The sister-in-law of a friend of Dr. Johnson was imprudent enough once to claim in his presence that she was happy . He pounced on her hard, remarking in a loud, emphatic voice that if she was indeed indeed the contented being she professed herself to be, then her life gave the lie to every research of humanity ; for she was happy without health, without beauty, without money and without understanding . It was a rough treatment, for which Johnson has been much criticized, though it should be remembered that he spoke as an eighteenth-century man, before our present preoccupation with happiness as an enduring condition of life became prevalent. Actually, I think I see hi point .
There is something quite ridiculous, and even indecent, in an individual claiming to be happy. Still more, a people or a nation making such a claim. The pursuit of happiness, included along with life and liberty in the American Declaration of Independence as an inalienable right, is without any question the most fatuous which could possibly be undertaken. This lamentable phrase – the pursuit of happiness – is responsible for a good part of the ills and miseries of the modern world. To pursue happiness individually or collectively, as a conscious aim is the surest way to miss it altogether ; as is only too tragically evident in countries like Sweden and America where happiness has been most ardently pursued, and where the material circumstances usually considered conducive to happiness have been most effectively constructed .
The Gadarene swine were doubtless in pursuit of happiness when they hurled themselves to destruction over the cliff . Today, the greater part of mankind, led by the technologically most advanced, are similarly bent, and if they persist, will assuredly meet a similar fate . The pursuit of happiness, in any case, soon resolves itself into the pursuit of pleasure, something quite different – a mirage of happiness, a false vision of shade and refreshment seen across parched sand . Where, then, does happiness lie ? In forgetfulness, not indulgence, of the self . In escape from sensual appetites, not in their satisfaction . We live in a dark, self-enclosed prison which is all we see or know if our glance is fixed ever downwards .
To lift it upwards, becoming aware of the wide, luminous universe outside – this alone is happiness. At its highest level such happiness is the ecstasy which mystics have inadequately described . At more humdrum levels it is human love ; the delights and beauties of our dear earth , its colours and shapes and sounds ; the enchantment of understanding and laughing, and al other exercise of such faculties as we possess ; the marvel of the meaning of everything, fitfully glimpsed, inadequately expounded, but ever-present .
Such is happiness – not compressible into a pill ; not translatable into a sensation ; lost to whoever would grasp it to himself alone, not to be gorged out of a trough, or torn out of self alone, not to be gorged out of a trough, or torn out of another’s body, or paid into a bank, or driven along a motorway, or fired in gun-salutes, or discovered in the stratosphere.
Existing, intangible, in every true response to life, and absent in every false one. Propounded through the centuries in every noteworthy word and thought and deed . Expressed in art and literature and music ; in vast cathedrals and tiny melodies ; in everything that is harmonious, and in the unending heroism of imperfect men reaching after perfection .
The tide of the twentieth century was flowing in a different direction altogether. It was the picture palaces, their fronts so brilliantly lighted, inside so mysteriously dark, that provided our true churches and chapels. There we sat, separately or clasped together, in scented darkness ( in those days attendants during intervals squirted perfume like Flit over the heads of the patrons in their seats ) and worshipped our tribal gods – sex, money and violence – as they were projected on to the screen and entered into our own minds and bodies . Thus the new gospel was propounded – in the beginning was the Flesh and the Flesh became Word; to be carnally minded is life – dying in the Spirit to be re-born in the Flesh. There was no more ardent acolyte than I, and yet, trudging homewards late at night along the empty tram-lines, a fearful sense of desolation would fall upon me . I strained my ear, but heard only the sound of my own footsteps ; I peered ahead, but saw nothing except the tramlines reaching into the distance. And You – where were You then ? Ready ! the answer comes back – ready, but unsummoned .
In 1920, when I was seventeen, I went to Cambridge , rather, as it seems in retrospect, in fulfillment of my father’s aspirations than mine . It was he, not I, who spoke of an Alma Mater, of sporting one’s oak, etc., etc . His Fabian heroes, in their tweed suits and ample coloured ties, with their enriched voices and flow of eager words, seemed to him the flower of mankind, and he hoped that Cambridge would make me another such. Alas, dear man, it was not to be. His innocent snobbishness, of a kind very prevalent in the Labor Party, then as now, led him, without his being aware of it, to want to have me made in the image of all that, as a Socialist, he most deplored . I thought of this years later when Lord Snow, after a spirited recommendation of comprehensive schools to his fellow-peers, let out that he was sending his own son to Eton. Only as children of God are we equal ; all other claims to equality – social, economic, racial, intellectual, sexual – only serve in practice to intensify inequality . For this reason Your commandment to love our fellow men follows after, and depends upon, the commandment to love God . How marvelous is the love thus-attained – the faces looming up, young and old, sullen and gay, beautiful and plain, clever and stupid, black, pink and grey ; all brothers and sisters, all equally dear !
( Brother Malcolm Muggeridge , from “ Jesus Rediscovered ” )
" F O R G I V E / T H E M / F A T H E R / , F O R / T H E Y / K N O W / N O T / W H A T / T H E Y / D O . " ( Jesus the Christ, Last Statement Whilst On the Crucifix )
Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
15:5 There rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees. Men of that sect who, like Paul, had become Christians, but unlike him had retained their Jewish bigotry. Perhaps some of them were Paul's old friends. They seem to have sprung the controversy when the missionaries gave account of their work (Ac 15:4) .( People's New Testament )
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 15:1-6 Some from Judea taught the Gentile converts at Antioch, that they could not be saved, unless they observed the whole ceremonial law as given by Moses; and thus they sought to destroy Christian liberty. There is a strange proneness in us to think that all do wrong who do not just as we do. Their doctrine was very discouraging. Wise and good men desire to avoid contests and disputes as far as they can; yet when false teachers oppose the main truths of the gospel, or bring in hurtful doctrines, we must not decline to oppose them.
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Historical Responses by Different Men of Universal Distinctions and Natural Authority - Lovers of True Liberties ( As Espoused in Christ via the Path of Virtues ) , As Have Aspired to the Tenets of Christendom, ( Yet ), have Suffered the Intellectual Afflictions and consequent Disappointments in the Whole Body of Christendom as Perpetuated by the profaning agencies of Pseudo-Christians and "The Brood of Vipers" supposed as Religious Opportunists through the ages and the Cloaks of the ages, Thus in the Name of True Belief, destroying the Actuality of the Arc of True Faith by Words and Consistent Deeds :
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. ” Voltaire
“The purpose of Christianity is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes. It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life.” James L. Christensen
“An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons - marriage, or meat, or beer, or cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.” C . S . Lewis
“Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to the garage makes you a car.” Dr. Laurence J. Peter
“If a man cannot be a Christian in the place where he is, he cannot be a Christian anywhere.” Henry Ward Beecher
“It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” Patrick Henry
“Christianity does not remove you from the world and its problems; it makes you fit to live in it, triumphantly and usefully. " Charles Templeton
“Christianity is the greatest intellectual system the mind of man has ever touched." Francis Schaeffer
From the 1928 book The Nature of the Physical World, which helped to popularize the term, Eddington states: Let us draw an arrow arbitrarily. If as we follow the arrow we find more and more of the random element in the state of the world, then the arrow is pointing towards the future; if the random element decreases the arrow points towards the past. That is the only distinction known to physics. This follows at once if our fundamental contention is admitted that the introduction of randomness is the only thing which cannot be undone. I shall use the phrase ‘time’s arrow’ to express this one-way property of time which has no analogue in space.
Eddington then gives three points to note about this arrow:
1 It is vividly recognized by consciousness. 2 It is equally insisted on by our reasoning faculty, which tells us that a reversal of the arrow would render the external world nonsensical. 3 It makes no appearance in physical science except in the study of organization of a number of individuals.
" The inexorable direction of change, linked to the asymmetry of time ( before : now : after ), was vividly described by the scientist Arthur Eddington ( 1882 - 1944 ) on as ' the arrow of time ' . Throughout the process of continuing universal degradation, the dwindling stock of 'useful' energy encounters a hierarchy of fixed physical laws conforming to mathematical formula, and it is from the interaction of these unchanging laws with the arrow of time that comes a changing world of astonishing complexity, variety and beauty. The pendulum runs down from a state of disequilibrium to one of equilibrium, and the same is true, we are told, of the universe, the ultimate 'closed system'. From a state of extreme disequilibrium it plunged via the ' Big Bang' towards its future ultimate state of utterly dark, frozen equilibrium. Between the beginning and the end there is a continual, cumulative transformation of 'useful' energy, capable of forming temporary structures and causing events, into 'useless' energy - forever lost . " ( Source )
"...Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things." Brother Jesus, The Christ.
