JACQUES GAUVIN, RELIGION

The Godly And The Ungodly

I have been a subscriber to a news letter for over a decade. The writers have become friends. As far as having opinions of things going on in the world goes, we have much in common. We also have much in common in investment strategy and personal budgeting.

The owner and publisher of this news letter, Doug Casey, does something extra for or perhaps against his readers and that is to express his personal views on all kinds of topics; politics, politicians, philosophy, ethics, movies, books, famous characters, history, etc.

Most recently he wrote about ethics. This one presented a particular challenge to me because he defined ethics in his own terms which are different from Biblical concepts. I profess to be a Christians who attempts to live by every word of God. Doug professes to be an atheist who tries to define everything in his own terms. He is very intelligent but not wise in my understanding of things.

The scriptures say that if someone is not against us then he is for us. It also says do not judge and you will not be judged. And what do the godly have to do with the ungodly? Or what do believers have to do with unbelievers?

Whether we are believers or unbelievers, in God that is, we all live and share this earth and the life we lead on it. As a believer, I understand that God intends His salvation from death to come to all human beings. So those unbelievers will become fellow believers eventually, many in the resurrection. Another Biblical teaching is to consider others better than yourself. Those others include non~believers in my opinion

To use Doug as an example, because he has been so kind as to express his personal beliefs, there are some who come to terms with religion, ethics and philosophy that contradict the teachings of the Bible.

Rich or poor, smart or stupid, cunning or simple, ethical or non~ethical has no bearing on the length of a life or the quality of life for the most part. Christian or atheist however has a great deal to do with the quality of life. One lives in truth the other in lies, deceptions and delusions.

Doug takes the liberty to define his terms and to come to his own conclusion or decisions on ethics and philosophy. Christians are also required to do much the same. Consider the passage that states that man is not to seek his own pleasure on the Sabbath. How does one define own pleasure? Either this is a poor translation or each is required to interpret it for himself. I for example like to watch golf on TV on the Sabbath. I also take pleasure in breathing, eating, walking and sitting so what should I do? We should perhaps concentrate on the word seek rather than pleasure. We should seek God and assemble with fellow believers on the Sabbath.

Doug though would say there is no God so those activities are foolish at best. He says there is no proof whatsoever of God. Of course he is a fool for saying and believing this. Can a man create himself? What is the origin of life if not life itself? Life cannot originate from non life that is an undeniable scientific and biological fact. No living being has ever witnessed anything else. Christians know that God is life. Atheists are like the dead who know nothing.

We are alive. How can we deny life? The alternative is nothing. How can we possibly conceive nothing when we are alive and have witnessed? As long as we are alive life exists and as I stated before life comes from life.

The concept of intelligent design is growing in popularity. It is a far greater explanation of living things than Darwin^s theories and hypotheses. Still there are some who believe in intelligent design who do not believe in a Spiritual Creator God. Personally I find it easy to believe in the Spiritual Creator God. I have never heard a better explanation for life. God, who is life, creates it and sustains it.

Doug says there is absolutely no proof of God. It is true that God is keeping himself invisible to humans. There is good reason for that. Man cannot withstand the presence of God. To draw a crude analogy it would be like having the sun as close as the moon, the earth would fry. Man would become fleeing vapor.

I believe that the study of intelligent design proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a spiritual, invisible Creator at work behind the scenes creating all living things. He is a inventor, designer, architect, engineer and creator of incomparable ability. You should take a look at this presentation from YouTube:

There are egotistical men who cannot conceive of a being greater than themselves, what a bore. There are also many proud and arrogant men. Should one waist his time in trying to understand them? I say use your time to your best advantage, follow God and His teachings.

I found Doug^s last topic, ethics, a particular hard read as I was studying the man and not God. I did not finish reading his thoughts for basically the same reason that I do not study Islam or Catholicism, they are false religions. If you don^t want to be fooled by a counterfeit bill, study the genuine item not the fake. The better you know the real thing the easier it will be to detect the fake.

Doug has about 100,000 subscribers. The United Church of God has about 500,000 readers of it�s flagship publication the Good News magazine. The UCG has around 20,000 baptized members. This number is just an educated guess as I failed to find an official figure. This is about 4% of the readership. Judging by this measure only, Doug might expect about 4,000 followers. Still far more than I can expect at this point in time as I think my readership can be counted on my fingers.

Jesus also stated that there are some who will accomplish greater things than He. Paul might have been one such example. If Paul converted from persecutor to supporter, is it not possible that Doug could someday convert from non~believer to believer? He could have substantially greater influence than I even though I converted several decades ago.

I don^t subscribe to Doug^s newsletters for his personal views but rather for the investment advice. His team of researchers do a thorough job of picking stocks and researching all sorts of relevant information far beyond what I am capable of doing myself. I often find his views interesting and sometimes agree with him strongly. There are times however where I find myself sympathizing for him as I see that he is on a path of self destruction and death. This does not in my mind constitute a good reason for canceling my subscription.

I do not know my doctor^s religious beliefs but I still seek his help and advise on occasion. My bosses and co~workers have had various beliefs but this did not keep me from working with them. My parents had different religious beliefs than I had when I was growing up, this did not cause me to reject them. I have no idea of the religious beliefs of the news broadcasters I listen to.

For the Godly, the believers this is a temporary state. We will someday be transformed into spirit beings so that we can live in the company of our Creator forever. For the ungodly, the non~believers this is also a temporary state. They will repent, either in this life or in the resurrection, and be converted and then receive the gift of life or die a second death which will be permanent.

2010 Jacques Gauvin

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