my views on same-sex marriage

for days now the news that the us government has legalized same-sex marriage has been a source for a very lively discussion. though i live in a country that still values the institution of marriage based on the Bible, i am still affected and deeply saddened. though the decision does not affect us legally it still is felt globally because of social media; my own social media accounts are very colorful because of the rainbow colored profiles in support and celebration of this ruling. 

i felt that i have to say something about this issue and i remember that i have read something about this topic written by a perceptive and gracious woman. in it she summarized what i felt and believe.

this is what charissa wrote:

picture taken during the time we went to dahilayan park

I’m tackling a different and far more difficult topic today that I usually address on my blog. For the past few days I’ve been weighing whether anything more actually needs to be said but, my heart is heavy over it and there are some things I’d like to say.

If you comment here (and I hope you do), please write with honesty but, more importantly, write with grace. Remember behind every “problem” there are people. Living, breathing, feeling, loving human beings. We don’t need to flog each other with our words in order to communicate.

This post is an extremely simplified look at homosexuality and gay marriage.

For me this topic is one of the most difficult intersections of my faith and life in our world today. I’ve wrestled with it academically (in a counseling program), emotionally (with friends who are gay) and prayerfully as I tried to reconcile a God, self-defined as love, with the church’s heated and often scathing response to this topic. 

I understand why it generates such strong responses. This topic touches on every aspect of who we are as humans – the emotional, relational, spiritual, moral, cognitive and, of course, sexual. Responses are fueled by each of those components.

We’re holistic people responding to a holistic issue.

What breaks my heart is the way many are responding. I am not gay but…what if, as a Christian, I struggled with same-sex attraction? Would I find a place of safety, friendship and grace in the church or with fellow believers? 

Not with the majority, I wouldn’t.

Jesus was neither homophobic nor a gay rights activist. We misrepresent his character when we force him into either box. We seem to allow ourselves only two categories; liberal and loving or conservative and cold.

Those who are conservative must, must find a way to also be loving.

I should pause here and openly state that I fall into the conservative category on this topic. I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.

I believe it for some reasons I hold extremely sacred and, since boundaries are what preserve definitions, the way our cultural understanding of marriage is shifting scares me.

Christian marriage is representative of so many spiritually significant things.

God created two institutions: marriage and the church and marital intimacy is meant to reflect the larger structure and intimacy of the church body. Marriage is a divinely gifted, symbolic institution.

The intimacy between husband and wife represents the love of Christ for his church, the sacrificial love a husband should have for his wife imitates the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and His leadership of the church, a wife’s submission to leadership is reflective of the believer’s submission to their God. Marriage, at its core is spiritual (even though no marriage always feels that way).

“Did He not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?” – Malachi 2:15

There are aspects of God’s character a man represents and aspects of his character a woman represents. Together they are meant to be the fullest picture of God to a very hurting world; strong, sensitive, gracious, protective, loving, courageous, nurturing and warm.

A man and a woman’s one flesh union is deeply intimate. The way our bodies were created to connect is astounding; a man and woman are two halves of a whole. Symmetry, connectivity, life-long companionship.

That definition of marriage is foreign to our post-Christian, secular world. When sex is a past-time marriage is, at best, a loose contract. The reflections of the Divine grow fainter and fainter. 

Yet, I cannot abandon that definition. It’s written on my heart.

My faith requires I accept certain limits, certain boundaries, but it demands I love and serve everyone regardless of whether they fall inside, outside or around those limits.Just like my Savior did.

I also cannot forget the struggle many of my gay friends are facing. Their longing for intimacy, companionship and, yes, marriage is no less legitimate than mine. Sexuality is complex and, while a discussion of the supposed “sources” of homosexuality is far outside the scope of this post, I am strongly amiss if I suggest such desires can be easily resolved (for those who believe they should be)  or easily “dealt with” through heterosexual marriage, counseling or repression.

Let’s not confuse two separate issues – homosexuality and gay marriage and especially, let’s not belittle the emotions and desires of those who are gay by suggesting those things don’t matter.  Those of us who hold a conservative position on this topic also have a sacred responsibility to speak our view with grace and truth. We walk a fine line suspended over beating hearts.

I realize this post does not reflect the popular opinion, even among Christians, and I’m not sure how it will be received. The truths included are not new but there is much I didn’t touch on. I hope what was said has been communicated with both honesty and grace.

are you what you're thinking?

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. 

Philippians 4:8

tonight's devotional did not make me feel good - at all. i want a verse that speaks to me about having faith, or that God would provide and that God just wants me to wait etc. 

but then i read this verses tonight and it hits me. because i could use this. this is what i need. i have to be positive in my thoughts. i have to screen my thoughts no matter how tempting to do otherwise. i heard and read somewhere that "you are what you think". and if that is the case i don't want to be what i am thinking a lot of times.

those does not glorify God. i want to be positive, to be an encourage r, to be confident. not because i can do it but because i have God by my side. 

A reminder to myself today:

* i don't need new things to make me happy. sure i get excited when i get new stuff. but right at this moment in my life i want more to be a blessing. to be a change. to help effect change. i might be talking-non-sense to others because i admit it who, would not be happy with a new shoes? or a classic looking bag? a shiny new gadget? but i have to check myself. stuffs are not what are making me they are tools to reach my goal - to be a catalyst of change not a material hoarder. if i feel empty or lacking i don't want to go around rushing to "shop" because "to every girls problem, shopping is the cure".

this is not a recent discovery i have felt this way even before. whenever i get lots of material blessings, or financial abundance i feel a little displaced. i start thinking that i feel guilty which is not healthy at all because I am 100 percent sure that every good and perfect gifts comes from above, i feel like maybe there is more to what i recieved than meets the eye when i get a blessing financial, material or otherwise.

i know i have a long way in learning and growing in many areas in my life. but i really do want that i will be able to communicate my purpose. i am here because God wants me to be here. I am doing what God wants me to do. he wants me to do it competently. humbly. passionately. and that if i do it that way i will be able to reflect his glory. 

   ------

journal Feb 21, 2014

dinner date with manny pacquio

tonight is a great night. i cannot sleep until i have written something down about what happened.

stairway decorated in preparation for chinese new year!

 this was supposed to be an ordinary night. I got the pork out and readied the corn that i am going to prepare for dinner. i was just waiting for maria and while the pork is thawing on the sink, i turned on you tube to my favorite 30 minute full body work out.

listening to pacquio's testimony

i was not even done with the first leg warm ups when my phone rang and margie was asking telling me to get ready because we are going to have dinner with Manny Pacquio. yeps, THE Manny Pacquio. the one that has won 8 world division championships in boxing. i was at first hesitant because earlier i already said no as my budget wont allow me to have this date with Pacquio. but margie was insistent that we already have a ticket so i dressed hastily (5-6 mins) and then i am off. 

the dinner was held in the beautiful Marco Polo Plaza, Cebu. it was a very nice place. when we got there people were already eating and after saying hi's and hello's to some friends, we proceed to our dinner. 

we had this, "should-we-eat-dinner-first-or-should-we-take-pictures-now?" conversation but in the end our shyness won over and we finished dinner without one snap. it was a delicious one but also the fastest buffet dinner that I've had for a long time. 

please don't worry. i really did eat dinner. this was dessert. and no, i'm not deiting. lol

a confession. i am not really manny pacqiou's fan. every time he has a fight i tend to side with the opponent rationalizing that "poor-opponent-guy-is-gonna-get-knocked-down" real soon anyway. and also i was thinking that there will really come a time that manny would soon lose to someone. i mean he cant be champion forever right?

I was among the many in Christ-believing community, of course, that was very happy that manny has confessed that he has believed in Jesus Christ already and is a born-again christian. 

but i tell you that not until tonight, when i heard him talked about his new found faith (3 years is still new, right?) that i was utterly convinced that he is not just "doing Christianity" as a new hobby. when he talks, it is apparent how much he loves God and is trying to convey to his listeners the same love that he felt for his Saviour. it was really amazing.

he talks about being so hungry for God's word that he wanted to have bible study everyday. he said he comes home from his daily training more excited because he is going to be studying the word of God! he testified about how he nearly lost his wife and ending his life (rhyming there!) because he felt that he has no purpose anymore but that God found him and first talked to him in his dreams. that  dream was the reason he seek pastors/teachers to help him understand the Bible. he then studied the word of God with passion and curiosity and open-mindedness and slowly understood what his real purpose in life is.

finally! a picture with the champ himself! (left-right) I, Jore, Pacman, & Margie

he is a very simple and ordinary looking man. he speaks with such conviction and confessed that the only thing that keeps him going is knowing that God loves him and has died for him.

was dissatisfied with our photo op with pacman, so we have to do this. margie & i.

despite his millions, his houses, his cars, his fame, his authority, his ability to knocked down his opponents in the ring - everything that almost a lot of people wants and longs for - he remained unfulfilled, he was unsatisfied and is overwhelmed with discontentment - until he found everything that he did not know he was looking when he surrendered his life in Jesus Christ!

tonight, i am very blessed. i am encouraged. 

marco polo plaza hotel lobby

and i promise i will cheer for manny pacquio with all my heart in his next fight. 

guard your heart

Proverbs 4:23  Above all else, guard your heart; for out of it are the issues of life.

source

too often we are fooled with surface appearances. we thought that if a person looks good and acts well-behaved in church he or she is a true picture of holiness and exemplar christian living. 

a deeper problem is usually not visible with the naked eyes. we may have observed that we are too often very adept in hiding what is the true condition of our heart. we masked it, we hide it well because we don't want others to know that we are weak and we need help. i think this is also because we sometimes see our that problems are the same with what others are undergoing and they seem to be well-equipped and strong enough to overcome it with the sheer power of their will. we are embarrassed to admit that when we face the same problem we do not have the strength (enough) to go through it on our own. so we hide it... we cover it in our laughter, we cover it in more work/ministry, we slap others on the back, we entertain, we encourage but deep inside us we are crumbling; we long for release, we want to cry out, we clamor for help and too often we are too hurting to heal on our own.

we fail to realize that the problem usually runs deeper. when we see people with bad temper or insulting attitude we think, "that man needs to keep his cool',  but unless that man realize that his reall problem is his heart , the motives, the desires, the longing, he could not really "keep his cool". 

too often we get busy with life. we get preoccupied with something else that we are not observant that we have let the ability of our heart to function like it's supposed to, to long and want and desire for the things that is of God.

my heart is wrung-out, tired, achy, numb, and stony. i look forward to God's promise in this verse: 

Ezekeil 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

week full in instagram :)

i've had a very busy past 2 weeks. juggling activities and schedules. it was a fantastic week; with lots of learning,  realizations and education.

 bachuchay playing outside SM mall while waiting for the ride.

 gin and tonic in the morning? lol

 i was accidentally thrown about to attend a child protection policy conference for compassion partners. i was not scheduled to but i end up appreciating it more than i expected. like many of the compassion's training programs, it made me re-evaluate my ministry and passion for the welfare of the children. 

 one sleepy moment during the conference. cheetos kept me alive.

 children's camp. 90 kids came and join. sleep over. too much hyper-activity in 20 hours. but the result is really life-changing. for the kids. for the staffs. for the australian visitors.

 output for children's artwork :)

 it rained 3 days out of 7 in one week. it was almost a storm. there was also a 7 point something earthquake. but we only felt a little shaking. thankful that it did not cause so much devastation like the last one though.

and i also had my first try of authentic korean food. spicy pork is awesome. and green chili is not as hot as i thought it would be.

 sleeping was a struggle. this was taken @ six in the morning. waiting for the sun rise.

declining knowledge

As wonderful as life is in so many respects, many of us look at our world today and wonder how we are ever going to get out of the messes that still seem to afflict us so sorely. Many people appear stuck in fairly unremarkable relationships at home or at work. Our political process seems broken by a fundamental incapacity to see our common interests or devise ways of pursuing them together. We become obsessed with our differences and fearful of others and absorbed with our entertainments to an extent that we seem unable to seriously contemplate how we might reach out to one another instead of building higher walls. It is for all of these reasons that the most urgent need today is for human beings to regain or discover a clear vision of God.

Observing this gathering calamity decades ago, A. W. Tozer wrote:

The decline of the knowledge of [God] has brought on our troubles …. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as he is …. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing [what most ails us at the present time].

Only a fresh vision of God will reorient us on the inside in the manner needed to begin to truly reorient our world on the outside.

*excerpt from Dan Meyer's sermon* 

i am a reformer

this video is a radical declaration of "my" christian faith. it branded and tightly confirmed everything i am and everything i would like to be for GOD. i desperately want to be a REFORMER.