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Home |
Meaning of Life |
There a God? |
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Spiritual Inspiration Page . 1. WHY DOES GOD ALLOW SUFFERING? Some people, through no fault of their own, endure much suffering and hardship. Others coast along with plentiful gifts of intelligence, possessions and good health, thinking la dolce vita is pretty nice. This doesn’t seem like the kind of world that a God who loves all his children equally would create. And it most certainly wouldn’t be, if our stay on this world were all there were to our lives. In fact, we have just stated the number one argument for an afterlife. Read the following letter, and then we will discuss how God could allow this world to be unfair. My name is Mandy. In Church I hear “Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find.” But I have been praying for years for God to get me out of my suffering, and He doesn’t hear me or answer me. Why? I am a kind-hearted person, why am I suffering so much? Dear Mandy, When He said “Ask and it shall be given,” it is understood that He was not talking about things that affect our earthly lives. We should not pray for money or fame or a new car or lottery numbers or a better husband or a better job or a cure for our illness, and expect Divine intervention. That would make God like a genie in a bottle, which He is not. Think of all the good, deeply religious people in the world who are killed by earthquakes, who go hungry every day, who lose families in wars. They pray for these things not to happen. These things are up to us to change, if we can, and to accept if we cannot. To do this, God gave us intelligence and reason, and lets us go from there. What He will give us, if we ask, is enough grace to lead our lives in a good and moral way, so that we can merit eternal happiness with Him. When He said “Seek and you shall find,” He meant if we were seeking Him. If we seek Him by talking to Him every day and by doing His will, we most certainly will find Him when we die, if not sooner. Do not misunderstand, though. We are sure that God does not object to our asking for anything; at least it shows we are thinking about Him and that we acknowledge our dependence on Him. But you are suffering, not because you have done anything wrong, but just because that is the way this world is. It started out as paradise, you will remember, but our ancestors ruined it for all of us. Everyone suffers, some a little, some a lot more than you. The best we can do is to pray for the patience and grace to accept our suffering. The more we suffer and still continue to have faith in God and talk to Him and do His will, the greater will be our reward in heaven. Most importantly, you must have faith that everything that happens to you is God's will, and since He loves us, it is the best thing for us. Not what we think is best, certainly, but what God knows is best. This is hard to accept when so much in our daily lives is going terribly wrong. We really need to pray hard to believe in His love. Meanwhile, for your earthly troubles, do two things. Get help from people here on earth who might know how to help you. For example, we might be able to offer suggestions. And second, complain to God when you pray. Something like “ Well Papa, I’m doing the best I can, even though things are really rotten for me. I don’t appreciate how you have things set up, but stay with me, I will not lose faith, I will continue to help others.” Prayer is not the mindless recitation of formula prayers written by other people. It is a deep spiritual awareness that God is here with us every moment, and a voluntary sharing of our lives with Him. It is a Father-daughter relationship in which communication is sometimes spoken, sometimes unspoken, but always there. We do wish you many blessings and much grace. We don’t know why, but apparently we are expected to earn whatever kind of good life awaits us as eternal children of God. It is not just being handed to us. We are given free will to choose to follow our conscience or not, to help people or not, to minister to the needs of others or to conclude that we are ourselves the center of the universe and are free to hurt or ignore whomever we wish in order to achieve worldly comforts for ourselves. So life is a test, one we have to pass. We are expected to relieve the suffering of others. This is the way God must prepare his children for a closer union with him. Too bad for us, we may think, that we couldn’t just be put down in paradise to begin with and skip all the fuss. But why do some people suffer while others don’t? For anyone to have the opportunity to relieve suffering, there has to be someone in pain. Given the state of the world, we can see that God gives us ample opportunity to help others. But what about the poor unfortunate sufferers themselves? What chance do they have to merit eternal life? The same chance as anyone. I am reminded of the stories that came out of the Holocaust. Prisoners would give up their meager rations of food so a child or friend could live. Others would spend their little remaining time trying to cheer up the people with them. If we have had terrible losses or suffer greatly, we could certainly wish that we had not drawn the short straw in this world. But you are not being singled out. Billions of people have had incredibly tough lives. Only a firm belief in God can carry us through. Maybe that's a clue. Maybe we need the pain and the shock to bring us to Him. When we coast along and life is easy, we figure hey, who needs Him? Turning to Him in our pain and sorrow could be our salvation. But one thing is certain: His love for us assures that everything that happens to us is the best thing for us. His idea of what is best will not often agree with our idea of what is best. He is concerned with our eternal happiness, while we are concerned with jobs and money and not losing loved ones to illness and death. Faith in God is trusting Him to keep us on the right path.
My husband lost his job as an engineer. We have no pension, no insurance, and he is too old to get another job. Why did God let this happen? I don’t know if I can believe in him any longer. Dear Reader, Look around at the world. It’s a huge mess. Wars, plagues, earthquakes, famines, you name it. Just last month an earthquake killed about 30,000 people in one city in Iran, leaving the rest homeless and starving. We live in a country that has been spared most of the real hardships, so we assume that a smooth road is sort of our birthright. Just the opposite is true. We are born into this world to struggle, and anything easy that comes our way we should be grateful for.  As hard as it is to accept, this is God’s plan. Why? Because this life is extremely short, and the eternity we are preparing for is 100% all-important compared to it. The way we prepare for it, the way we are measured, the way we merit it, the way we become worthy to be God’s children for an eternity, the true meaning of life, is in how we handle adversity. Do we still have faith in God and obey his commandments? Do we still try to make others happy, rather than just ourselves? Are we still honest and kind and cheerful? No, we are not going to be perfect or even close to it. But we are “graded on the curve.” No one else is perfect either. But it is in how hard we try, and in how much we are sorry for our mistakes and transgressions, and whether we ask Him for forgiveness, that we are judged. We cannot expect God to interfere in our daily affairs. A reading of the lives of the saints will confirm that: they had it tougher than anyone, with never any let up. But he gives all of us the opportunity to merit eternal life. He promises to answer our prayers insofar as they relate to our salvation. Ask him for wisdom, strength, and the grace to do his will and not get discouraged. We just have to do the best we can in the face of all our troubles. And without our troubles, what could we do so difficult as to merit eternal happiness? You see, it is a plan. But of course, we are human, and do not have God's infinite capacity for doing good. So all on our own, we cannot merit the infinite happiness of Heaven. God took care of this by allowing us to combine our merit with the infinite merit earned by His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. When we accept Him, and lead our lives united with Christ, our good works will establish for us a place beside Him in Heaven. This is just the way things are set up. Yes, we could wish that we had all been made angels, or that we had been set down in paradise, but that is not how it is, so there is no point in wishing. We can confidently expect God to make it all up to us, though, because he keeps strict accounts. Do not lose God. Then you will be in trouble. Talk to him often, like you would a dad. Let him know how you feel, but don’t expect him to be a placement agency. Keep the faith, love everyone, and soon enough you will be able to talk to God face to face and ask him why on earth he set things up the way he did. We do wish you well. I am always here. Go to THE MAIN INDEX HOME PAGE for a full list of help. . For How to be Happy, The Nature of God, and other good things, just scroll down this page. Thanks.   2. IS THERE A GOD? Also see our special page, Is There a God? for a more thorough discussion. No one can prove to you the existence of God. But you may be able to prove it to yourself. Are you just idly curious? Then perhaps you'll never know. But if you sincerely want to know, try this: Go into a church, kneel down, assume that God exists and can hear you, talk to him about your life and troubles, then very sincerely ask him if he indeed exists. Wait for an answer. If you are fortunate, he will let you know. Not with actual words, but unmistakable nonetheless. Why in a church? You are asking for a big favor, and it is just polite. .  3. HOW CAN AN ALL-LOVING GOD SEND HIS CHILDREN TO HELL? "If God commands us to always forgive our enemies, and to do good to people that do bad to us, if that is God's word, why would He do the opposite and send people to hell that do bad to Him? " This problem has troubled Christians for two thousand years. Don’t forget, we are not God’s equal. God has special duties that we do not. What applies to him does not always apply to us. Thinking that we are his equal is the mistake Adam and Eve made, and got us all kicked out of paradise. Punishing people is one of the things that God reserves as a special duty for himself. “Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord!” Not ours, we must always forgive. His. He is God, we are not. Why God punishes some of us has to do with “free will.” God himself, of course, can do what he wants, with no constraints from anyone else but himself. But just as we can constrain ourselves, and willingly do things that we may not want to do, so can God. It is a matter of priorities. We are his children, and the most important aspect of God’s being is his free will. So he gives us all free will, and constrains himself not to interfere with it. If he were to interfere, it would not be free will. In this way we are truly independent, like him. We are not puppets on a string. We can do exactly as we choose, and God will always allow it. He has told us that he will always allow it for as long as we live. He will never interfere with our freedom to make choices, for to do so would make us puppets, like dogs and cats. The most important choice we have to make is to accept God or reject him. Accepting him means that we listen to our conscience and lead a good, moral life, and also talk to God, thanking him for our lives. We follow the Ten Commandments. We help other people, and never hurt them. We accept the fact that God became man and lived with us, and in dying made it possible for God to always forgive us our sins, if we only just ask. While it is wonderful to lead our entire lives this way, God is so good that we can come to him at any time in our lives and still get credit for accepting him, even if that happens a few seconds before our death. That, however, is a dangerous game. We may die at any moment. We will generally die when we least expect to. So the point is, accept him now if you know what is good for you. But if we choose not to accept God, and we do not want to spend eternity with him, that is our free choice made with free will. And God will honor that choice. He will not interfere. But when we die, the time of choosing is over. Hey, we are dead, what can I say? We have our entire lives to choose to spend eternity with or without God. God’s love and mercy extends throughout our entire lives. He will always forgive us for not doing his will, and accept us back. But he will not interfere with our free will. If we make the choice, through our own free will, to spend eternity without God, he honors that choice. This state of being without God is commonly called Hell. We do not have any real first hand knowledge of what it is like, but I am going to try to avoid it. But God will never punish anyone unjustly, and as a matter of fact allows everyone the opportunity for salvation without exception. How he does it we don’t know, but he does, because otherwise we would have predestination (as some Protestant sects hold to) and the Catholic Church rightly rejects that kind of predestination doctrine. That’s like saying that Judas HAD to betray Jesus. No, Judas did that by his choice, though obviously there were many emotional and judgmental factors involved. But you will notice that the Church has NEVER said that there is necessarily anyone in hell…..even Judas. Judas would always have had the grace and opportunity to repent…we don’t know how and when or where…but it is the reason the Church will never condemn anyone to hell. It canonizes saints, but never places anyone in hell since it dare not limit God’s mercy. But remember, being saved doesn't necessarily mean getting away scot-free. Both rewards and punishments come in many degrees, so why not just try our best? What does it mean to try our best at life? It means taking advantage of the fact that we have a father who is God for goodness sake! It means asking for his help and his blessing in doing what he wants us to do. It means recognizing that He is our meaning of life. If we don’t ask for his help on a daily basis (cf. the Lord’s prayer), we may not be really trying. We like hearing from our children. No doubt God does too. Yes, but... I do agree with what you are saying, but if God does love us and we are all God's children, why would he want to send us to eternal damnation in hell? The Bible says to forgive, not 7 times but 70 times 7 times. Shouldn’t God do that? Dear Reader, God certainly does not want to send anyone to hell. God will forgive us not just 70 times 7 times, but many more times. So we needn't worry. He will always forgive us. But--and here is the catch-- only if we want Him to. Some people just do not want God to forgive them. They do not want any part of God. So they get their wish, they get to spend eternity without Him. This is only right. But even these people have their entire life to change their minds. This is a long time. God accepts even deathbed repentances. And everyone has a conscience that is on duty 24 hours a day, telling them what is right, and what they should do. It really must take an extraordinary person to shun God and their conscience for every moment of an entire lifetime. Not you or I, thank goodness. He could have made us with a "built-in" acceptance of Him, but then, you see, we would not be like Him, we would not be His children, we would be more like His favorite pets. But we are made in His image, and that is very special. When it comes to the nature of God, and the details of the afterlife, we are kept pretty much in the dark. Just put your whole trust in Him, don’t worry, and everything will be fine! God Bless. What do you think? To send email, Click here. . 4. HOW TO LEAD A HAPPY LIFE. We are born with nothing but free will and the knowledge of how to tell right from wrong. No one makes us choose to do the right thing, and in fact it is always a painfully difficult choice. Being kind to someone who is hurting us? Spending our money to buy food for hungry people instead of a big screen TV or sports car? Not easy, not even always possible for the best of people. We can only speculate that it is these kind of painfully hard decisions about right and wrong that make us more like God, our father. Part of God’s essence must therefore be free will, and the difficult rejection of all that is selfish and mean. Then this is the test we must undergo to prepare ourselves for a closer union with him. Everyone, no matter how poor, no matter how disabled, has full opportunity to do what is important and necessary for human happiness and fulfillment: to lead a life of kindness and sharing, to give cheer where there is sorrow, and food where there is hunger. Not just to friends, to everyone: to every person on earth, even to our worst enemies. Even a smile and a kind word to an "enemy" will benefit us more than all the riches in the world.It's simplistic, but some might say that the meaning of life is a smile. To read exactly how Christ commanded us to treat other people, click on The Teaching of Christ. It isn’t easy. Don’t expect to be perfect, no matter how hard you try. But it is in exactly how hard you try that your life will be measured at the moment of your death. And it is in exactly how hard you try that you will be happy in this life, also.  "Can I be forgiven of sins without being a Christian? Thanks." Well, it is true that God arranged things so He could forgive us (and not give us the punishment we may deserve), by becoming a human being Himself, and living on earth. This was Jesus Christ. We don’t think that we have to be aware of that to benefit. There are lots of people who have lived and died without ever hearing about it. We are confident that if they followed their conscience, God will not punish them. After all, He died for all of His children. But since you know about the whole story, why not just accept it, thank God for becoming man as Jesus Christ, and cover yourself? We can’t think of a downside to believing in Christianity. As a philosophy, it is in complete agreement with every good person’s true conscience that we know, and explains perfectly our meaning of life. You don't have to think that every church that calls themselves Christian is worthy of the name. A lot of them have it all completely wrong. Just follow Christ's own words in the four Gospels, which is what we try to emphasize on this website. ”The great failure of mankind is not sin, because temptation is strong and we are very weak. It is the fact that at any moment we can be completely forgiven, just for asking, and we don’t ask.” (St. Francis) [Editor's note: If there were a little girl sitting beside you right now, cold and starving to death, of course you would help her. The reality is that there are millions of such children all over the world. The good people at Christian Children's Fund seek them out and feed and clothe them. Won't you please help? Click on www.ChristianChildrensFund.org and thank you.]  "My pastor says that if I believe in Jesus Christ, I will be saved. So why do I have to knock myself out being kind and sharing?" The whole message of Christianity is that God somehow managed to live and die as a human being, offering his great suffering while he was here in atonement for all the sins of mankind. But he also spent three years of his life teaching us that forgiveness does not come automatically, allowing us to do whatever we please. We must love and take care of our neighbors here on earth. It is in following these teachings that we show our true belief in Him, not by simply mouthing words like “I believe.” For if we truly believe he was God, then we must truly do exactly as he told us to do. Words are cheap. Actions count. To read exactly how Christ commanded us to treat other people, click on The Teaching of Christ. Heaven is not like a club that we can get into by saying the secret password (“I believe in Jesus”.) The fact is, we do not truly believe in him unless we do what he told us to do. He spent three long years, the last three years of his life here, telling us in detail what we must do. If we truly believe he was God and Saviour, then we do what he told us to do. Forgive everyone. Love everyone as much as we love ourselves. Simple, but widely ignored because it is so difficult. If we don’t do what he preached, then no, we don’t really believe in him, we are just looking for an easy way out. If we don’t practice forgiveness and love of every person on earth, then we are not his followers. Lip service doesn’t do it, as much as you would like to believe the TV evangelists who tell you that. Please write to us. We will answer! To send email, Click here. To discover the Secret of Happiness, read how by clicking here. Continue scrolling up or down, or go to our Home Page,for a full index of useful articles. . 
5. ARE CHRISTIANS INTOLERANT? "I just wanted to ask, why do Christians despise pagans? I've met several in my life that are some of the most wonderful people I know. A few don't even know what the devil is, much less worship one. So why does Christianity claim that paganism is devil worship? I feel as if I'm separated from God by being friends with them. What should I do?" The answer is that very few present day “Christians” are followers of Christ. A true Christian does not despise anyone, and helps and befriends everyone, especially enemies and people who do not share our religious views. Remember the parable about the trees that all look good, but some are not? By their fruit you shall know them. There’s a lot of bad fruit out there. I personally do not know enough about paganism to know if it is devil worship. I know that there are a few misguided people who do claim to worship the devil, but I don’t know what they call themselves, and I suspect that it is mostly a matter of them wanting to feel different and unique, and perhaps wanting to feel accepted in a small cult. Being accepted by others has always had an enormous appeal. I cite the purple Kool Aid-Jim Jones tragedy of a few years back. We have to include these poor unhappy people in our prayers. Remember, God never separates himself from you. And he loves all of his children, even the pagans. So be kind to them, help them through life, and show them by your example how a true follower of Christ lives. This will be the most effective way to bring them to God, rather than arguing with them. If anyone should enquire what it is that makes a Christian, show them the page on my website called Teachings of Christ. And the one Church that he established on earth while he was here, is the Catholic Church. "HI, I am from Turkey and have found your ideas exactly the same as mine. The best Muslim is the one who helps others. I am trying to create interfaith dialogue in Minnesota, and finding it to be difficult. What do you think?" It is our belief that that since there is only one God, what is true for one person or one religion is true for all people and all religions. Of course we call God different names, we all speak different languages, and come from different places on the earth that were not in contact with each other when the religions were established. Now it is up to people like you to bring everyone together, and teach that we are all children of the same God. The fact that people of good conscience, like you and I, agree on what God expects from us in this life, is further proof of the unity of God and Truth, that there is only one. My best wishes go out to you. But expect to be discouraged. There are few people that are tolerant of anything that they perceive as different. You will run into much hatred and much sorrow. In my religion, Christ actually said that this would be so, and to expect to be persecuted. Scroll Down this page. OR Go to THE MAIN INDEX HOME PAGE for a full list of help. .  6. EVOLUTION AND CREATIONISM We believe that the purpose of the Bible is to lead us to God. It was written to provide moral and ethical guidelines, and to explain to us how God chose to be able to forgive his children for transgressions. It is not a scientific treatise, and any effort to interpret it literally for worldly matters is self-defeating. That being said, we can examine a question that is frequently asked: Was mankind created by a slow process of evolution, as fossils indicate, or were we made as an “Adam and Eve,” as a literal reading of the Bible tells us? As is often the case, both viewpoints are undoubtedly correct. Scientists believe that our ancestor was a man-animal not unlike the great apes. What is the essential difference between ape and Man? We share strikingly similar bodies and have similar genetic codes. Some apes are very intelligent, and can communicate using a language containing hundreds of words. Apes are known to display emotions such as affection and fear, and even have a sense of humor. Where do we draw the line? Since creationists are Christians, we can speak of the Christian idea of the soul, or inner spirit. It is the part of us that is made in God’s image. Our soul is what makes us children of God and fully human. We can lose any part of our bodies without losing any of our humanity. If we quite reasonably define Man as the complex child of God that combines a material body with a spiritual soul, then the actual creation of man took place when our intelligent bodies (that had evolved through millions of years) were first imbued with this immortal soul. It could very well have been only six thousand years ago. We don’t know, from a scientific viewpoint, and we will probably never know. But it really doesn’t matter. If you are a literal creationist and want to believe that, there is certainly no evidence to the contrary. What do you think? To send email, Click here. To discover the Secret of Happiness, read how by clicking here. . 
7. GENESIS AND EVOLUTION Did God really take six days to create the universe? The English word "day" is usually used to translate Genesis, and this has caused some confusion. It is better translated by "eon" or "epoch," simply a long, indeterminate period of time. Enough time for matter to form from God’s energy, and follow his immutable laws, and evolve into the universe as we know it. Evolution is simply his way of creating everything, his Grand Plan. Evolution means change, the changes that God made, the changes that rigidly follow God's natural laws, like the law of gravity. It really doesn’t matter how long it took, no one was holding a stopwatch on it. It was finished when we needed it. Of course, God could have created everything in an instant. He can do whatever He wants. But we have ample evidence that He let it form gradually, over a long period of time. But it is really a moot issue. You should only be concerned with how you live your life, and not with how God may or may not have created the universe. Don't get sidetracked with things that are not important. Love God, love your fellow man, and follow your conscience. What do you think? To send email, Click here. Continue scrolling up or down, or go to THE MAIN INDEX HOME PAGE for a full list of help. . 
8. A PEEK AT THE NATURE OF GOD? Science provides us with an intriguing possibility about the nature of God. It has been thought for some time that matter and energy are interchangeable (E=mc2), that matter can be converted entirely into pure energy, and that, theoretically, pure energy could be made into matter. Little is said about the precise nature of energy. The effects of energy (released by the burning of wood, for example, or by the breaking of atomic bonds) are well known. We can produce it, control it, regulate it, and document it. But energy itself, released by any means simple or complex, is not understood. It is, in fact, a complete mystery. So evidence is strong that what we call energy is the single prime substance out of which the entire universe is made. Consider the possibility that energy is not just created by God, but that it is a part of his being. Perhaps it is just a small part, but bringing us closer to God than we might have thought. Since all matter is made from energy, the entire material universe would be our perception of this part of God. This would account for the fact that all matter obeys so many strict and benign laws, laws that govern how it is formed from energy and how it evolves. And why the end result of those laws and that evolution is a universe that is magnificently ordered and beautiful, and why it is seemingly infinite. It is, perhaps, a reflection of its Source. I don't believe in the Trinity! None of my Bibles teach this doctrine. I believe God to be God, Jesus to be Jesus, and Sprit to be God's breath he breathed into Adam. Your comment to me on this will be greatly appreciated. Dear Reader, The most important thing to remember in religion is understanding how we are to lead our lives, and to further realize that in being true God, Christ was able to atone for all our sins and make it possible for everyone to earn a place in Heaven. Questions about God’s precise nature are highly speculative. To read how we are to lead our lives, go to www.Meaning-of-Life.info/TeachingsofChrist.html. My own idea is this: If God were a true single personality, he would be the only one of his kind. He would be terribly lonely. So I don’t think that this is the case. If we try to apply human thought processes to figure out what he is like, we are bound to fail, because we just have no concept of the kind of being he is. He may somehow have multiple separate personalities, just so he is not lonely. Just how he does this, I do not think we can ever understand, because we have only one example of intelligent life to go by, ourselves, and we are strictly one personality locked inside one body. So it is hard to imagine any other kind of being. Christ on several occasions says, ‘”I and the Father are One.” And yet he prays to the Father all the time. The Holy Spirit is also mentioned numerous times as though it were a separate entity. Yet the concept of One God is central throughout the Bible. The Doctrine of the Trinity is just our feeble attempt to acknowledge that something is going on that we do not and cannot understand, but that God’s nature is no doubt a lot more complicated and diverse than ours is. That is all. It is not so difficult to accept. We hope this helps. Thanks for writing, please write again. God bless. What do you think? To send email, Click here. . 
. 9. YOUR "BANK" ACCOUNT. How much do you have in your bank account? We don’t mean money, we mean something far more valuable. Treat the good things you do each day—the kindness to a stranger, putting the desires of your spouse ahead of your own, etc.—as deposits in a special account set up with your Creator. Every time you do something selfish or hurtful, deduct one from the account. See what kind of a nice nest egg you can build up. Nothing can ever take it away or diminish it, and it will be the only thing you will take with you out of this world on the day you die. You will be awfully glad you have it. What do you think? To send email, Click here. Continue scrolling up or down, or go to THE MAIN INDEX HOME PAGE for a full list of help. . 
10. A TIME TO THINK What exactly do we mean when we speak of a past or future event? The past exists only as very imperfect memories: there is nothing real. There is no essential difference between past fact and past fiction, as neither one now exists at all. This is not to say that there is no evidence that the event took place. Applying any standard of proof, we can substantiate that countless events have indeed taken place. But the actual event itself no longer has any reality. “Time travel” is therefore impossible, as intriguing as that idea is. The future is an even murkier concept, as it is only an extrapolation of our memories of all past events. We can’t even be sure of just what a memory is. Are they just electrical impulses stored in our brain, like in a computer, destined to be erased when we die, like losing data in our computer when the power goes out? What does that leave as reality? Only the present. The only reality is the instantaneous moment we live in, and therefore all real events are simultaneous. But if the only reality is instantaneous, what do we mean by “time”? Science measures time between two real events. But this means that one of the events is in the past, and so is not real at all any more. Since all real events are simultaneous, there is no such thing as time! So we are rather left standing out in the rain. The next time (hah!) someone says you are not on time, explain all this to them and see where it gets you! What do you think? To send email, Click here. Continue scrolling up or down, or go to THE MAIN INDEX HOME PAGE for a full list of help. .  11. OUR CHANGING ROLE One great truth that is itself obvious, but that has many hidden ramifications, is that we are locked into one body at one point of time and in one place. All of our observations and subsequent conclusions are subject to these terrible constraints. But the rest of the world is not limited as we are. Go outside and look at the trees, the flowers, the animals. Look at the buildings and the roads, and most of all, look at the people. All this and more is the rest of the world. What do we see? We see the same world that we first saw as a child. Big trees, little trees. Red flowers, yellow flowers. Houses. Roads. And people: old people all bent over and gray, middle aged people of many kinds, teens, children, babies being taken out in a stroller. The same mix that we saw 10 years ago, 20 years ago, forever ago. Mankind and our environs don't change. But we, as individuals, do. Our role changes. At one time our role was of the little babies that we see now. Then it was time for us to be the children playing in the street. And so on and on until finally we ourselves become the old people that we watched with so much detached awe as children. It is like asking the question, what time is it on earth? For the planet, the concept of day and night does not exist. Pick any time of the day or night, any position of the sun or moon in the sky, and at some place on earth it will be exactly that time, the sun will be in precisely that position. For earth there is no time of day or night, only a continuous, perhaps eternal, co-existence of both. Much of the concept of change, both of time and of our own life and surroundings, is only from our individual perspective, or relative to us. Relative to an intelligence that is removed from earth, change happens on a vastly different scale or not at all. Is this all a glimpse into what we mean when we say that God is eternal and unchanging? Because surely he is not like a statue. He may be eternal and unchanging only from our point of view. Perhaps from his perspective he is constantly changing and evolving, just as we ourselves, and the night and day we live in, constantly change from our own perspective. What exactly does all this mean? You tell us. What are your thoughts about this? To send email, Click here. Guest writers | Secondary Links | | Return Home | The Meaning of Life | Is There a God? | Prayer | Teachings of Christ | Our Catholic Faith | Don Camillo | Links | |
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