Don’t be naïve ..

Non-denominational … is in itself “A Denomination”

The question you need to answer is, do you have faith? Do you know the principles of your own faith? If you have doubts about your own faith, how do you go about resolving these doubts and dealing with them?

Each Christian denomination, especially the major ones, had a specific origin and reasons for its  inception. Yes, being born into a certain denomination may not be reason enough to continue holding onto the principles of faith of that denomination. Based on new acquired knowledge and research you may want to tweak your own principles, which automatically moves you into a different denomination that fits your new-found faith.. but, by no means it would imply that suddenly you denounced your faith altogether … it simply moves you from one column to another.. if your new found faith does not agree with any known denomination, you think you can call yourself non-denominational !! and that my friend is complete hogwash .. you have just created for yourself a new denomination .. call it whatever you like, and if two or three or even three hundred agree with you, then your denomination – whatever you like to call it – is your new denomination.

This is true … Unless you lose your faith in Christ and your acceptance of the Bible altogether, in which case you are joining – or even creating – a new religion.. like what happened in the seventh century A.D. when a priest, previously adherent to a heretic form of Christianity (Arianism and in other sources Nestorian) called Waraka ibn Nawfal created the new religion we now know as islam. **

This leads us to the more sensitive issue who goes to heaven, and who goes to hell ?!

Some Christians – from several denominations – like to think that they alone have an exclusive right to go to heaven … everybody else shall surely go to hell !!

So, let me ask you a simple question… who gave you – or me – the audacity to usurp the authority of God to make this eternal decision ?

Is it not better for you – and me – to focus our efforts to keep the principles of our own faith and preserve our own heritage to the best of our ability as long as we believe that this is our way to heaven? If you think that others, who do not belong with you in the same denomination, are lost and need to change their ways.. the only thing you can do, is ask God to help them (as well as you) to find the way of the truth .. you can in a spirit of caring and love – not antagonism and condescending – try to present your case and generate a dialogue where both of you can reach the appropriate end, based on facts and any newly acquired knowledge which conforms to the teachings of the Bible and lessons of history.

Christians – of all denominations – have too many enemies already, spiritual and other otherwise, so we need not create more enemies for ourselves among ourselves .. after all, this is the oldest trick of our enemy to lead us all out of favor with our God.

** check Wikipedia and other historic sources

Do you realize that you are an army of one..?

If you have a strong conviction of a certain principle, you can go out there and convince another person of your ideas… and when you have convinced that person, he too can go out and convince a third person and so on and so forth.. eventually you may end up spreading your idea to the whole world…

Unfortunately, this same concept also applies to evil ideas.. another person with a wicked plan can go out and do the same.. thereby, spreading his wickedness far and wide..

What is more disturbing, is that wicked ideas are much more easily disseminated and spread than good principles. That is why those of us with good ideas and beliefs have to work twice as hard to convince others of our principles.. and more often than not we are going to meet with discouragement and failure.. But that should not lead to despair.. we cannot afford to lose faith and stop trying. Sooner or later, we are going to catch a break and find the right person who will respond positively and listen. And when we have delivered the good message, convincingly, we shall be on our way to eventual success.

We have to remember as well that even though each of us is an army of one, we also have a secret advocate who is constantly directing and supporting us in a manner the other side does not enjoy.. we have The Holy Spirit on our side. With perseverance and patience, you can reach goals previously thought to be unreachable .. in the mean time, it all depends on the original basic factor .. that you firmly believe in the idea you are promoting.. because any wavering, doubt, or hesitation on your part, will uproot the whole project from the start..

So, let me ask you… Do you have a good idea? something to benefit other people or improve their lives ?

What are you waiting for ???

                           An actual letter written to a suffering friend in Arabic around 1970….

            Dear…….

Love is more expansive than many miles… It is farther and deeper than the Horizon. Love, is the truth that supersedes all fabulous legends. Because Love is not three-dimensional… it has no dimensions at all. It is beyond any measurable reality. It is above the boundaries of time. It calls forever home. As the days run by, with all its joy and misery into what we call the past, love endures in all its glory, splendor and power … for it never grows old.

Some people like to fall back on some of the pages buried in the wastebasket of time… they call it memories. They try to extract out of it a few smiles, or even a few tears. We can only look at those folks and wonder, why should they regurgitate stale and musty moments as if there is no present or future. Indeed, if the past was sweet, then the future can be made sweeter. And if the past was bitter, then we must be able to make the future different. It all depends on our ability to condition that future in the direction of our hopes and ambitions. One thing is certain, that is, we may lose the whole future all together, if we sit down lamenting the past, running our fingers into the wastebasket of time searching for something to grieve over. People who do that, it is fair to assume, are those who lost all self confidence and have no faith in the omnipotent power ready to support whoever asks for help. They seem to have convinced themselves that the future is already lost before it comes to be in the present. They only expect every new day to come with additional forms of pain. Those wretches lose their gifts and talents even before they receive them, because they make themselves unworthy of it. In their folly, they don’t understand the power of love surrounding them and filling the world around them so as to deny them any chance to ignore it or refute its existence.

We may need a lot of time to ponder how a little seedling grows in the middle of a far away jungle. There, among the giant trees, heavy thickets and wild animals… sometimes an abundance of rainfall will drown everything, and seasons of drought will suffocate life out of the strongest. The sun may bake the jungle with hellish heat, and the cold nights turn it into a merciless frigid world. Yet, the brave little seedling fights its way through it all, until one day, it will find its rightful place among the giant trees and extend its branches majestically in all directions. It laughs at the wind, embraces the rain and shelters many other creatures from the searing heat of the sun. Some humans are like a little seedling. Nevertheless, not all seedlings grow in the same way. Many are quick to hide into the ground at the slightest approach of trouble. Such weaklings and cowards will bury themselves, never to surface again. Only the few brave sprouts will rise and grow in the midst of tears and pain.

Mind you, this may be a boring repetition of age-old concepts, or mere analysis of what happens every day. It may be meaningless to some, or significant to others. Nevertheless, it is true. The truth sometimes does not seem to be attractive. Yet it is overpowering at all times. Therefore, it needs to be approached with confidence and steadfastness. That is the only way we can peal off its harsh appearance and uncover its real beauty and sweetness with hope and optimism. Without hope, we lose the only reason to live and the drive to survive. Hope in turn can only be built on a solid foundation of faith in the omnipotent power that braces us providentially and lovingly. We have to believe not only that that power has no use for the word impossible, but also that we are endowed with love beyond the limitations of any human expression.

If we believe that God is love, then we must believe that the power of love will certainly come in due time and in its own incomprehensible manner because it wants and because it can. It comes to create for us a new day so divinely crafted that it feels like an enchanting reverie as our hearts become immersed fully into a non-ending melody of gratitude and happiness beyond the conceited largesse of human imagination. You may understand that, if you take a look at the different types of people around. There are those who fully enjoy every moment of life given to them, and there are those who pretend that they do with varying degrees of success. Yet, there are some who have already got tired of pretending and began to curse the day they were “forcibly” pulled into life.

            Sometimes, Love gives us some clues to understand the mysteries of life around us, to strengthen our faith, bandage our wounds or ignite our hopes. In other words, it teaches us that patience – which is not a human trait – is the slow cooker of the best delicacies of life. You see, the most beautiful rose is at the top of a thorny stem. In order to reach its invigorating velvety petals, you have to climb up some prickly nasty path. Mind you, some fools try to snatch the rose away from its stem, thereby; will never enjoy it for long. The rose of their lives will wither soon in their hands…and no plethora of tears can bring it back to life. Tears, as we know, will only help the rose grow to its splendid glory when it is on its stem and in its own ground. That is what makes life – like a rose – so beautiful and sweet. It is an unbreakable unique blend of sugar and salt, chocolate cake and horse radish …ice cream and jalapeño peppers. Try to spend a few days eating nothing but honey. Pretty soon, you are going to crave a pickle. Believe me, it is the pickle, which makes you appreciate the sweetness of honey.

            My friend, we all hate the annoying laws of gravity. We long to fly and be weightless, so that we can soar up high and be above everything and everyone…! Yet, if you ask the astronauts who spent time in space, fascinated by the sights and captivated by the overwhelming experience. You shall be surprised to learn how each one of them eventually yearned for the moment he would be back home with loved ones and friends where he really belongs. As if the laws of gravity, we hate so much, are actually meant to steady our footing and give us the balance essential to maintain our sanity, our sense of security and above all…the wonderful reality that we are all closely tied together by the great power of…love.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8-9)

wishing everybody a Happy New Year and a Happy Nativity Feast

The Orthodox celebration is on January 7th 2017 according to the Julian calendar

What does this word mean?

Those who love and those who hate…hope

Those who succeed and those who fail…hope

Every human being who has any shred of desire to survive… will only survive by hope.

This is indeed, a distinctively human trait. Other creatures cannot conceptualize such notion.

When you are happy, you hope that your happiness will last, and when you are miserable, you hope that better days would follow. If you have everything you need and want at your fingertips, you hope that that would never change, and if you are greedy, you may even hope for more, yet if you have nothing, or even lost everything, you hope that your loss would be temporary and eventually you shall receive and enjoy everything you…hoped.

It seems that hope is like a magnificent daydream. You control the directions of events, the environment and the cast in order to reach the precise conclusion you desire. However, hope is more than that… it is the substance that gives human life coherence.

What is a student with no hope of success…

What is a scientist with no hope of new discovery…

What is a farmer with no hope of a bountiful crop…

What is a human being who has no hope of a better tomorrow…

In fact, the absence of hope is the profound meaning of hell. That is why, no matter how bleak the world around may be, there is always hope that it will change…how and when, is immaterial…because it may change after what feels like eternity, or it may change in a blink of an eye. Moreover, it always changes in ways you never anticipate or imagine.

Nonetheless, hope is problematic…

Human beings are not identical in their characters, their skills or their hopes. More often than not, the hopes of one will conflict bitterly with the hopes of another, like the generals on opposing sides of the field at war… or even like the mother whose utmost hope is to see her son graduate to be a physician, while that same son’s utmost hope is to be a musician or a ball player. This is reason enough to temper our hopes with a good measure of intellect. Many people, who failed to do that, ended up living their daydreams in confined places.

Now, did you ever stop for a moment to think…what is it exactly do I hope to accomplish?

Do you have a clear vision of a certain destination for your life’s journey?

Unfortunately, most people have hopes…many hopes…but they cannot clearly decide which one of these aspirations should take the top spot in their priorities. This inevitably leads to squandering much of their energy chasing mirages, which appear at the time to be reachable goals, only to fizzle gradually leading to heartbreak and disappointment. Others are tormented by many different expectations, which end up pulling them in so many different directions, and at the end, they leave it all half way unaccomplished and unfulfilled.

You see, hope is not the same as fantasy. Hope is weighted by confidence… in other words; hope is the integral core of faith, while fantasy is just an escape channel, which allows the imagination to soar into a world separated from a painful or hateful reality. When people confuse these two diverse energies, the result is catastrophic. A small dose of fantasy now and then, is useful for obvious reasons. Fantasy can be an excellent tool of creativity for the composers and painters and all kinds of arts. Yet, unlike fantasy, hope is a foundational way of life.

The most wonderful thing about hope is that it is infectious… and teachable!

When someone is wallowing in the bottom of despair, you can reach out to that person, pull him out of that hellish pit and as you do, an electrifying surge of hope has the potential to bring that person back to life. It is almost like raising someone from the dead… That is probably what the Lord Jesus Christ meant when He said, “anyone who believes in me will do the things I do…”

On the other hand, every parent, every teacher and every servant should be able to teach their children the basic means of survival in what circumstances and challenges they may come across. Of course, the main element in this plan is a life of steadfast hope. We just have to be mindful that the only way to teach others about hope is to actually practice what we preach and lead by example. Like everything else, do what I say and not what I do, is a principle that is almost always sure to backfire.

Hope exists in a world of uncertainty. If you were sure of things to come or events to take place, there would be no room for hope. Only when you cannot see the outcome… and wait anxiously for the events to unfold… that is when you will hope… for a much-awaited result. Disappointments will strike time and again, but that should only elevate the threshold and strengthen your resolve… to keep up your hopes for a better day…, which eventually comes with a bigger and better measure of triumph. If you surrender your hopes to the unavoidable disappointments along the way, you shall be certain to lose, and your struggle will be in vain. Remember, defeat begins at the point of despair.

It goes without saying, that it is certainly a good practice to commune with those who will enrich your life with a constant healthy dose of hope, just as much as it is imperative to avoid the company of those who would drain your energy, sap your hopes, and drag you down to their own swamp of despondency. You may only approach that latter kind of people, if you have enough reserves of love, faith … and hope for both of you.

I asked my friend this question when we drove by a beggar carrying a sign asking for money. My friend answered, “define help and define needy.” So I chuckled and asked, “well, now it is conditional?” he hastened to respond, “of course it is. correct me if I am wrong, there are many ways to help another person” I reflected for a moment and slowly said, ” Yeah, you cannot help a sick person by offering him a banquet when he cannot even eat. Help is understandable to be the kind of thing meaningful to improve the person’s quality of life.” So my friend gleefully retorted, “See. Some people think they can say a nice prayer like ‘please God help so and so..’ and sit home sipping their coffee and eating their cream puffs … and that is enough help … they have already done their part.” Here I found my chance to counter, “you and I must agree that prayer is an essential part of the help package. Any material or physical help without the stamp of the Divine, is practically useless and may even backfire.” So after a long silence he said, “yes indeed, but prayer alone is not usually the intended help … it becomes the only option when there is no other humanly possible effort to be made.”

Our discussion lingered on my mind long after we parted that evening. I remembered other arguments which troubled me about this topic before. Someone said, it would be wrong to get involved with anyone, needy or not,  if that person will drag you into committing a sin! Others argued it would be wrong to help a seemingly needy person who is not truly needy but pretends to be so, in order to extract the help intended for a real needy person… especially that there are many such imposters around. Yet another summed it up like that… if the help of that needy person comes at the expense of many others who would suffer great adversity or harm in the process….

So, why should this be such a puzzle? is there a time when helping someone in need would be inadvisable or even sinful? And please tell me why any time we talk about this, the majority of people immediately think about… money ??? is it possible for any person who is famous and wealthy to be considered “needy” ? sometimes you are trying to buy a birthday gift for someone and you think to yourself, ‘this person has everything he needs’ … yet in your own mind you feel that there is something missing from this person’s life which you cannot identify and money cannot buy !! would you categorize this person as needy? Why would such a person commit suicide as we have seen among movie stars and rich public persons? How can you help such person?

Looking at the ministry of the Lord on earth and reading about the charitable services of many saints in history, we see that they suffered a lot in the process of helping those who were deemed unworthy of help! It shows in fact that there is no time when helping someone in need, would be unacceptable or wrong. However, the same discovery reveals that charity required a lot of …wisdom… indeed, a lot of wisdom. Is it wise to jump into the stormy sea to save a drowning person, when you yourself do not know how to swim? … figuratively speaking, so many people do this without so much as thinking, what would that accomplish  …. Check the case of a parent who feeds his neighbor’s child and leaves his own kid sick and hungry! Or that other person who spends all his salary to “help” a needy person to entice him into a career of crime or sin!

Unfortunately, a lot of people use examples like these to justify their refrain from any service to others, needy or not. There can never be a justification for staying passive… looking at the pain of others in a callous and indifferent way. Fact is, pulling somebody out of the clutches of despair is like raising a person from the dead… But Oh wisdom, how wonderful you are …

Look, listening to the moaning and groaning of a broken-hearted person and wiping away his tears, is a miracle of love… reminding that same person of what you did for him a year later, is no less criminal than murder. Who would have thought that charity is so simple and yet so hard !?

Will you pray for someone else other than yourself tonight?

* this would be a good topic for discussion in youth meetings.

He grew up in the slums playing foolish games with the other kids in the filthy swamps, until he woke up one day to find himself lying in a muddy hole by the side of a dirty pool, holding a strange looking small container. He stumbled in his stupor, to fill his container of the dirty water and drank his fill. He was not sure where he was, so, he walked slowly aimlessly trying to get a fix on his direction. Gradually, he noticed there were others like him, walking around with the same strange containers in their hands. For some unspeakable reason no one tried to approach the other or to ask questions.   He was hungry and scared. The whole world seemed desolate and cold… He saw a group of people snatching food from each other and running away so he cautiously approached the scene but there was nothing left. So he wearily went on scavenging for some scraps. The sun was setting now, so he hid himself in a small cavern in the hillside, as the howling wind was getting more ferocious by the minute. He felt like crying, though he did not know why. However, there were no tears in his eyes. It was like an invisible hand was squeezing and choking him. He clutched his little container and fell into a nightmarish sleep. Days went by. He felt a yearning to the dirty pool he left before. Nevertheless, he would not even know his way back.

At the distance, a huge mountain seemed to beckon to him. ‘Come hither.’ He was drawn to the place by an overpowering force. He found himself climbing up the steep rocky slopes, which was getting rather steep. He kept sliding down from time to time until he was so frustrated that he wanted to give up. Nevertheless, the power, which was pulling him to the place, was overriding his despair. Finally, he reached the top of a great plateau. There were very high walls as far as the eyes could see. There must be something wonderful behind these walls. He started to climb. Oh, no. as he climbed up, the walls would get higher and higher. How could that be? How could anyone get in? Ah. There must be a door. He dropped to the ground. Walked and walked until suddenly to his amazement he found a huge gate …wide open!! Anyone can walk in? No guards. No barriers except for a few ugly clowns warning and harassing anybody trying to enter. He tried to get through. They ganged on him and tried to push him away. He was too weak. He fell down, yet; somehow he desperately crawled and got himself through the threshold. What is THAT?

There was a spectacular fire in the center of an endless garden and a multitude of people inside the fire. They were making strange sounds and running around. No one was trying to get out of the fire. Somehow, they looked different from him. He did not know how to describe them. Then, an overwhelming desire took hold of him to walk into this fire, to understand what these people are doing there. Gingerly, he approached and very cautiously reached out his hand to touch the fire but before he knew it, he was sucked into the flames. It was beyond fascinating. He was not burning. He felt nothing at all. But his body was changing. Something inside him was changing. The little container he was clutching was beginning to change too. Gradually the layers of dirt and mud were evaporating and the underlying color of gold started to shine ever so brilliantly. He felt something strange come over him. Something he never experienced before. He felt like jumping up and down, running around and holding hands with every one he sees. He could hear a beautiful sound filling his ears, quiet and sweet …the kind of sound you want to keep hearing perpetually. Then he noticed that the others are filling their golden containers with fire and pouring it out. He filled his container and poured it over himself. He screamed. It caused him to feel a sharp agonizing pain. His scream made some people around take notice. They stopped. One of them, a little child, came gently and told him, “You fill your container and pour it on someone else”

So he asked, “how about me?”

The answer was strange, “others will fill their containers and pour it over you.”

He tried it. It was marvelous. He kept pouring the fire on everyone around. And they showered him with the precious flames. He did not know the word for this feeling. He asked and was told it was sometimes called peace, and some other times it was called happiness. The little fellow who was pouring fire over him started giggling and said,

“You don’t know?”

“I am afraid not. So what do you call this fire?”

“This is…love!”

Here I am Lord …

my heart is crushed in pain, my soul tormented by grief…

I know you are watching and you are in complete control. I trust in you and understand that all things will work out for the good of your faithful children. But I cannot help it, because the agony is too overwhelming and the cross has frightened me out of my wits. The cross your children are carrying in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, the Sudan, Egypt and many other places of the world, is too heavy my Lord…you promised those who carry your yoke, to find it easy and the burden light because you carry it with them. Yet I look around and see a great storm raging out of control. You blessed that land and this people. You came to our earth … from Nazareth to Egypt … You went there and the Holy mother repeatedly came to bless your people there in so many visits. I don’t claim to understand your wisdom, or why you allow these events to take place the way they do. I am but a little creature of no consequence. I don’t claim to comprehend matters far greater than my little brain can decipher. But I beg you please comfort my heart and my soul…comfort your children who are crying out to you. Look at our tears and our sufferings. Look at the blood of your innocent children and the tears of their loved ones… You see how the injustice is prevailing against your children everywhere… You promised that we should ask and we shall be given…to knock and it shall be opened for us…to seek and find everything we are looking for. However now, I don’t even know what I should be asking for. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong. I learned that many times when I ask for comfort, I am unknowingly asking for trouble and temptation. I ask for things, which I think to be good for me while in fact they would be the most harmful. Now I leave it all to you…Please…I only want what you want for me and for all those I love so much. Because I believe that you want and you will do what is actually good for all of us. Yet May I ask…how can we walk into the fire and not feel the pain? How can we go through all this storm and be not daunted or troubled? Only you have the answers… for the power to go through fire and storms can be provided by you alone. Yes you said that your power will be accomplished in my weakness…I remember that…and now I have been brought so low, I cannot go any further down.

Have we gone astray? Have we offended you? Have we rebelled like the people of old? May be so. We may have been divided and striving against one another. We have gone away, each to his own desires and interests…sometimes even at the expense of each other… yet you do not wish the sinner to perish. You want him to correct his way instead. Do not abandon your children for whom you have suffered so much at the cross. You wouldn’t put out a smoking flax or break off a trodden reed. Oh Lord, please show yourself to the world and declare your glory, to strengthen the faith of your children and save those who depend on you for we have no other to go to…it is written, cursed are those who depend on human devices and forget about you Lord… and trusting in God is better than trusting in princes.

Oh Lord, I am no David or Jeremiah who prayed and interceded for the people…there are great ones like them praying for your children even now. You promised to listen to the prayers of the righteous and fulfill all their requests. Please listen to them and come soon…don’t tarry too long…for it is your promise – and all your promises are true and faithful – that you will be with us to the end of time, and certainly after the agony of the cross, we shall witness the glory of the resurrection…

Thank you my Lord…for being our beloved Lord.

Last year we discussed the concept of ‘Truth’ at the time of Holy week. This year we should take time to think about the next most compelling concept of… Justice. However, we cannot discuss Justice without being dragged into another compelling principle…Mercy. These two concepts are inseparably intertwined so that you cannot bring one up without considering the other. That, for human beings, constitutes an irreconcilable paradox. Absolute justice is completely opposed to any consideration of absolute mercy and conversely Mercy refutes and undercuts absolute Justice. To a human mind that imperatively leads to what we should call relative justice and relative mercy, where each of the contradictory concepts is tempered by the other. This leaves the door open to many problems. Because it leads to a subjective judgment of what is acceptable and what is extreme, what is fair and kind and what is unjust and cruel. What seems like a just and merciful law to a group of people, is outright grievous and belligerent to others. Look at the modern day animal rights movement. They want to ban killing animals for feeding humans, and attack research laboratories burning and ransacking them. They like to equate the rights of dogs to the rights of man while at the same time they confuse the notion of fairness with the perception of kindness. On an abstract intellectual level, some might find a plausible argument for these ideas – minus the violence of course – but on a practical level, the majority of people will find these practices absurd and repugnant even if they sympathize with the general idea of fairness to animals. Nobody should advocate cruelty to animals, but in the same time, the majority of humans would not agree to consider themselves equal to dogs and hyenas!

You shall never find a single issue, where all humanity will agree, on the boundaries that make it just or kind. It was like that from the dawn of history and it gets even more complicated and convoluted with scientific and technical progress as well as the advancement of a wide range of philosophies and new age belief systems. Indeed, this paradox is at the bottom of every war, every conflict and every disagreement between individuals, families, tribes or nations.

To further explain the complexity of the matter, let us examine what is justice. In extremely simple terms, Justice demands punishment for wrongdoing and reward for proper achievement. That is where it becomes hairy. Who is to say that any behavior is right or wrong? Killing a Christian to some people is the ultimate achievement, which qualifies the perpetrator to receive ownership of seventy virgins in eternity. Snatching the wealth of a rich man – by law or by stealing it – in order to give it to poor people seems like a lofty goal of ‘merciful justice’ to those who practice it. They even have the audacity to claim that this is what happened (and approved) in the Bible at the time of the apostles. Of course they like to forget (or ignore) a little detail, that at the time of the apostles, people gave up their belongings and their wealth out of their own free will and were never forced into doing anything by anybody. It is abundantly clear that justice in the human mind is a flexible concept. You can stretch it to fit your purposes and therefore it becomes a painful expression of the changeable attitudes of humanity at the time and place where it is applied. Justice in Egypt, is different from justice in Saudi Arabia, or the Netherlands or Brazil. You may also examine how justice was practiced in the USA generation after generation to see the metamorphosis of a system that bears little semblance now to the way it began centuries ago.

Of course we can analyze this forever, but that is not the purpose of this expose, so (let’s have mercy) and move to discuss mercy. Defining mercy is rather elusive. Is it mercy when a mother does not punish her son for stealing the neighbor’s chicken? Is it mercy to let a student pass the test even though his answers wouldn’t warrant it? Is it mercy to help a person commit suicide for any economical or political expediency? Again, some people will find an intellectual argument to defend this desperately, while others will feel sick at its absurdity. Human reasoning is so clever in shaping and bending, forming and deforming all kinds of justifications for human behavior. That is why human reasoning is incapable to grasp the concept of absolute justice or absolute mercy, let alone having a possible way to reconcile the two seemingly antagonistic principles.

Enters, Golgotha…

Absolute Justice and absolute Mercy are among the many absolute attributes of the one Omnipotent God. The scene at Golgotha speaks of absolute justice and absolute mercy satisfied to perfection. That is the reason why so many human beings find it very hard to understand or accept Golgotha, because they try to approach it with human reasoning. Nevertheless, when you realize that even the heavenly hosts were awestruck by the events unfolding before them while they were forbidden to interfere, you can see how far more difficult it is for humans to comprehend the cosmic event taking place at that particular point of time. This indeed is the ultimate display of the power of the Divine. It is an irrefutable proof that “to God, nothing is impossible”

The required task was to reconcile Justice, with Mercy while at the same time preserving the important principles of freewill of humankind. Only God in his infinite wisdom could accomplish such task. When you think of an illustrious and complex human achievement, like the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, deciphering the human genome or cranial cell communication, you casually waive it aside as the realm of a few humans who can “decode these things.” You don’t stop to think how one human brain can see through these mysteries while another human brain cannot. You take it for granted that a human being like Mozart could be endowed with creativity to produce such music as “the coronation Mass” or the “requiem” while other humans cannot even comprehend its supreme beauty. If human beings can reach such heights of intellect – which is, in fact, given them by the Divine – and yet fall short of the unbound wisdom and power of God, how can you expect human beings to understand and analyze the reasoning of God and his plans and his methods? It is only possible to conclude that those select few chosen by the Divine will be able to accept and comprehend how there is no such thing as impossible to God… This very fact has been made extremely evident and simplified at Golgotha for anyone who wants to see it. That is probably one of the reasons, why God demanded that we return to be as children so that it would be possible for us to enter into his glory. Because only if we strip ourselves of the shackles of human reasoning, that we can penetrate the unimaginable depth of divine providence. Not too many people can do that.

Is it any wonder now in the twenty first century that we see the same crowd of humans surround the Cross of Christ? It is the same representative sample of humanity across different time spans all over the globe. The believers are in disarray, yet steadfastly asking for deliverance and forgiveness from a seemingly weakened dying Christ… while a large army of enemies, boastful, more powerful and by far more numerous, is surrounding them…taunting and tormenting them…declaring that they have no valid hope in their Crucified Christ. Many believers now, like then, fell back and lost their faith. Many have fallen victim to the power of convoluted logic, bogus science and the manipulative influence of human reasoning. However, for those few who shall be able to find the difficult road and tight door through Golgotha, there will be a wonderful revelation, greater and immeasurably more pleasant when they behold the empty tomb….