Why you feel guilty afterwards

By Sean

Let’s face it, we all sin and make mistakes. We’re human – ain’t that what we all say? How do we know we are mistaken? We feel this stinging, uneasy feeling that we commonly know as guilt. And oftentimes it stays with us through our memory. Why does it exist? Is it even necessary?

Don't let guilt put you down

When memories burn

Mistakes we make get stuck in our minds. That’s why they say experience is the best teacher (by the way, I disagree with that). When we make mistakes, we remember – because we’ experience what we have to lose. So we do our best to avoid it the next time around if that something we’ll lose is precious to us.

And these mistakes come with a price. This ‘best teacher’ is often times accompanied by a friend called guilt. Now don’t misunderstand, guilt is not a bad thing. In fact it is something created and fashioned by God to help us feel remorse for the mistakes we’ve committed in order to help us decide not to make that mistake again.

Guilt is something good when you don’t let it control you. It is something that’s supposed to bring us back to God on our knees – having a repentant heart and a renewing of our minds. But once you let it play around in your mind and emotions, then it becomes a thorn in your neck.

There is no rewind button

There is no rewind button

Once you’ve made a mistake it’s done. There’s nothing you can do to rewind it. There’s nothing you can do to undo the guilt. There’s no rewind button, no remake, no second take. You have to face it and deal with it. Acknowledge you’ve made a mistake, acknowledge the guilt. Live on choosing to do right in light of that experience.

There is no rewind button but there’s also no need to keep on replaying the mistake in your head. There’s no need in replaying that guilty feeling over and over again. Living in guilt is definitely not pleasing to God.

“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead”  - Philippians 3:13

Look forward. Don’t look back. Don’t let the past bring you down. If God has forgiven you, who are you that you do not forgive yourself?

A Philippine Policeman killed 15 hong kong tourists

By Sean

I just can’t believe this has happened. A policeman named Rolando Mendoza really believes that he can claim his job back by hostaging foreigners – tourists who are innocent and are supposed to fly back home the next day.

This is such a big tragedy. And what’s more is that it is done by someone who should have justice and the country’s righteousness at heart. The outcome of this incident is really not something that would be celebrated in the next few days.

My sincere condolences to the relatives and loved ones of the people who were murdered. I cannot imagine the extent of their grief over this abhorrently tragic incident. I can’t imagine having one of my loved ones in there. Incidents like these push us to ask God “Why?”

And indeed it’s also a question that has lingered in my mind for quite some time now. Who are those people in that bus? Did they deserve to die? Why did you allow this, God? And right now all I’ll be doing is to pray and try to listen and know God more as to why these things happen in our world.

As the Word of God says – the heart of man is bent on evil. And so we see the consequences of our human nature at work in this incident today between a philippine policeman holding several chinese toursists as hostage in a bus.

My heart and prayer goes out to their loved ones.

No Excuse for Masturbation

By Sean

If you’re honest enough, you know that a lot of people are struggling with this word that we all find hard to say. Somehow the word masturbation ain’t so good to hear and we cringe when we hear the word. Especially when we’re guilty.

 

This entry is, of course, based on my personal experience as someone guilty of such a sin and is also based on discussions and arguments I’ve heard regarding the topic itself

When the world says it’s alright

“Everyone does it anyway”

“So? No one else is affected”

“Who says it’s a sin?”

Pornography, as I’ve mentioned in my entry “Competing with porn” is as rampant as water these days – it’s everywhere. And as movies and the media commoditizes sex as if it is an everyday habit and norm, we are led to think that the act of masturbation doesn’t even enter the radar. That masturbation is small-fry and is no big deal since everyone’s into the bigger sin of premarital sex and adultery.

Big things start small

Remember the first lie you’ve ever told? You were nervous. Your palms were sweaty. Your heartbeat raced. Your pulse throbbed. And you almost stuttered. You were so afraid you’d get found out. It’s not a big lie – no you didn’t think it would affect anyone. It was just something about yourself.

Right after the words left your mouth, you felt a knot in your stomach. You knew that the words you’ve just let go were wrong. You knew it was a sin. It was lying.

Time passed and you grew older. Lying became a habit for you. You wouldn’t even break a sweat from telling a lie that could break your friend’s life. Sooner or later, you’d lie about money, about cheating your spouse, about things that could change your life forever.

Lust and masturbation might not directly affect other people. But once it grows and craves the real thing (which is, of course, sex) you have no idea how many lives you’re going to change – and no, it’s not for the better.

Real men can say NO

The world right now says that porn and sex makes you a man. If having sex with a lot of women makes you a man then does that make your dog any more of a man too?

The truth of the matter is, only those who can deny themselves of instant pleasure can call themselves real men. Real men knows how to discipline and control themselves – yes, even when the hormones kick in. And if you were wondering, yes, it’s what differentiates you from your dog.

And saying no starts with the smallest discipline that people don’t see – your mind. What you do when you’re alone is dictated by your mind in that certain situation. If it’s full of lust then it will probably lead to watching pornography which leads to masturbation. Be disciplined with what you feed your mind.

What’s your excuse?

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified that you should avoid sexual immorality that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you” - 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6

Masturbation? Excused?

Don’t think so.

The Answer to Biblical Mysteries

By Sean

There are so many lingering questions about the Bible in people’s minds – even today. There are just some things that can never be answered regarding the Bible. They say it’s a mystery. Some say it’s an impossibility. I say I know the answer. But will you be able to accept it?

There are just some questions without answers in this lifetime

This entry was inspired by my usual walk to the place where I swim laps. During those walks I get a lot of time to think.

When I was younger I had so many sets of questions in my mind about the Bible. Questions like:

“How about the other people who are in remote parts of the world?”

“How about the babies who aren’t able to decide and comprehend about Christianity yet?”

“How about the people in the world before Christ?”

And the questions went on and on… It was literally endless.

This world we live in makes the questions endless as the generations pass us by and as history writes out our lives. A lot of my friends here and there talk to me about the questions running in their heads about the Bible. As I’ve said in my recent post, there is no one knock-down argument. But there is an answer.

The question is, if I tell you the answer, will you be able to accept it? Will you be able to even consider it? Will you keep on searching why it is the answer?

There will always be Biblical mysteries. Just as there will always be mysteries here on Earth and in our lives. And when my friends ask me the most unanswerable Biblical questions they have, this is what I tell them: The answer is Faith. Faith in God.

The moment you develop faith in God that’s when you try to know Him more and see the questions in a different light. The moment you believe He exists and the more you get to know Him, the more you realize that the questions don’t really matter.

Unless you accept faith as the answer to your questions, you will never run out of ‘em.

Why Some People Don’t believe the Bible

By Sean

I’m pretty sure you’ve experienced debates and arguments about the Bible even once in your life. Yes, even when you’re not a Christian. Why is it that there are so many disagreements about the Bible? So many doubts about it’s roots? Isn’t there a knockdown argument that can once-and-for-all shut the argument up?

Biblical evolution? Is there such a thing?

Truth has been watered down

And polluted. These days you just don’t know what’s true anymore. People tell you one thing and another group of people tell you another. Both have evidences to back up their claims. It’s crazy how the world can manipulate evidences and results nowadays. It can certainly confuse you.

Evolution tells you one thing. Science and recent discoveries makes it so believable to the point that they have concrete ‘evidences’ such as dinosaur bones and pre-historic human findings. Or so they claim.

And if you don’t know the truth, the concreteness and evidences will lure you into believing their argument. And if their argument is true for you, then creation will definitely automatically be false. Because there can be no agreement between two ‘truths’ with their core essence being in disagreement with each other. If one is true, the other must be false.

Created by faith

The Bible as we know, is written by people through the power and influence of the Holy Spirit in them. It is written by faith. So it takes faith to read and understand it.

Not all people believe. Not all people agree that there is even such a thing called faith. And as such, people reject the Bible and choose to believe in things that don’t take faith in order for them to believe it.

Such as evolution.

Why? Because there are scientifically-claimed ‘evidences’ of it. Society, science and our limted reason has made it so much easier to believe scientific discoveries. But they’re just discoveries nontheless. Discoveries never claimed the truth. It’s the story’s job to tell the truth not the discovery. Discoveries never tell stories unless the stories were there beforehand to back it up.

Think about it.

The reason why the God did not make a knock-down argument for the Bible is to leave room for faith. Because it will take no less than faith for you to believe Him. That He exists. And that His Word is the truth. The only solid truth that will never change in this constantly changing world we are in.

Only faith can enable you to believe the Bible.

Made by faith. Approached by faith.

The most powerful undeniable evidence of the Bible is the changed lives it has impacted throughout the generations that have passed the world by. Has evolution ever changed lives like the Word of God? Even once?

Say you believe it.

How to make choices you won’t regret

By Sean

Choices are an everyday commodity. Every moment of our lives is made up of choices. Whenever we face a crossroads in life, choices are present. Whenever we have an option, a choice is always there. Choice is the result of free will. And it was given to us.

There will ALWAYS be choices

You and me both know that it is inevitable to go through the day making choices. There has not existed a day without a choice. Not making a choice in itself is, paradoxically already a choice. So the question now is how do we make the best of our choices?

There will always be difficult choices

And the only factor of the difficulty of the choice lies with it’s consequence. The bigger the impact of the consequence is, the harder the choice. And we have faced difficult choices in our lives haven’t we?

“What college should I go to?”

“What course should I take?”

“How will I be able to solve this problem?”

“How will I be able to make her see my point?”

“How will I be able to make my parents understand…?”

There are a series of questions that barrage us as we go through our choice-filled journey called life.

Good choices are not made

You don’t make a choice. You prepare it. You prepare it before you need to make it as you ponder upon the Word of God. Let me give you an example. A young man gets tempted to commit pre-marital sex. His friends already went in the bar and are having a good time. If the young man hasn’t prepared his choice to stand for a principle for himself regarding pre-marital sex, he would most probably go for it. No, not instantly, but he will be dragged and enticed little by little as the night goes along.

Good choices are not made. Good choices are prepared. That’s why we communicate with God everyday – to talk with Him about what choices we need to make and how we need to make them.

Choices make up your life

Not long ago, I wrote about the importance of time and how your life is made out of it. Time is essential as you make your choices. It is time which will dictate how stern your choice will be. Choices that are prepared are given thought as time goes by. It is reinforced by the principles you stand for. Those principles are choices too – choices that you prepared way back and that have been established through time.

Time and choice are the chords of your life’s story. I hope and pray that when you sing it before God, it’ll turn out to be a great and beautiful song. You only get to live your life once. May your choices not lead you to regret.