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WHYDO
SO FEW UNDERSTAND?
The Truth About
Love, Law and Grace!
G
ENU l NE LOVE
and
compass ion
a re
amo n g t h e rare st
commodit ies today. Why?
Why shouldn 't this world be
filled with Jove, joy, hope and
peace?
" Let
al/
you do be done in
/ove,"
wrote the apostle Paul in his fi rst
letter to the young Corinth ian
church (1 Cor. 16:14, Motfatt).
Then why, for nearly 2000 years,
has this advice of the apostle Paul
been so maligned and neglected?
No advice is more sorely needed
by this world today. Everywhere
you turn, evidence of man's inhu–
manity to man lies in ample view.
From the corporate boardrooms to
the war-torn backroads of Africa
and Asia, human suffering and
anguish abounds.
Yiolent crime ravages once-safe
European and American cities;
racial tension and strife boils in
mul tiple dozens of cities, vi llages
and boroughs around the g lobe.
Once- happy and solid families are
sp lit by emotion-wrenchi ng di–
vorce. The list goes on and on.
But paradoxically, man is more
advanced technologically and mate–
rially- seemingly better equ ipped
through sophisticated communica–
tion systems to learn from his mis–
takes- than ever before.
So
why
don' t we have universal
happiness to complement our mate-.
rial advancement instead of an anx–
iety-fi lled world? Why are we
unable to practice the apostle
January 1982
by
Michael A. Snyder
Paul 's advice to do everything out
of love?
We need to answer this quest ion!
We need to learn t he
cause
of
world evils-the fundamental fail–
ure of mankind to correct ourselves
before this world br istling with
nuclear armament becomes a
devastated was teland!
Amidst all t his human sutfering,
the words of the prophet ring out:
"The
way
of peace they know not ;
and there is no judgment in their
goi ngs: they have made them
crooked paths: whosoever goeth
therein shall not know peace" (Isa.
59:8).
Though t his world desperately
tries to steer itself toward peace,
effort after effort fails. Meanwhi le
we inch closer to social chaos, our
c iti es teeming with seemingly
insolvable problems.
What and Why V lolen ce?
In our so-called enl ightened age,
professionals of the social sciences
are unable to explain what they
term "socially deviant behavior"–
the criminal mind . In a prívate con–
versation recently, one professor of
a major Ame ri can university
admitted to the author that sociol–
ogy had not yet unlocked the mur–
ky mystery surroundi ng a brain
committed to disrupting the mores
and laws of society.
" But," he continued, " we have
uncovered what we understand to
be major factors related to the for–
mation of a criminal mind."
Do you know what it is? The
lack of
LOVE.
Psychologist William
Glasser concu rs: " When we cannot
satisfy our total need for love, we
will without fail suffer and react
with many fami liar psychological
symptoms, from mild discomfort
through anxiety and depression to
complete withdrawal from the
world around us"
(Reality Thera–
py,
p.l 1). Erich Fromm · adds,
"Love is the only sound and satis–
factory answer to the problem of
human existence"
( The Art of Lov–
ing,
pp. 111-112). But what kind of
love? And how is it acquired- and
expressed?
Lookln g for Answ ers
There is a
cause
for every etfect.
Political, social and family prob–
lems just don't " happen"- they are
the result of dynamic forces.
The crux of the problem lies in
the near universal nonrecognition
that true love is a
spiritual
ele–
ment! Philosophers, psychologists,
psychoa na lysts and a host of
researchers have developed hy–
potheses about love by the
doz–
ens!
No one, it seems, is willing to
recognize a standard to measure
love by . " Love," as viewed by
humans, can be anything from a
moral s tructure to "situation eth–
ics."
Just what is "love"?
"God is love" ( 1 J obo 4 :8),
reveals your Bible-the ultimate
source of spiritual definitions! Yet,
many who read this don't compre–
hend what it means.
Consider: God is much more
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