Should our life's goal be spiritual and moral perfection?

Question

" We are not human beings. having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings. having a human experience."
- Teilhard de Chardin

"Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which art in heaven is Perfect."
-Jesus

Peace and Love

Answer 1

God loved and rewarded David more than any other in the Bible. David is someone we should emulate.

David of the Old Testament was a man of God. He was a hard-driving, drinking, womanizing, murdering, adulterous man, who loved and worshipped God. He was a man; he was a warrior for God who courageously fought Goliath. He was a moral, upright man fighting brutal wars and built a nation.

David struggled with sin. What church would accept this man, today? The media would have vilified him and he would have been prosecuted. Yet God loved him. Read Psalms, there is no doubt David was a man of God. God was in his soul. David accomplished God’s will in his life; he created a strong nation, although with mistakes, sin, rewards and pain.

Mistakes and sin happens to great people, and all people. No one is perfect, not even men of God.

This is not an endorsement of David’s sins. It is a fact from the Bible to learn from. We are sinners that are striving to live, learn and do our best. The acknowledgement of sin, leads to motivation to change. For our part, we need to tend toward forgiveness rather than judgment.

Thus, our goal is to reach our destiny, like the parable of the talents, to live our created life to the max and reach our potential. Read the parable of the talents and what God will do if you do not live your life to the max, trying to reach your created potential.

Answer 2

God is spirit, and we worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Heaven is where God is and Hell is where He is not. Earth is where man is. How does man get to God?

Man is body, soul and Spirit. And as much as I have enjoyed reading Teilhard, he is biblical wrong on this point. Yes we have spirit, but we also have a body and a soul. It is true that man has spirit, but he is not a spiritual being.

There are 48 references (20 in the Old Testament and 28 in the new) for the use of perfect and perfectly. The 20 perfect deals with perfect way, perfect beauty, perfect knowledge, perfect peace, perfect God. In Matt 5:48 comes at the end of a sermon. It is the first use of perfect in the New Testament. Jesus is referring to God's perfection based on the usage in the Old Testament. There is no moral perfection, it is actually from the commandments of the covenant.

One last comment: Be without conflict is the meaning of peace and love is a relationship and an emotion.

Answer: Man already has a spiritual aspect, and moral perfection is not the perfection that is discussed in the Sermon on the Mount.

Answer 3

Man being human and having a spirit does not make him a spiritual being. This being said, man is not, can not, will not ever be perfect. His actions may give him this ability by attaining to following the commandments of GOD. If this can be accomplished and attained, the rest of his transgressions are a part of the human experience and known as living......GOD forgives those who believe in HIM and what HE gives or takes away, for whatever reason known only to HIM.....Morals are accepted rules of standard human behavior not actual law. They pertain to the commandments (laws of GOD) and even those who break them can be forgiven, if one is truly sorry for the action and doesn't continue with the behavior. Absolution will be obtained through purgatory at the time of death..........

Answer 4

Dear Digilook: Thank you for the above. I travel with you.

"Physical presence has little to do
With spirits who travel
the paths of these two.

Our souls travel in silent elation -
bodies absent, in perfect formation."
by l.s. Darrell

If I may - I would like to remove the word moral from above. Your spiritual awakening is the life goal to pursue. And, IN that, may I make the suggestion that morals will no longer be your issue?

Jesus, Himself, is a Baptism [a cleansing that becomes purification] of thoughts. His teachings, one-on-one with you - at your invitation only - are the clarifying of your perceptions. How you perceive your world, your relationships, your family dynamics, even down to what someone said to you ! How you perceive these things causes your personality development. He would enter into THIS, and through Mind instruct you and ensure His Truth is written across your heart !

We need to contemplate the levels of learning. So many of us quit - long before we ever achieve the higher LEVELS of His teaching. Perhaps, at certain points of the Journey it gets a little uncomfortable. After all, you are being shown how to alter your thinking - about everything ! There is some effort that needs to be expended - in doing this. But, Jesus can open door after door to you, showing you vistas, one after the other, that surprise, delight you, and quicken your steps. This is the goal !

It is painful to see people decide that the manner in which they are attempting to learn is boring or too difficult or too dry ! They are telling me they have never had a one-on-one relationship with Jesus. When HE teaches, no one is bored. No one goes to sleep! And I witness to you, He has a wonderful sense of humour ! The higher levels He will take you through, in learning, are filled with light-heartedness and feelings of your gratitude pouring out - to Him. For on THOSE levels, morals never even enter into the picture. Whatever was immoral within you seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the path. You have no idea where you dropped those attitudes and actions. Possibly, they slipped out of your pocket and fell under a lushly canopied tree - as you walked along with Him and spoke with each other- through Mind. Perfection? Most probably not. A few perhaps will reach that. There are other great Teachers in our History. But you will become polished in fine-ness and shine with the light He has filled you with. Let Jesus worry about your morals and perfection. He'll take care of everything - to your satisfaction.

He will also tell you - you are a spiritual being having a human experience.

Answer 5

For most of our lives, our energy is directed toward the goal of surviving the day. Perfection is usually never even contemplated or attempted, nor should it be.

But, for some brief seconds when our mind is clear and our well being is not threatened, we might sit back and contemplate our place in the continuum which is life.

Then, reality hits and we contemplate our true needs: Bud or Miller.

Answer 6

Nope, because it is an impossible goal. We ALL have fallen short of the glory of God. If we could become spiritually and morally perfect there would be no need for Jesus.

So, our life's goal is to get to know and do our best to live like Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

Moral since spiritual is up to manipulation and personal interpretation, but everyone can strive to be a better person.

Morality as defined by society as a whole, not by some religious sub-group.

Answer 8

i agree with you that we as a entire nation should be looking for spiritual fulfilment , instead of this hollow search for something better than the next guy .
but maybe the journey is just that , the path to finding true fulfilment .

Answer 9

We should strive for the high calling of Jesus Christ every day.A lot
of people will never pick up and read The Bible Gods Word but they
will read our lives daily.
In Christ in Love,
TJ57

Answer 10

It become in conserving with Godly principals with the aid of deeply non secular adult men putting the stamp of God in this usa. area of the reason this usa has prospered is using that, area of the reason that is not any longer as wealthy because it once become is using the persons turning faraway from God. An social gathering of it is that when prayer become taken out of the colleges, the guns began coming in.