How He loves us

A long time ago, there was a certain kingdom that grew to be the most powerful empire at that time. It had stood against rival powers and prevailed and now was uncontested in all of the known world. The greatness and success of the empire was only possible because of the emperor himself, a very intelligent and valiant man. He also acted as the general of the imperial army, which is why nobody could defeat them in battle. The emperor was not a cruel man but a wise, kind, and integral person, there was no other ruler like him, and some would wonder if he was God in human flesh!

At the same time that everyone feared him and wouldn’t dare get on his bad side, he was madly in love with a simple peasant girl in the slums of the capital city. He would wonder and wonder of how he could win her heart. He knew that if he invited her to live in the palace as his wife, she would either love him for his power or falsely correspond to his love in fear of what would happen if she didn’t. And going to the door of her house with his armed bodyguards wouldn’t be a good idea either. What he wanted was true love, that was only possible without pressure of force.

And so, knowing that his power was too imposing to sustain a meaningful relationship with his love, he went to her village, dressed as a common beggar to conquer her heart as an equal. But this was no disguise or costume. So great was his love for her, that he permanently renounced his position upon the most powerful throne in the known world just so he could be with her.

The Big Problem

Aaah Sabbath morning, what a blessed day! Our holy day to worship our heavenly Father and to be in communion with Him. We all look forward to this day here in the Adventist church for it is a day of rest and spiritual refilling. The day we come to church to see our brothers in Christ and to listen to the Pastor’s latest reflection, the day to take our minds off of worldly things and set them on Godly things and maybe even gain some more biblical insight through our weekly Sabbath school lesson. Yes, this is the best and most fulfilling day of our week!

That is what any good seventh-day Adventist will tell you if you ask him about it at church, and in an odd and contradicting manner,  he may turn straight back to his game of Temple Run on his smart phone! You may be standing there in confusion thinking, “These Adventists aren’t very consistent!”, unless the said Adventist explained to you how his smart phone is somehow sanctified by the presence of the Bible app he’s got, slowly collecting cyber webs between it’s virtual pages. It’s funny, you may even notice that there is a lack of an actual Bible or a Sabbath school lesson on his person. And sadly you may leave the church and never come back, in search of a better spiritual experience.

This is a huge problem among our church youth, and the church as a whole when this youth becomes the leaders! We have this terrible notion that we can be Adventists AND be involved in worldly things at the same time! We keep on following our sinful passions and we fail to realize that we’re being watched, and that this very conduct is one of the biggest obstacles people have to face when deciding whether or not to join our church!

World Views

As a future pastor of the Seventh - day Adventist church, part of my job and life calling is going to involve converting people to my religion. Showing them Christ and the only way to be truly saved. I believe with all my heart that I have had the privilege of being called by the Divine Creator to this mission, that Jesus Christ is the only path to true happiness and fulfillment, that only through Him we are truly justified from our sins. But I also realize that I will face many atheists who do not believe the same way, maybe whoever is reading this right now does not agree with my views and says that the Christian religion just doesn't make sense and cannot be proven. Well, to all of you who are atheists I will say this: I respect the fact that you dare to question! I respect your rational thinking and how you always try to uncover the truth, discarding whatever is not worthy of credibility. I only ask this of you, in the same way that I respect your views, respect mine and any other person's views as well. It is the easiest thing in the world to summarize someone as an ignorant buffoon just because he doesn't share your "100% correct" view of the world! There are many people in my own church who say the same thing about atheists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Mormons and everyone else who doesn't agree with them. This attitude disgusts me! It is highly unlikely that all the intelligent people in the world just so happen to share your view! Now, a lot of people might argue with me saying, "Yeah, but if someone is truly intelligent, they will come across the truth and agree with my vision cause I'm already on the hill of total comprehension!” There are too many world views for us to just hug the first one that appears and say it's the absolute truth. Now I'm not saying that all these world views are right all at the same time, that is an extremely relativist way of thinking, it's just that these views were all developed by intelligent people who, most of the time, deserve credibility. Going back to what I said about me respecting you atheists, I believe that every single person who really wants to find out the truth about the world and how it all came to be, should study and search for the answers as much as he can with that same attitude of looking for credible facts and logical explanations. We shouldn't just accept what a doctor in philosophy or a pastor says just because he said it, we should ask questions, research for ourselves and analyze the answers we get and subjecting them to comparison with other world views and theories, always looking for the most logical and credible one. That is why we need to respect each other’s world views, because that person that you think is ignorant could be right and you could be wrong. And that is the definition of having an opened mind, accepting that fact that you may be wrong, so you investigate to find out.

Before I finish here, I would like to leave you with this quote from the philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal: "That men may at least learn what faith they reject, before rejecting it."

Hello

Hello everyone! Okay, first of all, i want to wish all you guys a happy sabbath! Alright, now that you're equiped with your very own happy sabbath, i would like to explain the existance of this blog. I am going to be posting here about personal growth in a general way basically. Every once in awhile, when i learn an important life lesson, or come across some amazing insight, you guys will be reading about it here! Sure, as a seventh day adventist, I'll be putting in some spiritual meaning and religious points of view, but since I like to believe that I'm a pretty open-minded guy, I'll be also posting things of an intelectual interest. I believe that God reveals certain truths to the people who seek Him, and even very sincere people who would like to find the truth. This happens with all of us and many times we brush it aside, but we fail to realize that we must integrate these truths into our lives and share them with everyone around us! 

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." -Mattew 5:14-16

So i hope and pray that i may be a blessing and a "light" to all who read this blog.