147 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
147 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
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SPIRITUAL GROWTH
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Life as a process of growth that is spiritual as well as physical,
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from one stage to the next. These stages may be described in many ways,
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but fundamentally they include a foundation stage when the knowledge of
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truth or the gift of salvation is first acquired, a growth stage where the
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person practices that truth and develops virtue, self-control, insight,
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and self-confidence, and finally the stage of maturity where the person
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realizes the fulness of perfection as demonstrated in the person of the
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founder: the stage of arahat, or of the bodhisattva, or oneness with
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Christ. This theme of growth is sometimes expressed by the metaphor of
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sprouting grain.
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O man! Verily you are ever toiling on towards your Lord--painfully
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toiling--but you shall meet Him.... You shall surely travel from stage to
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stage.
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Islam. Qur'an 84.6, 19
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We must begin... with the more simple demonstrations of control, and the
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sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration takes time for its
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accomplishment. When walking, we are guided by the eye. We look before
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our feet, and if we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of
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spiritual advancement.
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Christian Science. Science and Health, 428-29
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To the pupil training, in the straight way walking,
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By ending [his sins] first comes knowledge;
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Straight follows insight; by that insight freed
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He knows in very truth: Sure is my freedom
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By wearing out the fetter of becoming.
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Buddhism. Itivuttaka 53
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Practicing step by step,
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One gradually fulfills all Buddha teachings.
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It is like first setting up a foundation
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Then building the room:
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Generosity and self-control, like this,
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Are bases of enlightening beings' practices.
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Buddhism. Garland Sutra 10
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The Master said, "At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I
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had planted my feet upon firm ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from
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perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At
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sixty, I heard them with a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the
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dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the
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boundaries of right."
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Confucianism. Analects 2.4
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Through constant effort over many lifetimes, a person becomes purified of
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all selfish desires and attains the supreme goal of life.
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Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 6.45
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Qur'an 84.6, 19: Cf. Qur'an 91.7-10, p. 715; Chun Boo Kyung, p. 180.
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Bhagavad Gita 6.45: What in some religious conceptions requires many
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lifetimes, other doctrines regard as attainable in one life, through God's
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grace. Yet the seeker who attains the supreme goal may look back to the
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efforts of his ancestors or his own incarnations in previous lives,
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grateful for the foundations of faith and good works which they sowed and
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which he could finally reap.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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By degrees, little by little, from time to time, a wise person should
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remove his own impurities as a smith removes the dross from silver.
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Buddhism. Dhammapada 239
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We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
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and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope
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does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our
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hearts.
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Christianity. Romans 5.3-5
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Study of Torah leads to precision, precision to zeal, zeal to cleanliness,
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cleanliness to restraint, restraint to purity, purity to holiness,
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holiness to meekness, meekness to fear of sin, fear of sin to saintliness,
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saintliness to the holy spirit, and the holy spirit to life eternal.
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Judaism. Talmud, Aboda Zara 20b
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The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and
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should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow,
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he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the
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ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once
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he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.
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Christianity. Mark 4.26-29: Parable of the Sprouting Seed
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Muhammad is the Apostle of God; and those who are with him are strong
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against unbelievers, but compassionate amongst each other.... And their
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similitude in the Gospel is: Like a seed which sends forth its blade, then
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makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem,
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filling the sowers with wonder and delight.
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Islam. Qur'an 48.29
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Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's
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gift.... to equip the saints for the work of ministry, until we all attain
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to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
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mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so
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that we may no longer be called children, tossed to and fro on every wind
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of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful
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wiles. Rather, speaking truth in love, we are to grow up in every way
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into him who is the head, into Christ--from whom the whole body, joined
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and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part
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is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.
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Christianity. Ephesians 4.7-16
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Mark 4.26-29: This parable represents the growth of the Kingdom of
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Heaven--interpreted either corporately or within the heart of the
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individual believer--as a natural process that occurs mysteriously and
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gradually, enlivened by God's fertilizing grace. It is likened to the
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growth of grain in three stages of formation--'the blade', growth--'the
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ear', and maturity--'the full grain', followed by a fourth stage of
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returning to God--the harvest'. Qur'an 48.29: The 'similitude in the
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Gospel' is Mark 4.26-29, preceding. Ephesians 4.7-16: The gift of
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salvation is only the beginning of the saint's spiritual growth to 'mature
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manhood' which is oneness with Christ.
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