The Divine Love vs. Natural Love

THE DIVINE LOVE  VS.  NATURAL LOVE
 

There is no one, anywhere, who is not looking for love; no soul who, at some level, at some time, does not long for feelings of companionship and love. Every human being on earth wants to know he or she is cared for, loved, valued. But the gift of the natural love--that love which enables men "to live in a good and harmonious way with their fellowmen"--although it can bring us much earthly contentment, is not sufficient to fill the deeper soul need of at-onement with God; indeed, this human love, at man's creation, was "not the real Love that formed a part of the Divine nature of the Father, and was not intended to make men a part of that nature." (Vol. II, True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus, p. 65) 

As Jesus says, "MERE MORAL GOODNESS, OR THE POSSESSION OF THE NATURAL LOVE TO ITS FULLEST DEGREE WILL NOT CONFER UPON MAN THIS DIVINE NATURE THAT I HAVE MENTIONED; NOR WILL GOOD ACTS, AND CHARITY AND KINDNESS, OF THEMSELVES LEAD MEN TO THE POSSESSION OF THIS LOVE, BUT THE POSSESSION OF THIS LOVE  [Divine Love]  IN TRUTH AND IN FACT, WILL LEAD TO CHARITY, AND GOOD DEEDS, AND KINDNESS, ALWAYS UNSELFISH, AND TO A BROTHERHOOD OF MEN ON EARTH THAT THE MERE NATURAL LOVE CANNOT POSSIBLY LEAD TO OR CAUSE TO EXIST." (Vol. I, p. 131)

Jesus continues: "Many, I know, write and believe that all men, irrespective of the kind of love they have in their souls, possess what they call 'the divine spark,' which needs only the proper development to make all men divine. But this conception of the state of man in his natural condition is all wrong, for man has not in him any part of the divine, and never can have, unless he receives and has developed in him, this Divine Love.....In all God's universe and creation of things material and spiritual the only one of His creatures who can possibly have within him anything of a divine nature is he who possesses this Divine Love." (Vol. I, p. 21)

"The universe of man can and will continue to exist, even though man may never become a partaker of this divine nature of the Father, and man will live and enjoy the happiness that was bestowed upon him at the time of his creation, and he will not lose the perfect condition of this creation after he shall have been separated from sin and error, his own creatures. But he will not be anything more than the perfect man, and in the time to come will not be anything less, and, yet, he will always, as long as he exists, remain distinct from the nature and Essence of the Father, just as he was at the time of his creation, unless he obtains this divine nature and Essence of the Father in the way that I mentioned." (Vol. I, p. 99)

So, we see there is a distinction between the Divine Love, which not only comes from God but is of  God, and the natural love, or that love with which we care for and love one another. We also see that we are not automatically created with the Divine Love, but that it comes from God and we ourselves are responsible for obtaining it. This important distinction between the natural and the Divine Love, and the realization that we cannot accomplish for ourselves, through the natural love, what the Divine Love can, helps us begin to understand the primary role of the Divine Love in the workings of the earth and the desirability of acquiring it--for our own personal salvation as well as to help advance God's plan for harmony and peace in the world.

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