40. The Principles of Living out Normal Humanity

40. The Principles of Living out Normal Humanity

1. To live out normal humanity, you must possess conscience, reason, integrity and dignity. Living by God’s words is the foundation of being human;

2. You must be an honest person, speak honestly and do real things, be pure, open and wise, fear God and shun evil, and live by God’s words;

3. Get along with others with a loving heart, be tolerant and patient, forgiving and caring, understanding and respectful, and be able to treat others fairly and impartially;

4. You must pursue the truth and practice the truth, faithfully fulfill the duties of a created being, and live out a true human likeness to glorify God.

Relevant Words of God:

Normal humanity includes these aspects: insight, sense, conscience, and character. If you can achieve normality in each of these respects, your humanity is up to standard. You should have the likeness of a normal human being and behave like a believer in God. You don’t have to achieve great heights or engage in diplomacy. You just have to be a normal human being, with a normal person’s sense, be able to see through things, and at least look like a normal human being. That will be enough. … A lot of people see that the age has changed, so they don’t exercise any humility or patience, and they might as well not have any love or saintly decency either. These people are too absurd! Do they have an ounce of normal humanity? Do they have any testimony to speak of? They don’t have any insight and sense whatsoever. Of course, some aspects of people’s practice that are deviant and erroneous need to be corrected. Like people’s rigid spiritual life or appearance of numbness and imbecility of the past—all of these things have to change. Change doesn’t mean letting you be dissolute or indulge in the flesh, saying whatever you want. Speaking carelessly cannot do! Behaving like a normal human being is to speak with coherence. Yes means yes, no means no. Be true to the facts and speak appropriately. Don’t cheat, don’t lie.

from “Improving Caliber Is for Receiving God’s Salvation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Before he was corrupted by Satan, man naturally followed God and obeyed His words. He was naturally of sound sense and conscience, and of normal humanity. After being corrupted by Satan, his original sense, conscience, and humanity grew dull and were impaired by Satan. Thus, he has lost his obedience and love toward God. Man’s sense has become aberrant, his disposition has become the same as that of an animal, and his rebelliousness toward God is ever more frequent and grievous. Yet man still neither knows nor recognizes this, and merely blindly opposes and rebels. … “Normal sense” refers to obeying and being faithful to God, to yearning for God, to being unequivocal toward God, and to having a conscience toward God. It refers to being of one heart and mind toward God, and not deliberately opposing God. Those who are of an aberrant sense are not like this. Since man was corrupted by Satan, he has produced conceptions about God, and he has had no loyalty or yearning for God, to say nothing of a conscience toward God. Man deliberately opposes and passes judgments on God, and, furthermore, hurls invective at Him behind His back. Man clearly knows He is God, yet still passes judgments on Him behind His back, has no intention of obeying Him, and merely makes blind demands and requests of God. Such people—people who have aberrant sense—are incapable of knowing their own despicable behavior or of regretting their rebelliousness. If people are capable of knowing themselves, then they have regained a little of their sense; the more people are rebellious against God but do not know themselves, the more they are of unsound sense.

from “To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

God likes a person who pursues the truth, who has determination, and is honest, even if they are ignorant. God is not afraid of you not knowing, of being weak, or of lacking wisdom. What He detests is when you have no pursuit, when your outlook on life is just like a worldly person’s and your pursuits are the same as a beast’s—soulless, without a goal or direction for your life pursuit. God detests this type of attitude in your belief in Him. … To pursue being a person with truth and humanity, someone who has conscience and reason and worships God—that is, to be a true person—this is the most proper pursuit.

from “What a Change in Disposition Is and the Path to a Change in Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks

You ought to know that God likes an honest man. … Honesty means to give your heart to God; never to play Him false in anything; to be open with Him in all things, never hiding the truth; never to do that which deceives those above and deludes those below; and never to do that which merely ingratiates yourself with God. In short, to be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man. … If your words are riddled with excuses and valueless justifications, then I say that you are one who is extremely loath to put the truth into practice. If you have many confidences that you are reluctant to share, and if you are very unwilling to lay bare your secrets—that is to say, your difficulties—before others so as to seek the way of the light, then I say that you are one who will not receive salvation easily and who will not easily emerge from the darkness. If seeking the way of the truth pleases you well, then you are one who dwells always in the light.

from “Three Admonitions” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In the dispositions of normal people there is no crookedness or deceitfulness, people have a normal relationship with each other, they do not stand alone, and their lives are neither mediocre nor decadent. So, too, is God exalted among all, His words permeate among man, people live in peace with one another and under the care and protection of God, the earth is filled with harmony, without the interference of Satan, and the glory of God holds the utmost importance among man. Such people are like angels: pure, vibrant, never complaining about God, and devoting all their efforts solely to God’s glory on earth.

from “Interpretation of the Sixteenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

God is always in the hearts of those who genuinely believe in God and they always carry within them a God-revering heart, a God-loving heart. Those who believe in God should do things with a cautious and prudent heart, and all they do should be in accordance with God’s requirements and be able to satisfy the heart of God. They should not be headstrong, doing whatever they please; that does not befit saintly propriety.

from “A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When people experience the work of the Holy Spirit, they are especially holy inside. Those who are possessed of the work of the Holy Spirit live out the love of God, the love of their brothers and sisters, and delight in the things that delight God, and loathe the things that God loathes. People who are touched by the work of the Holy Spirit have normal humanity, and they are possessed of humanity and constantly pursue the truth. When the Holy Spirit works within people, their conditions become better and better, and their humanity becomes more and more normal, and though some of their cooperation may be foolish, their motivations are right, their entry is positive, they do not try to interrupt, and there is no malevolence within them.

from “The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Satan” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

People who have the truth are those who, in their real experiences, can stand firm in their testimony, stand firm in their position, stand on the side of God, without ever retreating, and who can have a normal relationship with people who love God, who, when things happen to them, are able to completely obey God, and can obey God unto death. Your practice and revelations in real life are the testimony of God, they are man’s living out and the testimony of God, and this is truly enjoying God’s love; when you have experienced to this point, the due effect will have been achieved. You are possessed of actual living out and your every action is looked upon with admiration by others. Your appearance is unremarkable, but you live out a life of the utmost piety, and when you communicate the words of God, you are guided and enlightened by Him. You are able to speak God’s will through your words, communicate reality, and you understand much about serving in spirit. You are candid in your speech, you are decent and upright, non-confrontational and decorous, able to obey God’s arrangements and stand firm in your testimony when things befall you, and you are calm and composed no matter what you are dealing with. This kind of person has truly seen God’s love. Some people are still young, but they act as someone of middle age; they are mature, possessed of the truth, and admired by others—and these are the people who have testimony, and are the manifestation of God.

from “Those Who Love God Will Forever Live Within His Light” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

I have a lot of wishes. I wish you can conduct yourselves in a proper and well-behaved manner, be faithful to fulfill your duty, have truth and humanity, be someone who can give up everything and give up their lives for God, and so forth. All of these hopes stem from your insufficiencies and your corruption and disobedience.

from “Transgressions Will Take Man to Hell” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

After experiencing to a certain point, a person’s life views, significance of existence, and foundation of existence will completely transform. That is, you will be born again, and become a completely different person. This is incredible! This is a big transformation; it is a transformation that turns everything upside down. You will feel that fame, profit, position, wealth, pleasures, and glory of the world don’t matter and that you are able to effortlessly let go of them. This is a person in the likeness of a human being. Those who are ultimately made complete will be a group like this. They will live for truth, for God, and for righteousness. This is the likeness of a person.

from “Understanding Commonalities and Differences in Human Nature” in Records of Christ’s Talks

The Man’s Fellowship:

Presently, everybody’s interpersonal relationships are abnormal. The main reason for this is that people have been corrupted by Satan very deeply and their integrity is extremely flawed. Men seek nothing but profit and try to benefit at other people’s expense in everything that they do. They are guided by their own individual intentions and goals in all matters. People live for themselves and for their flesh. They are absolutely not concerned at all about others and they do not even have the loving emotions that they should possess. Men fight and scheme against each other and they do so both openly and covertly. There is no way for mankind to get along with one another in a normal fashion. The conscience and rationality that man should possess has vanished from the face of the earth. There is no spirit of cooperation amongst mankind. Without a little bit of patience, people would be enemies with one another. Man’s heart is filled with evil, conflict, hostility and irreconcilable differences. It’s as if man does not have the image of human being at all. He is completely possessed by Satan and his inner heart is filled with Satan’s philosophy. All of this has been revealed by God’s words and there is absolutely nothing wrong about it. These real situations exist in everybody. … In order for people to interact normally with one another, they must possess a few principles of practice. These principles should not only include not taking advantage of others, not harming others, but having some love. They further include having a conscience and rationality, helping one another, showing tolerance to one another, caring for others, letting others benefit in all situations, considering others, not just caring about yourself, showing compassion for others’ weaknesses, and forgiving the transgressions of others. If we have these few principles, we will be able to build a normal relationship with others and we will be able to live in harmony with each other.

from the fellowship from the above

The fourth expression of dispositional change is having a conscience, having sense, and being kind-hearted, and becoming an honest person. To have conscience and sense means a person is enjoying God’s grace and knows to repay God’s love. They can fulfill their duty of a created being through believing in God because they have an understanding of God, they are kind-hearted, and have become an honest person. As an honest person, they can fulfill their duty and repay God’s love, and treat people with kindness. This kind of person doesn’t lie, doesn’t cheat, and certainly doesn’t have any machinations. Getting along with someone like this will never pose any danger to you or hurt you. … After their life disposition changes, people can become kind, treat everyone with fairness, and be especially gracious toward those who are particularly good. First, they won’t cheat you. Secondly, they won’t try to trap you. Thirdly, they surely won’t intend to hurt you. You never have to worry about these things. Further, if you hurt them in some ways, they will forgive you and won’t hold on to your transgressions. They will tolerate you, forbear with you, be patient with you, and still treat you with love. Wouldn’t it be much safer if you met someone like this? A person whose life disposition has changed has a kind heart and has love for every person and is willing to help them. Even if you hurt them or do wrong by them, they can forbear with, be patient with, and forgive you. Such is a person with normal humanity and the likeness of a real person. Someone in the likeness of a real person treats people with conscience, sense, and through the truth. They obey God, have a loving heart, and carry out true worship. That’s a person whose life disposition has changed. People nowadays have too many malevolent ingredients in them, so how do they act? If they see anyone they dislike they will judge and belittle them. Isn’t that cruel? Also, if they see anyone who reveals some corruption, they won’t treat them like human beings, and will instead treat them as demons. Not treating people correctly—isn’t that malicious? If someone does wrong by them or says some things they shouldn’t have said, such as words that judge them or doubt them, or offend them, they will be unforgiving, they will want revenge and to go tit for tat. Isn’t that vicious? On top of that, they always try to take advantage of people, order them around and get others to do things for them, but they never help anyone else. Isn’t that nasty? All of these are malignant expressions. Kind people don’t have evil in their hearts. If you owe them, they won’t mind, but they won’t owe you anything because for them that’s definitely unacceptable. Plus, it’s not a problem if you offend them, but they would never want to offend you, let alone harm you. Isn’t that kind-hearted? When anyone does something unfavorable toward them, they can also put themselves in that person’s shoes and be considerate toward them, can forgive them, and understand them. This is also the expression of a kind heart. Some people committed a lot of evil in the past, but they now have faith in God and can pursue the truth, and further they can forgive others and treat them correctly and fairly. This type of person is classified as a kind-hearted person. Kind-hearted people have forbearance, mercy, forgiveness, and endurance in their hearts, and even more so they have love and sympathy. That is why everyone loves to be in contact with someone like this and is willing to make such a friend.

from the fellowship from the above

from: Practice and Exercises for Principled Behavior

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