Pg 4 of 'No Turning Back'

Paul's View of Things

Ephesians Chapter 2:1-10

Before & After

Paul demonstrates through these verses that it is fundamentally incorrect to not believe in God. He says that our lives were hollow and filled with only the materialism of the world before we believed in God. We did not have virtues like mercy and forgiveness, but we were filled only with superficial love and greed. He states that God deepens our souls and prevents us from committing sins with his guiding. He then states that after believing in God, "... by grace you have been saved, through faith..." It is not us who bring the change to ourselves, but from God's gifts to us that we are able to develop our positive moral compass and 'be saved'; not physically but mentally, as our souls become cleansed.

Pg 3 of 'No Turning Back'

What's God Like?

My image of God is a grandfatherly-like, open-hearted figure with grey hair, grey eyebrows and a constantly warm smile. I briefly drew this visualisation, which was quite unsuccessful:

If I had to choose a symbol to represent God, I would choose a clear, blue sky.

Sky is everywhere above us, no matter where we go. We look up to the sky at its beauty and infinity. It encompasses our world. Sometimes it is cloudless blue, or sometimes it is filled with clouds and rain but only to help our world’s ecology. We cannot live without a blue sky, just like we cannot live without God.

What are People Like?

I do believe that people are essentially born good, but it's just that some people are changed over time due to their environments. No new-born baby is guilty, sinful or regretful. Everyone is born with the same opportunity to lead a good life; nevertheless some people cannot help but alter their essential goodness to incorrect decisions to adapt to their situations. There are countless cases where people repent their sins and are're-born' to start life over again. One of the fundamental stereotypes in the society is 'being good is good'. This would have been derived from people's instinct to find their essential goodness and this is also the reason why people believe in various religions, or do not believe in any religion- it is to improve their inner strength and find unique beauty and strength. Therefore I do believe that 'people are essentially good and that they just need to look inside themselves to find their inner beauty and strength'.