Multigenerational Purpose (111H14)

The cathedrals have become one of the masterpieces and legacy from the Christendom or medieval civilization. It expresses the architecture of the medieval period such that it also expresses the worldview of their civilization since one of the way to see the worldview of a civilization is by observing their architecture. Almost all of the cathedrals that we see today were able to sustain for thousands of years since it was built in the period of the medieval; moreover, most of them still function as the place where the service or mass is held. These masterpieces were able to stand strong for a long time because of the right mindset of the builders having the right purpose; therefore, they were not forgotten by their following generations. The right purpose of the cathedral builders are multigenerational purpose such that they consider about their following generations.

In the modern world today, architecture is very contradictory to the medieval architecture seen in the cathedrals. Some physical distinct of the modern and medieval architectures are the details. The cathedral architecture has many details in their design; on the other hand, the modern architecture contemporarily focuses on the idea of minimalism. Mainly, the modern architecture was not build based on the right multigenerational purpose; the modern architecture mostly focuses on contemporary trends not considering about the following generations. With this mindset, therefore, we were only able to build only for ourselves rather than for our future generation; consequently, the future generations will also forget about our generation such that our existence is insignificant.

As a Christians, we should be able to set an example to other people to live a significant life by being considerate towards our future generations such that we could be remarkable by our achievements. In other words, we should be able to leave a legacy to the next generations. Leaving a legacy should not only apply to the form of architectures, but it could be other forms such as innovations that could be useful for the future generations as long as we have the right multigenerational purpose. Many inventors form the past have proved to us how they live a significant life by contributing for the next generations. We should not only focus towards ourselves and being selfish that we have nothing to contribute to the next generation. If we have nothing significant to be remembered of, we could not expect anyone to remember us in the future.

As a personal application, I often have a wrong mindset which is selfish such that I only care about my contemporary world and forsaking about my future generations, although I still might consider about my children and my grandchildren. My wrong mindset is clearly shown when I’m exposed to the problems the world will face at the future; I don’t care about the future problems since I will not be there by then. With this mindset, I will not have the right multigenerational purpose in my life; consequently, I will not be able to leave a legacy for the future generations and my life will be insignificant. To be able to have a significant life rather than wasting my life, I should, therefore, change my mindset such that I should care for my next generations so that I could have the right multigenerational purpose. With a multigenerational purpose, I will be able to create something, just like the cathedral builders, that could become a legacy towards my following generations. Some legacy that I could leave for my future generations are my writings and journals; therefore, I would practice writing a better journal so that I would become a stronger legacy to my future generations.

As a conclusion, the cathedrals have become a legacy of the medieval or Christendom era since the masterpiece was still able to stand strong for thousands of years until this day. This is caused by their multigenerational purpose such that the builders were considerate towards their following generations. Nowadays, people were being selfish. They only care about their contemporary world and forsake about their future generations; as a result, the future generations will not remember us since we’re insignificant to them. When we’re insignificant to our future generations, our life has been wasted and insignificant; therefore, we should be able to change our mindset so that we don’t waste our life. We should have the right multigenerational purpose through our life considering about our future generation so that our life will be significant to our following generations. 

Maintain Locality through Globalisation (111H13)

Through the importance of pilgrimage, the medieval civilization has shown us how they are tied to the covenant community; furthermore, the historical sense shows that they are proud of their own locality. By being rooted to the covenantal community, they practice to maintain the identity of their civilization and also their personal or self-identity. With a strong identity, they will also be able to maintain the moral standard of the civilization and they are also able to be tied to their calling understanding that God have a unique calling for every distinct human being. Besides maintaining a strong identity, the idea of covenant community or locality also allow us to keep a good relation between the people among the community; therefore, having a good social relation such that they were able to bless each other.

In the modern world today the civilizations are constantly affected by the globalization where the people are forced to become global. The people today, moreover, do not apply the concept or idea of the covenant community or locality; therefore, they are easily being affected by the globalization that is currently affecting the world. As a result, people were not be able to maintain their locality or their civilization identity and would rather blend in with the modern world where they lost their personal or self-identity as well. Lost in the uniformity of the world, we are not able to achieve or pursue our unique calling that God have given to every one of us. Besides losing the identity, people were also not able to maintain a good relationship between each other, especially among the community such that they prefer to socialize with the world so that they would "exist" or become popular and forsake our relationship with our close community. Furthermore, although modern innovation and advancement in technology allows us to build our social life virtually through the social networks, relationship are still not found to be as strong compared to the relationship physically built where we see the person directly.

Although the our civilization are challenged with the globalization, it does not mean that we should blend in with the world and forsaking our locality; however, it also does not mean that we should isolate ourselves form the world. A balanced solution is to take the good ideas from the world and adjust it so that it would fit with our locality, but we should also not be like the Chinese who just simply copying everything from the world since it would lead to the same concept of uniformity. To determine and adjust the ideas, we should refer to the Word of God which will help us to discern. Through this way, the gospel will allow us to change all the false or partial truth ideas of the world  into a true good ideas that we could bring to our civilization and still maintain the true moral standard and identity; moreover, it also allows individuals to maintain their uniqueness and calling that God have given. We as a part of a community should also maintain a good relation with our community since the people in our community are those who are able to bless us much more compared to the world.

As a conclusion, the medieval have shown us through their importance of pilgrimage how they were tied to their covenant community and were proud of their locality. This way, they are able to maintain the identity and values in their community and have a good social relationship with the community that will be able to bless them. On the other hand, the modern world today are challenged by the constant globalization that people prefer to blend in with the world and forsake their locality and identity. This cause the people to not be able to pursue their unique calling of God; moreover, people were not have a good relationship with the community that they are not blessed because they want to blend themselves to the world social. To maintain our locality and community covenant, therefore, when faced with globalization, we should take the good ideas from the world based on the Word of God and adjust it before we apply it to our local civilization so that we are still able to maintain the true moral standard in our civilization; we will also be able to maintain our self-identity and uniqueness to be able to pursue God's unique calling for us. Lastly, we should also not forsake our community with those people who are close to us and wanting to become popular in the world, since the community is the one who will be able to help and bless us in difficult times. 

The Calling to Minister Grace and Blessings (111H12)

Neo-Platonism in general was defined as the new concept or the new approach of the Greek antiquity belief of Platonism itself. The original Platonism has the concept of having two different worlds which are the upper perfect or ideal world and the lower shadow or dark world which is our current position. Platonism concept teaches that we should strife our best to be able to live in the upper ideal or perfect world rather than living in the lower shadow or dark world. The only way to go up from the lower level of world to the upper level of world is though a stair which is philosophy. Similarly, Neo-Platonism concept beliefs the similar idea that human being should be able to focus and meditate in the spiritual aspect of their life while they must remain undistracted by the worldly matters. Moreover, they belief that the way they can achieve this state or what they consider as the "bridge" is by having faith in Jesus and following all His teaching; however, ironically, one of the teaching of Jesus  is to seek the kingdom of God in the world. This concept becomes a dilemma to the Neo-Platonism belief; whether they should fight and become stuck in the world, or whether they should focus their eyes on heaven only. The Christians on the other hand, belief that the way they bring the kingdom of God to the world is through bringing grace and blessings to the world.

In the modern world today, the main problem is that people did not understand about ministering grace and blessings through their life. People were not able to fulfill their calling of seeking the Kingdom of God in this earth because they did not minister grace and blessings to the world through their life or work; furthermore, they were being absorbed by the darkness of the world and becoming part of the world themselves. One of the examples is the corruptors who minister neither blessing nor grace to their nation, but rather causing the loss to their nation. Consequently, people were not blessed in their life such that their life will be much more difficult and challenging for them.

People should be able to understand that they are called to seek the Kingdom of God in this world; the way we could seek the Kingdom of God in the world is through ministering grace and blessings through our life. There are many clear ways for us to actually minister blessings to the world. One of the examples of ministering blessings to the world is how Steve Jobs and many other inventors invent new innovations that could bring convenience to the world; nevertheless, bringing blessings to the world does not necessarily means that we should make a big impact to the world, but also by simply blessing other people we may already know. Secondly, one of the ways to minister grace in our life is to show other that we care for them. One of the easy examples could be helping our friends that have difficulties in class.

As a personal application, my personal field of interest is in the area of computers. Through my understanding in computer, there are any ways I can minister blessings and grace to others, especially those in my community. One of the ways I could minister blessings through my computer skill is to create programs that could be very useful for other people. Then, one of the ways I could minster grace trough my computer skill is to help other people who experience problems with their computers, especially by solving the technical problems.

As a conclusion, we as a Christians were called to seek the Kingdom of God that we may receive the blessings of God. On other words, we could also say that we are called to bring the Kingdom of God to the world. The way to fulfill this calling is to minister blessings and grace to the world through our life. In the modern world today, people did not bring blessings or grace to the world, but rather being consumed by the world bringing negative impact to the world itself. To minister blessings and grace to the world does not necessarily mean that we should directly make a huge impact to the world, but it is also enough for us to be able to minister the blessings and grace to the people we're familiar with in our community. When we are able to do our calling of bringing the Kingdom of God to the world, we will see that God will bless us throughout our life. 

Setting the Right Example through the Monastic Lifestyle (111H11)

                  The monastics lifestyle during the medieval or the Christendom era has shown an example of a good Christian lifestyle in many ways. To analyze the lifestyle of the monastics, we should refer to the Benedict’s rule. The Benedict’s rule is still used widely, especially by the Catholic Christian priest; furthermore, the Rule of St. Benedict has been adopted in many other communities. The whole concept of the Benedict’s rule could be summarized to the concept of praying while working; the Latin quotes “ora et labora.” The Benedict’s rules are categorized into three tables of living by faith through grace by being humble and maintaining their chastity, showing forth the living hope by praying while working or studying, and walking in love. Following the Benedict’s rule, the monastic lifestyle was able to reflect the city of God in their community and also specifically in every personal monks; moreover, they become an example to the fallen world or which could be considered as the city of man.

                  In the modern world today, we seldom find a community or even personal, especially Christians, that reflects the city of God through their lifestyle of living in peace and in the righteous way. On the other side, many Christians live in an unrighteous lifestyle that shows a bad example to the world rather than showing a good and righteous example. The Christians today show that they don’t have faith in God’s grace by relying only on their own ability; additionally, they were not able to control their will of flesh such that God’s grace is not powerful enough. Then, the people were not able to show the living hope in their future by easily giving up in what they are doing rather than surrendering it to God and try working or studying. In such lifestyle, they cause the world to view the Christians in a negative way.

                  For the Christians to be able to reflect a good example of the city of God in their community and their personal lifestyle, they should apply and follow the monastics lifestyle concept which is based on the Benedict’s rule. First, they should live by faith through grace by maintaining a simple lifestyle and chastity where we show that we have faith that God’s grace will provide for us such that we will never be lacking and that God will give us enough power to fight against our will of worldly flesh. Second, they should show forth the living hope by praying and studying. The prayer shows how we believe that we have hope in God while we study which shows that we are preparing ourselves for our future hope. Last, they should walk in love such that we care for one another. This way, they will be able to bear witness to the world and become an example to the world of a righteous lifestyle. The Bible said in Matthew 5 that that we are called to be the Salt and Light to the world which could mean that we as a Christian should be an example to the world.

                  As a personal application, I almost never care about setting the right example for my friends since I never feel confidence about myself. I would rather follow my friends to do the wrong thing such as cheating although I knew it was not right. As the right Christian, I should change my wrong mindset which opposes God’s calling of being the salt and light by following the monastics mindset and lifestyle by living with faith, by showing forth the living hope, and by walking in love so that I can become an example to the world an fulfill God’s calling.

                  As a conclusion, the monastics have shown us until today that through their lifestyle, they were able to become an example to the world reflecting the city of God. As a Christian we are also called to be the Salt and the Light to the world; however, in the world today, many Christians tend to set the wrong example rather than the right example to the world causing Christianity to be viewed negatively. To be able to set the right example thorough the lifestyle, we should follow the monastics lifestyle which is based on the Benedict’s rule. We should love by faith through grace, we should show forth the living hope, and we should which then enable us to become an example to the world and fulfill our calling to be the Salt and Light. 

Using Freedom Righteously (111H10)

                  Very often when we talk about the concept of freedom, our minds refer to the freedom of land. The concept of land with respect to the medieval age can be referred to the concept of feudalism. For the medieval civilization, a land is a very essential since a land speaks of their identity or what can be denoted as rootedness. For the medieval and Christian civilization, therefore, it’s important for them to have freedom in their land. They view a free land as a place where they can freely worship the true God, a place where they can be at rest or feel at home, and also a place for them to practice their calling in life or God’s purpose for their life. In general words, a freedom for the medieval civilization is understood as the ability to freely fulfill or accomplish their destiny.

                  In the world today, people views freedom in a very different way to how the medieval civilization views the concept of freedom. For the people today, freedom was understood as the ability to be free to do whatever we wanted to do. This view of freedom, being contradictory to the view of freedom in the medieval era, is actually leading us to the mindset of slavery where they were not able to accomplish anything. The human will tend to follow the human nature of being lazy and staying in their comfort zone. This laziness of human being will eventually leads to failures; moreover, when they realize that they’re failing, it’s often too late. Without the right mindset or view of freedom, people will not be able to accomplish their destiny or the purpose of God in life.

                  People should understand that the right thing should be used in the right way such that the right thing of freedom should be used in the right way for achieving our destiny in life, especially accomplishing the purpose of God for us in our life rather than to use it for the sake of laziness and accomplishing nothing. When the people were able to view the concept of freedom in the right way, they will then be able to accomplish their destiny and the purpose of God in their life; furthermore, they will be able to accomplish many great things in their life. People should also not forget that they should use their freedom to glorify God by worshipping Him.

                  As a personal application, I’m very amazed and inspired by how the Christian martyrs fight for their freedom to worship God and to accomplish their destiny for their life of spreading the Gospel since they have been called by God to spread the Gospel. To the point of death they still put so much value to their freedom. On the other hand, I, who was granted freedom easily by God, do not appreciate it well by using my freedom in the wrong way rather than using it for the glory of God and for God’s purpose in my life. I realize one of the human nature is that people tend not to be grateful for what they have received freely. After learning from  the martyrs, I was really inspired to use my freedom that God have given me freely in the right way so that I may accomplish God’s calling for me in my life which will never lead me to failures, but success, and that I may glorify the Name of God.

                  As a conclusion, in the modern days the view of freedom seems to be ironic. Since the people nowadays views freedom as the ability to do anything they want, they will never be able to accomplish their destiny in their life. When compare to the right meaning of freedom which is the ability to freely achieve one’s destiny, it shows that we actually have the mindset of a slave with no freedom to achieve their destiny. Freedom as a Christian was not free, especially during the martyrdom period but, they were willing to fight even until the point of death for the freedom to freely worship God and to fulfill the destiny as a Christian; yet, today we don’t appreciate what have been given to us freely. Because God have given us our freedom freely, we should therefore be grateful for it by using our freedom to glorify God’s Name as well and to accomplish our destiny or God’s calling in our life as well such that we will be successful in our life. 

Righteous based Education (111H09)

The Code of Chivalry is set as the qualification of the Knights during the medieval age. The chivalry code has the root of righteousness and was based on ethic, moral, and virtue. It affected the civilization in many areas such as families, kingdoms, churches, literature, and also education. Focusing on the chivalry effect to the area of education, there are two main points on how the chivalry affect the education. The first point is the idea of rigorous training where the student was trained in a rigorous or tough way such as the military that they will be prepare to face problems in the future. The second point is the discernment based education where the Bible is the standard to discern between what is right and what is almost right. Through this process of education or learning, they were able to produce knights who were not only a skillful person, but also a righteous person with ethic, moral, and virtue; on the other word, a knight is someone who has a true beauty, both within and without. Having righteousness as their foundation, the knights were able to use their skill to benefit others in their life rather than only for themselves; yet, they always remain humble all the time and always having the heart to serve other.

In the modern days, the process of education tends to contradict the chivalric way of education. Firstly, the education today was seldom found to train their student with a rigorous training where discipline is practiced. The school today tends to tolerate and compromise with the students; correspondingly, lowering the standard. This causes the students to be unprepared for greater obstacles in the future life. Second, the education in the modern days was skill based where they set the skills as their standard with no ability to discern between what is right and almost right. Almost all of the school neglect the character building and would rather focus on the academics. As a consequence, the modern education produces someone contradictory to the knights in the medieval ages. They produce someone who although is skillful, does not know the clear standard of righteousness; therefore unable to discern between right and almost right. On other words, they were only developed on the outer, but having an undeveloped inner beauty. With such education, people tend to only care for themselves and neglecting about others; moreover, in other cases, people even use their skill for the wrong purpose of bringing harm to others such as the terrorist.

People should understand that a life is meaningless when we only live for ourselves, not care for others, and also vice versa; therefore, to benefit other people, it is a necessity for us to have the right education that prepares us with a rigorous training for the future such that we may be strong when facing big problems in the future. This can be symbolized to how gold should go through the fire to become stronger and become more valuable. Second, the right education should prepare the students to be able to discern based on the right standard; on the other words, building the character of the students rather than only developing the skills, so that the students will be able to use their skills in the right way such as benefiting others.

As a conclusion, one of the effects of the chivalry to the civilization was the area of education. The chivalry affects the education area in two ways which are the rigorous training and the discernment based education. With such education, they were able to produce knights who were excellent both in character quality and skill. Nowadays, it's ironic how schools were trying to instill values in their students, but ends up causing their life to be meaningless because the schools only focus on developing the skill and neglecting the character building. This causes the students to tend to be selfish, only cares for themselves and not for others; consequently, they end up having a meaningless life. The righteous education should be able to prepare the students for the future and develop both their discernment in righteousness or character and obviously develop their skill. With such education, the students may be able to use their skill not only for their own benefit, but also for other's benefit. When they were able to benefit others, their life will not be a meaningless life. Today, I'm very grateful to God who allows me to have the right education where character building is prioritized in my school. This, therefore, allows me to be built both inside out so that I may be able to benefit others; furthermore, benefit the world. In this way, I will be able to live a meaningful life and leave a legacy to the coming generation. 

The Righteous Heart of Charlemagne (111H08)

                  Charlemagne or Charles the Great was the King of the Franks who was considered one of the building blocks of Christianity. He was the son of King Pepin where at the beginning he was initially a co-ruler with his brother Carloman. Later Carloman, wanting to possess the whole kingdom, declared war against Charlemagne where Carloman lost the war and Charlemagne was given control of the whole kingdom. Thereafter, Charlemagne wanted to return Carloman’s kingdom to his family who fled to the Lombard for protection; however, his action was misinterpreted by the Lombard and they declared war toward the Frank and Charlemagne. The war was gain won by Charlemagne allowing his kingdom to expand. To help the western kingdoms from the invasion of the moors, the Pope request help from Charlemagne; Charlemagne fought 53 battles and always won as the defensive site. Beside his military achievements, he also made many contributions toward the culture, especially in the area of justice, education, and church. Knowing his greatness, it’s surprising that Charlemagne was an illiterate person. From Charlemagne we can learn that what make him great should not be his skill, but the righteousness and virtue in his heart. One of the clear instances of Charlemagne’s righteous heart is when he was misinterpreted while visiting the Lombard with a good purpose.

                  In the world today, people tend to focus more on developing their knowledge and skill while neglecting their heart from the right principles and values. We can see that many schools prioritize academics and neglect the character building; therefore, many people today was not able to become someone great like Charlemagne who make changes in his culture and leave a legacy for the next generation. The people who only focus on building their knowledge will only accomplish things for their own benefit and made no difference to others.

                  People should be able to understand that knowledge means nothing without the right principle of truth. The purpose of many people for education is to have change in their minds; however, many of them do not realize that changes come from within. It is important for the schools to also prioritize character building beside the academics so that the students may develop within. With the righteous heart and a trust in God’s purpose, the people will be able to make a change or an impact to the world and leave a legacy to the next generation.

                  Before I enter MSA, I have the wrong mindset just like many people that what is what is important for education is only the academics and grades; I never think about the moral values or character building at all. There is one time when I’m hearing a lecture in the church about the purpose of life, I started thinking that life is so meaningless; furthermore, I also think how everything that I will build in my life such as my study and my future life are all nothing when I pass away. Soon, I realize that I should leave a legacy so that what I have built in my life was not wasted, but I still do not know how to leave such legacy. After I enter MSA, I understand that I should not only live and use my knowledge for my own benefit, but also for other people so that I may make a change in other people or maybe impact the next generation leaving a legacy; therefore, to be able to make a change in other people, I should first change myself from within since changes comes from within. I’m very grateful to God that I’m able to study in a school that also prioritizes the character building so that I may also build a righteous heart.

                  As a conclusion, Charlemagne has shown us how he was able to leave a legacy by making impacts to the cultures although he was illiterate, but what enables Charlemagne to make such impact is his righteous heart. The righteous heart is important such that we will use our knowledge in the right way and that God will also help us throughout our life. In the modern education, the school tends to focus only on the academics and neglecting the character buildings without realizing the importance of the righteous heart. A school should have a balance between the academics and the character building so that students may use the knowledge that they study in the righteous way. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, says that nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. 

Intellectual Power and the Nation (111H07)

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and during the period of Christendom. The Empire existed for almost a thousand years until it was conquered by the Islamic Ottoman Turks and was converted to a Muslim City. The Empire started to flourish since the edict of Milan and when later Christianity becomes the state religion of the Empire. The Byzantium Empire has advances in many areas such as spiritual, theological, commercial, artistic, and intellectual. Focusing on the area of intellectual, we can see that the Byzantium Empire became the intellectual center of the world, where academics, libraries, and colleges grew; moreover, disciple was cherished as well. From the Byzantine Empire we can learn that education is very important for a nation to develop or flourish; therefore, with the strong power of intellectual, the Byzantine Empire was able to flourish well in many areas.

In the modern Indonesia today, many of the youngsters does not see the value in the intellectual power or what we call the education; consequently, our nation was not able to prosper and develop to become better compared to other nations. The youngsters of our nation tend to be lazy and have no motivation to pursue their education; they prefer to stay in their comfort zone, playing games and enjoying their life with friends being unable to practice deferring their gratification. However, there are also some people who were willing and were motivated to study, but were not able to afford the facility; therefore, unwillingly remain uneducated. Because of this our nation which has a great potential was not able to grow and maximize the potential.

People should realize that education is important for the future of their nation, and also their own future. They should be able to motivate themselves and defer their gratification of staying in the comfort zone. The government should also be able to provide a facility for the people who were not able to afford education so that everyone was able to have a chance for education since a developed nation is marked by the quality of the education. Today, we can see that the nations that have a good quality of education were able to flourish well such as our neighbor, Singapore. The other example could be United States where education quality was high as well; therefore, they were able to advance in technology, arts, and many other areas

Before I came to MSA, I don't think that education is important for me at all to become a successful person since my parents’ inheritance is enough for me; furthermore, I don’t think of any relation between education and building the nation. I always think that it is all the responsibility of the government to develop the nation, which in fact not. Now, my whole perspective of education changed such that I see education as something very valuable and that I should always try to achieve the best; moreover, now I also understand that education is not only for my own benefit, but also for my nation since I also have the responsibility for my nation. One of my goals in life is to contribute something for the development of my nation and to leave a legacy for my nation.

Noah Webster, an American educator and a political writer, says that the morality of a nation is determined by the vocabulary of the youth. His statement shows how the low educated people will just say whatever they know while the educated people will be wise with their words. Sometimes people ignore the importance of the vocabulary to the youth while it’s actually significant in determining a nation’s morality. Education is one of the effective ways to developing and improving the youth’s vocabulary that will also develop and improve our nation’s morality. As the conclusion, the challenge in the world today, especially in our nation, is to solve the irony in education where some poor people who are willing to study but could not afford the education, while there are many wealthy people who could afford to even learn in the best school but have no motivation to study neglecting the importance of education and prefer to live in their comfort zone. People should be aware that education is important so that people are willing to study despite their condition that they may eventually change their nation or even change the world. 

Balanced Faith and Action (111H06)

                  Gregory the Great, also known as Pope Gregory 1^st, was someone known as one of the foundation stone to the era of Christianity since he made a great development and influence to the churches. One of his main influences to the church is the reformation of the worship music from tribal-like worship into the ecclesiastical Gregorian chant. Though the chant may be boring to many of us today, it was advancement in music compared to the tribal music back then. Some other influence of Gregory is the organized patrimony of Peter where all lands given to the church will belong to the church union; Gregory also organized the financial and administration of the church without the intension of taking any profit from it. He was able to make a great influence because of his skill of combining his faith and his working skills. Gregory was a very smart person having mastered many things in his young age; moreover, he was elected as a mayor for his town at the age of twenty. Beside his excellence in skill and he was a righteous man with a strong faith having built his relationship with God and studying the Word of God during his time in the monastery. Later when he was elected as the Pope, with the right faith and skillful mind, he was able to develop the Kingdom of God. Gregory uses his skills which are given by God to glorify God and benefit others; his works is very effective to many people since he does it with respect to his faith.

                  In the world today, many people only uses their skill for their own benefit and does not care for others or even God who gave them the skill; moreover, people even use their skill to do evil things. One of the clear example is the terrorist or the bombers to whom God have given the intelligence. They rather use their intelligence to do evil things such as destroying God’s creation. Many people have such mindset because they don’t have the right faith as their strong foundation; therefore, they were not able to combine their work and faith.

                  People should understand that they need to have the right believe or faith in order to effectively use their skills in the right way since action without faith mostly is sinful. When we have the right faith, we could imply it to our works so that our works will be beneficial for others including the next generation and could also glorify God; however, this doesn’t mean that we should only focus on our faith or believe and neglecting our work because faith without work is dead as stated in James 2:14-17. We should, therefore, have a balance between faith and action.

                  Two years ago, I always complain to God if I don’t receive a satisfying grade on my test. I always pray before the test and believe that God will help me in the test; yet, my result is not satisfying. One time after the humanities test, I again complain to God for my bad result when suddenly God answered me with a very strong and clear voice inside my heart that I have never prepare well for the test. After introspection, I realize that what the voice said was true. I only study few moments before the test and have never took studying seriously; I always think that with a little study and a strong faith, I will be able to get a satisfying grade which in fact is not true. Since then, I really took studying seriously, and with a good preparation, I was able to get a grade beyond my expectation for the test.

                  As a conclusion, Gregory the Great have shown us through his life how he have a balance between faith and work. He shows through reforming the church how working with respect to the right faith is more effective and beneficial to others, and he also shows us how he can actually help reforming the church rather than just believing in his faith and pray. In the modern world, we can seldom find people who show balance in their faith and action. Some people were very smart, but don’t have the right faith which ends up using his skill only for their own benefit; furthermore, doing evil things. Some other people who have the true faith did not make any effort with respect to their faith end up doing nothing. They need to understand that a work without faith is sinful and that faith without action is dead; therefore, it is important to have a balance between faith and action. Thomas Robert Gaines, a famous American author, once said that it is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible. 

Partial Truth (111H05)

                  The Ecumenical council in the history of Christianity was a conference between theologists discussing about the heresy in the Christian doctrine. There were a total of twenty-one councils being recognized as ecumenical in the Roman Catholic Church. The heresy, considered as something which is almost right or partial truth, appear because of the people’s misunderstanding and personal interpretation. On the other hand, Orthodoxy is the opposite of heresy; therefore, it can be defined as the main stream of the truth or full truth. Many of the Gospel preachers, having a good rhetoric skill and a deep understanding of the Christian Doctrine, clarify the partial truth heresy in contrast with the orthodoxy which is the full truth. They were able to stand for the truth since they have a strong foundation to their conviction by mastering the Christian Doctrines.

                  In the world today, people have no strong foundation to their belief or conviction causing them to be easily deceived with partial truth. There are many partial truths in the world today which spreads very quickly especially through the medias such as movies or music selling the smooth lies. Many people were not able to stand strong in their belief of conviction when smooth lies were offered to them because they have not mastered the full truth. They don’t how to discern between what is truth and partial truth; similar to heresy, partial truth is considered the Satan’s strategy of twisting the truth. The devil will not appear as fully false since no one would directly follow the wrong path; therefore, the devil will appear as something which is similar to the truth, but not the truth itself such that people with a week conviction will be attracted and slowly led into the wrong path. Though someone only deviates a little from the righteous path, they could end up in a fully wrong path. This is similar to an airplane which is only deviated by one degree gap from its flight path and after few hours the gap will increase and could be fatal if not corrected.

                  As a Christian, we should make the Word of God as our foundation to our conviction; moreover, we should understand them so that we may stand strong in our true foundation. With a strong foundation, we will not be easily deceived by lies which are similar to the truth or partial truths. Being diligent in studying the Word of God is very important since it is the only way for us to build our discernment in order to strengthen our conviction. To understand all the lies and partial truths, we should first understand all the truth just like how the Gospel preachers requires much intelligence, especially referring to the Christian Doctrines, to be able to clarify the heresy. Besides understanding the truth, we also should ask God for His revelation that God may help us see the truth and to understand them better.

Personally, I’m still continuing to study the Word of God that I may not be easily deceived by smooth truth or partial truth; however, in many cases the media was still able to deceive me with smooth lies. One of the examples is when I watch the movie Limitless about a drug which has the ability for humans to access 100% of the brain's power, as opposed to the normal 20%. After this movie, I somehow belief that there is actually such thing which is able to maximize my potential; with it, all my jobs such as home works would be no burden to me. Conversely, this is not the way out of my burdens since there is no such thing in this world that could actually increase the God given human potential. Instead, the Bible says in Matthew 11: 28-30 that the way to enlighten our burden is to share them with God by doing our best and letting God do the rest.

As a conclusion, the Gospel preachers in the early Christian period have shown us through the Ecumenical council how they are able to defend their faith and stand strong in their conviction. They have a strong foundation since they deeply understand the full truth of the Christian Doctrine. The problem in the world today is that many people were easily deceived by partial truths, especially through the media; this does not mean that we should close ourselves form the media. Instilling partial truth in us is one of the devil’s ways to deceive us in to the wrong path; therefore, we should diligently study the truth which is the Word of God so that we may discern between what is the truth and almost truth. 1 John 4: 1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”