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The Lord as the Center
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Conjugial love, with its blessedness and delights, does not enter into a marriage simply by virtue of the fact that a couple has promised themselves to each other. A good marriage is built on more than promises, or even sincere hopes. We know from experience or a quick glance at relationships in the world around us that many marriages based on hopes and promises alone sadly break apart. The Writings for the New Church assure that true and lasting marriage love can be restored to the world, that marriages can not only remain intact, but can become beautiful experiences for people who look to the Lord and follow His teachings. The teachings of the New Church can act as a foundation for genuine and lasting marriage love, and can also be a practical guide for the couple throughout their lives and even into eternity.
The New Church believes strongly in a loving God, who has revealed Himself to humankind as the Lord Jesus Christ. Marriages based on a strong belief in the Lord and His teachings flourish because He is the source of all that is good and true, and He alone has the power to help the couple overcome the many obstacles to a loving relationship. Genuine marriage is not a state of infatuation, where two look to each other for their only fulfillment, but rather a mutual looking above self to a Greater Power for help and guidance, and as a source of fulfillment.
The Lord, in His essence, is pure love. He does not condemn. He does not desire to fill us with guilt or shame. He is not an angry father who desires to punish His children for their sins. This view of God is hurtful to a marriage, for it alienates a couple from the love which God has to offer and the help that He can bring to a couple. The New Church teaches that God is one in love and truth, in personality, and in purpose. There is no angry Father seeking justice at the price of His Son, but one loving God, who continually reaches out to a couple with His help, His energy, and His love. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, who in His glorified human is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His very essence, represented by the "Father" in the Bible, is His love and His Wisdom, invisible to the naked eye, but forever present with people who will accept it. The "Son" is how He has shown Himself to His children, as a loving, reachable, understandable God in human form. Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." The "Holy Spirit" is His spirit, how He affects us, and breathes into our lives and our marriages the breath of life. The Writings of the New Church teach that if a couple brings this living, reachable, and Divinely Human God into their relationship, they have someone real and all-powerful to rely upon: the Lord Himself.
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