Is Jesus A Myth?

It's so cold and rainy and my sweater doesn't seem to help.
Well,anyway. We were talking about religion lately and in the most of times. It made me more interested on the matter though. I am a religious person in my own judgement--that is, I go to church and pray. Yet, I still have some questions and doubts about HIM and the Bible itself. I am raised from a very very religious family and even attended catholic school, I am active in church and its activities and become member of some christian organizations. However, in the world of intellectuals, there's always the question of how and WHY..that there must be something out of anything and everything!

In Philosophy, true KNOWLEDGE of something that is factual and true is backed up by evidence and proof. It is therefore not a fact if the information is just passed from one mouth to another unmindful of the biases as well as the added statements and the deleted or forgotten words--that makes it a gossip. The Catholic Faith is somehow based on the accounts of either written and spoken from the so called prophets and chosen people of God with their mission to spread HIS word for mankind to believe in HIM. Everything is vulnerable to questioning  I know--even I myself pays the benefit of the doubt. Everything comes neatly handed to you in a form of the so called BIBLE and you are., since your childhood, taught to BELIEVE in it and thus, FAITH answers all of your queries--nothing else. Just Believe, have FAITH and everything will be alright.

NOw, I wonder if it's all true or just a big obnoxious lie that is just made up by our great great grandfathers to shut our mouths when we ask why and how did the earth came to be. It's just hard finding the proof of such faith, the evidences for believing and GOD itself--I haven't seen GOD..is HE real? or not? If I haven't born a Christian, will i still believe in Christ? How do I know if there is Christ, then?
Did Jesus really came to being and roamed the earth or is he not? Is he just a make up of some discontented priests who wants to make the story longer by adding the NEW Testament in the book shelves?

Some Bits of ME

  My mother is a teacher. Everything she wanted from her children is that we learn a lot from school and even further extend the process of learning in the home. When we were still young, I and my sister were not allowed to go outside the house for playing games with other kids or stroll. Our house is only a stone throw away from the park and it was really a cruel torture when you see your classmates playing with your other classmates while you enviously stare at such scenery on the grills of your window.
  
  We can play outside only during weekends but only after we finish all our homework, studied the lesson of the next topic and promised to be back home before 5pm--anyway, we are FORCED to take a nap at 2pm and we should only be up by 4pm. That time, I hate that 2pm nap because I can't sleep and  that is is too hard pretending that you're sleeping—I just cover myself with a blanket so that I may not be obviously detected by the warden (my mother) that I am not actually sleeping.
  
  Our house is like a school too. Mother filled it with books, both boring books (those with pure texts and no pictures) and cool books (those with more pictures and less texts).That was when I was in grade two that I cried and cried because I cannot play outside with my friends. They were playing something really interesting and I feel this unexplainable urge to join them. Seeing them cook gumamela flowers and seeds to a can while others were as if buying that food they were cooking with guava leaves as money is  so much fun that no kid won't dare miss that part of their childhood.
   
My father recognizes the fact that mother had been too strict to us. He stressed out the need for children to also have fun, play games, do something exciting except studying.
   
My father is a happy go lucky type of person, an extrovert, and a very jolly person while my mother is most likely an introvert, very reserved, very proper. Though they were each others extreme opposites, they have a very healthy relationship filled with so much love—and I can clearly see that.
   
When my father felt this matter, he bought us toys, play station, board games, anything that is fun and can be played inside the house. My mother, on one hand, still expresses the requirement of having “house-loving” children because she doesn't want us to get used to staying outside the house. She bought father's idea of “bringing fun inside the house” so that we wont seek for it somewhere else anymore. In additional to the play station, mother also bought us activity books and complete set of Grolier's 100 Questions and Answers book—the first printed material that I loved so much. If you've seen this thing I'm talking about, you'll know why  =D .  We were trained to be home buddies and I hate that.
  
  Not until I got used to it.
   
When I was in grade three, I do not see myself playing games outside anymore neither do I love to go outside to play. Our house is filled with so many things that is much more interesting than anything that can be found outside. I already get used to reading books, play board games with my sister and enjoys coloring our activity books. I don't recognize that time that we were actually learning because what was on my mind was fun.
  
  For me, those things were fun. It's beyond cooking rose petals and leaves. It is also in the home that we are unconsciously  taught of the proper manners and conduct by the mere sight of our mother doing things around. My father isn't always around the house because he leaves by 6 am for work and arrives home by 7pm. But despite that, I don't feel that we are being suppressed from doing anything else because I actually love what we're doing and the way our mother makes us live our lives the way she wants it—I have no problem with that.
  
  Now that I think of it have I realized that during that period of my life that I've become an extreme introvert. I do well on academics but I have problems with extra curricular activities because I am really shy.  I often  think that I'd rather live alone and go school alone only with my sister. I frequently asked my mother that I'd be home schooled and never go out to school because I developed this awkward feeling towards my classmates. I have no close friends that I enjoy being in company. I just love my sister and my sister loves me. I thought that it's only my sister that I can play with and the only one I can talk to. I don't talk much in school. I only answer when asked. I am silent when I'm with other people but when I'm at home, I talk as much as I want and laugh as loud as my sister and my mother do.
   
I enjoy the home  that I could be president of “There's-No-Place-Like-Home” fans club.
   
I rather feel incarcerated and uneasy when I am outside the house.
   
Later, I find this a problem because I have difficulty in dealing with people to the point that I already have this wanting to isolate all these loud people in one contenet and leave me and my family alone.
   
The environment in the home and the way our parents raised contributed much to the build up of our personality. As what Carl Rogers suggested in his phenomenological theory, the environment or the situation affects an individual's personality and I believe in that. What's around you is making you. The type of environment you were raised, you have grown with and had got used to is basically YOU. There's no escaping in the fact that what goes around you molds your being, affects your choices and decisions as well as you personality itself.
   
Because I am an introvert, my high school days were not easy. Because in high school, you should participate in every extra curricular activities from being a majorette ( it's a curse being one) to being CAT official ( anything that requires you to unnecessarily burn your skin under the sun is never and could never be  a part of my dream)--especially that I'm vying for valedictorian. It was a culture shock for me.
    What's funny now is that my mother is already forcing me to go outside this time—to go and love anything and everything outside. She wanted me not to be shy anymore and be like those typical teenagers who goes to disco and outings. Way back in my elementary days, she says “don't be like that of those other children who stays outside to have fun”; and then, at the change of time, I can already hear her saying, “Can't you just be like those typical teens who socialize outside and have fun?”  Now she wanted me to have friends, to socialize and most importantly, she wants me not to just stay in the house while others are outside. Quiet a drastic shift of mode. I was like an old grandmother that is re-socialized upon entering the home for the aged.
  
  I was thankful of myself that I'm an obedient daughter =D.
  
  Okay, so you want me to go outside, I'll go outside.
   
That was in high school that I had friends, I learned to socialize, go out with them to outings and disco (even if my mom still forces me to go on a disco).
    Surprisingly, I've changed. My being an introvert is lessened though it's still there. Lessened because, by that time, I already talk to other people without uneasiness, I can be in a group of people and I already don't feel this wanting to isolate myself and my family in one island of the country. Yet I still love to stay in the home rather than going outside but unlike before, I don't hate going outside anymore.
    Not until I've entered college that my eyes were open into a much greater outside world. I  was exposed to a totally different environment where everybody looks really delectable.
    In college, everybody's a friend and you earn really close friends. They make you more comfortable to be yourself and talking to them is as much fun as playing house. It is also in college, that I finally felt that I was totally a prisoner during my childhood. Now I know the true meaning of the parable of the fly in the bottle of vinegar who thought that the vinegar is already the sweetest thing in the world until he got out of the bottle. But I don't blame my parents for wanting me to become a good person to society, I fully understand their intentions now that my mind has become more open to more issues and concerns.
  
  I've become participative, more participative to school activities and many other things. I have socialized a lot and my manner of communication to others have upgraded to much better level. Since my classmates are very much informed about current issues, I, too, required myself to be a part of this concern as well. I've become an eye watcher to almost anything that happens under the sun.
   
The “No Care”  girl before now changes to an activist (not like "activist" activist). Before, I don't know how to fight, defend myself even when I'm already stepped on by criticisms, and just remain silent unto everything. Now that I've been awakened in this new environment where people really voice out what they feel without shame and hesitation in respect to the spirit of freedom that I've also learn to speak out for myself in a much louder voice. I am not shy anymore.
     
    However, my traits from childhood were not dissolved totally, there still remains a part of me that I can trace down from what I've experience when I was younger. Yet most part of me is contributed to the environment I have now

Haven Philippines

Tourists get to ride with bancas (small motor boats) to get to Haven Beach Resort. Individual fare is only 20 pesos--considerably cheap for a wonderful ride. Beautiful views of nature--from the lush green forest to the clear blue seawater--  will make you breathless.

Want to have MORE FUN? Try sitting at the topmost benches of the bancas where you can experience the cool sea breeze at its best. Goofing around with the camera were my friends Judy, Ave, jan, Harv, and Ren.

It's only a place for meditation and relaxation. The whole area is calm and peaceful unlike many urbanized beaches. Floating cottages are available and for free.

Behind us were sturdy built cottage houses perfect for overnight stay.

Allen, Northern Samar

Haven Beach Resort is found in Allen Northern Samar Philippines. One of the most visited tourist attraction in the country.

The clean and trash free powder-white sand of Haven Resort.

This is one beach experience I would like to laminate, put on a frame, and plant next to my pillow. This white sand beach is indeed a worthy tourist attraction. The clear blue water is really. Despite the blazing heat of the sun, we never hesitate to get our skin bathe into it—I don’t care up to what degree it would endanger the fairness

It's an island an you need to get a boat to ride you there. The trip itself is already nice You've got to see many fishes underneath the clear waters.

of my skin (as if I was really fair-skinned) as long as, “thank God I’m here! There's no way I'm Not swimming!”.The beach get away is a good treat from our professor who recognizes our mentalexhaustion and is thoughtful enough to think, “These kids need a break”. It wasindeed a break, a temporary escape, a retreat we all were thankful of. I couldstill remember the feeling of its fine white sand; it makes me think of goingback. I shall return, and that’s for sure.

I and my crazy bestfriend were so happy the moment we arrived there. We're so excited to venture into the water that we only shot few photographs from the whole Haven Resort experience. Here were only a few:

BATTLE OF THE SHAKER HEIGHTS movie reaction

A house is not a home. Thus, the house where you sleep is whole lot different from a home where you rest. Parents contribute a lot in the making of either descent or delinquent chidren.     Shown in the movie were indifferent parents-the father, an “ex” drug addict even-who seemed not to care a lot for Kelly who turned out to be a rebel then, for if they did, their son might not have drove the wrong turn. Kelly hated his father and feels less attached to his mother,a commercial artist who works out of their garage, who is desperate for Kelly to forgive his father. When confronted as to when he is going to forgive him, Kelly replies, "I'll forgive him when I can go to college. But I can't, can I, because he used all my college fund to buy Mexican Black Tar." Kelly is furious at his father for the torture he put him through.
    The feeling of hatred towards one's parent indicates an unhappy home, thus, resorts to a run down behaviour, confusion and being lost. During adolescence, one needed greater attention—the attention that may guide them which path is greener and which path leads to doom. Some people may even say that an infant is much easier to be taken care of than to babysit a teenager. When children reach adolescence, it seems as if the world is new—like the feeling of a child in the middle of a carnival seeing many colorful lights and rides wondering what would it be like to try one. The world by that time is so inviting packed with numerous choices when you were then able to choose what you wanted and think of ways to get the thing you wanted most. This stage is a mother and a father's biggest challenge in rearing up a son or a daughter that careful attention and guidance is indeed vital in shaping well mannered teens.
    In reality, life doesn't only advertise  good choices but above all, bad goods which were usually more palatable yet deceiving. A parent's job is to guide his child to eat the apple than the lollipop, the water and not the beer, school and not drugs. This is a very crucial step where some parents neglects most of the time thinking that being able to feed their children food is more than enough to satisfy their needs. But what kind of guidance will you find in a family who is more than busy to even think of you?  As a result of failed parenting, Kelly was lost in delusion. He doesnt even know what his choices are and goes on to life unguided. He was like an army without guns who fires the cannon without the knowledge on how to fire it. He sets on what he wanted and pushes through it without evaluating consequencies—he doesn't know what he really wanted because he's just, most of the time, overwhelemed at the moment. He had poor self concept. He was then unguided. He had a house but hever lived there. Kelly finds comfort in his friend's abode (Bart's) due to, first, his love desire for Tabby (Bart's sister) and perhaps the happiness and attention that he would experience from people living in the house. He often finds welcome in other people's doorstep.
    Some people just won't grow up because they were not taught to grow up. Growing up is not something that you make by yourself alone. It's a teamwork, a group effort, a combined project that both child and parents do. Yet sometimes it still comes to our realization that, for myself, I need to grow up. Though growing up is a hard page to scribble, it doesn't guarantee you mistakes. When the wounds of the punches from a teen rumble heals, his mind ripens. Maturity comes to people who then realized that growing up is also a choice and thus chooses to mature. In the end, thinking of the damage caused by our the wrong choices and the errors we've done would suddenly make us say, indeed, “I deserved it”. We may not erase these errors yet we can always choose not to find ourselves again guilty of the same mistake, for, we do and we still don't run out of chances—and we deserved it.

Bucket List Movie Reaction

Bucket List is the story of two elders who continued to live their lives at its fullest upon realizing that there are still a number of things things they want to accomplish before they could kick the bucket (death). It is a heartwarming story that most people could relate for we also have our own ambitions that are yet to be fulfilled and the movie further shows how age triggers such dreams.
    The movie is an evidence of how the conflict of Integrity versus Despair occurs to most people in which we review life's acomplishments and failures. It is the last stage in Erikson's psychosocial development theory that spans from a period of later adulthood until death. Now a sense of accomplishment signifies success in resolving the difficulties presented in this stage of life or the failure to resolve the difficulties result in regret over what might have been achieved but are not.
    There are things in life that we wanted most but not all of these could become possible. I alone have countless dreams. However, some were impossible—like climbing the Everest, see? Then I started to realize: will this dream, if not accomplished, would so much bother me when I retire? Perhaps yes and  perhaps even worst than I have imagined. Maybe it would cause me not to sleep well at night dreaming of Everest regretting, “that I could have at least climbed the half of it when I was younger. There could be so many things that I could have accomplished using my younger self—being active, more aggressive, and thus, more capable than what I have become now”. 
    But the movie taught us that there's always this very little possibility of even the  most impossible dreams yet all we have to do is to think that it is possible, and therefore it could become possible. It is our endless motivation that keeps us going and our optimism could bring us farther.

Nanny McPhee Movie Reaction

“When you need me, I stay..when you want me yet you need me no more, then I must leave”
--Nanny McPhee

Not too long after his wife's death, widower Cedric Brown is at his wits' end about how to go on bringing up his seven children with the assistance of a nanny. Rowdy, destructive, disobedient, quarrelsome, disrespectful, they have so far managed to scare the wits out of 17 nannies. Since then, no employment agency nor any caregiver is willing to fill the vacancy. This is when Mr. Brown reads an ad and begins to hear a voice about hiring a Nanny McPhee, but she is nowhere to be found. Suddenly she appears on the desperate father's doorstep, a rather scary, weird-looking and stern woman. However the children are not that easily intimidated and are ready to do what they could to send her out of their life. This time the children have met their match.
She does an impressive job of being McPhee, the nanny who needs to be stern and unmoving, if the children are to learn what is good and right. The father is just as convincing as the bumbling, hesitant and helpless dad who never learned how to relate to his children. The cast of children contributed their part as the disobedient and unruly "fiends", always acting in unison. Contributing to Mr. Brown's difficulty with his children, are the insufficiency of his means to support the seven of them, and the command of his Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) that he must marry within a month or she would not only stop helping him with child support and but also drop him as heir to her estate.
The lack of a mother is emphasized by the deficiencies of a father who did not have to deal with the children when she was around. Thus he is helpless when he needs to relate to them--he does not know how. In a common family setting, we often assign the task of caring for the children to the mother and that father's, one the other hand, are out of this job. Fathers, therefore, tend to be less attached with their children than mothers do.
Irregardless of gender roles in the family, children need affection, attention, and love from either parent. In the story, the father does not see that the children miss and want him to be there for them. There is an implication in the story that parents are irresponsible when they have many children. The father, due to this “large” number of mouths to feed, becomes preoccupied on finding ways to still be able to feed them the next days without realizing that “food” does not only refer to what is digested in the stomache. Because the father's main concern would be on sustaining his children's physical need, for, in most society, the father is always a breadwinner. The negative things that the children do in their very naughtiness--like tying up the cook, turning the whole kitchen upside down, open defiance and utter rudeness to elder—only shows that the major cause of deliquency among children is the lack of love and attention.
With her magical walking stick, Nanny McPhee does something beyond the normal to teach the children to behave. This is not spectacular Harry Potter type magic, however--it is used more as an allegorical device to demonstrate that in real life, parents need an extraordinary degree of righteousness, firmness and love in order to mold their children into upright and responsible human beings.