Love in Itself has no reason to Love, Love loves for Love is. Only persons alienated from Love need a justification, a cause, to love anyone or anything. 'God,' in 'God-self,' loves for no reason at all, certainly not for anyone can earn such a grace, as Love surely is.
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An old Jewish tradition says that when a person walks down the street, two angels prepare the way. The angels call, “Make way! Make way! Make way for the image of God!”
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Different faiths speak of this “Image of God” in different ways. Christians speak of the Imago Dei, or Image of the Divine. Buddhists speak of Buddha Nature. Other ways of referring to this Image of God are True Self, Divine Self, Self, Soul, and Person, in contrast to person.
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A United Methodist clergyperson, whom I had befriended, whose congregation included gladly gays and lesbians, was in a restaurant with some other clergypersons. One woman, pastor of a local congregation, was astounded that this United Methodist pastor allowed gays and lesbians in the church and, likewise, to hold office. So astonished was she - or so enraged -, she started screaming out loud about how all the gays and lesbians are going to hell and that God does not love them. She proceeded to defame my friend. Sadly, this scene occurred in a public place, in a town with a large population of gays and lesbians.
So, what did the irate clergyperson communicate to any gays and lesbians, as well as to all present in that restaurant? What did she imply when she affirmed that God does not love this group of persons? She said much about herself, that is what she said, but she said nothing about what a true Christian, any spiritual person, is and nothing about the Presence they worship and love. Her irate announcement was not the-ology but ide-ology.
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Anyone who ardently opens his or her being on a spiritual path, if following it to be transformed in the likeness of Grace, will come to a point of spontaneous reverence - not merely respect - for others. This includes all persons, even those he or she might disagree with morally, or in other ways. The sagacious being sees through the traits to the Truth of who a person is and finds a surprising fact - person is itself the sum of traits, and the Truth of a person is not a person at all. One does this, not consciously, for in descending into the depths of Love, one is transformed into Love. So, a spontaneous, uncalculated, and nonjudgmental reverence arises for persons - for such seeing does not negate the appearance of person -, and other creatures and life manifestations.
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