About Faith - Part II (Everything has a Purpose)

(Caros leitores, esta postagem é em inglês para que meus amigos estrangeiros possam ler algo aqui também. Esta mensagem eu escrevi há muito tempo na Inglaterra prum amigo de um amigo que costumava me escrever pra falar de fé e assuntos relacionados. Lembrei desta mensagem e resolvi postá-la. Esta é a segunda parte do e-mail. Se você quer ler o início, vá para a mensagem anterior).

Hey guys, after a long time, here I am with a post written in English. Actually, it is an e-mail I wrote to a friend's friend some time ago. We used to talk about faith - he had some doubts and wanted to know why I was so sure and strong about my faith. Hopefully, it will be interesting for you to read and think about. Leave your comment, if you like. This is the second part, so if you want to read from the beginning, this is the first part!

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Everything has a purpose – I love this phrase! There is Someone else, Someone all powerful - the Almighty God and He was so kind that He left a special book to guide our lives. When an engineer makes a new product, he also writes a manual, because we have to know how to use the product to not spoil or damage it. God made the same for us, He created us and He wrote a manual for us to know how we should live our lives to not damage ourselves. I love it!  

Christians have interpreted and shared the Bible in a wrong way and this one of the reasons why some people don’t believe on it! I could write to you about Big Bang, the Revelation Book, the Creatiib, whatever! But for me, it seems like Someone is controlling everything and looking after everyone. If bad things happen, that is not God’s guilt (this is a subject for another very long text).

Unfortunately, many teenagers or 20’s (like us) don’t invest their time at thinking about it all and they just live the life. I don’t! I deeply live the life knowing that my life has a meaning. You will understand what I’m saying next. Our friends are constantly trying to find ‘something’, but they don’t know what is ‘the something’… Many people go to sleep and feel something ‘empty’… They try to fill the emptiness by having lots of sex with different people; seeking power, fame, money; drinking a lot, smoking, taking drugs… That is so stupid! True peace, joy and love we find only in God! There is not another way!  

Don’t laugh on me, but I’ve never tried a cigarette and any illegal drug! I’ve never been drunk! Urgh! I don’t need it! If I have a problem, I have to face it and not try to escape by taking drugs. If I want to have fun, I don’t need to be high. I want to be 100% conscious and sober to enjoy! All these stuff damage our bodies and kill our souls little by little. I agree about “Carpe Diem”, but I would modify this saying - I prefer “Carpe Diem wisely”!

Well, I think everyone should take a time to think about their lives. Spend some time thinking about: what have you done to yourself? What have you done to be remembered by? Would you say to your little brothers and sisters (if you had them) to do the same things you do? Some people say that the meaning of life is to have people who admire and try to follow you by the good you've done… The things you do now have consequences in the future then, how do you guess is going to be your future? What are the purposes of your life?

I like saying to my friends phrases like this: Move on wisely; take it easy; think about it before you do; everyone is made by their own nice details, which ones are yours?; do you know what you really want for life? And stuff like that… hehehe…

"Friend", every new minute in your life is an opportunity to start again, to start right! I saw some pics of you, some messages from your friends on FB, and I can see you are a very nice guy, then I know God has great plans to you! Try to discover which ones!

I hope I got to explain what I think… Please, forgive me! I know it was too long!

Have a nice week!

X

Paula

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Here are some Bible verses I like.

BIBLE VERSES

"And Jesus said unto them: If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you." ~Romans 1:17~

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear ... " ~1 John 4:18~

"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." ~1 John 3:11~

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned, forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." ~Luke 6:37~

"Then said Jesus, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do ..." ~Luke 23:34~

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. ~Philippians 4:13

"With God all things are possible." ~Matthew 19:26

About Faith - Part I (Science is good, God is better!)

(Caros leitores, esta postagem é em inglês para que meus amigos estrangeiros possam ler algo aqui também. Esta mensagem eu escrevi há muito tempo prum amigo de um amigo que costumava me escrever pra falar de fé e assuntos relacionados. Lembrei desta mensagem e resolvi postá-la. Vou dividir em duas partes pra não ficar muito longa).

Hey guys, after a long time, here I am with a post written in English. Actually, it is an e-mail I wrote to a friend's friend some time ago. We used to talk about faith - he had some doubts and wanted to know why I was so sure and strong about my faith. Hopefully, it will be interesting for you to read and think about. Leave your comment, if you like.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

 Hey "friend" 

Blablablabla...

... So I want to share with you some of my thoughts about faith. 

This would be a huge message if I had to write down everything I would like to. I will try to summarize. Hehe... Even so, perhaps you'll need a week to read it all...

I’m a Christian and I believe 100% in the Bible’s God!

Well... I liked the paragraph you wrote about it and I know what you mean. I think all intelligent people have an up and down relationship with their faith, but it occurs in different levels for each one. I do question many things, I research, I read lots; but nothing has stopped my faith!

I’m sure we will never have 100% proves of God’s existence and Bible’s words. However, you may be 100% sure because you feel, because you know that the science does not have all the answers. There are many things beyond what we can't see. I believe that we’ll never be able to understand all the things. Not during this life!

There will never be proves enough to make everybody believes in God! And I love it. This is the plan! You won’t believe because the science and the scientific books are telling you that all that is true. You will believe in God because you feel right, because there isn’t any another explanation for all this, for the Nature – mountains, Oceans, flowers and fruits (different shapes and colours – why this variety if not comes from a very creative and loving God?); how you are inside – stomach, heart, blood, intestines, lungs, etc; and how you are outside – 2 ears and 1 mouth (to listen to more than talk), 2 arms to give a nice hug… He made the basic things but He is so good, that He gave us different body shapes, hair colours, etc. 

Some people will "choose" God, others not!

I have some doubts about many things. I’ve found out many answers for them, but some questions I know that will remain with me forever, because it depends on faith.

You need to have faith to believe in Science or to believe in God! Moses, Joshua, Paul and John wrote about many miracles and about God. I wasn’t there to see and to make sure those were true. I have to trust them. However, when I was in High School studying Chemistry, Biology or Physics, I used to ask many questions about the scientists, the tests, the experiments… Many questions about the theories the teachers were telling us. That was like: “well teacher, you are telling me many things about oxygen, genetic, chromosomes, electromagnetism, neutrons, electrons, quartz, cells, gravity, etc; but did you see all the experiments in laboratories? Were you there when Lamarck, Darwin, Einstein, Newton, Watts (most of them believed in God), whoever were writing those studies? I know you weren’t, then I conclude that you need to have faith on all those scientists, all those strange people. It would be a bit difficult for us to experiment in laboratory all those theories. You've got to think that they were good people, competent scientists and they wouldn’t lie about it all! You will never see them, you don’t know about their character, but you have faith”! 

"Friend", I chose to have faith - in God! God created the men who developed the Science… Then, I believe that at the end is everything from God, by God, due to God, according to God! Heheh… I wasn’t there when the Bible’s books were written, but I believe is everything from God! I think that the Science proves many things and explain many things which are in the Bible, but after all my studies, the Science has never got me to go against the Bible. People interpret the Book in a wrong way and sometimes the Science helps us to develop our interpretation about the Bible. I don’t believe the Universe was created in 6 days. I believe that was in 6 eras. I don’t believe God took ‘sand’ and made us by His own hands. That is a symbol! How would God explain the creation to Moses for him to write Geneses more than 2000 years ago? He should use some symbols, because at that time, Moses didn’t know deeply about Chemistry or Physics… God is so wise! He uses other ways… Science is good, God is better! :) 

(to be continued) 

Minha vontade ou vontade de Deus?

Não há como fugir. Tento, mas não consigo. "A boca fala do que o coração está cheio", então, aqui estou novamente para falar de cristianismo.

Aos meus amigos não-cristãos, tenham isto como uma leitura incomum, algo pra você conhecer, analisar, discordar ou quem sabe até concordar! ;) E por incrível que pareça, não só vocês podem vir a discordar, como até mesmo meus próprios amigos cristãos! :)

Desde a reforma do cristianismo - mais especificamente a chamada Reforma Protestante; monges, teólogos, pastores, historiadores têm discutido diversos temas bíblicos. Cada um quer ter a razão. Cada um quer persuadir/convencer o outro. Do que tenho estudado, humildemente tenho que reconhecer que todos estes famosos teólogos e reformadores soam bastante coerentes em suas explicações, o que acaba me deixando um pouco indecisa quanto a que posição tomar em determinados assuntos. Optei por reconhecer que nada sabemos (pra não ser tão radical, talvez seja melhor afirmar que quase nada sabemos). Tentamos, mas não sabemos.

Uma vez salvo sempre salvo? Grande tribulação antes ou depois da volta de Cristo? Dança na igreja? Dança fora da igreja? Alcool? Fumo? Eleição para salvação? Deus escolheu alguém pra eu casar? Guardar o sábado? Livre arbítrio? Aiai... Que delícia!

É ótimo estudar, debater, contestar; mas ao fim é bom saber que com o tempo, com a experiência, com os estudos sua opinião pode mudar. E olha que muda! Tem acontecido bastante comigo. Muitas vezes pensei: "oh, aquilo é totalmente inaceitável" ou "isso sim é certo, é assim mesmo que deve ser"! E com o tempo, o que achava certo, agora vejo que é indiferente; o que achava errado, agora acho certo. Ano que vem, talvez eu pense diferente de novo! Ô coisa boa! Mudanças têm prós e contras, mas sempre tento me apegar mais aos prós!

Bom, essas frases introdutórias são pra dizer que quando eu tinha 18 anos, através de conversas com um amigo, vários de meus conceitos e preconceitos foram se modificando. Aquela época foi um marco em minha jornada cristã e desde então tenho buscado mais e mais. É incrível como vamos sendo moldados. Viagens, livros, pessoas, acontecimentos, experiências - tudo nos molda, quando estamos abertos e dispostos! Ao revirar uns arquivos no meu computador, achei umas anotações que fiz ano retrasado, eu acho, de um papo com este amigo de longa data. Conversa interessante! Ao desabafar e questionar algumas coisas, falamos da vontade de Deus, o que é certo, etc. Deixo aqui alguns pontos bons da conversa:

- Não penso nos planos de Deus pra guiar a minha vida... Os planos de Deus se cumprem sempre... Eu vivo como se Ele me guiasse em tudo e em todo instante...

- É simples... Deus manifesta a vontade dEle, mas não com um martelo, não lhe mandando uma carta ou e-mail, mas sim na sua própria vontade, em você, pois você segue os preceitos dEle... Porque se Deus não me guiar, eu nunca vou saber o que fazer!

- Deus pode não revelar o plano dEle a você. Mas o plano dEle sempre se cumpre, não precisa se preocupar. Tome suas decisões pautadas na palavra dEle e Ele agirá.

- Então esqueça essa neurose de "será que Deus quer isso pra mim?", pois Ele controla tudo. Faça o que está na "sua vontade" e nos preceitos de Deus que Ele cuida do resto.

Falamos sobre algumas experiências nossas que resultaram nesta fala:

- Coloque seu sentimento diante de Deus. Ou Ele muda a sua vontade ou Ele muda a situação.

- Mas nada disso encobre nosso erro. A vontade de Deus se manifesta até no nosso erro, mas continua sendo pecado! É por isso que Paulo fala que "todas as coisas cooperam pro bem daqueles que amam a Deus"! Pros que amam a Deus, até o errado guia para o certo; e pros que não amam, até o certo guia para a condenação! :S

Bom, vários de vocês podem ter achado que este papo foi a maior viagem. Não foi! Se eu fosse escrever mais detalhes aqui, seria tão interessante. Mas em vez de eu escrever aqui o que tenho pesquisado, se você discorda do que falamos, procure uns artigos interessantes na Internet e leia. Você pode continuar discordando ou pode vir a concordar. Um ponto importante é: sempre leia ambas as opiniões e leia opiniões de quem realmente entende do assunto, não de qualquer mané que disponibiliza seu achismo na rede. O que quero dizer é: se você pensa que o céu é rosa e seu amigo pensa que é roxo, não procure na rede artigos que provam que o céu é rosa, procure também os que dizem que o céu é roxo. Combinado? :)

Quis disponibilizar uns trechos da conversa aqui, pois pode ser útil pra alguém que lê meu blog. Este papo foi edificante pra mim, espero que seja pra você - mesmo que seja pra você discordar e pesquisar sobre o assunto! ;)

Um aperto de mão caloroso,

Paulinha