My version of TRUTH

Protagoras believed "What is true for you is true for you, and what is true for me, is true for me." The story goes to end with Protagoras agreeing to Socrates. I'm a Christian. I will defend my TRUTH. There will be a lot of Socrates' out there waiting to click the "comment" button and I may lose the argument. I have no problem with losing. I can face defeat in this lifetime if that's the only way to my eternity with Jesus.

1. God is incomplete without Man.  I believe in faith that God, being the first and the Creator, cannot just be a complete person without a creature who does what is supposed to be done because he is programmed to do so. Let me explain. Let's imagine I am God. Because I am God I can do ALL things. There is no limit and what my mind can imagine will happen in an instant. Now, if I know everything and can do everything what is left for me? None. The best thing I will do is to create something that has a degree of predictability and un-predictability. Does environment, animals, worlds fit the bill? No, only man fits the bill.

2. God learns from Man. From the time of Adam God has been patiently studying man and how He grows. How man's understanding works and how man is slowly becoming a creature that is most lovable yet can also be most hate-able. Where did God learn about burnt offerings? Where did God learn about blood sacrifice? Where did God learn about affection and attention deficit-turned envy-turned murder(Cain and Abel)?

3. God understands Man. There are lots of theories about why God did not kill Cain. I believe that God learned from the experience of the First Offerings. There are two things that I see in Adam that helps me explain why there was murder. If I was Adam there will be only one of the two emotions that I will feel because God cursed me and my family. It's just I either regret or hate. I might regret because (first assumption has the idea of God) "I did not think that the man that I was talking to was the greatest of all beings."; or (second assumption has no idea of God) "I could have done better instead of listening to Eve." Hatred (third assumption) may also be sown by simply pointing a finger at God and blaming God for my (Adam's) ignorance.

Adam will then tell the story to his children. Depending on his emotions or the interpretation of his children the die is cast. We know how Cain and Abel both interpreted it based on two assumptions. This is the first time Man tried to reach out to God because one of them believed that the human need for "connection" can be satisfied.

4. God forgives Man. As a being who has the mind and facilities of God man is able to do things that are even beyond God's imagination. God's original plan for man was to be a steward. It was not meant for man to learn how to plant and domesticate animals, create society, religion, community, politics and family. However, in the process of being man, man stumbles and falters. It is but normal to think that even if Adam and Eve was made (not born) God considered them as babies and forgave them for their sins. This is still the same situation that mankind is in. Again this shows that God's understanding of man is more than our understanding of ourselves.

5. God redeems Man. Redemption is such a big word. It means that man in his own ways can invent and make things better but still mess everything up. However, this subjected man to a lot of stresses while living. Pressure emanating from the family, community, society, government, peers and media. This makes his direction so varied and misaligned. In the end the good thing he has created will one day will be his failure. What inventions of today and of the past did not cause mankind to fail in some ways? No amount of human intelligence can save us from our own mess. God offered a way out and that is through Redemption. He will take us back away from this world.

6. Grace is God's greatest weakness. No matter how holy God is grace shadows his demand for holiness. I say shadow because his grace allows us to still live unpunished even though we sin and we sin repeatedly. We are sinning every moment and there is no way of stopping it. No one is exempt. He gives grace to the rich and poor, sinner and poor, wicked and righteous.

7. God will reward Man. I believe that the afterlife of everyone is the day of accounting. This is the part when God will ask us how we made use of the gift of life. For those who believed and have faith in God and acted with gratitude and grace in faith will be taken to another place. God has set a time for grace and justice. Justice comes to every man when he dies and faces his Maker. If that man lived by faith he will receive grace but if that man did not live by faith he will receive justice from God. All of God's anger will be poured.

Well, it's been a very long time since I have posted in my blog. But I will not stop writing. I hope you have learned as much as I do. Please comment and let me know of anything that may help me grow in faith.

What is Faith?

A lot of people say that faith is believing in something you don't see. If faith is that simple ghosts and aliens are good objects of faith.

Obviously they are not. Faith has always been connected to a Higher Being who is able to do things in His/Her bidding. A thief, for example, prays in faith that the housekeeper will be sound asleep when he steals a valuable item. A cancer patient prays in faith that his life be taken and so his suffering can also end. A preacher prays in faith that all those who believe in his preaching will be blessed. Sounds familiar?

Yes, those are good examples of faith as faith can be overly simplified. Faith is the consistency of all beliefs that are parallel to actions. I have faith in a Higher Being and I call him God. I have faith that Jesus Christ is God because in faith he is the most unique human being who ever lived. In faith I believe that he is the only One who conquered the timeline set for every created thing; having been risen from the dead. In faith I believe that the prophets long before Jesus Christ wrote about him and those writings came to pass. I believe in faith that this may not be the TRUTH.

That is the summary of my faith in God and Jesus Christ. In this lifetime it is impossible to determine what is the TRUTH. Every one has this unresolved question that only death can answer. Unfortunately, no one from the dead spoke about it. They are still silent until now. Jesus Christ did not speak about the TRUTH in his resurrected life. He just promised that there is a better world waiting for those who have faith.

In my next post I will give my version of the TRUTH. For a quick look you can read the Purpose Driven Life found here: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/Home/home.htm However, I have my own answers to those questions which are not in agreement to it.

How I Describe God

When I tried searching for the qualities that describe and type the keywords in “God is” I got the top rank result. Guess what? www.godisimaginary.com gives the Top 50 simple proofs that God is imaginary.

I just think about what does imaginary mean in the authors’ context? I see a heavy word “delusion”. I spend some time in the website and try to learn or recall those things that I believed in. That was when I was using the same perspective.

Let me just describe God in terms that I can interpret, translate and make sense of.

God is Omnipotent. This means he has authority over all. In its absolute definition of "ALL" God has authority over them. God sits above the universe and has the power to control and manipulate everything in it.

God is Omnipresent. Being omnipresent means being present wherever and whenever; at the same time. God sees time as interwoven and interconnected beads. God can predict the future. He is there and he was there at the same time. Because he can do these in everyone this means that he knows the cause and effect of things; past, present and future, to every individual. However, what he sees are future events that are based on our actions from the past and in the present.

*** Some important clarifications are these: God did not make man in the same way as we (humans) create robots. God does not know who will be saved and will be punished. God cannot be manipulated. He will not say “yes” and act on all our prayers even though he is Omnipotent.

I agree that my “God” is imaginary. Don’t get me wrong. I say again and with emphasis (as I type) my “god” is imaginary.

To the members of the church that claims to represent God and Jesus don't be too quick to judge. Mind the small "c" in church. The true "Church" has not yet come. No religion has ever represented God nor Christ. But yes, I believe in Christ and the Cross. I believe in God and grace and love and everything good and perfect. I'll write about that later. Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday Enlightenmen!

It took a lot of courage from me to start writing as I am a person who keeps things to himself in fear of being labeled "arrogant" and "un-Christian". I make it a point to reveal my thoughts to my wife and my family so they will understand why I tend to disagree with a preaching.

Well, it happens every Sunday (on TV it's everyday). We hear preachings from a lot of ministers. Some of them employ public speaking techniques to elicit fear, humility, love, zeal, anger, giving, adoration and the whole range of the human emotion.

What I aim to do in this blog is to share my thoughts to a wider audience. Others may do the same to me. I don't care about religion or denomination as long as it's Bible-based. That is just my most single requirement. Otherwise, we will end up philosophizing everything. Some books may provide valuable insight about God and humans. But God's love and grace is EVERYTHING. As long as we are on this earth. That is the only truth worthy of trust - we can literally depend our lives on it.

Bits of Enlightenment for the weary and poor soul. Let's start doing this. I hope to do this everyday and use the bits as my guide to daily devotion or "quiet time". However, I may do some weekly critique and clarification on some preachings that I got especially from the church where I attend. Again, the purpose is not only to gain understanding but ENLIGHTENMENT. Knowledge (that is already present) made crystal clear IS ENLIGHTENMENT.

Thank you for visiting my blog. May God's enlightenment, grace and love be with us all today and forever.