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%OBEY COMMANDMENT LOVE GOD NEIGHBOR HEART MIND SOUL+961224
 %CONFORMITY CONSTRAINT COERCION VIOLENCE INTEGRITY 961224

     It  is sometimes  difficult to  distinguish  between:
(1)   people  obeying the commandments  to  love  God  and
neighbors with integrity---with the whole being---;    and
(2)   people dishonestly  yielding to coercive demands  to
conform   self  in  ways  which  undermine  personal   and
communal integrity.

     To  be  true  to  the law of  love  does  not  entail
conforming self to any particular  prescriptive code which
demands conformity.   The laws of Love are written in  the
heart ---  and obedience flows from the heart;   not  from
fears    of   punishment,     rejection,     condemnation,
excommunication, etc.

     The fulfillment of the true promptings of Love is not
achieved  through  prescriptive  conformity---but  through
creatively  being  true to self and others in  ways  which
transcend  the  limitations  of formal  prescriptions  and
prohibitions.   The fulfillment of the true promptings  of
Love  is not the grounds for being accepted in Love;   but
rather the response to being accepted in Love.

     Legalists obscure and confuse the laws of Love.  They
turn  corollaries  to  the laws of Love into demi-gods and
worship  the  demi-gods  in idolatrous  ways  which  blind
people  to   what   they are doing,  and  to  the   tragic
fruits which the idolatry bears.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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