. Those who use it, therefore, abuse their bodies and convert marriage from a sacrificial and holy union to a selfish and sterile union. Furthermore, by going against natural physiology, they are going against the creator of physiology. Furthermore, when sex is used purely for pleasure, it makes those involved in the act, objects to derive pleasure from. This leads to divorce, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, pornography, and other forms of deviant and perverse sexual acts.
Children are God’s blessing (Psalm 127:3-5) and childbearing is a saving grace to women through which she may be saved (1 Tim. 2:15). Contraception, therefore, is rejection of God’s blessings. Furthermore, since contraception is against life, it is rejection of God's gift of life. This makes people numb when they destroy human embryos during IVF or kill their babies in the womb through abortion. It also increases divorce, because without true love it is difficult to sustain marriage. This creates a secular culture devoid of true love, leading to divorce, abortion, euthanasia, and murder. It also creates a culture that makes human being commodities for sexual pleasure.
A man and a woman individually are not complete, because individually their reproductive organs can not propagate to continue the human species. Therefore, when they sacrifice their individuality through marriage to form a family and promise to freely accept children, their union of life is an act of love. Therefore, fornication, adultery, reproductive union using contraceptive methods are not acts love. Similarly, even two if people of same sex love each other, any form of sexual activity between them cannot be an act of love or union of life, because it lacks union of physiologically compatible reproductive organs. Furthermore, any form of sexual activity which does not conform to physiological purpose of sexual organs is perversion. It is like trying to eat food through the ear or using a lock to open a lock or lighting a bulb using wires of same polarity. To get involved in this activity, therefore, is a grave disorder which is harmful to mind, body and spirit.
Masturbation is a non-procreative act that uses procreative elements for self-gratification. In this act, therefore, procreative function is misused. Furthermore, this act is self-centered. This leads to anxiety, worries and self-pity.
Attempts to change one’s biological sex is a grave disorder. If a man thinks he is a tiger, he cannot be a tiger. Similarly, if a man thinks he is a woman, he can never be a woman. Our manhood or womanhood is genetically written on all the 37 trillion cells of our body; and it cannot be changed by law, medications, or surgery. To mutilate human beings through medications and so-called gender-affirming procedures is a crime on the part of the physicians.
What is wrong with divorce? Since God (love) is the binding force in marriage, it is permanent; and no human organization can dissolve it (Matthew 19:4-6). The only exception Matthew adds to, is for illicit or unlawful union, which are not marriages. Salvation comes from believing in the love God expressed for us on the cross and putting His love into action in our life. Therefore, those who honestly believe in Jesus’ sacrifice, which he made for us who are unfaithful to Him, will stay faithful to their marriage vows even when there is hurt and infidelity. Furthermore, since God is the binding force in marriages, divorce is rejection of God. Remarriage after divorce therefore is adultery (Luke 16:18). Divorce produces hate, bitterness, hurt, hopelessness, revenge, and anger. It leads to eternal unrest in the spirits of the couple and affects everyone around them. Some justify divorce based on what we call “bad marriage”, and even say that there was no real marriage. However, since we are all sinners, no one makes a perfect commitment during the wedding. However, since God who is the binding force in the union, fills in, what is missing in our commitment. God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) because it destroys our soul.
How to heal a marriage? If we believe that God can heal us, we can be sure that our inequities that prevent us from having a good relationship with our spouse can be overcome. We must know that through marriage we take part in Christ’s mission of unconditionally serving our spouse through sacrifice. Furthermore, we must look at our spouse, not as our adversary, but as our better half, to whom we have committed our entire life to. Furthermore, our spouse in a child of God and temple of the Holy Spirit. We must, therefore, have the greatest love and respect for our spouse. Therefore, when we have an argument with our spouse, we must exercise the generosity, understanding, forgiveness and the compassion of Christ towards our spouse. We will then find hope in hopeless situations, love where there is hate, peace where there is discord, and see the face of God in the pain and suffering of our spouse. This means that, if we let true love govern our thoughts and actions, we will love and forgive our spouse unconditionally. This will free us of hate and heal our relationship with our spouse.
Sometimes, the stresses of marriage may seem unbearable, especially if our spouse is alcoholic, abusive, mentally ill, or unfaithful. In such situations, we can stay faithful to our commitment; by remembering, how Jesus compensated for our wrong doings, when we were unfaithful to him and wronged him. Furthermore, when there is an argument with our spouse, we should surrender our will to God by not pushing our own opinion, staying quiet, and in our heart accepting whatever God wills. Then God will bring about a right resolution to the problem. Furthermore, we should continually pray and make sacrifices for the conversion of our spouse and ourselves. It may take a long time to bring healing to our spouse or our spouse may be unresponsive to love. However, like God, who never gives up on us, we too must never give up on our spouse. We must remember that true love comes only from God. We must, therefore, hang on to His love to find comfort in Him, and be courageous. In the end, when we die accepting God’s life, His peace and joy will dwell with us for all eternity.
I know a lady who was married to a very abusive husband who was not practicing his faith. She was a devoted Christian who believed in prayers, redemption, and forgiveness. She stayed faithful to her husband, prayed for him, was forgiving towards him, and did not give up on him. Many people told her to leave her husband. She however, persisted in her prayers and faithfulness. Then one day, she had life threatening medical problems. Her husband rushed her to the hospital, and then knelt and fervently prayed for her. Miraculously she recovered. He then became a faithful person-the kindest person I have ever known. Their children became faithful Christian. They both had happy deaths.
Opposite charges come together in a filament inside the bulb to produce intense heat, which then converts into light energy. Ordinarily the filament would just burn up due to the heat. However, because the filament is in a vacuumed bulb it stays intact and enlightens the surrounding. In a marriage too, when opposite sexes with opposite hormonal and psychological profile come together, they tend to clash and burn down the marital bond that unites them. However, the grace of God forms a vacuumed bulb around them, so that the bond stays intact and emits love that enlightens their offsprings and people around them. Therefore, to keep a marriage holy and intact we must accept God’ graces by keeping His commandments and natural laws.
How to overcome despair? Remember that our only faithful friend is God, because he accepted the most brutal death on the cross to bring us forgiveness of sins we committed against Him. He is also infinitely powerful and intelligent, and creator of everything that exists. We can therefore trust him. For God to help us we need to give him permission by trusting his commandments and decisions, even if they are not what we want or just the opposite of what we want. God does not think like us. His goal is freeing us of sins and getting us into heaven because it gives us eternal life in his house. In other words, we must have blind faith. Then, even though we did not get what we want, we will have peace and joy knowing that God almighty is our best friend, and His love is our only true treasure and legacy hitch no one can take away from us. Furthermore, all that we own, our fame and achievements, our legacy will not come with us and not be part of us when we die. Only God’s love for us and our acceptance of that love will matter. Those who are repentant, humble, meek, and selfless will find it easier to accept God’s love than most of us.
What is wrong with artificial human reproduction? The very essence of human existence is love because we are createdin the image of God (who is love) and are a product of God’s love expressed through our parents’ union of love. Conception, therefore, is the fruit of marital love. Artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, and cloning procedures, therefore, dehumanize human reproduction, by taking the act of unitive love out of it and converting it into a purely cellular process. This devalues the understanding of procreative love in marriage, thereby devaluing the meaning of marriage itself. This causes grave harm to the institution of marriage which is the very foundation of society. Furthermore, unitive love, which is conjugal union in marriage, is inseparable from conception, because conjugal union’s only physiological purpose is conception; and conjugal union and conception are various stages of a reproductive process. Therefore, to have one without the other is to go against Love.
During in-vitro fertilization and cloning procedures, lethal violence is committed against many human beings, when unwanted human beings in their embryonic stage are discarded. Some of these procedures also deprive the resultant human beings of the dignity of knowing their origin (biological parents), causing them grave injustice and psychological trauma.
Biologically, our humanity is based our genetic makeup and not by our stage of development. Furthermore, an embryo is a stage in human development; just as infant, toddler, youth and adult are. Therefore, to justify killing of unwanted frozen embryos is destruction of human beings. Similarly, using cells from intentionally destroyed embryos is evil.
XIII, RULES OF LOVE
1)To fall in love is to make the decision to unconditionally seek the good of others. When this decision is put into action it becomes an act of love.
2)Even those who do evil and hurt us are precious children of God, and our brothers and sisters. We must, therefore, love and serve them with all our heart.
3)Find good in others and help them to make it grow by making them aware of it. Never say anything bad about others, because it creates disdain for the person we are gossiping about and helps no one.
4)Serve others without expecting anything in return. The reward for acts of love, is to have the honor of serving human beings. Say or do nothing, that is not for the good of others.
5)Those who love, see the spirit of God in everyone; and in turn become the face of God to them.
6)Seek nothing except to unconditionally serve others; and desire nothing except to be one in spirit with God.
7)Love is the only weapon against evil. The more we are hurt, the more we must love those who hurt us; because the more they hurt us, the more they need healing (through love).
8)Our love for God is equal to our love we have for those who hurt us the most. To love our enemy is to cleanse their offenses against us through our acts of sacrificial love for them.
9)Love involves sacrifice, and sacrifice causes pain. Therefore, saints suffer a lot, but through their suffering they bring joy to others.
10) An idea which aims to severe others unconditionally, is an idea from God. Pursue it fearlessly.
11)Only love can heal us and conquer death because true love is God.
12)A true friendship is a friendship forever because true love never dies.
13)Enlightenment is to realize that true love is the only truth.
14) True love has no limit because it is unconditional.
15) infinity is a love that never ends. Only true love is infinite because it has no limit.
16) There is no such thing as bad luck because the infinite love of God for us, which is our only true treasure, can never be taken away from us.
XIV. SOME HELPFUL THOUGHTS
1)Peace in our heart does not depend on what happens to us, it depends on how much we trust God. ‘We can trust God if we internalize the God’s love expressed on the cross.
2)If we do not forgive our enemies and persecutors as Jesus did on the cross, we will be devoid of peace and joy because hate will engulf us.
3) Our worst enemy is the evil within our own heart because it takes us away from God.
4) The greatest war we ever fight will be fought within our heart. It is the war against our hate, selfishness, and pride. We can win this war only if we surrender our will completely to God.
5) Only the grace of God can change others and make them better; we cannot change them. We can, however, play a role in changing them by making them aware of the good (the grace of God) that is within them.
6) Selfishness makes us proud; and pride makes us stupid by making us delusional about our own abilities. Love on the other hand makes us humble; and humility shows us reality; and reality makes us wise.
7) Never feel like a victim when we are hurt, because no one can take away our only true treasure, which is the love of God for us.
8) If we trust God completely it is simple to love others, because then we will not be worried about our own interest.
9)Those who hate us do not win unless we hate them in return. When we retaliate with hate, we become our own enemy because our hate will destroy us. On the other hand, if we counter evil with love, we will heal our spirit, and that of our offender.
10) If we have complete trust in God’s love for us, what others say or do, and what happens around us will not affect our peace, because the love of God for us is our only true possession.
To walk with Jesus is to be in Heaven on Earth because His path is pure Love. When we walk with Him with childlike humility, we will trust Him completely and give Him permission to do unto us according to His will. This will completely free us of worries, pride, hate, envy, anxiety, lust, greed, and revenge. We will love and treat all human beings, including those who hate and hurt us with utmost love and respect. We will even be willing to sacrifice everything to help those are suffering. Furthermore, we will not fear death because we will be certain of eternal life with Him. In fact, when we completely surrender to God and walk His way, we begin eternal life; and death has no power us.
XV. PRAY
What is prayer? Prayer is communication with God. Prayer can be personal or communal. The purpose of prayers is to talk to God as our Father and friend, acknowledge His sacrifice for us, share our joy and sorrow with him, confess our sins to Him and ask for forgiveness, seek His advice, accept His will in our decision making, thank him for favors granted, ask for favors, and express our desire to grow closer to him. He talks to us through our conscience, in which he reminds us of scripture passages, his commandments and his sacrificial love expressed on the cross. To talk to Him, we must avoid the noise and distraction of the world. Though a humble and contrite heart will hear Him even amid noise and turmoil. We must pray continually, seeking God’s guidance in all our activities of the day. This enables us to examine
our thoughts and actions and align them with God’s will.
A PRAYER
Father! You are the desire of my heart and the source of my life. Thank you for creating me, giving me your life, and making me a member of your family. I am sorry for not trusting you, seeking self-interest, and depending on money and power to protect me. I am sorry when I chose revenge and hate to solve my problems, rather than choosing love. There are many temptations in the world that tend to take me away from you. However, you protect me and guide me against evil. Through your Son You have put your joy into my heart, so that even during suffering, I have peace. I know that with you as my father, there is nothing to fear. I can sleep at night, knowing that you will always defend me against evil. To accept your love by living your life is my only desire. Your love is, everything that is good., and all the riches of the world are nothing compared to it. Therefore, if I lose everything in this world, I have lost nothing.
Father! You always hear my prayer. Even before I have thought of my petition, you know it, and come to my help. When it looks like nothing is happening, you are at work doing what is best for everyone. Through Your Son Jesus, you showed me true love, when he gave me your own life and compensated for my wrong doings on the cross. When I rebelled against you in my selfishness, you were not concerned about your own feelings but were concerned about the hurt I was causing myself by going against you. When I hated you (by hating other human beings), you maintained your love for me; when I insulted you (by insulting others), you humbled yourself and came into my life in order to help me; when I spat on you and mocked you (by speaking ill about others and ridiculing them), you gave me self-esteem by making me your son/daughter; when I hurt you (by laying heavy burdens on my fellow human beings by criticizing them), you took the burden of my sins upon yourself and healed my wounds; and when I killed you (by condemning others in my heart), you gave me your life.
Father! I want to be pure, holy, and forgiving, like you. I want to grow in truth and holiness and have your peace and joy. To do your will is my only desire because you are Love. Take my will and make it yours. Help me to cleanse myself of selfishness, so that I may accept the gift of your life to me; and make a pleasing offering of my life to you, by seekingalways to serve others in love.
A hymn
O my God, you are love; you are the joy of my heart
In your love I will find eternity
You are my life’s only hope and desire,
In you alone there is truth and life
Only in your love can I find love for others,
Because you are the only source of love
When I wonder off in the darkness of selfishness
Your shining light leads me back into love,
When life’s challenges put doubts in my heart
You show me your face in your selfless love,
Lead me Lord to the life of your love,
So that your love will be reflected through my life
I need not know where I am going or what I am called to do, except to know that I am following you unreservedly.
I fear no woe except my rejection of your love,
So, strengthen my faith, through your undying faithfulness,
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your sacrificial life.
Which you offer us through your heavenly banquet.
XVI. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
How to be free? There are many ideas about freedom. However, only freedom from hate, pride, lust, revenge, sin, worries, greed, and selfishness brings us peace and joy. This freedom comes from being what we are created to be. We are created to love one another as God has loved us. He loved us by sacrificing His life on the cross to save us from sin. Therefore, when we live a life of pure love, with humility, forgiveness, trust, selflessness, compassion, and charity it brings us freedom by freeing us of hate, greed, anger, jealousy, lust, revenge, and worries. On the other hand, if we are proud and reject God we lose the above-mentioned freedoms. We can overcome these evils by imitating the love Jesus expressed on the cross, and realizing our present existence is fleeting and nothing, compared to the eternity that awaits us.
How do we prepare for Heaven? We must accept the fact that death can come anytime. Furthermore, even if our period of stay on the earth is hundred years, it will be nothing compared to the eternity that follows. We are here on earth to choose between heaven or hell as our home for all eternity. God wants all of us in heaven because He love us. He does not want anyone to choose hell, because hell is pure evil, utter darkness, endless misery, and unimaginable hate and bitterness.
Heaven is a place of pure love, peace, and joy. It is free of hate, anger, jealousy, lust, loathing, greed, worries or suffering, because everyone will be in sync with God. Therefore, to prepare for heaven we must be humble and contrite, keep the commandments, embrace the love Jesus expressed on the cross as our life, trust God completely and accept His will unconditionally. We must read the gospels daily and always ponder on it. Furthermore, we should examine our conscience before and after every significant thought, word, or action of ours. At all times we must remember that our only true possession is God’s love for us.
How to find complete peace and joy? Love and trust God completely and ask Him to do what ever he wants to do with our life. Then accept what ever comes our way trusting in God’s love and wisdom and knowing that His love for us is our only true treasure and joy which no one can take away from us.
Love one another as God has loved us (John 13:34). He showed us His love on cross by sacrificing His life for us, although we hurt and betrayed Him. Therefore, offer the other cheek if struck on one; give to everyone that asks without expecting anything in return; give more than what others ask from us and do not ask it back; be a servant to others; forgive without any limit and heal our offenders through prayers and acts of pure love (Matthew 5 :38-44).
God is faithful to us and sacrificed His life for us on the cross, although we were unfaithful to Him and betrayed Him through our sins. Therefore, it is better to be cheated or wronged than for us to to sue others (1 Corinthians 6:7), and not divorce our spouse, even when there is infidelity and betrayal. Furthermore, divorce destroys our soul because, in divorcing we reject the marriage bond, which is the love of God. God, therefore, hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and remarriage after divorce is adultery (Luke16:18).
Do not criticize or speak ill of others or judge them as fool or gossip about them. If we must say something about others, it should only be about the good we see in them. However, if we see grave errors in others, we must privately show then their errors and help them to overcome it out of love for them.
Be humble and contrite. Keep the commandments and follow God’s natural order. Remember that even looking at others with lust is adultery, and character assassination is equal to murder. Furthermore, putting our trust in wealth, power and pride is same as worshipping false gods (Matthew 6:24). Therefore, we must be selfless and sacrificial and keep our virtuous deeds secret. Seek nothing, except to do God’s will. Be in constant communication with God, who speaks to us through our conscience.
How to be a friend to God? To have friendship and talk with God is amazingly simple, because God is continually trying to talk to us and be our friend. He talks to us as our conscience, constantly showing the right path to follow. We generally ignore Him because we are occupied with worldly things and have no time to sit down and talk to Him. For many of us we open our heart to God only when our situation is hopeless and no one else’s can help us. Fortunately, He never abandons us, because He loves us infinitely, and sacrificed His life for us on the cross. Furthermore, he is always reachable because He is everywhere. He is the only one who will never give up on us and will be faithful to us even if we are unfaithful to Him. In every decision-making process related to our personal life, moral decisions, and relationship He is our conscience guiding us to do what is right by reminding us of scripture passages related to our situation. When we have tragedies, failures, and other sad situations in life, He consoles us by reminding us that suffering we meet in this life is nothing compared to eternity of peace and joy that awaits us.
To hear Him we must read the Gospels daily, at least one page a day, and quietly reflect on it with our eyes on the cross. During such reflections we should also thank and console Jesus for the suffering he bore for our sins. We should examine our conscience daily and ask forgiveness for the sins we committed with firm resolve to not sin again. We should continually remind our self that our only true treasure and legacy is the love of God for us, which no one can take away from us. In everything situation in our life, we should tell God to do what ever He wills with our life. In every decision-making situation we should do what Jesus did in similar situations. If we do the above mentioned faithfully, we will have remarkable interesting and heart-warming conversations with Jesus and continue to trust Him even if we do not get what we prayed for.
What makes us immortal? Our life is our spirit (soul), and our spirit is an intelligent life force with the capability to express pure love. Our life came into our being when we came into existence as zygote and leaves our body at death of our body. If we are in sync with God, our life can not die because it is a spirit created and sustained by the dynamic force of love that emits from God (John 8:51 & 11:25-26)
What will we be doing in heaven? In heaven we will be in eternity, which has no time. It will, therefore, always be now. Furthermore, we will be completely in-sync with God. We, will therefore, have complete peace and joy. Since everyone in heaven will be in sync with God, there be no sin, suffering, or hate. Furthermore, like the angels, we too will join God in His work of reaching out to people on earth helping them to choose pure love through spiritual communication. In a similar manner we will reach out to those who are suffering and feel abandoned.
What is atonement? Atonement is to be healed of the injuries of sins to our soul. Injury to our soul weakens our soul and takes us away from God, who is the life of our soul. If the injury is not healed, it will get severely infected with greater sins that will kill our soul by taking us away from the love of God. This will put our soul in total darkness. To atone for our sins, we must be sorry for our sins with a firm commitment to never sin again. This requires humility, which enables us to see the infinite love of God through His infinite sacrifice on the cross for our sins and awakens true love in our heart.
How to find peace and joy during tragedy and suffering? Tragedies and sufferings are part of our earthly existence. If we are careful, we might be able avoid a few, but no one can completely avoid them. When there is a tragedy, we should know that it is not the end, because our life on this earth is nothing compared to the peace and joy awaits us. We must look at the cross and remind our self of the infinite love God expressed for us and use it to put our complete trust in God and accept His will in all matters of our life. Then, like Job we will praise and trust God in all situations of our life and following His way of purity of love, sacrifice, selflessness, and humility. We must also know that God’s love for us is our only true treasure that no one can take it away from us. Even when do not get what we asked for or get just the opposite, accept it, and continue to be docile to God’s will. Sometimes, there is a long waiting period before our petition is granted. Therefore, continue to petition God unceasingly. Always believe that we have already received what we asked for according to God will and in His time. Show our love for the person we are praying for and our faith in God. Both is pleasing to God. Remember St Monica prayed for per son, St Augustine, for 30 yeas before he changed.
Why do some of us follow the Satan in the name of God? Satan is very deceptive. He, therefore, slips in evil amid many things that are good and attractive. We are attracted to it because of the good we find in it, and accept everything in it, including what is bad. To Adam and Eve, he showed them an extremely attractive fruit and catered to their pride by telling them that they would become powerful like God. They accepted devil’s invitation, which eventually resulted in the world becoming a place of violence, murders, immorality, selfishness, pride, revenge, perversions, lawlessness, child abuse, adultery, prostitution, and betrayal. God, therefore, took a human form and taught us the truth through His teachings, miracles, and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins committed against Him. He taught us humility, patience, charity, purity, forgiveness through repentance, sacrifice, and selflessness. Many follow Him with a humble and contrite heart. Unfortunately, many, who claim to love God, reject God’s sacrificial love on cross, because they do not recognize that the glory of God is in His humility, selflessness, forgiveness, faithfulness, and sacrifice. They imagine that God will purify the earth through killing, conquest, plunder, condemnations, and violence.
How to live a good life? Be humble, contrite, righteous, selfless, compassionate, kindhearted, sacrificial, forgiving, and charitable in everything we say, do, or will. Give complete control of our life to God, without doubting Him, because He loves us enough to sacrifice His life on the cross for our sins. Furthermore, to help us we need to give permission to God to do what ever he thinks is necessary. To give control to God means to do everything according to His commandments and desire God’s will in all aspects of our life. When we get something good, thank God for it. If we do not get what we asked for, trust God, and know that in the end something good will come out of it, because God is always faithful. Furthermore, even if we lose everything, no one can take away from us our only true and everlasting treasure, which is God’s love for us.
What is strength in weakness? When we are physically and financially strong, we tend to become proud, because we feel we are in charge of our life. However, when we are proud, what we want never seems to be enough. Furthermore, we become paranoid and want to protect what we have. In addition, because there are always uncertainties in the world, we become anxious and nervous. This takes away peace away from our heart. On the other hand, when we are weak and poor, we are humble and meek. We, therefore, accept our own limitations and put our trust in God, because we realize that the love of God expressed on the cross is eternal and infinite. We, therefore, put our complete trust in God and accept what ever come our way with courage and peace.
How can I love others as God has loved us? On our own we can never do it because God’s love is infinite. However, if we are one in spirit with God by accepting God’s will in all matters of our life then His spirit within us can achieve this goal. To accept God’s will is to tell God to do what ever he wants with our life, and then accept what ever comes our way with a firm faith that in the end everything will be OK.
Can we control our destiny? God created us in His own Divine image and imprinted His spirit of pure love in our heart; so that we can be His children, live his life of selfless love, humility, charity, sacrifice, purity, forgiveness, and holiness (1 Peter 1:16); and share in His peace and joy for all eternity in heaven. To love is a choice, we are on this earth to choose between a life pure love or rejecting it. If we choose pure love, we will be in heaven (our destiny) for all eternity after we leave this world, in the company of God who will be our light, and everyone who has accepted pure love. If we reject love, we will in the total darkness of the black hole, which we created by rejecting God who is the light of the universe. In short, we can accept or reject our destiny to be in heaven for all eternity.
How to control anger? Although to get angry is universal, anger associated with hate, violence, pride, and revenge is lethal to our soul because it takes us away from God. It also leads to breakdown of relationships. Furthermore, anger in intoxicated state can result in deadly consequences. It is perfectly normal to get angry and protest for a just cause, if we do not physically, verbally, or psychologically attack others.
To control anger during an argument we should avoid personal verbal attacks and not repeat statements we have already made. If we have said or done something wrong apologize for it. If the other party has said or done something wrong state it only once and keep quiet and forgive them in our heart. Even go further and say something good about them. If they counter that with further verbal attack keep quiet and say something good after that. Always remember that winning an argument is a matter of pride, which leads to all other evil. On the other keeping a low profile and showing love towards the opponent will result in peace. Even if the other party is wrong, we can change their heart through love. We should do this because we are created for love. We must also realize that hate and pride lead to anxiety, stress, and more enemies. Furthermore, we gain nothing of eternal value by retaliating. We must, therefore, say the truth and then just keep quiet as Jesus did when he was brought before Pilot.
How to overcome pride and jealousy? Most of us suffer from pride. Unfortunately, pride is the mother of all sins because it makes us feel superior to others and blinds us to the truth that all our talents come from God. Due to our pride we try to outdo what God has created, and we become selfish, jealous, greedy, hateful, and lustful. It is also leads to sexual perversions and wars. Furthermore, pride and love cannot coexist, because love is about others, while pride is about our self.
Furthermore, we cannot boast about our achievements because our talents are given to us by God. We must, therefore, thank God for allowing us to take part in His work by using the talents he gave us. Furthermore, no human being is superior to another human being because we created equal by God. Furthermore, our eternity is decided by the purity the purity of our heart, and not by our worldly achievements.
We can overcome pride and jealousy by realizing the fact that every good thing, including our intelligence and talents come from God, all human lives are equal, our true treasure and value is the love of God us expressed on the cross, and everything else will be gone for us on the day we die. Even if we had great achievements in life, they will nothing compared to the infinite love of God. We must therefore ponder on these realities, be humble and contrite, and surrender our will to God.
What is wrong with lust? All human beings are precious because we are all created in the image of God. This makes God our creator Father and we all brothers and sisters. We, therefore, must treat every human being with utmost respect. Singularly, as a man or woman, we cannot procreate to continue humanity. God, therefore, created a man a woman, who together using their complementary procreative organs and physiologies can procreate to continue humanity in a family with a mother and a father. This makes procreative act very sacred and an act of pure love. Therefore, degrading a human being and/or the procreative act through our thoughts, words or actions is to against God and human dignity. Furthermore, all human beings are very precious to God. We, therefore, can not objectify them. To overcome lust, we must love and respect God, our self, and our fellow human beings.
Why should we be moral? Morality is to express pure love, and pure love is the Spirit of God, and God is unchanging because He is infinite, and everything in infinity is always now. True morality, therefore, is unchanging. Furthermore, since morality is pure love, it is unconditional, it does not change. Therefore, there can never be two standards or change for morality. To be moral, is to unconditionally be, selfless, forgiving, humble, meek, faithful, charitable, respectful, gentle, and be free of lies and false accusations, hate, anger, pride, greed, jealousy, revenge, and lust. Furthermore, true love, which morality is unconditional it treats all human beings equal from the moment conception onwards. Since God’s love is imprinted on our heart, to be moral is our true nature. Unfortunately, we see immorality in the world because of our pride and selfishness. Through His sacrifice on the cross, God reactivates pure love in our heart to make us moral.
How to overcome the fear of death? Even those who are holy and religious are bound to have trepidation about death, because we have never been there. If we are in communication with God at a personal level the situation will be easy; because we know that Jesus will come and receive us into His Father’s house. Furthermore, Jesus told us that there are many mansions in His Father’s house, and He will have a place prepared for us (John 14:3). Furthermore, since God is creator of heaven and earth, there will be similarities of landscapes. Except that, everything will be perfect because there is no sin in heaven. Furthermore, God Himself will the light, that lights up the place (Revelation 21:23). My son experienced heaven when he was in his truck in a parking lot one evening. The whole place lit up with light of unimaginable brilliance, he felt enveloped with the purest love for several hours, and he saw a clear difference between good and evil. He then became a true believer and changed his life to become a holy and God loving man. There are many reports of similar experiences by others; including those who survived after cardiac arrest.
