Lessons I've learned Part I

For my first entry I wanted to share my thoughts and understanding about two very important lessons I've learned in my life. These two words, in my opinion, are immensely important to know and understand. A clear understanding of these lessons will help us prosper well in life. I first learned of these two lessons when I was a preteen. They were taught to me by my mother. I'll never forget the time my mother was saying goodnight to me in my bedroom. I don't remember exactly why or what I did, for her to give me this lecture. But I'm sure that it was warranted.

left: me, sis 1, mom, bro 2, sis 2

Accountability

"Goodnight, Neah. I love you. Pray. Pray for yourself. You're at the age of accountability. You know what is right and what is wrong. I can't save you. When God judges us, you're going to have to answer for every choice you've made here on earth. I won't be able to hold your hand or stand in as your defense."

Intense, huh? To some, you may think those are some heavy words and perhaps, unnecessary for a twelve year old. For others, you might agree with her words. It's not like she was lying about what she said. At that moment, I didn't really know what the heck she was talking about, and frankly didn't care to understand. I just felt sad and misunderstood. I just rolled over and feel asleep.

The Power of Choice

My mother taught me about the "power of choice" in my preteen years as well. I used to get so annoyed with her, for her heavy & passionate lectures. My parents owned a bible study guide that was for new converts in Christianity. This was a large booklet that measured about 1-foot wide and in length. She sat my younger sister and I down at our kitchen table and started to open this book.

The first chapter was about the Power of Choice. It narrated the story of Adam & Eve, found in the book of Genesis chapter 2 & 3. If you're unfamiliar with the story, it's about the creation of the world, and the first two people God created. First, God made Adam, secondly, he made a woman named Eve. This couple had mostly free rein and rule over the animals and the land, except they were given only one rule by God, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Eventually, as the story goes on, the woman Eve is tempted by the evil serpent in the garden. Eve takes the fruit and eats of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She also gives this fruit to Adam for him to eat too. God begins to look for both of them in the Garden of Eden, but cannot find them because the fruit made them aware of their nakedness and they were ashamed, so they hid from God. God calls them to come out from hiding, questions them, and he asks them if they ate of the tree of knowledge. Of course just like most humans, they originally denied their offense, began to blame each other. Adam blamed God for making the woman Eve, Eve blamed the Serpent for tempting her.

Now, this is where the downfall of humanity really started! God curses all three individuals accordingly. As you later continue to read in the bible, the children of Adam & Eve also reap terrible misfortunes due to their parents poor choices and their own personal poor choices.

When we make life choices and live for God, we must do so willingly. Every choice we make and everything we do in our lives is within our own power and self-control. God does not force us to live for him and he gives us the power to choose how we want to live our lives, he only asks that we do certain things, but he does not enforce it. It is really up to us whether we choose to obey or not. Nevertheless, we will be judge accordingly, either in this lifetime or the next, and our loved ones will prosper or suffer at the hands of our choices.

Mom used to say, "Neah, the Lord is a gentleman. You want to do wrong? Go ahead. He is not going to stop you... You have to the power to choose."

Throughout my teenage & young adult years, my understanding of these two life lessons caused me to be completely mindful of my choices and quickly convicted whenever I did wrong. I'd like to think I'm a better person because of what my mother taught me. Have I mastered life and always done the right thing? NOPE

At 22 years old, I still get it wrong sometimes. I've chosen to ignore God and my mother's wisdom. I deliberately have made choices that I know will effect me, or someone I love. Therefore, by no right do I sit here and write to you as if I am a good person or as if I have my life perfectly put together.


Past, Present and Future

Here we are 2014, quickly approaching 2015, and I've watched our world crash and burn because of poor choices of man. Granted, people and society have been doing wrong and repulsive things since the beginning of time. 

Charles Manson

Adolf Hitler

Jim Jones 

OJ Simpson

I want you think of your hero. Think of the person you strongly admire, and value because of what they do. The photos of these men above, some of you may know them, most of you should know them. These men were all heroes to many people, they had a fan-base, a large group of followers & supporters, people who faithfully followed them and were willing to do anything for them, yes, even commit heinous crimes or die for them. By nature, humans learn the most from history and personal experience. I think our world, the people in it, love a good show! If someone in the public eye makes a mistake, two-sides form, 1.) those who support and fully endorse the accused. 2.) Those who want to see someone lynched for their offense.

The followers & fans- will continue to support their hero, regardless if there is clear evidence of this person's alleged acts or crimes. This side will lie, make every excuse possible for their hero. An "unwavering loyalty", if you will.

The opposers & critics- will rip you to shreds, work to publicly humiliate, see the accused suffer at the hands of the public.


Both sides think they're doing good deeds on the behalf of the people. The problem with fighting for one's innocence or defending people rather than the truth, we're interfering with their personal accountability. If we're always trying to fight someone's else's battles, when will that person ever learn to answer for what they chose to do? 

Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone will continue to make mistakes, because we're human and we're programmed that way. But to blame others for our mess, only inflicts more harm upon our lives and the lives of others. Personally, I believe God can't fully work in my life or my families life if I am unable to accept the responsibility of where I was wrong. We won't ever heal from our wounds, or allow other's to properly heal, if we're unable to take personal responsibility and accountability for our choices. 

I want to end this entry on a morbid, but completely relevant note. 

Jeffrey Dahmer

This man is a serial killer, and committed many gruesome crimes. Eventually, this man was caught in 1991 and sentenced to prison for his crimes. In an interview, Jeffrey Dahmer made some profound statements that changed my way of thinking forever.

"I feel it's wrong for people who commit crimes to try and shift the blame onto somebody else, or their parents, or onto their upbringing, or certain living circumstances. I think that's just a cop-out. My parents, my relatives, had no knowledge of what I was doing. They're absolutely not responsible for any of it in anyway and I take full responsibility--There comes a point where a person has to be accountable for what he's done. Can't go around making excuses, blaming other people, or other things. If a person doesn't think that there is a God to be accountable to, then what's the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That's how I thought anyway. I always believed in the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from slime. When we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing, and I've since come to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, is truly God, and I believe that I, as everyone else, will be accountable to Him."

-Jeffrey Dahmer

As a fellow believer and imperfect human, I'm not at liberty to determine if Jeffrey went onto heaven or hell after he died. But it is clear, that he took responsibility and accountability at the end of his days. Don't be surprised if you see Jeffrey in heaven someday!