Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - April 24, 2023
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)


  1. Activist Outreach
  2. Narratives That Can Guide Us: What Is God's Essence?
  3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Activist Outreach

Rick Hershey writes:

Colburn and I handed out 2400 CVA booklets mostly to kids at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock for Winter Jam. The crowd was friendly as usual.


2. Narratives That Can Guide Us: What Is God’s Essence?

Last week, I explained why I thought it was important to humanity as well as theologically sound to describe God as having a single essence. Service to God, then, would involve reflecting that essence. Ideally, non-religious people could also regard this essence as an ideal principle.

I suggest that the divine essence might be seen as love. By love, I mean a genuine desire for the well-being of one or more individuals. Of course, divine love should extend to everyone and everything. A loving God would want all sentient individuals to experience pleasure and avoid pain and suffering. I think a loving God would also want to preserve nature, in all its grandness and beauty. Nearly all secular systems similarly encourage kindness and caring. Indeed, the Golden Rule, encouraged in nearly every religion and secular ideology, accords with the view that we should address the world with loving-kindness.

As I discussed in the prior essay, a monotheistic theology is incompatible with God having opposite essences. The opposite of love is hatred or hurtfulness. However, if God is love, as John declared (1 John 4:8, 4:16), then where does suffering, hurtful behavior, and death come from? It is crucial to explain why there is evil if we are to hold that God is love. I will start to explore that next.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.


3. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

We hope you enjoy this week's newsletter.

All-Creatures.org Newsletter for April 19, 2023

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org 


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