PN said (August 17, 2025):

Once again you've "hit the ball out of the park" with this article and its update.

I completely resonate with your thoughts about placing women on a pedestal and take it a bit further personally because of my childhood interactions with my mother. Consequently, up until recently I've unconsciously been attracted to women who had similar daughter-father emotional pain as she had so that I could try to make her happy. Combine this with the pedestal thing and I think you can predict the disastrous outcomes.

I am 50% Armenian and Assyrian, both cultures were among the first Orthodox churches established by the Apostles, Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who were eyewitnesses of Christ. They walked with him for 3 years, saw him do miracles, and saw the resurrected body. (If one is to believe the scriptures.)

Last summer I visited Armenia and this inspired me to begin attending a small Orthodox Chapel and explore the theology which has preserved the traditions of the fathers of the church along with recreating the Last Supper sacraments exactly as Christ performed them. I had been raised in the Episcople church throughout childhood since we lived too far from an Armenian or Assyrian Orthodox church. Then later in life I attended non-denominational Protestant churches.

However, I had never heard of the main tenant of Orthodoxy, Theosis which represents the true purpose of human life on earth. You expressed this when you stated "All our actions are motivated by a desire to return to God." Theosis is the life time journey of man 1) accepting his reconnection, in communion with the Father via the Godman Christ's obedience unto death on the cross, 2) to then make the Father and Christ the center of our lives and 3) constantly remember to walk with the Father and seek His guidance in all that we do.

It has been said that God became man so that man can become God. Not exactly equal but returned to the perfect spiritual essence of walking in the garden as Adam and Eve did with God before they disobeyed him and were then sent out of heaven to earth. This is just a brief description, there is more but I don't want to write a long short story here.

We humans have been created to be in God's presence of love - In Genesis God said, "let us make man in our image." All men are given the opportunity to come back to God, to be in his presence of absolute love with the associated positive emotion we all seek, here on earth now and then in eternity after we pass from this world. It is the deception presented to all of us here in the material by Satan that cuts us off from the Father. Sin is a noun describing our disconnection to the Triune God which leads man to follow the evil path.

Here's a link to the missive "Theosis, the true purpose of human life." if you're interested to explore this theology further. Based on the writings of yours that I've read over the years, I sense you already know most of this philosophy - I'm just amazed that I never heard this until about 7 months ago!
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis-english.pdf

PN said (August 17, 2025):

Once again you've "hit the ball out of the park" with this article and its update.

I completely resonate with your thoughts about placing women on a pedestal and take it a bit further personally because of my childhood interactions with my mother. Consequently, up until recently I've unconsciously been attracted to women who had similar daughter-father emotional pain as she had so that I could try to make her happy. Combine this with the pedestal thing and I think you can predict the disastrous outcomes.

I am 50% Armenian and Assyrian, both cultures were among the first Orthodox churches established by the Apostles, Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who were eyewitnesses of Christ. They walked with him for 3 years, saw him do miracles, and saw the resurrected body. (If one is to believe the scriptures.)

Last summer I visited Armenia and this inspired me to begin attending a small Orthodox Chapel and explore the theology which has preserved the traditions of the fathers of the church along with recreating the Last Supper sacraments exactly as Christ performed them. I had been raised in the Episcople church throughout childhood since we lived too far from an Armenian or Assyrian Orthodox church. Then later in life I attended non-denominational Protestant churches.

However, I had never heard of the main tenant of Orthodoxy, Theosis which represents the true purpose of human life on earth. You expressed this when you stated "All our actions are motivated by a desire to return to God." Theosis is the life time journey of man 1) accepting his reconnection, in communion with the Father via the Godman Christ's obedience unto death on the cross, 2) to then make the Father and Christ the center of our lives and 3) constantly remember to walk with the Father and seek His guidance in all that we do.

It has been said that God became man so that man can become God. Not exactly equal but returned to the perfect spiritual essence of walking in the garden as Adam and Eve did with God before they disobeyed him and were then sent out of heaven to earth. This is just a brief description, there is more but I don't want to write a long short story here.

We humans have been created to be in God's presence of love - In Genesis God said, "let us make man in our image." All men are given the opportunity to come back to God, to be in his presence of absolute love with the associated positive emotion we all seek, here on earth now and then in eternity after we pass from this world. It is the deception presented to all of us here in the material by Satan that cuts us off from the Father. Sin is a noun describing our disconnection to the Triune God which leads man to follow the evil path.

Here's a link to the missive "Theosis, the true purpose of human life." if you're interested to explore this theology further. Based on the writings of yours that I've read over the years, I sense you already know most of this philosophy - I'm just amazed that I never heard this until about 7 months ago!
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/theosis-english.pdf

TN reply to CC below said (March 24, 2025):

The creator God has given us freedom to choose. Man chooses to follow evil and satan. If he told everyone what to do, you would call Him a tyrant. That is satan's argument.

If you don't believe in God, do you be in satan and the pure evil we see everywhere? I think you do as you stated' this has taken place for thousands of years" In every nation, throughout generation after generation. The cosmic battle between good and evil must play out. This earth will be destroyed. For God is just.

If you don't believe in God, your religion must be evolution. Where nothing created everything and low intelligence continually creates higher intelligence. Have you ever studied how complicated DNA is and even "simple" cells?

God did lift His finger, and His whole body and gave up His only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for all mankind's sin. None of us are righteous, no not one. Only through Christ's grace are we saved. Those who believe and repent shall inherit eternal life. The New Testament gives countless examples of individuals who witnessed Christ's resurrection. People throughout the ages that hear the truth are willing to die by evil men rather than recant their beliefs.

Eternal life is also granted, a free pass if you will, for all those abused children. They did not get to choose. Their suffering here is a very short time compared to living with God throughout eternity. God is Just and Merciful.

No one is there now. The bible says Christ's coming will be a worldwide event and the dead in Christ will rise first, then those alive in Christ will rise too. 1,000 years later, there is a second resurrection of unbelievers. All will bow down to Christ including satan, then they will be destroyed. They will not be "tortured" for eternity in hell. God is Just and Merciful.

Please study the New Testament. KJV. Your eternal life depends on it.

2 Timothy 3

CC said (March 24, 2025):

Complete tosh.

If God was constantly watching over us - why have hundreds of thousands of children been tortured and slaughtered for adrenochrome ?
This has taken place for thousands of years on an industrial scale.

Where has your God been for those children ?

Your idea of God is a fiction - it only exists in your mind.

Show me one time God has lifted a finger to help humanity.
Yes, just one. You can't, it never happened - ever.

You will not find God in the Bible. God is nowhere in the Bible. That is a fact.

-

Thanks CC

Unfortunately God depends on human beings to fulfill his Design

h

Kris said (May 7, 2022):

Speaking of Muslim mystics...I first read the the FitzGerald translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 45 years ago. Even at the age of seventeen, something did not seem right to me. It absolutely did not sound like something a Muslim mystic would write...because it was not written by a Muslim mystic. Fitzgerald was an upper-crust Englishman, and his "translation" was so far from the real article, as to almost a different book.

It was only in 2004 that I read several translations by Persian translators. With background study, I learned that all the talk of love and wine were metaphors for God, and being drunk with the love of God. The Global Elite have a long history of turning all things pure and Godly into worldly things...and I say that as a Christian. I have not looked into the background of FitzGerald yet, but I'm pretty sure of what I will find when I do. Kris

Ed said (November 17, 2021):

Henry your right on target with this article. The reason the op works so well is 1. because during the 1900s we were educated to be useful idiots 2. became a world of narcissists that believe themselves to be 'god' 3. religion had messed things up enough to turn the masses away and even the gentler aspects of all groups were left without 'love of god'.....

The world pandemic is not Covid but Narcissism...

i was lucky, instinctively during my midlife i lived just as you noted, all love songs i heard were about GOD and my requiting GOD's love.....Looking at nature's beauty all around strengthened those feelings..

For now GOD's love is mostly unrequited, due as you note to the Satanic illuminated ones.

In the end GOD awaits us all.....

Thanks for the memory smiles you gave me....

David A said (October 23, 2019):

I enjoyed the article though I thought it might be missing one principle.

Women need the protection / strength of an authentic man. She is vulnerable when pregnant with child and nurturing her other young.

To be in harmony with nature women need to do what ever they perceive to be necessary to join with the "right" man. Is that not hormone-driven?

Unfortunately the society rulers are doing everything they can to disrupt this principle and interfere with and set women and men in conflict.

Chris said (October 22, 2019):

Christ sums it up:

Matt 22

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.

Essel said (October 22, 2019):

Of course, this analysis is essentially accurate. Modern mass media have increased the strength of Masonic effectors, suggesting that the phenomenon is recent, but it is not so, in fact, it is as old as humanity forsaken by original sin. In the 19th century, masonry developed romanticism (= fiction), which already existed in the Middle Ages (e.g. the Arthurian novel), but did not have adequate means of dissemination.
More anciently, it is simply the phenomenon of idolatry that occurs on every page of the Bible. Idolatry consists in replacing the true God, demanding and jealous by a false god of human level. Let us think carefully about this: he is in fact idolatry only of himself. And atheism, which is not a reality but a hypocritical social positioning, is the finished form. We deny the existence of the true God by mouth, to replace him with creatures, first and foremost ourselves. But Jesus will destroy these false gods "by a breath of his mouth".

However, if we really want to deepen it, the question of human love between a man and a woman remains a very complex reality that cannot be reduced to the phenomenon described here. Men are contingent creatures and are weak, need sensitive comfort, and also a part of a dream. God, by incarnating Himself, knew all this and He precisely wanted to bring Himself to their level so that His teaching would be accessible to the audience. It can nevertheless be said that, to a certain extent, "romantic love", when controlled by a sound theological formation and authentic faith, not to forget the assiduous practice of the sacraments, which are precisely designed to give us what our native weakness deprives us of, remains a small indestructible component of authentic human love.

James R said (October 22, 2019):

Regarding “Anonymous" comment below disparaging all things God and religion, I run into this a lot from people who strictly equate GOD with religion. I think people should not confuse God with Religion but most do. Religion is a man-made construct and GOD is not.

---

Thankes James

SO TRUE!

Anonymous said (October 21, 2019):

Henry,
All this 'God loves you' is complete crock.
It is a shame you live in a fictional world - a fiction created by'religion'.
Most of the Old Testament is a complete fraud and provable lie - yet morons still believe the bullshit printed by the Catholic church.

IT IS ALL A STEAMING PILE OF BULLSHIT.

Where was your God when the little girl died screaming in agony from
cancer or under the wheels of a truck ? Or I could list a million other examples that prove beyond a doubt that God does not give a f**k. Where was his love then?

It is truly pathetic how these sniveling religious cowards get on their\ knees and beg. Truly pathetic, weak and incredibly ignorant human beings.

THE RELIGIOUS REALLY ARE A PATHETIC, INADEQUATE WASTE HOLDING ON TO A
CROCK OF BULLSHIT.

--

Kudos Chris

spoken like a true Freemason

God isn;lt responsible foe everything that goes wrong in the world.

henry

Doug P said (June 10, 2019):

I think that that you and all the others that talk about God have it all wrong, which is why I do what I do. You are right but you won't convince anyone with that argument (which is why I think you are wrong) and I think there is a better one, one that includes science.

True knowledge of God cannot be attained by mankind because we are in space and time and there is no proof of Gods existence in the empirical world. God lies outside space and time. I equate my belief in God with my belief that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, I know this even though I could never find a straight line in experience to test this hypothesis, and its an axiom so there is no analytical proof. The mind bending trick that they play is that they worship science as ultimate truth, which it cannot be because science is based only in space and time.

The destruction of our belief in God is created by the destruction of reason itself, as we see the nonsensical things going on on wonder why (sex change, 9-11, fake news and ridiculousness in general which we must pretend to accept) . This is to warp our minds away from reason and accept an empirical explanations for everything and comfort to be our highest goal. Once we view the world as a mechanical state machine, there is no room for God, no need for laws. Most people cannot understand that science has limits and that it gets misapplied in popular science given in the media.

The misleading nature of the empire is usually obvious by the precepts they adopt from which to make arguments - that precept that God cannot be proven empirically therefore cannot exist is a false precept.

God is about universal love and we express this through law, which is reason. Love is love for the law, a rational rather than empirical love. The destruction of God leads to the destruction of reason which turns us into predictable state machines which can be managed by managing and meeting our desires for empirical comfort (money, reputation, etc) rather than knowledge and understanding which leads to better laws and better societies.

I also like Matthew Raphael Johnson on the web who talks about Dosteovsky and along the same lines as E Michael Jones. But Kant was the second coming and everyone missed it 8-).

Kim said (June 10, 2019):

If you want to hear love songs to God then listen to (Cat Stevens) Yusef Islam.

He is a Sufi Muslim and the CD’s are beautiful love songs to God!

JG said (June 9, 2019):

How often we worship and serve the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25). We have abandoned God in our government, popular culture, and schools which had led to disaster. False Gods in the form of false doctrines and reprobate role models is becoming our demise.

The New Age thinkers today continually question God and accept only the God that they have made up in their minds. They believe that he is not a vengeful or judgemental God. Therefore sin is of no consequence. This is why they get upset at the believers who call sin a sin.

We're all on borrowed time since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who died for our sins to give us another chance to get right with God and inheret eternal life in his Kingdom.

Rosie said (January 18, 2015):

Thank you so much for this article. I realized years ago that a person can end up killing themselves by dedicating songs to mere human beings about things that only God can be to us.

A perfect example is a song by Mariah Carey that says, "I can't live, if living is without you."

After that person does leave and we play that song over and over again, we feel empty and hopeless.

But, if we sung that same song to God, it makes us feel strong, hopeful, and empowered to continue. Because with God, it is true.

Allenby said (January 2, 2015):

This one is serious stuff. While listening to Paul Anka, and many more. In ‘My home town’ he sings:

The music came from within my heart,

How did it happen, how did it start..

I only know that I fell in love…

I noticed it’s the only song that does not explicitly refer to the loved one. How strange!

Actually perceiving our relationship with God as love is what the mystics do, like St John of the Cross etc.

Sallyanne said (January 2, 2015):

Very well expressed, Henry. I too, have done what you did - felt the songs as devotion to God instead of man, and came to the same realization.

Neoconsnailed said (January 1, 2015):

Churchianity teaches affection and calls it love, and people (especially fundamentalists) just go along with it. They think that loving God means being very, very, very fond of him rather than carrying out his commandments and building his kingdom on Earth in earnest. Concomitantly, people think of God's love in terms of him being very, very, very nice because he gives them a very, very, very pleasant feeling -- a pink marshmallow in the sky, not a just God at war with everything indecent and improper.

People are morally useless now, but no less convinced they're in tune with the true Gospel. They don't teach their children morals, history or doctrine, so they're all falling away like crazy -- but parents (should one say grandparents?) are either clueless or indifferent of it. The churchgoers still think they've got it all together because it's what happens in the next life that matters.

Their preacher told them so, and speaking smooth things is precisely what he's paid to do! "I'll fly awaaaay, O Lordy......."

Norman said (January 1, 2015):

Exactly. And this is the meaning of Exodus 20:2-3,
2 “I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me."

SA said (January 1, 2015):

It's been now about 7 years that I have placed God as my true love. Every year it gets stronger and more intense. Every year it gets more personal, at times very very emotional...to realize that THE ALMIGHTY, King of Kings is there by my side at every single second.

In Islam, God has 99 names/attributes. These attributes have helped my become closer with my Maker and has made me mindful of all the things happening around me. The best thing that had ever happened to me is to love God and to realize that he has special plans for those who love him and admit their shortcomings and aspire to become better humans until that fateful moment where God chooses to take us to him.

I'll close with this narration from Islamic traditions:

“When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, Allah – may He be blessed and exalted – will say: ‘Do you want anything more?’ They will say: Have You not made our faces bright? Have You not admitted us to Paradise and saved us from Hell?’ Then the veil will be removed and they will not be given anything more beloved to them than looking at their Lord, may He be glorified and exalted.”

SS said (January 1, 2015):

I thought of the following verse from the Qur'an when reading your latest article:

Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire? God has, knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight. Who, then, will guide him after God (has withdrawn Guidance)? Will ye not then receive admonition?

And they say: "What is there but our life in this world? We shall die and we live, and nothing but time can destroy us." But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture. [Qur'an 45:23-24]

`Malak said (January 1, 2015):

Good one Henry. It amazes me, the timeliness of your messages. I am these days overcome by the tenderness of Allah's love for his creation, and like C below, can't help my tears. A glimpse of a bird, or a petal can set off rushing feelings of gratitude and awe. His patience, his repeating forgiveness, mercy and tender, loving care overwhelms me more and more.

Over the years, I have worshiped The Sound of Music, Biggie, Floyd, Zeppelin, Sinatra, et al., and have crooned along to countless hours of their and countless others' songs. These echoing words had formed a good part of my psyche. One sunny day, it struck me that were I to write down the lyrics of all the popular songs I've memorized in my 41 years, end-to-end, it would fill a book perhaps as large as the Quran itself. It is then, as a speaker of Arabic, that I was filled with utter shame - and later, fear.

In the last few years, I've undertaken a piecemeal memorization of the Glorious book. What I thought would be an ordeal has come almost effortlessly, and these sessions are now filled with joy. Today, I can't count the times that, finding myself in some life situation, an apt verse from the Quran would beautifully materialize and help me reflect, digest.

From nostalgia, a few times a year I break out my albums and (with more lyrical discretion,) I have a truly fantastic jam session - as I did 3 days ago. It quenches my momentary thirst, gives me a broad smile, and then inevitably, I go back to the serene scripture. It took discipline at first, but recently, being drawn by love, it is becoming a craving! I have not shown enough love to Allah or my fellow creatures, and vow to do so this year, with his help. Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends, peace and blessings on Jesus Christ, and happy New Year to all.

A good exposition on the Quran by Cambridge Professor, Sheikh Timothy Winter: http://www.unomoja.com/?v=acE2IlTmM-w

Coyote said (January 1, 2015):

I'm practicing-practicing-practicing and working 24/7, my "energy" to the prayer. Been a very "enlightening" experience alright. GOD IS ALIVE AND VERY VERY REAL. This indeed I do know for a fact now and,

Infinite Father I thank Thee that Thou hearest my prayer, I thank Thee that Thou hearest me always, I thank Thee that Thou hast already given me all that my heart can wish for, all that my life may need, for the time that is and the eternity that is to be, and now with supreme joy and unspeakable thanksgiving I come to Thee to receive Thy gifts and receive from Thy loving hands the divine blessings that Thou hast from all eternity treasured for me.

Len said (January 1, 2015):

Great article, Henry. Whether one takes the story of Genesis chapter 3 as quite literal or as a metaphor: I have felt for some time now that Satan, the deceiver, the serpent, deceived and seduced Eve *first* KNOWING that

1) she was more vulnerable to emotions & desire, - and thus more readily deceived than Adam, and

2) Satan knew that if he could deceive Eve into a willful disobedience, he would have extra leverage with enticing Adam through his love-partner who (as it turns out) becomes the idol that leads the entire human race into not only betraying GOD, but coming under the dominion of Satan, the adversary of GOD and His Moral Authority.

Women were created to be a blessing and a helpmate to Man. She was NEVER to be an idol or "goddess" replacing GOD, THE CREATOR as having primary love and primary allegiance.

Greg said (January 1, 2015):

With reference to EJ, the reason we refer to God as a male presence is because God is considered an active force in the universe, that creates. A goddess is the opposite and is a receptive vehicle for the action of God. Jesus himself is considered "Lord of lords and king of kings." Jesus even said, "Be not many masters." So there is an inherent recognition of many different gods, goddesses, lords, and masters in the universe, and they are all in hierarchy inferior to God the Creator.

There are many religions with many spirits and many gods and goddesses. When a person practices the religion of choice, there is no guarantee what type of spirit(s) they will allow to enter them. With God, there is only one recognized spirit, the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things." The reason Christianity is a logical belief system is because you deal with only one spirit and you know who that spirit is. In order to effectively have a relationship with God, it has to be more than just a yearning. A person has to ask and be willing to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the person can learn to have a relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is a promise.

PS. A shout out to Thomas Carter for citing Media Exploitation. The book is even more pertinent now that it ever was.

Chyrs said (January 1, 2015):

henry, thank you or Our Love Affair With God....one of my favorites is a
an old song by Ray Noble...with one significant change:

God is the sweetest thing
WHAT ELSE ON EARTH COULD EVER BRING
SUCH HAPPINESS TO EVERYTHING
as God's love story

God is the strangest thing
no song or bird upon the wing
shall in our hearts more sweetly sing
than God's love story

whatever hearts may desire
whatever life may send
His is the tale that never will tire
His is the song without end

God is the strongest thing
the oldest, yet the latest thing
i only hope that fate may bring
God's story to you

God is the sweetest thing

Magda said (January 1, 2015):

Loved you post and am in agreement regarding the distractions that serve as imposter Gods in our life. Excessive focus on the material is a tool of enslavement by our puppet masters in their bid to become our Gods and entertain us to death. The truth is our potential if properly understood is far beyond the material and these worldly elements we seek are not much needed.
Here is an video from the Islamic perspective on these issues.

Never lose Hope: People of the Hereafter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUlbcXoKZVA

Anthony Migchels said (December 31, 2014):

That's a great article! Totally spot on, I never realized it. But indeed, if you think of Rumi, he could have made a fortune today, just by claiming his poems were about his gal.

In recent years I have grown closer to God's Spirit, which pervades creation. And when you start to see how the material Universe springs from Him and that He is indeed the Source of the ten thousand things (as Lao Tse called the world), you can't help but laugh at the silliness of His children, worshipping His creations, instead of the Creator.

But, women love bling and men love women. Hence: Babylon.

Magda said (December 29, 2014):

Loved you post and am in agreement regarding the distractions that serve as imposter Gods in our life. Excessive focus on the material is a tool of enslavement by our puppet masters in their bid to become our Gods and entertain us to death. The truth is our potential if properly understood is far beyond the material and these worldly elements we seek are not much needed.
Here is an video from the Islamic perspective on these issues.

Never lose Hope: People of the Hereafter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUlbcXoKZVA

Thomas Carter said (December 28, 2014):

I had a book called Media Exploitation (1977) written by a Brian Key a colleague of Marshall Mcluhan. Brian Key also testified against the band Judas Priest regarding subliminal messages in their music which, allegedly, lead to the suicide death of two teenagers.

Chapter 8 (pg 117) is entitled subliminal rock and deals with specifically with Paul Anka on pages 128 and 129 (copied below.)

Book is online here
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25190176/Wilson-Bryan-Key-Media-Sexploitation#scribd

"Mommy's Many Pseudonyms
Paul Anka's first recording, "Diana," sold in excess of 8 1/2 mil-lion copies—the third largest-selling single record of all time.A national publicity campaign was launched over the enigma of Diana's identity. Several girl vocalists and actresses of the early 1960s were considered as fantasy possibilities in public-ity releases. Like most publicity department fantasies, how-ever, these were simply nonsense—designed only to milk thathigh discretionary income from the pockets of teen-ager'sparents.Paul Anka, serving the Oedipal conflicts of North Ameri-can teen-agers, serenaded his symbolic mother:"

I'm so young and you're so old
This my darling I've been told
I don't care just what they say'
Cause forever I will pray
You and I will be as free
As the birds up in the trees
Oh please stay by me, Diana*

Steve said (December 28, 2014):

Excellent article!

What "empty headed" female could empower me with the faith, wisdom and peace we need every day simply to survive let alone build a positive family life! We need the Great God and Creator!

I was only today thinking after washing my face (after waking and then looking in the mirror) how my very complex life and its food maintenance totally refutes evolution and cries out that a Creator exists, that He designed me and that I need to relate to Him more than any other person or thing in my life.

C said (March 2, 2010):

I just finished reading your article, "Our Love Affair With God." I realize that was written a while ago, but I just discovered it. I was somewhat surprised to read it, I thought you didn't like Christians much. I was,
glad I was wrong. I read your articles all the time and enjoy them very much. I discovered you through Rense, a site I visit daily. Anyway, my comment on your article: Yesterday, (Sun) I did not make time to pray, my day, my morning was busy, I wanted to get dressed and start my errands. This morning, (after prayer) I was just
ready to get into the shower, when God burst through my mind with the beautiful words from Unchained Melody:

Oh my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch
a long, lonely time. Time goes by so slowly, and
time can do so much. Are you still mine?

Even as I write this, tears are flooding down my face. I could not stop crying. Abba, Father, Abba, Abba I LOVE YOU!!!!

Julian Lee said (November 29, 2009):

I liked your article about the love songs. I've often thought the same thing.
Sometimes I pretend the singer is singing to God and it's perfect. It becomes a
wonderful devotional song. You mentioned how "you can't mention the word [God] in polite company."
That's probably starting to become true. In this recent video I confront a crowd gathering to go into a movie theatre for a "Portland Amateur Porn Festival." I sang them a song I composed for the occasion having the word "God" in the early start. As soon as the crowd hears the word they laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX3O5sCrnqc

Your expressions of faith are very helpful.

Julian Lee said (November 29, 2009):

To Ray [below] who said "God is good, religion is not. Let's not confuse the two." How 'bout, let's not be confused and forget the deep connection between the two.

A modern fad is to imagine them as dichotomous. But the connection is deep. An individual (Christ, Mohammed) has a profound experiences with God and that's what founds religions. The religion survives to show the way others can have that same knowledge. Religion is the map back to God, the seed carrier or husk that carries the seed of spiritual knowledge, and the directions to it. All of the great saints who felt they had a direct experience with God attained that by being part of a religion and following a religious discipline. One example is religions teaching moral self-control.

The mystics attest that their blissful God experiences were made possible partly by moral self-control. Religions have priceless value even if all they do is keep alive the mere idea and memory of God. People who try to separate God from religion are, to me, shallow and usually have some negative experiences that have made them neurotic and unable to see religion objectively.

Attacking religion only further separates the majority of people from the possibility of having the highest divine experiences of saints. Both God and religion are good. It would actually be more valid to say that religion is better than God. Most people don't really feel much "connection" to God, and He is unimaginable and abstract in his higher aspect.

But religion, by contrast, is God translated down to human terms and is easily accessible. Discover your church. Discover your saints. Discover the truth about religion and the vaster, more authentic history of the churches. It's not what you see on T.V., but in the words of their saints. And as Henry said, you can learn about their experiences by listing to the lyrics of love songs. It's the religions that keep alive the idea of the superiority of divine love over unreliable human love.

EJ said (November 28, 2009):

You said:

>>God is synonymous with our spiritual ideals and desires: truth, beauty, love, peace, bliss, justice and harmony>>

I say those ideals were around a long time before people recently made up this god character, especially the male, off planet one. For hundreds of generations prior to that take over by the male church state, "god" was not around. For the majority of tribal cultures and others a "goddess" or prime creator idea was there. It was a simple thing of appreciating sentience and seeking a channel to express that gratitude. It was NOT a rigid formula of rules and regulations seeking some sort of salvation from a scary, vengeful, murdering god.

As any thinking person knows, the mythical, biblical Jesus did not exist and that story was 1000 years old when Constantine made it up. Millions of people have seen UFO's with photos to prove it and no one has seen these god or Jesus characters. We most certainly can depend on the so-called "Holy Book" that took 900 years to put together.

God was made up by man to control spiritual expression. Religion is the business of spirituality.

>>We are God's agents. If we don't bring about his Kingdom, it won't happen. Eventually, we'll all become extinct. >>

That is ridiculous logic. We are our own agents. And why is god always a "he" and not just a thing or being? And us going extinct has nothing to do with religion and more to do with cycles. Cremo and Johnson in the their magnificent work: Forbidden Archeology exposed "man made" objects from around the world from 50 to 200 MILLION years old...explain that when the belief is we are about 10,000 years old.

It is arrogant to talk in that manner about us Henry. Weak people believe in god because they avoid self responsibility. Strong people are spiritual in their daily lives without and rule books and simply good intention.

---

Ray said (November 28, 2009):

God is good, religion is not. Let's not confuse the two. That’s how wars are started and people with different views are tortured and killed. Religion is man worshipping his own concept of God.

Ecstatic, " spiritual" highs can be found in many religions. Just because someone finally settles on Christianity or Buddhism etc. and finds that sense of peace they lacked in other religious experiments does not mean their religion is the "one true faith". Many people come to find evangelical Christianity to be extremely stifling and counter to emotional health and leave it without regret. After all it has only been around 500 years why should something Luther and Calvin started be the "one true way". Early apostolic Christianity was very different and rather diverse. Further, the record of its precursor, Roman Catholicism from 350 AD until about 1800 AD with its millions of murder and torture victims is likewise enough to turn people away from those who preach organized Christianity as the one true way.

Therefore, the true God is not bound by religion, but rather, exists apart from man's recent or ancient attempts to define him a particular way using particular dogmas. Christianity itself was a very diverse set of beliefs (often contradicting each other) until Constantine essentially developed Christianity as we know it. Regarding the existence of evil, you lay it all at mans feet, however, consider that if God is all-powerful and all-loving he might not allow us to murder, torture and rape each other. Would you sit by and watch a child raped if you had a .45 auto in your hand? No, because you would love the child enough to stop the rape. Yet, God allows such atrocities daily. I am not saying he is not loving; I am saying that His nature and ultimate purposes are somewhat beyond our comprehension. Maybe these reasons will be explained in the after-life.

The Love of the opposite sex can indeed be very self-destructive if we replace God with the man/woman. They were meant to be loved but not deified. Right on to that sentiment. Yet intense romantic love is a natural experience that is designed to perpetuate the species. If sex with our mate was as bland as eating cold grits without butter we wouldn't do it often! =-) The problem is, pornographers like Hefner have led men to expect and demand anatomically perfect women rather than loving and desiring the ones we have. There simply are not enough perfect specimens to go around! Thus porn is extremely deleterious to our development and health. The ability to feel erotic attraction and deep affection for a very average mate is a nice thing albeit a rarity these days.

In my life the law of love seems to have emerged as the ultimate truth. Anything contrary to love including religious bigotry, porn, abuse, torture and wars of aggression (Iraq, Afghanistan etc) is to be avoided and denounced like the plague.

Anon said (November 27, 2009):

Been doing that for years. It's a wonderful feeling, singing along in the vehicle putting God in the song and thinking God might accept it in the way I believe ( but know it's not so ) sounds like I'm delivering it. It gets beautifully emotional. Needless to say it is only God and I in the vehicle. Shouldn't say only.

Nice to see it being written.

Keep up the Good Work!

Jeffrey said (November 27, 2009):

What you say is true, and if you take any popular song from the last sixty years or so and replace "baby" or "girl," "you," "woman," etc. with Jesus, God, Allah etc. you will have spiritual music.

Frank Zappa was more cynical but just as spot on when he said (and I'm paraphrasing, it's in his book) that if people acted on all the love songs heard daily in our culture we would all love each other and conflict would be minimal, maybe even non-existent. Has it ever been like that? Of course not.

Even more cynically, he suggested that love songs were responsible in a large part for bad mental health, that the perfect relationships often sung about and "everlasting love" do not, in fact, exist, and that we live in anger and frustration in disappointment, feeling short-changed, somehow.

Popular music has changed so much in the last twenty years or so and grown much darker and more sexual, just like the rest of entertainment in general. I used to believe that movies and popular culture were a reflection on our times, but now I know that they condition us and our behavior.

Tony said (November 27, 2009):

A great observation that needed said and you were obedient to the call.

The illuminnatis first target of hatred is the Lord himself so it seems his praise is being diverted to lesser objects such as sensual
love. Also the devil knows that we are created to praise God {as was he also originally} and when he fell that worship was perverted to
self worship {Isaiah 14v12-15,Ezekiel 28v13-19}

I have also sang 'Annie's song' as a praise hymn to Jesus as in Michaels comment, and there are many other songs that lend themselves
to higher expression. Good songs reflect our human experience and whether religious or not can be edifying. Leonard Cohens 'Hallelujah'
illustrates this subject and the lyrics are worth study.

The major content of its theme refers to Davids fall over his affair with Bathsheba which was an adulterous but human love.

The refrain 'Hallelujah' throughout the song supercedes everything else,it is the highest expression that we can attain to. Everything
else is subject to it,both in this song and in our lives as you have demonstrated.

It is also interesting that when the Prophet King David died Bathsheba was no comfort to him,showing the fickleness of human love
but it was his faith in God that sustained him. Were all going to die and were all going to do that alone and thats another good reason to
acquaint ourselves with our creator who is also our Saviour.{1 John 4v19,5v7}

Martin said (November 27, 2009):

After reading your article "Our Love Affair With God", I was reminded of 'something', which you might find of interest.
Seems that George Harrison after his awakening wrote his songs to God (Krishna). Though instead of singing 'he' he used the word 'she'.
His reasoning was that if he sung he, the people would think that he was a homosexual.
This quote is from Syamasundara Dasa who was George's Hare Krishna friend.

Picking up where we had last left off, in that roomful of rock-stars, promoters, and delirious fans, we huddled shut off from their puzzle and envy and yakked about the Absolute, who you knew to be a Person--yeah, yeah, and yeah, you said, and who am I to be telling you that Krishna is the Supreme Person, the All-Attractive Person--"attracts me like no other lover"--(later you said you had to say "she" or everyone would think you a "poof")--and who am I to say the way to God's heart is through love (you, minstrel of love to the world)? Ah, but you must meet my master, Bhaktivedanta Swami, I said that day. He's so wise and beautiful... (My Sweet George, A tribute to George Harrison from an old friend.)

Ironically Frank Sinatra considered George's Something to be the "the greatest love song ever written,"

Sinatra was particularly impressed with "Something;" calling it "the greatest love song ever written," he sang it hundreds of times at various concerts. However, he once made the comment that "Something" was his all-time favourite Lennon/McCartney song, and frequently introduced it as such.[21] Harrison did not appear to mind this, and instead borrowed an alteration to the lyric that Sinatra had made. Where the original song was "You stick around now it may show," Sinatra sang "You stick around, Jack, she might show." This change was adopted by Harrison, who used the same lyrics whenever he performed "Something" as part of his touring repertoire.[22] (WIKIPEDIA)

Thanks said (November 27, 2009):

Well Henry, one fine day I shall sort it out but here is what I heard.

Through the Moorish conquests in Spain, Sufi’s, those Muslim mystics, brought ecstatic God-directed love poems/songs to Europe. In the centuries thereafter, this ecstatic worship of God was changed into the worship of women.

By faithless troubadours roaming through Spain and (Southern) France. And this seems to be the reason why most pop songs -yet another couple of centuries later- are about our love for the other sex: women. This because men wrote and -still- write the bulk of the songs.

The Swedish playwright August Strindberg called the worship of women the religion of the heathen. Must be a correct observation. If God is out, then what’s the highest around (even if she is as human as we are)? Yep, that short-legged, broad-hipped, round-breasted creature our souls are so enamored by.

Michael said (November 27, 2009):

'By Jove, I thinks she's got it.' (From My Fair Lady)

I've been listing to songs this way for more than 30 years.

In terms of consciousness, it has to do with listening not with the consciousness of the "self" and the 'thinker'--that is, the dualistic
or 'fallen' consciousness--but, rather, with the "observing consciousness"; that is, the consciousness Created "by and in the
image of God" (Genesis 1:27)

See:

http://after-the-false-peace.blogspot.com/

John said (November 27, 2009):

Shortly after abandoning Hinduism, Buddhism, & all other religions to embrace Jesus, & only Jesus - about 5 years ago -

I had, & I still have, that same insight, & feeling,you are talking about here.

It seems to me, we are 'hard-wired' to love God (Jesus); Anything else is the sin of idolatry.

I am convinced that Jesus must be 1st in our lives, & then our spouses (partners), & then
the rest of our families, relatives, friends, acquaintances, etc.

Ever since then, life makes infinitely more sense to me.

The wonderful, remarkable thing is that
my relationship with Jesus is not one-sided.

It is a real two-way relationship, &
I feel, & I know, He loves me, too!

I feel that each & every one of us is
'hard-wired' to love Jesus, & that
only then does everything make sense.

God bless you, & all of your readers,

Neil said (November 27, 2009):

On your essay- Our love affair with God.

Wonderful, wonderful, The obvious so hidden!! It's crazy isn't it?
I am laughing...
I will have a silly grin on my face now everything time i listen to these songs!

Michael said (November 27, 2009):

thought this very interesting and so true an observation. I play guitar and write a little music, most of which has been melodies set to various Psalms and scripture. I have heard it taught that music is worship (of one thing or
another). By its nature often it expresses praise, adoration, desire etc. I learned to play because of John Denver's music, and even though I like to play something like "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and some of his love songs, there is a
longing and loneliness in them that perhaps is unconsciously a reach for what man is really missing most. But when I, in simple worship to the Lord, play and sing a psalm, many of which express praise and worship and love of God,
there is a depth of satisfaction, fulfillment. Very much this was one of the prime reasons we were made: to love God and worship Him...that being said, Song of Solomon has all that flowery poetry of human love, and one person I
know made a comparison of it to John Denver's "Annie's Song"...I have written a couple of "Christian romance" songs. One was for a niece's wedding. I think there is a place for them, but like anything they or the subject can be or
become an idol put before God and much of the worlds adulation expressed musically does this, and though not the case presently, I would love to have a special someone and sing one of those songs to her and have her enjoy it, and
since He created woman and men I think He would enjoy it as well.