A Beautiful Tug in My Heart

....the Autumn Leaves...

The season is abruptly changing as Summer clings tightly to its end. The green leaves of summer is slowly changing and clinging on to life. Soon...the air would be quiet...serene. Soon we will breathe the crisp air. We sense the beginning of fall.

All is fresh. The wind stirs the leaves and then comes the rustling of dying leaves...falling and creating a sound that sings and touches the heart. Like a crescendo building up to the hilt. Once again the burst of colors and vibrant hues surround us. A palette of wonderful orange, brown, red, yellow, purple and green. The wind begins to shake the branches. The leaves glide away with the wind, others dance to a perfect sonata while the rest plummet to the earth and rest peacefully on the ground. I am always in awe of this change. A beautiful tug in my heart....

C in Dogmatic Theology

According to Theists, God loves all creatures big and small. A God is forgiving, just, fair and loving. This reminds me of one unfinished story my professor told us in my Dogmatic Theology class in college. We had to finish the story and that was how he would grade us.

"So here is God watching over Peter and Paul. All his life Peter was a just person, a philanthropist, and has lived his life following his religion. One day Peter's daughter died due to a car accident. Because it was an accident, the court was linient and judgement was just a slapped on the wrist. In the nadir point of his emotions, he questioned and blamed god on why this has happened. He became bitter, had an emotional breakdown, shot and killed the person that ran over his daughter's untimely death and was killed by police in the process.

On the other hand, Paul was left in an orphanage and all his life has never experienced love. He grew up to be a thief and a drug peddler in order to survive. Much later in life he got married to a wonderful woman who turned his life around, accepted god and mended his ways. One day, on his way to work Peter followed him and shot him from behind.

So here they are, in front of God. God pulls out their files and proceeds to judge Peter and Paul. So here is the question. Will god allow both of them to go to heaven or would he condemn one? Which will he favor? Peter who had been good all his life but had turned away from god at the end because of his loss? or Paul who had been bad because of upbringing but repented and mended his ways near the end?

The ending of that story per what I submitted to my professor was: Since god is all just and loving, God forgave Peter and Paul and both souls went to heaven. Simple!

Not! I got a C. The first C I ever got in any theology or religion class. According to my professor, because Peter had a bout of doubt and murdered Paul he will be sent to eternal damnation and Paul having repented from all his sins and accepted god in the end will be more favorable in the eyes of god. He stated that everyone who has sinned and accepted god in the end will have eternal life. Being good is not what gets one to Heaven. He said, "It does sound quite harsh, but this is what the Bible teaches us. In John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." In John 10:28. Jesus says, "I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish for ever." Perishing is what happens to you if you don't have eternal life. Especially in the case of Peter, he knew but rejected him in the end, therefore, he will be sent to hell.

Give me a break! Give me a lobotomy! Give me a prozac enough to kill an elephant. But I will not be fooled into this again.

Seems like a crappy story? melodramatic? non-sense? EXACTLY!