CHANGE: Age of Reason to Pietism

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
– Carl Jung

Reason, reason, reason... People think and they think a lot. Their thinking expanded until they thought beyond themselves and they thought they are the center of the universe. They become so worldly and they started to trust in their own reason instead of trusting to the source of reason,understanding and wisdom.

This is where Pietism started. There were at least for important figures during this time, Phillip Jakob Pener, Nicolaus Ludwig, the Moravians and Leonard Duber. The common ground of these people is they wanted to have a personal renewal, an individual growth in holiness and religion experience.

This desire is good but then, there are also negative results out of this understanding. There should be balance in all things because too much of anything is not good. If we look at their lives, they were devoted to God and they wanted to reach out people who do not know about the Lord, and they even go the extra mile of reaching out to the hardest people group.

There act of kindness should also be our driving force to reach out to others even though a lot of times it is difficult.

Somebody modeled it. I know we can too!

----------Makes Me Think :)

Evil begets evil

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt
There were a bunch of people in the past who molded our history today. I have chosen three significant people who made different choices in their lives that made a huge difference during their time. These are Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. 

Henry was in dire need of a male heir for his kingdom and this desire to have one resulted into shedding of many innocent blood of women in his time. Not just ordinary women but his wives. I wonder what was in his heart and how he managed to let his wives die in his hand just because of the desire to have a male heir and they couldn't give it? No one is in control of this matter. 

Mary I, one of the children of Henry VIII, was called bloody Mary because she was literally shedding a lot of blood. She killed many people, innocent people that were not suppose to be killed but out of revenge towards her mother, she did it. What a bitter girl she was.

Elizabeth I was very influential in England. She was a woman of leadership and courage. Despite what she have been through and what happened in her past, it did not consume her. 

These people had a choice, to be vengeful or to be forgiving; to be bitter or to be better. We too have a choice and our choices in life is our responsibility and we need to understand that whatever choices we make, it will affect others, in either good or bad way. So, make the right choice. 

In the past few days, I have met different kinds of people during the reports of my  classmates and their life indeed inspires me in many different ways.
Courage for sure is one of those. Courage because they stand up for what they believe even though there were people in their time who opposed them. Take the case of John Calvin. There were teachings of him that Jacobus Arminius strongly opposed yet he continued.

Perseverance. Just because the journey seems hard doesn't mean you have to stop. Sometimes, people just need a little rest because this is what will sustain them in the long run. You don't have to stretch yourself until you break, but you need to stretch yourself to your own capacity.

Message. The message that John Calvin and his contemporaries were very essential in our Christianity today. It helps us to have sound and systematic doctrine which we can use in sharing God's Word to other people but above all else, their lives showed how faithful they were in their walk with God. They were not just great minds but they also had great hearts.

---------Makes Me Think :)

John Alexander Luther ----

There were three men in history that we tackled today, John Wycliffe, Alexander III and Martin Luther. Although they were born in different places and times, they made a huge impact in our Christianity today.

We are blessed with God's word and we share in the bounty of what's in it through reading, hearing God's Word from a preacher or from a song but none of these things will have ever happened if not because of the great contribution of John Wycliffe. We owe him thanks for having that passion by bringing scripture into people's own language.

Alexander the Third was known for being the church's chief jurist. His enemies regarded him as great because of his genius mind when it comes to political matters. He was just so natural in his decision making.

Who would have ever forget the contributions of the Father of Reformation, Martin Luther. His search for truth and his loyalty to the Scripture itself paved a way for him to really find out the truth of the Scripture.

We can learn a lot of lessons from these three men in history. We can learn to be compassionate and seek for the welfare of others, to settle arguments and conflicts in a wise way, and to seek for the truth in the midst of lies and to feel that holy discontentment because you know in the deepest of your heart that there is more than this. May we imitate the good things they have made and learn from their life as we serve the Lord.