The Eternal Hero

“These were the two motives which drove the Romans to their wonderful achievements: liberty, and the passion for the praise of men…What else was there for them to love save glory? For, through glory, they desired to have a kind of life after death on the lips of those who praised them… “ – St. Augustine of Hippo

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” -  (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

Everyone knew that it was just a matter of time. After all, nothing in this world lasts forever.

But the grip of the world is such that we cannot help but be enthralled by any form of human achievement. We all fall for the temptation to entertain thoughts that man could do the impossible by surpassing the inevitable.

But then reality comes along and enforces life’s maxim, sometimes rudely so.

It happened with the fall of Rome. It happened with the attack on the United States in 9/11. And now, it has happened with the knockout defeat of Manny Pacquiao.

To say that I was heartbroken with the loss is an understatement. The media called it stunned silence. But it is much more than that.

Manny’s loss left a gaping hole in my soul.

As a Filipino, I should be crying for revenge. I should be cursing El Dinamita for destroying a great source of national pride for my countrymen.

But I’m not.

I can only give praises to Marquez for his brilliant victory.

Some of my countrymen called it a lucky punch.

It was not.

From the first time Marquez unleashed that devastating right that literally sent Manny flying to land bewildered on his back, I knew that Marquez had put in all his soul into training for this fight.

No, it was not a lucky punch. It was a weapon that was deliberately, meticulously and religiously forged in the fires of dedication and purposefulness.

It was a weapon made to do just one thing:

To bring down a god.

For that was what Manny had become to us Filipinos. Time stands still in the Philippines when the People’s Champion fights.  The whole country comes together in unspoken unanimity to watch and pay homage to a man who has come to represent what the Philippines is all about.

Manny represented the Filipinos’ spirit and hope: that against all odds, we could overcome reality and the harshness of our circumstances and move on to greatness.

But like many of our national heroes, Manny also represented the uglier side of the Filipino.

He represented our penchant for gambling with the fates. He represented our susceptibility to idolatry and worship of personality rather than of truth and integrity.

And now we all find ourselves reaping the consequence of breaking the First and Greatest Commandment.

That there is only one True God, and that we should worship Him and Him only.

And if I have to live with the heartbreaking footage of the People’s Champion fall motionless on the canvass replaying over and over in my mind, I can only imagine the cup of shame and suffering that Manny has to drink from now on.

He is as much a victim of human hubris as we all are.

There is no doubt in my mind that God blessed Manny Pacquiao, as there is no doubt that that same God orchestrated his defeat. Contrary to what his mother is saying or thinking, it is not the fault of the pastors that her son lost.

He had lost the moment he thought of himself as being more important than God.

And I am no less guilty of the same sin.

I had once understood repentance to mean penance: to inflict self-punishment as a means of showing remorse.

I was wrong.

True repentance means to have a change of heart.

And there is only one True Hero who can instil a change of heart.

The world had dealt Him its worst knockout punch. But unlike the People’s Champion, He didn’t stay motionless on the canvass. And His return would herald the Greatest Comeback the world will ever know.

His arms remain open wide for all of us, offering forgiveness and eternal life.

Manny’s loss might have dampened our spirits this month. But this month is also the season of thanksgiving and hope. The fall of the People’s Champion has not changed the fact that this month, the True Saviour was born.

He alone is the Eternal Hero.

Soli Deo Gloria.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” - (Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV)

Who Will Remember?

There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. - (Ecclesiastes 1:11 NIV)

Death has its unique way of making us remember the people whom it has drawn into its inexorable embrace. What is funny is that what we usually remember are not the great things that a person has accomplished during his/her life, but the everyday, trivial things that they do.

A quirk here, a habit there.  A manner of speaking. A preference in food or drink. Books that they read. Music that they listen to. A favorite pastime. A moment of anger. A slip of the tongue. A furtive glance. A look of sorrow. A look of happiness. A moment of joy. A careless laughter. An expression of gratitude.

None of these things of course would make for a good epitaph. We would generally rather have the great things carved on our gravestones and markers. After all, we would be remembered for the great things we have done during our brief time in this world.

But I’ve come to realize, that though the great things that we do are indeed important, it is what we do when we are NOT doing great things that people remember about us the most.

And that’s okay. It is because of these kinds of memories that we know that it is a real person that we remember and not some fictional character or legend out of a fairytale or storybook.

But above and beyond this, these memories are the better indicator of a person’s character than any great thing they would have done in their lifetimes.

What I mean is this: the great things we do are oftentimes not a result of choice, but a result of circumstance. We do not get to choose the times or the places where our great deeds are done. They are just windows of opportunity that happen to come our way.

But HOW we react and respond when those opportunities come, THAT is what is attributable to our character. And a person’s character is not formed or measured in a single event, but in a lifetime of witnessing what a person does with the time that is given him/her.

As the Messiah observes:

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” - (Luke 16:10 NIV)

It is the little things that we do that ultimately define who we are.

Okay Chris, that’s all well and good. But why should I care about my character? I look at the world around me and see that most people do not really care much about their character. Everyone seems to be intent on living for the moment. People try to grab as much happiness they can, even at the expense of others. 

In the end, it doesn’t really matter because we’ll all end up dead anyway. And the dead -- no matter how great -- eventually get forgotten. The people that do bother to remember them will also eventually die and their memories will also fade away.

No one remembers in the end.

So it is useless to care about my character. What matters is how happy I can be with my life right now.  The moment now is all that matters.

I shall eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we all die.

According to Scripture, this is NOT the way we should live our lives. And it also tells us that we SHOULD care about our character. A lot.

Because Scripture tells us that the Creator Himself will not be judging us on the basis of what epitaph we had written on our gravestones, or the great things we have done in our lifetimes. He will judge us according to our character: that hidden quality that truly defines who we are.

“For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” - (Luke 8:17 NIV)

Not even death shall keep us from revealing who we truly are, and to face judgment for it.

As the John the Evangelist saw in his vision:

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.” - (Revelation 20:12-13 NIV)

There will be no respite from, and no relenting of this judgment. EVERYTHING will be revealed. The accounting is said to be so thorough and complete, that the people who are being judged will fall on their knees in horror and shame as every detail of their lives, including the detestable and shameful things which they thought they had kept secret, are recounted in the courtroom of Heaven.

Those who would have been found to have willfully lived their lives in open rebellion to the standards set by the Creator will be “cast into outer darkness” where their shame will torment them forever.

Scripture notes truly that:

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” - (Hebrews 10:31 NIV)

Now we may or may not believe in a Day of Judgment. We may or may not even believe in a God, or an afterlife, or eternity.

But one thing we cannot deny is the law of causality. For every action, there is a corresponding reaction.

Scripture puts it like this: we reap what we sow.

For contrary to what some of us may want to believe, we ARE remembered for who we truly are. The consequences of how we live our lives are imprinted on the very fabric of reality and existence. For the universe itself is our witness.

One day, the universe will be called to the stand, and it will testify to all the things we have done, even if we ourselves do not.

Such is the glory and justice of the Creator that judgment is inescapable. And He will judge us according to His standard, which is holy and perfect. For:

“You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” - (Matthew 5:48 GNB)

Many have fallen in despair, or scoffed in derision at such a standard, for no human being can ever be perfect. No human being can ever live up to God’s righteous and holy standard.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” - (Romans 3:23 NIV)

But such is His love, mercy and grace that He Himself also provided us with a way to become righteous and perfect:

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” - (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)

The Messiah, who came into the world to give His life as a ransom for many, is our righteousness and perfection on the Day of Judgment.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” - (John 3:16 NIV)

And even though our sins stain our past like blood, the Creator Himself will wash away our transgressions.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." - (Hebrews 8:12 NIV)

Such an amazing and wonderful God, who from the very beginning ordained that those who believe in Him shall receive His love, mercy and grace throughout eternity.

The relevant question therefore, is not who will remember us.

The question is, who will remember Him.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Protection from Abuse

“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7 NIV)

Today, Philippine Republic Act 10175, aka the Cybercrime Prevention Act has gone into effect (The full text of the law can be found here.)

The law is deemed controversial by many Filipino netizens for its provisions authorizing the Philippine Government to block or censor online data and to mete out (stronger) penalties for libelous statements made online.

I remember our professor in Mass Media and Law taking several weeks explaining to us the intent, elements and nuances of the law on libel. To summarize his lectures, libel is meant as a check and balance against abuses made in the name of freedom of expression, which is a constitutionally guaranteed right in the Philippines.

What are these abuses? Pornography, defamation, and subversion are the most cited. But while their classification as abusive acts may be obvious, the layman would be hard pressed to give a legitimate reason for their classification.

For instance, not too many people will have a ready and reasonable answer as to why pornography is bad. Many accept that pornography is bad. Most modern and civilized societies classify pornography as a bad thing. But if that is so, then why is the pornography industry one of the most lucrative and fastest growing in the world?

One of the most insidious arguments I’ve ever heard in defense of pornography goes in the following fashion:

Why is it that when an artist portrays an unclad human figure in a painting or sculpture and have people pay to see it in an exhibit or purchase it, it is classified as the sale of art and not as pornography? Is it not discrimination therefore against a photographer or videographer who captures naked human bodies on film to be sold or exhibited publicly, to call his/her craft pornography?

I have heard this “Pornography is Art” argument and many other forms of it to justify the sale of sexually explicit material in movies, television shows, books, magazines, and of course, on the internet. And the industry behind it will only be too happy to change the mindset of our societies from prudishness into full acceptance of this practice.

Why? For the very simple reason that sex sells. Nothing guarantees a quicker return from a minimal amount of investment than to sell sex.

What the industry will NOT tell you however, is the social cost of commercializing sex: fornication, adultery and promiscuity resulting in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, broken and abandoned families who in turn become a burden to the state and society in general.

This is the kind of abuse that is attendant with the freedom of expression, and for which laws - such as the law on libel - is meant to address.

But the law on libel itself brings with it its own set of abuses, namely the stifling of legitimate dissent and the censorship of the truth. And it is precisely these concerns that many Filipinos are pushing for the revision of the Cybercrime Law.

I strongly believe that as Christians, we should not idly sit by and watch this issue unfold without connecting it to our own struggle against worldly materialism, skepticism, relativism and postmodernism.

I believe that God created sex. I also believe that God created the written and spoken word. And I also believe that when He created these things, He meant for them to benefit humankind in general, resulting in thanksgiving to and glory of His Name.

Unfortunately, our sinful nature has a nasty habit of twisting God’s creations for less than noble purposes.

The Apostle Paul writes:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

(Galatians 5:19 NIV)

And:

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

(Colossians 3:8 NIV)

Both of these passages highlight the fact that humankind has long been abusing the gifts of sex and free speech and using them for self-serving purposes that are detrimental to society in general.

Looking back on what I wrote, I realize that all the issues and problems I’ve mentioned above have one thing in common: the word “abuse”.

The Oxford dictionary defines abuse as “the improper use of something”. This is extremely relevant for a Christian since the very Doctrine of Sin is founded on the concept that humans have abused their God-given authorities.

Sin IS abuse. It is to miss the point of something, and having done so, come to a conclusion and action that is completely off the mark.

Sex is not meant as a commercial tool. Nor is freedom of expression meant to slander or defame another human being. Both of these have their proper use, namely as a sacred consummation of a marital relationship resulting in the birth of children, and the promotion and protection of the free marketplace of ideas which is so essential in the search for truth and meaning.

Both of these point to a higher order of things; a deviation from which results in real and harmful consequences for humankind.

Scripture goes straight to the point by saying that God created the natural order of things, including instituting consequences when this order is not followed.

I look at the world around me and see the pervasiveness of abuse in human societies. We abuse our technology. We abuse our planet’s resources. We abuse our rights. We abuse our authority. We abuse our laws. We abuse our religions. And we abuse each other.

Sin is everywhere I look. And from out of my very own heart, I feel sin struggling to take control. I know I must not give in to it because it will only lead to death.

I know this because I had been dead once: dead to the reality of sin. In my selfishness, I had been blind to its consequences, and would have remained blind and ignorant of my predicament had I not been rescued from it.

You see, we cannot save ourselves from sin. Sin is far too much in control of humanity that it will not allow any human to wake up to reality on his/her own. Someone needs to wake us up from the outside.

We need to be rescued.

Which is why Jesus has become such a beautiful name to me, for the Messiah’s very name means “salvation is from God”.

Not salvation is from another human. Not salvation is from a man-made law. But salvation comes from the very Creator of the Universe Himself. Which practically means that it is a done deal.

When the Messiah cried, “It is finished!” as He breathed His last on the cross, people have misunderstood that as signifying His death. What Jesus truly meant was that it was sin that is finished. Because by His death, Jesus started a chain of events that will inevitably lead to the complete eradication of sin from humankind. Scripture tells us that it is just a matter of time.

In the meantime, the Messiah continues to draw and gather people to Himself. For:

"If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 NIV)

Apart from Christ, there is no guarantee from sin. Apart from Jesus, there is law, no legal mechanism, no institution that can protect humankind from abuse. Apart from the Savior, all attempts to save ourselves will fail.

Our lawmakers can continue to pass laws against every abuse under the sun, but:

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

(Psalms 127:1 NIV)

I pray that the Messiah awakens you and makes you His this day.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Post Deluge Toughts

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” - (Galatians 6:7 NIV)

When my family and I were still on assignment in Vientiane, Laos, we had been planning to stay at my wife’s home in Cainta, Rizal in the Philippines. Ever since her father died, my wife had understandably become worried for her widowed mother. Staying in Cainta would not only have allowed us to be with her, but it would have also meant the convenience of not renting a separate place of our own.

It sounded like a good plan back then. Until Tropical Storm Ondoy, the Philippine local name for Typhoon Ketsana, hit the Philippine Capital and its surrounds.

Cainta is located in a valley, and has traditionally been prone to flooding during the rainy seasons. My wife would tell me how she had become used to having their house ankle-deep in water during her younger years.

Ondoy was different however. It completely inundated Cainta with muddy and trash-laden water that was over ten feet deep in some places. My wife’s family household helper who was staying at their house at that time had to be rescued with a makeshift flotation device made out of empty water containers by the neighbors.

It took months to clean the house from the mud and debris resulting from the flood. I remember my mother-in-law telling us over the phone that it was like suffering from a house fire. Most of their belongings were destroyed or ruined.

My wife’s family was lucky. Many had lost their own lives.

As a Christian, I’m not supposed to believe in luck. Luck is contradictory to the idea of an omniscient and omnipotent Creator. Some would even say that the concept of luck is blasphemy against God.

The question foremost on a Christian mind during times of calamity like this would be:

“How can God allow such suffering to exist?”

Fast forward almost three years after Ondoy, present time.

The Philippine Capital was again hit by non-stop rains resulting in massive flooding and landslides in some areas.

Ironically, the rains were not even part of a full blown Philippine typhoon. The eye of the storm was outside the country’s jurisdiction. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, more commonly known as PAGASA, didn’t even assign a local name to it.

But that didn’t stop the rains from wreaking havoc on lives and property.

My wife’s house was again inundated with water, though fortunately, the water had only reached thigh level. Still, my mother-in-law and her helper had to evacuate to the neighbor’s second floor for three days.

Our family only spent the past Saturday helping clean up the house.

Again, others weren’t so lucky. Though the death toll was thankfully much lower than that during the aftermath of Ondoy, thousands upon thousands had to evacuate their homes to live in crowded public schools and warehouses designated as evacuation centers. Some of them will not be returning to their homes, as their houses didn’t survive the flooding.

I remember watching an interview with one such family on television. The father, a taxi-driver, was recounting how they witnessed seeing their house and all their accumulated possessions get washed away by the flood. I remember being awestruck by the fact that he was smiling as he was being interviewed. Without batting an eyelash, he concluded the interview by saying, “We are still blessed by God. I still have my taxi with which I can still earn a living. And most importantly, we are all still alive and together as a family.”

I imagined a lot more people would be cursing God, rather than being thankful to him as a result of this calamity.

But as it was, none of the people I saw being interviewed on television ever said anything against God.

Granted, it could have been coincidence. It’s entirely possible that I would have missed such an interview. Also, our media might have deliberately filtered the interviews to only reflect the positive ones.

And lastly, being a pre-dominantly Catholic Christian country, my countrymen might simply be responding as a result of hundreds of years of Roman Catholic indoctrination and cultural upbringing.

I would be the first to admit that my countrymen can be a very selfish and inconsiderate lot. One need only try to drive around the capital a few days to witness this firsthand. Almost everyone drives as if they own the roads. Even after almost twenty years of driving here (and three years of being a born-again Christian), I still find it a challenge not to lose my temper when I travel by car.

And I could list many more such un-Christian like behavior from my countrymen: acts of drunkenness, carousing, gambling, adultery, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, violence, rape, murder, even infanticide. I’ve made a resolution not to watch the news as much as possible for fear of being sent into a deep depression over my country’s state of affairs.

But whatever self-righteousness I have was silenced this past week by the images of generosity and self-sacrifice my countrymen had for the victims of the flooding.

In a matter of days, volunteers and millions of pesos worth of donations and relief goods flooded the evacuation centers and affected areas, most of which came from my countrymen. As far as I know, our Government didn’t even need to request for international assistance.

The Messiah once said that a tree will always be recognized by its fruit. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

If my countrymen can set aside their differences and perform acts of charity like this, then there may yet be hope for this seemingly withered branch of Abraham’s faith.

God has not forsaken the Philippines just yet.

That being said however, there is no denying the fact that a lot of the devastation from the flooding could have been averted. Deforestation, wanton dumping of garbage, poor urban planning, and blatant politics are being cited by the experts as the main culprits. These aren’t “acts of God”. These are acts of people. Which means that we can do something about it.

It is both timely and ironic that I was required to attend a weeklong seminar on Environmental Policies, Conservation and Protection, a week before the rains and flooding hit our country. Almost all of our speakers and lecturers had the same conclusion to say: it is human behavior that’s the cause of our problems.

This led me to conclude that God’s greatest dilemma is not fixing the earth. He can make a new heavens and a new earth anytime. His greatest dilemma, is fixing the human heart.

An atheist friend of mine said that humankind does not have full, unrestricted free will. He’s right. We don’t. If we did, then we wouldn’t have to reap the consequences of our choices and behavior.

But that does not change the fact that we still have the power of choice. Any human who claims otherwise is equating him/herself with the creatures of instinct: unthinking beasts that are destined to be “caught and destroyed.” – (2 Peter 2:12)

These are the people who have no regard for consequence, either for themselves or for their fellow humans.

Humankind is destined to be more than that.

As a person who is fond of science, I would argue that millions of years of evolution should not have produced consciousness in humans if we didn’t have the power of choice.

As a Christian, I say that God made us humans in His own image: spiritual beings in the flesh capable of making rational, unselfish and loving decisions. As the Psalmist has written:

"I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' - (Psalms 82:6 NIV)

I had written at the start of this year that the year 2012 would be an interesting year. God is sending His wake-up calls almost non-stop already. How much more does He need to send so that humanity will collectively realize that we are more than just mindless, unthinking beasts that will strip our planet of its resources to our destruction?

The year isn’t finished yet.

Confessions of a Grafted Branch

It’s been a rather challenging first few weeks for me this July. My back pain, which has not bothered me since 2005, has returned. I’m already on my second bout of rehabilitation, after an MRI revealed an early onset of degenerative disc disease on two of my spinal discs in my lower back.

Three days ago, my daughter was admitted to the hospital for dengue fever. My wife and I are both staying with her at the hospital, praying that she will have the strength to recover and that there will be no complications arising from the dreaded disease. We are told that it usually takes 7-10 days to recover from the virus.

In the meantime, my wife and I will have to endure seeing my daughter tethered to an IV line while she in turn endures the high fever and daily blood tests.

Over three years ago, I would have cursed my fate for such a turn of events.

Today, I face these events with a calmness that I myself find surprising given what kind of person I used to be.

Where once I allowed myself to be tossed aimlessly to and fro by life’s whims and caprices, I now find myself standing on Solid Rock.

I used to scoff at the idea of having a Savior that is not even from my own culture or people. I had dismissed Christianity as something alien and therefore irrelevant to my own circumstances as an Asian and a Filipino.

Now, there is no other place that I feel more at home in than among the elect.

I say these things, not with conceit or condescension, but with much humility and thanksgiving.

Humility because I didn’t choose to become a Christian. I was grafted in.

“Some of the natural branches have been broken off. You are a wild olive branch. But you have been joined to the tree with the other branches. Now you enjoy the life-giving sap of the olive tree root.” - (Romans 11:17 NIrV)

Thanksgiving because I realize that my having become a Christian is itself an act of mercy and grace from my Creator. For no one can come to Him unless He draws him/her to Himself.

 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” - (John 6:44 NIV)

And now, the privilege of membership in God’s family has allowed me to weather life’s storms. Though the pain of suffering is as real as it ever was before, I find great solace and strength knowing that the Ruler of the Universe is for me and not against me.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people whom He used as instruments to channel His mercy and grace upon me and my family at this time:

My orthopedian and our brother in the faith, Dr.Fernando Acance, without whom I would probably still be immobilized and in pain in bed.

My boss and mentor, Assistant Secretary Alejandrino Vicente, whose kindness and understanding eased the guilt of my having been away from work for so long. I am truly blessed to have him as my superior.

My workmates at the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination: for their constant words of understanding and encouragement.

My mother, who is a living testament to God’s strength in healing, and thus acts as a constant source of great encouragement for our family.

My mother-in-law, who, contrary to the popular perception of mother-in-laws, is a true blessing for her Godly love and support.

To my Pastor, Dan Harder and my brothers and sisters in the faith, who helps keep my fire ablaze for the Lord.

And finally, to my One True King at whose feet I lay all my earthly crowns. You have known me since even before I was born, but I only came to truly know you during adulthood. You are truly the First and the Last. You deserve all the Glory in the world.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Most Precious Commodity (Part Three of Three)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

(John 8:32 NIV)

If there was one thing that really kept me from accepting the Gospel, it was my love of freedom. My personal freedom that is.

You see, the moment you accept the truth that there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and sovereign God, the implication is that personal freedom no longer exists. And boy is that ever going to ruffle a lot of feathers.

It certainly did mine.

And proud rooster that I am, I had fought tooth, claw and nail against that offensive portion of the Gospel.

Jesus’ call for morality I can accept. I could also accept (sometimes even smugly so), that all people will one day make an account of all the good and bad things they’ve done in this life and that they would go to heaven and hell accordingly.

But to say that God had already planned it all from the very beginning?!

After all, if God really is all powerful and all knowing, He would have already known what every single human being was going to do even before time began, right?

Predestination is an ugly word. Especially today, when individual freedoms are being touted, heralded, cherished, and even fought for as a basic human right.

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” says the heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime of the sci-fi series Transformers.

I wonder if the irony of robots championing the cause of freedom had been intentional among the creators of the series.

Because if you ask one of the most respected scientists and physicists alive today, he will tell you that that is exactly what human beings are: biological machines that are the result of the interplay of the physical laws of the universe. He argues that humankind’s coming into being was inevitable due to the predictability of these physical laws. We are simply obeying the immutable laws of physics by our very existence.

In fact, he believes that the very predictability of the physical laws of the universe would even allow us one day to actually predetermine what each individual will do in the future even before he/she commits an act simply by monitoring the physical and chemical changes occurring within an individual human being.

Might I also add that this same noted physicist does not (currently) believe in a personal God.

So there you have it, even a well-noted, atheistic scientist is basically telling us that personal freedom does not exist. It is but an illusion resulting from our inability to perceive (and therefore accept) that everything that has been, is, or ever will be, has already been predetermined, if not by God, then by the laws of physics.

That’s ridiculous! I KNOW I have freedom because I make personal choices everyday! So do the people around me! Everybody makes choices!

But are we really able to make choices on our own?

To be free means to be able to make a choice without being influenced. To have personal freedom is to be able to shape the course of our own destiny.

When we talk about personal freedom, we talk about a situation where WE are in control of our own lives, and that the choices that we make are purely ours and are not influenced by anything else. We make those choices voluntarily out of our own free will without coercion of any kind.

But is that really true? Are the choices that we make purely done out of our own will and not influenced at all by anything external to us?

I have personally realized that the individual and personal choices that I make are themselves already the result of factors external to myself. In fact, given the chance, I wouldn’t have chosen to make some of the decisions that I had to make in my life.

The very act of choosing therefore had already been forced upon me.

That doesn’t sound like I’m free at all doesn’t it?

If we look more closely at the all the decisions and choices that all of us make every day of our lives, we will eventually come to the realization that they are all the result of factors outside of ourselves.

The food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, the things that we buy, the work that we do, the people that we are with. None of these are the result of choices that are purely the result of our own free will.

To be human, by very definition, is to be subject to the context in which we find ourselves in. Our very existence depends upon and is dictated by the very physical reality that we live in.

We can only ultimately choose what the world around us influences us to choose.

But that’s not true! If I really felt like it, I can choose to do things apart from what the world tells me to!

Well, if personal freedom meant that we are free to do what we felt we wanted to do, then we make our feelings the basis of that freedom.

However, are not our own feelings themselves the result of context? We feel sad because we encounter something sad. We laugh because we experience something funny. We feel anger because something or someone made us angry.

Our feelings are themselves the result of external circumstances. Therefore, choices that are the result of what we feel are also externally influenced.

Besides, I have also learned (and still am learning) that choosing based on what I feel at the moment only leads to an erratic life. And an erratic life is anything but a life of freedom. It is a life of whim and fancy that leads to all kinds of nasty and unwanted consequences.

Which leads me at last to the strongest argument against personal freedom:

No matter the choices that we make, we cannot escape the consequences of our decisions.

We can pretend all our lives that the choices we made had been purely ours to make. But the consequences of those decisions will always come back to haunt us and the people around us.

In fact, every consequence of every decision every human has ever made echoes throughout space and time, affecting humanity and the rest of the physical world in more ways than we can possibly perceive or determine.

Because regardless of what our opinions are of each other, we are ALL linked to one another. Every individual and collective thought, word or action are like pebbles being dropped in a pool of water: it ripples across all the surface, affecting the whole pool.

In diplomacy and international relations, we talk about the “sovereignty” of nations and the right of every country to determine the course of its own existence. In reality however, any diplomat would tell you that a truly sovereign nation does not exist. (There wouldn’t be any need for diplomats otherwise).

Every single human being, even when in a collective nation or country, is subject to and influenced by each other’s existence. Our governments and leaders may love to champion the cause of independence and self-determination, but the truth is that it is impossible for anyone to truly live apart from anyone else.

We all live on one planet and share the same resources. The very air that we breathe is part of one continuous atmosphere that covers all of the earth. Whatever chemicals we pollute our environment with will eventually have consequences for every single human being on the planet. Whatever policies we adopt have implications, not only on ourselves, but also on our neighbors and the very physical world around us.

Anything we do has consequences.

There is no escape from consequence.

There is only one possible conclusion from all of this and it is that personal freedom does not exist. It is an illusion.

But how can that be? If personal freedom does not exist, then where did the idea come from? If it isn’t real, then why do I yearn and long for it so?

It is as though some voice inside of us is trying to convince us that it is real.

And oh how we listen to that voice. We do its bidding almost instinctively. “Personal freedom is REAL. It is the most precious thing in the world. Fight for it!” it commands. And we obey. With every fiber of our being we obey.

Scripture tells of the account when humans first heard that voice. It also tells us the consequences of obeying that voice. The whole story is what we now know as Original Sin.

The day humankind rebelled against their Maker.

Because we thought we could be our own gods.

"God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God." - (Genesis 3:5 NIrV)

We are told that all the evil and suffering that is occurring in creation right now is the result of that one act of rebellion.

Because we choose to do things our own way and not how it's supposed to be.

And now comes the real rub of predestination:

If God is who He says He is, then couldn’t He have predicted the Fall of Man? Why couldn’t He have stopped the Serpent from tempting Eve? Why allow that one act of rebellion to pass down and poison the entire human race all this time? Why allow sin to enter the world in the first place?

Is not God being unjust and unfair in holding us accountable for choices that He already knew we would make as a result of situations that He already knew and in fact willed to happen?

If all sin was birthed by the Original Sin, then God must have known and allowed it to happen in the first place. If God is good and sin is evil, then God had contradicted Himself by allowing sin to exist alongside Himself.

Anything that is self-contradictory is non-existent.

Therefore God does not exist.

The logic is flawless. Or so I had thought.

What the logic does not take into account is what God’s purposes are.

Scripture essentially makes the following claims about God:

1)    That He made all of creation.

2)    That all of creation has a purpose.

3)    And that purpose is to give glory back to God.

To glorify means to draw attention to and to consider precious or valuable.

All of creation therefore, is meant to point back to the Creator and to praise and cherish Him above all things.

Christianity tells us that the only way for us to truly do this is through His Son, Jesus Christ.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. - (Colossians 1:19-20 NIV)

And it is through the cross that the Messiah draws all to Himself:

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Myself." - (John 12:32 NLT)

The message of the cross would lose all of its significance had not Original Sin occurred. Without sin, the power of the cross and entire Redemptive History would be rendered meaningless.

But as it is, everything that has happened thus far is so that God may be glorified through His Son. All of what is recorded and written in Scripture points to the Son. As the Messiah Himself notes:

"You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me! - (John 5:39 NLT)

Everything points to the Son.

The Son. Who is also God. Who chose to become human. Who lived and died with us as a human. And lived again. Just so that we would know, that everything that He did, He did for us.

So that we may glorify Him.

I realize now that there is only One who is truly Sovereign. There is only One who is truly free to do as He pleases throughout time and space. All of history is essentially His story.

When He made us after His own image, He intentionally passed down to us the desire for freedom. This too is by design. This too is predestined.

For to desire freedom is to desire God. And to desire God is to give Him glory.

And that fulfills His purpose.

Real freedom then, is to be found only in God through His Son.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. - (John 8:36 NIV)

Free to do what, exactly?

Free to pursue and be satisfied most fully by the one thing that is truly most valuable in life.

You see, humankind’s desire for money, fame, and freedom can never, ever be satisfied. For we can only be truly satisfied with what we were intended to desire for in the first place.

Namely God Himself.

It is His will and purpose that ALL of humankind be saved from a life of emptiness and suffering resulting from our trying to fulfill our desire for Him through money, fame, freedom, and whatever else we think will make us happy.

For He is a God:

who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(1 Timothy 2:4 ESV)

And the truth will set us free.

He promises us that if we earnestly seek for Him with all our hearts, soul, and strength, we will find Him. For He was always there in the first place, where He always is and always should be in our hearts: IN FIRST PLACE. Everything else comes secondary to Him.

He is the One True Commodity that we cannot do without.

He is all we need.

I pray that He open the eyes of your hearts so that you may know Him and His true value in our lives.

Because to know what is truly valuable and desirable, and to be given all the opportunity in all of creation in order to reach that desire…that my dear friends, is true freedom.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. - (Matthew 6:33 NLT)