Been seeing a lot of positive affirmations since I started commonplace journaling and as a bible-believer, I find them dangerous because on the surface, they sound right.

 

* Do what makes you happy.

* I am good enough!

* I deserve everything I want in life

* I love the person I am becoming.

* I allow myself to make mistakes to help me grow.

 

Again, on the surface, they sound right but imagine Hitler affirming himself.

 

Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying that those statements have no positive value. I am currently reading a cliffnotes-like on mindfulness, annotating those that I find biblically disagreeable with comments and yellow highlights, and green those that are aligned. And that's where the problem of mindfulness lies. They're not consistent. They're so "depende sinong nagsasabi." The above positive affirmations have taken an ominous tone when we hear Hitler's voice. 

 

Even the book itself was not consistent. One paragraph, it says mindfulness has nothing to do with religion and another states its Buddhist roots citing Steve Jobs as a practitioner, being a Zen Buddhist.

 

If I want to affirm myself, I would not base them on shaky affirmations that may or may not hold me up later when it counts. Only the Word of God has that solid confidence and firm foundation. It has proven itself to hold people up throughout since the beginning of time. Many have attempted to mock, ridicule, dismiss, and all the verbs that describe deleting it from our lives but the Bible still stands and will stand forever (1 Pet. 1:25). All its axioms are applicable to anyone. Imagine Hitler saying these:

 

I have hated someone. (Mt. 5:21-22)

I have gossiped about someone. (Rom. 1:29-32)

I have been jealous and envious. (James 4:2-3)

I have told a lie .(Ps. 120:2)

 

Now think of one person whom you know to be really good, as in all that is left is for him/her to grow a halo. Go through the same biblically-based statements and the halo will dim a bit because they are still true. 

 

Again, imagine Hitler and that good person saying the following:  "I am a sinner." It still works, doesn't it? (Of course the degree of sinfulness will vary greatly but a glass of water with a speck of dust is as kadiri as one filled with water from Pasig River.) Only the Word of God has stood the test of time. Even science can't boast the same thing. Remember Pluto. All the biblical axioms are on-point regardless whose lips utter them. If something can be this unerring 100% all the time, we need to listen to what it says about the after-life. 

 

The Bible says that it is only by repenting and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior while we are still alive, that we will get to heaven (John 14:6). God said it so we better believe it. We better affirm it to be able to proclaim the best and most positive statement of all: I am a forgiven sinner whose name is now written in the Book of Life.

 

P.S. Affirm is pronounced as "a-ferm," not "a-feerm."