What to do with Doubt?

The Cliff

Isang lalaki, na nagngangalang Jack ay naglalakad sa mabangin na lugar ay hindi sinasadyang nahulog, at sa kanyang pagkahulog pababa buti na lamang ay nakakapit siya sa isang sangang nakausli. Ngunit alam niya na panandalian lamang ito. Pagtingin niya sa baba, ay gayun na lamang ang kanyang pagkalula ng makita nya kung gaano kataas ang kanyang kalagayan. Siya ay nakakapit sa isang sanga, libu-libong milya ang layo mula sa ibaba. Hindi namn siya maaaring habang buhay na nakakapit sa sangang iyon, wala rin naman siyang kakayahan na makaakyat pa. kaya’t ang kanyang naisip ay magsisigaw.. malakas na mga pagsigaw upang kung sakaling may makaraan doon, ay marinig siya at siya ay matulungan. Ilang oras din siyang nagsisigaw. Ngunit at the time when he was about to give up, he heard one voice.

“Jack, Jack! Can you hear me?” sabi ng tinig..
“oo, naririnig kita, andito ako sa baba sa may bangin” excited na sagot ni Jack. 
“sino ka? At nasaan ka?” karugtong na tanong nito
“Ako ang Diyos, Jack. Kahit saan ay naroroon ako..” wika ng tinig
“Diyos? You mean, Lord? God? Panginoon?”
“Oo, ako nga” sagot ng tinig
“Lord, please tulungan nyu po ako, kapag iniligtas nyu po ako ditto, pangako ko po, hindi na ako gagawa ng masama, magiging mabuti na po talaga ako, paglilingkuran ko po kaya hanggang sa huling hininga ng buhay ko” pagmamakaawa ni Jack

“easy ka lang Jack, sa mga pangako mo, unahin nalang muna natin ang pagalis mo diyan at saka natin pagusapan ang mga pangako mo” sabi ng Panginoon
“ Okay po Lord, sabihin nyo lang po Lord kung ano po ang gagawin ko, susundin ko po” excited na sagot ni Jack
“LET GO OF THE BRANCH” sabi ng Panginoon
“ANO???!!!!” gulat na tugon ni Jack.
“Ang sabi ko, LET GO OF THE BRANCH, Trust me and Let go”

matagal na natahimik si Jack, maya maya siya ay muling nagsalita at kanyang sinabing.. “tulong!! Tulong!! Meron pa bang ibang tao dyan??!!”



Marami po sa atin ang may ganito din pong struggle. We always doubt. This is one of Satan’s way to get us, to shake our faith in the scriptures. Minsan po ay parang nagiging tulad po tayo ni Jack, Kausap na natin ang Panginoon ngunit nagagawa pa din natin magduda. And this is what am going to share to you my friends, What to do with doubt?

Hindi po hinihiling ng Panginoon na tayo’y maniwala sa kanya ng hindi tayo binibigyan ng sapat na mga ebidensya. Sa mga ito po maaari nating ilagay ang pundasyon ng ating pananamnpalataya. Ang pagiging buhay at totoo ng ating Panginoon, ang kanyang karakter, ang kanyang salita, ang lahat ng ito ay mga buhay na patotoo na maaaring magbigay sa atin ng dahilan upang maniwala.

The word of God, is just like His character. Puno po ito ng misteryo na kahit ang mga matatalinong tao ay hindi kayang intindihin at ipaliwanag ng lubos. Let’s sight some examples seen in the Bible yet not explained by Science, and never will be. One is, the incarnation of Christ, death and resurrection. Marami pa pong iba. Ngunit bagama’t may mga bagay na ganito, wala po tayong dahilan para magduda, dahil sa mundo na ating ginagalawan, nababalot tayo ng misteryo na hindi po natin maaabot. The difficulty lies solely in the weakness and narrowness of the human mind.

The Prince of Greneda 

The prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid’s ancient prison called “The Place of the Skull.” The fearful, dirty, and the dreary nature of the place earned it the name. Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. The prince was given one book to read the entire time—the Bible. With only one book to read, he read it over hundreds and hundreds of times. The book became his constanct companion.

After thirty-three years of imprisonment, he died. When they came in to clean out his cell, the found some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft stone of the prison walls. The notations were of this sort: Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter j; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible; no word or name of more than six syllables can be found in the Bible.

When Scott Udell originally noted these facts in an article in Psychology Today, he noted the oddity of an individual who spent thirty-three years of his life studying what some have described as the greatest bookk of all time yet could only glean trivia. From all we know, he never made any religious or spiritual commitment to Christ, but he became an expert at Bible trivia

 Human knowledge can not understand the purpose of omniscience. Sa bawat pagbabasa at pagsasaliksik ay kinakailangan po natin ng guidance ng Holy Spirit. Sa inyo pong palagay, nagkaroon kaya ng relasyon sa author ng Bibliya ang prinsipe ng Greneda sa kanyang pagbabasa ng Bibliya ng ilang ulit? The answer is no, He didn’t developed a relationship with the Lord as he read on His words multiple times, he then became an expert of Bible trivias.

It is said in Deutoronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the Lord; those things which are revealed belong to us”

Mayroon po talagang mga bagay na kung atin pong titingnan ay mahirap maunawaan. Ngunit gagawin po ng Diyos na payak at simple ito sa mga tunay na naghahanap ng pagkaunawa.

The Eskimo Wolf Hunters

According to tradition, this is how an Eskimo hunter kills a wolf.

First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. He then adds layer after layer of blood until the blade is completely concealed by the frozen blood.

Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder, the wolf licks the blade in the cold Arctic night. His craving for blood becomes so great that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue. Nor does he recognize the instant when his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite continues to crave more until in the morning light, the wolf is found dead on the snow!

Tingnan po natin ang lobo, nagsimula po ang lahat sa pagamoy ng frozen blood, then kanyang tinikman, hanggang sa hindi niya namamalayan na siya pala ay nabubuhay sa sarap ng paglasap sa sarili niyang dugo. Safe and delicious at first, but more and more leading to its death. Ganyan din po tayo my dear friends, ang patuloy po natin na pagibig sa kasalanan ang nagiging dahilan kung bakit pinagdududahan na natin ang salita ng Diyos.

Papaano po kaya tayo tuluyang maniniwala?

Through Evidences.

Saan poi to nakikita? Ito ay ang evidence of experience. Nais po ng ating Panginoon na tayo mismo ay makaranas ng kadalisayan ng kanyang salita at katotohanan ng kanyang pangako

Sabi nga po, “See for yourself”.

The bible says in Psalms 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Panghawakan natin ang pangako ni Christ. It is written in John 16:24 “Ask and ye shall receive”. God’s promises never failed. And they can never, ever, ever can fall!

In closing my dear friends,

Mawawala lamang an gating pagdududa sa Diyos kapag naranasan natin ang Diyos sa ating buhay….

…kapag naranasan natin na kapag tayo’y nagugutom, nariyan Siya para tayo’y bigyan ng makakain

…kapag tayo ay may problema--- nararanasan natin na Siya ang tumutulong sa atin

Kapag naransan natin ang pag-ibig ng Diyos sa ating buhay, walang puwang ang pagdududa sa ating puso at isipan, sapagkat ang Diyos ay ang buhay na patotoo para sa atin.

This sermon was delivered during the Divine hour of Service year 2009. Short stories were derived from the book “100 Hot illustrations for youth talks”, images from google images