As Rev. Joseph Tennant points out there is a type of this miraculous birth in the story of Abraham and Sarai. When they journeyed down to Egypt, Abraham asked Sarai to say that she was his sister rather than his wife, lest the Egyptians kill him. The Pharaoh took her into his household. How long she lived with the Egyptian king is not indicated but some space of time and the Pharaoh and his household were punished with a sickness because of it. He finally dismissed both Abraham and Sarai from his palace. There is no expression of divine wrath reported in this case. But after God had promised that Sarai would bear a son whose father would be Abraham, it was important that there be no doubt in Abraham's mind or in anybody else about the paternity of Sarai's son.

Some time after the promise, in Gerara, there was danger that the king Abimelech would take her into his harem. With shameful cowardice Abraham permitted it to be done. (He was punished for this when God ordered him to sacrifice Isaac) But God intervened immediately by appearing to Abimelech at night and threatening to wipe out his whole kingdom if he dared to touch Sarai. "And Abimelech forthwith rising up in the night....called for Abraham and said to him, 'What hast thou done to us?'" It was not enough merely to have protected Sarai. Abraham had to know from the lips of Abimelech himself that Sarai was untouched just as Joseph did in the case of Mary. And thus Isaac, the first of the "children of promise" - Gal. 4:28 - and of the miraculous seed of Abraham, was born.

Mary was not sinless because she was a virgin but the best sign of her sinlessness was her virginity. Just as the Gospels prove the humble humanity of Christ by naming among his ancestors Lamech, the boastful murderer, Abraham, the coward, Jacob, the liar, Judas, the adulterer, Ruth, the pagan, David, the murderer and adulterer and many idolatrous kings, showing that He was like to us in all things except sin, so, too, the same Gospels disassociate Mary from all sin in order to show her to be as much as possible, "in the image and likeness of God".

Mary was of the house of David but Christ's relationship to that line is not given through Mary but through Joseph, His foster father. And it had to be that the Mother of God was sinless in order that we might more easily believe that she had flung before the face of the world woman's greatest challenge to sin - the vow of virginity - and kept it and made it bear divine fruit.

We dot not believe that Jesus is God because He was born of a Virgin Mother, as the Apostles and Evangelists did not believe it for that reason alone. We believe in the Divinity of Christ because of the evidence of the Resurrection, the marvel of the Gospel portrait, the growth of the Church, the miracles and prophecies of Christ, the consonance of His doctrine with the aspirations of the human heart. The Virgin Birth is rather related to the manhood of Christ and His separateness from the sin that affected all men who are born of the union of man and woman. Far from treating the Virgin Birth as the dazzling mark of Divinity, the Te Deum regards it as Our Lord's sublime condescension to the lowly conditions of humanity:
When thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man:
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

The Virgin Birth is the safeguard of the sinless of the human nature which Our Blessed Lord assumed. The only salvation that is given to men on this earth is in the Name of Him Who as God Himself entered the ranks of sinful men. That no one should ever deny He was a man, He was born like the rest of men from the womb of a woman - a fact that so scandalized Marcion that he said: "A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes is not the kind of a God that I will adore".

In the incarnation, God the Son initiates the process of the recreation of His own earlier and disordered creation by the method of clothing Himself with those very elements within it which had fallen into disarray. For the first time since the Fall of Man, a completely perfected unit of humanity is created in the world. This humanity is united substantially to the very Person of the Son of God.

What do all denials of the Virgin Birth testify? Generally to the subtle attempt to pull down the new order of humanity and the race of the second Adam into the unredeemed world of the old Adam. If a human father supplied the human nature of Christ, then Christ is not the new Adam. The Virgin Birth keeps the Divine initiative of Redemption to God Himself. If the initiation of the new order is given to man, then it is taken from God.

Without the Virgin Birth Our Lord would be entangled in a sinful humanity. With it He is Incarnate in humanity without its sin. By getting rid of the Virgin Birth one seeks to get rid of the Divine initiative within the race of the new Adam. The early heretics doubted the humanity of Our Lord and so they denied that He had a human mother. Modern agnostics doubt the true Divinity so they add a human father to His parentage.

There is never any danger that men will think.............

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Is the Virgin Birth fitting and becoming? The challenge to our faith in the Virgin Birth is not related by anyone (except in the Jewish Talmud) to sinfulness on Mary's part. The challenge concerns the physical possibility of a miraculous process of life. By keeping His Mother absolutely sinless, He has prevented the doubts that His divine paternity from being such that they would wound her heart, her womanly heart. It is impossible for us to imagine or feel, even to a slight degree, the vast ocean of love of Christ for His Mother. Yet if even we were faced with the problem of keeping the miasmic breath of scandal from our own mothers, what would we not do? And it is therefore hard to believe that the omnipotent Son of God would do all in His power to protect His Own Mother? With this in mind there are many conclusions apparent.

No great triumphant leader makes his entrance into the city over dust-covered roads, when he could come on a flower strewn avenue. Had Infinite Purity chosen any other port of entrance into humanity but that of human purity, it would have created a tremendous difficult - namely how could He be sinless if He was born of sin-laden humanity? If a brush dipped in black becomes black and if cloth takes on the colour of the dye, would not He in the eyes of the world have also partaken of the guilt in which all humanity shared? If He came to this earth through the wheat-field of moral weakness, He certainly would have some chaff hanging on the garment of His human nature.

Putting the problem in another way: How could God become man and yet be a sinless man and the Head of a new Humanity? First of all, He had to be a perfect man in order to act in our name to plead our defence and to pay our debt. If I am arrested for speeding, you cannot walk into the courtroom and say; 'Judge, forget it, I will take the blame'. If I am drowning, I cannot save anyone else who is drowning. Unless Our Lord is outside the sin-current of humanity, he cannot be Our Saviour, "If the blind lead the blind then both fall into pit", said Our Lord. If He was to be the new Adam, the new Head of Humanity, the Founder of a new corporation or Mystical Body of regenerated humanity, as Adam was the head of fallen humanity then He also had to be different from all other men. He had to be absolutely perfect, sinless, the Holy of Holies, all that God ever conceived man to be.

Such is the problem: How could God become man and yet be sinless man without original sin? How, in the language of Saint Paul, could He "be like unto us in all things save sin?" How could He be a man by being born of a Woman? He could be a sinless man by being born of a Virgin. The first statement is obvious that He is born of a woman then He shares in our humanity. But how would being born of a Virgin make Him free from original sin?

Now it must never be thought that the Incarnation would have been impossible without the Virgin Birth. Rash, indeed, would be the human mind to dictate to Almighty God the methods that He should use in coming to this earth. But once the Virgin Birth is revealed then it is proper for us to inquire into its fitness,as we are now doing. The Virgin Birth is important because of its bearing upon the solidarity of the human race in guilt. The human race became incorporated to the first Adam by being born of the flesh; incorporation to the new Adam, Christ is by being born of the spirit or through a Virgin Birth: Thanks to it, we see how Our Blessed Lord entered into the sinful race from the outside. Therefore, upon Him the curse did not rest, save as He freely bore it for those whom He redeemed by His Blood. Nowhere do the New Testament writers argue from the Virgin Birth to the Godhead of the Virgin-born. Rather do they argue from it His sinless humanity.

To sum up: in order that Jesus Christ might be a descendant of Adam, he had to be born of a daughter of Adam. But the process of generation and birth of any individual is invisible. The only way to show that this process in the birth of Christ was miraculous was to have its invisible workings develop in a woman agreed by all to be incapable of having experienced the process - a virgin. Joseph, the just man, stood for all humanity when in his heart he questioned the fidelity of Mary. More than any other person he knew how cruel it was to place that doubt even in the face of the most incontrovertible evidence.

He witnessed to Mary's immaculate life and her amiability even before her Son was born. His doubt was settled by Heaven itself. Saint Joseph, more than any other human being on this earth had a right to know the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus. And just as any husband is the prime witness of the fidelity of his wife, so, too, is Joseph in the case of Mary, his espoused; his testimony establishes for all men her virginity and the miraculous nature of the generation and birth of her Son.

As Rev. Joseph Tennant points out there is.................

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
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Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

No mother whose son has won distinction for himself either in a profession or in the field of battle, believes that the respect paid her for being his mother detracts from the honour or dignity which is paid her son. Why? then, do some minds think that any reverence paid to the Mother of Jesus detracts from His Power and Divinity? We know the false rejoinder of those who say that Catholics "adore" Mary or make her a "goddess" but that is a lie. Since no reader of these pages would be guilty of such nonsense it shall be ignored.

Where does this coldness, forgetfulness and at the least indifference to the Blessed Mother start? From a failure to realize that her Son, Jesus, is the Eternal Son of God. The moment I put Our Divine Lord on the same level with Julius Caesar or Karl Max, with Buddha or Charles Darwin, that is, as mere man among men then, the thought of special reverence to His Mother as different from other mothers becomes positively repellent. Each famous man has his mother, too. Each person can say; "I have my mother and mine is as good or better than yours" That is why little is written of the mothers of any great men - because each mother was considered the best mother by her son. No one mother of a mortal is entitled to more love than any other mother. Therefore no sons and daughters should be required to single out someone else's mother as the Mother of mothers.

Our Lord described John the Baptist as "the greatest man ever born of woman". Suppose that a cult were started to honour his mother as superior to any other mother? Who among us would not rebel against it as excessive? Everything the critics would say of such exaggeration would be well taken for the simple reason that John the Baptist is only a man. If Our Lord is just another man or another ethical reformer or another sociologist then we share, even with the most bigoted the resentment against thinking that the Mother of Jesus is different from any other mother.

The Commandment says: 'Honour thy father and mother', its says nothing about honouring Gandhi's mother or Napoleon's father. But the Commandment to honour our father does not preclude adoring the Heavenly Father. If the Heavenly Father sends His Divine Son to this earth then the Commandment to honour our earthly mother does not preclude venerating the Mother of the Son of God.

If Mary were only the Mother of another man then she could not also be our mother because the ties of the flesh are too exclusive. Flesh allows only one mother. The step between one a mother and a stepmother is long and few there are who can make it. But Spirit allows another another mother. Since Mary is the Mother of God then she can be the Mother of everyone whom Christ redeemed.

The key to understanding Mary is this: We do not start with Mary. We start with Christ, the Son of the Living God! The less we think of Him the less we think of her; the more we think of Him the more we think of her; the more we adore His Divinity the more we venerate her Motherhood; the less we adore His Divinity the less reason we have for respecting her. We could even resent hearing her name if we had become so perverse as not to believe in Christ the Son of God. Never will it be found that anyone who really loves Our Lady as a Divine Saviour dislikes Mary. Those who dislikes any devotion to Mary are those who deny His Divinity or who find fault with Our Lord because of what he says about Hell, Divorce and Judgment.

It is on account of Our Divine Lord that Mary receives special attention and not on account of herself. Left to herself, her motherhood would dissolve into humanity. But when seen in the light of His Divinity, she becomes unique. Our Lord is God Who became Man. Never before or since did Eternity become time in a woman nor did Omnipotence take on the bonds of flesh in a maid. It is her Son who makes Motherhood different.

A Catholic boy from a parochial school was telling a University professor who lived next door about the Blessed Mother. The professor scoffed at the boy, saying; 'But there is no difference between her and my mother'. The boy answered: 'That is what you say, but there's a heck of a lot of difference between the sons'.

That is the answer. It is because Our Lord is so different from other sons that we set His Mother apart from all mothers. Because He had an Eternal Generation in the bosom of the Father as the Son of God and a temporal generation in the womb of Mary as the Son of Man, His coming created a new set of relationships. She is not a private person; all other mothers are. We did not make her different; we found her different. We did not choose Mary; He did.

But why was there a Virgin Birth? Because Christ is the Son of God, we cannot be as indifferent to the circumstances of His Birth as we would be to the birth of the butcher or the baker. If Mary told the Apostles after Pentecost about His Virgin Birth, it must have made a difference; if the Apostles put it in their Creed and teaching, it must have made a difference. Once Christ is accepted as the Son of God, there is immediate interest not only in His prehistory which John describes in the Prologue of his Gospel but also in His history and particularly in His Birth.

Is the Virgin Birth fitting....................

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Thanksgiving refers to the aspect of praise that gives thanks to God for what He does for us. Ideally thanksgiving should spring from a grateful heart; but it is required of all believers, regardless of their initial attitude. We should be grateful to God for all things, especially for His work of salvation and sanctification. We ought also to thank God in anticipation of His answering our prayers knowing that His answer will always be in accord with His perfect will for our lives.

Sing the words and tunes of the psalms and hymns when you are together and go on singing and chanting to the Lord in your hearts so that always and everywhere you are giving thanks to God who is our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:17 -

We have never failed to remember you in our prayers and to give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ever since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you show towards all the saints because of the hope which is stored up for you in heaven. It is only recently that you heard of this when it was announced in the message of the truth. - Col. 1:3-5 -

We always mention to you in our prayers and thank God for you all and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We know, brothers that God loves you and that you have been chosen because when we brought the Good News to you it came to you not only as words but as power, and as the Holy Spirit, and as utter conviction. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you which was for your instruction and you were led to become imitators of us and of the Lord; and it was with the joy of the Holy Spirit that you took to the gospel, in spite of the great opposition all around you. This has made you the great example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia since it was from you that the word of the Lord started to spread - and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia for the news of your faith in God has spread everywhere. - 1Thess. 1:2-7 -

Another reason why we constantly thank God for you is that as soon as you heard the message that we brought you as God's message, you accepted it for what it really is, God's message and not some human thinking; and it is still a living power among you who believe it. - 1Thess. 2:13 -

Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus. - 1Thess. 5:18 -

                                                                          Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Christian wisdom appears to be foolishness to the people of the world. But it is wiser than the philosophy of this age which comes to nothing. Christians 'speak the wisdom of God' which is revealed through His Spirit and received by His Spirit. Christians have the highest and most complete wisdom in Christ.

The language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation but those of us who are on the way to see it as God's power to save. - 1Cor. 1:18 -

For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. - 1Cor. 1:25 -

As for me, brothers, when I came to you, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus and only about him as the crucified Christ. Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great 'fear and trembling' and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God.

Bot still we have a wisdom to offer those who have reached maturity; not a philosophy of our age, it is true, still less of the masters of our age which are coming to their end. The hidden wisdom of God which we teach in our mysteries is the wisdom that God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. It is a wisdom that none of the masters of this age have ever known or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory; we teach what scripture calls; the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.

These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit not by any other man and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God. Now instead of the spirit of the world, we have received the Spirit that comes from God to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us.

Therefore we teach not in the way in which philosophy is taught but in the way that the Spirit teaches us; we teach spiritual things spiritually. Any unspiritual person is one who does not accept anything of the Spirit of God; he sees it all as nonsense; it is beyond his understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit. A spiritual man on the other hand is able to judge the value of everything and his own value is not to be judged by other men. As scripture says; Who can know the mind of the Lord so who can teach him? But we are those who have the mind of Christ. - 1Cor. 2:1-16 -

In his body lives the fullness of divinity and in him you too find your own fulfilment in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power. - Col. 2:9-10 -

Christ alone is the true head of men and angels.

                                                                         Page 2
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Philosophy refers to the love of wisdom (from phileo, 'to love' and sophia, 'wisdom') At the sporting events of the ancient Greek the philosopher Pythagoras said, there were three types of people: lovers of money, lovers of fame and power and lovers of wisdom. Everyone who has some convictions by which he lives is a philosophers in a formal sense consciously seek well founded convictions by which to live.

Teachers of philosophy give their lives to examining convictions by which people live in order to develop a consistent world view and way of life based on reliable evidence. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible warns against philosophies whose highest realities and concerns are atoms, energy, cosmic laws or humanity - those founded on "the basis principles of the world and not according to Christ".

Christians ought to beware that their minds not to be taken captive by such philosophies as secular humanism, communist materialism and capital materialism. But these philosophies are best fought with spiritual weapons.

Live according to the true faith in Christ, not according to false teaching.

You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received - Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught and full of thanksgiving. Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by second hands, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of Christ. - Col. 2:6-8 -

We live in the flesh, of course, but the muscles that we fight with are not flesh. Our war are not fought with weapons of flesh yet they are strong enough in God's cause, to demolish fortresses. We demolish sophistries and the arrogance that tries to resist the knowledge of God; every thought is our prisoner, captured to be brought into obedience to Christ. Once you have given your complete obedience we are prepared to punish any disobedience. - 2Cor. 19:3-6 -

Christian wisdom appears to be...............

                                                                         Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Divine Inspiration refers to the Holy Spirit's supernatural guidance of those who received special revelation from God as they wrote the books of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The end result of this inspiration is that the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible conveys the truth which God wanted His people to know and to communicate to the world.

Divine Inspiration then is a statement about God's greatness. God is able to communicate with man whom He created in His image and likeness. God's knows everything about all reality in creation and is absolutely faithful and true. It follows that ideas communicated by divine revelation are true and conform to reality as God knows it. God overruled human limitations and sinful biases so that His spokesperson were able to write what He wanted written. God guided the thought conveyed so that it was without error, accomplishing the objectives He intended.

And indeed everything that was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to teach us something about hope from the examples scripture gives of how people who did not give up were helped by God. - Rom. 15:4 -

I wanted you to know how people ought to behave in God's family - that is, in the Church of the living God which upholds the truth and keeps it safe. Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is very deep indeed:
He was made visible in the flesh,
attested by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the pagans,
believed in by the world,
taken up in glory. - 1Tim. 3:15-16 -

It was revealed to them that the news they brought of all the things which have now been announced to you, by those who preached to you the Good News through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven was for you and not for themselves. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things. - 1Peter 1:12 -

Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined, that is Jesus whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets. Acts 3:21 -

"Now I am making the whole of creation new" he said, 'Write this; that what I am saying is sure and will come true'. And then he said, It is already done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. - Rev. 21:5-6 -

Clear standards tested whether a person who claimed to speak for God was a true prophet or a false prophet. In all circumstances genuine prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit as authentic spokesperson for God.

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and offers to do a sign or a wonder for you and the sign or wonder comes about; and if he then says to you, "Come, then, let us follow other gods (whom you have not known) and serve them", you are not to listen to the words of that prophet or to the dreams of that dreamer. Yahweh your God is testing you to know if you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul. Yahweh your God you shall follow, him you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him shall you serve, to him shall you cling. - Deut. 13:1-5 -

But the prophet who presumes to say in my name a thing I have not commanded him to say or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. You may say in your heart, "How are we to know what word was not spoken by Yahweh?" When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh and the thing does not happen and the word is not fulfilled, then, it has not been spoken by Yahweh. The prophet has spoken with presumption. You have nothing to fear from him. - Deut. 18:20-22 -

Although the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible does not tell exactly how God inspired its writers, its was certainly not in a mechanical way. God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who is working with persons. How does one person influence another person? Why do some have a more powerful impact upon people than others? Many factors are involved. We do know for certain that the Scriptures originated with God and that the writers were "moved" or "carried" along by the Holy Spirit as they recorded God's message.

At the same time we must be most careful to remember that the interpretation of the scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. Why? Because no prophecy ever came from man's initiative. When men spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them. - 2Peter 1:20-21 -

The Holy Spirit's work in the life of the Virgin Mary is a good example of how the Spirit worked with the biblical writers. A fully human, a woman bore a sinless child who would be called the Holy One, the Son of God.

Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about since I am a virgin?' 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you' the angel answered and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. - Luke 1:35 -

Central to the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible teaching is love for God and love for neighbour. In short, there are three things that last: Faith, Hope and Love; and the greatest of these is Love. - 1Cor. 13:13 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

The Long Voyage. The raging waters kept rising for 40 days and the ark floated high above the hills and mountains. When the waters finally stopped rising, Noah and his passengers faced a long wait for the waters to go down. The total time spent in the ark was about one year and ten days. The ark came to rest on Mount Ararat in what is now Turkey.

Noah released a raven and a dove to determine whether the waters were low enough to allow them to leave the ark. When the dove returned to the ark, he knew it had been unable to survive outside the ark. After seven days, he again released the dove. This time it came back with an olive leaf. After waiting seven more days he sent out the dove again and now it returned to him no more. This was good news indicating that the waters had dropped further and the time when they could leave the ark was near. Finally, the earth dried and the people and animals left the ark.

Then God said to Noah, 'Come out of the ark, you yourself, your wife, your sons and your sons' wives with you. As for all the animals with you, all things of flesh whether birds or animals or reptiles that crawl on the earth, bring them out with you. Let them swarm on the earth; let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives. And all the wild beasts, all the cattle, all the birds and all the reptiles that crawl on the earth went out from the ark, one kind after another. - Gen. 8:15-19 -

The Flood came upon the earth as a severe judgment of God against wickedness. But God's grace and mercy were also revealed in the preservation of Noah and through him, the human race. The covenant was granted to reassure humanity about God's care.

The New Testament References to the Flood are found in - Matt. 24:38 - Luke 17:26-27 - Heb. 11:7 - 1Peter 3:20 - 2Peter 2:5 -

The Flood was used to illustrate God's wrath against man's wickedness and the salvation of His people.

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

THE FLOOD - the Lord's destruction of the world by water during the time of Noah. The inspired writer of Genesis took two chapters to tell of the creation of the world and one chapter to portray sin but he devoted four chapters to the FLOOD. Since the concern of the writer was to reveal the nature of God and His dealings with mankind, he evidently saw this story as a good vehicle for this truth. The Flood reveals both the judgment and the mercy of God.

The Flood was not simply a downpour of ordinary rain. The text indicates a cosmic upheaval. 'The fountains of the great deep' were broken up - Gen. 7:11 - Perhaps there were earthquakes and the ocean floors may have been raised up until the waters covered the earth. By a supernatural upheaval God returned the earth to the primitive chaos described in Genesis 1:2 -

The Flood was a drastic judgment but the condition that brought it to pass was also serious. Society degenerated to the point that 'every intent' of the thoughts of man's heart "was only evil continually" - Gen. 6:5 - Violence raged upon earth. Instead of living responsibly as person created in the image and likeness of God, peoples existed as beast. Because the situation was hopeless, god chose to destroy that generation and make a new start with the family of righteous Noah.

While the minds of men were filled with every kind of evil the heart of God was filled with grief and sorrow. Like a parent whose children have gone bad. God mourned for his wayward children. The Lord was sorry He had created man and "was grieved in his heart" - Gen. 6:6 - Since God knows the end from the beginning how could He be sorry for what He had done? This was the biblical writer's way of showing the extreme disappointment of the Lord and the radical change in His attitude and action toward humanity. He had blessed the race but now He would turn against the wicked people who refused to repent. Their failure to repent caused God to turn around in his approach to humanity.

In stark contrast to the degenerated people among whom he lived, Noah was a good man, a man of integrity among his contemporaries and he walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. - Gen. 6:9 - God's righteous judgment is seen in the destruction of the wicked but His mercy and care are seen in His saving of Noah and through him, the human race, God's judgment was accompanied by grief but His grace was freely given to Noah and his family.

The Lord revealed to Noah that His judgment was coming by the way of a terrible flood. Noah could save himself and his family by building an ark of gopher or balsam and wood. The ark was to be large enough to hold Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. In addition, it must provide room for two of every kind of animal and bird. Plenty of time was allowed for this massive building project by Noah and his sons.

The Long Voyage. The raging.........

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Armageddon is the site of the final battle of this age in which God intervenes to destroy the armies of Satan and to cast Satan into the bottomless pit.

They called the kings together at the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon. The seventh angel emptied his bowl into the air and a voice shouted from the sanctuary, "The end has come". Then there were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and the most violent earthquake that anyone has ever seen since there have been men on the earth. The Great City was split into three parts and the cities of the world collapsed; Babylon the Great was not forgotten; God made her drink the full wine cup of his anger. Every island vanished and the mountains disappeared; and hail with great hailstones weighing a talent each, fell from the sky on the people. They cursed God for sending a plague of hail; it was the most terrible plague. - Rev. 16:16-21 -

The most likely location possible is the valley between Mount Carmel and the city of Jezreel. This valley was the crossroads of two ancient trade routes and thus was a strategic military site. Armageddon is the Greek word for this area which was the scene of many ancient battles.

Because of this history, Megiddo became a symbol of the final conflict between God and the forces of evil. According to the Book of Revelation, at Armageddon 'the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His [God's] wrath' will be poured out and the forces of evil will be overthrown and destroyed.

Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key of the Abyss in his hand and an enormous chain. He overpowered the dragon that primeval serpent which is the devil and Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss and shut the entrance and sealed it over him to make sure he would not deceive the nations again until the thousand years had passed. At the end of that time he must be released but only for a short while. - Rev. 20:1-3 -

When the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilise them for war. His armies will be as many as the sands of the sea; they will come swarming over the entire country and besiege the camp of the saints which is the city that God loves. But the fire will come down on them from heaven and consume them. Then the devil who misled them will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophets are, and their torture will not stop, day or night, forever and ever. - Rev. 20: 7-10 -
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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Justification refers to the process by which sinful human beings are made acceptable to God. Christianity is unique because of its teaching of justification by grace.

Both Jews and pagan sinned and forfeited God's glory and both are justified through the free gift of his grace by being redeemed in Christ Jesus who was appointed by God to sacrifice his life as to win reconciliation through faith. In this way God makes his justice known; first, for the past when sins went unpunished because he held his hand then for the present age by showing positively that he is just and that he justifies everyone who believes in Jesus. Rom. 3:24-26 -

Justification is God's declaration that the demands of His Law have been fulfilled in the righteousness of His Son. The basis for this justification is the death of Christ. Saint Paul's tell us that 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them'. This reconciliation covers all sins. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Justification then is based on the work of Christ, accomplished through His blood and brought to His people through His resurrection.

When God justifies He charges the sin of man to Christ and credits the righteousness of Christ to the believers. Thus, "through one Man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

By virtue of that one single offering he has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying. - Heb. 10:14 -

And for anyone who is in Christ there is a new creation; the old creation has gone and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men faults against them and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. - 2Cor. 5:17-19 -

God's justice that was made known through the Law and the Prophets has now been revealed outside the Law since it is the same justice of God that comes through faith to everyone, Jew and pagan alike who believes in Jesus Christ. - Rom. 3:21-22 - 5:15-16, 18-19 -

Through him justification from all sins which the Law of Moses was unable to justify is offered to every believer.

So be careful - or what the prophets say will happen to you, - Acts 13:39-40 -

                                                                           Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Joy refers to a positive attitude or pleasant emotion and delight. Many kinds of joy are reported in the Sacred Scripture/ Holy Bible. This make it difficult to give a simple definition of joy. Even the wicked are said to experience joy in their triumphs over the righteous. Many levels of joy are also described including gladness, contentment and cheerfulness.

But the joy which the people of God should have is holy and pure. This joy rises above circumstances and focuses on the very character of God. In the psalms, for example, the psalmist rejoices over God's righteousness, salvation, mercy, creation, word and faithfulness. God's characteristics as well as His acts are the cause of rejoicing.

The joy required of the righteous person is produced by the Spirit of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. - Gal. 5:22 -

This kind of joy looks beyond the present to our future salvation and to our sovereign God who works out all things for our ultimate good which is Christ-likeness and is distinct from mere happiness. Joy like this is possible even in the midst of sorrow.

We have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away because it is being kept for you in the heavens. Through your faith God's power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time. This is a cause of great joy for you even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold - only it is more precious than gold which is corruptible even though it bears testing by fire - and then you will have praise and glory and honour. - 1Pet. 1:4-8 -

We know that by turning everything to their good God cooperates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified and with those he justified he shared his glory. - Rom. 8:28-30 -

We prove we are God's servants by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness, by a love free from affectation; by the word of truth and by the power of God; by being armed with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left, prepared for honour or disgrace, for blame or praise; taken for impostors while we are genuine; obscure yet famous; said to be dying and here are we alive; rumoured to be executed before we are sentenced; thought most miserable and yet we are always rejoicing; taken for paupers though we make others rich for people having nothing though we have everything. - 2Cor. 6:7-10 -

I have the very greatest confidence in you and I am so proud of you that in all our trouble I am filled with consolation and my joy is overflowing. - 2Cor. 7:4 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Comparing Christianity & Buddhism:

The great German Catholic theologian, Romano Guardini, wrote a profoundly insightful and orthodox meditation on the life of Christ entitled The Lord.

In it, he noted that no man in history ever came closer to rivaling the enormity of Christ's claim to transform human nature itself, at its roots, than did Buddha (though in a radically different way).

Huston Smith says in The Religions of Man that there have been only two people in history about whom others asked not "Who are you?" but "What are you: a man or a god?" They were Jesus and Buddha.

Buddha's clear answer was: I am a man, not a god; Christ's clear answer was: I am both "Son of Man" and "Son of God."

Buddha said, "Look not to me, look to my dharma (doctrine)"; Christ said, "Come unto me." Buddha said, "Be ye lamps unto yourselves"; Christ said, "I am the light of the world."

Yet contrary to the original intentions of both men, some later Buddhists (the Pure Land sect) divinized Buddha. And some later Christians (Arians and Modernists) de-divinized Christ.

The claims of Buddha and Christ are in fact so different that we may wonder whether Buddhism can be called a "religion" at all. It does not speak of God, or Brahman, as does Hinduism from which it emerged. Nor does it speak of Atman, or soul. In fact, it teaches the doctrine of an-atta, "no soul"—that we are made of "strands" (skandhas) of impersonal consciousness woven together by causal necessity without any underlying substance, self or soul.

Buddhism does not deny God. It is silent about God. It is agnostic, not atheistic. But it is not silent about soul. Its denial of soul has practical import: It teaches us not to be "attached," not to send our soul out in desire, not to love. Instead of personal, individual, free-willed agape (active love), Buddhism teaches an impersonal, universal feeling of compassion (karuna). Compassion is something we often hear more about than agape in the modern West, for (as Dostoyevsky put it) "love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams."

Karuna and agape lead the disciple to do similar, strikingly selfless deeds—but in strikingly different spirits. Both points are shown by the Buddhist story of a saint who, like St. Martin of Tours, gave his cloak to a beggar. But the Buddhist's explanation was not "because I love you" or "because Christ loves you" but rather: "This is the enlightened thing to do. For if you were freezing and had two gloves on one hand and none on the other hand, would it not be the enlightened thing to do to give one of the gloves to the bare hand?"

The Buddhist point is not the welfare of the recipient, but the liberation of the giver from the burden of self. The same end could be achieved without a recipient. For instance: A man, fleeing a man-eating tiger, came to the edge of a cliff. The only way was down. He found a vine and climbed down it; but there, at the foot of the cliff, was a second man-eating tiger. Then he saw two mice, one black and one white (yin and yang) eating the vine in two above him. Just before it broke, he saw a wild strawberry on the face of the cliff. He plucked it and ate it. It was delicious!

The "unenlightened" will wonder what the point is, or why he didn't distract the tiger with the strawberry. But the "enlightened" will explain the parable thus: "The man tasted to the tiger exactly as the strawberry did to the man." In other words, the man, the tiger and the strawberry are all one Self. The "illusion" of individuality is seen through. There is no soul, so there is no fear—no fear of death because there is no one there to die.

For Buddhism, egotism (selfish desire) causes the illusion of an ego. For the West, secular as well as religious, a real ego is the cause and egotism is the effect. Agape is a different effect from the same cause: altruism from the ego instead of egotism from the ego. To the Buddhist, agape is impossible; there can be no ego without egotism, no self without selfishness, because the self is not a real cause that might conceivably change its effect. Rather, the self is the illusion—effect of selfishness. There's nobody there to love or to hate.

How can this apparent nihilism, this philosophy of nothingness, feel liberating to Buddhists? The answer is found in Buddha himself: his personality and the events of his life, especially his "great enlightenment."

Like Jesus, Buddha taught a very shocking message. And, like Jesus, Buddha was believed only because of his personality. "Holy to his fingertips" is how he is described. If you or I said what Buddha or Jesus said, we would be laughed at. There was something deep and moving there that made the incredible credible.

The events of Buddha's life are dramatic and offer a clue to this "something." It is not, however, Buddha's life or his personality that are central to Buddhism; there could be a Buddhism without Buddha. There could not, of course, be a Christianity without Christ.

"Buddha" is a title, not a given name—like "Christ" ("Messiah"). It is his essential claim; for it means "the enlightened one" or "the one who woke up." Buddha claims we are all spiritually asleep until the experience of Enlightenment, or Awakening. Here is the story of how Buddha became Buddha, of how a man woke up.

Born Gautama Siddhartha, son of a king who hoped the prince would become the most successful king in India's history, he was protected in a palace of earthly delights to make kingship irresistibly attractive to him. But curiosity led him to sneak away into the forbidden world outside, where he saw the Four Distressing Sights. The first three were a sick man, an old man and a dead man. Gautama puzzled deeply over these newly discovered mysteries of sickness, old age and death—to no avail. Then came the fourth sight: a begging ascetic who had renounced the world to seek Enlightenment. Gautama decided to do the same.

He spent years meditating on life's deepest mystery: Why is man unhappy? After years of torturing his body to free his soul, all in vain, he decided on the "Middle Way" between his earlier self-indulgence and his later self-torture. Taking a decent meal for the first time in years, he sat in full lotus position under the sacred bodhi tree in Benares and resolved not to rise until he was enlightened. When he rose he proclaimed that he was Buddha. He had broken through the great mystery of life.

The breakthrough had to be experienced, not just verbalized. Buddhism is not essentially a doctrine but an experience. Yet Buddha verbalized a doctrine (dharma): the Four Noble Truths summarized everything he taught. Whenever he was pressed by his disciples to go beyond the Four Noble Truths, he refused. Everything else was "questions not tending to edification."

The First Noble Truth is that all of life is dukkha, suffering. The word means "out-of-joint-ness" or separation—something very similar to "sin," but without the personal, relational dimension: not a broken relationship but a broken consciousness. Inner brokenness is Buddhism's "bad news" that precedes its gospel or "good news."

The Second Noble Truth is that the cause of suffering is tanha, "grasping," selfish desire. We suffer because of the gap between what we want and what we have. This gap is created by our dissatisfaction, our wanting to get what we do not have or wanting to keep what we do have (e.g., life, which causes fear of death). Thus desire is the villain for Buddha, the cause of all suffering.

This explains the "no soul" doctrine. Desire creates the illusion of a desire alienated from the desired object, the illusion of twoness. Enlightenment is the "extinction" of this illusion. "I want that" creates the illusion of an "I" distinct from the "that"; and this distinction is the cause of suffering. Desire is thus the fuel of suffering's fire.

The Third Noble Truth follows inevitably. To remove the cause is to remove the effect, therefore suffering can be extinguished (nirvana) by extinguishing its cause, desire. Remove the fuel and you put out the fire.

The Fourth Noble Truth tells you how to extinguish desire: by the "Noble Eight fold Path" of ego-reduction in each of life's eight defined areas, inward and outward (e.g., "right thought:" "right associations," etc.).

The content of the Four Noble Truths is specifically Buddhist, but the form is universal. Every religion, every practical philosophy, every therapy, spiritual or physical, has its Four Noble Truths: the symptoms, the diagnosis, the prognosis and the prescription. They are the bad effect, the bad cause, the good effect and the good cause, respectively.

For example, Marxism's Four Noble Truths are: class conflict, capitalism. communism and revolution. Christianity's are: death, sin, Christ and salvation.

The most crucial of the four steps is the second. The patient knows his own symptoms, but only a trained doctor can diagnose the hidden cause, the disease. Once diagnosed, most diseases have a standard prognosis and prescription which can be looked up in a medical textbook.

On this crucial issue—the diagnosis of the human problem—Christianity and Buddhism seem about as far apart as possible. For where Buddha finds our desires too strong, Christ finds them too weak. He wants us to love more, not less: to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Buddha "solves" the problem of pain by a spiritual euthanasia: curing the disease of egotism and the suffering it brings by killing the patient, the ego, self, soul or I-image of God in man.

Yet perhaps things are not quite as contradictory as that. For the "desire" Buddha speaks of is only selfish desire. He does not distinguish unselfish love (agape) from selfish love (eros); he simply does not know agape at all. He profoundly knows and condemns the desire to possess something less than ourselves, like money, sex or power, but he does not know the desire to be possessed by something more than ourselves. Buddha knows greed, but not God. And surely we Westerners, whose very lives and economic systems are based on greed, need to hear Buddha when he speaks about what he knows and what we have forgotten.

But Buddhists even more desperately need to hear what they do not know: the news about God and His love.

BY PETER KREEFT   - Also in September 2009, 7/20/09 and 7/19/09 -

From Fundamentals of the Faith by Ignatius Press
                                                                       
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -