Humble Conviction

I guess this is perhaps good timing that I write about this.

I read the book Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller. It's an interesting book because it's a discussion about the idols in our lives from sex and relationships, money, success, and even our ideologies and principles. In combination with this book and a recent topic on reading the Bible from a Young Adult Ministry meeting that I recently attended, I read the book of Jonah as a good start-off. I thought this book had a very simple message. However, it has a much more profound message which I believe is relevant to this time, especially after the overturn of Proposition 8.

Everyone has heard of the story of Jonah and the big fish or whale. However, very few have ever read the real ending of the book, much less know what the story was trying to convey. It was definitely a surprise to me as to what the whole message was about. Usually, people stop at the point where the Assyrians in Nineveh repent for their sinful ways and God spares the city from destruction. However, the story goes beyond what the "traditional" end point is.

After God spared Nineveh from destruction, Jonah left the city angry at what God has done. This was the definite shocker. What he prayed to God was even more shocking:

"I beseech you, Lord," he prayed, "is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish. And now, Lord, please take my life from me; for it is better form to die than to live."

Jonah 4:2, 3 (NAB)

Basically, Jonah was not only surprised that Nineveh repented, he was also angry that God was that merciful to the city. It sickened him that he would rather die. Why is this the case?

The only way to understand Jonah's motive is to understand who Jonah was and the history between Israel and Assyria. Jonah was a prophet for the King of Israel. He had a strong connection with God. However, he also had a strong nationalist sentiment. Assyria, with Nineveh as their capital city, was a rival kingdom at war with Israel. This was the whole reason why Jonah deliberately ignored God's order to go to Nineveh in the first place. Probably he was scared to go alone in the largest city of their enemy. However, it was more definite that he didn't want to deliver God's message to Nineveh with the hope that God would burn it down to ashes.

When Jonah was swallowed by the big fish, it was time for him to think about what he was doing and to be humbled again to follow God's demand:

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; my prayer reached you in your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy. But I, with resounding praise, will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay; deliverance is from the Lord. Jonah 2:8-10 (NAB)

According to Keller, the original Hebrew text used the word chesedh for mercy. It's an interesting choice of words from Jonah because chesedh was the mercy, the unconditional grace and love, that was given from God to His chosen people, the Israelites. However, in Jonah's prayer, he said that the people of Nineveh, "those who worship vain idols", have forsaken their own chesedh, that same unconditional grace that was offered to Jonah and his people. It was a realization from Jonah while in the big fish that God's mercy is offered to everyone, regardless of culture, ethnicity, or gender.

However, his nationalist sentiment came back when Nineveh was spared by God, and we come back to the start of this discussion. Though he realized that God's mercy and love was unconditional and universal, he still could not stand the fact that Nineveh and the entire Assyrian Empire was still in tact because of God's mercy. This was the reason why he was so angry at God. It was his strong nationalist feelings. It was his entire understanding in life that God was favorable of his chosen people, and any enemy against Israel would be destroyed by God. Without this understanding and purpose, Jonah was so crushed that he would rather die than face the reality that God's mercy and love was open to everyone, not just Israel.

While Jonah was outside of the city in his hut, God instantly grew a giant plant to shade Jonah from the heat. However, the next day, the plant instantly died and Jonah was left exposed under the blazing sun . Jonah was now angry that God has allowed him to burn in the outskirts of Nineveh and again prayed to God to take his life away. God response was pretty clever:

Then the Lord said, "You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention the many cattle?" Jonah 4:10, 11 (NAB)

It has forced Jonah to think about why he was so angry. His strong loyalty to Israel and his own selfishness has blinded him over the grand message of God and the thousands of lives (and their livestock) that would be obliterated if God did destroy Nineveh. Grace has no conditions. It is offered to everyone regardless of where we come from. The other main point of the book was that we shouldn't be so intolerant towards others. That doesn't mean we should not have a strong conviction of our faith. Otherwise, everything becomes relative. On the other hand, we shouldn't have our convictions to be the center of our lives, therefore removing God from that center. It has become a very common pitfall for many Catholics and Christians, especially in regards to homosexuality and abortion. Yes, we are strong believers of the celebration of a traditional family and the sanctity and preciousness of life. However, when we start throwing offensive comments against these groups, when we begin to do the provocative and extreme to ridicule and condemn, we have replaced God with these principles and ideologies. It perhaps becomes some sort of a hidden idol.

We shouldn't be so afraid or ashamed to express the true message of God. Even though we have strong disagreements with homosexuality or abortion, it shouldn't be mistaken as intolerance or a suppression of rights. Besides, every individual has some degree of beliefs and principles. Even liberals, who are stereotypically "open" to all opinions, actually have set principles and ideologies. Why can't Christians have set principles as well? Being a community that embraces unconditional grace or love, we shouldn't yield our beliefs for others nor be so damning and ungracious of these groups. Rather we should embrace all people regardless of beliefs and lifestyles with kindness and humility. Despite being in disagreement, we should still serve all communities and treat them with love and respect.

In the end, as Catholics and Christians, we need to realize the vastness of God's unconditional grace and love. That our own grace and love by God did not come with conditions. We did not have to do certain things to receive it. Rather, grace has already come through Jesus Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection. The only thing we need to do is to accept it. Once that is done, we can hold firm with our convictions, and at the same time hold them with a degree of humility, respect, and love.

He said to them [the scribes and Pharisees] in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here.

Matthew 12:39-41 (NAB)

That is all.

Cold

Well, here you go:

5) First off, where has the summer gone? I guess it went off to the East Coast because they had a massive heat wave earlier in the week. Especially in the mornings, it has been foggy, cold, and a tad drizzly. Yes, it's expected morning weather in the Bay Area, if I was living in San Francisco or near the water. However, I live in American Canyon, which is much more inland, and it's still foggy. Even in the afternoons when the sun comes out, it doesn't go higher than probably the low 70s. What a crappy way to bask in the summer sun. Perhaps it's the final revenge for El Nino?

4) I recently read an article on Yahoo about how much money does an average person need to consider themselves "satisfied" or "happy". Apparently (or obviously), a person who has a higher income has considered oneself much more satisfied with life. Meaning that they think they have fufilled their lives to the best, pending that actually have a life goal of actually being rich. Also, people who eventually earn $75,000 or more no longer gain any more personal happiness. Meaning that the average person will not be any more happy even if they get a pay raise from $100,000 to $150,000.

This article is really the true epitome of the American lifestyle, that our successes and failures in life is only determined by how much we materially gain. I'm not saying that having a lot less will make us happier, especially in this country. On the other hand, I find it total bullshit that my satisfaction of my life is determined by how much money I have in the bank or what kind of car I have or how big my house is in the end. When I do reflect back in my overall life, I will probably be in my late 60s to early 70s, which is pretty much my end years in life, hence why this is bullshit to me. When I die, all those things that I have gained is going to be given away or destroyed. That's it. By the time I have evaluated my life satisfaction, I'm already dead and all the things I have worked so hard to gain is gone. Useless.

I don't want my life evaluated as to what I have gained materially. Rather what I have I done personally to contribute to God, to my family, to my friends, and to the world. I don't want my life's work summed up by gaining a buttload of consumer products, but whether or not I have changed something for the good in a chaotic world. I believe that will give me better life satisfaction and a lot more personal happiness as well.

3) There has been this constant theme for 2010 about how people wished that they were kids again, or at least younger to the point that they don't have worry so much about their own problems. Perhaps, the reason for this theme is the never-ending problems of our economy. I will admit that life in the early years were a lot more worry-free. Aside from several parental limitations, I pretty much could've done a lot more things that I no longer can do as a working young adult. It's probably those simple things like hanging out with people all night long or eating whatever I want that I miss. Nowadays, I don't even have summer vacations and I'm constantly worried about my finances. Not a good place to be at the moment. As I stated in my last blog entry, it's true that risk and chaos gives us larger gains than what we are comfortable doing, but I can't help at times remember what it was a couple of years back and how much more comfortable and worry-free I was than now.

2) In about 5 months, I'm about to reach my 1 year anniversary work. Where did the time time go? I'm still contemplating on whether or not I should move out at home. Acutally, I am planning on moving out of the house soon, pending no financial issues come out from now till then.

As for potential locations, I'm still thinking about that at the moment. I'm actually kind of excited to have my own place. I mean really have my own place. Sure, I'm going to be renting still, but at least I will not have any roommates (which I really DO NOT want to have again after dealing with that shit of my 3 years of college). I may definitely be saving a lot of money living at home, but I can't be waking up uber early just to get to work on time for the rest of my life (I want to at least have a 0500 wake up time which is decent for me).

1) I found this Youtube video hilarious. I found it through Tosh.0 on Comedy Central.



I believe the actual motor that keeps the refrigerator cold is gone, which then makes the refrigerator much lighter to lift. However, it still doesn't change the fact that it is a great video.

Kudos to you, old man.

That is all.

Since I Don't Want June to be a Blank Month...

I just didn't feel like blogging during the month of June, but I do want to post something for this month.



Woops.

That is all.

The Things We Do

Here is my top 5:

5) First off, it's just so crazy that because of work, I have to adjust my sleeping times. Because of the adjustment, I now wake up so early, even on weekends! I do get my 6-8 hrs of sleep, which is definitely a good thing (and a healthy thing because apparently people who get 5 hrs or less every night have a significantly higher chance of dying early). However, I find it bizarre because when I was in college and even the one year after college when I was unemployed, I used to stay up crazy late and sleep at around 0400 or even 0500. I do love the early mornings because it's a lot cooler than later in the day, there's something eerily beautiful about the early sunrise, and I feel like I do a lot more things than when I was waking up and sleeping late (but in actuality, not really). For those still in school, it's definitely something I would suggest trying out or even adjusting into after finishing, or at the very least get 7-8 hrs of sleep somehow. Your body will thank you tremendously for it.

4) My sister and I were talking about how when we were kids, we used to dream about making it big and getting rich. Now at our respected ages, we have accepted the fact that it might not happen. I believe we will definitely live a lot more comfortably in our later years, but I doubt we will ever be millionaires. I think this is fine. If getting rich was my ultimate goal in life, I probably would've been in business or finance, but that involves a lot of work to actually accumulate so much. Winning the lottery is also another possibility, but that's an extremely low possibility. On the other hand, I believe that as long as I can be responsible with my finances and not buy expensive, stupid shit, I think I will be fine.

3) I find it hilarious as to how everyone is at an uproar as to how Facebook's privacy settings is not effective enough. Now they have changed the privacy settings to make it more simple for the average user to adjust things accordingly. However, aside from the simple things like not displaying your birthday year (which is a good idea because it helps in protecting against ID theft), refusing access to tagged photos of you, and removing contact information like addresses and phone numbers, I don't understand what the whole uproar is. I understand that ID theft is a big issue, but I'm assuming people are not angry about this because they want to protect their actual identities. I believe they're angry because they want protection from the dumb shit they post on their profiles.

First off, people seriously need to realize that the internet is not a secure place to be in. There really isn't a high degree of privacy that you can expect. Therefore, DON'T POST THINGS THAT YOU REALLY DON'T WANT OTHERS TO KNOW ABOUT! I mean, honestly, is that so hard to follow? Is your only way of venting about things or expressing yourself of the dumb shit that you do is to post about it on Facebook or the internet in general? If you're that much of an idiot to post pictures how drunk you were in the club or create a status comment on who you fucked that night or make a blog of how stupid your boss or teacher is and expect a degree of security or privacy to protect you, you should be hit in the back of the head! If you really need to express this stuff, talk to a real friend OR find real friends, depending on your situation.

Also, yes, I will admit that I post dumb shit on my Facebook or on this blog and I do want some degree of privacy. However, I don't really care who reads about it.

2) I had a recent discussion about taking risks and pursuing what I want to do in life. In my last few posts, I have talked about being happy with what I have, and I still am. However, I still think about if I can do so much more with myself and what exactly is that? Is it getting an ideal job? What exactly is an ideal job for me in the first place? Am I destined to be single for life? Actually, do I really want to raise a family? What exactly is the one thing or multiple things that I should strive for so I can say that I have done something useful for myself/contributed to the world/served God with my all? Perhaps this is the new challenge to ask as a young adult. The possibilities are endless...and that's what makes this so difficult. I think I'm so used to a certain structure or order in my life that it's frustrating to have no direction. Order definitely gives comfort, but I think risk and chaos forces us to mature much faster, to think harder as to what we want, and ultimately give us the most success in our lives. At least that's what's happening to me at the moment.

1) I'm definitely enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. This is technically my last guaranteed holiday weekend (because the airport is a 24-hour place). I love this part of the year because my allergies are starting to die down (however, I should have gotten some allergy medicine earlier), it's getting hot, and I tend to eat a lot less because it's just too hot to eat so much. In fact a majority of my lunches at work have been salads. I'm still aiming to slim down much more because I would like to live past 60, or at the very least avoid diabetes.

Also, Memorial Day is when we remember those that have served this country in the military and have given their time, energy, and sometimes their lives to protect us from harm. For those in the past and in the present who are still serving in the armed forces...

Thank you.

That is all.