Transcript WELCOME TO THE MEETING HOUSE!

“The first and most important
question any person can ask
is: How can I become a more
loving human being?”
~ Sam Keen,
Philosopher & Theologian
“People are looking for romantic
love to serve the function that
religion served for their
predecessors – to give life a
sense of meaning and purpose.”
~ Ayala Malach Pines,
Psychologist
“Little of what is expected of
people can be appreciated until
we realize that the commands to
love God and our neighbour are
basic. Love is not to be treated
as peripheral.”
~ Leon Morris, Theologian
“True love will lead the
beloved to the best possible
path. And that will mean
that from time to time
disciplinary measures will be
taken.”
“Pure love is unconditional. There
aren’t any strings attached to pure love,
no conditions that have to be lived up
to. Pure love is given because the
person ‘is’, because the person exists.
The only qualification for receiving true
love is to ‘be’. That means that I cannot
earn love. The only way I could be
disqualified as a candidate for love is to
cease to ‘be’.”
“The sharp rise in the divorce rate in
the past two decades is linked, at
least in part, to the growing
importance of intense positive
emotional experiences (e.g.,
romantic love) in people’s lives,
experiences that may be particularly
difficult to sustain over time.”
~ Simpson, Campbell, & Berscheid,
“When two people are under the
influence of the most violent, most
insane, most delusive, and most
transient of passions, they are
required to swear that they will
remain in that excited, abnormal,
and exhausting condition
continuously until death do them
part.”
“Passionate love is in may ways
an altered state of
consciousness. … In many states
today, there are laws that a
person must not be in an
intoxicated condition when
marrying. … But passionate love
is a kind of intoxication.”
“The rule for all of us is perfectly
simple. Do not waste time bothering
whether you ‘love’ your neighbour;
act as if you did. As soon as we do
this we find one of the great secrets.
When you are behaving as if you
loved someone, you will presently
come to love him.”
~ C. S. Lewis, Philosopher
“Love is as love does.”
~ Eric Fromm, Psychoanalyst
“Love, in the Christian sense,
does not mean an emotion. It is
a state not of the feelings but of
the will; that state of the will
which we have naturally about
ourselves, and must learn to
have about other people.”
~ C. S. Lewis, Philosopher
“A new command I give you:
Love one another. As I have
loved you, so you must love
one another. By this everyone
will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one
another.”
~ John 13:34-35 (TNIV)
“Love is anything done for
a person because of who
that person is.”
~ Rich Buhler, Counselor
Our Definition:
Love is the will to extend
one’s self for the purpose
of actively honouring the
value of a person.
“Love, then is a form of work
or a form of courage. …
If an act is not one of work
or courage, then it is not
an act of love.
There are no exceptions.”
~ M. Scott Peck, Psychiatrist
The entire law is fulfilled in
keeping this one command:
"Love your neighbor as
yourself."
~ Galatians 5:14 (TNIV)
Husbands ought to love their
wives as their own bodies. He
who loves his wife loves himself.
After all, people have never hated
their own bodies, but they feed
and care for them, just as Christ
does the church – for we are
members of his body.
~ Ephesians 5:28-30 (TNIV)
“The first obligation of a
genuinely loving person will
always be to his or her marital
and parental relationships.”
~ M. Scott Peck, Psychiatrist
Romance-Based VS.
Arranged Marriages
“It is when a couple falls out
of love that they may begin to
really love.”
~ M. Scott Peck, Psychiatrist
“Partners who adore each other are
prophets. With time they shape the
relationship according to their own
vision. … Use the power of selffulfilling prophecies. Treat your
(potential) partners as if they were
exactly what you want them to be –
sexy, exciting, attractive. Your
behaviour will help bring out those
traits in them.”
~ Ayala Malach Pines, Psychologist
With the tongue we praise
our Lord and Father, and
with it we curse human
beings, who have been
made in God's likeness.
~ James 3:9 (TNIV)
So in everything, do to
others what you would
have them do to you, for
this sums up the Law and
the Prophets.
~ Matthew 7:12 (TNIV)