Divine versus Worldly Love

Divine versus Worldly Love
Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
Total Pages: 14
Release: 2017-10-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Worldly and Devotional Love compared and contrasted. Worldly Love is an intoxication of the Astral Light. It is a state of severe mental perturbation. Divine Love is the Law of Universal Sympathy. Worldly and Devotional Love are the two opposing paths of One Divine Love in the mayavic universe of being. Monosexual consciousness is a characteristic of psychic development. But in spiritual de-velopment consciousness is asexual. The first step in true occultism is to try to apprehend the meaning of Universal Brotherhood. Devotion and aspiration will help to raise consciousness to higher planes, where faith, self-sacrifice, and loyalty to the Teachers is rewarded. Give it all away or you will lose it. Can devotion to inner contemplative life, and a life of fine unselfishness, allow of the growth of faculties otherwise dormant, and a growing recognition of the underlying unity of man and his surroundings, so that truth will make itself known from within, and help one to develop a greater physical command of the forces of nature? Without Esoteric Philosophy guiding the soul, neither meditation nor devotion to duty can make the Wisdom of Love bare her bosom to the inner eye and reveal the sublime secrets of Cosmogony to the multitude. Angel worship is misplaced and ill-advised.

Divine Love

Divine Love
Author: Jeff Levin
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 159947249X

The contributors to Divine Love cover a broad spectrum of world religions, comparing and contrasting approaches among Christians of several denominations, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and adherents of traditional African religions. Each chapter focuses on the definition and conceptual boundaries of divine love; its expression and experience; its instrumentality and salience; how it can become distorted, and how it has been made manifest or restored by great historic exemplars of altruism, compassion, and unlimited love. The ultimate aim for many of the world’s major faith traditions is to love and be loved by God—to live in connection with the Divine, in union with the Beloved, in reconciliation with the Ultimate. Religious scholars Jeff Levin and Stephen G. Post have termed this connection “divine love.” In their new collection of the same name, they have invited eight of the world’s preeminent religious scholars to share their perspectives on the what, how, and why of divine love. From this diverse gathering of perspectives emerges evidence that to love and to be loved by God, to enter into a mutual and covenantal relationship with the Divine, may well offer solutions to many of the current crises around the world. Only a loving relationship with the Source of being within the context of the great faith and wisdom traditions of the world can fully inform and motivate the acts of love, unity, justice, compassion, kindness, and mercy for all beings that are so desperately required to counter the toxic influences in the world. Contributors: William C. Chittick, Vigen Guroian, Ruben L. F. Habito, William K. Mahony, John S. Mbiti, Jacob Neusner, Clark H. Pinnock, and David Tracy.

Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr
Author: Chase, Joelle
Publisher: Orbis Books
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2018
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1608337359

Drawn from the many books, writings, and interviews by Richard Rohr, one of the most popular spiritual writers today, this collections introduces many of the teachings for which he has become known, all organized around the central theme of Love.

God's Love

God's Love
Author: R. C. Sproul
Publisher: David C Cook
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0781408520

Dr. R. C. Sproul is one of the most renowned theologians of our time. For over 40 years Dr. Sproul has encouraged, educated, and enlightened millions through his books, teaching, and ministry. God doesn’t just love us. He is love. God’s Love explores the unrelenting love of God, which found its ultimate expression through His Son. This release also explains difficult themes such as the different aspects of God’s nature, how His love coexists with His holiness, and what the Bible means when it mentions God’s hatred. This is a compelling read for all who long to love as God loves.

Nothing Greater, Nothing Better

Nothing Greater, Nothing Better
Author: Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780802849021

The love of God is arguably the most central doctrine of the Christian faith, and yet, remarkably, the subject of God's love has not received the attention it deserves. This new work by an international team of theologians and biblical scholars fills this need, offering a clear, complete, and inspiring discussion on the nature of God's love and its meaning for the Christian life. After surveying the ways in which the love of God has been understood through the ages, the book constructs an understanding of God's love particularly relevant for today. Though exploring the subject from many angles 'biblical theology, historical theology, philosophical theology, and systematic theology' these chapters are united in seeing Jesus, who was at once human and divine, as the ultimate criterion for defining the love of God.

Surrender to Love

Surrender to Love
Author: David G. Benner
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2015-09-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830899448

In this expanded edition of a spiritual formation classic, David G. Benner explores the twin themes of love and surrender as the heart of Christian spirituality. God doesn't want his people to respond to him out of fear or obligation, but invites us to enter into an authentic relationship of intimacy and devotion—by surrendering to love.

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God
Author: Brian Zahnd
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2017-08-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1601429525

Pastor Brian Zahnd began "to question the theology of a wrathful God who delights in punishing sinners, and has started to explore the real nature of Jesus and His Father. The book isn’t only an interesting look at the context of some modern theological ideas; it’s also offers some profound insight into God’s love and eternal plan." —Relevant Magazine (Named one of the Top 10 Books of 2017) God is wrath? Or God is Love? In his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Puritan revivalist Jonathan Edwards shaped predominating American theology with a vision of God as angry, violent, and retributive. Three centuries later, Brian Zahnd was both mesmerized and terrified by Edwards’s wrathful God. Haunted by fear that crippled his relationship with God, Zahnd spent years praying for a divine experience of hell. What Zahnd experienced instead was the Father’s love—revealed perfectly through Jesus Christ—for all prodigal sons and daughters. In Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, Zahnd asks important questions like: Is seeing God primarily as wrathful towards sinners true or biblical? Is fearing God a normal expected behavior? And where might the natural implications of this theological framework lead us? Thoughtfully wrestling with subjects like Old Testament genocide, the crucifixion of Jesus, eternal punishment in hell, and the final judgment in Revelation, Zanhd maintains that the summit of divine revelation for sinners is not God is wrath, but God is love.

Why I Love the Apostle Paul

Why I Love the Apostle Paul
Author: John Piper
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433565072

"Besides Jesus, no one has kept me from despair, or taken me deeper into the mysteries of the gospel, than the apostle Paul." —John Piper No one has had a greater impact on the world for eternal good than the apostle Paul—except Jesus himself. For John Piper, this impact is very personal. He does not just admire and trust Paul. He loves him. Piper gives us thirty glimpses into why his heart and mind respond this way. Can a Christian-killer really endure 195 lashes from a heart of love? Can a mystic who thinks he was caught up into heaven be a model of lucid rationality? Can an ethnocentric Jew write the most beautiful call to reconciliation? Can a person who lives with the unceasing anguish of empathy be always rejoicing? Can a man's description of the horrors of human sin be exceeded by his delight in human splendor? Can a man with a backbone of steel be as tender as a nursing mother? If we know this man—if we see what Piper sees—we too will love him. Paul's testimony is a matter of life and death. Piper invites you into his relationship with Paul in the hope that you will know life, forever.

The Four Loves

The Four Loves
Author: C. S. Lewis
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2017-02-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062565451

The revered author's classic work that examines the four types of human love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God.? In this work Lewis examines four varieties of love, as approached from the Greek language: storge, the most basic form; philia, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; eros, passionate love; and agape, the love of God, the greatest and least selfish. ?Throughout this compassionate and reasoned study, he encourages readers to open themselves to all forms of love—the key to understanding that brings us closer to God.? "There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable . . . draw nearer to God, not be trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."? In Four Loves, C. S. Lewis explores love to help you · Strengthen your interpersonal relationships · Understand the different between needed pleasures and appreciation pleasures and need-love and gift-love · Care for the people in your life, avoid pitfalls, and improve your relationship God The Four Loves holds a mirror to our current society and leaves no doubt that our modern understanding of love is heavily misunderstood.

Love, Human and Divine

Love, Human and Divine
Author: Edward Collins Vacek, SJ
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 1994-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781589013629

Although the two great commandments to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves are central to Christianity, few theologians or spiritual writers have undertaken an extensive account of the meaning and forms of these loves. Most accounts, in fact, make love of God and love of self either impossible or immoral. Integrating these two commandments, Edward Vacek, SJ, develops an original account of love as the theological foundation for Christian ethics. Vacek criticizes common understandings of agape, eros, and philia, examining the arguments of Aquinas, Nygren, Outka, Rahner, Scheler, and other theologians and philosophers. He defines love as an emotional, affirmative participation in the beloved's real and ideal goodness, and he extends this definition to the love between God and self. Vacek proposes that the heart of Christian moral life is loving cooperation with God in a mutually perfecting friendship.