Philippine Asian News Today Vol 18 No 20 | Page 36

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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY October 16 - 31,, 2016

FAITH AND RELIGION

Wisdom from
the Word

THIS WE BELIEVE ABSOLUTELY; THE NATURE OF MAN

Ben Berto
26 And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after
our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.27 So God created man in
his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and
female created he them.
Genesis 1: 26, 27 KJV
7 And the LORD God
formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul. Genesis 2: 7 KJV
In the Psalms King David
was asking God why He is mindful about us human beings. He
said, “What is man that You are
mindful of him, And the son of
man that You visit him?” Psalm
8: 4 He answered his own question by saying, 5” For You have
made him a little lower than the
angels,[a] And You have crowned
him with glory and honor.6 You
have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his
feet” Psalm 8: 5,6. So man was
created to be above all creatures
in this world. He was made in the
image of God, his Creator, while
other creatures came about by
the word of the of God. “For
He spoke and it was done; He
commanded and it stood fast.”
Psalm 33: 9 And man today has
the temerity to deny the claims
of God and instead believe that
man came from a slimy thing out
of the mud millions and millions
ago, and this idea is propagated
by people who think they are wiser than God, but who, someday
will be forced to swallow their
words and admit that God did it
all.
The Seventh-day Adventists
believe what the Bible says that
God created man in His own image. This is our statement. “When
God decided to create human
beings in His image,(Genesis 1:
26, 27) He took some earth and
formed it into the likeness of a
man. But this “man” had no life,.
So God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 1:
27

HUMANS ARE UNIQUE.
“So, what kind of living being did the first humans become?
Animals share with humans
some of the ingredients in the
“recipe “ of life, namely, the dust
of the ground and the breath of
life ( Gen. 7: 21, 22). However,
humans are in a class apart from
the animals because we alone
were created in God’s image.
We have been given a special
kind of intelligence that animals
don’t have. Physically, mentally,
and spiritually we reflect God’s
image. We were created with the
ability to reflect on, act on, and
respond to God’s love.
“But the greatest gift God
gave us when H created us was
the power of choice. Without the
ability to choose, we could never
develop a moral character nor
could we serve God because we
love Him. Of course, in giving us
this ability, God took the risk that
we might misuse it.
“When our first parents disobeyed God, they denied their
dependence on Him and thereby
lost the ability to live physically,
mentally, socially and spiritually

the way God had intended they
should. Because of sin, the law
of heredity , which originally had
been a great blessing to the human race, became the mechanism by which sinful tendencies
are also inherited.
“The image of God with
which we were created has deteriorated as a result of sin. We all
share a fallen, sinful nature with
its inevitable degeneracy. It is impossible for us trusting in our own
strength , to reject the demands
of our sinful nature , for we have
inherited sinful tendencies.
“Our heart is “deceitful
above all things” (Jeremiah 17:
9) Worse still, we all have sinned,
“There is no one righteous, no
not one.” (Romans 3: 10). “For
all have sinned, and fall short of
the glory of God. (Romans 3: 23)
In addition to all this, Satan takes
advantage of our inherited weaknesses and our sinful tendencies
to trap us in sin; we cannot resist
him in our own strength.” (To be
continued)
The Church believes that
the only solution to the sin prob-

lem and its deadly consequence
facing every human being
is the Biblical solution which God
Himself has made. God could
not bear at all to see t he
human race that He loves perish because of sin therefore even
before
creation there was already a
Plan B, a Plan of Salvation. Plan
A is of course man will
live happily and eternally in
a beautiful world, to have a face
to face communication with
his Creator.
For prayer, questions and
Bible study, call Ben at 604-5811278, Junjun at 778-927-8040,
and Stanley at 604-700-3053.
You are invited to worship with
us every Sabbath (Saturday) at
the Abundant Life Community
Seventh-day Adventist Church at
13062-104 Avenue, Surrey. Welcome.
Our new pastor has arrived.
He is Pastor Leoma Macaraig.
We welcome his wife Shiela, and
their daughters Shekinah and
Shiloh.

Entitlement

Moments
Fr, Jerry M. Orbos, SVD
The story is told about a
boy who returned a wallet he had
found to its owner. The owner
thanked him profusely, but noticed that instead of one $20
bill, he now had 20 $1 bills in his
wallet. How come? The boy said:
“The last time, I found a wallet
with a $20 bill inside, the owner
said he had no loose change,
so he could not give me reward
money. This time, I made sure
that I will get reward money.”
In today’s Gospel (Lk. 18,
9-14), we hear about two people
who went to the temple area to
pray. One was self-righteous and
the other was self-effacing. One
felt entitled and the other felt unworthy. One was proud, thanking God that he was “not like the
rest of humanity,” and the other
prayed, “Oh God, be merciful to
me, a sinner.” Jesus ends today’s
parable with the words “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles
himself will be exalted.” Which
one are you?

The Pharisee in our parable
had an entitlement problem, feeling that he deserved better treatment because of his righteousness. The problem with so-called
righteous people is that they
can become self-righteous and
proud, to the point of despising
everyone else, and to the point
of feeling more entitled than the
rest. Aren’t we all, in some way or
another, in a lesser or greater degree, burdened with this entitlement issue?
Humility is the solution to
our entitlement problem. We
are all unworthy servants. If we
achieve something, it is all made
possible by God’s grace, and after we have done everything, we
say we have just done our duty.
All we have, our very life itself,
is from God, so there is no reason to be proud. Entitlement is
not an issue for those who know
simplicity and humility.
Remember the resentful
older brother in the parable of
the Prodigal Son? He had an

entitlement issue, and perhaps
rightly so, but again, God’s ways
are not man’s ways, and neither
are His measures. God continues to draw us out of our shortsightedness and selfishness. He
constantly shows us the way to
free ourselves from our prisons,
and He challenges us to seek
and to see broader ways of living
and loving.
The saints and the martyrs
gave up what they were entitled
to. In prayer, they knew and truly
understood who they were—unworthy, undeserving, and unentitled servants—and that is why
they were able to offer themselves, their sufferings, mortifications, and sacrifices willingly
and joyfully to God and to His
people.
Taking the healing bath at
the Marian Sanctuary in Lourdes,
France, is a humbling experience.
Stripped of everything, and allowing oneself to be submerged
in the tub of freezing cold water
that has been used by so many

sick people before
one’s turn comes,
is indeed an act of
faith and an act of
trust. In such a situation, titles, possessions, race, color,
and status do not
matter. In such a
situation, there are no greater
gods among us, and none more
entitled than others.
Let me end with a story
about a farmer who asked a nurse
to help him with a wound on his
foot. Taking offense, the nurse
shouted at him, saying: “Don’t
you know who I am? I am the
head nurse in this hospital. How
dare you approach me with such
a request?” In reply, the humble
farmer said: “Ah, okay, please
take me to the foot nurse then.”
Titles, positions and possessions
are not about us, but about our
service for others and for God.
Bantay Matanda invites
you to a lay forum on “Aging
and caring for our eyes” at the

WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM

Tuklong ni San Jose, Christ the
King Seminary, E. Rodriguez Sr.
Ave., Quezon City, on Oct. 29,
9 a.m.-12 noon. For inquiries,
please call 3732262; 9982548;
09174167849.
Today is World Mission Sunday. Instead of focusing on our
titles, positions and possessions,
let us focus more on our servanthood and mission, so that ours
will be a life that is meaningful
and filled with love, mercy and
compassion. We are all servants
with a mission!
A moment with the Lord:
Lord, remind us that we are
all your unworthy, undeserving,
unentitled servants, so we should
not be proud. Amen. (Inquirer)