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| Angel Academy | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 13 2009, 02:08 PM (380 Views) | |
| redsrock | Oct 13 2009, 02:08 PM Post #1 |
Jefe el Heffalump
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This isn't a story, but a..... well, I suppose you would call it an essay. I call it random rambling, myself. Yesterday I started to think about things so I thought I'd write them down. And then I decided I'd show it to you guys as well. It really is random. I'm not sure if a clear point is made, but for the sake of the reader I trap to wrap things up at the end. I could have went on and on about the following subjects, but I didn't. I tried to cut it down to something under 1,000 pages, because I really could have written that long... * * * What are we, but angels-in-waiting? We call ourselves men and women, but what is the truth? Is the truth in the scriptures? Is it written in stone? Is it lies from flapping tongues? I know none of this for sure, for I am only one man with a lack of knowledge. But, as one man among many, I have an idea. I like to think of life as Angel Academy; one continuous trial that tests the depth of our faith and the strength of our soul. God oversees us as a shepherd does his flock. There is no resting with His eyes. They are everlasting. This constant testing is what divides us into two groups: those who are granted their wings and enter Heaven and those who are forced to suffer an eternity of whatever hell awaits them. There is no gray area. You are either in or out. And what makes someone worthy of God’s approval? Do we have to be good men and women, helping others and doing good deeds? I used to think so, but not anymore. Not too long ago I had a wonderful conversation with a good friend of mine over MSN. There wasn’t a whole lot of talking in terms of the number of words spoken, but what words were spoken opened my eyes. The requirements to enter Heaven have always been vague to me. I blame most of this on my lazy self not reading the Bible, among other things. Nonetheless, I’ve always been confused. Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins. That much I know. People have told me that no matter how bad you are, you are granted entry into Heaven by God as long as you are a good person and you pray for the forgiveness of your sins. That makes sense in a way, but it’s still vague to me. Despite all of what confuses me, I still hang on to my idea of Angel Academy. As I said, I once believed getting into Heaven was all about being a good person throughout life. But after talking with my friend over MSN, I’ve changed my mind. My friend explained to me that just being a good person doesn’t cut it. In fact, that’s exceptionally vague as well. To be a good person? What is that supposed to mean? Good is subjective, not absolute. The atheists are a good example of this. Some of them may be some of the nicest people on earth, but that doesn’t mean a thing. They have no faith in God. They have no religion. This is one of the reasons why being good isn’t the only requirement needed in order to gain entry into Heaven. What makes sense to me now is that your faith is what determines whether or not God allows you into Heaven. If you have a strong faith in God, if you accept that Jesus Christ died for your sins, then that is all you need. Faith is stronger than anything else. Faith is what keeps us going in life. Take a murderer, for example. He has just killed a family of three - a mother, a father, and their nine-year old daughter. This murderer spills innocent blood out of greed. Will God let this man into Heaven? I’ve asked this example before, receiving varied answers. Some say the man will enter Heaven if he atones for his sins and asks for forgiveness, staying faithful to God and the message He carries. Some say he has committed an unforgivable crime and will not enter Heaven. But which is true? The crime is awful. It is important that I make that clear. But, on the other hand, is this murderer any worse than a soldier who kills for their country? It is said that the soldier kills for the good of life, but in the grand scheme of things is there such thing as a good killing? The soldier may claim that they are bettering their own country, their own people and their own beliefs. Does this make sense? In The Ten Commandments it says “you shall not kill.” What does this mean, exactly? It is believed that war is not forbidden. Therefore, the killing done by a soldier is not a sin. After all, a government has the right to bear arms and defend itself. However, war itself is a strange subject. What one government may see as right, another government may see as wrong. Wars are fought by the most important of things, but they are also sometimes fought over the most foolish of things as well. And this is where I am stuck in some of my beliefs. For the government that declares war because of greed, what is to become of the soldier that does the killing? If a soldier is forced to kill out of the greed of those above him, has he not sinned? It doesn’t matter if this man kills only because he has to, if he kills for reasons of greed, is he not a sinner? This soldier will be killed if he does not obey orders. Yet, if he does obey, he will have sinned, for to kill out of greed is a sin. What is right and what is wrong? In the case of greed, why would God forgive the soldier but not the murderer? Both have sinned, both have killed out of greed. Are they not both sinners? I have no answers to any of these questions. In religious terms, murdering and killing very much confuses me. And I should also point out that I may be wrong in what is written above. Perhaps there is something written about that. If there is, I simply haven’t seen it. However, faith is not a clean-cut subject either. I think of hypocrisy and I want to laugh. I am 20 years old now, but I will never forget the people that I talked to and hung around on a daily basis in high school. Not just friends, but the student population in general. My high school days really opened my eyes to the world around me. (Granted high school isn’t the only situation in which the following happened, but for the sake of this essay that is the example I will use.) Every week another person would come to school talking about how high they got or how drunk they got. That sort of behavior is bad enough, but get this… these people would actually brag about it! I kid you not! The following is a common theme with these sorts of people: Billy: “Oh man, I got so wasted at the party! How about you?” Joel: “Yeah, man, me too! Me and the guys were smoking weed too! In the basement! Good [censored], man!” Billy: “Ah, I wish I could’ve been there, man! I passed out! When I woke up there was this dude next to me with puke all over his clothes!” Joel: “Awesome, man! I can’t wait for Friday to come! We gotta party again!” Billy: “Hell yeah, man! This time at my place! My parents will be gone for the weekend so we can do whatever we want! My twenty-two year old cousin said he’d buy us beer!” Everything said in that set of dialogue is true. Maybe not word for word since this is almost two years ago, but you get the point. People actually think it’s cool to drink and do drugs and do all that stupid that really isn’t even cool at all. And yes, yes…I know these are all clichés that have already been touched upon. Still, it was worth mentioning for the following… I have a direct point to make in all of this rambling. It’s just not that. That stuff is bad enough. It’s that these same people will also claim that they have faith in God and that they attend church and are religious. They are the same people that swear and use God’s name in vain, which are sins as well. Does this make any sense at all? No, of course not. You cannot say you are a religious person and then go out and do the sort of stuff Billy and Joel do. It just doesn’t work like that. Faith isn’t a button that you can switch on and off whenever you want. People want to think like that because it suits them. Things like that happen all the time. Some guy will get drunk and hurt someone, and Jimmie Jay will say something like “Oh that’s awful. He should be severely punished.” But when Jimmie Jay slips up and does the same thing, he’ll say something like “Well it was just an accident. Everybody makes mistakes. I didn’t mean to do it.” These kinds of people are hypocrites. The sad thing is that a lot of them are aware of it, but choose to ignore it anyway. It all goes back to the non-existent on and off button that these hypocrites adore. And let me get something straight. I am not a perfect human being. Far from it, in fact. No one is perfect except God himself. I only try to be the best person I can be, and to stay faithful to what I believe in. I go back to the Angel Academy theory. Faith is something you must hold onto for your entire life. There’s no switch to turn off whenever you feel like committing a sin. And even when you do commit a sin and ask God for forgiveness, you cannot turn around and keep doing it over and over again. That is the entire point of this rambling essay. To say you have faith is one thing. To practice that faith is another. |
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| Nilloc James | Oct 13 2009, 10:18 PM Post #2 |
IT
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Well wirtten, now I don't agree with your essay but eh, to each his own. |
“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.” I conquer TESFU
Mikey Valentine's forum | |
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| redsrock | Oct 13 2009, 10:22 PM Post #3 |
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Jefe el Heffalump
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It's okay. Thanks for reading. What don't you agree with? |
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| Nilloc James | Oct 13 2009, 11:33 PM Post #4 |
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The topic and your opinion of, I won't get into religion. But it explains your prespective well and thats important in things like these. |
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“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.” I conquer TESFU
Mikey Valentine's forum | |
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| ninja_lord666 | Oct 22 2009, 08:21 PM Post #5 |
Level 21 Wizard
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Everything you said? That's the way it does work. According to the Bible, faith is all that is required. You could be a horrible, nasty person, but as long as you believe, then you're good. Hitler was a Catholic; he's in Heaven. Gandhi was a Hindu; he's in Hell. Does this make sense? No, not at all. Yes, there are the Ten Commandments, and there's even more. The Old Testament is filled with rule after rule, but do these matter? In some sects, but in others, like Catholicism, no. You can break any rule you wish then simply ask for forgiveness and you're wiped clean. In Baptism, you just need a priest so splash water on you and you're good to go. The majority of people in America claim to be Christian, but none of them actually follow Christian doctrine. Yet, they're all going to Heaven because they believe. Religion and hypocrisy are practically synonymous. Nice post, Reds. I would say it made me think, but I was pretty much just nodding my head the entire time. 
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| VickyD | Oct 22 2009, 08:28 PM Post #6 |
Flying Penguin
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It goes both ways, Ninja. I get a lot of crap as a Catholic because people say all I need to do is go to confession and I'm good. But what they fail to realize is that protestants play the whole through faith alone card, so they don't even have to go to confession. All they have to do is believe and they're good. However, any intelligent person knows it's not that simple. I know I'm not saved just because I admit my sins and I know most protestants know that they're not saved just because they believe. And there's actually a much bigger amount of Catholics that believe that non-Christians get into heaven than there are protestants. This is because according to most protestant religions the only way into heaven is through Jesus Christ, so that goes without saying that if you don't believe you're done. Catholics don't take that verse of the Bible that literally. So don't make general assumptions unless you know both sides of the coin. Edited by VickyD, Oct 22 2009, 08:29 PM.
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| redsrock | Oct 22 2009, 08:30 PM Post #7 |
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Jefe el Heffalump
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Thanks for reading, Ninja. (you too, Vick, if you did read it) |
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| VickyD | Oct 22 2009, 08:30 PM Post #8 |
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Flying Penguin
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I'm actually about to
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| ninja_lord666 | Oct 22 2009, 08:45 PM Post #9 |
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Level 21 Wizard
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Vick, you make it sound like I'm speaking out of ignorance. I'm not, I was just using Catholics as one example. I know all about Protestants and their 'faith alone' thing. In retrospect, that would have been a nice thing to mention, but it's too late for that now.
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| VickyD | Oct 22 2009, 08:56 PM Post #10 |
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Flying Penguin
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It was well thought out, but there were some things that you said that I just don't agree with. For one the whole angel academy analogy doesn't work cus humans and angels are two completely different beings. We do not become angles when we die. And like a barely touched upon in my previous post, I just don't think that "you're not Christian so you don't go to heaven" is as clean cut people play it out to be. Really the only reason that this idea exists is because of the verse in the bible that goes (I'm paraphrasing here): "The only way to me is through my son". When interpreted literally, I think it gets misinterpreted. I think what God meant was that in order to get to heaven we should act the way Jesus taught us to act which people can do even if they don't necessarily believe in this. Why do I think this? Because for one there was humanity way before even Judaism was around. Did God intentionally damn millions of his most beloved creations until he finally saw it fit to reveal himself to Abraham? And then after that, after Jesus's coming, do Jews go to hell because they don't believe Jesus is their savior even though they believe in the exact same God and they are God's chosen people? And there are tuns of people in totally isolated regions of the world that literally have no access to the Gospel. Did God intentionally damn them too? Also, I don't agree with your example of hypocrites. I know you have a beef with this, but what ever. It never says anywhere in the bible that you are not aloud to consume substances. There is a passage where Noah actually gets so obliterated that he passes out half naked. Was the man that built an arch and restarted humanity a hypocrite? Really, the only time that the bible gets close to saying you can't drink or smoke weed or what ever is when it says (paraphrasing): "make your body the living place of the Lord." So while drinking and smoking isn't hypocritical, I can't deny that the behavior that comes with it normally is. Edited by VickyD, Oct 22 2009, 08:59 PM.
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| redsrock | Oct 22 2009, 08:57 PM Post #11 |
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Jefe el Heffalump
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Good, because I suck at math. Edited by redsrock, Oct 22 2009, 08:58 PM.
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| VickyD | Oct 22 2009, 08:58 PM Post #12 |
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Flying Penguin
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You serious? The only thing you got out of that whole comment was my typo? Dang... *goes off and cries* |
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| redsrock | Oct 22 2009, 08:59 PM Post #13 |
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Jefe el Heffalump
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Sorry, but you set yourself up for that one. *shrug* |
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| Nilloc James | Oct 22 2009, 09:03 PM Post #14 |
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As a non beleiver I can't help but laugh at how many ways people interprut their and other's religions. |
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“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.” I conquer TESFU
Mikey Valentine's forum | |
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| VickyD | Oct 22 2009, 09:05 PM Post #15 |
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Flying Penguin
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I guess it could be pretty funny to an onlooker. |
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| vanir90210 | Oct 22 2009, 09:13 PM Post #16 |
Budding Lyricist
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I was thinking that too. |
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Spoiler: click to toggle  "I look at the eyes, straight to the soul doorway"
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| ninja_lord666 | Oct 22 2009, 09:28 PM Post #17 |
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Level 21 Wizard
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@ Vick: I must disagree with you. There was no Hell in the Old Testament. The Devil, Hell, those are recent concepts. In fact, considering how God punished people by killing them, it could be implied that there wasn't even a Heaven in the Old Testament. There was life. So, until Jesus came around in the New Testament, people weren't going to Hell. |
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| vanir90210 | Oct 22 2009, 09:38 PM Post #18 |
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Budding Lyricist
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Realm of the dead=Sheol. Errbody went there when they died. Then when Jesus came, all the righteous ones went to Heaven. And actually, the Devil was there from the beginning, taking on different forms, but the earliest was as the Serpent from the Garden. |
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Spoiler: click to toggle "I look at the eyes, straight to the soul doorway"
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| ninja_lord666 | Oct 22 2009, 09:42 PM Post #19 |
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Level 21 Wizard
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The first time the Devil is mentioned is The Book of Job. The idea of the snake being the Devil is a misconception that rose up after. In actuality the snake is just supposed to be a snake, although, it could be considered to be a metaphor for curiosity. |
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| redsrock | Oct 22 2009, 09:43 PM Post #20 |
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Jefe el Heffalump
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Yes, the snake was a symbol for curiosity. It's not the devil. That's a huge misconception about that story. |
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