Most Commented Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,493)

"A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."

I had to share this, because it gives both men and women something to think about during the dating process especially, those who seek marriage.

"There are many problems in relationships. Too much jealousy, womanizing, selfishness, selfish-ambitions, and many relationships are based on lust, instead of true love. All these ungodly things cause fighting, cussing, and sleeping around from bed to bed with other women. There is a lack of respect for the other partner, not much intimacy or romance (this does not involve sex), between couples, defrauding each others with lies, and a lack of respect or fear of God, or for the other partner, or for self.

The Scripture passage Proverbs 18:22, does not say, "He (the man) who finds a woman finds a good thing." It clearly says, "He (the man) who finds a "wife" finds a good thing." This lets us know that when a man goes in search of a suitable mate to be his wife, he should be careful to look for a woman who already has the inner qualities of being a wife. He should spend time in prayer and fasting seeking God for the woman who has these qualities that God speaks about in His Word. But the man must also have the qualities God speaks about in I Timothy Chapter 3, if he himself is to be viewed and respected as the priest of his home after marriage, and as a wise husband or a real man, when he is seeking a wife.

All women are not qualified to be a wife... And all men are not qualified to be a husband..."

Excerpts from the book "Let's Talk Man Talk"
by Rev. Dr. T. A. Hodge

"The enemy’s purpose in sowing tares was to destroy the wheat. But the wise farmer will not allow the enemy to succeed. Instead, He will sort it out at harvest time.
As applied to the kingdom community, this parable teaches us that it is not our job to sort the tares from the wheat. That is only done at the time of harvest. Among God’s people, there may be some who are not genuine Christians, but it is God’s job to sort out false professors." David Guzik, Pastor

"Satan thus sows false doctrine in darkness. In the very place where the truth is preached, and while the hearts of people are open to receive it, by false but plausible teachers satan takes care to inculcate false sentiments. Often it is one of his arts, in a revival of religion, to spread secretly dangerous notions of piety. Multitudes are persuaded that they are Christians who are deceived. They are awakened, convicted, and alarmed. They take this for conversion. Or they find their burden gone; they fancy that they hear a voice; or a text of Scripture is “brought” to them, saying that their sins are forgiven; or they see Christ hanging on the cross in a vision; or they dream that their sins are pardoned, and they suppose they are Christians. But they are deceived. None of these things are any conclusive evidence of piety. All these may exist, and still there be no true love to God or Christ, and no real hatred of sin and change of heart. An enemy may do it to deceive them, and to bring dishonor on religion and the true believer’s relationship with God." Albert Barnes, Theologian

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
Another parable Jesus put forth to the people, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man (farmer) who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares (darnel/weeds) among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

The Parable of the Tares Explained
Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
He answered and said to them: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Jesus). The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons and daughters (believers) of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons and daughters (nonbelievers) of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares (nonbelievers) are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous (believers) will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The person who has ears to hear, let him hear! Matthew Chapter 13.

In our hectic holiday season, many have neglected the true miracle and meaning of Christmas- the coming of Jesus to our world. He is why we celebrate Christmas. Why? Because God sent His only Son to the earth to die for our sins that we might inherit a free gift of eternal life through personal trust in His Son (John 3:16).

Philippians 2:5-8 points out that the sovereign, infinite, all-powerful, eternal second Person of the Trinity actually took on a finite human nature through the virgin birth (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:26-38). Why? The Bible specifically teaches that Jesus came to be our representative and die for our sins on the cross of Calvary (Heb. 2:17; 1 Jn. 2:2; 4:10).

God sacrificed Himself for us- yes, died for us, even His enemies (Rom. 5:10)! He willingly took upon himself the infinite penalty due our sins so that he could graciously offers us a free gift of eternal salvation. Jesus' atoning death opened up the door for us to live in Heaven forever with a God of infinite love, joy, grandeur, wonder, peace, beauty, and splendor- to be with the greatest Treasure in the universe everlastingly.


Jesus birth was unlike any other. The theological term for his coming, the incarnation, is a doctrine unlike any other because it reveals who Jesus Christ truly is.

Like the One it celebrates, Christmas offers it's own paradox; a time of joy and celebration for many but for others a time of discouragement and depression. In it's own unique way, the season tends to shine a light on the color of our souls.

Particularly at Christmas, people have searched for both meaning and happiness in life. In this season of joy, it seems we often need reminded that God is actually the only possible source of genuine meaning and enduring happiness.


As the ancient and wisest King Solomon learned the hard way, a person can acquire virtually everything the world has to offer yet remain as unhappy and empty as ever. Material and temporal things of any sort can never satisfy beings who have an eternal longing for lasting happiness and ultimate meaning, which only an eternal, infinite, Person can satisfy, forever.


It was for this reason that God sent his own Son: "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him" (Jn. 3:16-17).


When the Bible speaks of "salvation" and "eternal life" as a gift (Rom. 6:23), it is speaking of a specific, astonishing, and excellent quality of life everlasting life only God can give. In Heaven we will find more love and meaning and contentment and happiness and joy and peace and fun and excitement and adventure than we can possibly dream of- and it will last forever.


All of this is possible only because of the incarnation or earthly birth of Jesus Christ. But we need to personally trust in Jesus and honor Him for who He truly is. However, with the birth of Christ, another irony of the often self-absorbed Christmas season seems to be that no matter how we may try to ignore it, life isn't about us; it's about Jesus. Getting what we most desire in life doesn't really make us happy. Whether we have what we want or not, that's why many become depressed and wonder about life's meaning. We aren't big enough or good enough to satisfy ourselves. Nor is anyone or anything else. As the famous French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre pointed out, only an infinite reference point can give our lives meaning. This famous atheist yearned for God: "That God does not exist, I cannot deny, that my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget."


Some may speculate as to how they could really and truly ever find God. After all, given the many religions in the world and their conflicting beliefs, where does a person start?


Actually it's a lot easier than most would think....

...... ...... ...... ............. .. .... ...........Sri Neem Karoli Baba’s @ Mahasamadhi............ .. ....Neem Karoli baba, a spiritual teacher in search of whom Steve Jobs is said to have come to India, continues to be a revered figure 38 years after his death. One of the recent additions to his band of followers is Hollywood actress Julia Roberts.

About a year ago, Roberts told Elle magazine that she was attracted to Hinduism and converted to the religion after seeing a picture of the baba. Born Lakshmi Narayan Sharma in Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh, the baba is called 'Maharaj-ji' by his followers. A devotee of the monkey god, Hanuman, he taught that compassion is the highest virtue....... .. ..According to one version, Jobs, who was then 18, and his friend Dan Kottke travelled to the baba's ashram in what is now Uttarakhand but found that the guru had passed away by then.


But other celebrities came into contact with the baba and have gone on to live a life guided by his teachings. Among them is Larry Brilliant, a physician, humanitarian and the former head of Google's philanthropic arm.

Among his lifelong devotees is Ram Dass, an American born as Steve Alpert. Dass is the author of the spiritual book 'Be Here Now' that has sold over a million copies. He, Brilliant and other followers of the baba started the charitable organisation Seva Foundation. Jobs donated $10,000 in 1978 to help launch Seva.

The baba's followers run ashrams in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and New Mexico, United States. In 2008, American gossip website Gawker reported that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was at an ashram of 'Maharj-ji.' He was taken there by Brilliant, who is also said to have taken Google co-founder Larry Page and eBay's Jeff Skoll there..... ...

Darshan Weekend September 25 to 27, 2015

Widen your hearts, your vision, your thoughts, your entire life – make it bigger. Life becomes so much more alive when you live it with a broad mind which doesn’t stop at “this is mine and that is yours”.
When one’s vision widens, differences don’t appear to be even bigger but, on the contrary, one increasingly begins to see how alike we all are and ultimately that we are all the same – in the most positive sense of the word.

'Miracle of Love - Stories about Neem Karoli Baba' by Ram Dass
Published by E.P. Dutton, New York, USA in 1979
Many seekers have come to know Sri Neem Karoli Baba through his devotees Ram Dass, Krishna Das and Bhagavan Das.

Firstly, two points are to be understood. One, the energy of the third eye is really the same as that which moves in the two ordinary eyes - the same energy. It begins to move in a new center. The third eye is already there, but non-functioning, and it cannot see unless these ordinary eyes become unseeing.

The same energy has to move in it. When the energy is not moving in the two eyes it can move in the third, and when it moves in the third the two eyes will become unseeing. They will be there, but you won't be able to see through them. That energy that looks through them will be absent; it will move through a new center. That center is between these two eyes. It is already there, complete; any moment it can function. But it needs energy to function, and that same energy has to be diverted.

Secondly, when you are seeing through the two eyes, you are seeing through the physical body.

The third eye is not really a part of the physical body. It is part of the second body which is hidden - the subtle body, the SUKSHMA SHARIR. It has a corresponding spot in the physical body, but it is not part of it. That is why physiology cannot believe that there exists a third eye or anything like it, because your skull can be analyzed, penetrated, x-rayed, and there is no point, no physical entity which can be said to be the third eye. The third eye is part of the subtle body, the sukshma sharir.

When you die your physical body dies, but your sukshma sharir, your subtle body, moves with you; it takes another birth. Unless the subtle body dies, you can never be freed from the circle of birth- death, rebirth-redeath. The circle moves on.

The third eye belongs to the subtle body. When the energy is moving through the physical body, you are looking through the physical eyes. That is why through the physical eyes you cannot look at anything other than the physical, than the material. The two eyes are physical. Through these eyes you cannot look at anything, cannot see anything which is not physical.

Only with the third eye functioning can you enter a different dimension. Now you can see things which are invisible to the physical eyes, but are visible to the subtle eyes. Then, with the third eye functioning, if you look at a person you look at his soul, at his spirit, not at his body - just like you look at the physical body through the physical eyes, but you cannot see the soul. The same happens when you look through the third eye: you look and the body is not there, just the one who resides in the body.

Remember these two points. Firstly, the same energy has to move. It has to be taken away from the ordinary physical eyes and allowed to move through the third eye. Secondly, the third eye is not part of the physical body. It is part of the subtle body, the second body that is within. Because it is part of the subtle body, the moment you can look through it you look at the subtle world. You are sitting here. If a ghost is sitting here you cannot see it, but if your third eye is functioning you will see the ghost, because subtle existence can be seen only through the subtle eye.

How is the third eye related with this technique of looking? It is deeply related. Really, this technique is to open the third eye. If your two eyes stop completely, if they become non-moving, static, like stones, with no movement in these eyes, the energy stops flowing through them. If you stop them, the energy stops flowing through them. The energy flows; that is why they move. The vibration, the movement, is because of the energy. If the energy is not moving, your eyes will become just like a dead man's eyes - stoney, dead.

Looking at a spot, staring at it without allowing your eyes to move anywhere else, will give a staticness. Suddenly the energy which was moving through the two eyes will not be moving through these eyes. And energy has to move; energy cannot be static. Eyes can be static, but energy cannot be static. When these eyes are closed to the energy, if suddenly the doors are closed and the energy cannot move through these eyes, it tries to find a new path. And the third eye is just near, just between the two eyebrows, half an inch deep. It is just near - the nearest point.

If your energy is released from these eyes, the first thing that can happen is that it will move through the third eye. It is just as if water is flowing and you close one hole: it will find another - the nearest which can be found with the least resistance. It will find it automatically; you do not have to do anything specifically. With these physical eyes, you just have to stop energy from moving through them, and then energy will find its own path and it will move through the third eye.

This movement through the third eye transforms you into a different world. You start seeing things you have never seen, you start feeling things you have never felt, you start smelling things you have never smelled. A new world, a subtle world, starts functioning. It is already there. The eye is there; the world, the subtle world, is already there. Both are there, but not revealed.

Hi friends!
These are some "Hotline Phone Numbers"(24/24) I have got from someone and I am very glad that and I would like to be shared them to all of you here. Wish you all a great day.

The "Hotline Phone Numbers" (24/24), you should to know:

1) When you feel anxiety, worry, call: .... ............ ..... (John 14).
2) When you sinned, call: ..................... ...... ... ... (Psalm 51).
3) When you are in danger, call: ..................... .. ...... (Psalm 91).
4) People are frustrated, call: .................. .. ...... .. (Psalm 27).
5) Feeling far from your Lord, call: ....... .... ... .. ...... (Psalm 139).
6) If your faith should be encouraged, call: ......... .. .......... ... (Hebrews 11).
7) When you are lonely and fearful, call: .. ................ .... ... ........ (Psalm 23).
8) When you lack confidence, call: ......................... .... ... .. (Matthew 8, 23-27).
9) When you are insulted and criticized, call: ................... .... .... (1 Cor 13).
10) When you are oscillating about Christianity (doctrine), call: ...... .. ... .. (2 Cor 5.15 to 18).

11) When you feel outcast, call: ................... ... (Rom 8, 31-39).
12) You're going to find Peace, call: ..................... ... ...... (Matthew 11, 25-30).
13) Feeling this world something better than God, call :: .................. (Psalm 90).
14) You need Christ as insurance, call: ....... ...... (Rom 8, 1-30).
15) When you go somewhere to rest for a few days, call: ............ (Psalm 121).
16) When you pray for yourself, call :: ....... ...... (Psalm 87).
17) When you need the courage to duty, call :: ............. ... (Joshua 1).
18) When you want to give up (something ..) to go with thee, call: ............. ... (Mk 10, 17-31).
19) When you feel depressed, frustrated, call: .... .... ... .. (Psalm 27).
20) When bank deposits run out, call: ....... ... .. (Psalm 37).

21) Seeing people do not love you, call: ......... .. ...... (John 15).
22) You are losing hope, telephone: ..................... (Psalm 126).
23) You see the world too small for you, call: ...... .. .... (Psalm 19).
24) You want to have the fruits of the Spirit, call: .... .... ... ..... (Gal 5, 18-24).
25) Do you want to renew myself in the image of God, call:. ...... .. (Col 3, 9-10).
26) When you got sick, and would like to pray, call:.......... .... ... .. (2 Kings 20, 1-6).
27) You want to live in harmony, should call:. .... ... ... ... (Rom 12: 3-8).
28) When you feeling happy or sad, you should call: .. ....... ... ..... (1 Tx 5, 16-18).
29) When tempted, you should call: ............. .......... (1 Peter 5, 8-9).
30) When we lack of dress, call: .... ...... ..... (Matthew 6, 25-34).

31) When you do not know how to pray, call: .......... ...... (Matthew 6: 5-6).
32) When death comes, call: .................. .. ...... (John 11, 23-26).
33) When parents lack style, call: ...... ..... ... (1 Timothy 3, 3-4).
34) When you are enamored of wealth, telephone: .................. .. ...... (Matthew 19, 21-24).
35) When the couple discord, shaky: ...... .. ... .... ... (Col 3, 18-19).
36) When lazy to work, call: .................. .... (Proverbs 6, 6-11).
37) When it comes to divorce, separation, call: ................ ... .... (Matthew 19: 4-6).
38) When angry, call: ................ ......... ....... .... (James 1, 19-20).
39) When threatened, abused, call: ....... ..................... .... .... (Matthew 10, 26-28).
40) Hold the 6th commandment (Do nothing lewd), call: ......... (Matthew 5, 27-30).
41) In the absence of self-control, call: ......... .. ......................... (Titus 2: 2-3).
42) When hard to forgive one another, call: ....... ......................... (Matthew 18, 21-22).


Notes:
1. All above you can referred directly without through switchboard.
2. Yes, all the line to Heaven always be served 24/24 with free not any paying.

As part of twins' honors seminar at university, they spent an hour at campus mosque yesterday. Parents were invited, so dad tagged along. Professors were there as well. Over 100 visitors, and friendly staff gave a little lecture on the faith, then entertained questions, of which the kids had lots, many having to do with recent terrorism and woman's rights. The answers were what we always hear, as in the many Koran statements to kill infidels really being "out of context", and that the many challenges faced by Muslim women "really are cultural, and not Islamic". I know many nice Muslims, but just for once, it would be nice to hear some straight talk here. Islamic terrorism doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere,---same with the repression of women one sometimes sees. Why not just say that these issues are a part of Islam, and are regrettable. It seems anything else just enables the hothead Jihadis, and the men who keep women down. Just my impression. God is still great, and not dead. She isn't even asleep. R.

In my opinion, everybody prays.
In all religions. Of all beliefs. Whether proclaimed atheists or non believers, all pray.
Spiritually prayer is from the heart and so most times it’s private, but it also is manifested publicly, aloud and as a congregation, invoking or pleading or asking or thanking God, or Allah, or Buddha, or the Sun, the Moon.....
Praying is a powerful emotion which can be both physical and mental, and even if for the briefest of time, can be a reliever of worry, stress, mental and physical pain, and a support in time of need.
I believe in the power of prayer.
You ?