Reality can be rather overrated. More often than not, our sense of reality is nothing more than an imperfect perception on our part as influenced by our imperfect human nature.
The only true reality (from what I have managed to truthfully discern) is God.
~~~~~
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Afterlife
I would like to share with you here my response to a question posed to me concerning my beliefs as to what happens to "sinful" people in the "afterlife". The question stemmed from a reflection on the true meaning of the term "sin" and a passage from scripture that talks about death as being the wage of sin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friend,
Since you asked, I will share with you my personal thoughts and sincere beliefs concerning the "death" of the soul. When a soul makes a free will (willful) choice to break away from God, it is (for all intents and purposes) ultimately a choice to be God. Usually, a choice would subsequently be manifested in the form of an act by the body as controlled by the mind (the mind being influenced by the soul).
Please allow me to clarify further that not all acts committed by the body originate from the soul (a large chunk of our actions are sparked by human programming - whether it is natural programming or social programming). It is oftentimes difficult for our mind to discern which acts originate from the soul and which ones originate from human programming. Nevertheless, I would not allow this element of uncertainty to distract me from my resolve to simply live my life striving to do as much acts of love as I can manage to do in my lifetime because acts of true love are manifestations of a soul's choice to be in union with God (for God is Love and love is God).
Whenever I address any question posed to me, I first try to establish commonality in the meaning of terms used - in this case "afterlife". I will presume that we are both taking this word to mean the eternal life after the SCC (Second Coming of Christ). If that is the case, then here is the answer - the SCC (or the end times) is the final moment when a "showing of hands" occurs (as in the showing of hands in a poker game). All acts committed within all lifetimes of a soul will reveal whether a soul chose to be in union with God or if it chose to break away from God.
All souls that choose to be in union with God will live in union with God for all eternity. Now what about those souls that choose to break from God? What happens to them at the end times? Well, there are well-known passages in scripture that allude to an eternal state of existence in "fire" (note that the term "fire" as used here is not the same as fire as we know it in this world - it is a spiritual fire). There are also passages that allude to these souls being "destroyed".
Well, what clues can we use to answer this question? Let's look at the example of the fallen archangel Lucifer who was supposedly the most beautiful of all angels and of the highest form. So high in form was Lucifer that he became filled with so much PRIDE, and shortly thereafter, exalted himself to being equal to God. In so doing, he broke his union with God and immediately after he did so, his beauty withered away and he turned into the hideous and imperfect being that most refer to as Satan. In like fashion, all the legions angels entrusted by God to this archangel and who followed Lucifer (in breaking away from God) ended up with the same fate.
Humankind is in this imperfect and fallen state as well because of the choice of Adam and Eve to break from God and be like God. Fortunately for mankind, God sent Jesus to be the new Adam and make a redeeming choice to reunite ALL mankind (regardless of whether they know of Jesus or not) with God through the sacrificial surrender of Jesus' free will to God's will.
Long story short, I do not know what exactly happens in the afterlife to those souls that chose to break from God. It is really not my business to know (the truth concerning this) and it is of no relevance to me since my eternal choice is to always be in union with God and to let my life reflect this choice by always striving to do acts of true love as much as i can. Let me end by reflecting on Mother Teresa's insight (that she shared with us and as exemplified by her life) that we all cannot do great things, but we all can do little things with great love.
~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friend,
Since you asked, I will share with you my personal thoughts and sincere beliefs concerning the "death" of the soul. When a soul makes a free will (willful) choice to break away from God, it is (for all intents and purposes) ultimately a choice to be God. Usually, a choice would subsequently be manifested in the form of an act by the body as controlled by the mind (the mind being influenced by the soul).
Please allow me to clarify further that not all acts committed by the body originate from the soul (a large chunk of our actions are sparked by human programming - whether it is natural programming or social programming). It is oftentimes difficult for our mind to discern which acts originate from the soul and which ones originate from human programming. Nevertheless, I would not allow this element of uncertainty to distract me from my resolve to simply live my life striving to do as much acts of love as I can manage to do in my lifetime because acts of true love are manifestations of a soul's choice to be in union with God (for God is Love and love is God).
Whenever I address any question posed to me, I first try to establish commonality in the meaning of terms used - in this case "afterlife". I will presume that we are both taking this word to mean the eternal life after the SCC (Second Coming of Christ). If that is the case, then here is the answer - the SCC (or the end times) is the final moment when a "showing of hands" occurs (as in the showing of hands in a poker game). All acts committed within all lifetimes of a soul will reveal whether a soul chose to be in union with God or if it chose to break away from God.
All souls that choose to be in union with God will live in union with God for all eternity. Now what about those souls that choose to break from God? What happens to them at the end times? Well, there are well-known passages in scripture that allude to an eternal state of existence in "fire" (note that the term "fire" as used here is not the same as fire as we know it in this world - it is a spiritual fire). There are also passages that allude to these souls being "destroyed".
Well, what clues can we use to answer this question? Let's look at the example of the fallen archangel Lucifer who was supposedly the most beautiful of all angels and of the highest form. So high in form was Lucifer that he became filled with so much PRIDE, and shortly thereafter, exalted himself to being equal to God. In so doing, he broke his union with God and immediately after he did so, his beauty withered away and he turned into the hideous and imperfect being that most refer to as Satan. In like fashion, all the legions angels entrusted by God to this archangel and who followed Lucifer (in breaking away from God) ended up with the same fate.
Humankind is in this imperfect and fallen state as well because of the choice of Adam and Eve to break from God and be like God. Fortunately for mankind, God sent Jesus to be the new Adam and make a redeeming choice to reunite ALL mankind (regardless of whether they know of Jesus or not) with God through the sacrificial surrender of Jesus' free will to God's will.
Long story short, I do not know what exactly happens in the afterlife to those souls that chose to break from God. It is really not my business to know (the truth concerning this) and it is of no relevance to me since my eternal choice is to always be in union with God and to let my life reflect this choice by always striving to do acts of true love as much as i can. Let me end by reflecting on Mother Teresa's insight (that she shared with us and as exemplified by her life) that we all cannot do great things, but we all can do little things with great love.
~~~~~
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
2033
This is a play on a thought...nothing more, nothing less. So just enjoy (the thought process) without getting too wrapped up with the logically integrity of it all, okay? LOL.
Let's start with this passage from scripture - "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8).
Now think of the death of Jesus as a departure from this world and His resurrection as His coming back to the world. So Jesus "came back" sometime during the beginning of the third day. In similar manner will it most likely be with the SCC (Second Coming of Christ) whereby Jesus will come back again to this world sometime in the beginning of the third "thousand years" after He ascended to Heaven and departed.
If we use the year 33 AD (the approximate year when Jesus departed) as our reference point, then the beginning of the third "day" (thousand years) is 2033. The Chinese should love this year since the digits add up to the number eight. Following this thought process, we can conclude that the SCC will most likely occur shortly after this year.
Having shared that, I need to stress that this is all in good fun and that it is not our business to try to predict when the end times will be because when we put focus on this, we divert from the proper focus of our minds which is on loving God more and more.
~~~~~
Let's start with this passage from scripture - "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8).
Now think of the death of Jesus as a departure from this world and His resurrection as His coming back to the world. So Jesus "came back" sometime during the beginning of the third day. In similar manner will it most likely be with the SCC (Second Coming of Christ) whereby Jesus will come back again to this world sometime in the beginning of the third "thousand years" after He ascended to Heaven and departed.
If we use the year 33 AD (the approximate year when Jesus departed) as our reference point, then the beginning of the third "day" (thousand years) is 2033. The Chinese should love this year since the digits add up to the number eight. Following this thought process, we can conclude that the SCC will most likely occur shortly after this year.
Having shared that, I need to stress that this is all in good fun and that it is not our business to try to predict when the end times will be because when we put focus on this, we divert from the proper focus of our minds which is on loving God more and more.
~~~~~
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
In a Different Light
Have you ever felt somewhat turned off, ashamed or full of guilt whenever you read a passage from scripture that contains the term "sin"? Does the term invoke highly negative feelings borne of "traditional" religious viewpoints that defines the term sin as the "breaking" of commandments and rules? Has your mind experienced being so accustomed to this form of definition that you automatically visualize sin as some ugly and black colored stain on your soul with varying shades of blackness depending on the "severity" of the sin (such as in the case of venial vs. mortal sins).
That is how I was trained to look at the term from an early age. I can somehow sense and appreciate the probable motivations by religious leaders (and their legions of teachers who carry out their spiritual prescriptions) as they make a strong play upon our innate fears (usually the fear of a grave form of punishment or the loss of a reward) with the aim of somehow motivating us to fearfully follow prescribed rules and commandments with consistency, thereby establishing some order within society and the institution. Nonetheless, we know full well the long-term shortcomings and limitations with such approach resulting in more rebellion, disdain and suspicion for anything religious.
As we have seen in earlier essays on this blog, the better and more meaningful (thus more effective long-term) approach is to inspire people to love rather than to fear...in particular, to love God. When we look at the term "sin" from the perspective of true love for God, it becomes apparent to us that the proper meaning to associate with the word is this - sin is any act that separates us from God...an act that breaks our union with God.
So the next time you encounter the word "sin" in any of your readings, simply replace this term with the words "that which breaks our union with God" or "that which separates us from God."
Let's look at one example to illustrate the point being made here. Let's look at the passage from Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Using the "traditional" perspective, we cannot help but perceive this passage as telling us that God will bring death to us as the penalty for sinning...for breaking some religious law, rule or commandment. However, when we use the perspective of love for God as the basis for defining sin and make the suggested replacement above, then the passage now looks like this - "For the wages of that which breaks our union with God is death..." In this form, we are able to perceive the proper meaning of the passage which is that it is only when we are in union (connected) with God that we maintain staying (spiritually) alive and once we break away, our souls will eventually (and naturally) experience a spiritual death. Do you see the big difference in meaning? In the former, God brings us death whereas in the latter, we bring about our own death by our choice.
Use this principle the next time you read scripture. In doing so, you will open your eyes to a whole new meaning...the correct meaning and come to see God as the loving and faithful God that He is.
~~~~~
That is how I was trained to look at the term from an early age. I can somehow sense and appreciate the probable motivations by religious leaders (and their legions of teachers who carry out their spiritual prescriptions) as they make a strong play upon our innate fears (usually the fear of a grave form of punishment or the loss of a reward) with the aim of somehow motivating us to fearfully follow prescribed rules and commandments with consistency, thereby establishing some order within society and the institution. Nonetheless, we know full well the long-term shortcomings and limitations with such approach resulting in more rebellion, disdain and suspicion for anything religious.
As we have seen in earlier essays on this blog, the better and more meaningful (thus more effective long-term) approach is to inspire people to love rather than to fear...in particular, to love God. When we look at the term "sin" from the perspective of true love for God, it becomes apparent to us that the proper meaning to associate with the word is this - sin is any act that separates us from God...an act that breaks our union with God.
So the next time you encounter the word "sin" in any of your readings, simply replace this term with the words "that which breaks our union with God" or "that which separates us from God."
Let's look at one example to illustrate the point being made here. Let's look at the passage from Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Using the "traditional" perspective, we cannot help but perceive this passage as telling us that God will bring death to us as the penalty for sinning...for breaking some religious law, rule or commandment. However, when we use the perspective of love for God as the basis for defining sin and make the suggested replacement above, then the passage now looks like this - "For the wages of that which breaks our union with God is death..." In this form, we are able to perceive the proper meaning of the passage which is that it is only when we are in union (connected) with God that we maintain staying (spiritually) alive and once we break away, our souls will eventually (and naturally) experience a spiritual death. Do you see the big difference in meaning? In the former, God brings us death whereas in the latter, we bring about our own death by our choice.
Use this principle the next time you read scripture. In doing so, you will open your eyes to a whole new meaning...the correct meaning and come to see God as the loving and faithful God that He is.
~~~~~
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