Before I know Christ, I thought the Christians are stupid. I thought they are low people who need something to lean upon. But the more I come to know Christ, the more I realize the foolishness of God is true wisdom. The more I know Christ, the more I know myself.
I always thought I was clever, I was a good people, I was the center of the whole universe. All other people should do things which are good to me, otherwise, I will feel uncomfortable. I thought I was the God for myself. But God just use these two years, the most wonderful and colorful years to let me know that I am weak, I am stupid, I am too proud, I am a sinner. I always thank God for all He has done to me, I can clearly notice the guidance that God shows to me. Now my focus and my meaning of life are totally changed. I do not focus on my own self, I do not feel proud about myself, I do not sin much, I want to be like Christ at the end. I know sometimes, my old self still work in me and lead me astray from God. But I am free from sin, I am not bound to sin anymore, because Christ's blood has purge it totally! Thank you Lord!
What is the wisdom of God? God gives us freedom to choose to love Him! His wisdom is in the cross that is He killed His own son to save the people that He loves so much. In the eyes of God, all wisdom is meaningless compared to His infinite wisdom, all strength is weak. How could a man be proud of himself when he lives in such a beautiful world created by the Lord! God did not pick the one who is strong in the eyes of human being, but pick the weak one, the fool one to fool the wisdom of the world. That proves His wisdom is much more than this world's wisdom!
Praise be all to the Lord! For all He has done to us! For His ever-lasting love!
Corinthians 2:6-16
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secrete wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"
but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand then, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any many's judgment:
"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
2011/01/27
2011/01/19
Spend one less minutes on Facebook
We are the generation who do not drink or smoke. But we have another addiction: We like surf the Internet. Many of us, at least for me, can hardly live the life without the Internet. We rely too much on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. I am not saying that they are not good. Actually, it is those new things which make us know more about our friends, about things happened over the world. However, everything that is abused will always lead to a problem.
For example, I would like to spend several minutes on Facebook checking out friends' new status, seeing what pictures they take every couple minutes or hours to "relax". And I can even seat in front of the computer for a whole day, not even go out for a whole day. What will that bring to us? First of all, it is not healthy for our body. Second, you are not really relax when you surf the Internet. Finally, you may feel guilty wasting so many time everyday for those meaningless stuffs. (At least, this point is true for me)
So, my plan from now on is to get rid of that gradually. I know myself quite a lot that I cannot control myself well to get ride of something suddenly, but I have confidence that the holy spirit in me will purify me, and will renew my mind.
Here is the plan:
1. Spend one less minutes on Facebook, but spend one more minutes on the Scripture.
2. Stop watching porn, but going out to gym to work out.
3. Stop chatting randomly, but talk to the people face to face.
4. Stop watching TV shows or movies, but hang out with friends.
5. Start writing down something everyday.
6. Praise be all to the Lord.
At last, stop does not mean totally abandon, but means that we will not get addicted by those things, but spend more precious time doing other important and fun stuff.
I am pretty sure that with my own strength, I can do nothing to achieve those goals. But I believe that the holy spirit inside me will help me, and give me strength to achieve those goals. God give me strength to do that! Praise be all to Him!
For example, I would like to spend several minutes on Facebook checking out friends' new status, seeing what pictures they take every couple minutes or hours to "relax". And I can even seat in front of the computer for a whole day, not even go out for a whole day. What will that bring to us? First of all, it is not healthy for our body. Second, you are not really relax when you surf the Internet. Finally, you may feel guilty wasting so many time everyday for those meaningless stuffs. (At least, this point is true for me)
So, my plan from now on is to get rid of that gradually. I know myself quite a lot that I cannot control myself well to get ride of something suddenly, but I have confidence that the holy spirit in me will purify me, and will renew my mind.
Here is the plan:
1. Spend one less minutes on Facebook, but spend one more minutes on the Scripture.
2. Stop watching porn, but going out to gym to work out.
3. Stop chatting randomly, but talk to the people face to face.
4. Stop watching TV shows or movies, but hang out with friends.
5. Start writing down something everyday.
6. Praise be all to the Lord.
At last, stop does not mean totally abandon, but means that we will not get addicted by those things, but spend more precious time doing other important and fun stuff.
I am pretty sure that with my own strength, I can do nothing to achieve those goals. But I believe that the holy spirit inside me will help me, and give me strength to achieve those goals. God give me strength to do that! Praise be all to Him!
2011/01/18
Self Control
Dear Holy Father,
I am so sorry for not obeying your command! I do my research in my own way, trying to solve every problems by myself, and not praise you at all; I am not loving other people as myself, I show no passion and no love to those whom I don't love much; I waste my time wondering online for about one hour, watching YouTube videos, but I make an excuse not having time to read and meditate on your words; I cannot control my eyes and hearts, and watch dirty, bloody things online; I cannot focus on doing things, but spend time listening to music when doing my job; I did not do things efficiently; I am not diligent enough to do the work that you assign me to do.
Father I have so many stuff that are out of my control. I know your commands well, to some point, but I just cannot escape from my old-self. What should I do? Father! I repent for what I have done not well; I pray that you can help me to renew my mind everyday to focus only on your words and your truth, but not get addicted by other things. Father, I know I cannot achieve that, but I pray that you can let the holy spirit to guide my life and everything. I pray that you can let me win over my old-self.
Father, You creator of the whole universe. You are King of the kings. Why should I do all the things just in my own effort, but not relying on you. Father, please forgive me! Forgive my pride, forgive my sin, forgive my lazy, forgive my cold heart, forgive my stubborn. I am so so sorry for what I have done today. I pray that you can forgive what I am doing today. And please let me submit more to your sovereign, and not rage against you! Father, please teach me, please splash me, please don't let me go! I am so sorry.
You said, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." If I have no idea what is right and wrong; if I continue seeking something that is wrong; if I gave credit still to myself; if I do not love other people as myself; who am I? Am I not still a unbeliever?
You said, "If I declare with my mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, I will be saved. For it is with my heart that I believe and are justified, and it is with my mouth that I profess my faith and are saved." Father, what is belief? It is relatively easy to believe in the mouth, but how about believe in my heart? Do I really believe in my heart? If I do, I will hate unrighteousness, I will not still rage against the Lord, I will not do everything still in my own way. Father, please let the holy spirit give me the power to reign over Satan, please keep me away from Satan's seduce, please help me understand your words more and meditate more.
Father, you glorious one in the heaven. Please lift me up spiritually from the sinful world, please help me to know your truth and your kingdom. Father, I am such a small people, my wisdom and strength are nothing in the eyes of you. Please help me to be humble, please let me to be awake of the sin. Father, you are the power one! Because of your grace, I have win over the sin. I don't have to fall into the sin again. Please continue sanctifying me, and make me purify, so that I will not be ashame in front of you in the judgement day.
Father, glories be all to you! I am happy because of you! I am satisfied because of you! I am not alone because of you! I am strong because of you! I am wise because of you! But all these glories be all to my heavenly father! You are my Lord, you are my everything! Father, please take my body to you, please take my whole life to your hand, please lead me in the right way in my life.
Father, thank you for listening to my prayer, and thank you for saving me. Please help me to win over my weakness, please!!!
In Jesus, I pray!
I am so sorry for not obeying your command! I do my research in my own way, trying to solve every problems by myself, and not praise you at all; I am not loving other people as myself, I show no passion and no love to those whom I don't love much; I waste my time wondering online for about one hour, watching YouTube videos, but I make an excuse not having time to read and meditate on your words; I cannot control my eyes and hearts, and watch dirty, bloody things online; I cannot focus on doing things, but spend time listening to music when doing my job; I did not do things efficiently; I am not diligent enough to do the work that you assign me to do.
Father I have so many stuff that are out of my control. I know your commands well, to some point, but I just cannot escape from my old-self. What should I do? Father! I repent for what I have done not well; I pray that you can help me to renew my mind everyday to focus only on your words and your truth, but not get addicted by other things. Father, I know I cannot achieve that, but I pray that you can let the holy spirit to guide my life and everything. I pray that you can let me win over my old-self.
Father, You creator of the whole universe. You are King of the kings. Why should I do all the things just in my own effort, but not relying on you. Father, please forgive me! Forgive my pride, forgive my sin, forgive my lazy, forgive my cold heart, forgive my stubborn. I am so so sorry for what I have done today. I pray that you can forgive what I am doing today. And please let me submit more to your sovereign, and not rage against you! Father, please teach me, please splash me, please don't let me go! I am so sorry.
You said, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." If I have no idea what is right and wrong; if I continue seeking something that is wrong; if I gave credit still to myself; if I do not love other people as myself; who am I? Am I not still a unbeliever?
You said, "If I declare with my mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, I will be saved. For it is with my heart that I believe and are justified, and it is with my mouth that I profess my faith and are saved." Father, what is belief? It is relatively easy to believe in the mouth, but how about believe in my heart? Do I really believe in my heart? If I do, I will hate unrighteousness, I will not still rage against the Lord, I will not do everything still in my own way. Father, please let the holy spirit give me the power to reign over Satan, please keep me away from Satan's seduce, please help me understand your words more and meditate more.
Father, you glorious one in the heaven. Please lift me up spiritually from the sinful world, please help me to know your truth and your kingdom. Father, I am such a small people, my wisdom and strength are nothing in the eyes of you. Please help me to be humble, please let me to be awake of the sin. Father, you are the power one! Because of your grace, I have win over the sin. I don't have to fall into the sin again. Please continue sanctifying me, and make me purify, so that I will not be ashame in front of you in the judgement day.
Father, glories be all to you! I am happy because of you! I am satisfied because of you! I am not alone because of you! I am strong because of you! I am wise because of you! But all these glories be all to my heavenly father! You are my Lord, you are my everything! Father, please take my body to you, please take my whole life to your hand, please lead me in the right way in my life.
Father, thank you for listening to my prayer, and thank you for saving me. Please help me to win over my weakness, please!!!
In Jesus, I pray!
2011/01/06
The new born baby
Luke 11:9-10
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; ho who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
I always thank God for saving me when I was still a sinner. He draw me to Him. He places many questions in my heart and let me to seek Him!
I still remember at the very beginning, I have a lot of questions. In fact, sometimes I asked the question only for the sake of question. But these questions keep me continue seeking Him, and He answered my questions from many aspects. And all because of Holy Spirit, it changes my heart, it lets me know that I am a sinner, it lets me know that I am not God, it lets me know my weakness. I thank God so much for giving me so many lessons.
I was baptized at Aug. 1st, 2010. But at that time, I did not realize the new birth inside me. And I sinned again and again even after I was baptized, which makes me doubt a lot about what bible has said. But I am sure that through almost half year, I have seen how God changes me, how God uses many people, things around me to help me. I think I have to share two things, two things (sins) that makes me feel really really bad everyday, which hinder my growth of faith.
One is pornography. I admit that I was really be habit with the porn. When I was back in China, it is common for a college students to watch porn. And if you have never watched, people may laugh at you. So it is very normal to me! Although I know maybe it is not good for health, but I just do not take that too seriously! But ever since I get to know Bible. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." OMG, what does that mean? Who is Jesus? No man cannot sin! Regardless of whether it is permitted to watch porn from Bible. To me, I know God does not like me to do that. But even after I was baptized, I still cannot get out of that habit. I asked some people, and they gave me a lot of suggestions, such as pray, read scripture, escape, etc. I have tried all of those, but I cannot get rid of it. I just cannot get rid of it, no matter what effort I had made! But today (01/06/2011), I haven't been distracted or drawn by porn for two days, which is a big improvement for me. (I should be shame to say this...) Because after I have spent 2 hours on preparing the bible study (John 3:1-10), I start to realize that I am cleaned by the Holy Spirit because of God's mercy. I just cannot sin! My body is God's temple! Although it looks nothing have changed a lot. You just have not been distracted by porn for two days. But it means a lot to me, because I can clearly sense something is different in my heart. I really realize the holy of my body, and I have to be obedient to God's command. And I am clearly know that this power is from God. Because God give me a lot of chance to get rid of that bad habit by myself through many ways, but I just eliminate that desire. God is awesome! He breaks me down, but he also builds me up! Praise be all to God!
Another thing is that I cannot really be disciplined! Almost all the time, I cannot focus on things very well, and I cannot arrange my time well too. I will easily be distracted by many different things, which makes me not finish the work by time. I was always sad about myself. How could I do to make me more disciplined? How could I finish my work on time so that I don't have to work very late and get up very late? I don't know whether you have that feeling or not? It just feels not so good! And I cannot be really happy and peaceful. But amazingly, I see how I focus on Bible study today. And I can also sense the discipled way of doing things for me currently! I have sense it from my heart. I know it is true this time. I will be discipled well, and will not be worried about my work. And I will be so happy! But God is also funny. He gave me a lot of chance to fix the problem by myself. I also have tried many ways, I asked many people. But I cannot figure it out! I just cannot figure it out! But with God's salvation, I have faith that I have already overcome this problem too.
I was born for already about half year, but I start to get to know the true meaning of faith. I start to know somehow how to get use of the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for giving me the Holy Spirit freely, even though I was of little faith back then.
I don't know whether I will watch porn again in future. Properly will! Will I mess up my schedule again? Properly will! But I am sure of one point: I am now free man! I am not bonded by sin any more! All because our savior, our Lord, our awesome God! Praise be all to you! Father!
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; ho who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
I always thank God for saving me when I was still a sinner. He draw me to Him. He places many questions in my heart and let me to seek Him!
I still remember at the very beginning, I have a lot of questions. In fact, sometimes I asked the question only for the sake of question. But these questions keep me continue seeking Him, and He answered my questions from many aspects. And all because of Holy Spirit, it changes my heart, it lets me know that I am a sinner, it lets me know that I am not God, it lets me know my weakness. I thank God so much for giving me so many lessons.
I was baptized at Aug. 1st, 2010. But at that time, I did not realize the new birth inside me. And I sinned again and again even after I was baptized, which makes me doubt a lot about what bible has said. But I am sure that through almost half year, I have seen how God changes me, how God uses many people, things around me to help me. I think I have to share two things, two things (sins) that makes me feel really really bad everyday, which hinder my growth of faith.
One is pornography. I admit that I was really be habit with the porn. When I was back in China, it is common for a college students to watch porn. And if you have never watched, people may laugh at you. So it is very normal to me! Although I know maybe it is not good for health, but I just do not take that too seriously! But ever since I get to know Bible. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." OMG, what does that mean? Who is Jesus? No man cannot sin! Regardless of whether it is permitted to watch porn from Bible. To me, I know God does not like me to do that. But even after I was baptized, I still cannot get out of that habit. I asked some people, and they gave me a lot of suggestions, such as pray, read scripture, escape, etc. I have tried all of those, but I cannot get rid of it. I just cannot get rid of it, no matter what effort I had made! But today (01/06/2011), I haven't been distracted or drawn by porn for two days, which is a big improvement for me. (I should be shame to say this...) Because after I have spent 2 hours on preparing the bible study (John 3:1-10), I start to realize that I am cleaned by the Holy Spirit because of God's mercy. I just cannot sin! My body is God's temple! Although it looks nothing have changed a lot. You just have not been distracted by porn for two days. But it means a lot to me, because I can clearly sense something is different in my heart. I really realize the holy of my body, and I have to be obedient to God's command. And I am clearly know that this power is from God. Because God give me a lot of chance to get rid of that bad habit by myself through many ways, but I just eliminate that desire. God is awesome! He breaks me down, but he also builds me up! Praise be all to God!
Another thing is that I cannot really be disciplined! Almost all the time, I cannot focus on things very well, and I cannot arrange my time well too. I will easily be distracted by many different things, which makes me not finish the work by time. I was always sad about myself. How could I do to make me more disciplined? How could I finish my work on time so that I don't have to work very late and get up very late? I don't know whether you have that feeling or not? It just feels not so good! And I cannot be really happy and peaceful. But amazingly, I see how I focus on Bible study today. And I can also sense the discipled way of doing things for me currently! I have sense it from my heart. I know it is true this time. I will be discipled well, and will not be worried about my work. And I will be so happy! But God is also funny. He gave me a lot of chance to fix the problem by myself. I also have tried many ways, I asked many people. But I cannot figure it out! I just cannot figure it out! But with God's salvation, I have faith that I have already overcome this problem too.
I was born for already about half year, but I start to get to know the true meaning of faith. I start to know somehow how to get use of the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for giving me the Holy Spirit freely, even though I was of little faith back then.
I don't know whether I will watch porn again in future. Properly will! Will I mess up my schedule again? Properly will! But I am sure of one point: I am now free man! I am not bonded by sin any more! All because our savior, our Lord, our awesome God! Praise be all to you! Father!
2011/01/03
Wisdom of the God
Corinthians 1:19
For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of intelligent I will frustrate."
What is the wisdom of the world? Before I know God, I think my life goal is to search the mysteries of the human brain, and want to re-engineer the mechanism into computer and make the computer with the wisdom of human being, so that I can have fame, wealth, and I can be "successful"! However, after some research I have done and some experience I had, I really realize that we human beings are really nothing compared to God. For example, it is hard for computer to really understand the underlying meaning of an image, which seems very nature and easy for our human being and even for animals. If we believe that computer is the effort of many generation of human being, how could we believe that our human being is from randomness, is from evolution? It just make no sense to me to believe that. And a lot of time, I can feel that science sometimes has some trick inside it, where they do not tell you the whole story. However, I am not saying we should not trust science, or continue doing research. I want to emphasize that we human being are really nothing compared to God. God create all the things in the universe, and we, as His children, play in the world, just like the baby is playing with the toys from his dad.
To me, free will is the biggest gift God gives to us. We may have some questions, for example, if God is almighty, why not show some miracles to us to make us believe Him? Why not force us to all believe Him? Why not save us directly? However, true love never enslave! We now can only design robots with precise commands, but God design us by giving us free will to choose to believe Him or not. That is the biggest wisdom of God, that is the greatness of God. Every time I think of this point, I will bow down my knee under His throne. All because He truly loves us, he gives us free will to choose to love Him. And He loves us so much, He send His only son Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross. How great this love is! Is there any other love among our human being is like this? No! Definitely not!
Then why God create us? Why does he want us to suffer, but He loves us so much? What is the meaning of my life in the world? I have tried to search for the meaning of my life. Some people's answer is the meaning of life is to enjoy the life, enjoy the relationship with other people; others' answer is to work hard to achieve your dream; etc. But my own answer is that we have no meaning from our own perspective. What is all the meaning for all you have done in the world? Even if you have gain fame, money, status, love, children, what does that matter to you? You will die finally like all the human beings, except Jesus Christ. Maybe it is not good for us to ask the meaning of our life. How could a cell phone ask what is the meaning of himself? The meaning of our life is dependent on God, the creator! All we have to do is to follow His will, and live a life according to His special plan on you! Maybe He wants you to be a scientist to explore the mysteries of the world, maybe He wants you to be a cleaner. But no matter what He asks you to do, it is good for your own sake. We can glorify Him in many ways!
But, I should also say that the wisdom of God is not accepted by the world. People in the world will laugh at the believers, because they lack the spirit of God. And only God's spirit can understand God's wisdom. I laugh at God's words before I have the spirit of Him. I always thank God for giving me the free gift of His own spirit so that I can understand His words, and not be stumble. God's wisdom is really far far far more than human's wisdom.
Then what is God's wisdom? Just as paul said in Corinthians 2:2 "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." That is the whole meaning of the wisdom of God. The wisdom is not about some high-tech, or some advanced art, it is about Jesus Christ's crucification, it is about God's love for us! And what should us do? Just as Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." What should I say? If we can really achieve these two commands, we can be loved by God, we can be purified totally. This two commands contain all the wisdom of God.
Corinthians 3:16
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
Praise be all to our almighty God for giving me your spirit to understand your wisdom! Please purify me using your spirit and your words! Please let me leave the sins I have! Please kill my old self and let the new one dominates! Please give your spirit to those who seek for you! Amen!
For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of intelligent I will frustrate."
What is the wisdom of the world? Before I know God, I think my life goal is to search the mysteries of the human brain, and want to re-engineer the mechanism into computer and make the computer with the wisdom of human being, so that I can have fame, wealth, and I can be "successful"! However, after some research I have done and some experience I had, I really realize that we human beings are really nothing compared to God. For example, it is hard for computer to really understand the underlying meaning of an image, which seems very nature and easy for our human being and even for animals. If we believe that computer is the effort of many generation of human being, how could we believe that our human being is from randomness, is from evolution? It just make no sense to me to believe that. And a lot of time, I can feel that science sometimes has some trick inside it, where they do not tell you the whole story. However, I am not saying we should not trust science, or continue doing research. I want to emphasize that we human being are really nothing compared to God. God create all the things in the universe, and we, as His children, play in the world, just like the baby is playing with the toys from his dad.
To me, free will is the biggest gift God gives to us. We may have some questions, for example, if God is almighty, why not show some miracles to us to make us believe Him? Why not force us to all believe Him? Why not save us directly? However, true love never enslave! We now can only design robots with precise commands, but God design us by giving us free will to choose to believe Him or not. That is the biggest wisdom of God, that is the greatness of God. Every time I think of this point, I will bow down my knee under His throne. All because He truly loves us, he gives us free will to choose to love Him. And He loves us so much, He send His only son Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross. How great this love is! Is there any other love among our human being is like this? No! Definitely not!
Then why God create us? Why does he want us to suffer, but He loves us so much? What is the meaning of my life in the world? I have tried to search for the meaning of my life. Some people's answer is the meaning of life is to enjoy the life, enjoy the relationship with other people; others' answer is to work hard to achieve your dream; etc. But my own answer is that we have no meaning from our own perspective. What is all the meaning for all you have done in the world? Even if you have gain fame, money, status, love, children, what does that matter to you? You will die finally like all the human beings, except Jesus Christ. Maybe it is not good for us to ask the meaning of our life. How could a cell phone ask what is the meaning of himself? The meaning of our life is dependent on God, the creator! All we have to do is to follow His will, and live a life according to His special plan on you! Maybe He wants you to be a scientist to explore the mysteries of the world, maybe He wants you to be a cleaner. But no matter what He asks you to do, it is good for your own sake. We can glorify Him in many ways!
But, I should also say that the wisdom of God is not accepted by the world. People in the world will laugh at the believers, because they lack the spirit of God. And only God's spirit can understand God's wisdom. I laugh at God's words before I have the spirit of Him. I always thank God for giving me the free gift of His own spirit so that I can understand His words, and not be stumble. God's wisdom is really far far far more than human's wisdom.
Then what is God's wisdom? Just as paul said in Corinthians 2:2 "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." That is the whole meaning of the wisdom of God. The wisdom is not about some high-tech, or some advanced art, it is about Jesus Christ's crucification, it is about God's love for us! And what should us do? Just as Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." What should I say? If we can really achieve these two commands, we can be loved by God, we can be purified totally. This two commands contain all the wisdom of God.
Corinthians 3:16
"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
Praise be all to our almighty God for giving me your spirit to understand your wisdom! Please purify me using your spirit and your words! Please let me leave the sins I have! Please kill my old self and let the new one dominates! Please give your spirit to those who seek for you! Amen!
2011/01/02
Truth & Faith
All start from a story...
There once was a bottle which contains a lot of bees. They all fly and live in the bottle. Some are very diligent and lucky, so that they can fly very high in the bottle; but some can only stay at the bottom. Those who fly very high feel very proud of themselves and laugh at those who fly at the bottom. All the bees want to fly as high as possible. But their beginning and end are all the same: they came to birth from nothing, they die away with nothing, they cannot escape from the bottle. One day, there is another bee fly from the outside of the bottle, and came to tell some bees in the bottle, "Come on, follow me, I can give you eternal freedom as long as you believe in me!" Some believed him, followed him, and got the eternal freedom because they escape from the bottle; some did not believe him, and stayed in the bottle, and even told other bees do not believe; some did not see that bee, and also did not believe; some believe him even they did not see him; some asked a lot of questions, tested what that bee says... What will you do, if you are one of those bees in the bottle?
What is truth?
Is there any truth in the world? Are we living in a virtual world, anything is illusion? Is everything just relative true, as what relativism states? This is one of the hardest questions from the very beginning. Many philosophers have proposed their ideas for this question. I, in fact, don't know the answer for this question. Because every time I think of this problem, God laughs. I cannot escape the limit of my thought, I can only think in the jail of 3D world! How could I understand what is truth? If I know what is truth, then I am God, but definitely I am not! But Christ come to earth to tell us, "He is truth, He is the way! All who believe Him can get the eternal life."
We can only believe the truth?
We cannot know what is the truth by ourselves. Could a man lift himself up? Could our human being understand ourselves finally? But we can believe what is the truth! However this leads to a problem: Everyone can believe in different things! Then which one should I believe? I don't know the answer neither. Every one of us has his own prior toward the things in the world. No one can be totally objective for everything! So, when I write this article, I am subjective according to what I have learned! Our brain is a "Bayesian Brain", which we turn from one prior into posterior because of some likelihood, and then that posterior begin to be another prior. Everyone believes something, no matter who he is. Personally speaking, according to my understanding and experience, Christ is the truth, Christ is the eternal life goal for me, because "this truth" can be testified and never fail but other things all fails!
Science & Faith
Then what about those science I have learned? Shouldn't we critically think of everything? The answer is yes. We have to critically think of everything. We have to testify everything, no matter it is science or faith. But we now seem like believe in science too much! Even though science teaches us to critically thinking, we do not critically think science some times. We take it for grant that science is the ultimate solution for all the problem. But some of my personal research tell me that it is not true. Science can only solve some problem, but not all problems. Science can somehow answer "How it works!", but it cannot answer "Why it works". How can science explain what is beauty, what is good? A lot of things are out of the control of science. Science is a lot of hypothesis.
Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom
I have to emphasize that I don't know the truth. But I can believe the truth. If there is a truth, I can testify it from many different perspectives. According to my understanding of God so far, God is truth! And the words by God seem to be more reasonable than any other words I know so far! And God said, "Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom!" And somehow we can only know God or understand God when we can humble ourselves, and do not think we are our own God, then God's words and His spirit can be with you.
What about the bad things happened because of faith?
As a Chinese, we may all be taught by our government that faith is evil which we can see vividly what "Falun Gong" has done to the people. Then we can also see how people use Christian to gain power, money and many things. Also there was a long dark age of the Church in the history. How could we explain all of this? I don't know. But at least, those people who did that bad things do not really understand the bible, or they do not really believe in God. However, on the other hand, as a Christian, I also do a lot of bad things everyday. That is why God says, "No one is righteous, not even one." We all are sinners, but only God is perfect, and he forgive our sins by killing his own son for us! That is why we need more of God's help to save us, to redeem us from our sinful nature.
Questions?
Of course, I don't think I explain everything clearly yet. And for myself, I always have a lot of problems and questions raising in my head. Unfortunately I cannot explain everything, I cannot know everything, otherwise, I become God! But God said, "The secrete things belong to the Lord our God". However, on the other hand, he also said, "but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."
What will you choose if you are one of the bee in the bottle? Do you believe that bee from outside of the bottle? Do you think he is crazy? I believe Him! And I will keep seeking the truth! I believe Him will not fail me because He is the Truth! What about you?
There once was a bottle which contains a lot of bees. They all fly and live in the bottle. Some are very diligent and lucky, so that they can fly very high in the bottle; but some can only stay at the bottom. Those who fly very high feel very proud of themselves and laugh at those who fly at the bottom. All the bees want to fly as high as possible. But their beginning and end are all the same: they came to birth from nothing, they die away with nothing, they cannot escape from the bottle. One day, there is another bee fly from the outside of the bottle, and came to tell some bees in the bottle, "Come on, follow me, I can give you eternal freedom as long as you believe in me!" Some believed him, followed him, and got the eternal freedom because they escape from the bottle; some did not believe him, and stayed in the bottle, and even told other bees do not believe; some did not see that bee, and also did not believe; some believe him even they did not see him; some asked a lot of questions, tested what that bee says... What will you do, if you are one of those bees in the bottle?
What is truth?
Is there any truth in the world? Are we living in a virtual world, anything is illusion? Is everything just relative true, as what relativism states? This is one of the hardest questions from the very beginning. Many philosophers have proposed their ideas for this question. I, in fact, don't know the answer for this question. Because every time I think of this problem, God laughs. I cannot escape the limit of my thought, I can only think in the jail of 3D world! How could I understand what is truth? If I know what is truth, then I am God, but definitely I am not! But Christ come to earth to tell us, "He is truth, He is the way! All who believe Him can get the eternal life."
We can only believe the truth?
We cannot know what is the truth by ourselves. Could a man lift himself up? Could our human being understand ourselves finally? But we can believe what is the truth! However this leads to a problem: Everyone can believe in different things! Then which one should I believe? I don't know the answer neither. Every one of us has his own prior toward the things in the world. No one can be totally objective for everything! So, when I write this article, I am subjective according to what I have learned! Our brain is a "Bayesian Brain", which we turn from one prior into posterior because of some likelihood, and then that posterior begin to be another prior. Everyone believes something, no matter who he is. Personally speaking, according to my understanding and experience, Christ is the truth, Christ is the eternal life goal for me, because "this truth" can be testified and never fail but other things all fails!
Science & Faith
Then what about those science I have learned? Shouldn't we critically think of everything? The answer is yes. We have to critically think of everything. We have to testify everything, no matter it is science or faith. But we now seem like believe in science too much! Even though science teaches us to critically thinking, we do not critically think science some times. We take it for grant that science is the ultimate solution for all the problem. But some of my personal research tell me that it is not true. Science can only solve some problem, but not all problems. Science can somehow answer "How it works!", but it cannot answer "Why it works". How can science explain what is beauty, what is good? A lot of things are out of the control of science. Science is a lot of hypothesis.
Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom
I have to emphasize that I don't know the truth. But I can believe the truth. If there is a truth, I can testify it from many different perspectives. According to my understanding of God so far, God is truth! And the words by God seem to be more reasonable than any other words I know so far! And God said, "Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom!" And somehow we can only know God or understand God when we can humble ourselves, and do not think we are our own God, then God's words and His spirit can be with you.
What about the bad things happened because of faith?
As a Chinese, we may all be taught by our government that faith is evil which we can see vividly what "Falun Gong" has done to the people. Then we can also see how people use Christian to gain power, money and many things. Also there was a long dark age of the Church in the history. How could we explain all of this? I don't know. But at least, those people who did that bad things do not really understand the bible, or they do not really believe in God. However, on the other hand, as a Christian, I also do a lot of bad things everyday. That is why God says, "No one is righteous, not even one." We all are sinners, but only God is perfect, and he forgive our sins by killing his own son for us! That is why we need more of God's help to save us, to redeem us from our sinful nature.
Questions?
Of course, I don't think I explain everything clearly yet. And for myself, I always have a lot of problems and questions raising in my head. Unfortunately I cannot explain everything, I cannot know everything, otherwise, I become God! But God said, "The secrete things belong to the Lord our God". However, on the other hand, he also said, "but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."
What will you choose if you are one of the bee in the bottle? Do you believe that bee from outside of the bottle? Do you think he is crazy? I believe Him! And I will keep seeking the truth! I believe Him will not fail me because He is the Truth! What about you?
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