Thursday, 24 January 2008

• What Makes a Person Divine?

  What's the definition of divinity?

  I can see that people's view of divinity is anything or rather anyone who is above and beyond the normal person from birth. I see it differently.

  If God is divine and God created us in His image, wouldn't we all have the potential of being divine? My definition of divinity, and hopefully the definition that many others will adopt, is to take what God has given us and with all possible effort, we make ourselves like God. The operative word here is "like" and not "to be" God. No one can be God. He is one and unique.

  So in my point of view, natural born talent is not much greater than talent that is made. In fact, I prefer the talent that is made because it shows that the person has the ability to maintain it once acquired. Pastor Joshua (aka Jung Myung Seok) has shown me the true meaning of this.

  When you first find out what he WAS like, he was no better than a common person. In fact, he says that he had more disadvantages like being short, being Korean (hey, I'm proud of bein Korean!), being born in the countryside, having a short tongue (meaning can't enunciate words as clearly), being ugly (or so he thought), and being poor. Plus, he was painfully shy and had limited education. *Note: In Korea, you have to pay for even elementary level education and being poor and being one of the 7 kids, made it difficult to attend school after 4th grade.

  Okay, so he had these disadvantages but he made himself. He educated himself with the most sophisticated form of literature, the Bible, by reading it over and over and trying to understand the complex parables in the Bible. He practiced over and over so that he can now speak in front of thousands. He kept himself well-groomed and clean to best present himself, and he overcame shyness as he spoke to strangers about the gospel every single day.

  He had no artistic ability, nor that of an athlete. So what did he do? He practiced kicking the soccer ball at a minimum of 1000 times so that he can become skilled in accurate shooting. He practiced a stroke of a brush pen and even his signature days on end. And oh, his singing, I have to say this without bias, was terrible. When he sang, I couldn't tell which song he was singing because he was so out of tune. (Although I have to give him credit for singing so deeply that the lyrics just pronounced themselves.) His singing, however, improved tremendously and can you believe he even composed one of the most heavenly songs I've ever heard?

  When I see all his struggles to perfect one skill, all to give glory to God, I see hope. I see that anything is possible. I also see that the miracle is to actually make yourself what you weren't before, that it is to "create" yourself. So then, isn't divinity to be able to create ourselves as God is divine because He created us and the world?

  I can see this in how he made WMD (Wolmyungdong: the natural temple that he created in his hometown. You can see the video of this place at www.providencetrial.com.) He didn't know a thing about rock landscaping. In fact, he hired pros then let them go so that he can make it himself the way he intended. He failed about 3 or 4 times before making something as grand as what you see today. Seeing his hard work and all his efforts, I know now that he is an example of someone who took what God gave him, appreciated it, and developed it valuably. And consequently, Jesus Christ did the same. In Hebrews chapter 5, it states that Jesus made himself perfect through correction and obedience.

  So, divinity is made.

  And for those born with great talents, without effort or devotion, consider it lost because just as we can become divine, we can make ourselves non-divine through laziness and basically taking it for granted. What I'm trying to say is, I'm going to work on "creating" myself as Pastor Joshua (Jung Myung Seok) had done. And who better to create ourselves with none other than our Creator, God.

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