Stop making Christianity look like the religion of fools!

 I feel much more comfortable now that I know GOD told Televangelist Frank Amedia, who leads Touch Heaven Ministries in Ohio, that Donald Trump would be the GOP presidential nominee and he believes God "raised up" the real estate mogul to help pave the way for the Second Coming. I would be more comfortable with his prophetic message if he would have made it public before Trump clinched the GOP presidential nomination.

Amedia also revealed during the interview that he has healed cancer with the power of prayer and stopped a tsunami by appealing to Jesus. If you want to learn more of what GOD  has told this man just watch the evangelical Daystar network. I wish God would have advised Amedia in advance about 9/11, ISIS, Bengasi and the burning of 19 girls in Syria that refused to have sex with ISIS soldiers.

I am not mocking Christianity, but I think men like Amedia do more harm for Christianity than good. People around the world are mocking Christianity because some Christian preachers like Amedia make these ridiculous claims for personal fame and money. I do not really know what Donald Trump thinks of Amedia’s prophecy, but I would be willing to bet he has had a few laughs over it with his family.

I thought Donald Trump would win the primaries not because God wanted Grump to issue in the Second Coming, but because Americans are sick and tired of Republican and Democrat politicians. Just like Filipino's are sick and tired of their government leaders and elected a man like Trump. I think Trump has a chance to win the Presidential election if he stops letting his mouth engage before his brain engages.  I still believe in free will and it is up to voters to make the right choice not God. 

Not everything happens for a reason!

God has given human beings “dominion” on earth.  We have the capacity to make our own decisions. The biblical story is in many ways the story of us misusing our freedom, turning away from God, practicing the very things God has told us not to and then God working to redeem, restore and heal the mess we’ve made of things.

If everything happens for a reason as some Christian leaders teach and a lot of Christians believe then we must assume that God is responsible for Muslim Islamic Terrorism in order to accomplish some purpose.  The terrorist certainly believe they have God’s blessings.  But our attempts to defeat them make it clear that we believe they are evil and must be stopped. We certainly do not believe God has blessed them or is using them for His purpose.

When we make God responsible for every bad decision, every act of wrongdoing, every disease, every inhumane thing we humans do to one another we remove the responsibility from ourselves and put it on God. If you believe everything that happens has a reason then you must believe God is responsible for every bad thing that happens on earth. You have removed the possibility of our ‘free will’ which scripture makes clear God gave us.

I have not only heard Christians tell others, but I have had them tell me, God must have a reason for inflicting suffering on you. I did not find that very comforting and I am sure other suffering people did either. If that is true then how are we supposed to pray to a God for help if you believe the same God caused your problem?

I do not think God is the originator of pain and problems. I really think God is saddened by the wrong decision we make and when we choose to hurt others.

On April 15, 2013, James Costello was cheering on a friend near the finish line at the Boston Marathon when the bombs exploded, severely burning his arms and legs and sending shrapnel into his flesh. During the months of surgery and rehabilitation that followed, Mr. Costello developed a relationship with one of his nurses, Krista D’Agostino, and they soon became engaged. Mr. Costello posted a picture of the ring on Facebook. “I now realize why I was involved in the tragedy,” he wrote. “It was to meet my best friend, and the love of my life.” What about those that lost their lives and their families that only felt grieve after? I think they would have a hard time accepting God had a reason for inflicting such pain on them and their loved one. The only reason for the Boston bombing was evil men made evil decisions. It is wonderful if something great came as the result of it to some people, but God did not have a hand in the bombing.

I guess we associate God having a purpose for all things because we believe in a God that plans for us, sends us messages, rewards the good and punishes the bad. Christians may be surprised that atheists also believe things happen for a reason because they believe in ‘fate’.  They believe there is an order to life that determines how events turn out.

I think people in general have a need to find meaning in life, particular bad things that happen to them. Some people find it reassuring to think that there really are no accidents to the things that happen to us, including the most terrible of events.  We have a need to make sense of events and situations. It helps us figure out why people behave as they do and respond appropriately. But it can lead us into error when we try to find purpose to everything that happens to us. Things on earth just don’t naturally work out so that all people get what they deserve. Some things just happen. There’s no rhyme or reason to them. They just happen.

But, wait a minute somethings do happen for a reason! When you got that new job you were hoping for, that happened for a reason — you applied for it, you interviewed well, and the company thought you were the best candidate for the job. When you failed that test you needed to pass in order to maintain your G.P.A. and keep your scholarship, that too happened for a reason — you spent too much time on Facebook, going out with friends and catching up on your favorite shows when you should have been studying. The time that house on the news got hit by lightning and burned to the ground that happened for a reason — the roof of the house was the closest contact point for the bolt of lightning, and the massive charge of electricity caused the wood the house was built with to catch on fire. When that young mother and her child were hit by a drunk driver and died tragically in a car accident, that also happened for a reason — someone had too much to drink, and without concern for anyone else’s well-being, they got behind the wheel of their car, wherein their impaired judgment and slowed response time resulted in them running a red light and taking the life of a mother and her child. They happened, and there was a reason but that reason was not God.

If you think everything happens for a reason and it is divine then you must believe God delights in causing our suffering. You are saying that God is the sort of god who sends drunk drivers to kill, who burns down people’s homes and afflicts random people with horrendous diseases, like cancer. If God had a hand in intentionally causing these things to occur, then God is not the God of the Gospels.

God does enact judgment, but God is not to be blame for every terrible thing that happens in life. The truth is we live in a broken world and terrible, meaningless things happen. Not because God wants them to happen, but because our decisions have consequences and because nature cannot be tamed. God is not a villain.

Stop putting your friends through hell every time they suffer by tormenting them with the words “Everything happens for a reason.” there will come a day when every tear will be wiped away and there will be no more death or crying or mourning or pain. But it is not going to happen on this earth before Christ comes again.

But until that day comes, our testimony to that future reality is not found in trying to attach meaning to the meaningless. Our testimony, and our gift of grace to those to suffer, will be found in our willingness to suffer with them, to walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death so that they know they are not alone. 

Coincidence - God - Life - Fate - Death - Who really controls it?

I have written before about a friend that gives coincidence credit for all the blessing in his life instead of God.  I guess he gives credit to coincidence rather than God because he is not totally convinced God is involved in our daily lives.

"What if coincidence is just God's way of remaining anonymous?" Donna Tartt

My faith has never allowed me to believe in coincidence. I credit all blessings ultimately to God and the ability He gave me to think and make right choices. That does not mean I have to give credit to all problems in my life to God because as I said I have free will to make choices.

I can choose to allow frustration, impatiens, doubt, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness and greed in my life and I can choose to turn to God when it creeps in and kick it out. I can choose to surround myself with negative thinking or positive thinking people. I can choose to waste time with gossipers and liars or not. I can choose to be loyal, helpful, charitable, truthful or not. SO CAN YOU!

Life is short. Fate can be cruel, but it is not random. You can wallow in it or pick yourself up and move forward. Death will always win, but that does not mean the in between birth and death cannot be exciting and rewarding and if you are a believer in God's promises eternal life is fantastic!

Stop waiting on God!

I am so tired of hearing people say, "Well, I am waiting on God."  Stop waiting on God and take action to solve your own problems. God is not going to do for you what God equipped you to do for yourself. I know a family that is "Waiting on God" to build a room on their small house so their mother will have her own room. Do they really expect God to deliver nails, hammers, saws and timber to their doorstep. They have internet, cable television and a car. They need to decide what is a priority and stop blaming God for their mother not having her on room.

God warned Noah and NOAH build the ark. Noah did not wait on God to build the ark. I do not take that story in the Bible literally, but it sure teaches me a lesson not to wait on God to do all the work.

In most cases if you do not have what you need it is because you have not taken action to solve your own problems. I know there are exceptions. The elderly, physically and mentally ill, children and people with special needs often need a helping hand, but if you are healthy and sitting around on your butt waiting on God remember -  the Bible says those that do not work should not eat.

IF YOU DO NOT BUILD IT GOD CANNOT BLESS IT!

What about those little "white lies"?

In Catholic moral teaching, lying is the deliberate attempt to mislead someone by telling an untruth. The Catechism is quite clear how the Catholic Church views lying and the damage they believe deception causes.

Even though the Catholic Church opposes all types of deception most Catholics, like everyone else, routinely engage in “little white lies”. My mother had a problem with “little white lies” because she thought it was sometimes better than telling the truth in order to protect the feelings of others. 

I would often tell her a lie is lie and there is no exception for “white lies” because when you tell “white lies” your goal is to deceive.  She told me hundreds of times throughout the years it is better to say: “The meal was delicious!” – When it wasn’t. “The dress looks beautiful on you – When it did not. “Your perfume smells great – when the odor was foul. “I love your new hair style” – When it was horrible.  It was her way of not being confrontational and keeping peace.    

In recent years I have become faced with a personal dilemma about the sting operations used by those doing investigative reporting. Are those involved justified in lying about who they are and what they are doing to obtain what they perceive to be a better good?

I do not dispute the good that has come from some undercover sting operations, but do the results justify the means. Are pro- life groups justified in lying in order to discover the truth about Planned Parenthood? There have been debates among faithful Catholics on whether lying is ever justified in a good cause.

The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil. The devil lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden— he convinced Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil by lying to her.  Is that story literally true or not? I do not know, but I know it teaches a moral lesson that is valuable in 2015. It demonstrates what God does not want us to do.

The Catechism says lying is always wrong. There are no “good lies” that are fundamentally different from “bad lies”; all lies share the same nature—to lead the person to whom the lie is being told away from the truth. The purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others.

There are not degrees of sin in the eyes of God – sin is sin. I admit it is difficult for humans not to justify lying to save the life of an unborn child and it is difficult not to lie to prevent hurting someone’s feelings. But, let an elected politician lie to us we can find no way to justify his or her actions.

Christ instructed us that the devil is “the father of lies,” if we believe that then who is the father of abortion? It’s the same devil and the he doesn’t care if we sin with good intentions or bad intentions his only goal is to get us to sin.

Every “willful untruth” does harm to someone—it harms both yourself and the person you’re lying to.

Paragraph 2489 of the Catholic Catechism has been cited many times by those who want to “justified deception”.  It states no one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.

Using that argument to justify lying can present us with problems. We can keep our mouths shut and say nothing by which we do not reveal the truth to those that have no need to know – not GOSSIP! But paragraph 2489 of the Catechism does not allow us to open our mouths and deliberately deceive another person by telling untruths. It appears how we apply paragraph 2489 makes a difference in determining right and wrong.

Some would argue that if you do not tell the truth as you know it and choose to remain silent that is as great a sin as lying to deceive others. I do not know about that. If you say, “I do not have an opinion one way or the other and you do that is a lie”, if you say I do not know when you do that is a lie”, so I suppose they are correct.  I guess the safest thing to do is say, “I would prefer not to get involved” or “I would prefer to keep my opinion to myself”.

Every decision leads to a new moral or immoral act – God has given us the free will to decide for ourselves.

Paragraph 2488 of the Catechism presents another dilemma it states, “The right to communicate the truth is not unconditional”. It states everyone must live in such a way that his or her life conforms to the Gospel teachings of fraternal love. This requires us to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.

What should we consider when revealing the truth: The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, the ‘why’ for our being silent about what should not be known and our use of a discreet language. Our duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. We still must remember regardless of our motives deliberate deception is always a sin.

I confess I personally do not believe anyone is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it. I have certainly used priestly privileges (not seal of confession) to avoid discussing issues about others or to tell someone I do not think it is my place to comment on that subject.

I also want to add I do not think any form of ‘gossip’ should be acceptable to a Christian. We should not participate in gossip or listen to gossip. A friend who is a habitual gossiper is reason enough to end a relationship.

 We always have options we can remain silent when asked certain questions; we can change the topic; we can excuse ourselves from the conversation. But we cannot lie. If you know Joe is a thief you cannot say “Joe is not a thief.” We can never confirm a known lie to be the truth.

A good lesson to keep in mind comes from paragraph 1789 of the catechism: “One may never do evil so that good may result from it”.

In closing I would like to say: a non-believer can be a liar or be a person that never lies. The moral issue of lying or not lying is not unique to Christians. I believe myself to be a person who fears the Lord, walks by faith and yet I would lie in a life-threatening situation in order to oppose evil. There are several stories in the Bible where this happened to faithful servants of God.

I cannot say it is ever biblical correct to lie, but I am willing to say it is possible. The Bible nowhere explicitly approves of lying and as a minister I struggled through the years about how to teach on lying and some other issues.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: “… haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family” - (Proverbs 6:16–19).

You have to decide the moral issue of white lies based on the circumstances at the time. But, whatever you do, do not foolishly listen to sermons on Sunday and fall victim to guilt because you assume the speaker telling you what to do is practicing the same in his or her personal life. They make daily moral decisions just like you do.