Alpha Omega

Before going any further one should answer a question that almost everyone asks him or her self sometime during his or her life: How does one get into heaven? The answer is simple, and Jesus Christ gave it to everyone when He gave the sermon on the mountain.

The only souls who go to heaven are those who do the will of God our Father. Our Lord made no distinction in faith.

But a problem arises. One must first know what it is that God our Father wants one to do. Then one must fulfill that obligation. One might ask him or her self: What exactly does God want me to be? Am I to be a member of the clergy; am I to be a lay worker; or am I to be a part of the government? Am I to be a laborer, an executive, a student, a teacher, a community worker, an artist or what? What does God want me to do for His children?

In order to answer these questions one must decide what it is that he or she wishes to do for our Lord; what he or she could succeed at doing; and where he or she would do the most good for his or her neighbor. Then do it.

There are millions of works, studies or hobbies that one may do for the greater glory of God. One need only decide what type of work, study or hobby makes him or her self happy and then seek it. Then with our Lord’s help he or she will receive it. For it is God’s will to make all His children happy.

However, one may still be left with the question of God’s will, for even Satan’s henchmen can be successful and happy in their work, their studies and their hobbies. Therefore, doing the will of God must require something more than just being successful and happy in one’s chosen occupation, in one’s educational accomplishments or in one’s hobby.

When one makes this observation, then he or she is on the faster road to our Lord. To make this observation is to journey on the road not taken by many souls.

One may possess as many of the gifts that our Lord can bestow and as long as one is using his or her gift or gifts for the betterment of mankind, he or she has nothing to fear. With such good works and faith one’s soul will get into heaven (Jms.2:14-24). But this is the slow way to God. There is a faster way and a more direct approach. That way is to bring to perfection the love in one’s own soul.

To seek for and to obtain the gift of perfect love is to do the will of God. It makes Jesus Christ happy as well as one’s own self happy. The gift of love is all that one needs, because all God’s gifts are found within this one great gift, and God directs all one’s missions toward achieving this goal.

It matters not what one’s occupation, study or hobby happens to be. Any honorable, reputable work, education or hobby that one enjoys doing and one can succeed at is the mission that our Lord intended for one. To bring one’s love to perfection while doing such is taking the extra step and proving one’s love for God. Perfecting one’s love while pursuing one’s occupation, one’s study or one’s hobby is doing something more than just being successful and happy. It is spreading God’s word: love.

One may own the world’s greatest riches, be supreme in power, possess world fame, know all the mysteries of life or be the greatest of prophets, but if a person does not also possess the gift of love, then he or she has nothing. Love is all you need.

Love is merciful and just; love is obedient and loyal; love is friendly and accommodating. Those who have love are patient and delight in helping others. Love will never leave one in times of need. Love believes and rejoices in the truth. Love endures all wrongs and thinks no evil thought of any kind. Prophecies can be made void and all knowledge could cease to be. All the cities of the earth could be totally destroyed but love will go on.

This is what St. Paul tells one in the thirteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. He refers to love as charity and proclaims it to be above faith and hope. This is because faith is believing in truth and gives spiritual strength. Hope is depending upon God for one’s needs and gives spiritual understanding. But love, the seed from which all gifts grow, is humility in the presence of our Lord and gives birth to deeper truths.

When one increases his or her faith by believing in truth, such will increase his or her hope. When one increases his or her hope by waiting for our Lord’s helping hand, such will increase his or her love. When one increases his or her love by obeying the law, such will open higher (deeper) truths to him or her. Then one must pray for the innocence and the humility to believe this deeper truth. The three — faith, hope and love — are an inseparable trinity and are limited only by one’s own lack of love.

St. John, the beloved apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, also writes of this great gift of love.

One would do well to follow the guidelines toward perfect love of God and man that our Lord has given through these two saints. One should pray that everyone does the will of God and seek to find this unyielding love that is within each person’s own soul. No matter how hard it is to follow this road or how far away the end seems to be, one should follow after the quest of perfect love until one finds it present within his or her own soul. Indeed, one should feel unworthy to offer less than perfect love to God.

One should not forget that there may be many falls along the journey, and the closer one gets to his or her final goal, the harder these falls will appear to be. But if one does not turn away from Jesus Christ at such times, then perfect love will be one’s wealth and fulfillment at the finish.

The evil one, the master of deceit and father of lies, will attempt to convince one into believing that perfect love is an Impossible Dream or an impossible goal to reach. He may attempt to make one believe that one has committed an unforgivable sin and that one’s soul is eternally damned. One should ignore such ridiculous thoughts and not despair.

If a person should happen to sin, then all he or she needs to do is ask God for pardon and then obtain absolution if such is needed. Our Lord will forgive one. Remember the only sin that is not forgiven is the sin that an individual absolutely refuses to ask pardon of (Mt.12:31). Our Lord may test one’s spirit, but if one remains faithful, he or she will be forgiven and the victory of perfect love will be his or hers in the end.

Such a goal is giving Jesus Christ the greatest gift that one can offer. A true child of God will offer nothing less than such a gift. He or she will follow that quest without question and without doubt, never giving up that goal and always striving forward — no matter what the personal cost. Of all the gifts granted by our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect love is the hardest to achieve but the greatest to receive.

Once one has received this perfection he or she will have found him or her self in God and God within him or her self.

The gift of perfect love will give one the humility he or she needs to understand our Lord’s words: “When you unclothe yourselves and are not ashamed, and take your garments and lay them beneath your feet like little children, and tread upon them, then shall ye see the Son of the Living One, and ye shall not fear.” Our Lord reveals here that one should not feel shame in nudity and sex; one should not perceive evil in nudity and sex; nor should one see sin in nudity and sex.

Many people are burdened with guilt over past behavior; either some type of display of nudity, some sex act or possibly even an act of adultery or promiscuity. But our Lord reveals that just as little children are not ashamed to undress in public, neither should one burden them self with guilt over some past behavior. It is the Catholic and non-Catholic pseudo-Christian wolves in sheep’s clothing and the henchmen of the evil one who are placing this burden on one’s shoulders, not the children of God.

One has already seen how our Lord did not condemn to death nudity and sex outside the marriage (Mt.21:31; Jn.8:7,10-11). Thus, it is not a sin unto death.

One also has it from the Old Testament that nudity and sex outside of the marriage are not the great evils that many claim them to be. Juda, son of Israel and ancestor of Jesus Christ, had sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, Thamar. He gave her his ring, bracelet and staff as a pledge that he would later send her a kid from his flock as payment for her services (Gen.38:13-18). At that time he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law, but this is besides the point.

The fact is, no one, absolutely no one, looked upon their prostitution as an evil act. If nudity and sex outside of marriage were the great evils many pseudo-Christians claim them to be, then the Holy Spirit would surely have mentioned this at that point in the Holy Scriptures.

God does not consider sex outside the marriage to be a mortal sin. This is because nudity and sex outside the marriage are not the great evils many claim them to be. But this is not to say that there is no sin at all in nudity and sex outside the marriage; nor does it give approval to the perversion of incest. Adult nudity and sex outside the marriage are materialistic. Such sensualism can potentially paralyze one’s soul and render it impotent, but does not kill one’s soul.

It is mortal sin that kills an individual’s soul; venial sin only injures a person’s soul. Just as some injuries need more medication than other injuries, and some injuries need more immediate care than other injuries, so also is it regarding sin. Some sins, in order to protect the soul from further injury, need more prayer than others and some need more immediate prayer than others.

Sex outside the marriage is sensualisatic that can possibly lead to impotence and paralysis of the soul if there is no love between those involved. It does not kill the soul, but if there is no love and commitment, then this could lead to severe injury of the soul. (One should note that hypocrisy is a far greater sin than sex outside the marriage.)

Nor are those acts of love performed within the marriage evil and sinful, as many pseudo-Christians claim. This includes birth control, in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood and many other forms of planned parenthood that modern science has developed for the children of God. Those wolves who believe that these acts are evil and sinful obtain their beliefs from verses in the Holy Bible that appear — on first glance — to condemn such. For example, many obtain their beliefs on birth control from the book of Genesis.

At first glance, this verse appears to forbid birth control. However, one must remember that it is not what one does that brings sin into his or her soul; it is why one does what he or she does that brings sin into his or her soul. Mortal Sin entered Onan’s soul, not because he practiced birth control, but because of why he did it. His intentions were evil, as a full reading of this passage reveals (v.6-26).

The same is true today. Any act of nudity and sex, birth control or planned parenthood done for selfish reasons is wrong. But acts done out of love cannot be evil. Indeed, how can any action, done out of love for someone else, be evil? (Some actions, due to their nature, may be misguided, but if done in love are not sinful.) Birth control, in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood and many other forms of planned parenthood that science has developed for the children of God are not the great evils that the wolves in sheep’s clothing claim them to be.

Today science reveals that as long as what one is doing is safe, consensual and non-exploitive between everyone involved, then there is no evil. Science says that there is no shame, evil or sin in nudity and sex, birth control or planned parenthood and the wolves claim that science is teaching falsehoods. They sound no different from the pseudo-Christians who condemned Galileo and Darwin for their scientific discoveries.

The situation today is the same as it was in their day. Those in the past had science defending their views and the bishops had their beliefs in the Holy Bible. Today Catholics have science telling them one thing about sex and morality and the clergy have their belief in the Holy Bible. The clergy are too blind to see that the Church must be submissive to what science reveals.

Another subject where the bishops are at odds with research is with divorce, for they teach against it. However, today one is learning that it is possible — through no fault to oneself — to end up in a bad marriage. That is, one may enter a marriage that starts off wonderful, the most blissful of nuptials, only to find out later that one’s spouse is a drug addict, an abuser, a criminal or whose love for one has turned to hate.

Here again the wolves in sheep’s clothing have placed an unusually heavy burden upon the shoulders of the children of God. They forbid divorce because Jesus Christ said that it was not like that in the beginning (Mk.10:4-5). But they forget that Jesus Christ also affirmed that Moses allowed one to divorce their mate (Mt.5:31-32; 19:7-9). Moses wrote in the Book of Deuteronomy that divorce was permissible if one’s spouse was “unclean.”

Moses permitted one to divorce their spouse in order that one could avoid greater evil. St. Paul even allowed a husband and wife to go their separate ways (1Cor.7:14-15). But the pseudo-Christians cannot allow such, even though they have a commandment from Jesus Christ that allows them to permit divorce and remove the burden of a bad marriage from upon the shoulders of God’s children. In St. Matthew’s Gospel there is a directive that allows them to bind and to lose any law they so choose (Mt.16:19).

They can make it against the law to eat certain foods on certain days, but they cannot remove heavy burdens from off the shoulders of the children of God. They are no different from the hypocrites who condemned Jesus Christ for healing on the Sabbath (Lk.13:11-17).

Finally, many of those who deny divorce to the children of God would claim that an annulment is possible. But an annulment is possible only if the marriage was invalid or never consummated. If the marriage was valid and consummated, then to grant an annulment under such circumstances would be hypocrisy. It is far better just to allow the children of God to divorce an “unclean” spouse and be done with it.

Before continuing one should note that divorce should not be entered into lightly. If one is not sure whether or not someone is “right” for one, then it is better to just live with him or her for a while before entering into a marriage, especially if one plans to have children after the marriage.

For marriage is sacred and should not be dissolved on a whim. Divorce should be considered only after much forethought, prayer and counseling, especially if there are children involved. Their needs must be considered and they need to be included in any pre-divorce counseling. There are other factors that need to be considered — such as joint property, careers, families and financial responsibilities — before a divorce can be granted. But these are usually handled by the courts and will not be discussed at this time.

Should a person limit his or her own realm of interests, his or her own sociability and his or her own credibility here in this world, he or she will end up with a limited happiness. For example, someone who stays inside all the time and does nothing but watch television. Such a person may be totally happy but because he or she has not allowed his or her joys, his or her friendships or anything else of this nature, to go beyond a small circle, then he or she will have a limited happiness.

A similar situation applies with one’s soul regarding our Lord’s spiritual world. Should a person limit his or her faith, his or her hope or his or her love, then he or she will end up with a limited happiness in heaven. Such a person will choose to remain in a limited heaven.

One should not think that a soul will be unhappy in a limited heaven; such beliefs are untrue. No matter which of the mansions of heaven one is in, one will be happy with a vision of God at all times. But if one seeks an inferior love toward God and man and offers our Lord an inferior gift, then he or she will receive a limited heaven. Such a person has made him or her self unworthy to enjoy the complete freedom of the innermost mansion where God dwells.

One may liken the interior mansions of heaven to different sized glasses; each glass filled to the point of overflowing. So also in each of the interior mansions of God’s spiritual world one is completely filled with peace and happiness. One’s capacity for love and joy is completely filled. It is just that there are different mansions or capacities of the interior castle of one’s own soul.

Finally, one must understand that when one compares these analogies with the real thing, then such is similar to comparing the light of a distant star to the light of the sun. The real thing is much greater.

Each human is free to choose a personal course of behavior in this physical existence. Many advocates of free will believe that human behavior is due to powers arising from within one’s own self and thus not subject to forecast and manipulation. Which is to say that many believe that a person does what he or she wants to do simply because he or she decides to do it. They say that one’s behavior is not subject to past experiences and present conditions.

But a belief that behavior is predictable and changeable does not imply that humans are not free to choose what they will do. That is, possessing free will does not alter the fact that one’s behavior can be anticipated and/or modified.

According to B.F. Skinner (1904 - 1990), one still has choices only one’s choices are limited by past experiences. From the works of other behaviorists, such as Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936), one is able to learn that one’s responses are conditioned by the environment in which one lives. That is, a person does something (or does not do something) because he or she was rewarded in the past for doing the same thing (or was punished for doing the same thing). One still has choices only one’s choices are limited by past experiences.

This is true of all of a person’s actions. Hence, a person actions in this world are the sum total of every reward and/or punishment that he or she has received in the past. One may therefore conclude that the embracing of lawful associations among phenomenon and conduct does not imply a rejection of human free will. (The term lawful here meaning the correlation between incidents that occur orderly and naturally, not any attempt to legislate human behavior.)

Also, some people are genetically predisposed to do a particular task or follow a particular life style. These abilities and life styles can be socially unacceptable or acceptable: e.g., abusive, addictive, slothful, homosexual, athletic, mathematic, scientific and artistic, to name just a few.

This does not necessarily mean that such a person has to follow that life style. It only means that he or she is genetically inclined to follow a particular behavior. That is, it is easier for such a person to follow a particular life style than it is for others to follow that same life style: e.g. to be a mathematician or an artist.

There is nothing to stop him or her from following another type of life style. It may be harder for such a person to pursue another life style, but it can be done. This is especially true for socially unacceptable life styles such as abusive, addictive or slothful behavior. No one is forced by their genetic makeup to follow any life style or pursue any course of action. To deny this is to deny the free will of an individual.

Thus, everyone has free will, but for some it is harder to follow the path to righteousness. That is, it is harder for some people – due to their predisposition – not to give in to temptation. Although our Lord does not allow anyone to be tempted more than they can bear (1Cor.10:13). He gives them other means by which to overcome slothfulness, gluttonous, abusive, addictive, anger and other unacceptable behaviors.

Freedom, both in the physical world and in the spiritual world, is defined in terms of the number of options available to one and the ability to exercise them. However, unlike this physical world, freedom and guidance in the spiritual world depends upon one’s love. The less love one has the more blemished is his or her gift to God, and the more limitations he or she will have in the kingdom of heaven.

It is the goal of our Lord to increase the number of options available to His children. Which is to say that Jesus Christ wishes to increase one’s love to God and man, and thereby increase one’s capacity for happiness and joy in our Lord’s spiritual world. It is the will of Jesus Christ that everyone enter the innermost mansion of heaven where complete freedom of will dwells and one has unhindered guidance from God.

One should forget about hatred, bigotry, bitterness, greed, envy, fear, prejudice, and other evils. Such only exist if the individual allows them to exist. It is these evils that prevent one from positively resolving any psycho-social crisis of development that one may encounter. The only real power the evil one and all his henchmen have is the power one surrenders to them and allows them to have.

If one rejects hate, despair, distrust, jealousy, revenge, covetousness, sloth and other evils, he or she immediately gains a start toward final perfection. Those who do so do the will of God. They can then accomplish their works and studies easier. They have our Lord guiding and directing their lives without any hindrances in their development. Upon reaching one’s final goal of perfect love one will have just begun to touch heaven.

One should look and seek to find the good, the beautiful and the love in all his or her surroundings, especially in one’s fellow man. Anything that limits one from obtaining the goal of perfect love, one should put aside, even if it is one’s own physical life.

For those who have the gift of perfect love, death is not the end of life; death is the beginning of life. It is those who have not perfected their love who look upon death as an end or an evil. Physical death is not an evil; it is nothing more than a new experience into a new and exciting world, the world of heaven.

One should not be afraid to face physical death. The person who is afraid of dying never learns what it means to have life and how to live that life to the fullest. Remember, to overcome physical death one need only die. But if one has perfect love, then death is nothing but a falling to sleep of the physical senses and an awakening of the soul into the waiting arms of our Lord.

One’s purpose in his or her mundane everyday life is to find God within him or her self and him or her self in God. God is love (1Jn.4:8) and one’s daily purpose in life is simple — to love, to love God, to love one’s neighbor, to love oneself, to love everything and everyone at all times.

The average person never learns about our Lord in his or her day to day activities. Most people learn just enough to get by; they never really understand what our Lord’s law is for or why He created it. Such people may be likened to those who learn how to play chess but never learn the strategy of chess or how the pieces cooperate with each other to control the chess board. They never really experience the full joy of the game.

The same is true of God and His law. Those who do not bring it to perfection never really experience the full joy of doing God’s will. Such people are taking the slow road to Jesus Christ. Some individuals never get there at all. But the truly wise take the road called perfect love. God’s law is made to help one find this road.

Jesus Christ knows that only in perfect love to God and to one’s neighbor can there be true happiness. Thus, He made the law of love. One is permitted entrance into the innermost mansion of our Lord’s kingdom by obeying this law to the fullest.

As for those individuals who are filled with the evils of mortal sin, they die forever in the second death. Only love and all those who have love can live forever in heaven. This latter is true even of those who are filled with self love and materialism, which causes them to choose to remain in a limited heaven. But because they maintain some faith in God they will be saved (1Cor.3:13-15).

However, once a child of God overcomes self love and materialism with perfect love he or she will avoid falling into the ditch. Which is to say that he or she will avoid sin when temptation attacks him or her.

This is a gift from Jesus Christ in His love to the children of God. He realizes man’s self love and man’s love of materialism and how the evil one uses this to draw a soul into sin. God also wishes to teach His children of the evil that is caused by sin and the good that is produced by doing the will of God. Hence, He allows Satan, the propagator of all sin, to tempt the children of God.

However, our Lord never allows the evil one to tempt one of His children more than they can bear (1Cor.10:13). That is to say that each person has it within him or her self the ability to avoid sin during times of temptation. It is a person’s own decision whether to make a choice for or against Jesus Christ, to obey or to disobey the law.

Should an individual choose against God, he or she will fall into the ditch of sin. Then he or she must learn through actual experience what sin does to the soul: the loss of grace and its gifts of faith, hope and love. Those who choose to obey the law will increase God’s grace in their soul and learn though observation.

It is God’s fervent wish for one to use this knowledge the next time he or she is approached by temptation and put it to good use by obeying the law. What is so disheartening to our Lord is that many souls, who upon gaining this knowledge, do not put it to good use and they fall back into sin many times. Then our Lord must then carry the burden of their sin or they will die in the second death.

Unless one daily consecrates him or her self to God, dies to this materialistic life, and begins to live a spiritual life, the possibility that he or she can exist through one full day without sinning is extremely slim. One must be constantly on guard because the evil one, the great tempter, is always using one’s own love of materialism to coax one’s soul away from Jesus Christ. Satan is constantly trying to get the children of God to believe in lies.

It takes many years of daily, dedicated practice in humility in order to avoid sin every time it attacks one. The average person is full of self love and secularism and his or her soul is full of darkness and confusion. Rarely does the average person offer up more than one hour a week to God. The average person is often tricked into sin by Satan and our Lord must constantly pull them out of the ditch and bring them back to Himself.

They are like little children who must be constantly watched for their own protection. It is our Lord’s wish that they will correct themselves and begin to obey the law of love to their neighbor and thereby live a normal life. He must carry the burden of their sins when they do not follow a life of love. Only after many years of daily, dedicated practice can one begin to learn how to help our Lord carry one’s own cross.

One should note that it is God who carries the burden of one’s sins. The most that a child of God can hope to do is to help our Lord carry this cross by living a life of perfect love. For only through perfect love to God and one’s neighbor can one profess to be helping Jesus Christ complete His mission, which is to save souls.

Those who offer less than perfect love to God are not helping Him; they are giving Him a heavier burden to carry. But a soul who truly loves God will daily seek to help lift the burden of his or her own sins off the shoulders of Jesus Christ. A soul who truly loves God will daily seek perfect love through obedience to the law of love to his or her neighbor.

Alpha Omega

Love Love Love