Living Proof

The one power that all of us have is the power to choose. Most of us were brought up with something higher than ourselves to believe in. Some of us believed our parents when we were told that Santa Claus was a real person, possibly weighing 300 lbs, who could actually wiggle his way down our narrow chimneys to give us presents under our Christmas tree. We were raised to believe. As we grew older, we began thinking for ourselves and choosing things that possibly angered our parents. As we experienced the world in a much more independent state, we began to discover new things, different foods, as well as various types of other religions that people believed in. I think it's safe to say that all of us raised that one important question in our mind: "Which is true?"Aren't we all searching for the "TRUTH"? In the U.S., it's typically dominated by Christianity, although we are known as the "melting pot". Some of us truly never questioned wheth...

Whose truth?  There seems to be this illusion of "truth" when speaking about faith of a particular religion. I find that most Christians use the word "truth", while only relying on one source -- one source that is written by man and inspired by God. When you have this enormous book of rules and stories, you also have to take into consideration who wrote it, when it was written and how many times it has been translated as well as how many origins have been lost through the translations alone. Even the word "homosexual" has been translated -- well more like convoluted into something entirely differently. While newer translations used the word “homosexual,” what it comes down to is a tragic loss of translation of two key Greek words, “arsenokoitai” and “malakoi.” If most Biblical interpreters weren’t pacifists, there’d be all-out war between them on the meanings of these words. The explanation that I prefer comes from Biblical scholar D. B. Martin, tha...

One of my first experiences with things becoming inconsistent was my childhood upbringing. From being raised to ‘do the right thing’ from watching my parents getting taken away by the FBI at a very young age. At first I was infuriated that I had been lied to all my life, but then I realized how human my parents actually were. They did everything to provide a home for their family, even if . . . Although my trust for people dwindled a tad, my ability to forgive them was quite easy to do. They were like me. They lied to keep things calm. I lied to them about my whereabouts or if I had gone out drinking with my friends. “No mom, I didn’t drink. ...I didn’t smoke.” I lied. I was inconsistent. My mom was always quick to forgive me, even when she caught me with a cigarette dangling from my lying mouth or found a slew of beer cans stashed away in a big bag behind my bureau. My friends were always envious that I never got a “real” punishment. The most my mom would do was pull my private t...

Sometimes I wonder if having a “powerful personality” is a bad thing. The reason why I question it, is because powerful personalities come across more conflicts than the average Joe. They’re strong-minded and at times can be very opinionated, not giving way to an alternative solution or idea. At times, there are no compromises to be made, which makes them seem stubborn or perhaps, rude. You either ‘hate em’ or ‘love em’. There is usually no in between. Sometimes, people are downright scared of them, or feel somewhat intimidated, hoping not to get into any type of altercation or argument whatsoever. There are three types of “strong personalities” I can think up: the type where their beliefs are absolute truths and nothing more, and the type where they’re absolute people magnets because of the powerful lure they hold, perhaps persuasive and even possess an attractive yet manipulative charm. The other type that I categorize myself in, is strong-minded, my beliefs are my truths, howev...