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What is Divine Love?
Divine Love is not simply the love of God for man. Nor is it human love purified by God in some way so as to be called divine. Divine Love is not an amorphous concept or idea or feeling. No, the Divine Love is "very different in its substance and qualities from all other loves." (True Gospel revealed Anew by Jesus, Vol. I, p. 35)
The Divine Love is,
in fact, "THE GREATEST THING IN ALL GOD'S UNIVERSE AND NOT ONLY THE GREATEST,
BUT THE SUM OF ALL THINGS, FOR FROM IT FLOWS EVERY OTHER THING THAT BRINGS
PEACE AND HAPPINESS." (Vol. I, p. 36)
Jesus teaches: "...
THE DIVINE LOVE IS THAT LOVE WHICH BELONGS TO OR IS A PART OF GOD, POSSESSING
HIS NATURE AND COMPOSED OF HIS SUBSTANCE, AND WHICH WHEN POSSESSED BY MAN TO A
SUFFICIENT DEGREE, MAKES HIM DIVINE AND OF THE NATURE OF GOD. (Vol. I, p. 21)
He
explains: "God is Soul, and only Soul, which has in it all the attributes of
love and wisdom and thought for the welfare of His creatures. He is a thinking
and seeing God, and all the energies of His Soul are used to make men better
and happier. As is the natural father of the man a personal father, so is the
Great Soul of God, a Personal Father to all his children; and men when they
have the development of their souls in the Divine Love will know that God is
personal-something more than an all enveloping energy or force or mere
manifestation of His existence." (Vol. II, pp. 195-196)
"ONLY THE FATHER IS
IMMORTAL, AND ONLY THOSE TO WHOM HE GIVES HIS ATTRIBUTES OF IMMORTALITY CAN
BECOME IMMORTAL AS HE IS. LOVE IS THE GREAT PRINCIPLE OF IMMORTALITY, AND BY
THIS I MEAN THE DIVINE LOVE OF THE FATHER AND NOT THE NATURAL LOVE OF THE
CREATURE; AND HE WHO POSSESSES THIS DIVINE LOVE BECOMES AS IT WERE, A PART OF
IT, OR IT MAKES HIM LIKE UNTO THE FATHER." (Vol. I, p. 56)
"All men are the
children of God, and His Love and care are over all, and they are very dear to
Him, otherwise He would not have rebestowed His Love upon them and given them
the privilege of becoming inhabitants of His Celestial Kingdom." (Vol. I, p.
30) "The Love of God is reaching out for every man, so that the meanest will be
the object of His Care." (Vol. II, p. 4)
"NOW, IT HAD BETTER
BE UNDERSTOOD WHAT THIS DIVINE LOVE WAS AND IS, FOR IT IS THE SAME TODAY THAT
IT WAS WHEN MAN WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. THIS LOVE DIFFERS FROM THE
NATURAL LOVE OF MAN, WITH WHICH HE WAS ENDOWED WHEN CREATED AND WHICH BELONGS
TO ALL MEN AND WHICH THEY ALL POSSESS IN A MORE OR LESS PERFECT CONDITION, IN
THIS, THAT THE DIVINE LOVE IS THAT LOVE WHICH BELONGS TO OR IS A PART OF GOD,
POSSESSING HIS NATURE AND COMPOSED OF HIS SUBSTANCE, AND WHICH WHEN POSSESSED
BY MAN TO A SUFFICIENT DEGREE, MAKES HIM DIVINE AND OF THE NATURE OF GOD. THIS
GREAT LOVE GOD INTENDED SHOULD BE RECEIVED AND POSSESSED BY ALL MEN WHO SHOULD
DESIRE TO RECEIVE IT AND WHO WOULD MAKE THE EFFORT TO OBTAIN IT." (Vol. I, p.
21)
