There is another issue when it comes to letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires. Some people say: “You speak now of letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires—is it because the time is near, the last days are here, and the disasters have come, and because the day of God has come, that You require people to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires?” Is that the case? (No.) The answer is in the negative: No! So let us talk of the specific reason. Since the answer is no, there are certainly some detailed issues here that need to be fellowshiped on and understood. Let’s talk about this: Two thousand, or even a few hundred, years ago, the entire social environment was different from today; the state of affairs for all mankind was different from today. Their life environment was very orderly. The world was not as wicked as it is now, human society was not as chaotic as it is now, and there were no disasters. Did people still need to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires? (Yes.) Why? Give a reason, and speak to your specific knowledge. (Now that mankind is corrupted by Satan, they have Satan’s corrupt disposition, so when they pursue their ideals and desires, it is all in the pursuit of fame, profit, and status. Because they pursue fame and profit, they struggle and fight with one another, fighting for life and death, and the result is that they are corrupted ever more deeply by Satan, increasingly losing the semblance of humanity, going further and further away from God. Thus one can see that the path of pursuing ideals and desires is mistaken. So it is not because God’s day is near that He requires people to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires; rather, people should not pursue these things in the first place. They should pursue correctly, according to God’s words.) Do you think that letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires is a principle of practice? (Yes.) Is letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires the truth? Is it a requirement God has of man? (Yes.) It is a truth, a requirement God has of man. So is it the way in which people ought to walk? (Yes.) Since it is the truth, a specific requirement God has of man, and the way in which people ought to walk, is it made different by time and background? (No.) Why not? Because the truth, God’s requirements, and God’s ways do not change with changes of time, place, or environment. No matter the time, no matter the place, and no matter the space, the truth is always the truth, and the standard God requires of man does not change, nor does the standard He requires of His followers. So no matter the time, place, or context, the ways of God in which those who follow Him are to walk do not change. So, requiring people to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires in today’s age is not a requirement put forward for man just because the time is near, or because the last days are here; nor is it because the days are few and the disasters are great, nor is it for fear of man falling into disaster, that there is such an urgent requirement of man, requiring them to engage in extreme or radical courses of action, in order to achieve the fastest entry into the truth reality. This is not the reason. What is the reason then? No matter the time, whether a few hundred or a few thousand years ago—even at present—God’s requirements of man in this regard have not changed. It’s just that a few thousand years ago, even up to any time before today, God had not publicly published these words to mankind in detail, but His requirements of man have never changed at any point in time. Starting from the time that humankind first kept records, God’s requirements of them have never been for them to diligently pursue the world, or to realize their own ideals and desires in the world. His only requirements of them are to listen to His words, to walk in His ways, to not wallow in the mire with the world, and to not pursue the world. Let the people of the world deal with worldly matters; let them complete these things. They have nothing to do with those who believe in and follow God. The only thing believers in God need to do is walk in God’s ways and follow Him. Walking in God’s ways is something that believers and followers of God are duty-bound to do. This matter is not made different by time, place, or background. Even in the future, when mankind is saved and enters into the next age, this requirement will not change. Listening to God’s words and walking in His ways is the attitude and specific practice that a follower of God ought to have toward Him. Only by listening to God’s words and walking in His ways can people successfully fear God and shun evil. So, God requiring people to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires does not arise because of time, nor because of unique environments or backgrounds; rather, as long as man has existed, even if God has not clearly given them the words, He has always required this standard and principle of them. No matter how many people can achieve it, how many people are able to practice His words, or how many of His words they are able to understand, this requirement from God is unchanging. Look in the Bible, where there are records of those unique people that God chose at unique times—Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Job, etc. God’s requirements of them, the ways in which they walked, their life goals and direction, as well as the goals they pursued and the specific courses of action they took for life and survival, all embody God’s requirements of man. What are God’s requirements of man? Included in them is that people must let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires, right? (Right.) Whether in spirit or in form, they must shun noisy, disorderly, wicked mankind, and shun their noisy, disorderly, wicked trends. Before, there was a word which was not too suitable—“sanctified.” In reality, the meaning of this word is to require you to let go of your pursuits, ideals, and desires—to prevent you from becoming an unbeliever, or from doing the things unbelievers do, or from pursuing the pursuits of an unbeliever, and rather making you pursue the things a believer ought to. That is what it means. So, when some people say: “Is it because the time is near, the last days are here, and the disasters have come, that God requires people to let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires?” what should the answer to this question be? It should be that any and all of God’s requirements of man are the truth, and the ways in which people ought to walk. They do not change based on changes of time, place, environment, geographical location, or social background. God’s words are the truth, the truth that has not changed from time immemorial, which does not change throughout all eternity—so every one of God’s requirements of man and every specific principle of practice He puts forth to them date back to after He created mankind, when they did not yet have records of time. They are coexistent with God. In other words, from the moment there were humans, mankind has been able to understand God’s requirements of them. No matter the area on which the requirements touch, they are all eternal, and will not change. Overall, God’s requirements of man are to listen to His words and walk in His ways. Do you understand? (Yes.) God’s requirements are totally unrelated to the development of the world, to human social backgrounds, to time or place, or to the geographical environment and space in which people live. After listening to God’s words, it is right for people to keep and practice them. God has no other requirements of people. When they hear and understand His words, it is enough for them to practice and keep them; they will have achieved the standard of being an acceptable created being in His eyes. Do you understand? (Yes.) So, no matter the time, social environment or background, or geographical location, what you have to do is listen to God’s words, understand what He says and what His requirements are of you, and then the next thing you ought to do is hearken, submit, and practice. Do not concern yourself with things like “Are the disasters in the outside world great right now? Is the world chaotic? Is it dangerous to go out into the world? Could I fall ill with a plague? Could I die? Will I fall into the disasters? Are there temptations out there?” Thinking on such things is useless, and they have nothing to do with you. You just need to concern yourself with pursuing the truth and walking in God’s ways, not with the environment of the outside world. No matter what the environment of the outside world is like, you are a created being, and God is the Creator. The relationship between Creator and creation will not change, your identity will not change, and God’s essence will not change. You will always be someone who ought to walk in God’s ways, who ought to listen to His words and submit to Him. God will always be the One who rules over you, arranges your fate, and leads you through life. Your relationship with Him will not change, His identity will not change, and your identity will not change. Because of all this, no matter the time, your responsibility, obligation, and highest duty are to listen to God’s words, submit to them, and practice them. This will never be wrong, and it is the highest standard. Is this issue resolved? (Yes.) It is resolved. Have I spoken clearly? Have I spoken more correctly than you did? (Yes.) In what way am I correct? (We were just speaking in broad strokes, but God has dissected this issue quite thoroughly, and has also fellowshiped that God’s words are the truth, the ways people are to abide by, and that people should listen to God’s words and walk in His ways. God has spoken this all clearly.) What I’m saying is an aspect of the truth. The phrase “an aspect of the truth” is a theory, so what is there supporting this theory? It is these previously spoken-of, specific facts and content. There is evidence of all these facts; not one of them is fabricated, not one is imagined. They are all facts, or they are the essence and reality of the outward phenomena of the facts. If you can comprehend and understand them, it proves that you understand the truth. The reason you cannot say it out loud is because you do not yet understand this aspect of the truth, nor do you understand the underlying essence and reality of these phenomena, so you just talk a little about your feelings and knowledge, which is a far cry from the truth. Is this not the case? (It is.) This issue is resolved, so let’s leave it at that. Regarding the topic of letting go of the pursuits, ideals, and desires that arise as a result of interests and hobbies, was it necessary to include this question as an additional point? (Yes.) It was necessary. Every question touches on some of the truth, that is to say, it touches on the reality and essence of some facts, and behind the reality and the essence is always God’s arrangements, plans, ideas, and wishes. And what else? Some of God’s specific methods, as well as the basis, goals, and background of His actions. These are the reality.

After finishing fellowshiping on the topic of letting go of the pursuits, ideals, and desires that arise from interests and hobbies, we should fellowship on the next topic. What is the next topic? It is that people should let go of their pursuits, ideals, and desires that arise from marriage. Obviously, this topic touches on all the various problems associated with marriage. Is this topic not a bit bigger than interests and hobbies? But do not fear its size. We will break it down bit by bit, slowly understanding and piercing this topic through fellowship. The line we will take in fellowshiping on this topic is dissecting the issue of marriage from the perspectives and aspects of the essence of the problems here, both positive and negative; people’s varied understandings of marriage, both correct and incorrect; the mistakes they make in marriage, as well as various incorrect ideas and viewpoints to which the issue gives rise, ultimately enabling people to let go of the pursuits, ideals, and desires that arise from marriage. The best and easiest practice to achieve “letting go” is this: First, you must clearly see the essence of the problems, and see through them, whether they are positive or negative. Then you must be able to correctly and rationally deal with the problems. This is the active side of things. On the passive side of things, you must be able to understand and see through the mistaken ideas, viewpoints, and attitudes the problems bring you, or the various harmful and negative influences they produce in your humanity, and then from these aspects, be able to let go. In other words, you must be able to understand and see through these problems, without being tied up or bound by the mistaken ideas these problems produce, and without letting them control your life and lead you into crooked paths, or lead you to make wrong choices. In short, whether we are fellowshiping on the positive or the negative, the ultimate goal is to enable people to deal with the problem of marriage rationally, to not use erroneous ideas and views to comprehend and approach it, nor to have incorrect attitudes toward it. This is the correct comprehension of the practice of “letting go.” Alright, let us continue to fellowship on the pursuits, ideals, and desires that arise from marriage. First, let us look at the definition of marriage, what the concept is. The majority of you have not entered into marriage, right? I see that the majority of you are adults. What does it mean to be an adult? It means that you have already reached or passed a marriageable age. Whether you are at or have passed that age, every person has some relatively bourgeois views, definitions, and concepts of marriage, whether correct or incorrect. So let us first explore what marriage actually is. First, in your own words: What is marriage, actually? If we want to speak of who is qualified to talk about what marriage is, it’s probably those who have been married before. So let us first start with those who have been married, and when they are done speaking, we can move on to unmarried adults. You can talk about your views on marriage, and we will listen to your comprehension and definition of marriage. Say what you have to say, whether it is nice to listen to or not—complaints about marriage or expectations of marriage, it’s all fine. (Before getting married, everyone has expectations. Some people get married so they can live a rich lifestyle, while some people pursue a happy marriage, looking for a prince on a white stallion, fantasizing that they will live a happy life. There are also some who want to use marriage to achieve some of their own purposes.) So in your view, what is marriage, actually? Is it transactional? Is it a game? What? Some of the situations you have mentioned are about living well-off, which is a kind of transaction. What else? (I feel like for me, marriage is just something I yearn for, something I long for.) Who else wants to talk? What knowledge do the married people have about marriage? Especially the people who have been married for ten or twenty years—what feelings do you have about marriage? Are you not usually full of reflections on marriage? For one thing, you have experience with your own marriage, and for another, you have seen the marriages of those around you; at the same time, you have considered the marriages of others that you have seen in books, literature, and movies. So from those aspects, what do you think marriage is? How would you define it? What do you comprehend about it? How do you define marriage? Married people, those who have been married for a few years—especially those of you who have raised children—what are your feelings on marriage? Speak. (I can fill in a little. I watched a lot of television programs from a young age. I would always yearn for a happy married life, but after getting married, I realized that it wasn’t the way I had imagined. After getting married, the first thing I had to do was work hard for my family, which was very tiring. For another thing, because of incompatibility between my husband’s and my temperaments, and between the things we yearned for and pursued—especially the difference between the roads we pursued—we had many differences in life, to the point that we would argue. Life was hard. At this point, I felt that the kind of married life I had yearned for as a child was actually not realistic. It was just a pleasant desire, but real life is not like that. These are my thoughts on marriage.) So your comprehension of marriage is that it is bitter, is that right? (Yes.) So all your memories and recollections are bitter, tiring, painful, and unbearable to look back on; you felt upset, so afterward, you had no better expectations of marriage. You think that marriage does not conform to your wishes, that it is not good or romantic. You comprehend marriage as a tragedy—is that about what you mean? (Yes.) In your marriage, whether in things you were able to do or in things you were unwilling to do, you were particularly tired and bitter about everything, is that right? (Yes.) Marriage is bitter—that is one kind of feeling, a feeling that people can relate to or feel themselves. Regardless of form, there are probably more than a few different statements about marriage and family in the world right now. There are more than a few in films and books, and there are marriage experts and relationship experts in society who analyze and dissect all kinds of marriages, who deal with and resolve the contradictions that come up in those marriages, in order to mediate them. Ultimately, society has popularized some sayings about marriage. Which of these popular sayings about marriage do you agree with or sympathize with? (God, people in society often say that getting married is like entering a grave. I feel that after getting married, establishing a family, and having children, people have responsibilities, that they have to work endlessly to support their family, and add to the disharmony that comes from two people living together, and all kinds of problems and difficulties arise.) What is the phrase specifically? “Marriage is a grave.” Are there some famous, popular sayings in China? Is the phrase “Marriage is a grave” not quite popular? (It is.) What else? “Marriage is a city under siege—those outside want to get in, and those inside want to get out.” What else? “A marriage without love is immoral.” They think that marriage is a sign of love, and a marriage without love is immoral. They use romantic love to measure the standard of morality. Are those the definitions and concepts of marriage that married people have? (Yes.) In short, those who are married are full of bitterness. To use a phrase to describe it: “Marriage is a grave.” Is it that simple? The married people are finished speaking, so we can now listen to what the unmarried, single people have to say. Who wants to talk about their comprehension of marriage? Even if it’s childish, or a fantasy or expectations that are out of touch with reality, it’s all fine. (God, I feel that marriage is two people living as partners, a life of daily necessities.) Have you been married before? Do you have any personal experience? (No.) Daily necessities, living as partners—is that really what you think? That practical? (In my ideals, marriage is not like that, but that’s what I have seen in my own parents’ marriage.) Your parents’ marriage is like this, but your ideal marriage is not. What is your comprehension and pursuit when it comes to marriage? (When I was little my comprehension was just to find someone I admired, then to live happily and romantically with him.) You wanted to live with him, hold his hand and grow old together, is that right? (Yes.) This is your specific comprehension of marriage, which involves you yourself; you are not getting it from looking at others. What you see in the marriages of others is just their superficial appearance, and because you have not yet experienced it yourself, you do not know if what you see is the reality of the facts or just a superficial appearance of the facts; the thing you think is real will forever be in your ideas and viewpoints. One part of the understanding young people have of marriage is to live romantically with their beloved, to hold hands and grow old together, and to live this life together. Do you all have any other comprehension of marriage? (No.)

Some people say: “Marriage is about finding someone who loves you. Whether they are romantic or not does not matter, nor do you need to love them so much. At the very least, they should love you, have you in their heart, and have shared pursuits, ideals, character, interests, and hobbies with you, so you can find one another congenial and live together.” Other people say: “Find someone to live with who you love and who loves you. That alone is happiness.” And there are others whose understanding of marriage is: “You must find someone who is economically strong, so you will not worry about clothing and food the latter part of your life, and so your material life will be plentiful, and you will not suffer poverty. Regardless of their age or how they look, regardless of their character, and regardless of their tastes, they’re fine as long as they have money. As long as they can give you money to spend and can satisfy your material needs, they’re acceptable. Living with this sort of person brings happiness, and you will be physically comfortable. This is marriage.” These are some of the requirements and definitions people give marriage. The majority of people understand marriage to be finding the lover, the beloved of their dreams, a Prince Charming, and living with them and finding one another congenial. For example, some people imagine their Prince Charming to be some star or celebrity, someone with money, fame, and wealth. They think that only living with such a person is a creditable, pleasant marriage, a perfect marriage, and that only such a life is happy. Some people imagine their other half to be someone with status. Some people imagine their other half to be someone pretty and beautiful. Some people imagine their other half to be someone with a well-connected, powerful, wealthy family, a rich person. Some people imagine their other half to be ambitious and strong in their work. Some people imagine their other half to be uniquely talented. Some people imagine their other half to have some particularities of character. All these and more are requirements that people have of marriage, and of course, they are the imaginings, notions, and viewpoints that they have about marriage. In short, those who have been married before say that marriage is a grave, that entering into marriage is entering into a grave, or into a disaster; those who are unmarried imagine marriage to be especially pleasant and romantic, and they are full of yearning and expectations. But whether those who have been married or those who have not, no one can speak too clearly on their comprehension or understanding of marriage, or what the actual definition and concept of marriage is, can they? (No.) Those who have experienced marriage say: “Marriage is a grave, it is bitter.” Some of those who are unmarried say: “Your understanding of marriage is incorrect. You say marriage is bad, which is because you are too selfish. You did not put much out in your marriage. Because of your various flaws and problems, you managed your marriage into a mess. You destroyed and broke up your marriage with your own hands.” There are also some who are already married who say to those single people who have not yet entered into marriage: “You’re an ignorant child, what do you know? Do you know what marriage is like? Marriage is not a matter of a single person, nor of two people—it is a matter of two families, or even two clans. There are many issues contained therein that are neither simple nor straightforward. Even in a world of only two, where it is only a matter of two individuals, it is not so simple. No matter how pleasant your understanding and fantasy of marriage is, as the days drag on, it will be ground down by the trivialities of everyday needs, until its color and flavor will fade. You aren’t married, so what do you know? You have never been married, have never managed a marriage, so you are unqualified to evaluate marriage or make critical remarks. Your understanding of marriage is imagination, wishful thinking—it is not grounded in reality!” No matter who is talking about it, there is an objective rationale, but when all is said and done, what actually is marriage? Which perspective is the most correct, most objective way to look at it? Which is most in line with the truth? How should one look at it? Whether speaking of those who have experienced marriage before or those who have not, for one thing, their understanding of marriage is filled with their own imaginations, and for another, corrupt mankind is full of emotions regarding the role they play in marriage. Because corrupt mankind does not understand the principles to which they should hold in various environments, and does not understand the role they play in marriage or the obligations and responsibilities they ought to fulfill, some of their sayings about marriage are unavoidably emotional, and involve their personal selfishness and hotheadedness, etc. Of course, whether an individual is married or not, if they do not see marriage from the perspective of the truth, and if they do not have a pure understanding and knowledge of it from God, then except for all their practical personal experience of marriage, their understanding of marriage is in great degree influenced by society and by wicked mankind. It is also influenced by the atmosphere, trends, and public opinions of society, as well as by the mistaken, biased—and what might more specifically be termed inhumane—things said about marriage by the people of every level and stratum of society. Because of these things others say, people will, for one thing, be unconsciously influenced and controlled by these thoughts and viewpoints, and for another thing, they will unconsciously accept these attitudes and ways of looking at marriage, as well as these ways of dealing with marriage, and the attitudes toward life held by those who live married. To begin with, people do not have a positive understanding of marriage, nor a positive, accurate knowledge and cognition of it. Besides, both society and wicked mankind instill negative and mistaken thoughts about marriage into them. Therefore, people’s thoughts and viewpoints about marriage become biased, and even wicked. As long as you live and survive in this society and have eyes to see, ears to hear, and thoughts to ponder questions, you will to differing degrees accept these mistaken thoughts and viewpoints, which leads to an incorrect, biased understanding and knowledge of marriage. For example, one hundred years ago, people did not understand what romantic love was, and their understanding of marriage was very simple. When someone reached a marriageable age, a matchmaker would introduce them, their parents would handle everything, and then they would hold a wedding with a member of the opposite sex, enter into marriage, and the two of them would live together and pass their days. Thus they would accompany one another through this life, until they got to the end. That is how simple marriage was. It was a matter of two individuals—two people from different families living together, accompanying one another, taking care of one another, and living a lifetime together. It was that simple. But at some point, people started bringing up what they call romantic love, and romantic love was added to the content of marriage, all the way up to the present day. This term “romantic love,” or the meaning and idea of it, is no longer something that people, deep in their hearts, feel embarrassed about or have difficulty talking about. Rather, it very naturally exists in people’s thoughts, and is natural for people to discuss, to the point that even people who are not yet adults discuss what they call romantic love. So these kinds of thoughts, viewpoints, and statements intangibly form an influence on everyone, men and women, old and young. This influence is the reason that everyone’s understandings of marriage are so pretentious—to speak more accurately, they are prejudiced. Everyone has started to play with love and toy with passion. Man’s so-called “romantic love” is just the joining of love and passion.^[a] What does “love” mean? Love is a kind of affection. What does “passion” mean? It means lust. Marriage is no longer as simple as two people passing the days together as partners; rather, it has become a toy for affection and lust. Is this not the case? (It is.) People have come to understand marriage as a joining of lust and affection, so can their marriages be good? Men and women do not live well, nor do they fulfill their responsibilities well, and they pass their days in a way that is not down to earth. They often speak of love, of passion, of affection and lust. Do you think they can thus live smoothly and steadily? (No.) What person is there that can pass through these temptations and enticements? No one can pass through these temptations and enticements. In society, people are filled with lust and affection for one another. This is what they call romantic love, and it is the way contemporary people understand marriage; it is their highest evaluation of marriage, the highest of tastes. So, contemporary people’s marriage situation has changed beyond recognition, and is in a terrible, awful mess. Marriage is no longer as simple as a matter of a man and a woman; rather, it has become a matter of all people, men and women, playing with affection and lust—totally depraved. Under the enticement of wicked trends, or through the inculcation of wicked thoughts, people’s understanding and perspective on marriage become deformed, abnormal, and wicked. In addition to this, society’s films and TV programs, as well as literary and artistic works, continually put out ever more wicked and immoral interpretations and statements about marriage. Directors, writers, and actors all elaborate on marriage as a terrible state. This is full of wickedness and lust, which leads to proper marriages being thrown into chaos. So, ever since there has been romantic love, divorce has become more and more common in human society, as have extramarital affairs; more children have been compelled to endure the injury of parental divorce, compelled to live with single mothers or single fathers, thus passing their childhood and youth, or growing up under the improper marriage situations of their parents. The reason for all these different marital tragedies, these incorrect or malformed marriages, is that the view of marriage which society advocates is prejudiced, wicked, and immoral, to the point that they lack ethics and morality. Because mankind does not have an accurate understanding of things positive or proper, people will unwittingly accept these thoughts and viewpoints that society advocates, no matter how malformed they are. These things are like a plague, spreading throughout your body, corroding your every thought and idea, and corroding the correct parts of your humanity. The conscience and reason of your normal humanity quickly become blurred, indistinct, or weak; then, these thoughts and viewpoints that come from Satan which are deviant, wicked, and lack ethics and morals, take the superior position and dominant role in the depths of your thoughts and heart, and in your mental world. After these things take the superior position and dominant role, your perspective on issues like marriage quickly becomes twisted and deviant, and devoid of ethics and morals, to the point that it becomes wicked, but you yourself do not know it, and you think it entirely proper: “Everyone thinks this way, so why should I not? Everyone thinking this way is proper, so is it not proper for me to think this way as well? So if no one else blushes talking about romantic love, I shouldn’t either. The first time, I was a little bashful, a little embarrassed, and I had a hard time opening my mouth. After talking about it a few more times I was fine. Listening more and talking about it more made it my own.” True, you are talking and listening, and this thing has become your own, but the true, original understanding of marriage cannot stand firm in the depths of your thoughts, so you have lost the conscience and reason you ought to have as a normal person. What is the reason for losing it? It is because you have accepted the so-called “romantic love” view of marriage. This so-called “romantic love” view of marriage has swallowed up the original understanding and feeling of responsibility your normal humanity has toward marriage. Very quickly, you start to personally put into practice your own understanding of romantic love. You continuously seek out people who you find congenial, people who love you or who you love, and you pursue romantic love by fair means or foul, taking great pains and being quite shameless, to the point of expending a lifetime of energy for the sake of romantic love—then you are done for. In the process of pursuing romantic love, say a woman finds someone she admires, and she thinks: “We are in love, so let’s get married.” After she gets married, she lives with the person for a while, then realizes that he has some flaws, and she thinks: “He doesn’t like me, and I don’t really like him. The two of us are unsuitable, so our romantic love was a mistake. Fine, we’ll get divorced.” After the divorce, she carries around a child of two or three years and prepares to find someone else, thinking: “Since my last marriage was loveless, I need to make sure that the next one has true romantic love. This time I have to be certain, so I have to spend some time examining.” After a while, she runs into someone else, “Ah, this is the lover of my dreams, the person I imagined I would like. He likes me, and I like him. He can’t stand to be apart from me and I can’t stand to be apart from him; we are like two magnets attracting one another, always wanting to be together. We are in love, let’s get married.” And so she gets married again. Once married, she has one more child, and after two or three years, she thinks: “This person has more than a few flaws; he is both lazy and greedy. He likes to boast and brag, as well as chit chat. He does not fulfill his responsibilities, he does not give the money he earns to the family, and he drinks and gambles all day long. This is not the person I want to love. This is not how the person I love is. Divorce!” Carrying two children around, she divorces again. After getting divorced, she starts to consider: What is romantic love? She cannot say. Some people have two or three failed marriages, and what do they say in the end? “I don’t believe in romantic love, I believe in humanity.” You see, they go back and forth, and they do not know what they should believe in. They do not know what marriage is; they accept erroneous thoughts and perspectives, and use these thoughts and perspectives as their standards. They personally put into practice these thoughts and perspectives, and at the same time, they also ruin marriage and themselves, as well as ruining other people; to different degrees, they harm the next generation and themselves, both physically and spiritually. These things are all part of the reason why people feel pained and helpless regarding marriage, why they have no good feelings about marriage. I just fellowshiped about people’s various perspectives and definitions of marriage, as well as the situation that human marriage is in as a result of the incorrect viewpoints modern people hold regarding marriage; in short, is the situation of modern human marriage good or bad? (Bad.) It has no prospects, it is not optimistic, and it is ever more turned upside-down. From the East to the West, from the South to the North, human marriage is in a terrible, awful state. People of the current generation—people under the age of forty or fifty—all witness the misfortune of the previous and next generations’ marriages, as well as these generations’ views on marriage, and their failed marriage experiences. Of course, many people under the age of forty are victims of all kinds of unfortunate marriages; some of them are single mothers, others are single fathers, though of course, relatively speaking, there are not as many single fathers. Some people grow up with their birth mother and stepfather, some grow up with their birth father and stepmother, and others grow up with siblings from different mothers and fathers. Others have divorced parents who remarry, and none of the parents want them, so they become orphans, who grow up into adults after a few years of muddling through society; then they become a stepfather or stepmother, or they become a single mother or father. This is the situation of modern marriage. Is mankind’s management of marriage to this degree not the result of Satan’s corruption of them? (It is.) This necessary form of mankind’s most basic survival and multiplication has been utterly mutilated and made a mess of. How do you think mankind lives? Seeing each family’s life is vexing, too awful to even look at. Let us speak no more of this; the more one says, the more vexed one feels, right?

Footnotes:

a. The original text does not contain the phrase “Man’s so-called ‘romantic love’ is just the joining of love and passion.”