Author: toseealife

Independence Day Post

/ toseealife / Leave a comment

On this, the glorious fourth, as Charles Ingalls called it, most of us think of barbeques and fireworks, and in our society  of “tolerance” the reason of what we’re celebrating is often not mentioned at all. Or only briefly and vaguely. Many people living in America are ashamed of it, and some even hate their own country. I urge every God-fearing American to find out the truth about our founding fathers and our history, but for the purpose of this blog I would like to quote our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, when declaring a national fasting day: “Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will leas to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord…we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

I understand that this may make some people uncomfortable, but they are his very words and I cannot change it nor would I wish to. I  believe Lincoln to be partially referring to this passage “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear form heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” ( 2 Chronicles 7:14) We are threatened with losing our freedom more and more every day, what can I say to give hope? On this day of all days.

Only this, that if freedom were a thing created by man, we would all surely be lost, but freedom is a thing created by God; it must be, for only the ultimate power can both be free and bestow freedom on anything. Freedom is the gift given to all men, and sadly abused by all men, (hence our present situation;) but take heart, for freedom can never be destroyed by man just as it cannot be created by him. It is true, one man may enslave another in body and force him to do things he does not like, but the soul and mind cannot be enslaved except by a man’s (or woman’s) consent. It is more our attitude of bondage than actual bondage that stops us from acting. Do not let any mere mortal dictate how you view yourself, or you are, in a sense, in bondage to them.

Freedom is divine because it gives choice in a world where most things should not have choice. Why have a choice whether or not to eat? We all need to, but we are not compelled to, nor to do most things to take care of ourselves. Only love gives a choice, because only love is willing to risk not being satisfied if the beloved should not choose the lover. In the natural, man does not want to risk, therefore I would move that freedom has to come from a different source other than man.

On that note, I would urge every God-fearing citizen to pray for our country today, and if you do not believe in God, to at least be thankful, that people who did, gave us the rights we still enjoy. I would also urge you to remember a holiday is not a day to gratify yourself, but to be grateful to and gratify others, as I think our traditions of inviting people to parties and giving gifts and cards, shows. Lastly, please remember that freedom is not freedom unless there is also responsibility. Don’t be afraid because of oppressors, but stand up to them, because they never last forever. It’ll be okay eventually. We want to have balance between awareness and hope. Now I’ll leave you to enjoy your 4th of July. God bless America.

The Quest: part one

/ toseealife / Leave a comment

I now want to begin a series of articles about something I’m going to call: “The Quest.”

It begins with questions, the first of which is “who am I?”

What I believe about the answer to this question is still coming together, but I can explain a little. The first thing we search for is identity. Identity comes in two parts, the first is “Am I loved?” And the second is “Why or why not?” But we’ll cover that more in the next issue, for now I want to focus on the right source of identity. The truth is, most of us look to our parents or other close family members to tell us the answer, and later to our friends. It makes sense that we should do this; they are the closest to us, and they know us the best, right? Um… not so much. When it comes to identity we have a little problem if we expect to get ours from other people. People are human, the same as us. True, some seem better than others, ( i.e. more together,) but then we find out they feel just as we do. It’s a fact that a ton of people are insecure and feel like oddballs. Some of us make oddball our identity in hopes that no one will hurt us again. Now this is not an article about psychology, but when talking about identity, it’s kind of unavoidable. The trouble is, people are not cases to study. No two of us are alike. We know that scientific conclusions are not always right, and that doctors make mistakes. It just goes to show that no matter how educated they are, human beings still do not have all the answers. I don’t. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, I think you’ll have to agree that identity is extremely different if you only look to this world. The world tells you that you are an asset. Work to earn your keep. If you lose the ability to work the world does not pity you but merely finds someone else to do your job, therefore, you’re replaceable. On a personal, person to person level, why does it seem like no matter who you turn to for what you need, they all want there to be something in it for them? The trade off: “I did something for you so you should do something for me.” That’s fair, but somehow it takes value away from any act of kindness to know you’re expected to repay, but then, it’s the way of all flesh. Don’t you feel irked if you are nice to someone and the person doesn’t even acknowledge what you did? It seems people cannot even help being this way. I don’t know what the modern term for it is, but it used to be called selfishness and to be considered a flaw in the character; and we are all infected with the same flaw, only no one ever wishes to admit it. “People are selfish,” many a cynical person has said, but far fewer are willing to add “including me.” Now some will tell you this is a mental condition, and I agree, it affects your mind as well. But what I mean to show is why no human can tell another just who they are because we are all so flawed. So, if we can’t, who can? Now we move on to my turf. If we want to know who and what we are then we must go to something greater than ourselves to find out. Per example: A man can know what a dog is and is like, but the dog itself will never know except from how the master treats it. I don’t think any political or even religious system can answer, either, being that even there you will be dealing with other people. No, what we need is actually something that is not human but cares and sympathizes with humans. Of course our word for this is God. I’m posing a question: if God is real, then he must know more than we do. If he is not, then do we have any identity at all? No God means man is the highest thing out there, we get to decide what we are, and through history, people such as Hitler and many of the Roman Caesars and Egyptian Pharaohs decided  they were gods. But at what irony. Do you know that you cannot make your own heart beat..? We are all born into this life by no cause of our own, and we cannot evade death forever. We are held on to this earth by a force we cannot control (called gravity), and we live in an universe surrounded by planets and solar systems we cannot move, nor can we even reach the ones on other galaxies. To say all this was an accident is ludicrous. A single cell in a human body is more complex than a space shuttle, yet they all work together. I’ve yet to hear of a fleet of space ships (though I’ve seen one on Star Wars). We are not gods, no, whatever else we are. I won’t argue any further for God’s existence at the moment; I am just going to assume he exists to make my point. God made us, and he made us with the ability to wonder about our world and ourselves in a way no other creature does. I’d move then, that humans must be more than just another creature. We are self aware. God, of course, is self aware, any religion will tell you that, but not all will point out that God gave man that trait; He also gave man a conscience, by which man is supposed to know what God wants him to do; even though consciences can be dulled or twisted; what other creature has such a keen sense of justice as man? Men will argue over who this or that rightly belongs to, animals will just take it. Man is also creative, unlike any other creature. I believe man is this way because he is made in God’s image. You may wonder what that means, and in all honestly I’m not sure I know. But I think in my next article I can begin to explore the idea. For now, that is today’s truth. “Who am I?” “I am made in the image of God.” Seriously, who would want to not believe that?

My Passion

/ toseealife / Leave a comment

First, let me tell you a story

There once was a king who brought his royal messenger to a valley, and the valley was full of bones.

the king told his messenger to walk around all the bones, and the messenger saw that there were indeed many, and they were extremely dry.

The King then said “Do you think these bones can ever live again?” The Messenger knew the king was very wise and he said, “Oh my lord, you know.” Well the king then said, “Tell these bones that I will command breath to enter them, and muscles and tendons, and skin will cover them, and they will live!” As bizarre as that sounded, the messenger knew better than to argue with the king. He told the bones what the king had said, and then an amazing, impossible thing happened: the bones did grow muscles and tendons and skin covered them, and they began to breathe. They were alive! As regular humans are. Then the king said “This is how it will be with my people.”

What did you think of that story? Sounded like some weird movie, huh? Think of it as a parable. The bones lack substance, flexibility, protection, beauty, and life. Even though they had the bare components, the structure, they had nothing to hold it together. I actually abbreviated a longer story, but the principle is the same. This story seems to me to be a pretty good example of what’s going on in the world today. So many things have dried up, or they lack substance, or they’re unprotected. There’s just so much ugliness. where do you go to find hope? I believe there is only one source, one true source, of hope. Maybe you don’t believe that; maybe you feel you’re like those bones: dry, lifeless, or just a mess. That’s okay, I’ve been there. There is a way to live. As I continue this blog I’m going to present you with what I believe is the key to real living. But opening the door will be your choice. Today’s truth: There is hope.