Encounters with an Agnostic

Is God real?

Is the Bible telling the truth?

Is there a heaven?

Do I really hear God or am I just talking to myself?

This and many other similar questions were forced to surface in my mind again as I had a conversation with an agnostic friend. I have been forced to evaluate my beliefs which I’ve had for years and had never questioned. It felt like 15 years ago all over again when my beliefs were questioned by another agnostic friend. Only that time, I didn’t had the answers and I was forced to seek for them.

This time, I do have the answers. And though they may not satisfy his curious and wandering mind, my faith will nonetheless, never be shaken.

For you see, it is not a question of how I can prove that God exist. It is not a question of how I can be certain that I am not merely crazy for claiming that God can speak to me directly. Whatever intellectual question is thrown at me will no longer faze me.

I am intelligent. And I am wise. And if believing in God makes me look like a fool, then so be it.

For what I have now is an experience, an encounter, that no one can take away. I may not be as deeply rooted in all the intellectual stuff concerning the Bible, if God exists, etc. (despite having finished a year-long Bible course) but I am deeply rooted in my faith simply because I have encountered Him.

It is an encounter that transcends human knowledge – that bewilders human intellect. It is an encounter that is so personal, I know for a fact it is real.

And nothing anyone says can take that away.

Heaven Is For Real

Is Heaven Real?

Growing up, I have always known that there is Heaven and there is Hell. We were even taught there is purgatory. As I got wiser, I started to question what I was taught. I started to research for myself the reality of the concepts I was led to believe.

For one thing, I knew there is no purgatory. The Bible doesn’t mention it. And the teachings all point to just two possible after life destinations – Heaven or Hell.

But is Heaven just a concept? Is it merely a state of being after death wherein heave would pertain to peace and Hell would pertain to, well, Hell.

I believe not.

Ever since I became sure I was going to Heaven, naturally, I wanted to know what was there. Don’t get me wrong. I love life and I celebrate the life I live here on Earth. But just the same, I was curious as well as excited to go to Heaven.

And so began my research – reading books mostly – on what Heave is like. Many are based on the Bible with some base on those who had their experience of Heaven.

shifting sands

shifting sands.

a house built indeed on such foundation is bound to crumble. sand shifts as the tide comes and goes. anything built on it is bound not to last for long. no one is foolish enough to build anything one intends to have for eternity on such fragile foundations as shifting sands. yet i must confess that my life has been built on such shaky foundations. my life. something i long to keep for eternity has too many shifting sands foundations. how many times have i heard myself say that i cannot possibly imagine life without so and so, without such and such. how many times have i thought to myself how life will be totally unbearable if i lost all those i hold dear to me. i have placed emphasis on them. too much emphasis im afraid. too much importance.

yet i cannot really imagine life without my family. or the life i’m living now. too often i wondered how Job handled it all when everything he had was taken away. yet he remained faithful to God. never wavering. what if my life is shaken by such.

would my life be found standing on solid rock foundation…

…or crumbled under shifting sands?