For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
There is truth in that religions are different. But there is more truth that God is the same God and the way to God is to be godly and to be master of the polarities or contradictions in this world and nature we are in. There is much to learn from them.
Contradictions need not be at odds. In fact contradictions are here to stay and they can complement. Religions are like that. Often the religions of the East meet that of the West.
Religion of one generation is often no longer that of the next. There are role reversals in East and West. Such contradictions invigorate the new generations and set them apart from the previous but in reality, there is sameness, wholeness and life comes a full circle. This goes on and on in cyclical wholeness.
Religion of one generation is often no longer that of the next. There are role reversals in East and West. Such contradictions invigorate the new generations and set them apart from the previous but in reality, there is sameness, wholeness and life comes a full circle. This goes on and on in cyclical wholeness.
Fire and water will yet be another example of contradictions that do often complement. Man and woman will be another. Cat and mouse may be at odds but you cannot have one without the other.
Like it or not, we do often see in a church leader the pastor, contradictions in the same man. He has in him the spiritual man who leads. But he has in him the man of the world with worldly, fiscal and sensual needs.
These do not disqualify him from being pastor but in fact make him more suitable to be one, for he will know and empathise with the needs of those in the crowd or congregation and not expect them to be lofty angels of God.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. They do not and should not make us distant from God but instead highlight the wonders of the world of God we live in.
Life would be drape without contradictions. Whilst they do cause strife but the fault of strife lies in men who fail to see the polar nature of yin and yang in life.
When there is harmony, there is God but when there is disharmony of yin and yang, there is the conflict in men which distance men from God.
Contradictions can divide us from God but if we can reconcile contradictions and see the harmony and synchronization of opposites, we should see the wholeness of life.
Heaven and Hell may be far apart and vastly different but when we can see the synchronisation of Heaven above and Hell below, we see oneness no different from day and night combination that makes a whole day.
Wholeness of life must often go in tandem with embracing of polar opposites, not to be perplexed by them but to be awed and absorbed by their wholeness when seen as one.
This is true divine revelation which we must have through being atop and at peace with the ups and downs of life, the yin and the yang.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Heaven would not be Heaven without Hell. Hell would not be Hell without Heaven. Can we do with one without the other?
It is because of Hell, that men want to be in Heaven. Buddhas and saints go one step further. They go atop both Heaven and Hell and will be whole that way. They have wholesomeness and are in unison with God.
Lord Bo Tien says that if there is sunrise, there must be sunset. If men must work by day, they must rest by night. We must have both work and rest to be whole and complete.
We must have both sunrise and sunset to have the completeness of a day though the length of sunrise and sunset may vary.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Death and birth too are no different if we care to have more insight.
If we can embrace birth, we must embrace death. If we treasure life, we must not just welcome birth but fear not death.
Death will make us whole if we do not shun and terminate life. If we love life, we treasure and prolong life but embrace death as inevitable and as something that will make life more whole and complete.
Contradictions may be apparent and not substantial but even such contradictions are good for men to develop more insight. The following are but further examples.
Death is actually not death but mere exit into more life. Well, this does not sound right but it is so.
One of Lord Bo Tien universal precepts states that we must believe in all heavenly saints and what they teach. But the lord also did say that it is alright to have doubts for doubts do really mean men do not understand.
In time, if they could know more, they may know better than those who say they do not have doubts. Their deeper understanding may create doubts in those who believe and have no doubts.
The Old Testament states categorically that men may have to exact an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but in the New Testament, we are told that we must offer the other cheek if we are slapped on one cheek.
These examples do illustrate that no doubt the two sides of a coin are different, they are still parts of the same coin when put together. Thus, like it or not, without the seemingly contrasting sides, the coin will not be coin.
If we want to know God, we must know Satan. If we want to know God and Satan, we must know who we are, how we think and act. Then and only then may we realise that God and Satan may exert some influence but have no direct bearing on what right or wrong we do. Blame not God or Satan.
Our thinking on spiritual matters are often fraught with contradictions but if we can understand from more angles, we know better. We must own up and appreciate God ever the more better.
We would not want to malign neither God nor his fallen angel Lucifer who is discredited as Satan. God is benevolent and God is love. Surely if God can accept and tolerate men despite their flaws, He can welcome Lucifer back to His fold.
That is why God will never decimate both men and Lucifer, not that He is powerless but that he is all loving and benevolent. God gives room even for men to err, not that it is alright to err but that men must learn and He has faith that men can do so.
Flaws of beings attest to His benevolence. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Contradictions do bring out the glory of God.
Then again, lest we forget, have we not heard what Lord Bo Tien did say that the far may be near and the near far. Those at the helm of a temple or church may well be far from God and saints than those not in the temple or church.
The shady nature of those at the helm may betray their projected religious profiles.
The lord saint said that insects do come to the flower for nectar and blame not the flower for the insects.
Also they are the very ones who need most to be given the priority to make good but goodness cannot be forced and coerced though God is supreme.
These are contradictory considerations at work in a temple or church. Instead of undermining the glory of God, they bring out the glory and grace of God.
God is one but in the traditions of the sages even among the Jews, there is reference to God as not one but many, otherwise how come there are many names of God.
But in latter or new testament, the realisation is that God is one. Such seeming contradictions are not contradictions but merely make us know the many characteristics of God.
This is not just that He is the creator but that not all creations have to do with Him. He is also known by many other attributes and can thus be personified as many gods based on each attribute, but yet they are in fact one.
Because of the possible confusion, some religious founders preferred not to stress on God terminology but the God principle which is Enlightenment. This is no contradiction but is in a way still same, yet different.
This recalls to our minds the Buddhist concept of identity and non identity. With any entity, there are four perspectives. An entity either is or is not. It both is and is not. If so, it is neither this nor that.
So with respect to God, we may say thus. God is one. God is not one but many. God both is one and is not one but many. God is neither one nor many.
It is because of Hell, that men want to be in Heaven. Buddhas and saints go one step further. They go atop both Heaven and Hell and will be whole that way. They have wholesomeness and are in unison with God.
Lord Bo Tien says that if there is sunrise, there must be sunset. If men must work by day, they must rest by night. We must have both work and rest to be whole and complete.
We must have both sunrise and sunset to have the completeness of a day though the length of sunrise and sunset may vary.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Death and birth too are no different if we care to have more insight.
If we can embrace birth, we must embrace death. If we treasure life, we must not just welcome birth but fear not death.
Death will make us whole if we do not shun and terminate life. If we love life, we treasure and prolong life but embrace death as inevitable and as something that will make life more whole and complete.
Contradictions may be apparent and not substantial but even such contradictions are good for men to develop more insight. The following are but further examples.
Death is actually not death but mere exit into more life. Well, this does not sound right but it is so.
One of Lord Bo Tien universal precepts states that we must believe in all heavenly saints and what they teach. But the lord also did say that it is alright to have doubts for doubts do really mean men do not understand.
In time, if they could know more, they may know better than those who say they do not have doubts. Their deeper understanding may create doubts in those who believe and have no doubts.
The Old Testament states categorically that men may have to exact an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but in the New Testament, we are told that we must offer the other cheek if we are slapped on one cheek.
These examples do illustrate that no doubt the two sides of a coin are different, they are still parts of the same coin when put together. Thus, like it or not, without the seemingly contrasting sides, the coin will not be coin.
If we want to know God, we must know Satan. If we want to know God and Satan, we must know who we are, how we think and act. Then and only then may we realise that God and Satan may exert some influence but have no direct bearing on what right or wrong we do. Blame not God or Satan.
Our thinking on spiritual matters are often fraught with contradictions but if we can understand from more angles, we know better. We must own up and appreciate God ever the more better.
We would not want to malign neither God nor his fallen angel Lucifer who is discredited as Satan. God is benevolent and God is love. Surely if God can accept and tolerate men despite their flaws, He can welcome Lucifer back to His fold.
That is why God will never decimate both men and Lucifer, not that He is powerless but that he is all loving and benevolent. God gives room even for men to err, not that it is alright to err but that men must learn and He has faith that men can do so.
Flaws of beings attest to His benevolence. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Contradictions do bring out the glory of God.
Then again, lest we forget, have we not heard what Lord Bo Tien did say that the far may be near and the near far. Those at the helm of a temple or church may well be far from God and saints than those not in the temple or church.
The shady nature of those at the helm may betray their projected religious profiles.
The lord saint said that insects do come to the flower for nectar and blame not the flower for the insects.
Also they are the very ones who need most to be given the priority to make good but goodness cannot be forced and coerced though God is supreme.
These are contradictory considerations at work in a temple or church. Instead of undermining the glory of God, they bring out the glory and grace of God.
God is one but in the traditions of the sages even among the Jews, there is reference to God as not one but many, otherwise how come there are many names of God.
But in latter or new testament, the realisation is that God is one. Such seeming contradictions are not contradictions but merely make us know the many characteristics of God.
This is not just that He is the creator but that not all creations have to do with Him. He is also known by many other attributes and can thus be personified as many gods based on each attribute, but yet they are in fact one.
Because of the possible confusion, some religious founders preferred not to stress on God terminology but the God principle which is Enlightenment. This is no contradiction but is in a way still same, yet different.
This recalls to our minds the Buddhist concept of identity and non identity. With any entity, there are four perspectives. An entity either is or is not. It both is and is not. If so, it is neither this nor that.
So with respect to God, we may say thus. God is one. God is not one but many. God both is one and is not one but many. God is neither one nor many.
