Patrick and Sarah

Thanks for your two cents. Seven is a good number......but it is changing a little at a time. As far as the Christian veiw of a fallen world: Same same. A belief is a poweful thing that effects our lives in powerful ways. The good thing is the beliefs do change if we let them. Through trial and error we learn what works for us and what does not. I do agree that we can give a false immage with such wordage as "the goodness of mankind". It is important to teach the young that not all people have evolved to letting love be there guiding precept. It is much like Pauls analogy of the "Body of Christ" comming to a "perfect man", we are not all there yet. I am having fun with it. Thanks

Hi brideofjc, New Thought is not a Bible bound philosophy, but it does use a lot of Bible for reference. I am greatly influenced by Christianity especially Paul. Jesus Christ walked with the relationship to God that we all can attain to. I and the Father are one. As far as "wrong type of spirituality" goes, I am not dualistic. Wrong spirituality would be any tyrannical system or a system that causes harm rather then health. I do agree with you though that we do need to be carefull what we submit ourselves to. New Thought and New Age are two different things.

pond, Thanks for sneeking in there. When I find that people do not agree with me about what the common good is I allow them and I to coexist, knowing that we are really one and in the end all things will come together. Yes I can learn from them because I believe that they are a part of me and I am a part of them in some way. BTW here is a paragraph that I have added. I am not “a man unto myself”. I am one who is part of the whole. Every human being is part of me, and I am part of all humanity. There is somthing that I can learn from each individual, fellow traveler, that I come in contact with.

T-Bone, Thanks for sugesting that I post a little something on the class I am taking. It has done me good to get all the input. It has been a good "focusing tool" for me to find what is missing. sunesis, When I mentioned your comment to Sarah, she said: "Thank God for those hippies". as for your change 1) I believe that man is "fallen", do to his own mistakes, and the cards that have been dealt through sircumstance, upbringing, community ect........Man can and should rise above any "fallen" state..........GET UP! 2)As for hope in humanity, I retain it. I was talking to my mother the other day about the "state of the world" When I mentioned that one day it will be better, she said that she did not believe that "the world will ever be a better place". This stems from her Christain beliefs. A belief is a powerful force in our lives and we tend to get what we emagine. bulwinkl, Love your avitar. Thanks for your input. I'm not sure that it should be a hard fast rule that I must "acknowlege to the person wronged" but it is implied, in the making of things right, the relationships often can only be mended correctly by admitting my wrongness. JeffSjo, Meta=above or after Physic=physical The course I am taking is a "foundations" class. It is a 13 session class that uses a book by Ernest Holmes called "Scinece of Mind" as it's text. The parent orginization is: http://www.religiousscience.org/ Who now call themselves "United Centers For Spiritual Living". It differs from a Biblical research, teaching and fellowship ministry that I use to be a part of, in that it takes the Spiritual practice from all the major religions, and endeavors to use the ones that work. I never whould have been open to this sort of orginization had I not walked through their doors and liked what I was hearing, seeing and feeling. socks, Way cool. "Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life" is a big part of what I am studying now. Bringing all things back to the spiritual is key. It is basic "renewed mind" that enabled us to stay in fellowship with Christ back in our TWI days. It is good teaching. And yes, I am not locked in to my constitution..........It can, will, and does change as I grow.

Hi Dot, I had not read a "prophecy" in a while. That one was nice. It kind of reminded me of when we use to "prophecy" in twig. That is one thing that I liked about the Spiritual practice of TWI and the small twig fellowship. We got together for a spiritual purpose and each one had something to bring, each one had the welling up of the Spirit inside and could give a message from that Spirit. I have not got much out of those who have "the ministry of a Prophet", mainly because I enjoy the personal relationships of people who can be my friends...........Prophets often are so untouchable. Facilitate a wonderful ministry where people can care one for another. Shoot, these boards almost meet that criteria........These boards show what we really want......to commune one with another. Patrick

Thanks JeffSjo, I've made quite a few changes since I posted that 15 minuts ago. Added a paragraph. Corrected some spelling. It sure does help to just throw it out there. My word pad does not have a spell checker, and I am a terrible speller.

Howdy folks, I'll be turning this in for my class project in a foundations class in metaphysics. Please feel free to critique. Is somthing missing? Is of full enough? Do I have all the basis covered? Trash and bash if you'd like. Thanks Patrick. My Constitution As a free man I am free to make the standards that I will live by. I have chosen to believe in one power that is greater then myself, that is my teacher, my counselor, and my friend. I will not give up my volition to any national creed, political party, religious system, or any philosophy that demands my allegiance. I choose to align myeslf with those who hold love as the highest attainable goal in the present world. I choose to align myself with those who hold faith in the goodness of mankind and that a good outcome can be had through hard work and faith and always love. I retain the right to change my mind as I learn more and grow in knowlege and wisdom. I choose to treat all people with the respect that they deserve. When people act in such a way that does not earn respect, I will continue to love them, and encourage them to live up to the high callings of faith, hope, and love. I will never give up hope in my fellow human travelers in this world. When I am in the wrong I will do what it takes to bring myself back to the right for the good of myself and all that are involved. There is always a place for forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation for myself and others when the heart is willing. When anything in this world does not rise up to my expectations, I will endeavour to stay supportive and encouraging, while checking my own hearts intention. I will remain open to new Ideas, and allow old ideas to evolve or be replaced according to the pressent situtaion. My standard for life, and my resource for challenge, is love. My duty to this world is to live in such a way that encourages all to find truth and love that and never give up in a better world for all. I will embrace the tellents, differences, skills, and ambitions of those who are working toward the common good, while seeing with the spiritual eye, and understanding.

Hey T, It is great to grow out of our boxes. Often it is the box that keeps a certain thing mysterious. I took a foundations class in metaphysics that required me to do a project after it was all over. So much of the material was already part of me, and some of it blew my mind. I decided to write "My Constitution" as my project. It seems that we are always dealing with "who am I?" and "what am I doing here?". In every place of our lives we are able to grow and find new meaning to the basic questions. TWI served it's purpose in it's time. We grew out of the box into the next big adventure! And here we are and so it is! Patrick

A wonderful thing that has happened in our lives is that we have learned to love as God has loved us. Your nick made me think of the story of my wifes life. Her and her sister grew up in an orphanage starting at a tender age of 9. They where taken into a foster home at 14 and the foster mother had a mental break down. They where brought to the school principles office and told that they where being "removed" from the foster house. The sister remarked......"removed like a spot on a rug?" In the midst of the cruel world, Sarah learned to love and continues to see reconciliation. We are visiting an uncle for Christmas that she has not seen in 25 years. I'm very excited to see things come full circle in her life! To see the soul healed. To be a part of reconciliation! Patrick

Here is my new buddy. Ernest Holmes List of his books: Can We Talk To God? This Thing Called You Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life The Science Of Mind Words That Heal Today This Thing Called Life Thoughts Are Things And a bunch more that I'm not listing. Patrick

cman, funny that at the same time I was reading your link to "total depravity" my wife asked me to look up a word that she was wondering about in her reading; Ecumenism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenism The main split in Christainity is between Arminian and Calvinism Theology. Arminians believe in "free will" putting the blame on mankind, whereas Calvinists believe in "predestination" putting the blame on God. VPW prescribed to the Arminian view. At any rate within Christian theology there is must be a comming to terms with these two opposites. There is a popular one out now that holds that God does not know the future, and does not know how this is all ging to turn out.........but I can't remember the name of that group. Theology is what sepperates while spirituality unites us all. Knowledge puffeth up, charity edifieth. Doctrine becomes an idol, that keeps us in a little box, that is either outgrown in time, or becomes part of our constitution that we will never allow outselves to outgrow.

Very nice. Hi sunesis. I am well, think you. Hi irisheyes. It is interesting that sunesis pegged be as a univirsalist. I did cruse through universalism for a time in my Bible bound Christian walk. There are three strong theologies within Christainity for where the individual will spend eternity. Heaven and hell..........Heaven and annihilation.....wich is what VPW taught.......and universalism. I believed in annihilation for many years. I believed in universalism for about 5 years. A belief is a powerful thing. A belief has a great effect on how we live our lives in the here and now. Universalism helps the Christian believer to not worry about a future heaven or hell, so they can concentrate on the present life in the heavens with Christ, here and now. There is a whole sect of Christianity that teaches Biblical Universlism and they handle the tough verses that you refer to. A google search or "Christian Universalism" will give you a lot of food for thought. I'm not talking about "Uitarian Universalism" wich is not really a Bible based universalism. A word study of "perish" might show some interesting results. Like I said though, a belief is a powerful thing. Perishing can mean many things. The interpretation has a great deal to do with the theology you hold. Volition allows us to beleive whatever we want, and through trial and error, we have chosen what to believe. My interpretation of John 3:16 is that we "shall not be perishing" a present reality just as "eternal life" is a present reality. I've found that we can make the Bible say whatever the hell we want it to say depending on our theological stance and beliefs. TWI was the best at this that I had ever seen. I'm not living this life as though the rewards come in the future. The rewards are now for "living in Christ", and the future will take care of itself. If we live spiritual now, and reap the fruit of spiritual living in the present, then there is no fear of what will come in the future. None of us know for sure what the future heaven and hell will be. Some of us stick to our Biblical interpretations and this has a result on our lives in the present. Really the present is what matters. Life is what matters. Life in the now. Death will come to us all. I don't look at it as a friend or an enemy. It is a fact of life. I choose to believe that Life overcomes death just as Christ overcame death. Life trumps, and this belief has great effect on how I will address death when it comes my way. BTW I am no longer a Christian universalist. Christian Universalism is Biblical teaching. I feel that we can make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. I only use the Bible when it lines up with what I am experiencing in the present moment. I spiritualize the bookand enjoy my private interpretations, For "God is working in me, both to will, and to do, of His good pleasure". Aint it gand? Patrick

Hey Sunisis: "1. He gave us freedom of will, with the ability to choose. 2. He does not kill that eternal soul every man has." I like your two premises and that you are looking at this from a theological perspective instead of a just a strict Biblical interpretation perspective. One thing that we never chose was whether to come into this world or not. There are some groups that believe that we did choose, as eternal souls, to come to earth and have a human experience, live and learn and grow. This is a reincarnation view. I don't like that one much. Your point number two I feel lacks though. There is no place that God is not. We can not spend eternity "apart from God" We can not spend eternity "banished" from the creator. God is everywhere present and wherever we go from here............there God is. That being said, there could well be, and I believe there is, room for growth in the next realm. After this experience there will be more with the same good creator. What does believing this type of theology do for us in the here and now? Jesus brought heaven from "there" to "here" as He walked the earth. We too can bring heaven from a future place of maybes, to a present place of walking now in the goodness of heaven, with no fear of what the future holds, knowing that it is in the hands of a intelligent and loving creator. We bring heaven here and now by seeing the unseen, and through our beliefs in the spiritual, and as we live this spiritual reality, then the "fruit of the Spirit" grows in our lives.

I'm thinking that Paul meant that the Ego self or Egatic self is put to death....the old man that did not consiously line himself up with Spirit. Old beliefs that manifest as bondage are replaced with propper thinking as we renew our mind. So we could look at the annihilation of the old, and the replacing with the new, as death to the old man. Life in the new man.......Christ. Patrick

Wow, great dialogue and heart in this here little thread. Will be doing turkey day and the local "Center for Spiritual Living". I love that. I love it when people ask what I'm doing today and I can reply Well I'm stopping by the local "Center for Spiritual Living" then going here and there. Waysider, I appreciate your disagreeing with me......I often disagree with myself. As for "believing things into existence", Yes we all embody different consciousness concerning this. The #1 best selling nonfiction book for the last several months has been "The Secret". "The Secret" comes from a new throught perspective. I could only finish about half the book. I did not like it because it was all about how I could "get stuff", very materialistic use of Spiritual Law. A lot of people love it. It is also the main premise in "The secret of how to Get Rich" and such positive thinking books. The Idea's come from the realm of what is possible and are inspired Creation. Electricity was a law that could have been harnessed when ever man came to the consiousness of it. Whenever man, or a man, embodied an Idea enough to bring it into existance. Electricity was available when Moses walked the earth, but nobody new how to use it. This is the same with Spiritual Law. We all use Spiritual law to the extent that we can embody it. I like Pauls answer in 1 Corinthians.........."And yet I show you a more perfect way.......Love" As far as embodying this "Law of Believing" Jesus seemed to do very will with it. He had a "Son of God" Consciousness, a "Christ" consciousness, that things just happened when he spoke the Word. I think that this Christ Consiousness is when our Spirit, which is God or Christ in us, and the same in every man, and our soul are united in. Our Soul is who we are individually and has a lot to it including everyting we have ever heard, thought, felt, believed, experienced. Our ego is part of our soul. When we get our soul to line up with Love/God, then we are walking with a purified soul or a soul that is lined up with Spirit.........This basically what we did in TWI with the "Renewed Mind". We where constantly bringing ourselves back to Christ consiousness and purifying our souls. This is why the spiritual practice that we learned with TWI was good in many ways. That went a little long and has not a lot to do with the topic "Death" except that a belief is a powerful thing. A belief influences how we live our lives. Our beliefs reside in our souls, and can be changed. As we come to more knowlege, and we, through trial and error, cause and effect, come to new conclusions we cange our beliefs. "The truth shall make you free" This is why some beliefs bring us into bondage that is "death" and some beliefs are truth and result in freedom or "life". What you believe about God, the Devil, Life and Death has a powerful effect on the life you live in the here and now. Patrick

Hi irisheyes, Thanks for asking. I've been influenced by the Bible since I was 18. I was looking for love and I found God. Christ ministered to me from the inside out and I was set free from much of my youthful bondages of fear. As I grew older, the basic premise of Love has always underlined my Spiritual expereince but I fell into ruts of doctrinal bondages. A doctrinal bondage keeps us from growing the way that we are intended because we become party to a spiritual half truth or untruth. To make a long story short I hardly read the Bible anymore though the words of life that I studied for so long still minister to me. I believe that the Bible is Man's understanding of God. There is much to be gleaned from it but it is always what man thought in that man's day, according to his particular influences and understanding of the world. My view of scriptures about the Devil having power is that this is what they believed at the time. A belief is a powerful thing. A belief can set us free or keep us in bondage. Our beliefs change in time as we gain experience. This is a "cause and effect" world and I believe that that concept is all over the Bible as well. Man learns in time through trial and error and the effects of his living according to a certain belief. We all have changed in time as we have learned more. A perfect example is the crumbling of TWI. Many who learned much from TWI and those things that they learned served them well for a time, have grown out of what the use to hold true. Is the world fair? Perfectly. As you believe you recieve, and it works for saint and sinner alike. A belief is a powerful thing. A belief causes us to act. This is why "The Power of Positive Thinking" actually does work. There is also something called "Race Consciousness". Race Consciousness is what makes groups of peaple manifest things such as lack, sickness, wealth, happiness ect. A belief is a powerful thing. Groups of people all "of the same mind" experience much the same things. It is up to the individual to listen to the "Still Small Voice" inside to break away from group consciousness and overcome the fault of the group. Yes, every person is a Spiritual Being whether they know it or not. Every Person is the Image of I AM. They all also have volition and are able to choose to see the spiritual side or ignore it. Often the Consciousness of a group makes it very hard for People ot get out the box that they have been born into. But it does happen. This is where Mystics and Sages come from. These are ones that seek and find and overcome. The potential is there for all, but not all attain to it. Slowly the world is becoming a better place. Slowly as Man learns that He can Love with the true Love of God in all situations and help others to attain the same the world evolves. God is in the midst and these things happen day after day in the midst of disorder. In the midst of disorder there is a perfect order that flows though few See it..........Jesus saw. Patrick.

We all came here to live. Part of our journey is death of the physical body. It happens to every one of us eventually. The Bible was written from a dualistic perspective. Good/evil......God/devil. There is a perspective called "New Thought" which embraces the Spirituality of the Bible, but sees beyond the duality to the "Unity" of all things. Proponents of this Spiritual Philosophy would be Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ernest Holmes, Norman Vincent Peale...................and someone who came close except for the duality is VPW. According to New Thought man is a three part being:Spirit, Soul, and Body just like God, and part of the unity of God. We are God in manifstation and there is no dualism just what appears to be evil. Death is part of mans journey and is a transition to the next realm, whatever that may be. The Body becomes dust and the Spirit/Soul man moves on emediatly to the next thing whatever that may be. This is a pleasent way to think life and death for all is good and all is God. Even if the circumstances are unpleasent there is good to come out of it. There is good to move on to. I prefer this philosophy, theology, way of life because it brings all things together in unity an enables the true love of God for all mankind and all creation to be manifest......no matter the Circumstances.

There are two parts of us that are not "seen" Spirit and soul. Body is our house for the Spiritual Beings that we are. The house can be destroyed by the unseen will go on forever. If you believe in duality then this can be bad........heaven/hell oh no!!! If you believe that God is all good and that God is all wise that the house is NOT devided against itself then if we live forever there will always be a good place and future in our eternity. I prefer to think that in the end............all will be good as now. The eternal is now. God is in the now. Heaven is now. Hell is now.........these are of our own making. We creat our heaven in our own renewed mind and we creat our own hell in our own unrenewed mind. It is a cause and effect world. What we think about is cause and the manifestation is the effect. This is why Paul said "For to be carnally minded is death, but to Spiritually minded is Life and Peace." It is our Choice. Great topic Cman. Patrick

As always what we believe to be true greatly impacts our state of being. a) So, he was alone for umpteen gazillion years then decided to invent the earth. (?) I beleive that Spirit is always creating. God is always Good. Creations of God are always good. As God is always creating so are we. Our Creative Spirit that is God in us is effected by our soul which has been influenced by all suggestion, and all exereinece of our life. b) What was he doing before earth? God is the God of NOW. Here and now is what matters. Here and now is where life is. There was never a time when God had nothing to do. God was always creating and is always present in the now..........just as we should live. c) Wasn’t he bored? Are you bored? You are like God.......in the now. God is always active in the now. In sleep we are not conscious of creation, yet it goes on. If God is a loving God why did he allow sickness and death? There is no death of Spirit. There is only death of the Body. Jesus healed the sick so there is in the will of God a way to heal sickness. This way of healing sickness has not changed since Jesus did His mighty deeds. The way of Healing is still with us. God allows man to experience less then prefection so that man can know perfection. a) If sickness comes from the devil – why doesn’t God protect us? There is no devil. There is just you and me and the rest of mankind who have belief in good and evil. As we drop the belief in good and evil, we start to see that we protect outselves by what we believe. Each soul is a creative medium on this earth and has potential to impact all others for good or for worse. As we take personal responsibility for this world we start to find answers for sickness. It took a long time for creative man to figure out the workings of the plegue, but in time with faith man did figure it out. b) Is sickness from sin? If so, when we confess our sin, and ask for forgiveness, why are people still sick? Sin is.........missing the mark. Error in belief, manifest by wrong action. Sickness can be healed with the "prayer of faith". To Jesus sickness MUST be healed with His word. His word was always lined up with the belief that it shall be done. We can attain this consciousness as well, but often just don't. The presence of Sickness does not negate the presence of healing. In reality the only thing that heals is love. As man grows toward this love, the healings take place. Often it seems to take action on our part to bring this things to pass. In the mean time.......thank God for health. Endure sickness by thanking God for healing and in faith, hope, and love. Hope sees it already healed. Faith seels it already healed. Love always protects, always hopes, always trusts, always preserveres. Just some stabs at it. Peace, Patrick

I'll buy that. I'm not one to question what folks say is part of their spiritual experience. They Know what they know, and that is what makes it real for them. Do I have to beleive that what they say is true for all? No. Like you said earlier........Believe what you want. That is what we are all doing. We are believing what we have found to be true through trial and error. That is why our beleifs change. We learn in time what beleifs lead to life and peace and which ones lead to death and distress............That Paul had a great influence on my own way of thinking spiritual life. Some never realize (in this life) that they are in control of their destiny through what they decide to believe and what they decide to not believe. Our believing comes from our souls. Our spirit gives orders our souls. Every thing that pops into our heads is not truth. What pops into our heads must be checked according to the truth that we have learned in our journy. Our Spiritual man, has the ability to purify our soul man, so that our soul and Spirit get on the same page of music....this is called Christ consciousness. "We have the mind of Christ". Man in his propper state uses his Spiritual birthright, to control where his soul goes in life. Man that does not renew the mind to Spirit(love, goodness, faith, hope ect), follows his soul wherever his soul may lead. The body may be bound......in prison, but the soul does not have to be, for the Spiritual man is able to control the soul talk to bring all things back to truth. Truth is never bound. Things that are not seen.......Spirit, soul......these are the things that create what is seen.......the unseen brings into manifestation what is seen. This is called the creative process. Spirit and Soul work together for good or for error in every man. Sharing way more then asked for............Thanks for listening. I'm enjoying our conversation. Patrick

Hi Mark, Patrick and Sarah are two who have become one. Sarah and I met in a twig fellowship back in 1990. I went off to the gulf war and when I got back we got married. Sarah and I went through a lot of Spiritual searching as the TWI was falling apart. We came to the point where we needed more then our collective Spirituality was bringing us. This is where we where finally released to the "New Thought Movement", not to be confused with "new age". A core concept in "new thought" is that all humanity has the spark of Divinity. None are left out. "The renewed mind" to Spiritual Truth, is a core spiritual practice of New thought. A lot of the practice if New Thought goes with the core concepts of PFAL. The Love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation for example. I like to say the Highest attainable goal in the present moment is love. Living love is what drew most of us to twigs. The love. "God is love". Love manifest, is me living godly, or the Spirit spark in me at one with God's purpose in life. Cman, as far as "opting out of Dying", I'm not saying that. Dying is a transition to the next life. There is no death. We all transition. Life never dies, it just moves to another plane of existence. You can't kill truth. You can't kill Spirit. You can kill the body but the Spirit goes on............. This body is a temple for the Spirit. This body is a the physical in which the Spiritual is manifest. As far as knowing what comes after this life...........none of us know what comes next. Here is the logic that we can assume. If God is good now and life is good now, the next will be good as well. God is one. There is no duality with God. God will not change in the next life. The love and comfort that you get from God in the NOW you will get in the next life. What we believe makes a big difference in how we life. This why I always said "the first premise of Christianity is 'God loves you'." When you know that you are loved, you are able to free yourself from self hate. When you know God's love you are able to love as God loves. I don't worry about the future life for I live in the now with the "I AM" who loves me and is part of me and I of the "I AM". I think they tried to kill Jesus for saying stuff like that.........you can't kill the truth. Patrick

Hey Cman, I agree. We don't have any Idea what the next life will bring......or what is after this life. That is why this life is the one to be lived for. Being drawn to Christ in the now. Being led by Christ in the now. I have no Idea about the future. If there is a future life and I have volition now.......I should have volition then as well. What is truth? Truth is that which is not bound. Truth is what "makes us free". There is truth now and as we find it we are set free. Do we have to seek truth? No. It is the bondage that makes us desire the freedom. God heard their cry and sent Moses. God heard their cry and sent Jesus. God hears our Cry and sends Christ who draws us to truth that sets us free. All men Just a thought. Peace

Hey Cman, and yet we have volition. We are Spirit. "Spirit is the power that knows itself". In every moment we have a choice to live love or to not live love. Can salvation be lost? Sure.........remember what it is.....wholeness. When we make the choice to seperate from our spiritual life and as Paul would say live according to the flesh....... we live according to that which brings spiritual death. When we live according to the Spirit we experience LIFE and PEACE. The Prodigal Son chose to leave.......and then chose to return...........Volition. The loving father let the Son do as he chose to do.........live far from him or close. When the son chose to come home the father said.....Look, my son who was dead he is now alive! Back the topic........If Christ draws all men to Himself, Christ draws according to man's free choice. It can not be "force all men to me".

Hey Cman, You did not kill the thread. I had to go to work. Actually, I am impressed with the restraint here in not throwing Bible verses around. To me it has been a question of CAN God save all? Of course.............. Then why whould God not save all? Free will is often the answer. The other answer has to do with Calvinism and predestination. Of course if man can free will himself to salvation then why the need for Jesus Christ's sacrifice? Now here is a way that I have heard it said. Jesus Chist could have been talking of the Christ consciousness in every man.......If the Christ Power be lifted up, all men will be drawn to this! Love. When you lift high the highest attainable goal in the present moment, love, all men are drawn to this. Love never fails. Remember how attractive "the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation" is? The key is the renewed mind. Renewed to love. This is the drawing force that saves the world!

Well, the Christian Universalist believes that through the accomplished work of Jesus Christ the whole creation is "saved". There is a strong historical backing within Christianity for this belief. To me it ment that God was truly all powerful and did not have to 'cut his losses' as the ego of man might think. It also reconciled the wrath of God to being ultimately restorative. 'God resisteth the proud'......Why? Because He loves them. God resists the proud so that they might become humble and find the true grace of God. God is love. Lable? Spiritual being, Human being, truth seeker, Not all lables suck :)