This was the original message sent to me by one of the persons in my Friendster "friends" list. I have no acquaintance with this friend whatsoever. But like most "Christian born-again" he sent me a message about his life. Sort of a testimony. Please read on. My reply is at the bottom. Note: This was written on Taglish (Tagalog ad English). Hi friend, I’m MG, and I have something to share to u…. You know friend, this world is degrading….Na- observe u ba ito: teens’ attitudes are changing from bad to worst..? just try to consider and examine urself na lang..hehheh.. Many surveys reveal that majority (8 out of 10) of teenagers are hooked to smoking, alcohols, pornography, discos, shabu, marijuana, and sexual immoralities… If you would roam around sa Marbel at night, many youth are strolling without any valid purpose, they just wanted to escape from Home..kasi naman si mother sobrang ingay at si father naman ay sobrang strict, and ang mga kapatid don’t care for us.. Mabuti pa sa barkada they understand us, pro ang family don’t give us attention. You know, the fact is, we are seeking for LOVE. Yeah, love na di natin na feel sa bahay….love na akala natin sa ka- berkz natin makita.. The reality that we must need to accept is, kulang tau ng LOVE. We can’t blame our parents for treating us the way they do kasi sila din ay kulang ng love..ganun din kasi ang treatment ng parents nila sa kanila. Many teens get involved into relationship and find bf/gf kasi they are longing for love...teenagers do “sex” kasi they thought un ay way of expressing love. But, after all, they would just regret what they did coz it resulted into early- pregnancy and early-parenting.. Just like me, my life before had no direction.. I didn’t know my purpose here on earth. I was very very rude and nasty to others especially to my family. I was living a wicked kind of life. I also longed for love. Many different friends influenced me in doing indecent kind of things. I enjoyed outdoor happiness and going elsewhere, lalo na sa inuman. I had learned also to smoke and drink alcoholic drinks. I experienced also stealing just to support my vices… I also deceived my parents by asking money from them para pambayad daw ng projects pro pang-sustain pala ng bisyo ko.. I was also shackled into fornication and oblivious sexual gratifications…waaaah, ang sama’ ko talaga… Dumating sa point ng life ko na parang nahirapan na ako coz I’ve had no contentment sa mga ginagawa ko… Parang may kulang sa akin na hinahanap ko pro di ko Makita.. I started to search for the answer..then, a friend came to me and told me na ang kulang daw sa life ko ay si LORD..He said to me that Jesus loves me and cares for me pro di ko lang na feel kasi nabulag daw me sa kalayawan ng mundo..He told me what Jesus did sa cross just to show His love sakin and His forgiveness sa lahat ng sins na ginawa ko…then, I was touched, and I could not stop my tears to fall down from my eyes kasi I realized na kahit ganun na ako ka-wicked, pinatawad parin me ni Christ… then, I prayed and I repent and I accepted Christ sa life ko as my Lord and Savior…..and ngayon andito me testifying about the Lord’s love… Friend, JESUS LOVES YOU TOO……………………He has good plans for us pro sinisira lang natin by doing shameful and evil things….Jesus is waiting for u…..coz he loves you…… Romans 5:8 speaks about His love “ JESUS DIED FOR US WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS…” yeah, Jesus died to pay for our sins.. You are precious in the eyes of the Lord…pro di mo lang sya pinapansin..Marahil kilala mo na si Hesus, pro what Jesus wants from us is to have intimate relationship with Him…Jesus wants to become the Lord and Savior ng Life mo.. Jesus wants to be the Center of urlife….. Many people say they love Jesus but they also love doing sins…..they are liars! Friend, I suggest u to go to ur room and lock it…and talk to Jesus… just like what I did, 1.repent sa lahat ng sins na na-commit mo..confess every sin that u can remember that u did. 2.accept the truth that u r a sinner…and as a sinner u r destined to go to hell.. 3.Believe that Jesus loves u and He died at calvary to pay for ur sins….on the 3rd day Hi MG, I was touched by your testimony and I want to thank you for sharing me a part of your life. I also want to bless you in whatever you set your heart on as I see you as a passionate individual. Life is like that. Through the generations man has always rebelled against God. That is the sin we have inherited (in our DNA) as it came from our forefather Adam and Eve. The fact is we only have one sin, even if we categorize sin in many ways such as: idolatry, hatred, self-righteousness, and that is the sin of rebellion. We always try to go on our way of doing things. 99.9% of what happens in this world is our own doing. We are the ones to be blamed for wars, famine, extinction, hate, disturbances - everything under the sun. This all comes down to the fact that we don't have perfect families simply because we don't have perfect people - and we will never be. God has a plan for you and me - I agree. Jer 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Most people associate this with: "God wants me to become a doctor", "God must have given this girl to me", "God allowed this suffering because he has a plan", "God showed me how to be strong", "God wanted me to do this or that". Although all of those above do not have a negative implication but one can say that as if God was responsible for the good and bad things. This is not true. God said He has plans and those plans are to prosper us and give us a future. When He said this, He talks to his people (Israelites) suffering from 70 years of captivity! If you would like to read on you will know that the Israelites are asked to seek God with all of their hearts and only then will they be delivered. The context of the message is very far from how we interpret it today. The message "God has a plan for you (or me)" is true in the sense that He wants you (or me) to become proserous and succesful in everything you (or I) do in accordance to His ways. The plan is not specific. It is general. What we do in our lifetimes are ours. God's part is to set out His ways by sending His Son and the Bible and our part is whether or not to follow His ways. He has actually given us freedom to do whatever we wanted. This freedom was so vast that Jesus even allowed Himself to be slapped and physically abused by His own creation. God must have left us only with his guidance (Bible and Holy Spirit) while eyes are wide open, His hands are closed. As followers of Christ we must not look down to those people who are blinded and are lost. No one is exempted from SIN, we always SIN and we will always commit SIN. The best part of having Christ is that we are FREE from the PUNISHMENT of SIN. We must look at other SINNERS with the heart of compassion. We can try looking at them as if they are bound by thorns while walking along the streets, schools, parties, etc... and are slowly being drawn into a burning furnace. Compassion not arrogance is the emotion that God has shown to the lost. Grace is his answer to their cry. Grace must be our answer to them too. Not superiority, not condescension, not arrogance. The image of Christ is of Grace and that should be our image too. Thank you for reading and God bless you.