Proposition: if my relationship with my heavenly Father is functional, communicative and embodying love, then my relationship with other people are also going to be working.
That is to say, what is my point of reference of what a relationship is suppose to embody? What characteristics should it entail? How should I speak, think and act towards the other person? What do I feel, why and what should I do (if anything) with those feelings, thoughts and decisions?
Basic question yeah? BIG ramifications. Get your point of reference from the wrong source and you're screwed - as is the other person/s. Look around and see the couple in counselling - she says he doesn't love her, he says he does but she doesn't recognise it, they both speak poorly and rudely to each other and lust after other people....
"I just fell out of love" says another, like it was beyond their own volition. Much like Bob Hawke states about Hazel and his new love Blanche.
Can you see Jesus or God being so whimsical?
Ohh here's a better one closer to home: "my son I love you but I can't live with your mummy anymore, we're two different people, it's for the best'"
Here's another simple one: I can't stand a fellow worker, so what do I do - gossip, speak badly of him, undermine him, try and get him fired or take him out for a coffee and try to find a point of commonality?
"I just fell out of love" says another, like it was beyond their own volition. Much like Bob Hawke states about Hazel and his new love Blanche.
Can you see Jesus or God being so whimsical?
Ohh here's a better one closer to home: "my son I love you but I can't live with your mummy anymore, we're two different people, it's for the best'"
Here's another simple one: I can't stand a fellow worker, so what do I do - gossip, speak badly of him, undermine him, try and get him fired or take him out for a coffee and try to find a point of commonality?
Better still WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ONTIC REFERENCE POINT OF LOVE? Love has context in a relationship.
"For God so loved you and me that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life"
"Lord, if there be any other way around this [crucifixion], yet not my will be done, but yours Father"
"I only do what the Father does"
"If someone strikes you, turn the other cheek"
"Love your enemies, pray for those that persecute you"
What are the requirements for a person:
Thought (Intellect/intelligence)
Feeling (Emotion)
Volition (Decision)
(The materialist would also add a physical body)
What are the requirements for a relationship [between persons]:
There needs to be at least 2 people.
Yes I understand that's basic, but I guarantee you, you take this point for granted and even more so about what is your "ontic" reference point for what that relationship should embody/reflect.
Don't be lazy here.
Love passages:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Love One Another Bible Verses
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Ephesians 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
What Did Jesus Say About Love
Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 6:24-25 ”No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Mark 12:28-30 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
John 14:21-24 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
John 15:9-17 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
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