Author: toseealife

A good day to die hard

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No, this is not about the movie. (Which I’ve never seen but my dad has, and the title is cool.) Actually this article is about an awesome, unpopular, and nonpolitical topic.

I’m starting with a quote: “Is there anything today, even in the imagination of the Christians, for which we are willing to pay the price of self-sacrifice? Any ideal left, any clear cut goal, any control of passion?”– Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity.

She thought so, and so do I. Her words awakened a feeling in me, a remembrance. All the good, especially the great, Christian authors I’ve read agree that self-sacrifice is crucial. But let me define a few terms:

When I use the term self-sacrifice I do not mean self-harm, self-neglect, nor self-hatred in the emotional sense. None of those are biblical, or healthy. I mean denying yourself something you do not need to stay alive, that you enjoy, and is something you only get something out of but do not give. (Naturally I refer to giving good things.)

When I use the word denial as relates to self, I mean withholding a pleasure that you find you depend on too much or proves a distraction from more important things. I do not mean denying emotions or food and water. That’s another topic.

Religious means a belief-system based on doing good works in the manner I’m using it in.

Okay. Now I can proceed. Sacrifice. Are we willing to go through with it? I know it strikes some as odd, overboard, fanatical, and religious. It doesn’t have to be. For me it’s not just refraining from physical pleasures but it’s biting my tongue when I’m about to say something, apologizing when it’s the last thing I feel like doing, or not wallowing in self-pity. I think that out of all the aspects of love, self denial is the most crucial because it makes God’s love different from any other.

I wish there was a way for me to capture the beauty of self-sacrifice. But those who have a better understanding of it would do a much better job. But I’ll try.

Outwardly a lot of self denial seems pointless. I mean, most folks could see why I shouldn’t watch a show with cussing in it, but why I would choose not to watch the show because of the ideas it encourages–little ones even, like mediocrity? Another example: Refraining from drinking alcohol is understandable, but why would someone refrain from eating sweets (someone who had no physical reason) or drinking coffee? It’s not what you sacrifice, it’s how you sacrifice it; then again, the opposite is also true. I’m afraid I’m not explaining it well. What I mean is: the thing itself, big or small, doesn’t matter, it’s the obedience that God desires. But along with obedience we need the right attitude. Don’t lord it over other people when you refrain from something they agree with but don’t do themselves, nor be ashamed if they laugh at you (all easier said than done, as well I know). Once you understand these two things I believe you are on your way to understanding self-sacrifice.

If what you’re doing doesn’t hurt it’s probably not much of a denial. To be specific about what kind of hurt I mean, let me give an example: You know how it is when you get to a certain point underwater and it feels like your head is going to explode unless you come up? To me, that’s what it feels like at it’s worst; it’s this desire (sometimes big, sometimes not so big, depending on how deep in you are) to let go, relieve that pressure. It’d feel much better, it’s just one time, etc., until you feel like you’ll burst with longing. You don’t know denial till you’ve resisted this. To add yet another thing to this equation: self-sacrifice doesn’t usually pay off right away. I won’t say it’s not really a sacrifice. Refraining from a certain thing will at the very least mean you miss out on something you like, there could be worse consequences. All this being said, I repeat Elisabeth Elliot’s questions. Is it worth it? Or more accurately, is it worth it to you. I say yes. There is something that makes this all worth it.  Partly because I fear the Lord, but there is more to it. Why do people give up what they know would make them happy? what drives them on when apparently they’ve lost everything (I speak of the Elliot’s here). In a word. Love. We do it for love, and is it worth it? Oh yeah. It’s all or nothing.

At times I see clearly that I could never stop following God. You see, it’s a choice, yes. In following Him you have to make choices. Minute by minute. But He is so wrapped around my life that without Him I really wouldn’t have a life. Oh, it’s war all right. But what makes a person decide which side they’re on? Love. Love of the law perhaps; of what is right. Love of the fellow men who believe the same, or in my case (no offense anyone) love of the person leading. (Love motivates all actions selfish or unselfish. So I cannot leave it out of what I’m writing about.)

There is another reason sacrifice is worth it, but to describe it is impossible. Still I must try: Because I love God I trust (have faith) that my sacrifices are not in vain, and I hope for what is yet to come. I think I can best describe this by using this example. Picture a time when you’ve had a good day, even a great day, or sometimes a perfect one by earth standards. And you’re happy and content, but there was a longing you couldn’t describe, could hardly perceive, yet it filled your being. But it was a happy longing; you enjoyed it. (C. S. Lewis called it Joy, I do not, but I understand why he did, because as he said, to even remember this longing is better than to have anything else.) For me, a lot of times this  longing or remembrance comes while looking at the horizon or the sky and beholding a beautiful scene (there are many different scenes: the oceans, the mountains, the sunset, the stars, even a field will serve) and enjoying the beauty of it, maybe you’ve been there, even looking back to your early childhood can cause the longing to go somewhere… But not to any place on earth. You were happy at that moment. You were content to stay where you were. Yet you almost ached with longing. We’ve all felt this. The circumstances themselves doesn’t create this feeling, they give you awareness of it. Now what does this have to do with sacrifice? I bet I’ve kind of lost you huh? Well, in one of his letters Paul wrote that he counted all worldly things as loss for the sake of Christ. This deep longing reminds me that the things of the world are really empty. Even so, sometimes it’s hard to give them up. So let me reassure you as much as I can. Whether it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend, a food, an electronic device, a job, whatever it is; sacrifice is worth it. Whatever rewards you see will be personalized to you so no predictions here.

One last note: Contentment can be defined as “You wouldn’t ask for more, but you know more is coming. You are willing to wait and to do whatever you need to do and enjoy doing it.” And that is the best I can do at explaining sacrifice. Keep pressing one, keep fighting the good fight.

The Quest: Part six

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It has been said that the greatest question anyone can ask is “What is truth?” This really ought to have been the first question in the series, but save for number five, I’ve put these questions in the order they seem to be asked. Sadly people wait far to long to ask “What is truth?” Some never ask it.

It is strictly necessary to address moral relativism here. Because this blog is about absolute truth, relative truth has no place here and I want to explain a little bit about why.

In one line moral relativism can be summed up: “If you believe something is true then it is true for you, therefore everyone has a different truth that works best for them.” Apparently then, this statement must work for everyone otherwise it wouldn’t be a statement but a suggestion…right? Right. How do we know that if you believe something is true then it’s true for you? By observation?

Well this statement really doesn’t work for me anyway, I don’t know about you. Though it is partly correct. If you believe something is true then it is true for you in that you could act upon it, tell it to other people, and live by it and you would not be guilty of hypocrisy or deceit. But that would not mean it was good or right. Suppose you convinced a child that slapping people was a way of showing gratitude. The child might believe you, but I bet it wouldn’t take long for him to figure out that his actions had adverse results.  At this point the child becomes responsible for choosing whether to believe it still or to move on.

That’s our choice friends, we are not guilty because we believed our culture’s lies. We are guilty if, after it becomes clear that it (the way of thinking) doesn’t work, we continue to believe it.

I think moral relativism clearly doesn’t work. It’s unreasonable because it denies reason’s existence. It is immoral because it denies that morality can exist. Think about it. If everyone’s truth is different, then everyone is always right, if everyone is always right then everyone is also wrong. What this will turn into is that the strongest will force their will on the weakest, because hey, there’s no other way to settle anything and man will not and cannot fight forever. I’m using reason by the way and I hate any philosophy that says my reason is worth nothing, why do I have it then?

Now I don’t mean that truth can never be personal, on the contrary the Bible clearly teaches that some things are left up to person’s own conscience. But mark this, things like what to eat, drink, and wear are left up to man–more or less, depending on which testament you’re in. Things like sex, worship, and words (far more important than most of us know) are not left to personal interpretation. There are clear wrongs and clear rights, and few people would argue about them nowadays. (I refer of course to people who believe in morality.)

In part 5, I discussed man’s need for God. Man’s need for God is demonstrated in man’s need for truth. Even the worst people make decisions based on absolutes. I take steps because I believe the ground will hold me up, that’s an absolute. Removing absolutes is like trying to walk on air. Who’d try it? In their right mind anyway. It grieves me that many of the elders of our time (represented primarily by the entertainment and public school administrations) are indeed teaching school kids that they must try to walk on air–that is to live while believing in no absolutes– they do try; but, as with all man’s attempts at flying; sooner or later they must come down. Often they crash.

People who don’t want God to tell them what to do will ignore Him. Using disbelief as an excuse. Others shove God into their own little box. Yet, they are miserable. You can train your brain to think with faulty logic, until it is nearly impossible for any real logic to get through, but you will never train your heart to not want solid things. How can there be depression or unhappiness if there are no absolutes? If that is the case then that’s the way it is, what is there to be unhappy about? But we are, aren’t we? And we’re scared too. One man has said “Either there is a God, or there isn’t, both (prospects) are frightening.” For my money, no God is much scarier than God. But for a lot of people God is the scariest idea because of morality. You see, people don’t like being bad, they like being selfish. Isn’t it true?

I could end there. But where would the hope be? If you believe in absolute truth, it probably saddens you that so many do not. But take heart, people do hate truth, but they also love it. There is a common ground between all men, that even bitter enemies may be friends for one moment, if they find one thing to agree upon. The same man who ignores truth may suddenly advocate it, and despite the seeming hypocrisy, that does give hope. Evil cannot win because man cannot be entirely evil.

To wrap this up, what is truth? A lot of adjectives come to mind. Truth is absolute, truth is good, truth is powerful (truth is power itself, every lie started with a true thing) but what is it? No man can make it, so either there is none (which cannot be or we would not seek it) or… or what? If something is real, but not of man, then I must conclude it is of a Being higher than man. God. God is truth. Pure truth. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

And I’m back

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I had a great time at camp.

Truly it was the best I ever went to, miraculous things happened right in front of me.

Things you couldn’t explain in the natural.

That may sound really creepy, but it isn’t, we’ve all had things in our lives that couldn’t be explained. It’s just part of living.

My perspective is no longer quite the same, my beliefs haven’t changed, I just believe it even more than before. That happens when you’re honestly convinced of a thing. (Like that you hate a certain type of music more each time you hear it.)

I have writings on some less talked on subjects that I want to post soon, I appreciate all the views by the way, I got a ton while I was gone. Don’t worry if you like my quest series because I plan to finish it. I might even start trying to upload images but I’m not sure how to do that so don’t hold your breath.

If anyone wants to know what the single most important thing I tool away from camp is, then I’ll try to sum it up:

It’s not impossible. Whether you think of your own private problems or of large scale ones involving other people, it is not impossible to solve it. Completely. You need the power that comes form Someone bigger than any problem.

I know that’s not very exciting sounding at first, but imagine every problem and trouble you have right now, what if you were just told the answer? Or what if it was just gone? That would be exciting

Time away

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I won’t be posting for a few days because I’m going to a camp.

I like camps, they give you the opportunity to get out of your usual surroundings. In my case, to worship and learn and focus only on God related things. which sounds boring but it isn’t. Few things are more interesting and exciting to me than God-things. But every person needs time away from their routine. Sometimes our little worlds just seem so full of noise. And demands. And people who know us too well. Getting away from all that gives us a chance to expand, to find out things about ourselves we didn’t know before, to relax and remember the beautiful things in life. To stop focusing on our own lives and take a look at the big picture.

Sometimes you can’t afford to leave your house, but you can set aside a day for no work, no plans, just leisure time (or fun). It’s not selfish to rest if all that’s going on is the normal cares of life. Though it can be tough because the phone is sure to ring, you’re sure to remember a ton of things you should be doing, you may even feel lost with nothing to do. But persist and see how much it does for you.

So with that thought, I leave you to plan your day off.

Red?

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(I hate that I have to do this.) Disclaimer: I just want to state that all colors used in this story are used by right of having eyes, no colors in this story are symbolic of any race or country or other group of people, any connection with any of those things in purely in the reader’s imagination.

Once upon a time all the colors of the world worked together. They got along splendidly; mixing when needed and other times merely sharing a space. All went well until… one day the color Red decided it didn’t want to be Red. At first the other colors were shocked; who had ever heard of such a thing? They immediately had a council. Red defended the position, saying it wasn’t its fault it was Red, that Red was such an angry and harsh color, and the other colors just didn’t understand how terrible it was to be Red when you wanted to be another color. The other colors began to feel sorry for it, although White did ask, “If you aren’t Red, who will be?” But Black hushed it. The other colors voted to let Red be another color. “I’ve always wanted to be Blue,” said Red. The colors suggested Blue give some of its color to Red, and if enough Blue was put in Red, Red would turn Blue. White cried, “I object! We all know Red and Blue just make Purple! And if there’s no Red, how am I going to make Pink–” Black again muffled White. “If you can’t be nice, White, perhaps you’d better go out,” Yellow said. So White was sent out. Well, after that the plan was put into practice. More and more Blue was put in Red every day. Red also developed ways of fading its own color while Blue was made stronger. But no matter how many times they put Blue in, Red was still merely Purple. Darker and darker Purple. It didn’t concern them at first, but after a while Red began to be impatient, then frustrated, then at last depressed. It was  now a very dark Purple, almost black. “I don’t like it, I can’t color anything.” Red told the Color Council. “Well, it isn’t my fault,” said Blue. “I’ve done all I can, and I’m sick of your demands. I won’t have any color myself soon. I quit!” The other colors weren’t sure what to do. Then Yellow suggested adding some of each color to Red and perhaps darkening the purple till it was blue. Red agreed, and as White wasn’t there to object, it was put in practice. This made things worse than ever. Red really wasn’t sure what color it was now. Eventually the other colors grew disgusted with it. “You’re nothing but a mess now,” said Brown. Red–or Mess–was excluded from the council. Miserably, Mess went about looking for something to do, but it had nothing to color now except the worst things, like muck. “Alas!” Mess wailed. “It was better when I was Red. I could color roses, or tulips, or salmon, or rubies, or rainbows with my friends. Why did I ever call Red an angry or harsh color? I’d rather be Red than nothing in particular.” Mess was startled to see White, busy coloring a cloud. “You were right,” Mess said bitterly. “No sunsets,” White muttered. “Huh?” “Since you changed your color there’s been no sunsets. No Pinks or Reds. The humans are quite tired of it. And the roses are certainly more bland as well, and–” “I get it,” said Mess. “I should have been content to be what I was because then I had some use, and some fun, and now I have neither. Sigh. I just wish I could be Red again.” “You can be,” said White. “What?” “You see, to a certain point, adding White to any color makes it lighter. I’m a base for other colors. (Ever hear that white light is the original of colored light?) Now, if you’ll let me strain out all the other colors, we shall have you yourself again.” “Oh, please do,” Mess begged. It took a very long time, but eventually the other colors were strained out and Red was Red again, just a little wiser than before.

Is it oppressive or restrictive for Red to be Red? For air to be air? For your lungs to work as lungs? Can you hear with your eyes and see with your ears? Is it wrong then for a person to be content as they are? Disliking your sex, hair, eyes, or body is as silly as Red wanting to be Blue. Red’s whole molecular structure would need to be different. This story was a fable about not trying to change what you are, or step outside the right design.

The Quest: Part five.

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I’m back, now preparing to look at the question “Where am I going when I die?” I’m splitting this article into two parts. Part (a) is wrapping up a loose end I didn’t get to in the interlude and part (b) will serve as a preface to part (c) which will be the question. this’ll be long I’ll warn you, I’m at over 1400 words.

The Quest: Part 5 (a) Good=Evil?

In my  Quest interlude, I quoted C. S. Lewis about the moral law, and common moral points people agree on, such as fairness.

However, we really have no cause for morality if good and evil are equally powerful as some believe. I actually find this belief growing more and more popular. People have the attitude “Yeah, good and evil exist, and I wish good was around more, but sometimes evil wins, sometimes good wins, and we can’t do much about it.” We can try to promote good, but then it seems like we’re in the minority, so what’s the point? Besides which, we aren’t even sure which side we’re on, we do good things, and bad things, and many of us fall into the habit of weighing ourselves to see which side is heavier.

I’ll get to that in a second, but first, why do we suppose good and evil are of equal power? That’s just not true. It’s like saying lead and gold are of the same value, they may weigh about the same, but they are not alike. (And there were learned men who thought they could turn lead into gold, so this equal–no difference nonsense has appeared elsewhere than morality) Let me give a more modern illustration: Suppose a sports team won by cheating and the Referee knew it, and let it stand. The bad (their cheating, his ignoring) would seem to have won. If we go by only the physical circumstances. But good and evil are matters of the mind, and the opposing team would complain for a year about it, just as if the bad did not stand, even though it was enforced. (If it was the Super bowl, some people would probably complain for the next decade.) I’ll bet you that Ref wouldn’t stay in his job for long. You see it’s not a matter of wins or losses, otherwise good and evil might indeed be equal, it’s a matter of men’s hearts. Of what is most real to man. A good ref would play by the rules and we would agree he was a good ref. You see my point?

So, no one really considers good and bad to be equal. If good is greater, than I’d expect the Supreme Being (the greater power) to be on the side of good. Therefore the afterlife would contain rewards based on this premise.

But is there a set of rules to get there? Is there punishment if you disobey these rules.

The Quest: Part 5 (b) Needing a bridge.

It is engrained in the human mind that the most powerful person is not only the rule maker but the rule enforcer. So we can expect God to enforce His own rules. The only way to enforce rules is through punishment. Hell is a horrible punishment, so some might say “Why have rules at all? Why not just let everyone into heaven?” Rules (a crude term but I lack a better one) are the map to get into heaven, but why make it so hard to find?

I think there’s a misunderstanding in that. If Heaven is where God is, of course it is good; but good doesn’t stay good if even a tiny bit of bad is let in. Think of a garden. A good place, beautiful, relaxing; but if even one root or seed of a weed is let in, it grows, spreads, and if not checked it destroys the garden. God is a faithful gardener and will not let any weeds in His garden. Now consider, if people don’t want to follow God’s rules even on earth, and are unkind to the people who do (even one selfish act is unkindness) how will they be when God is constantly before them and they are surrounded by people who want to obey him. The rebels would be worse than ever and try to blot out the good. Some might protest that surrounding people with a good environment would change them;  okay, it might; but good soil flourishes weeds as well as flowers. The protest will not hold up. Pastor’s kid’s rebel and the children of criminals can choose to be honest people. Men cannot be measured as to how far they’ll go on either the good or bad side of the tracks, at least not by other men.

So if we follow the logic I used, no bad person should be (or could be) allowed into heaven. We might even agree on that, but then we still have a problem, no one of us is innocent of wrongdoing. If even a shred of badness can spread, then God could not risk letting a person with even one sin into heaven. (And that’s laughable because nobody has ever stopped at one.) It wouldn’t be wise. Or would it? If there was some way to guarantee that goodness would win out, then God could show mercy.

Here’s where we reach Christianity. Since we all find ourselves guilty and we cannot erase our bad deeds, we seem to be stuck. Yet we are almost compelled to try anyway, or to wish it were not so. To be doomed to eternal punishment and to be able to do nothing about it, that is the worst fear man can have. No–there’s one worse, that it wouldn’t matter. That we mean nothing to this God we don’t know and once we mess up, we fear that our death will not be mourned. The one thing worse than pain and punishment is being forgotten. Invisible.

So we’re in a pretty wretched state. People ache for a  place of complete goodness, no pain, no sickness, no sadness, and on Earth we never find it. If we are ever honest enough to admit we don’t deserve Heaven, we are worse off than before. Worst of all we fear there’s no hope. I believe this is the real reason behind the high suicide rate we see today. Also the many addictions (distractions really) people find themselves trapped in.

The Good News is Christianity provides hope. It says neither are we invisible nor are we forgotten. We are not stuck. Because Jesus–God in the flesh–died for us, took the price of all our bad. Which means we don’t have to be punished, then he rose again, which means we can have a new life. Start over. When I was little a Sunday school teacher illustrated this with a paper chain, first broken, and then fixed. Jesus is the real Missing Link. Our bridge across a chasm. I can’t understand it very well myself, but what the Bible teaches is that Jesus will cover us with  his righteousness. What that means is, sort of like delicious icing on a bland cake, God will see not our bad, but Jesus’ good when he looks at us. Covered, but with our human form intact.

(c) Where to go from here.

Concerning Heaven, Jesus said he would go to prepare a place for his followers. I find this a unique idea, only in Christianity, that I know of. It makes so much sense. Having a personal place. Picture it like this, you arrive at a beautiful vacation spot and the owner actually knows you, knows you as well as if you were related; and your oldest and dearest friend is there to welcome you and takes you to a room done just how you would do it if you could, only even better, because they added some stuff they knew you’d like, now imagine every other person there is someone you know, and the food is so good it makes other food taste like sand. Now imagine that this never has to end, and there’s never any mishaps. I believe Heaven will be all this and more.

I want to go, and I wish everyone did, but I’m well aware that the choice is every individuals. All that’s required is an agreement with the Owner, it’s his place after all. It’s funny that some people think they can go to God and say, “I did this and this good, so you need to let me in.” You pay how the owner wants to be paid. All he wants to start with is faith but that’s another story. One that I can’t fit in this series. Keep reading because I’ll have more good stuff posted soon.