Now at my age of 60 and undergoing hemo-dialysis, I started to be aware
that my outlook in life has changed. Not that I have reached my sunset
year of my life but let us say that I have been more enlightened and
mature. I may not write again an article like this in the future, so let
me take this opportunity to share with you my thoughts and beliefs.
When I am alone and in moments of reflection, I can not avoid thinking
of what has happened to my life. Have I fulfilled my purpose of
existence in this world? Reminiscent of the past, sometimes I picture
myself being born. I can imagine how happy my parents are at that time.
Cute, innocent and bundle of joy are the regular adjectives for a baby. I
wonder now if those definitions are really accurate for an “innocent”
baby is capable of expressing various emotions, and can manipulate his
mother through his simple wants and needs. However, his existence is
limited to the world of survival and his capacity to think is not yet
significantly developed and they say that his spirit is still “dead”. As
the years go by, he will grow physically and mentally even spiritually
until he is capable to know what is right and wrong. In my younger
years, society and school has taught me how to behave “normally” but it
came to a point that I want to think for myself and explore my world on
my own. I became curious and adventurous even a pleasure seeker. Later
in life, I found it strange but all these social activities and worldly
exploits seem to bore me. In sober moments I am thinking that there has
got to be a much higher ideal than all these trivial things around me. I
started asking questions such as: Is there really a God who is all
powerful that he created man according to his likeness? Why is it then
that suffering and pain continue to wreak havoc in the lives of decent
men and women? Does man really have a soul or spirit? Why is it then
that wars and bloody upheavals continue to devastate mankind? Is heaven
and hell for real? Then why are criminals seemingly not afraid to be
burned in the eternal fire? Is there salvation for sinners like me? I am
not saying that I doubt the beliefs that my religion has taught me; but
after being taught in school of the scientific method of thinking, I
can not help but satisfy myself to look for clues and evidences.
Regrettably wherever I look for scientific studies that will answer my
questions, I come across some theories like: man evolved from the ape
through many years of evolution as in Darwin’s Theory and the universe
was formed through the Big Bang Theory. This has aggravated my feelings
of incompleteness and emptiness in me that dragged for years as I tried
to look for possible answers to my queries. Eventually, I searched for
and read articles about the dogmas and beliefs of other religions. Then
suddenly it came to my mind that practically all religions have
something in common: the good trying to overcome the forces of evil by
guiding man how to be good. In trying to relate this concept of good and
bad with my everyday activity, I was reminded of the different laws
that govern not only people but the entire world and the universe. One
example is the law or principle of love and hate. There are definite
consequences if you follow either of the two. In physical science, there
is the law of attraction and repulsion, gravity and more. Lately,
scientists have been studying the law involving light and dark energy.
It is like a tug of war between two opposing forces which can either
contribute to the development or destruction of mankind.
With the advent of modern technology and the launching of satellites
with powerful telescopes science have shown how vast the universe is
with limitless number of galaxies, stars and planets. On the micro side,
quantum physicists have encountered how weird a particle is behaving in
its observed state. These findings indicate that someone is behind
this grandiose design -- an unseen being, a creator or God. I now
realize that there are still many things that are not yet seen or
discovered and how miniscule our capability as humans compared to the
power of God. I also realized some things maybe are so complex or evil
for a human being and are not meant to be discovered or seen as in the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden or the Pandora’s
Box. In order to rectify my belief in God, I need to have a strong faith
anchored in God inspired and historical evidences and I found them all
in the Holy Bible. From the beginning, God has given man free will
because of His unconditional love for us. Free will is the freedom to
choose between right and wrong or between two choices and this resulted
to our original sin (Romans 5:12-21). Man become susceptible to death
(physical and spiritual) (Gen 2:17; Ecc 12:7) and must toil the earth in
order to live. And yet God continue to love us by sending his beloved
son Jesus Christ (John 3:16) who died in the cross to save mankind from
sins. Despite of the death of Jesus, man continued to sin and defy again
and again the will of God which is love and mercy (1 Jn 4:8; 1 Jn 4:16;
Eph 3:18; Lk 11:5-13; Matt 18: 32-33). The issue of salvation arises.
Who can be saved? How can a person be saved?
One
afternoon when I was watching TV, I noticed that someone is standing at
our door. My wife let our visitor in and he began introducing himself
as: a customer of our pet shop, a friend of our friend and he is a
pastor of a Christian church here in Tagbilaran City. He told me that
part of his dedication to his church is to give Bible study to those who
are willing to listen to the word of God and in time effect healing of
sickness through prayers and strong faith. He asked our permission and
we said yes for the sake of courtesy. As we go on with our conversation,
he told us that it is not religion per se that can save us but our
faith in the Holy Trinity and Jesus must be our lord and savior. I
thought that there is no conflict with that since our Apostle’s Creed
reaffirms our belief in the Triune God (Acts 17:29; Rom 1:20; Colossians
2:2) and Jesus is the son of God who saved us from our sins; and I have
no plans in changing my religion. Man as the Holy Bible says is part
body and part spirit or soul (Jn 3:5-6; Jn 4:24; 1 Cor 2:11; Matt
10:28). When we are born, we are born of the body but not yet of the
spirit (John 3:1-7; Eph 2:1-2). There will come a time in our life that
we will grow in spirit when we start to firmly believe in God and our
lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:16; Rom 8:9). It is stated in the Holy Bible
that whoever believes in God the Father, the son (Jesus Christ) and the
Holy Spirit and recognizes Jesus Christ as his lord and savior will be
saved (Revelation 22:17; Matthew 19:25-26; 1 Peter 1:3-9; Romans
10:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:15; John 3:16). He cited an instance when he was
giving a bible study where he asked the person listening: “When you die
where will your spirit go, to heaven or hell?” He said that it took some
time for the person to answer and he was not sure. Then it struck me
that in order to be a strong believer, we must always reassure ourselves
of our faith that we will be saved and we should be able to answer
quickly that we will go to heaven of course. Later on we studied about
the common expressions, modern song lyrics, and lines in the movies or
shows that are forms of sacrilege to God (Exo 20:7). It is very easy for
some people to mention words like: Oh My God!, Jesus Christ!, Lady Gaga
and Madonna song lyrics which allegedly indicate devil worship. He
quoted verses in the Bible about forgiveness (Col 3:13; Matt 18:21-22;
Luke 6:37; Matt 6:14-16; Mark 11:25). The Bible says that we should
forgive those who wronged us before the sun sets (Eph 4:26). He said
that forgiveness is not about forgetting about the consequence or
punishment for anyone that committed fault or injustice to you. That
forgiveness can be given by the grace of the Holy Spirit through
Christian believers because of their strong faith. If you forgive
someone, you must not dwell on the past anymore. What is important is
the moment you are in when you choose to start all over again as friends
or brothers and sisters. He then talked about avoiding temptations (Eph
6:10-18; 1 Cor 10-13; Matt 26:41; James 4:7; James 5:16) by the grace
of the Holy Spirit again and because of our strong faith, we are
considered by God as His precious children (John 1:12-13; Rom 8:16; Gal
4:4-5; Luke 18:16-17). Consequently on our next meeting, he discussed
about dedication (Matt 28:19,20; Acts 1:8; John 14:12; John 16:14) which
means that as Christians, we have the task to spread our Lord Jesus
Christ’s words and teachings as written in the Holy Bible and reap its
fruits(Gal 5:22) and avoid the sins against the Holy Spirit (Gal
5:19-21).
Honestly I admire the zeal of such persons
who can spend their time spreading the Good News not with the motive to
defend their religion and to force us to be converted to their religion
but to show concern to people who want or needed to be saved and healed.
Most of the people today are living their lives by satisfying the
cravings of their senses; and whether they are conscious or not they are
committing sins constantly and letting the evil one control their minds
and bodies. Now, I am trying to pass on to my family those valuable
teachings I obtained and how I wish I could also conduct such Bible
Study Module to my employee, friends or neighbors. It would be to our
advantage if our church could carry out basic Theology classes and
preferred Bible study modules to selected and dedicated Laymen who when
certified can then disseminate what they have learned to their fellow
Christians not to debate needlessly the differing views, translations
and beliefs but to make clear the importance of salvation and what to do
to earn that salvation. Above all, to demonstrate and practice what
really is the will of God which is love and mercy so that we can be
rightfully called God’s children and definitely not blind followers of
wickedness.
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