Metanoia 2 - Continuation:

Ourselves: Like God!
Full of Happiness for ever and ever
Formula of Success in the Bible
 

3- About Ourselves:

    You and I are limited, prone to sickness and to make mistakes... we even know we have to die!... compared with the world, you and I are like an atom compared with the universe.

    But there is much more about each one of us... we need a very profound metanoia on us, on how to see ourselves.   

    David proclaimed with amazement:
    What is man (and woman) that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: (Ps.8:4-6).

     For God, you and I are His delights!... God delights in you more that in the immensity of the oceans, more that in all the mountains and valleys put together, more that in all the planets and stars... you and I, each one of us, is the delight of God... He rejoices in the whole world, but delights in mankind (Prov.8:31, Ps.149:4).

    God made each one of us at His image and likeness (Gen.1:26-27)... and we have to understand it:

    Your picture is your "image", but if your picture could talk like you, and smile like you, and walk like you, then it will be "like you" "your likeness".

    Well, God made us at his "image" and His "likeness"... we are "like God"!, every man and every woman... every drug-addict is like God, every criminal is like God...

    You are 'like God"... free like God, immortal like God, eternal like God, made to love like God, made to rejoice like God, for ever and ever...

    Yes, we are going to die, but death for a man and a woman is the entrance to the real life, eternal, for ever and ever...

    The problem is that we only see our body in the mirror, we do not se our spirit, our soul... we don't see the greatness of us... only God and the Devil see it, that's why they love and want each one of us so much!.   

    Dogs and monkeys are not "free", they have not "free will", but "instinct"... a thousand monkeys put in a situation to have sex will have sex a thousand times, but not a person!: He can have sex or reject it, because that woman is another's wife... and that's why animals are not "responsible"... of course, they can be trained, but, again, they will be acting by instinct, having the same response 100 times out of 100 trials, but not free will to choose...   

    Animals are not like God, they are not free, they are not eternal, they can't even dream of an afterlife... it has never been found a cemetery or an altar made by a monkey, when even in the most primitive civilizations known we always find a kind of either cemeteries or altars... the Pyramids of Egypt are a good example...

    St. Francis of Assisi was asked: Look Francis, fish look happy in the water, birds look happy flying, even cockroaches look happy... but many men look unhappy... why?... Francis answered: For the fish and birds and animals the earth is all they have, for humans all the earth is not enough, they are made for Heaven, and all the universe compared to Heaven is like a drop of water compared to the ocean.    

    St. Augustine puts it this way: We came from God, we go to God, and we will never be completely happy until we rest fully in God.   

    Here on earth, only "humans" are free, that's why only humans are "responsible", all the animals and everything in the universe always make the "will of God", always honor God... only men and women can do the will of God, honor Him, or spit Him in His face... that's "sin"!, an offense made to God who is infinite, and can only be repaid by an infinite. The only infinity humans have is eternity, and that's why there is eternal Heaven and Hell... an eternal reward for those who honor the Infinite on earth, or an eternal punishment for those who offend the Infinite on earth.

    And otherwise, if there were not Heaven and Hell this life on earth would be a great parade of injustices for humans: Many bad people triumph while many good persons live in poverty and sickness... a ball player makes millions, while a mother makes nothing!... a singer makes a million in an hour, while a mine worker makes peanuts in a year... crooks are honored, and honest people ignored... to be famous, all day on TV and the newspapers, it looks like you just have to commit a horrible crime...

    Without Heaven and Hell justice could never be achieved for humans... Yes, common sense says Heaven and Hell have to be.

    Heaven and Hell do exist, according to the Bible and Koran, and the believe of 3,000 million people today on Earth.

    You and I have been made to go to an eternal Heaven of happiness... God wants everybody to go to Heaven (1Tim.2:4).

    Every person wants to be happy, full of joy... and for ever and ever... but each one of us is like an infinite well, the more pleasures and honors and wealth we put in it the more dissatisfy we feel... it is an infinite well that only can be filled with the infinite, with God.  

    Nothing on earth can ever satisfy a human being...this earth is like an atom compared with the universe, and the whole universe is like an atom compared with Heaven!... the greatest joy on earth compared with the joy in Heaven is like a drop of water compared with the ocean... Paul puts it this way: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Cor.2:9).

    Whatever we consider to be a joy here on earth, honor, pleasure, wealth, glory, will be heightened millions of times beyond anything we can conceive when we get to Heaven... 

    Heaven is the greatest business of any human on earth... the greatest success!... to become a doctor or a lawyer or the president or king of the country is almost nothing comparing with going to eternal Heaven... it is like a little stone compared with the mountain...

    If Stalin and Einstein and Columbus are now in Heaven, they did every thing right on earth... if anyone of them is now in Hell, he made an idiot of his only life on earth!.

    The Gospel is about Jesus who saved us... to go to Heaven!... "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!"... In Heaven! (Jn.3:16).

    Heaven is a real place where you're really going to see and live with all the beauties and glories and pleasures that you can imagine... and much more!... to be a most valuable player or the greatest movie star is almost nothing, like a speck compared with the glorious universe of Heaven!...

    Heaven is the greatest place to be and the greatest place to look forward to, and I'm thrilled and excited about it, and I want to get you thrilled and excited about it!...

    Furthermore, you and I are bound to Heaven!... but you and I may end up in Hell!

    Every human being, from Adam, will go to eternal Heaven or to eternal Hell, after death... rejoicing every minute for an eternity in Heaven, or continually suffering eternally in Hell. Eternally with God, or eternally with Satan!. 

    Two eternities are waiting for us: Eternally in Heaven or eternally in Hell... they are for you and for me!... know it or not... believe it or not... like it or not... it is a fact!... like the existence of Calcutta and the oxygen... they are a fact, believe it or not!.

    After death, you and I will go to Heaven or to Hell... if you are a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist... you will go to Heaven or to Hell after your death... if you are from Europe, or America, or Asia, or Africa, or Oceania... you will go to Heaven or to Hell after you die on earth!... and that's for sure!.

    The false theory of Reincarnation is a lie of the Devil to enslave about 1,500 million people today on earth, and the root of the infamous Caste System in India...

    There is a big surprise waiting for many Hindus and Buddhists and Atheists after their death... I pray you may understand, and have no surprise after death... and I pray every one who reads these lines to go to eternal Heaven, praise the Lord!.        

    Metanoia... we need a complete change in perspective, a change in goal, a change in life itself, really! 

    God talks about a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit... Jesus will talk later about Rebirth, Regeneration... A radical transformation of our heart, of our whole mental process, of our entire life. (Ez.36:26, Jer.31:33, Jn.3).  

    More on Heaven and Hell
 

Formula of Success in the Bible:

    This is how the Lord told Joshua... and you and me:

    7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
    8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
    9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:1-9).

    The Commandments of God are not something to restrict us, but the rules to live happily on earth, they are like the rules of traffic: If we pass the red light or drive into a sidewalk we may hurt ourselves or others... if we keep the Commandments, if we obey God, we are going to have a good and happy drive on earth... we are going to have love and joy and peace here on earth...

    The same formula of success is repeated in Psalms 1 and 112:

     1 Blessed (happy) is the man ... 2 whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
     3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
    4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
     5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
    6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1).

    Yes, the Commandments of God are ordered to live a happy life on earth... and still more... on top of it, we will go to eternal Heaven for ever and ever.

    If we don't follow the Commandments of God, we will have an unhappy drive on earth... and, on top of it, we will go to eternal Hell, for ever and ever!.

    Do your very best always and in everything, and then trust completely in the Lord... it is the formula that never fails... a guaranteed success!... in life... and in the after-life.


    We will see much more about ourselves and about God... but for now, Metanoia!.


Quotations: NIV at the Bible Gateway 
 

Continuation: Metanoia 3