Humble Witnesses

I Thessalonians 4:11-12

V. 11, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,

V. 12, "So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

Lately, I have been going through a personal study of the New Testament. As I was reading through I Thessalonians, I came across these two verses, which immediately stood out and spoke to me. Though this letter was written 2000 yrs ago, the principles of it were not only important for Christians back then, they are still even as important today; moreover, I think giving the background of this letter helps us to see the concern that was needed at this time in The Bible. This was a letter that Paul the apostle wrote to the Thessalonian church. The Thessalonian church was experiencing a lot of stresses and anxiety at this time. One in particular was that the people of the Thessalonian church were so excited and motivated for Jesus Christ, that excitement drove them to quit their jobs because they thought the second coming of the Jesus Christ was on the horizon and they wanted to be ready with no distractions. Paul, in his earlier missionary work of spreading the Gospel of Christ established this church, but when he heard that they quit their jobs and were not following other principles he gave them, he grew concerned, so he sent this letter to further institute the principles he originally taught them.

Though the whole letter expresses great instructions and principles to all Christians then and even now, these two verses stood out the most to me. When Paul said, " to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life," I do not believe he was saying to live in silence or not to speak at all. I believe he was instructing them, which can surely be applied to us now, to lead a humble and calm life as Christians; in other words, do not be a loud mouth and an arrogant person. The second instruction, "mind your own business," is probably self explanatory, we need to be, only, concerned about matters of our own life and not be concerned or butt into others lives though as Christians I think if we see a concern in someone elses life where we could help: HELP, but remembering to show kindness and respect. Even though the third instruction, "work with your hands," was directed mainly towards the people of this church, Paul makes it clear to them that he never told them to stop working, he reiterates that they should strive to always work hard; in addition, this principle is so true for Christians today. Even in the book of Proverbs, it instructs us to work hard.

At the closing of verse 11, Paul continues with verse 12 by bringing the application of living by these principles, at which if we as Christians strive to apply these principles in our lives daily, it will only help us to gain the respect of unbelievers. These verses taught me that the only way we will properly reach out to those who do not believe in Christ, is to maintain a proper testimony by showing kindness, compassion, humbleness, hard work, and respect to others everyday, which in turn, will help us as Christians to have a stronger chance to witness to those who do not know or understand that they can, as well, reap the freedom of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Posting My Thoughts

Throughout my whole blogging experience, it has given me a new sense for challenging writing. I am not just writing for myself or writing another paper to be graded, but I am writing to an endless audience where there are no grades or positive feedback to encourage better writing. The audience can be at times strong and cutthroat and if they have a strong opinion or find loopholes about my writing, they will make it known. Therefore, I have to write as if I am on my best game to gain the acceptance of the blogger community. The tougher the critic the better, when they find the loop holes in my writing that is what truly makes me strive to be a better writer.

I decided to name my blog, Truth Perceived. It is a walk through my life and thoughts as a Christian in today‘s society. I wanted to create to the reader that I am not just another “Holy Roller Christian” that is so caught up in religious doctrine and standards that their thinking clouds their eyes from the reality of the real world. I want people to see that I am a Christian that people can relate too, not a person that people avoid and look at as someone weird or annoying. I enjoy the fact that others who might agree or disagree with what I am writing are reading my posts and finding them interesting based on my style, format, and content and if they happen to learn or gain some insight out of them I have accomplished my goal in my blog.

What I enjoy about blogging the most is that I can show whoever is reading that I have something to say. Most of the time, just in general conversation, I find myself as being more of a listener and not the talker. Now do not get me wrong, I like being the person that everybody comes to, to speak on whatever is on his or her mind, while looking for my insight in whatever way they are looking for. However, with blogging I can show that I have something on my mind as well. I can write without any interruptions and get everything out first then I can send it out for everyone to read to get their insight: it is great.

One interesting issue I discovered was that blogging was stressing me out. I was almost to the point of oppression with my posts and the comments towards my post. I had to make the posts perfect in both grammar and content, leaving no loose ends. I enjoy writing, but I was getting so strung out around the fourth and fifth post that the enjoyment for writing turned into more of an obligation to write just for a grade.

My breakthrough to overcome my dilemma did not happen until I was reading the class handbook, The Weblog Handbook. In chapter 7--“Taking a Break“, the writer was talking about the very same thing I was going through. It was like the writer was saying: know when to say when with blogging. The writer states that there are periods of time when we get so caught up on blogging, it can effect us physically and mentally. We need to learn when these periods pop up to shut of the computer and walk away for a few days. Though the stakes were a little higher than your average blogger experience because I was being graded too, I went ahead and took the books advice and I took a needed four-day hiatus from blogging.

After my four-day vacation from writing, I felt refreshed and rested. I found myself once again wanting to write again. My enjoyment for writing had come back and writing became easier. My enjoyment for writing started six months ago and the one thing I learned is that I can get so bent out of shape to make my writing perfect and that striving for perfection can affect me in a negative way in all aspects of my life. I learned that I need to take breaks and relax because the best writing I have done has been when I want to write not because I have to write. I write songs and play the guitar and there has been times when the same type of feelings of stress and lack of enjoyment have came up. A friend of mine who plays guitar once said to me that the best thing he has done is to know when to put the guitar down and take a break and then when the feelings come back to play, that is when he knows it is time to pick up the guitar again. This advice was given to me three years ago and it seems to be good advice in everything that I enjoy. With the handbook and my friends advice, I have learned that it is okay to take a break and getting stress out and striving for perfection can just make things worse. My love for writing is best served to everyone including myself when I am enjoying it and that is what I will always strive for.

God's Grace To A Wayward Child

I grew up in church my whole life and was blessed with the opportunity to go to a Christian school, from kindergarten to graduation; Thank you, Mom and Dad. When I was sixteen, sitting in a pew at my church, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit for salvation during a sermon by an Evangelist visiting the church. During the invitation, I asked Christ to save me and that day will forever be a day, I will never forget. The first two years after that day were great, but the Devil proved he was not going down without a fight. Around my senior year in high school, the Devil's fight became strong and I started on a downward spiral into darkness, ignoring the Holy Spirit’s convictions.

For the next eight years after graduation, I was doing my will and not God's. I was no longer attending church and alcohol and drugs ruled my life. In the mist of all of this, I never realized how my actions were killing my parents and destroying my own family, but God in His mercy and faithfulness was always there whispering in my ear, "Turn around and come back." One day, just a couple of years ago, my neighbor came over and invited my family an I to their church and right away I felt the need to go, so the following Sunday I went. Thank God for His grace, a dedicated and loving wife, and two parents who probably prayed their hearts out for my family and me because soon after that Sunday I gave my life back to Christ and stopped doing it my way. It has never been the same since. That decision spawned a domino effect in my life; my wife committed herself to Christ and all three of my boys did the same and my life once again had joy and purpose. "THANK YOU GOD, MY HEAVENLY FATHER, FOR YOUR GRACE AND NEVER GIVING UP ON ONE OF YOUR WAYWARD CHILDREN."

Seeking The Truth

On a beautiful fall day while working in the yard, I found myself in a conversation with my neighbor, Tim, talking about religious doctrine such as the Holy Trinity, baptism, and salvation. The conversation was going pretty well, we both agreed on all the general principles, but we started to disagree on the specifics. I always knew that there were different denominations within the Protestant movement like the Baptists, Pentecostal, Apostolic, and Methodist; and I was under the impression that the simple practices like baptism and worship style mainly separated each denomination; however, I believed the Biblical doctrine of salvation was the same within all Protestant churches. My impression soon became a misimpression as the conversation headed into the details.

Tim was a faithful Apostolic and I grew up Baptist and by one question Tim asked me, soon spiraled me down a path of questing the very foundation of my own salvation in Christ.
He calmly asked, “Have you ever experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?”

Wondering where this question was coming from, I confidently replied, “Yes, I received the Holy Spirit at the point of my salvation, and I was then baptized a week later.”

Without hesitation, Tim replied, “Your salvation experience and your baptism are different than the Baptism of the Holy Spirit because there is always an outward expression, speaking in tongues, which follow when you receive the Holy Spirit.”

Anxiously! I replied, “I have heard of speaking in tongues and I know that it is in The Bible, but my conviction tells me that because the church has been established and the Holy Bible has been established, there is no need for speaking in tongues in the church today. And to say that you need it for salvation is ridiculous.”

With a sarcastic sigh, Tim replied, “You are one in the majority of people that are completely ignorant and led backwards from what The Bible truly says about salvation, particularly in the book of Acts.”

Completely shocked by where this conversation was going, bothered and concerned I said, “Sunday after Sunday for years I saw people saved and none of them spoke in tongues and they were also all led by called of-Godly men: I cannot believe or even conceive that the God I serve would let people be led astray by phony preachers proclaiming His own word, The Bible.”
The conversation eventually ended due to external reasons, but I did not want to stop, I wanted to prove that what he was saying us incorrect and misleading. As he was heading back to his house, he handed me a pamphlet and said, “This explains in more detail about the Apostolic faith of salvation and the Holy Spirit.”

Soon after we parted ways, and I just stood in the yard dumb-founded and confused, thinking that this is the strangest thing I have ever heard. Truly, what bothered me the most about the conversation was that Tim questioned the very integrity of my salvation along with doing a better job arguing his conviction on salvation with scripture? I knew all the right answers, but I had nothing to back them up. For the first time I felt spiritual weak and unprepared. Although the conversation ended before I wanted it to, I believe now it was all for a reason--God’s reason for me.

As I noticed by looking through the pamphlet, the Apostolic faith whole belief system is founded in one verse in The Bible, Acts 2:38, which says, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Knowing that you should always read the whole text around a particular verse to grasp the complete context of which the verse is applying too, it struck me after reading the entire first and second chapter of Acts. This verse that the Apostolic faith considers to be the one true verse of salvation is not a salvation verse at all. This verse is a forgiveness verse, the people were already believers because of the background text leading up to Acts 2:38; and furthermore, Peter said, “Repent," in this verse and if you refer to any other scripture in The Bible pertaining to salvation, believe is always, first, then comes repenting.

Throughout the next several weeks I was intensively reading The Bible, praying, and searching for answers. I came across the book, Concise Bible Commentary by Tom Fleming, which gives a historical view point about what is going on in the Bible; in addition, the writer gives a more clear understanding of what the writer of each book in The Bible is saying. In the chapter that covers the book of Acts, the writer says this:

“On the Day of Pentecost two separate groups received the baptism--the gift--of the Holy Spirit. The first was the group of the apostles in Acts 1:15 and 2:1-4, the second, the group of three thousand mentioned in Acts 2:37-42. But there were several important differences between the two.”

“The first group consisted of people who were already believers and who had to wait till after Jesus’ ascension to receive the Holy Spirit. The second group consisted of the people who became believers only after hearing Peter preach on the Day of Pentecost and who received the Holy Spirit immediately. The experience of those of the first group (i.e. speaking in tongues) should not be considered the normal experience of the Christian. The experience of those in the second group, who received the Holy Spirit when they believed, without any unusual happenings, was the normal experience of Christians, then as well as now.”

It was not until about two weeks later after reading this; I was researching on the internet and came across a web site that explained in more detail what the writer above was explaining. The site stated that in every incident where there are people speaking in tongues in the book of Acts, the verses either before or after imply that they were already believers waiting for the promised comforter of Christ, which is the Holy Spirit. In other passages in the book of Acts, there are other people who were previously unbelievers who receive the Holy Spirit without experiencing anything unusual; for example, the Philippian Jailer in Acts 16. Clearly, if speaking in tongues were a defendant expression for salvation, every passage in Acts or throughout The Bible would include it.

As I continued on, in my study of Acts and other scripture, I realized the writers of Concise Bible Commentary and the website made perfect sense to me without leaving any loose ends to question. The conversation with Tim, at first, left me uneasy and confused spiritually, but after diligently studying and through the help of my Lord and Savior, I gained a newfound confidence in my faith and salvation. It was no longer something I was taught growing up; it had become a new strength and love for Christ in my life. Even though it has been over a year since that conversation with Tim, I will always be thankful to him and my Savior for opening my eyes and helping me see the need to strengthen my own faith and conviction. Although I do not completely agree with the Apostolic faith concerning salvation, the Holy Spirit, and speaking in tongues; I do not question their faith and hope in Christ and we are all brothers and sisters in the same body of Christ. Moreover, faith, hope, and love for what I can see and read in The Bible is what He--Jesus--has ever wanted.

Meant For Something

When I was 21, I was having a conversation with my mom talking about the usual everyday stuff and out of the blue I suddenly asked her,

“Have you ever felt that you were meant for something or you had some kind of calling in life, but you just cannot put your finger on it?”

Of course, this totally caught my mom off guard. I believe this was the first time I dropped a “deep” thought on my mom. Without even giving her a chance to answer, I started into the details of my thought.

I explained to her how almost every day I have thoughts that there is something out there pulling me towards it and the only thing I feel certain is that it has something to do with the public or people: funny, all my jobs and the career I have now have been in public service: maybe not a coincidence. I continued to express to her that this feeling is so strong and real it cannot be just over-active thinking, more like a passion, but there is nothing I am really passionate about though this passion feels so strong within my heart these feelings cannot be for nothing, there has got to be a reason.

Now, I am 30 and nothing has changed, I still burn with that very same passion, but now it seems more intense, an every bit closer. More often today, my life is becoming more active with my family, church, work, and school, but as of recently, I believe I am on the threshold of figuring out this inner feeling or “calling,” if you will. Three years ago my friend Adam introduced me to the guitar and that, I believe, started the first step of a series that is bringing me closer to pin-pointing the feelings I have been searching for nine years. I know this might sound weird or strange to some, but like I said it is very real to me, as real as Eric Clapton playing a Fender Strat. Since my new found hobby of playing the guitar, it has developed into more singing and writing within the past year. I have thirty songs written so far, which ten of those will be on my concept album, Simple Truth, that will hopefully be recorded, professionally, this year.

I like to think that maybe this is what these feelings are leading me to, a career in music both in effecting peoples lives and being apart of the very thing I love to do, play music. I believe these songs are not just coming out of the clear blue sky, they are coming from something bigger than me. More and more I find myself getting involved with the music at my church along with two other churches in the area. I was talking to my pastor a few weeks back concerning these feelings and he mentioned, to just stay patient on the path to Christ and He will lead me in the right direction and to continue on with my talent and passion for music because what I have is a God given talent not to be wasted and to always be happy with it and if His will leads to bigger and brighter things in music, look at that as added blessing or bonus from God, but never be disappointed with what I am currently doing and to always strive to do better in the talents He has given me and always remember, my given talents should always be for His glory not mine.

The advice from my pastor really hit home. He helped me to see a clearer understanding about the passion and the feelings that have been stirring up inside me for nine years. "Patience is a virtue," so I will be patient and faithful to God and He will lead me to His perfect plan for my life.

“Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not to my own understanding, but in all my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path.” Proverbs 3:5

Perfect Sense, Science and Genesis

This post was originally a comment-response posted by myself on my blog post, Perfect Sense. This post has been edited compared to my original comment, but if you want to see the full unedited version of my response; plus the whole comment discussion, check out the comments in my Perfect Sense post--FYI: for the comments on Perfect Sense--before I changed to Forward Thought, I was Anthony Mason.

I am not closing out science altogether. I understand and believe that science helps to explain what most of us cannot explain. I understand that because of science great things like hospitals and medicine derived, but what I am saying is science cannot explain everything and never will--there are some things that even science cannot touch, so why do we just stop at the point where some state that science is something that cannot be completely unfalsified because eventually you have to get to there with science, but by then the meaning of science would no longer exist. So what then, what is there to accept?--Theories that have no scientific relevance? I believe we were created to be intelligent beings. So, what ever spectrum you come from, creation or evolution, it is hard for me to accept that as intelligent creatures we must accept everything up to the point of nothing or “in flux,” as some say; which are all theories with no scientific relevance. I guess then the Creation theory is one of those “lack of science” theories as well, but it is the one I choose to believe in and put my faith in.

A person asked me one time, “What if you are wrong about the whole God thing?” My response to that person was, “Well, what if I am right?” I get a kick out of that question because you might as well ask a fish, why does it swim. I have faith in God because I just do, the belief is so deep and strong it can be hard to explain, but to believers it is as simple as 2+2=4.

The Concise Bible Commentary by Don Fleming is a great book that splices historical accounts with Biblical accounts book by book in The Bible. In the first chapter, Genesis, the author writes:

Science may investigate the physical world and suggest how something happened, but it cannot say who made it happen. Believers may therefore hesitate to dismiss a scientific theory simply by saying “God did it”, because the theory may have been the way God has done it. When scientist tell us how rain falls or how the grass grows, we do not contradict him by saying, “God makes the rain and the grass grow.” We accept both.

It is interesting that some state The Bible should not be considered a factual based book to teach science and should only be considered a book of allegorical value, I agree, but not completely. Though The Bible does not explain in detail everything about accepted scientific principles--that was not God‘s intention for The Bible; though, it does explain some accepted scientific principles used today.For example, in Isaiah 40:22 (written 2800 years ago) it says, “It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth.” During the time that the book of Isaiah was written, the accepted philosophy was that the world was flat. It was not until Christopher Columbus (2300 years later), whose voyage was inspired by this verse, set out to falsify the “world is flat” theory, sounds like a scientific experiment to me and guess what, it was falsified. If you want to see more examples, hit link.

Genesis is an account of how God made the formless to the formed, and with His almighty power made everything out of nothing, not in flux, not by chemicals reaction--NOTHING and as a believer I can easily believe that, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God‘s command, that what we see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:3

“All scripture is inspired by God…” II Timothy 3:16, that even includes Genesis.

"Simple Truth"

VERSE 1:
So many truths,
So many beliefs.
The many differences, each one unique.
What is all the problem?
Why make confusion?
When faith, love, and trust is all that we need.

CHORUS:
One simple message,
One simple way.
Faith, love, and trust,
Is all that He wants.
And that simple truth has always been-
Right in front of us.

VERSE 2:
What’s in religion, but only a name?
Created by man to give his debate.
For spiritual understanding in his own way.
So stop the confusion, and stop the debate.
When faith, love and trust has always been His way.

VERSE 3:
Is it so hard to see?
The simple truth that we need.
So that one day we will see Him in time,
And He will say to us, “That simple truth has always been yours and Mine.”

No matter what the debate is and when all the smoke clears, all believers are in the same body of Christ and it all comes down to three basic principles Jesus wants from us: Faith, Love, and Trust. And I think every believer can agree on that. Though, it concerns me that there are people, in recent news the funeral protesters, who claim to be in the body, but weaken His most important principle of the three: Love. “God help them.”

I Corinthians 12:27: “Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of His body.” [CEV]

I Corinthians 13:13: “For now there are faith, hope, and love. But of these three the greatest is love.” [CEV]

If you want to see my inspiration for writing this song read my blog, Seeking The Truth. And please, be respectful and do not copy and paste this blog or song. Thank you

Perfect Sense

I was thinking the other day, How can any mindful person find it easier to believe in the Evolutionary theory than Creationism? I believe in Creationism, but just in general thinking, wouldn’t it be easier to believe or conceive that an ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, SUPER NATURAL BEING (i.e. God) created all the galaxies, the earth, and everything in-between; in addition, this type of thinking has been around since the beginning of man: seems like practical thinking to me. But for some odd reason it is more practical to believe, think and teach the Evolutionary theory, which has never be proven, but our society teaches this theory in schools and colleges as though it is actual fact. Everything came from nothing which spawned evolution: Yes, of course, that makes perfect sense.

I asked my anthropology teacher one time, “If Evolution is a theory, which cannot be proven and Creation, in the same regards, is a theory as well, why do most schools and colleges teach Evolution?” His answer was, “Good question, but that is what is in the book and that is what I teach.” In another class I asked my biology teacher, “Where did Evolution come from or how did it start?” And she said, “Well, it was a series of chemical reactions and matter.” Then I replied, “Well, where did the chemical reactions and matter come from.” She replied, “I don’t know, but maybe a physics professor can answer that.”

What was wrong and the same about both of these situations? What was wrong was that in both situations I received no clear cut answer; moreover, what was the same is that these professors were teaching something as fact when they did not clearly know or understand, themselves. Webster’s dictionary definition of theory is: speculation; proposed explanation. So, why does our society rely, pick and teach a theory, which apparently shows us how we all got here, but can never really explain absolute origin without going into another theory. Yes, you can say the same thing about Creationism, but isn’t it easier to think that GOD created the heavens and the earth than to think that NOTHING created the heavens and the earth? In my thinking, God seems the more rational answer.