Here is a list of Religion & Spirituality Blogs ordered by Newest, posted by members. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
The future of Europe?
Just realized the video I linked was dated, so I decided to edit the blog and remove the video. Long live Europe.
Give and hundredfolds will return to you.
After work today, I asked our company bus driver to stop by at the ATM machine as I need some cash, which to be in this place is not that easy going out.
One of the Saudi Colleague tease me, that I will give all staff inside the bus 100 box, as hundredfolds will return and I will become rich.
I replied, it should not be asked, it should be given freely. And besides i don't dream to be rich...lol. I could survive everyday provide the needs of my kids, what else I should ask for???Good health is the wealth I knew, more than money.
Besides, I will just give to the needy not to those who has more than me.
She insisted , no no, you have to give to all of us. Ok, I said let me take the money first so you would know.
When I got up inside the bus, I asked her, "you forgot what you've said right"?
You see it took me just a few minutes, because the ATM machine had no difficulties counting what I need. Lol
Besides, I would only give secretly. As when you gave bragging that hundredfolds is already paid to you.
One of the Saudi Colleague tease me, that I will give all staff inside the bus 100 box, as hundredfolds will return and I will become rich.
I replied, it should not be asked, it should be given freely. And besides i don't dream to be rich...lol. I could survive everyday provide the needs of my kids, what else I should ask for???Good health is the wealth I knew, more than money.
Besides, I will just give to the needy not to those who has more than me.
She insisted , no no, you have to give to all of us. Ok, I said let me take the money first so you would know.
When I got up inside the bus, I asked her, "you forgot what you've said right"?
You see it took me just a few minutes, because the ATM machine had no difficulties counting what I need. Lol
Besides, I would only give secretly. As when you gave bragging that hundredfolds is already paid to you.
"REAL FRIENDSHIP"
Never ask, ‘Who is my real friend?’ Ask,‘Am I a real friend to somebody?’ That is the right question. Why are you worried about others — whether they are friends to you or not? The proverb is: A friend in need is a friend indeed.But deep down that is greed. That is not friendship; that is not love.You want to use the other as a means, and no man is a means, every man is an end unto himself. Why are you so worried about who is a real friend? The real question has to be: Am I friendly to people? Do you know what friendship is? It is the highest form of love. In love, some lust is bound to be there; in friendship, all lust disappears. In friendship nothing gross remains; it becomes absolutely subtle.
It is not a question of using the other, it is not even a question of needing the other,it is a question of sharing.You have too much and you would like to share.And whosoever is ready to share your joy with you, your dance, your song, you will be grateful to him, you will feel obliged…. A friend always feels grateful to those people who allow him to love them, to give them whatsoever he has got. Love is greed.You will be surprised to know that the English word ‘love’ comes from a Sanskrit word lobh and it means ‘greed’…. Making friendships with the idea of using people is taking a wrong step from the very beginning. Friendship has to be a sharing.If you have something, share it — and whosoever is ready to share with you is a friend.
It is not a question of need.It is not about when you are in danger, the friend has to come to your aid.That is irrelevant — he may come, he may not come, but if he does not come, you don’t have any complaint. If he comes you are grateful,but if he does not come,it’s perfectly okay. It is his decision to come or not to come. You don’t want to manipulate him, you don’t want to make him feel guilty.You will not have any grudge. Friendship is not something of the marketplace.Friendship is one of those rare things which belong to the temple and not to the shop.But you are not aware of that kind of friendship,you will have to learn it. Friendship is a great art.Love has a natural instinct behind it; friendship has no natural instinct behind it.
Friendship is something conscious; love is unconscious.You fall in love with a woman.... Why do we say ‘falling in love’? That phrase is significant: ‘falling in love’. Nobody ever rises in love, everybody falls in love.Why do you fall in love? This is because it is falling from the conscious to the unconscious, from intelligence to instinct. What we call love is more animalistic than human. Friendship is absolutely human. It has something for which there is no inbuilt mechanism in your biology;it is nonbiological. Hence, one rises in friendship,one does not fall in friendship. It has a spiritual dimension
It is not a question of using the other, it is not even a question of needing the other,it is a question of sharing.You have too much and you would like to share.And whosoever is ready to share your joy with you, your dance, your song, you will be grateful to him, you will feel obliged…. A friend always feels grateful to those people who allow him to love them, to give them whatsoever he has got. Love is greed.You will be surprised to know that the English word ‘love’ comes from a Sanskrit word lobh and it means ‘greed’…. Making friendships with the idea of using people is taking a wrong step from the very beginning. Friendship has to be a sharing.If you have something, share it — and whosoever is ready to share with you is a friend.
It is not a question of need.It is not about when you are in danger, the friend has to come to your aid.That is irrelevant — he may come, he may not come, but if he does not come, you don’t have any complaint. If he comes you are grateful,but if he does not come,it’s perfectly okay. It is his decision to come or not to come. You don’t want to manipulate him, you don’t want to make him feel guilty.You will not have any grudge. Friendship is not something of the marketplace.Friendship is one of those rare things which belong to the temple and not to the shop.But you are not aware of that kind of friendship,you will have to learn it. Friendship is a great art.Love has a natural instinct behind it; friendship has no natural instinct behind it.
Friendship is something conscious; love is unconscious.You fall in love with a woman.... Why do we say ‘falling in love’? That phrase is significant: ‘falling in love’. Nobody ever rises in love, everybody falls in love.Why do you fall in love? This is because it is falling from the conscious to the unconscious, from intelligence to instinct. What we call love is more animalistic than human. Friendship is absolutely human. It has something for which there is no inbuilt mechanism in your biology;it is nonbiological. Hence, one rises in friendship,one does not fall in friendship. It has a spiritual dimension
"LOVE YOUR SELF"
We begin with one of the most profound sutras of Gautama the Buddha: 'Love yourself…'
"Just the opposite has been taught to you by all the traditions of the world, all the civilizations, all the cultures, all the churches. They say: "Love others, don't love yourself." And there is a certain cunning strategy behind their teaching.
"Love is the nourishment for the soul. Just as food is to the body, so love is to the soul. Without food the body is weak, without love the soul is weak. And no state, no church, no vested interest, has ever wanted people to have strong souls, because a person with spiritual energy is bound to be rebellious.
"Love makes you rebellious, revolutionary. Love gives you wings to soar high. Love gives you insight into things, so that nobody can deceive you, exploit you, oppress you. And the priests and the politicians survive only on your blood – they survive only on exploitation. All the priests and all the politicians are parasites.
"To make you spiritually weak they have found a sure method, one hundred percent guaranteed, and that is to teach you not to love yourself. If a man cannot love himself he cannot love anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky. They say "Love others," because they know if you cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying, "Love others, love humanity, love God, love nature, love your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, but don't love yourself" – because to love oneself is selfish according to them.
They condemn self-love as they condemn nothing else – and they have made their teaching look very logical. They say: "If you love yourself you will become an egoist, if you love yourself you will become narcissistic." It is not true. A man who loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It is by loving others without loving yourself, trying to love others, that the ego arises.
"The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world – naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings. They are not ordinary: ordinary people love themselves; they love others, they love great ideals, they love God. And all their love is false, because all their love is without any roots. A man who loves himself takes the first step towards real love." ::smitten:
"Just the opposite has been taught to you by all the traditions of the world, all the civilizations, all the cultures, all the churches. They say: "Love others, don't love yourself." And there is a certain cunning strategy behind their teaching.
"Love is the nourishment for the soul. Just as food is to the body, so love is to the soul. Without food the body is weak, without love the soul is weak. And no state, no church, no vested interest, has ever wanted people to have strong souls, because a person with spiritual energy is bound to be rebellious.
"Love makes you rebellious, revolutionary. Love gives you wings to soar high. Love gives you insight into things, so that nobody can deceive you, exploit you, oppress you. And the priests and the politicians survive only on your blood – they survive only on exploitation. All the priests and all the politicians are parasites.
"To make you spiritually weak they have found a sure method, one hundred percent guaranteed, and that is to teach you not to love yourself. If a man cannot love himself he cannot love anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky. They say "Love others," because they know if you cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying, "Love others, love humanity, love God, love nature, love your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, but don't love yourself" – because to love oneself is selfish according to them.
They condemn self-love as they condemn nothing else – and they have made their teaching look very logical. They say: "If you love yourself you will become an egoist, if you love yourself you will become narcissistic." It is not true. A man who loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It is by loving others without loving yourself, trying to love others, that the ego arises.
"The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world – naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings. They are not ordinary: ordinary people love themselves; they love others, they love great ideals, they love God. And all their love is false, because all their love is without any roots. A man who loves himself takes the first step towards real love." ::smitten:
Britain's Burka Blues
Britain's Burka Blues: "I'd Like to Thank Boris Johnson"
by Denis MacEoin • September 3, 2018 at 5:00 am
"As a Muslim woman, I'd like to thank Boris Johnson for calling out the niqab" — Title of an article by Dr. Qanta Ahmed in The Spectator.
"his is a point that we Muslims seem to be unable to get across to non-Muslims – there is no basis in Islam for the niqab.... That's why Muslim nations are themselves regulating and banning the niqab and burqa..." — Dr. Qanta Ahmed, The Conversation, January 2017.
Some observers feel that it is especially painful to see Western feminists marching and wearing black face masks in order to protect Muslim women's right to wear them, but failing to support the rights of other Muslim women who plead not to be forced into them.
We are expected to feel guilty if we dare to question what some Muslim women themselves question: if shariah law is really the most wholesome lifestyle for many women.
To many, female Islamic clothing, from hijabs to niqabs and burqas, represents the powerful oppression of women's rights. They look as if they could be symbols of the undue pressures on women to conform to a patriarchal, deeply misogynistic code and the punishments that can be and often are inflicted on women for even a slight avoidance of the rules. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
On August 5, Britain's former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, published an article in The Daily Telegraph. Entitled "Denmark has got it wrong. Yes, the burka is oppressive and ridiculous – but that's still no reason to ban it", the article created a furore both within and outside his own Tory party, and for more than one reason.
Johnson is currently the strongest candidate to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister, given her increasing weakness as a leader, largely due to the problems surrounding Brexit and her inability to create a suitable deal for it. This is relevant to the furore. Johnson is an ambitious politician who is given to making controversial comments. "I'd Like to Thank Boris Johnson"
by Denis MacEoin
Note: I never thought there is another side of this fiasco from some muslim women themselves.
It is relieving to know.
by Denis MacEoin • September 3, 2018 at 5:00 am
"As a Muslim woman, I'd like to thank Boris Johnson for calling out the niqab" — Title of an article by Dr. Qanta Ahmed in The Spectator.
"his is a point that we Muslims seem to be unable to get across to non-Muslims – there is no basis in Islam for the niqab.... That's why Muslim nations are themselves regulating and banning the niqab and burqa..." — Dr. Qanta Ahmed, The Conversation, January 2017.
Some observers feel that it is especially painful to see Western feminists marching and wearing black face masks in order to protect Muslim women's right to wear them, but failing to support the rights of other Muslim women who plead not to be forced into them.
We are expected to feel guilty if we dare to question what some Muslim women themselves question: if shariah law is really the most wholesome lifestyle for many women.
To many, female Islamic clothing, from hijabs to niqabs and burqas, represents the powerful oppression of women's rights. They look as if they could be symbols of the undue pressures on women to conform to a patriarchal, deeply misogynistic code and the punishments that can be and often are inflicted on women for even a slight avoidance of the rules. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
On August 5, Britain's former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, published an article in The Daily Telegraph. Entitled "Denmark has got it wrong. Yes, the burka is oppressive and ridiculous – but that's still no reason to ban it", the article created a furore both within and outside his own Tory party, and for more than one reason.
Johnson is currently the strongest candidate to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister, given her increasing weakness as a leader, largely due to the problems surrounding Brexit and her inability to create a suitable deal for it. This is relevant to the furore. Johnson is an ambitious politician who is given to making controversial comments. "I'd Like to Thank Boris Johnson"
by Denis MacEoin
Note: I never thought there is another side of this fiasco from some muslim women themselves.
It is relieving to know.
Why the World Would Be Better Off Without Religion
Why the World Would Be Better Off Without Religion
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Blind faith, one of the dangers of religion
Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report
6 PA Catholic dioceses, 301 'predator priests, and over 1,000 victims and no prosecutions
For complete article go to this link; *xual-abuse-grand-jury-report-penn-dioceses/570109002/
For this complete article go to this link;
6 PA Catholic dioceses, 301 'predator priests, and over 1,000 victims and no prosecutions
In response to: The report described 301 predator priests who may have abused more than 1,000 victims. Shapiro said the grand jury believed that both numbers were low, that the number of victims could be thousands and thousands.
At times, the church archives described the abuse as horseplay, wrestling or inappropriate contact, but Shapiro said it was child s*xual abuse and rape and that the church had "disdain for the victims."
The priests gave some of their victims gold crosses as gifts, intended to mark the victims as those who had been groomed by their predators.
The report named 45 priests in the Harrisburg Diocese, including one priest who rationalized his abuse as "horseplay."
The coverup was effective, Shapiro said, as the statute of limitations has passed, something the attorney general described as "the manipulation' of Pennsylvania's weak laws governing child s*xual abuse. Many of the church leadership remained in place or were promoted, "putting the institution before the (safety of victims)."
The grand jury report described numerous instances in which church leadership "lied," Shapiro said. The church more often than not, he said, saved its compassion for the suspected predators rather than for the victims of their abuse.
The grand jury report also described the failure of law enforcement, including the tale of a district attorney who declined to prosecute an abusive priest because he wanted the church's support for his re-election.
Calls for reform
The grand jury made four recommendations to reform the law:
Elimination of the statute of limitations
Expand the window in which abuse victims can sue their abuser and the church
Clarify the penalties against institutions for failing to report abuse
Ban civil confidentiality agreements from preventing victims from reporting abuse to law enforcement.
In a statement issued before the grand jury report was released, the Diocese of Harrisburg’s Bishop, Ronald W. Gainer, issued a statement noting that he had read the report "with great sadness," describing the abuse of children as"horrific."
"I am saddened because I know that behind every story is a child precious in God’s sight; a child who has been wounded by the sins of those who should have known better," the bishop said in the statement.
"As I stressed last week when we released information regarding our own internal review of child s*xual abuse in the Harrisburg Diocese, I acknowledge the sinfulness of those who have harmed these survivors, as well as the action and inaction of those in Church leadership who failed to respond appropriately."
At times, the church archives described the abuse as horseplay, wrestling or inappropriate contact, but Shapiro said it was child s*xual abuse and rape and that the church had "disdain for the victims."
The priests gave some of their victims gold crosses as gifts, intended to mark the victims as those who had been groomed by their predators.
The report named 45 priests in the Harrisburg Diocese, including one priest who rationalized his abuse as "horseplay."
The coverup was effective, Shapiro said, as the statute of limitations has passed, something the attorney general described as "the manipulation' of Pennsylvania's weak laws governing child s*xual abuse. Many of the church leadership remained in place or were promoted, "putting the institution before the (safety of victims)."
The grand jury report described numerous instances in which church leadership "lied," Shapiro said. The church more often than not, he said, saved its compassion for the suspected predators rather than for the victims of their abuse.
The grand jury report also described the failure of law enforcement, including the tale of a district attorney who declined to prosecute an abusive priest because he wanted the church's support for his re-election.
Calls for reform
The grand jury made four recommendations to reform the law:
Elimination of the statute of limitations
Expand the window in which abuse victims can sue their abuser and the church
Clarify the penalties against institutions for failing to report abuse
Ban civil confidentiality agreements from preventing victims from reporting abuse to law enforcement.
In a statement issued before the grand jury report was released, the Diocese of Harrisburg’s Bishop, Ronald W. Gainer, issued a statement noting that he had read the report "with great sadness," describing the abuse of children as"horrific."
"I am saddened because I know that behind every story is a child precious in God’s sight; a child who has been wounded by the sins of those who should have known better," the bishop said in the statement.
"As I stressed last week when we released information regarding our own internal review of child s*xual abuse in the Harrisburg Diocese, I acknowledge the sinfulness of those who have harmed these survivors, as well as the action and inaction of those in Church leadership who failed to respond appropriately."
For complete article go to this link; *xual-abuse-grand-jury-report-penn-dioceses/570109002/
In response to: Since the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, the clergy abuse hotline maintained by the office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro has received 485 calls, according to Joe Grace, communications director for the attorney general.
The calls are being returned around the clock, "day and night," by agents, says Grace. The agent listens to the caller's claim, gathers facts and then determines if further investigation is appropriate.
According to Grace, a "sizable number" of calls are regarding allegations of child s*xual abuse by clergy.
The calls are being returned around the clock, "day and night," by agents, says Grace. The agent listens to the caller's claim, gathers facts and then determines if further investigation is appropriate.
According to Grace, a "sizable number" of calls are regarding allegations of child s*xual abuse by clergy.
For this complete article go to this link;
Questions
Some people believe that when we die, that's it. No afterlife. But if that's the case, what's the point?
On the other hand, what point would there be to life if not for an afterlife?
And, how did we get here to even have a life? The big bang theory is the most rediculous idea I've ever heard, because where did the first matter come from to explode?
The theory of creation makes the most sense to me, because of the complexity and intricacy of things, from the simple to the most complex -- the human brain. And mans ability to think, reason, feel emotion.
Discuss.
On the other hand, what point would there be to life if not for an afterlife?
And, how did we get here to even have a life? The big bang theory is the most rediculous idea I've ever heard, because where did the first matter come from to explode?
The theory of creation makes the most sense to me, because of the complexity and intricacy of things, from the simple to the most complex -- the human brain. And mans ability to think, reason, feel emotion.
Discuss.
"Love Is a Give-and-Take Relationship"
“Love respects the other. It is a give-and-take relationship. Love enjoys giving, and love enjoys taking. It is a sharing, it is a communication. Both are equal in love; in a s*xual relationship both are not equal. Love has a totally different beauty to it.
“The world is slowly, slowly moving towards love relationships; hence there is great turmoil. All the old institutions are disappearing – they have to disappear, because they were based on the I/it relationship. New ways of communication, new ways of sharing are bound to be discovered. They will have a different flavor, the flavor of love, of sharing. They will be nonpossessive; there will be no owner.
“Then the highest state of love is prayerfulness. In prayerfulness there is communion. In sex there is the I/it relationship, in love the I/thou relationship. Martin Buber stops there; his Judaic tradition won’t allow him to go further. But one step more has to be taken that is neither 'I' nor 'thou' – a relationship where I and thou disappear, a relationship where two persons no longer function as two but function as one. A tremendous unity, a harmony, a deep accord – two bodies but one soul. That is the highest quality of love. I call it prayerfulness.
“Love has these three stages, and compassion accordingly has three stages, and both can exist in different combinations.
“Hence there are so many kinds of love and so many kinds of compassion. But the basic, the most fundamental, is to understand this three-rung ladder of love. That will help you, that will give you an insight into where you are, what kind of love you are living in and what kind of compassion is happening to you. Watch. Beware not to remain caught in it. There are higher realms, heights to be climbed, peaks to be attained.”
“The world is slowly, slowly moving towards love relationships; hence there is great turmoil. All the old institutions are disappearing – they have to disappear, because they were based on the I/it relationship. New ways of communication, new ways of sharing are bound to be discovered. They will have a different flavor, the flavor of love, of sharing. They will be nonpossessive; there will be no owner.
“Then the highest state of love is prayerfulness. In prayerfulness there is communion. In sex there is the I/it relationship, in love the I/thou relationship. Martin Buber stops there; his Judaic tradition won’t allow him to go further. But one step more has to be taken that is neither 'I' nor 'thou' – a relationship where I and thou disappear, a relationship where two persons no longer function as two but function as one. A tremendous unity, a harmony, a deep accord – two bodies but one soul. That is the highest quality of love. I call it prayerfulness.
“Love has these three stages, and compassion accordingly has three stages, and both can exist in different combinations.
“Hence there are so many kinds of love and so many kinds of compassion. But the basic, the most fundamental, is to understand this three-rung ladder of love. That will help you, that will give you an insight into where you are, what kind of love you are living in and what kind of compassion is happening to you. Watch. Beware not to remain caught in it. There are higher realms, heights to be climbed, peaks to be attained.”
God does not exist,God is between your ears.
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