Today; It's all we have

When I look back to remember my freshman year in college, I realize that freshman 15 got the best of me. I’m sure we are all aware what the freshman 15 is, especially the post grad students.  We all leave high school in possibly one of the best shapes we have ever been in and we enter college and all of a sudden, a flood of weight seems to come out of nowhere and hits us like brick. For me it was a little bit over 15 pounds; more along the lines of 20.

I remember the summer after my freshman year all my friends started going to the gym and working out a lot. I watched on the sidelines as they progressed in overall muscular size.  That is exactly what I did all summer, sit on the sidelines. I didn’t try to join them at the gym, I never tried to exercise at home, or go for a run. I just sat there and watched. I did this because of one thing, I couldn’t let go of the past; of my past.

In high school, I swam, a lot. Every day, for 45 minute, I would be in the pool at school. Swimming sometimes until I was on the verge of passing out. When I wasn’t in school, I was at the gym, swimming. The majority of my life junior and senior year was based on swimming.  Sometimes I would end up swimming a mile almost every day.  Along with swimming came the obvious health benefits. I lost about 30 pounds junior year and kept if off for a whole year. I went from a hefty 185 to a lean and toned 155. I was in the best shape of my life by far.  With a healthy and fit body, came a large confidence with women. I went wild. I had self confidence that I never knew I had. These were by far the best days of my life.

Fast forward a year and now I’m a freshman in college. The weight is up and now my confidence is back down. All of my close friends are out getting beach bodies for the summer and there I am, sitting in my self-loathing state of misery. I kept saying to myself and my friends, “man I wish I had my junior year body.” Or “do you remember when I was in high school? My body was amazing.” And the, “I was in the best shape back then.” And that is the exact phrase that I ignored; “back then.” I was so caught up in the past, it stopped me from making my future.  More importantly, holding on to the past stopped me from trying to make a better today.  I had to tell myself and constantly remind myself that continually thinking about the past, about how things used to be, will not get me back in shape. I had to let go of the past and I had to start thinking about today.

In the Judeo- Christian story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christ appears to Mary Magdalene after He rises. As the story goes, Jesus appears outside of the tomb where He was just buried. There He sees Mary crying. He goes up and asks her why she’s crying. Mary, all this time has no idea who Jesus is at the time, tells him that she is looking for the body of Christ. Christ simply calls her name and right then and there, she remembers who He is. She cries out “Rabbi!” meaning teacher in Hebrew, and she goes to hug Him. But Jesus tells her, No, do not to hold on to me. The first command that Jesus makes after He is resurrected is to tell someone not to hold on to Him?

 Now when Mary sees Jesus again, after all this time she thought He was dead, she all of a sudden, remembers the past. Mary remembers how things used to be, how Jesus would teach, lead them to places, and heal people, and how He had changed her life, drastically. However, Jesus sees and wants a new day. Jesus did not come back to life to go back and teach, He did not come back to life to walk around with the Disciples, to eat meals with them and laugh and live with them. Jesus didn’t come back to make things go back to “how they used to be.” Jesus came back to change things; He came back for a new day, a new reality. He tells Mary not to hold on to Him the way she used to because things will not be the same; they will not be how they used to be, things have changed.

How many times do we tell ourselves that? That life was better “back then.” That “I wish I could go back.” Many of us, especially the “middle age crisis dads”, long for the past. In past relationships, how many times do we say to ourselves and our former partners, “can’t we go back to the way things used to be?” Or things like, I wish I could go back with him or her. As sad as it sounds, some of us could live our entire lives living in the past.  Longing and wanting for how things used to be. Our minds and our hearts are forever stuck to the days where things seemed to go our way.

The wonderful thing about life is that it is always changing; it is not a static concrete event. People grow, live, die, they move away, they change. People break up and get married, and divorce, or lose their jobs, and there is no stopping it. Life is never what we plan is it? And things will never go back to how they used to be will they? If you cannot let go of the past, then how could you ever learn to embrace the future?

There is so much to be had in the future! No, there is so much to embrace today! Today is filled with opportunities, more than we can ever imagine. If I never let go of my junior year, I wouldn’t be in the best shape of my life today. I would have never been able to move past my hefty 185 and make it down to my lean 170. The point is, is that today is all we have in this life.

So what should we do with the past? Totally forget about it altogether? Should we totally cut off all ties with the past, with what has happened? It’s surprising for me to say this but, no we shouldn’t.  There's a lot of polarity that life has to offer; the good the bad, the bitter and the sweet. Breaking up and staying together. They are all polar opposites; like a string wrapped around two poles, there is a tension. The tension is awkward and unsettling at times. But without the tension between the two poles the string has no tone. Just like a guitar string.

The point is, like a guitar string there is a middle ground where you don't shut out both ends of the string, but instead you take both poles, the tension, the awkwardness, and you make a tone. This tone often times sounds great when played right.

You can’t shut out your past altogether because that is like shutting out a piece of your life. That time of your life defines you in some ways. However, at the same time, you cannot hold on to the past forever. There is a middle ground, a place where you remember the times you had and you become thankful for those times. You will always remember when God brought you to that situation and had a reason to take you out. Like a guitar, the tension may hurt at times, but if you find the right spot to settle your finger, there can be something wonderful to come out of it

If you need to grieve about those situations then grieve.  If you want to remember how awesome those times were then remember. If there is an unsettled relationship then make amends but then move on, move forward. Don’t stay there. It starts to get a bit tragic when we start to make ourselves believe that things were better back then, in the past. The problem becomes this: we are not fully present today and the people around us that are present in our lives suffer because we are just not there; we are stuck in the past. By the time we do get around to being with the people who are in our lives now, the time would have already past and you would have missed it. We might never get that second chance to tell them that we care, that we love them, and that we are there, with them, in the present.

There is a saying that says that yesterday has past by us, tomorrow is not promised, so today is all we have in this life. Right after Jesus tells Mary not to hold on to Him, He tells her to go and tell everyone what has happened. He gave her a part, He essentially gave her something to live for, today. So my friends, I hope and pray that you remember the past, celebrate what has happened, but let go of it and embrace a new day that God has set out for you and me. I hope that you all embrace the fact that God has given us a new spirit to hold on to now, this very moment, at the end of this sentence, today.

The Revelation of Choice

  There is something seriously wrong with this world, this earth, this place that we call home. Most of us try to avoid cynical thoughts and chose to believe that deep down everyone is good inside. We try to believe that there is, somewhere in everyone, goodness. However, the evidence that we see on a daily basis seems to pull our thoughts to the opposite direction. From acts of genocide, child abuse, murder, rape, human trafficking, hate crimes, street violence, wars with “smart” bombs that seem to stupidly make their way to the presence of children. There are tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanoes that take and destroy the lives of countless human beings. If there is a God out there, why do these things continue to happen? What is the meaning of all of this chaos that happens to us? Is there a meaning to life, and if so, what is it? People all over the world as well as in history have wondered if there is more to life than the hurt that we see right now. Maybe the answer lies in religion, in the belief in God, and that He is the source of meaning in our lives. With this statement comes the atheist strongest argument against the existence of God which is the problem of evil as well as morality. These arguments pose an immense barrier that a theist must overcome to prove Gods existence. However, it is reasonable to believe that these arguments can be rebutted effectively and possibly disproven through the arguments of free will and objective morality. It can be ultimately said that the atheistic arguments against the existence of God do not, in fact, disprove His ultimate and divine existence.

    First the issue of morality, the issue of what is right and what is wrong. Theists strongly believe that God implanted in all human beings, basic moral principles. When we see someone being killed, raped, or robed, we automatically believe it is wrong. Most and hopefully all, of us believe that slavery and things like human trafficking are wrong. These feelings of morality are said, by theist, to have a divine origin. The formal moral argument states that morality is purely perspective: it, in a way, tells us what to do. Since it tells us what to do, one can infer that it is a command. Since it is a command, it must come from a commander. It also states that morality is ultimately authoritative and that this authority is above all human institutions. So if morality is a command and cannot come from human institutions, then it must come from some supernatural source. In terms of the Judeo/Christian religions, that supernatural source is God.

This being said, there are counter arguments that arise. One might argue that morality is, in reality, relative. The idea of moral relativity is that in some parts of the world, people may do things that others think is immoral. In some cultures stoning someone to death is considered to be justified. In others cultures, beating a wife is also considered a normal act, and some wives actually expect to be hit. In western culture it is safe to say that these things are not okay to do; beating your wife or anyone for that matter is morally wrong. This brings us to the argument that morals are not subjective and relative, but are objective. Morals seem to be the same despite what someone might believe. Take Adolph Hitler for example, he believed without a doubt that the killing of Jews, homosexuals, and blacks was morally justified. In actuality, he committed one of the worst atrocities known to man. Just because he thought he was right, doesn’t make it okay to say that his morality was simply relative and dismiss his acts of hate.

   In the idea of Ying and Yang, the world is ultimately balanced out accordingly. The bad of this world is balanced out by the good. The basic premise, at least to my understanding, is that yes some kids are sold into slavery, but there are good things that balance that out. Like beautiful flowers or a young man that helps out a elderly women with her groceries. I personally believe that there should be absolutely no kids sold into slavery, zero, not even one. Things like child slavery have no room in my books for being accepted in this world. Taoist say that these evils are inevitable and ultimately cannot be stopped because they “balance out” the universe accordingly. With all due respect to believers of that religion, I say that is absolutely ludicrous, and I refuse to believe that as truth for the meaning of life.

Richard Dawkins says in God’s Utility Function that,

 “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind forces, and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice.”

So through a naturalistic point of view, there is no good, no evil, just the physical world. Nothing more and nothing less. If this is true, than human life has no intrinsic value, that there is no difference in taking a human’s life than stepping on an ant. Each human life is just a coincidence, just a random flip of a coin. In the naturalistic world, there is no need for morals because the bad things that happen to other people are inevitable and are eventualities. This is like going to a single mom who lost her husband at war, having to support three kids on a minimum wage job and saying, “sorry but your life is no more important than anyone else, so suck it up.”  If there is no need for morals, then why do we find it horrendous to see humans placed into a shower room and gassed because of what they believe, or why do we feel sick to our stomachs when we hear about children being sold into slavery. These things are seen in our eyes as evil. Thus brings us to the atheist most daunting argument to the existence of God, the problem of evil.

   In the Christian religion, it is believed that God is the ultimate creator of the universe. God is all powerful, is all knowing, and is benevolent, which means He wants the best for the human race because He created them especially in His glorious image. However, atheists have found something wrong with this description in relation to our world we live in. It is evident that there is moral evil present in this world, rape, murder, genocide, etc. The problem of evil is this: if there is this moral evil, and there is an all powerful, all knowing, benevolent God, then why doesn’t He stop evil from happening altogether? If He wants the best for the human race, then why not make it perfectly good? Why can’t this all powerful God stop natural disasters from happening? The only option is to believe that there is no God at all.

  The argument seems to have a few parts to it. It first states that God does not exist because of imperfection. If there is a God, then He is perfect. If he is perfect, then he would create perfect things. A perfect potter makes a perfect pot, a imperfect potter makes an imperfect pot. This being said, it is clear that the world we live in is not perfect by any means. This entails that there is no God.

   There also is the problem of natural evil. In the problem of evil, there is stated to be two types of evils. There are moral evils which are evils that are inflicted by one human to another human. These things such as rape, murder, theft, etcetera. Then there is natural evil which are tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. These natural evils, unlike moral evils, cannot be controlled by man. Yet they destroy and take the lives of countless people. If there is a God, then why doesn’t he stop these things from happening?

    The next part of the argument is the statement that if God is in existence, then why he doesn’t make himself known to all men. This comes from the argument of disbelief or unbelief. If God is all powerful then he would make sure everyone believes in His existence. This however, raises a problem as some atheist would say because there is unbelief in his existence. Therefore, as atheist would say, God does not exist.

    Theists do however; have a rebuttal for this dilemma. Imagine haing a spouse whom which you have full control over. You can program him or her to have the perfect body, the perfect pair of eyes, the perfect hair, even the perfect genes for reproduction, the perfect everything. Whenever you want a bite to eat, they will make it for you without hesitation and serve you with kind words in all situations. You can tell them to say “I love you” or “You’re the greatest” whenever you please. This situation however, leaves no room for real love. Some would say that love is only real when it ischosen to be given to another person. You only love someone when you have to choice not to love them at all. It can be said that love only happens when someone has the free choice not to love you or to love someone else. Theists call this free will. The case of free will is said to be the strongest counter argument to the atheist strongest argument.

    In the Judeo/Christian religion, God is said to create man in his image. This statement is not to be taken literally that man and God look the same, but that God bestowed the same qualities He has to the humans He created. He gave mankind the same freedom He has, not the freedom of ultimate power, knowledge, or presence, but the freedom of choice. God is said to be a being of pure love, thus he gave this love to the beings He created. So He created man with the freedom to love Him, as well as the freedom to totally reject Him altogether. Man also has the free will to choose how to treat one another, that we are held responsible for each other’s well being. Jon Foreman, the lead singer of the band Switchfoot said these words in an interview, he quotes,

 “ neither love nor hate are inevitable or eventualities; both war and kindness are choices.”

 Jon Foreman hit it right on the head, we have the power to show extreme hate, but we also have the power to show extreme love and kindness, it is simply our choice.

    During troubling times such as famine, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, God gave humans the choice whether to turn to Him for shelter or not. Some people cry out for safety and some would rather curse God for putting them under this situation. In some cases, people would rejoice that God has put them in these natural disasters because it tests their faith in the Infinite. Some theist could argue that once that person choices to love, accept, and ask God for help, is when God will be there to save them. This does not contradict Gods free will because some might argue that since the person freely choses God, He is then free to reveal Himself to them.

   Some theist say that evil is not what we think it is. Atheist state in the problem of evil that if God created everything, and evil is part of everything, then God created evil. If God created evil then God is not morally good and therefore does not exist. Some believers say that the perception of evil can be changed. In physics, there is technically no such thing as cold. This is said because “cold” is just the absence of heat. It is the same for light and dark. In physics, light can be measured and examined, however darkness cannot be. This is due to the fact that darkness is just the absence of light. So it is reasonable to say that evil is here not because God created it, but it is what happens when the presence of God and his goodness is not present. Some might even say the only thing that shadows do is prove the sunshine.

The premise can be used in the subject of heaven and hell and an afterlife. If evil is just the absence of good, the maybe hell is not the fire and brimstone scene that most people think of. The Christian religion says that people go to heaven not because they have done good things on earth but that they chose to accept God as well as Jesus Christ. Situations where people like Jeffery Dhamer, who committed extremely vile and atrocious acts of murder, accepted God and Christ as his savior. Christians would say that even he, a murdering rapist, would find himself in heaven when the day comes because of his choice to accept salvation through the cross to ultimate everlasting life in God. This being said, it is reasonable to say that heaven is a place where one is in complete connection with God, and hell is the complete opposite, having the presence of God completely taken away from one’s life.

    So what can be said about all this?  How does knowing this bring meaning to our lives? Maybe because we know that we have a choice to act is what sets us apart from all other life form. Maybe when we realize that we are ultimately in charge of bringing goodness to the world.  People will always ask, why can’t God just stop all evil at once because it is in our best interest that we live in peace. This is true, but maybe God wants us to decide to finally say that we want to live in peace, and that He alone is the only way to that peace, and when we finally decide that we would rather live with an almighty, infinite, and loving God, is when He will decide to end the suffering. Christians would say that God can only freely intervene and express His power when we freely decide that He may do so. In the Judeo/Christian religion, God simply wants to take care of us, like a Sheppard tends to his flock, but it is ultimately our choice if we want to be cared for or not. When we chose to accept God, then we chose to step into a realm of eternal goodness, transcendence,  and hope. When we chose otherwise, we get the complete opposite; we live in a world that has no goodness, and no light, only darkness. I believe it was CS Lewis who said that he supports democracy because he distrusts all men equally. I can understand his sentiment, I have very little faith in men. I believe that the Infinite Other himself is the only hope for any form of freedom from our various forms of self-tyranny. Without this hope I am not merely skeptical, I am hopeless, near suicidal.

Yes this world is flawed beyond belief, and beyond our power to fix, but like finding a needle in a haystack, we find order in the midst of chaos when we decide to look to the Infinite God who has the power to fix these problems in our lives. It is God alone that can brush away all the dirt and hay to reveal a truth that is concrete, and is resolute in nature, and can never change. The truth that it is only when we ask for Him to be present in our lives and when we accept the salvation He offers, is when we are able to see the sunlight through the shadows. When we chose to give our finite lives, to the Infinite God, is when we can finally see peace and eternal goodness. So what do you chose? Do you chose to believe that our lives are just coincidence, that they have no real value, they are just another species doomed for ultimate destruction? Or do you choose to believe in The Truth, goodness, mercy, salvation, and hope. The choice is subjectively yours to make and every breath you have in your lungs is a chance for redemption.