STAY OUT SO I CAN SIN!

 

“Tis strange-but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction;… Lord Byron

We are entering into an era where what Lord Byron quotes is a reality. It is becoming increasingly uncomfortable to be wise and intelligent because we are constantly bombarded with instances and happenings that question our credibility for common sense. We are nurtured to believe in the fact that existence of God is always away from us, safe and secure in a religious structure. The concept of keeping God outside of us not only gives us the convenience to be wicked, dirty, and downright deplorable but we also try to camouflage our sinful life by making the outside physical structure more holy and pure.

Not once do we think that if a religious place needs to be holy, pure, and clean, how much more we who are created by God should be holy, pure, and clean. We exist to worship God and have Him in our heart, we don’t exist to go and worship in a religious place. Have we ever wondered, if God wanted to stay in a religious place, why He must create us in the first place. The Bible says the earth and all that is in it is His. If the stones and mud with which we create these religious places are His, then what is the benefit of our earthly existence. The stones and mud are doing a much better job of staying pure and holy than us. He doesn’t need us at all. Have we ever thought of it this way?

The sheer fact that we keep our creator far away has made us dangerously less in wisdom and intelligence. If we ask God to live in our hearts, our conscience will rip us apart. Hence, we conveniently place Him outside of us and replaced God with money, power, greed, and promiscuous lifestyle as the gods of our heart. God created us to live in our hearts and to provide His divine wisdom and understanding. He does not need a time out and rest from taking care of you. Even as humans, would we in our love for a person relent from taking care or from being with a loved one? Why do we think a God who is all powerful will somehow be frail that He needs rest from taking care or being with the one He created when he/she visits Him? We just project our human weaknesses on the divine and lower Him to our pathetic existence.

The problem is we do not want to believe the truth that Jesus is a living God who created us, that He rose from the dead, that He is an all-powerful God who is the maker of Heaven and Earth. We do not want to believe the fact that Jesus is not a myth but a person in history who experienced human frailty and yet remained pure and holy without committing wickedness and sin. We want to refuse a God who loves us immensely that He gave His one and only son to cleanse us from our sins. He is a God who neither sleeps nor slumbers and continuously caring for us. As Lord Byron says, indeed truth is becoming so strange that fiction becomes more convenient and acceptable than truth.

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Reference:

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/deity-ram-lalla-to-take-one-hour-afternoon-rest-101708099930797.html

The colour of truth!

 

Everyone in this world, irrespective of who they are, expect truth to be told. Nobody likes to be cheated and manipulated. The original meaning of the word “truth” in Greek is called aletheia. It refers to “divine revelation” and is related to a word that literally means “what can’t be hidden.” It conveys the thought that truth is always there, always open and available for all to see, with nothing hidden or obscured. The Hebrew word for “truth” is emeth, which means “firmness,” “constancy” and “duration.” Such a definition implies an everlasting substance and something that can be relied upon. And from a philosophical perspective, there are three simple ways to define truth:

1. Truth is that which corresponds to reality.

2. Truth is that which matches its object.

3. Truth is simply telling it like it is.

However, the most casualty endured over the ages is Truth. Truth is the most suppressed, persecuted and abused element in the planet earth. People of all ages have trampled and manipulated some or most portions of the truth leaving it voiceless. Every virtue, like honesty, justice, authenticity, fairness exists only with the support of Truth and with the absence of truth everything is meaningless including life. When closely observed, among all the creatures, we humans depend on truth for our existence. Family, society and nation is at war with the presence of half-truth or the loss of complete truth. Fyoder Dostoevsky warns with these words, "above all  do not lie to yourself. The one who lies to himself  and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish  the truth within him, and so loses all respects  for  himself and for others. And having no respect ceases to love. 

Asking the colour of truth may look absurd and foolish. It sounds like someone is asking for the taste of the colour blue. We all wish truth could be tangible. But then what is truth? I think before knowing what truth is, we should first know what it is not.

Truth is not simply whatever works. In reality, lies can appear to “work,” but they are still lies and not the truth.

Truth is not what makes people feel good. Unfortunately, bad news can be true.

Truth is not what the majority says is true. Fifty-one percent of a group can reach a wrong conclusion.

Truth is not defined by what is intended. Good intentions can still be wrong.

Truth is not simply what is believed. A lie believed is still a lie.

Truth is not what is publicly proved always.

Most people including leaders, icons and philosophers tried to define truth to its closest meaning. But no one in history of human existence could claim to be the truth like Jesus did. He had an audacity to claim with these words. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”. All who existed before and after provided comfort with life philosophy but died like any one of us but the only difference was they were icons. But then this man Jesus was not an ordinary person but God Himself because He was the only one who was resurrected after His death, therefore His claim on truth matters. If we want to know the colour of truth and live the truth you need to know the one who claimed to be the truth, i.e. Jesus Christ. His sacrifice and call to believe and accept Him in one’s heart transforms a person completely. You begin knowing the truth and living the truth as well.

 

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Wolf in sheep's clothing!

 

Humans are the most complicated being among all the creatures in the planet earth. People are not usually who they pose to be or claim to be. The innocence of childhood quickly passes away, with the growing state of adulthood. People adopt lies more quickly than the truth. Solomon who authors a book in the Bible states this observation about human being. "God made men and women true and upright; we are the ones who made a mess of things.” In other English translations it is said that ‘man pursued many schemes,’ and most of the time the bad ones.

The problem of people is that they randomly do good but predominantly settle with the evil and selfish ones. All efforts are taken to sell oneself as noble and good people than working on the struggles of their personal heart. O S Guinness States “Much of today’s focus is on ‘prevention ethics’ rather than on principled ethics. It is more concerned with ‘not being caught’ (or sued or exposed in the press) than with doing right.” How true the statement is if you seriously ponder on it. Hiding is human nature. We wish to portray the good part while still dwelling on our dirty selfish motives which shows up so casually.

It is recorded in the Bible about Jesus warning people about their hypocrisy, especially the ones who are called as prophets and claim to guide others with the divine insight,  “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.". It does not  only refer about people who are outside of us, but includes us too. Most of the time when it comes to evil, we tend to point our fingers on others than pointing the evil and failures within us. Research has repeatedly shown that we cannot tell who is lying. Yet when we are told someone is abusing, we think– “I know that person; it cannot be true!” Scripture warns us that our hearts are utterly deceitful. We do not even know our own! A good heart check for today as Lysa TerKeurst poses this retrospective question: 'Is my attention being held by something sacred or something secret? Sacred worship is all about God. Secret worship is all about something in this world that seems so attractive on the outside but will devour us on the inside.'.

If what is narrated in this blog highlights the state of your heart, then it is high time that you find help from the savior who has offered the salvation already. Here’s what the Bible says about salvation: Jesus is the source of salvation for the world, and He is the only one who provides forgiveness of sins. Rejection of Jesus results in God’s wrath, but belief in Jesus rescues from wrath. You can talk to him in prayer, to transform you to an honest sincere person who God wants you to be. You just don't remain the same thereafter.

 

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Tell me something that I don't know!

 

Digital age is all about propaganda, bragging, displaying about oneself. Personal information is shared for fun, to find dates, to show oneself marketable, worthy and merchandising. However, it’s strictly restricted to the good and the better side of an individual, whereas the bad and the ugly side of self remains hidden mostly within the individual. Fyoder Dostoevsky in his writing states, “There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.”. And Fyoder is truthful. Even the best decent person by definition, may struggle to address and eradicate the uglier side stored securely within the heart of a person.

If you were to ask someone you know well the phrase, ‘tell me something I don’t know about you,’. It will stop the person in their tracks, stunned for a moment. In the digital age of dating, exposing physically, being promiscuous, divulging private information to sound attractive are all too common and adds momentum to the excitement. Eventually, the hidden selfish agenda raises its hood, revealing the true intention and spirit of the relationship. All want to grab and possess things whether relationships or material things. John Scott states this so precisely, “Every heresy is due to an overemphasize upon some truths to qualify and balance it.”. Just because some truths are overemphasized, doesn’t mean the wrong intention and motives become sane and noble.

The hidden, unrepented selfish thoughts reveal their ugly intentions overtime and derail relationships or mar them. Purity, sincerity, authenticity and honesty are those that don’t happen naturally or nurtured overtime. It cannot be a lifestyle with practice. The underlying problem of sin needs to be addressed. Religious activity of any sort, magnificent or fancy or legendary cannot sanitise the intention of human heart. None of the spiritual belief system have a formula to make a person sane and saint. The detoxifying or the cleansing of the conscience and the impurity of hearts are not based on any good works or religious practices. Those are some disciplines, but a pure heart is the result of the cleansing of the heart. And only Jesus holds the authority to forgive sins and clean our hearts. Study His life, His birth, the way He lived, His death and resurrection you will be, for sure, enlightened by truth. He is the only resurrected Saviour who lived a holy life and conquered death by rising from the grave. This is an undeniable fact. It is recorded in the Bible, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. And how does that happen? Very simple, confess your sins and ugly intentions to Him and invite Him into your heart. You will become a new person. What you would be left with is to share your amazing story of transformation to the world.

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New Age Slavery!

 

There are many movies portraying slave trade, especially stories of black people experiencing unimaginable ordeal during a particular time in history. In this grim period, President Abraham Lincoln played a pivotal role in abolishing slavery in America. The movie ‘Emancipation’ is one such movie which gives a good portrayal of the slave trade. We learn that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free.". Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery in the United States is one of the most discussed aspects of his life. Lincoln frequently expressed his moral opposition to slavery in public and private. "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.".

However, though centuries have passed there is still slavery rampant but in new forms. Some of the modern forms of slavery are:

• Human trafficking. 
• Forced labour. 
• Debt bondage/bonded labour. 
• Descent–based slavery (where people are born into slavery). 
• Child slavery. 
• Forced and early marriage. 
• Sex slavery
• Forced begging.

The above are recognized and brought to control, thanks to the governmental and non-governmental organizations that relentlessly work hard in curbing the perpetrators and rescuing the vulnerable and the oppressed.

There is also a form of slavery where people are enticed with false promises of freedom and adventure. Some fall for these promises to fulfil their selfish desires only to later realize that they are in bondage for life, in most cases. Addiction to smart phone has become a common form of bondage with gambling, online games, pornography being some of the baits that we bite on. A casual visit to these sites traps us into slow deterioration. The need for self -gratification makes you a modern slave.

Somebody once said: ‘Opportunity may knock only once, but “Temptation’ leans on the doorbell.’ Temptation by itself is not a sin. Rather it is a call to battle. The devil works on our selfish desires. The Bible says, “each of you is tempted, when by your own evil desire, you are dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown gives birth to death’. Alcoholism is one such addiction where you start off as a social drinker, only to be pulled in and the habit goes out of hand.

As one of the writers in Bible refers this state beautifully. “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate… For I know nothing good lives in me, that is in my flesh. For the desire to do good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.”. If you are able to relate to this state of affairs, then you need help from a Saviour, Christ Jesus who can deliver you from the clutches of sin, guilt and bondage. Stop justifying your inability to say ‘no’ to sin. It will cost your soul and lose eternity forever. If you confess your sin and ask for forgiveness from all your wrongdoings, then you will have the power to live with true freedom.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_and_slavery

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How easy is it to say ‘no’?

 

It is easy to give advises, give motivational talks, quote books and refer to spiritual literatures that emphasises people to say ‘no’ to the wrong things and ‘yes’ to the right things. We have our favourite religious gurus, authors and great icons whose favourite lines we quote on this issue. But is it really that easy to say “no” to something that’s enticing, when deep down we know its wrong. That’s the power of sin.

The feeling of guilt for having done wrong is universal regardless of being a child, youth or adult. We make promises and commitments only to miserably fail and fall into the same trap again. Every temptation is sweet coated with desire, which takes an individual captive, even the strong ones. Strong principles and habits alone may not be enough to say no to things which are bad. The dirty and unholy are usually camouflaged in an attractive package as though it is clean and pure. A clean and pure heart can only choose which is good even without a drop of evil in it. Devoid of the same, one gets sucked in self-deception.

Diane Langberg puts this beautifully, ‘Self-deception functions as a narcotic, numbing us to the damage of danger of our choices. If we engage in such self-delusion long enough, we will, over time, lose our taste for the good and our power to loathe evil. Once we begin removing our taste for good and our power to hate evil, we habituate that which causes death. As deception becomes a way of life, evil can be easily practiced by an increasingly dead soul that then becomes presumptuous, planning and actively participating evil.’.

How sensitive is your conscience’s taste buds? Is it still distinguishing between right and wrong? If you are still struggling to say ‘no’ to that which is dragging you down, then it is time to do a soul search. King David in the Bible who wrote a book called Psalms registers in one of his prayers, ‘search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concern. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”.  The Bible addresses the problem of human heart and demands us to confess our failures and say no to sin. True confession will lead you to stay holy with the power to say ‘no’ to all that is sinful in nature. The Bible says, God doesn’t hear sinners. Your rituals and religiosity don’t matter to God. Your heart needs to be set right to make space for the living Saviour. Would you like to make a commitment to follow Jesus as Saviour and Lord of your life?

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Rewards that turns to Legacy!

 

There are umpteen case studies and news reports that would vouch for the fact that parents overlooked the signs of rebelliousness in children that they end up as rapists, murderers, paedophiles, etc. The common thread that runs through all their stories is that either morality was totally absent, or it's manipulated. Theodore Roosevelt once said, "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society".

I would like to quote an excerpt from research made from Minesota Crime Commission long years back, "Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centred; he wants what he wants. When he wants his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmates toys his uncle’s watch. Deny him these with ones, and he seeds the rage of aggressiveness which could be murderous where he not so helpless, he is dirty. He has no morals no knowledge, no developed skills and this means that all children are born with delinquent and if permitted to continue in their self-impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child will grow up a criminal, a killer a Rapist." How are we going to be a role model in building our children right?

Morality, to choose between right and wrong has become a casualty in recent times. It has become relative, and that means we decide right and wrong based on how we want it, because as adults we find it convenient. By doing this we have placed our children in danger at arm length. Even if as parents we do lead a moral, God-fearing life, the world out there is so evil, that it has the power to groom our children to be immoral. It has blurred the lines between right and wrong.

As parents we have been placed with a great responsibility on our shoulders to teach our children to pursue and persevere God's way. The benchmark of morality is God and His word alone. Anything other than God becomes relative. The Bible says, "Every word of God is tested and refined [like silver]; He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him." The more we encourage our children to read His word they are sure to gain God's wisdom, guidance, and protection. The word will also help us parents to develop these precious gifts to be responsible adults, eventually fulfilling God's purpose in their life. Live an exemplary life your child can follow. A friend and a mentor but most importantly making them experience the true salvation Christ offered that can transform from inside out. And that means leading a child or an individual to repent and confess all failures to Him who has the power to cleanse from all sins and unrighteousness and transform to be a new person in Christ.

 

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