Valentine’s Message and Meaning

Valentine’s Message

Last Sunday, the 14th of February 2010, many celebrated the day, either as a religious feast – the feast day of St. Valentine for the Roman Catholics – or, as a Chinese New Year celebrating the Year of the Tiger.

To my knowledge, the Church has never considered St
Valentine to be a major saint, and so no special holy day has been set aside in the church calendar for it, except that it happened to fall on a Sunday – a worship day for Christians – this year.

What makes this February 14th date significant not only for the religious but for the secular (much more so, I think) is the fact that this is the day for lovers: be they husband-and-wife; boyfriend-and-girlfriend; parents-and-children; and everything in between, as long as the relationship is expressed in love. And love can of course be expressed in many ways: physically or carnally, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. Or, in combination with any of these.

Our God – as the epitome of LOVE – finds its highest spiritual
expression in the Bible: God is love (1John 4:8); and, “For God so
loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have life everlasting (John 3:16); and the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, reduced into just two great commandments by Jesus, in Matthew 22:37-40, when He declared,”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

But are these spiritual, biblical, expressions of love reflected in
the world today? Hardly, I would say, except in a very cursory sort of way. This is because, to most, the word ‘love’ connotes only one thing, and that is ‘physical love,’ which can mean the love or attraction to things that can be detected by our five physical senses – the sense of sight, taste, hear, smell and touch. We are attracted (or “fall in love with”) to material things and people because they gratify our physical senses.

So the question is asked: Should Christians observe 14 February as a religious event with emphasis on spiritual love; or, simply celebrate it as a worldly, non-religious or secular occasion as done by others? -nr

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Charles Colson, a one-time White House aide during the term of U.S. President Richard Nixon in the mid-1970s, and who was imprisoned for his involvement in the Watergate scandal and is now president and founder of the worldwide Prison Ministry, has written a perceptive article entitled “Valentine’s Dynamic Love” in Christianity Today.org.

In that article Harvard-trained lawyer and pastor Chuck Colson posits that Christian love is most godly when it is against the world for the world. This sounds like a contradiction in terms,but it isn’t, as Colson explains below. Colson writes:

“Valentine’s Dynamic Love”

(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/february/19.57.html)

‘Our modern glorification of sentimental love, celebrated with a
flurry of Hallmark cards each February, has little to do with Saint
Valentine. The only clear account that remains of the 3rd-century
priest’s life tells of how the Roman Emperor Claudius II personally
interrogated him and tried to persuade him to convert to Roman
paganism (or die). Valentine refused and tried to convert the emperor
to Christianity instead, eventually dying a martyr’s death.
While Valentine’s story may not have much to do with roses,
chocolates, and heart-shaped doilies, it has more to do with real love
than we realize. Indeed, Christians have long understood that love is
much costlier, stronger, and more difficult than the cheap romanticism
of our age.’

‘Nothing could sum that up better than the title of my column, “Contra
mundum,” Latin for “Against the world.” The matter first came to my
attention while reading a letter penned by John Wesley [the founder of
Methodism-nr] to that indefatigable public servant and slavery
abolitionist, William Wilberforce. In it, Wesley compared Wilberforce
to Athanasius, an earlier champion of Christ’s cause who had stood
“against the world,” defending the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity
against Arian heretics’ [Explanatory Note: The Council of Nicea
convened in 325 A.D. to once and for all establish the Doctrine of the
Trinity – Three Persons in One God. The result is the Nicene Creed,
familiar to us as the Apostles Creed. The Roman Emperor Constantine
was instrumental in convening the council.-nr].

‘My friend, [theologian] Richard John Neuhaus would later pick up the
phrase and add another—”against the world for the world”—to describe
the modern-day reform movement, eventually known as the Hartford
Appeal. Neuhaus, Wesley, Wilberforce, Athanasius, and Valentine all
knew that true love for one’s neighbor sometimes means standing
against the world for the world’s sake.’

‘While recently reading Peter Kreeft’s wonderful 2004 book, The God
Who Loves You, I was reminded that almost every prominent modern-day
apologist has written at least one book about love. Alongside their
tomes defending the tenets of the faith, C. S. Lewis, Francis
Schaeffer, Norman Geisler, Ravi Zacharias, Art Lindsley, and Kreeft
have all turned their attention to studying the many facets of love.
Why did each of them take time from their urgent calling to write a
book on what some might consider a strange subject for apologists?’[An
‘apologist’ is one who takes a strong stance in defending the faith].

‘While these apologists took the stance of being against the
world—against the false worldviews of their day—they took that stance
because they were for the world, wanting the world’s ultimate good.
Love is the true apologist’s motive, the animus [or ‘spirit’]. It is
also the telos, or end goal: Since God is love [1Jn 4:8],
understanding the true nature of love means helping people understand
the true nature of God. And if these weren’t reasons enough, these
writers have learned that love itself is the greatest apologetic. In
other words, love is the reason why they defend their faith – they
want to share their love to others.’

‘Yet so many have misunderstood love’s meaning because the English
language has only one word to describe its many emotions and objects.
The Greek writers were more nuanced. Love can be: (a) eros, the
romantic kind that we celebrate this month; or (b) storge, meaning
affinity and affection,as between parents and children; or (c)
phileo, brotherly fondness, that which exist among fraternal
organizations; and, finally (c) agape, God’s self-denying love or
sacrificial love.’

‘The first three refer to emotions, but agape is an objective state.
It is true love. One of the main arguments for atheism, Kreeft warns,
stems from a confusion between objective love and mere emotions such
as kindness. After all, how could a good God permit suffering in the
world?’[Doesn’t God have emotions like you and me? the sufferer asks].

‘”Agape wills the objective good of the beloved,” writes Kreeft. “Thus
it wills or tolerates suffering when suffering is necessary for the
beloved’s true, objective good.” He goes on to explain that this is
why loving parents discipline their children, and why God does not
wipe every tear away until his return. While agape often overlaps with
kindness, and is always teeming with emotion, God still takes a
long-range view of the beloved’s best interest. God’s pure
self-forgetful gift-love has a perfect view of the beloved’s needs and
true fulfillment.’

‘If knowing God is the greatest objective good for humans, then the
aim of real love is helping others know God. It means displacing false
gods from the throne of the one true God. It means helping the beloved
find that which truly satisfies. Lewis writes in the essay, The Four
Loves, that the lesser loves begin to become demons the moment they
begin to become gods.[A demon tries to distract us, to draw us away
from God’s true path, by offering us the false pleasures of these
emotional kinds of love]. That is why Christ tells us, “If any man
come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife … and his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26, KJV). Like
Valentine, Athanasius, and Wilberforce—and like God himself—true love
must sometimes take a stance of opposition for the objective good of
the beloved. True love will dismantle false worldviews. True love will
reveal where lesser loves have become gods. True love will be against
the world for the world, because true love knows what the world needs
most.’

Life’s Meaning

Hi! Sharing this with you, from gotquestions.org.

“What is the meaning of life?”

From: www. GotQuestions.org

Answer: What is the meaning of life? How can purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction in life be found? How can something of lasting significance be achieved? So many people have never stopped to consider these important questions. They look back years later and wonder why their relationships have fallen apart and why they feel so empty, even though they may have achieved what they set out to accomplish. An athlete who had reached the pinnacle of his sport was once asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing his sport. He replied, “I wish that someone would have told me that when you reach the top, there’s nothing there.” Many goals reveal their emptiness only after years have been wasted in their pursuit.

In our humanistic culture, people pursue many things, thinking that in them they will find meaning. Some of these pursuits include business success, wealth, good relationships, sex, entertainment, and doing good to others. People have testified that while they achieved their goals of wealth, relationships, and pleasure, there was still a deep void inside, a feeling of emptiness that nothing seemed to fill.

The author of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes describes this feeling when he says, “Meaningless! Meaningless! …Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, had wealth beyond measure, wisdom beyond any man of his time or ours, hundreds of women, palaces and gardens that were the envy of kingdoms, the best food and wine, and every form of entertainment available. He said at one point that anything his heart wanted, he pursued. And yet he summed up “life under the sun”—life lived as though all there is to life is what we can see with our eyes and experience with our senses—is meaningless. Why is there such a void? Because God created us for something beyond what we can experience in the here-and-now. Solomon said of God, “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In our hearts we are aware that the “here-and-now” is not all that there is.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we find that God created mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). This means that we are more like God than we are like anything else (any other life form). We also find that before mankind fell into sin and the curse of sin came upon the earth, the following things were true: 1) God made man a social creature (Genesis 2:18-25); 2) God gave man work (Genesis 2:15); 3) God had fellowship with man (Genesis 3:8); and 4) God gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26). What is the significance of these things? God intended for each of these to add to our fulfillment in life, but all of these (especially man’s fellowship with God) were adversely affected by man’s fall into sin and the resulting curse upon the earth (Genesis 3).

In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, God reveals that He will destroy this present earth and heavens and usher in the eternal state by creating a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, He will restore full fellowship with redeemed mankind, while the unredeemed will have been judged unworthy and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). The curse of sin will be done away with; there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, death, or pain (Revelation 21:4). God will dwell with them, and they shall be His sons (Revelation 21:7). Thus, we come full circle: God created us to have fellowship with Him, man sinned, breaking that fellowship, God restores that fellowship fully in the eternal state. To go through life achieving everything only to die separated from God for eternity would be worse than futile! But God has made a way to not only make eternal bliss possible (Luke 23:43) but also life on earth satisfying and meaningful. How is this eternal bliss and “heaven on earth” obtained?

Meaning of life restored through Jesus Christ

Real meaning in life, both now and in eternity, is found in the restoration of the relationship with God that was lost with Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. That relationship with God is only possible through His Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 1:12; 14:6). Eternal life is gained when we repent of our sin (no longer want to continue in it) and Christ changes us, making of us new creations, and we rely on Jesus Christ as Savior.

Real meaning in life is not found only in accepting Jesus as Savior, as wonderful as that is. Rather, real meaning in life is when one begins to follow Christ as His disciple, learning of Him, spending time with Him in His Word, communing with Him in prayer, and in walking with Him in obedience to His commands. If you are not a Christian (or perhaps a new believer), you might be saying to yourself, “That does not sound very exciting or fulfilling to me!” But Jesus made the following statements:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

What all of these verses are saying is that we have a choice. We can continue to seek to guide our own lives, which results in emptiness, or we can choose to pursue God and His will for our lives with a whole heart, which will result in living life to the full, having the desires of our hearts met, and finding contentment and satisfaction. This is so because our Creator loves us and desires the best for us (not necessarily the easiest life, but the most fulfilling).

The Christian life can be compared to the choice of whether to purchase the expensive seats at a sporting event that are close to the action, or pay less and watch the game from a distance. Watching God work “from the front row” is what we should choose but, sadly, is not what most people choose. Watching God work firsthand is for whole-hearted disciples of Christ who have truly stopped pursuing their own desires to pursue instead God’s purposes. They have paid the price (complete surrender to Christ and His will); they are experiencing life to its fullest; and they can face themselves, their fellow man, and their Maker with no regrets. Have you paid the price? Are you willing to? If so, you will not hunger after meaning or purpose again.

LA Hiker in the Desert for 6 days; Jesus in Desert 40 Days

LA Hiker in the Desert for 6 days; Jesus in Desert 40 Days

The three Gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke) record Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert, where he stayed 40 days and 40 nights without food or water, and – on the last day – being tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1-10).        After its unsuccessful attempt, the frustrated devil finally left Jesus alone and then angels came and attended to him.

On the other hand, Edward Rosenthal simply lost his way while hiking in the desert. Also without food and water for six days, he survived by staying in the shade and moving as little as possible while awaiting his rescue.

We do not know how Jesus survived the 40 days, for the bible accounts are sparse. Perhaps it was his age and superb physical conditioning (Jesus was 30 yrs old at that time and worked as a carpenter; Rosenthal was 64-yrs old but fit); or, because of their robust race (both were Jewish). Rosenthal lost 20 pounds; Jesus probably more. Rosenthal begun praying for rain and it rained, so he was able to slake his thirst, which gave him hope. Jesus was filled with the Spirit from the very beginning, and doubtless he must have prayed to his Father unceasingly for strength. At the end of 6 days Rosenthal’s kidneys were about to fail. At the end of 40 days Jesus faced his ultimate test: a duel with Satan himself just when he was at his weakest physical state.

What is the point of comparing the two?

The point being, like Jesus and Rosenthal, we all will have to face our own, individual desert tests, sooner or later. And – like Jesus who survived his test – Rosenthal too, somehow, survived his! The question is: Will we be able survive our test when it comes?

Of course, skeptics can always pooh-pooh the biblical account of Jesus’ testing (I know some already have criticized Rosenthal’s, mixed with some Jewish jokes). Nonetheless I think no one may argue that Rosenthal got a second lease on life, and that’s about the best that most of us can hope for, short of emulating Jesus’ example…

neneR

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LA hiker followed shade during 6 days in desert

By Associated Press Writer Jacob Adelman– Tue Oct 5, 9:47 pm ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_joshua_tree_missing_hiker?bcmt=31805021#mwpphu-comment-31805021

LOS ANGELES – A 64-year-old hiker who was stranded for six days in the Southern California desert said Tuesday he survived by staying still in a small canyon and moving only to follow the shade. Edward Rosenthal said he became so weak that he couldn’t sit up when a helicopter rescue crew finally found him last Thursday. He was gaunt and a bit unsteady Tuesday at his first news conference since the ordeal. He said he had lost 20 pounds in the desert. His face was tan and leathery, and his eyes were tired but alert as he recounted the days without food or water, beyond the rain drops he caught in his mouth during a drizzle that came the day before he was rescued.

“I’m much more religious now,” he said in the thick accent of his native New York. “I prayed for rain and it rained.”

His ordeal started Sept. 24 when Rosenthal went for a day hike but became disoriented after making a wrong turn while returning to his car. In the days that followed, he wrote on his hat what he thought would be his last messages of love to his wife and daughter and to offer plans for his funeral.

To his brother he wrote: “A brother like you, is all good and true.” To his nephew: “Gideon — Kick soccer ass!” He named pallbearers for his funeral, specified a menu and asked guests not to solemnly mourn him but to get drunk and celebrate his life instead.

Rosenthal, a prominent Los Angeles real estate broker, also recalled restricting his movements to use as little energy as possible, and using his prized walking stick to lift himself up and out of the sun just a few times a day. “If I had to walk 10 steps, that was a big deal,” said Rosenthal, who spoke in the dining room of Clifton’s Cafeteria, a landmark restaurant he had brokered the sale of just days before leaving on what he thought would be a short hike in Joshua Tree National Park, where he had been many times. After losing his bearings, he wandered some 25 miles in the searing heat to the canyon where he spent the following days with a horsefly that buzzed around him.

He grew so discouraged at one point that he decided to recite the Shema Yisrael, a verse spoken by Jews when they think they’re going to die. The next morning, however, he woke up optimistic about pulling through. He began using his aluminum thermal blanket to signal helicopters he saw flying nearby, and twice used flares to light fires in the canyon. But searchers missed him.

“Finally, the helicopter that I had seen for days came in the canyon and the gentleman asked me, ‘hey are you that Rosenthal?’” he recalled.

Rosenthal was dehydrated when rescue crews airlifted him to a hospital and doctors told him his kidneys were in danger of failing. By Monday, he had recovered enough to return to his Culver City home. He did not think he would have survived without the walking stick, the light rain and the small canyon that offered refuge from the sun.

“That little five-acre canyon saved my life. It always had some shade,” he said.