Unleashed

The usual ramblings.

2012-02-07T07:10:00.001-08:00

As I've said before, my beliefs have dramatically changed in the last few years. Sometimes it's easier to define what I don't believe (anymore) than what I do believe.

Warning: Opening a Can of Worms.

I don't believe anymore that the Bible is "inspired" (in the sense of divinely "dictated") nor infallible. Fallible people chose the books that were supposed to be part of the Bible (with some disagreement there, too, among different denominations!) and the fallible defined them as infallible and inspired. How does that work?

The next point would be, do I however still consider it a good book?

Define "good". Some parts to me, are beyond boring and utterly useless. A waste of time. They have no impact whatsoever on my life. They are n/a (non-applicable). Some other parts are absolutely beautiful and even helpful. So (as I said in my previous post) I pick and choose what can touch me in some way. I think that's true with many other books too, though.

Everybody picks and chooses. And most of the time a double standard is applied. For example those "christians" who strongly oppose Islam on the basis that the Koran is a violent book (therefore the religion is violent) ignore, or rationalize, the extreme violence found in the Bible. "But, we don't follow those teachings anymore!" Good for you. But, why don't you allow the muslims to say the same when they say they are peaceful? And please don't bring up terrorism and such, because christians have had their fair share of that! (although, I would agree that the islamic extremism is still more widespread that the christian extremism, but that's not the point here)

Or what about homosexuality? The Bible defines it as an "abomination", which is really what most anti-gay christians hang on to. The Bible also says that eating shrimp is an "abomination".. but I don't see groups of christians doing sit-ins in front of seafood restaurants.

Should we jump to the New Testament? How about 1 Corinthians? Women should not cut their hair. That's a cultural thing of their time. Women should be silent in church. That's across the board applicable to all time. ...Seriously??

I used to be able to do some pretty awesome mental gymnastics to justify, explain away, believe some of this stuff and now I'm just.. How in the world did I do that??????

As Walt Whitman said:

Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.

Q: Do you place your soul above everything else (=God)?

A: Don't you?

Here's another good one: I don't believe in hell. Definitely not in an eternal hell as punishment for what we've done in this world. If there is a God and if he is just like christians claim him to be, how can ETERNAL be a fair and just punishment for VERY SHORT LIFE in view of eternity? We have no chance. I'm not gonna get deep into this. I understand a very good book that explains all this is Hope Beyond Hell. There is also an online free version if you're inclined to read it, but you don't want to buy it.

Another - to me - mental exercise has been about Free Will. Everybody says that it was the love of God that gave us free will, because he didn't want robots. And we don't want to be robots, right? Well.. first of all, we would have never known. So that last question is just not applicable. But, let's say he wanted to show his love by giving us free will. How is it though, that he punishes for exercising it? (and the punishment, see previous point, is eternal) How is that better or more loving than creating robots? And, really, do some people have a choice? If I were born in a communist dictatorship or in an islamic country there is a good chance I wouldn't even have the option of exercising my free will to "accept Christ" because indoctrinated into another belief. That's fair?

All this said, I can't shake the fact that in the end I believe there is something/someone bigger than us. I can't explain otherwise why we are capable of thinking beyond us. I can't explain why we would even consider a God. It seems to me that would go against evolution. From an evolutionary standpoint, it doesn't make sense that we'd delve into matters that ultimately don't contribute to the survival. We could be animals and not being aware of any of this, trying to just survive and help the species survive (our offspring) and our life would be much easier and smoother.

However, this "God" (not even sure how to define it, for fear of having some labels that don't belong to me anymore applied to my thought) I just don't think resembles the God I've been spoon fed and I've self-brainwashed myself into believing all these years.

I think God is "hidden" in life and love, at every level, more than we ever realized.

Life is my religion. :)

Created or creator?

2012-01-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

I used to say that "they" (which basically meant anybody who didn't have the same idea of God as me) created God in their own image.

Now, I do not understand that statement anymore.

I mean, we all create God in our own image. Every time someone uses a Scripture to describe God, he creates God in his own image. And that is because he uses his own MIND, INTERPRETATION, CULTURAL BACKGROUND, EDUCATION, EXPOSURE TO EXTERNAL INFLUENCE, PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND HISTORY, UPBRINGING to create in his head an idea of who or what God is, was, and wants. Often discarding other passages that might contradict such idea (christians are really good at mental gymnastics and/or picking and choosing)

Yes. I do create God in my own image. And so do you. I have no problem with that anymore.
And if He's God, He'll understand and tolerate.
Even love, maybe. :)

(because if I'm destined to pick and choose, I'll choose a God who loves, over anything else, every time)

In essence.

2011-09-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

The essence of religion, as is of business, is relating to others as long as they buy your product and it's based on the arrogant assumption that you know what will help them, or what they need.

The essence of life is a broader sense of relationship, that includes the good, the bad, the ugly and the different.

Life.. is my religion.

Tired?

2011-04-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get tired of trying to figure out who God is? What He means by what He reveals in the Bible? If He's an inclusivist or an exclusivist (a hot topic currently)? What He wants from you? What does "God" really mean?

I have moments in which I get so tired. Mentally.
I go in circles. Back and forth, yes and no, whys and why-nots, punishment and forgiveness.. and the list could go on and on. It gets tiring and old.

I can hardly figure out myself, with whom I've spent over forty years, 24/7, much less God, with my limited understanding. I can't even know why I feel or not feel certain things, and I have the.. audacity? arrogance? illusion? ..to try and figure out God?

Sometimes I just want to live.

Extreme thinking and a certain type of language...

2011-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

As I have said before here, I've changed a lot lately. I've distanced myself from a lot of stuff, stemming mainly from me distancing myself from a certain type of christianity and, even more so, from a certain idea of "church".

Part of that distancing resulted in me not quite understanding anymore a certain "christian" lingo, which now, at the very least, doesn't make sense to me, often just bounces off me, and occasionally even irritates me.

One such often used expression is "Lord of my/your life".

What exactly does that mean?

I've been asked recently, "Is He lord of your life?" referring to Jesus/God, of course.

First of all, is that even "biblical" language? I'm having a hard time finding that Jesus ever said "I am/will be lord of your life". Please correct me, if there is such Bible verse.

But, again, what does it mean?

There is another concept that somehow seems to be clashing with this one. Another one of those non-biblical terms that is used a lot, though. And it's the concept of "Free Will".

If I have Free Will, wouldn't that imply that whatever decision I make I am ultimately the lord of my life?

Even when I decide to submit to a "Lord", it is still my ultimate decision, and I submit to my understanding of what that Lord requires from me (so, is my mind my lord?) Or - even - I may submit to someone else's idea/explanation of what Lord requires, which, again, makes them somehow my lord, doesn't it?

From what I understand Lord and Master are used interchangeably, and that would mean that if there is a lord there is also a slave or a servant. And now that concept clashes with Free Will, again. A servant or a slave cannot have Free Will. Someone may say that when you submit to Lord you do renounce to your Free Will, and follow His Will. But that's not true. Because we keep doing over and over again our own Will, by sinning, by interpreting Lord's will, by making decisions, de facto overriding constantly our "willingness" to let him be Lord.

As I said.. it doesn't make sense to me, anymore.

But what does make sense (in light of my previous somewhat convoluted reasoning) is what Jesus says in John 15:15

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Now, I can live with a Lord who is not a Master, but a friend.
:)

What are you afraid of?

2011-03-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Besides the obvious physical instances, is fear ever a good motivator?

What would justify and make succumbing to fear right?

What about love? "There is no fear in love"

Can it really be?? How?

Practically speaking what does it mean?

Never mind.

Please, do understand...

2011-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Is it more important to be known or to be understood?

Is there a difference?

According to my friend Ray the number one need for a thinker is to be understood.

I'm a thinker. My number one need is.. to be understood.

Now, define "understood".

What does it mean for me?

Can you be understood without being known?

Lots of people know some stuff about me.

Some people know lots of stuff about me. They know "facts". They know the things I'm going through. And sometimes they understand some of what I'm going through. I'm thankful for that.

And still, there is a deeper understanding that I so rarely experience. It's something that goes so down deep that it's even hard to explain. It is an understanding that goes beyond knowledge of facts. Some understand me so deeply without even knowing stuff about me. It's like they are already a part of me, and I'm a part of them. Like we are made of the same dough. And nothing, not circumstances, not distance, not different life choices, nothing - can ever change that.

I said I rarely experience it, but I do experience it. I have those kinds of connections in my life. It's a blessing. Sometimes also a little bit of a curse, because everything else pales in comparison.

Mostly a blessing, though.

I can be understood without being known.

Knowledge is just gravy in those cases.

Lots of.. nothing, really.

2011-03-02T06:19:00.000-08:00

I am a thinker. No doubt about that.

I over analyze stuff all the time. My mind is always chewing, swallowing, and digesting something.

It's not always pretty.

However.. lately I have been struggling more with my feelings than anything else. I don't even know if "struggling" is the right word, here.

I have become more aware of my feelings, I guess.

In the last decade or so, I have been brainwashed into thinking that feelings are not to be trusted. The heart is deceitful. Always. I had made that my mantra. And I guess that, for a thinker like me, it wasn't too difficult to go that direction. I could always reduce everything to a mental exercise.

And still, there came a point in which I had to come to terms with the fact that you can't live without feelings. They are ever present, and they do direct your life.

And sometimes those feelings go against all you believe or thought you believed.

So, what do you do?

I don't know yet. I've tried the "do the right thing", and it doesn't always work. You may externally look fine, but inside you're pretty much dying. Everybody will see someone you're not. Then one day the true you, the one with the feelings, comes out and it's a shock. It's a big surprise. They think you went nuts. That you've lost your way. While in reality you were on your own way all along, but nobody could (or sometimes would) see it.

You just can't deny feelings, as much as you try. Even those who say they don't trust feelings base their lives on them, one way or the other.

Granted, sometimes feelings are just momentary emotions. And those may not lead you to the true you. But sometimes (dare I say, more often than not?) they are deeply embedded in you. They are the true you.

And if they don't align with what you thought they should have been, or with other people's expectations, what do you do with them?

Can I change how I feel about something? Some people can. I can't. I cannot fake it till I make it. "Fake it till I make it" to me always translates into "fake it till I can't fake it anymore".

Bottom line is, I cannot turn on and off feelings like they were a faucet.

So, what now?

Love is a choice. Or, is it?

2011-02-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

A facebook comment exchange made me think. The exchange started with a status claiming that love is a choice and not a feeling.

What does it mean to "choose" to love?

There was a time that I believed (or tried to believe) that was true. I'd preach it. I'd say it. But, in all honesty I could never truly live it.

So, what does it mean to choose to love?

I guess it means to DO something. Yeah, it must be it, because the other overused statement is: love is an action.

So, if you do something "right" for someone it means you love them. Granted, if you do that, you most certainly do not hate them, but does that really qualify as love? Can you do something "loving" without really loving them?

Let me copy a section of those comments I mentioned above:

I am not even remotely attracted to the homeless stinking guy with no teeth, but I know God loves him and so do I. It's my choice! I don't always "feel love" toward my dogs/kids/husband/family members/neighbors/friends/and so on, but I choose to LOVE them anyway. If it was a feeling I would have walked out some relationships long time ago. I commit myself to love them all everyday. People attach the word love to what they see on TV, romance novels, and country songs. :) The feeling that makes me "feel in love" is not love. But love is a verb that require action, it's hard work, and should not be held back. Peace out.

I think I actually started loving more when I started not looking at love as a choice. It has freed me to love. Bottom line is I don't think I choose to love. I choose not to judge. I started (still imperfectly) loving when I stopped religiously judging everybody. I can love the homeless stinky and toothless guy because I don't see his "stinkiness" and toothlessness anymore. I see him as a person, with just as much value as me. That I do choose. And that frees me to love. And even feeling it!

If I still feel a repulsion and just suck it up, helping him is still a good thing - absolutely - but is it really love? Personally, if I know people do things for me out of duty (because in the end, that's what it is), because they had to suck it up, or because it was their religious act.. well, I'd rather not be "loved".

So, again.. Is it really a sign of love for you to white knuckle it and do what's "right" even though nothing in you wants to? Which in the end is something relatively easy to do when we're talking about the homeless person with whom you have no relationship whatsoever. But when you are in a deeper relationship with someone, to be on the receiving end of "duty" is not even remotely comparable to truly know that someone "feels love" about/for you.

Obviously I don't have all the answers and these are very random thoughts.. but to stay true to my intention to blog more, I decided to write them down anyway..

Peace.

Back. Hopefully for some time.

2011-01-30T22:35:00.000-08:00

So many things have changed in the last few years. In the last year, even.

But, how to put in writing something that takes shape inside of you, that emerges from, and forms out of a series of emotions and experiences on which you cannot put your finger, really.

I am most definitely not where I thought I'd be by now. I imagined my life different. Or maybe not. I imagined it like this but I thought I'd like it, and I found out I really don't.

So many things I've shed, because of that. Things that I had piled up on me so much that I had forgotten that down deep under those things there was a person. I think that person is still alive. Maybe not quite kicking, but it will get there, sooner or later.

In the meantime I've found that I like this new old me. That I couldn't care less what other people think of me and of how I should be. That I have a peace I didn't have when I was doing the right and expected things. That I love my kids more. That I am free of impositions.

I also found others walking down the same street with me.

Some have been long time companions, some are surprising recent encounters. And still it feels like they were always walking by me. Love it!

Well, I'd better stop rambling...

I had been thinking about resuming blogging and just didn't want to postpone one more time. That is why I just posted an old draft (inspired by what, I don't know) and decided to write a couple of non-sensical lines just because.

nat

(I think it's also because my surprising recent encounter asked me today what I like to do.. I had to think about it.. and I remembered I do like to write, and to write on my blog.. so, there you go)

Draft

2011-01-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

My feet are on solid ground but there is sometimes darkness all around me. The darkness grows, it constricts, it restricts and I can't move or remove myself from the darkness. Suddenly a slice of light cuts through and I am able to move but then the light is gone. My feet, however, remain on solid ground and I wait. Other lights come and call to me. Some of them are bad. Some of them are good, but I cannot follow them because I know they would lead me down a path that isn't for me. It isn't me.

I don't know how I know this but I do so I stay on the solid ground in the darkness waiting for the light of me to come and call me out.

My boy.

2009-12-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

I look at my disobedient child's relationship with me and I think I understand a little bit how God looks at us.

My little 5 year old boy has made an art out of disobedience. He needs to be "reminded" over and over and over again not to do certain things and he keeps doing them. I got so aggravated at him today that I yelled at him telling him how unlikable he gets when he behaves like he does.

And he does! Man, he can so get on my nerves, and his sister's, too!

And still. I LOVE him. I love him so very much. I look at him and I just love him.

I hear that love is an action, and I'm sure that it is a lot of times. I hear that it is something you have to "work" on, and "they" are probably right.

BUT.

But, I don't need to work on my love for my children. It's there. It never goes away. It's an ever present.. feeling. Yep, a feeling. I didn't need to get to know them to love them, to feel love towards them. I didn't need to get into self-help christian (or non christian) books, to know how to love them. I just do.

And I am reminded of that verse where Jesus talks about parents and children...

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

(Matthew 7:11, NIV)

God, I guess, loves me just like I love my kids (and more!)

Even when I disobey him over and over and over again.

It sure is a comforting thought. For me, at least.

Be blessed.

The tree.

2009-03-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

How good is good if God never intended for us to know it?

If God was chocolate

2008-08-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

If God Was Chocolate - Ceili Rain

If God was chocolate

(Inspired by - "A JOKE A FRIEND TOLD."

Scriptural References: (Romans 8:31, Is. 55:8, Matt. 6:25-34))

Lyrics:

I can feel Your presence in the summer breeze / I can see the distance between You and me / I can catch your fragrance from an April rose / Sure can hear your rhythms when the thunder rolls / But I can’t taste You; don’t think I’m s’posed to / But what would people do / /

Chorus: If God was chocolate; everyone loves chocolate / Everyone would want Him, want Him all the time / You can almost taste it; every godly visit, a party for the spirit, body, soul and mind / If God was chocolate – chocolate - chocolate / Mm-mm – chocolate – chocolate - chocolate //

Pray for an end to anger, you get a Hershey’s kiss / For each good deed a Snickers, I could get used to this / Pray they stop the fighting in the Middle East / and the battleground starts changing / to a chocolate fondue feast / The whole world over we’d discover a whole new hunger //

Chocolate - chocolate Chocolate - chocolate / Can almost taste You / but I think it all through / and I think it’s also true that God is broccoli, asparagus and herb tea / all that stuff that’s good for me that may not taste divine / But it makes a good start at building me a strong heart. So if you eat your broccoli / and you drink your herbal tea, finish your supper and you will see. You will see how it can be that // Chorus

God the revealer

2008-07-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Philippians 3:15

Cardboard testimonies

2008-07-24T18:27:00.001-07:00

The Yoga philosophy (and other eastern religions as well)

2008-07-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

A while back I started reading a book, just out of curiosity and as a response to my missing Italy at the time. In fact the book is the recount of a lady who spent 3-4 months in Italy, 3-4 months in India and the same time in Indonesia. It's kind of a spiritual journey journal. It has nothing to do with christianity, but I was still curious enough to want to read it. And I have to say that reading the Italy part was fun and satisfied want I was longing to read -- a candid description of my culture.
Well, once I read that first third of the book, I put it aside and practically forgot about it, since I knew it was going to go into some hindu/buddhism sort of endeavor and I really didn't feel like diving into that (the part of the book dedicated to Italy was about food.. could I resist??)

The other day I thought I would pick it up again and see if I could finish it. I read a couple of pages and.. uhm.. I already have a question. I wish I had more readers to this blog to see what they thought about it, but as it is there probably won't be much of a response to this question.
Nonetheless, I'll ask it anyway.

Premise.
I'll have to copy a "couple" of sentences about her explanation of the Yoga philosophy.

Here it goes:

The Yogis,.., say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus: "You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."

Now, my question is:

"How divine is a divine that doesn't know it's divine?"

Let it shine

2008-06-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

People often ask me
Why do I sing
And I tell them
The same old thing
'Cause I know where I'm going
And where God brought me from
I sing because of Jesus
God's Holy Son

God has given me
Such a gift of song
Told me to sing
I'm singing from now on
I'm singing for my friends
And in the face of my enemies
Gotta let my little light shine
For the whole world to see

Let it shine for the world to see
Give God the glory
Shine
You gotta let it shine
(I gotta tell everybody everywhere)
Let it shine for the world to see
(Oh yes I will)
Give God the glory
Shine
You gotta let it shine

People often ask me
Girl, why do you sing
I look at them and I tell them
The same old simple thing
'Cause I know where God brought me
Where God brought me from
And one day soon
The Savior is gonna come
Oh yes He will
Don't let this moment
Pass you by
You gotta tell the world
That Jesus is alive
And please don't let it, don't let it no
Don't let it slip away
You gotta tell everybody everywhere
That Jesus lives today
He lives today!

Let it shine for the world to see
(Let it shine for the world to see)
Give God the glory
(You've got to give Him the glory)
Shine
You gotta let it shine
(You gotta let it, you gotta let it, you gotta let it)
Let it shine for the world to see
(I give Him the glory, give Him the honor, give Him the praise)
Shine
(Tell everybody how He's been so good)
You gotta let it shine
(How He's been so kind, oh come on and..)
Let it shine for the world to see
(Shine shine shine)
Give God the glory
(Give Him the glory)
Shine
(Give Him the glory, give Him the honor)
You gotta let it shine
(Honor, give Him the praise)
Let it shine for the world to see
(Shine shine shine)
Give God the glory
Shine
(Shine, shine, shine)
You gotta let it shine
Let it shine for the world to see
(Tell your boss, tell your family)
Give God the glory
(Tell your wife, tell your husband)
Shine
(Tell everybody everywhere)
You gotta let it shine
(Oh yeah)
Let it shine for the world to see
(I'll tell it everywhere I go)
Give God the glory
(I'll tell everybody)
Shine
...
I promise you I will let it shine..

Two years ago I fell in love with this song.
I couldn't find anything to download here for you to hear it.
I couldn't even find the lyrics, so I typed them while I listened.
But, just reading or writing it is not the same for me.
I fell in love with the whole song, music and words.
I am not doing it any justice, by writing it here, but I felt the need to do so tonight.
At least the words.

Just for myself.

Let it shine.

n

PS~ The song is by Tara Darnell.

Sculpture Scripture

2008-06-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

A copy of this sculpture (or maybe even this very sculpture), by the artist Botero, was donated to the city of Florence, Italy, and placed by the city airport.
I've driven by it often over the years.

And every time it makes me think of this Bible verse:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Mt. 6:25-26

The Father sure fed this one!

:-)

May 30.

2008-05-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Eight years ago yesterday I gave birth to my daughter.

Yesterday has been a fun, fun day. Over the course of it, however, Juni kept asking me details about her birth.

At what time was I born?
What were you doing before going to the hospital?
What was dad doing at this time?
Was it painful?

For some of those questions I didn't have an answer (I truly don't remember what I was doing 3 hours after she was born! My guess would be either sleep or nurse her!)

But there is one answer I most certainly can't forget:

Was it painful?

Absolutely yes.

It still amazes me, however, that something so painful can result in something so beautiful.

I know pain (at least, that pain) is the result of the curse, but yesterday I found myself wondering if the choice of the curse was a way for God to show us how He operates and how we should deal with pain.
Giving birth is probably the closest we can get to the "creative process". God, in a way, made us part of that process. And He chose to make it not an easy task (and it doesn't get any easier after we do give birth..)

Pain is not just part of the birthing process. Pain is part of all aspects of our lives. But maybe it has (or should have) the same result in every circumstance: new life.
Be it physical or emotional, pain results in something new. A new understanding, a new baby, a new view of life, a new peace.

Pain always means change. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes it's not. And sometimes pain breeds more pain if we let it.
But God intended for pain to be the arrow that points to Him and to the blessings He wants to bestow on us.
It's like He's saying "I know what you're going through, but you'll find Me on the other side!"

Jesus Himself went through pain to get to the joy of sitting at the right hand of God.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

James confirms that when he says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...

Or Paul, when he says:

Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

Again.. pain should lead to life.
Life in Him. And when we find life in Him, all we can do is rely on Him and not ourselves.
Good grief! How could we rely on ourselves when we cannot even make one hair on our head white or black????

Anyway, I'm sure I am not saying anything of great depth or that any of you has not already thought about.

I just needed to be reminded, I guess.

navide

PS ~ Just a note. I am not saying in any way that we should look for pain. My point is to keep pressing on when we do face painful situations (and that's pretty much a given for everybody on this earth), and not "artificially" create them.

All the lumber

2008-05-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

A fine line

2008-04-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

Without realizing it, I have crossed many times a line that's easy to cross for us Christians.
That line is between believing Jesus and believing the Bible.
It's a given that both are extremely important and definitely interconnected.
My point here, though, is that we obtain salvation only thru our faith in Jesus, which is naturally accompanied by belief in the Word.
Sometimes, however, we confuse the idea of believing what the Bible says with salvation through the knowledge of It. We focus on studying and knowing the Bible and not as much on the relationship with our Lord, Savior, Master, our Jesus.

Our focus should be on the relationship with a person not with a book, as sacred and true as it may be. The Word sheds light on the person of Jesus.
The Word is nothing without the Spirit.
Knowledge of the Bible won't save you. It may point (and it should) to the person of Jesus. He's the One who saves.

Let's use the image that is often used to describe the Bible: God's letter to us.
Sure, good example. What we do sometimes, however, is focus on the font the letter is written in, the gramatical correctness, the spacing, the ink used, and the letterhead it's written on.. and we miss the message.
We focus so much on how it was written, that we miss what it was written about.

Who it is written about.

Jesus himself warned us about that danger:

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me" (John5:39)

May we never forget that we don't "believe" in the Bible. We believe in a God, a truthful (and faithful) God, who gave us a truth-full Bible for our own benefit and to point us to the real Savior.
The One who gave up His life for us.

He is the one we Believe for our salvation.

It only tickles when you do it.

2008-03-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

It Only Tickles When You Do It

I revel in days of abiding great joy
Bestowed upon me by that one little boy
Well it's true that it smarts when he shouts in my ears
But the silence hurt more before he was here

Well he laughs til he cries as we flail on the floor
And he pleads with me "Stop!"
though he knows there'll be more
With an innocent whimsy he hasn't lost yet
Then he leads me to wisdom I'll never forget
When he says "Now daddy, you tickle yourself"
And I says "If I could I'd get to it
But it only tickles when you do it"

Now that my bonnie boy has grown inte a man
I am left all alone here with these idle hands
So they reach up to You who've been Father to me
And they're craving the joy that Your touch always means
I say this in not the most reverent terms
And pray You won't misconstrue it
But it only tickles when you do it

....and then the Lord speaks.... :
"I am God, I am happy in heavens above
I've had eons and ages of Myself to love
Still I found it amsuing to see Adam come
And the earth did seem greener, and brighter the sun
Well I may try to hide this from even Myself
But clearly you always knew it
That it only tickles when you do it
Yes it only tickles when you do it"

First and foremost.

2008-03-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is my spin-off blog.

I realized I was writing in Italian a lot on my other blog, and neglecting my English, so much so that I've decided to create another blog. Even though both blogs will probably have mixed languages, I'll try to keep this one mainly in English and the other one mainly in Italian.
Plus, I wanted to experiment with a new template, but I didn't want to take the chance of losing all I had on the other blog.

So here I am, with a brand new baby blog.
And, as you can see, it's a girl..

Welcome and see you at my next post!