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Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
“I’m often accused of being irreligious, and I suppose it’s for this very reason. Whether it’s Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, or any other ism, when a religion is created on the subtle premise that God withholds His love and you must submit to the system to earn that love, I consider it the worst of corruptions.
“But again these traps work only because of two things: we long for love, and we are convinced that all love is conditional.
“Ironically, this is where so many have a problem with Jesus. For centuries the church has been telling us if we want God to love us, we need to follow the rules. It’s been far more important to focus on the sin problem than the love problem. This is the only way the institution can maintain control over our lives. After all, if love is unconditional, what will keep them following our rules? Don’t we want people, first and foremost, to be good? If our goal is to get people to conform, you can accomplish that without love, but you can’t maintain a civilization without the rule of law.
“What governments have not always been able to do, religions have accomplished with amazing effectiveness. They keep people in line.
“What in the world would happen if people actually began discovering the actual message of Jesus Christ-that love is unconditional? What would happen if we began to realize that God was not, is fact, waiting for us to earn His love, but that He was passionately pursuing us with His love? What would happen if the world got out that Jesus was offering His love freely and without condition?”
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
“It’s just too hard to believe that if you come near to God, you will find yourself not drowning in condemnation, but swimming in compassion.
“Jesus called to all who were weary and who found their souls exhausted to come to Him and find rest. He is telling us that God will be for us our place called home.
“We run from God because we long to be loved and we have convinced ourselves that the One who is most loving could not and would not embrace us.
“We run from the One our souls crave.”
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
Our culture’s new wisdom is that sexual freedom is far healthier than any moral guidence. Why does it continue to surprise us that a girl who is sexually active by fourteen is emotionally devastated by fifteen?
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
“When there is disengagement from human community, there is the potential for inhumanity.
“The human heart was not created to be a container for hate.
“When we allow bitterness, jealousy, envy, racism, lust, greed, and arrogance to fuel our souls, we create an environment within us to be agents of violence.
“We live in a time when the most terrifying bomb is not a nuclear one, but a human one.”
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
“When you give up on love, everything else seems to go with it - joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion-they’re all interconnected”
Posted on June 15th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Soul Cravings.
“Bitterness, for instance, is like a cancer that makes you blind. I had allowed hurt to make my soul toxic, From my end, I was sure that I was just becoming a realist. In fact, I was desensitizing myself. Why risk being hurt more? I didn’t realize I was becoming blind to love. I couldn’t see the people around me who really cared. Their sincere efforts went unnoticed. If you had asked me then, I would have said they weren’t there. I look back now and realize I just couldn’t see them, but they were right in front of me the entire time. Bitterness turned to skepticism, which turned to cynicism, which turned to an emptiness of my soul.
“Bitterness is the enemy of love because it makes you unforgiving and u8nwilling to give love unconditionally.
“It is the enemy of hope because you keep living in the past and become incapable of seeing a better future.
“It is the enemy of faith because you stop trusting in anyone but yourself. I bring this up because I think many of us become blinded by a bitterness of the soul. If we are not careful, we will lose the ability to see such things as beauty, truth, or even affection. More importantly, you may close your eyes to what your soul needs you most to see.”
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