Keeping Hope and Faith Alive

Many doubters wondered... "Is God Real?" Many believers struggle with their faith on a daily basis as they go through their daily trials and tribulations, all while trying to hold on to their beliefs.

Which Way To Go?

        Whether you're a christian, a catholic, baptist, or muslim, most religions do believe there is a God in Heaven, whether they acknowledge him or not. Sometimes we refer to him by different names (God, Allah, Jehovah, etc...), but we're all refering to the same being. A lot of us Christians sometimes refer to Jesus "Our Lord and Savior" as Father, because technically God (Father in Heaven) did give him to us. Originally there was only one version of the bible, with the actual true bibical accounts of all the stories in the bible. It seems like (and my mother been reading the bible since a kid and said it herself years ago when I was a kid myself) as the years go by, more and more information is torn from the bibles as information and records strangely gets lost. Man, I'd love to get my hands on a bible from 500 years ago, or longer. But then again so would any art museum, or religious organization, or any publishing company, or the U.S. government. Not to bash any one religion, but all these other religions weren't around. Each of them (different religions) have varying traditions and everyone has the attitude that their religion is the right way to go, even the athesis. And from there people pass down their religious beliefs and politics to the next generation to the next. Here and there, some members of the family bloodline may dwift off into different directions, or religions even, and pass those values down through the generations of their side of the bloodline.

        As time went on, I'm assuming that different stories were torn from and taken away from the main bible as it went through different publishers from century-to-century. Many different types of people has had access to the bible to change whatever they want about it. Things that they may feel indifferent about or feel degrades them for whatever reason... THEORECTIC EXAMPLE: (mabye a descendant to an opposser of Christ, or one of his disciples had his turn with the bible and excluded a minor bibical crime commited by his ancestor). It's to the point now where, for this among many other reasons, a lot of people no longer have faith in the modern day bible. And the emergence of the wealthy, millionaire tele-evangelist over the past several decades with their christian rockstar size venues and tens of thousands of followers doesn't always help to restore faith as some viewers see them as phonies and con men/women (Creflo Dollar, anyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creflo_Dollar, be careful who you trust fellow christians!). And it's not just the King James Version of the christian bible, I'm sure all other religious bibles faced the same inaccuracies over the years and centuries as they went from hand to hand as well. But I think that everyone that does believe in God and tried to have a relationship with him from whatever Christ-based religious background they come from deserves credit for even trying to learn about our beloved savior Jesus, the Christ. For these reasons it's good we do have freedom of religion (in most countries anyway), so that people won't feel imprisoned to follow a belief system they don't agree with.

　

Of Pagan Gods, Myths, and Vanity Holidays

        By the way, were did all this greek and norse mythology stuff originate from? Greek Mythology (a cool fantasy invented by the greeks) didn't originate until around 2000 BC, and wasn't fully developed until 700BC http://history-world.org/greek_mythology.htm. Norse Mythology (a cool fantasy invented by the Iceland historian/poet, Snorri Sturluson) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson didn't come about until the early 1200s AD when Sturluson authored the "Prose Edda" is a bible (of sorts) on Old Norse folklore stories http://www.viking-mythology.com/. These are very interesting characters important supporting characters for comic book franchises like Thor and Wonder Woman, but there isn't any proof these people actually existed (which is why it's called greek mythology, I suppose) but they're discussed and herald in pop culture as if they really existed. Thankfully, Jesus, or the actual Trinity of: God, the Father; Jesus, the Christ; and the Holy Spirit, hasn't been exploited in the comics the way the characters of Greek and Norse legend has, as humanity appearently holds it's actual forefathers to higher regard than to exploit them in a media franchise such as comic book, no matter what purpose they serve in the story (as heroes or villains) and regardless to how good and widely accepted it is.

        I wasn't raised celebrating the Christmas holiday as a kid, and some of my classmates thought that I was a Jehovah's Witness (a religion that doesn't celebrate Christmas). Since the exact day when Jesus was born is not known to man, man just decided to pick a random day around the time he was born and celebrate it, even declaring it the actual day that he was born as the truth gets further and further brushed off to the back. Man's efforts in doing this was probably to the good (originally) as he wanted to pay dedication to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. But if Jesus wanted his actual birthdate to be known it would've been recorded. There's many secrets of the universe that'll always be a mystery to us because God didn't want us to know those facts for whatever reason (the biggest one of all is how God came about). And since it's not officially his date-of-birth (again no one knows the exact day when he was born), the story of Jesus Christ being born on December 25th is still debatable as mankind picks this day to acknowledge his birth. I know the gift-giving/receiving aspect of it isn't godly, especially the way that Christmas, along with Thanksgiving, have become another marketable, money-making machine of a holiday season for the consumer industry (as a whole) within, say, the past hundred years or so. Where did all that come from by the way? I don't recall anything like that being in the bible? I do acknowledge Resurrection Sunday in which Jesus arose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion and Easter, itself, is also a big money maker, with it's own holiday symbol (the easter bunny), just like the more iconic Santa Claus for Christmas. Another obstacle to take your mind of the reason behind this day. Naturally Satan is behind all of this, even with the Christmas stuff, they suppose to be celebrating supposed day of Jesus' birth, yet people acknowledges it as a time for gift exchanging, big dinner eating, tree decorating and partying.

　

The Man In The Mirror

        I, myself, am a Christian. I'm not a hard core, bible-thumping, overly preachy Christian, but I am self-aware of all of my actions as I try strongly to do unto others as I'd like them to do unto me for I'm am a strong believer in what goes around comes around. Naturally, I'll meet an a*s**** here and there and yeah I'd be mad as all hell (we all have temptations) when I'm neglected, but you can't let one bad experience (or even several for that matter) change your outlook on things. Just change how you get from point A to point B. I know I should probably spread God's word more, but I'm more of a reserved person and not into telling people how they should live their lives as most of them already have their own system of beliefs and if you argue them wrong, or try to prove to them that their wrong, they get upset or offended because people don't like to feel like they in the wrong (even when they know they are). Especially when it comes to touchy subjects like their religion, or lifestyle preferences and choices. I've even once had a friend that said he wanted to go to a church that supported his lifestyle, as he is now (then). We (most god-fearing people) go to church because we want to build a relationship with our creator and enter his promised land. But we'll never get there if we don't want to change our ways and mentality of things that we routinely do. A church is like a hospital for the soul to get cured. God is suppose to inspire you through the church, not vice versa. Here and there, I may offer some advice to a friend that needs to hear it. Perhaps one day I'll be encouraged to be more vocal about it, but until then (not to sound like a selfish christian because I know that we are encouraged to spread the word) I'm not in church now, but I still keep a relationship with God for my own salvation, and prove myself worthy to be among his chosen. As we get older, many of us try to maintain a relationship with the lord, and one day, I wish to pass on all my knowledge on to my family to inspire.

        I don't know everything, for I am a not-perfect, but patient man who's waiting to play his part in the world, and slowly but surely preparing myself for the future through discipline and experience. From there, I ask God to forgive me for my sins and to be patient with me. Not to make excuses for the actions of humanity, but we were born into sin so some temptations we can't help but succumb to while we're in this earthly form. And from there, I constantly ask God for forgiveness of my sins (past, present and future) and to be patient with me, because if that promised land is true (and I believe it is) I would certainly love to see it.

　

             

                                        Til' my next piece... 

                                                          DAYDREAM, BABY!

Author's Note

Thanx 4 Reading! What's on your mind?