Last Commented Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,493)

"Marriage is a love-hate affair, an attraction-repulsion affair."
Man cannot be without the woman, and the woman cannot be without the man.
They are part of one dialectical process.
Between these two poles there is both attraction and repulsion, because attraction and repulsion cannot be separated.
Hence you feel attracted towards the woman or towards the man and repulsed at the same time.
A part of you wants to be with the woman, a part of you wants to be alone.
You are always hesitating.
If you are with the woman or with the man, you start longing for the freedom to be on your own, to be alone.
Suddenly you become very interested in being alone and free, and you don’t know where this desire to be free is coming from.
The woman or the man, the other, is provoking it.
The moment you have left the other, this desire, this longing, this great longing to be alone will disappear.
And then you are surprised, really surprised. When you are alone you simply feel lonely.
You don’t feel that joy that you had contemplated, you don’t see any freedom;
you simply see loneliness surrounding you. And your whole existence becomes cold, frozen, dark.
Again the desire arises to be with the other. Now you hanker for love, for togetherness.
This is the problem between man and woman. They are attracted and repulsed together,simultaneously.
They want to come to be together and they want to be separate and alone, on their own.
Hence the constant conflict between man and woman.
Marriage is a love-hate affair, an attraction-repulsion affair.
If the marriage lasts long, it can only last if there are mini-divorces happening every day – only then can it last long.
If the man and the woman have decided not to fight, then it is a plastic marriage.
They will be together, they will manage to be together, but they will never be together in reality; they will never know those moments of unity.
They Are only pretending. They are being polite, but not true, not authentic.
Marriage is a kind of intimate enmity.
It is an intimate enmity, it is a friendly fight, it is a war.
Yes,between two wars there are peaceful moments too, and they are beautiful because of the two wars.
Couples go on fighting – that’s how they keep alive the flame of love.
Once they fight, they go away from each other. When they are far away from each other, in their psychologies, they start hankering for the other, they start missing the other.
Then they start seeking and groping for the other. Then They come close, and very close, because they have tasted something of loneliness.
Now they want to be very close. Once they have tasted of closeness they want to be separate again.
So don’t be worried about it.
It is a fundamental phenomenon.
You cannot escape it.
The only way to escape is to have a pretend marriage, which is not a true marriage.
’Remain polite to each other.’
It is a kind of contract, that ’I need you and you need me,’ that ’I will scratch your back and you scratch my back’ – that’s all – ’because I need you and you need me.
You are my security, I will be your security.’ It is a legal contract but not marriage.

“Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be respectable, you are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal. Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself…

Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the self at all. You don’t know who you are. If you had known, then there would have been no problem— then you are not seeking opinions. Then you are not worried what others say about you— it is irrelevant!

When you are self-conscious you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet.”

It depends. There are as many loves as there are people. Love is a hierarchy, from the lowest rung to the highest, from sex to superconsciousness. There are many many layers, many planes of love. It all depends on you. If you are existing on the lowest rung, you will have a totally different idea of love than the person who is existing on the highest rung. Adolf Hitler will have one idea of love, Gautam Buddha another; and they will be
diametrically opposite, because they are at two extremes.

At the lowest, love is a kind of politics, power politics. Wherever love is contaminated by the idea of domination, it is politics. Whether you call it politics or not is not the question, it is political. And millions of people never know anything about love except this politics -- the politics that exists between husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. It is politics, the whole thing is political: you want to dominate the other, you enjoy domination.
And love is nothing but politics sugar-coated, a bitter pill sugar-coated.

You talk about love but the deep desire is to exploit the other. And I am not saying that you are doing it deliberately or consciously. People are falling in love with horses, dogs, animals, machines, things. Why? Because to be in love with human beings has become an utter hell, a continuous conflict -- nagging, always at each other's throats. This is the lowest form of love. Nothing is wrong with it if you can use it as a steppingstone , if you can use it as a meditation.

If you can watch it, if you try to understand it, in that very understanding you will reach another rung, you will start moving upwards. Only at the highest peak, when love is not a relationship any more, when love becomes a
state of your being, the lotus opens totally and great perfume is released -- but only at the highest peak. At its lowest, love is just a political relationship. At its highest, love is a religious state of consciousness. I love you too, Buddha loves, Jesus loves, but their love demands nothing in return.

Their love is given for the sheer joy of giving it; it is not a bargain. Hence the radiant beauty of it, hence the transcendental beauty of it. It surpasses all the joys that you have known. When I talk about love, I am talking about love as a state. It is unaddressed: you don't love this person or that person, you simply love. You are love. Rather than saying that you love somebody, it will be better to say you are love. So whosoever is capable of
partaking, can partake.

Whosoever is capable of drinking out of your infinite sources of being, you are available -- you are available unconditionally. That is possible only if love becomes more and more meditative. `Medicine' and `meditation' come from the same root. Love as you know it is a kind of disease: it needs the medicine of meditation. If it passes through meditation, it is purified. And the more purified it is, the more ecstatic.

Who is Jesus?

In chemistry,
He turned water to wine.

In biology,
He was born without the normal conception;

In physics,
He disapproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven;

In economics,
He disapproved the law of
diminishing return by feeding 5000 men with
two fishes & 5 loaves of bread;

In medicine,
He cured the sick and the blind without administering a single dose of drugs;

In history,
He is the beginning and the end;

In government,
He said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace;

In religion,
He said no one comes to the Father except through Him;

So, Who is He? He is Jesus!

The Greatest Man in History

Jesus had no servants,
yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree,
yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines,
yet they called Him Healer.

He had no army,
yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles,
yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime,
yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb,
yet He lives today.

I feel honoured to serve such a Leader who loves us.

Join me and let's celebrate Him; He is worthy.

The eyes beholding this message shall not behold evil,

The hand that will send this message to everybody shall not labor in vain,

and The mouth saying Amen to this prayer shall smile forever.

Remain in God and seek his face always.

Amen!

In God I've found everything!

Send this to all whom you care for.

Let someone know of the works of Our Lord JESUS.

Let the whole world appreciate the Lord of Lords.

Do not hesitate to spread the gospel..??

Dont be tired of spreading it forth.

I was dating someone on this site for over a year and a half. He was from the UK and even though he wasn't a christian he admitted to praying to God.usually only in desperate situations but he prayed nonetheless. Often he would say to me Kristine pray as He knew my prayers were effective. So one day Lee says to me I don't believe the Bible when it says someone has to be born again. He got pretty upset with that being in the Bible yet he would pray to God and ask for help in situations. So I explained to Lee that being born again was no different then being saved and salvation is not a hard thing neither is being born again .I asked him if He believed what the Bible says and he said some of it but not all if it. Either you believe the Bible that's its true or you don't I told him. We broke up shortly after that conversation as I realized I believed all of the Bible and it says a fool says in his heart there is no God and then it says stay away from fools lol. Much happier now Wishing everyone a safe and blessed weekend.

How can a random quantum fluctuation be? Particles popping out of nothing but that nothing is actually space-time filled with at least 11 dimensions! In an already existent universe you say ‘nothing’! ‘Before’ the Big Bang – that ‘before’ relates to time – there was no time ‘prior’ to the Big Bang – Time came into existence with the Bang. ‘Before’ the BB there was Nothing (capital ‘N’) – random quantum fluctuations caused something to come from that Nothing. How can probabilities, mathematics, quantum fluctuations even exist or come about in Nothing? What brought about Quantum Fluctuations, we could ask? It defies logic.

There are a lot of Christians out there who think they know who God is. ‘Whatever thou pratest about God it is untrue.’ Knowledge of God goes up and up to the highest knowledge. Most Christians are content with lesser knowledge of God. Atheists are perhaps right in criticizing those Christians? But even those Christians have a leg up on Atheists, I reckon.

Bottom line: Go beyond. Start now. Or remain where you are. It’s up to you (free will).

prate: talk foolishly or tediously about something.

Atheists would have us believe that 0=1 but this is not logical. How can something come from nothing? Either 0=0 or 1=1. Those are the only logical, rational options, to my mind. So, which do you think applies? Buddhists would probably opt for 0=0 and Christians would probably opt for 1=1.

The Ultimate Reality or who-you-are-in-fact can be experienced – you just need to begin that journey. It is the narrow-experienced who do not know who they are in truth, who say there is no God or Ultimate Reality, who belittle true mystics. I say ‘true’ mystics for the word mysticism has been equated with irrationality and superstition but this is a smear. There are those who have gone beyond, who have experienced but as with all experience it can only be experienced by the experiencer. So, fingers poke when mystics make their ‘incredible’ claims. All who make the journey can experience ‘God’, so why do atheists refuse to make the journey? It’s because they are stuck. Their position looks to me like a proudful one since they refuse the invitation to make the journey and are satisfied with their current (and limited) reality.

6.2.1. "In the beginning, dear boy, this world was Being -- One only, without a second. To be sure, some say that in the beginning this world was only non-Being, one only without a second, and that from that non-Being Being was born.
2. "But, dear boy, how could this be?" he said, "how could Being be produced from non
- Being? In the beginning there was Being alone, one only, without a second.


According to The-Big-Bang-Theory they are able to calculate this process all the way back to the first milliseconds after the onset of the Big Bang. But then, paradoxically, they run into problems and all their calculations start falling apart.
The dilemma is that on calculating any further they arrive at the unavoidable conclusion that everything, all life-and-matter throughout the Universe, actually originated from "Nothing"! By their own admission however, and according to their own perceptions, they summarily reject such a paradox out of hand as being utterly “unscientific”!
Excepting those that believe in God, however, they don’t offer any indisputable alternative answers!


"The 'divine spark' was whatever produced the laws of physics," Filippenko said. "And I don't know what produced that divine spark. So let's just leave it at the laws of physics."


2. Let’s assume that the scenario above is correct; then the explanation for the universe ultimately resides in the “quantum vacuum” (or we could call it the “law of gravity” as Stephen Hawking does). In order for the quantum vacuum to cause the universe, it must exist eternally or else the real question becomes what caused the quantum vacuum. Similarly, the quantum vacuum must have the power to create the universe; it cannot simply be a description of how things work. In other words, the laws of physics must be prescriptive, not just descriptive. So the cause of the universe is self-existent and causative. And if Thomas Nagel is correct in his view that consciousness is a universal feature of all things, then the cause of the universe must be self-existent, causative, and conscious. We may call it a quantum vacuum, but it sounds a lot like God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 KJV

A compilation June 21, 2016

Life is not fair. Job understood this when he said, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”1 In a country that is as rich as ours, millions of people go to bed hungry every night. That is, if they are lucky enough to have a bed or a home, for that matter. The amazing thing is, many people blame God for the misfortunes of humanity.

On a very cold, winter’s day, a young girl stood on a busy street corner begging for food, money, or whatever she could get. She stood there cold and shivering as vicious winds penetrated her thin, tattered clothes. Hundreds of people walked past her but only a few dared to look in her direction. A well-dressed, prosperous looking gentleman looked at the young girl and shook his head before getting into his expensive automobile. When he arrived at his huge, warm, luxurious home, he sat down at the dinner table with his family and began to feast on a meal that was fit for a king.

After eating his dessert, his mind went back to the hungry little girl that he had seen earlier. As he thought about her thin, dirty, shivering body, he started questioning God for allowing such conditions to exist. He said, “God, how can you let this happen? Why don’t you do something to help that little girl?” He heard God responding to his question with the words, “I did. I created you.”

God blesses us so that we can bless others. But instead, too many people have subscribed to the philosophy, “I got mine. You get yours.” They don’t care if you have enough food as long as their refrigerator is full. They don’t care if gangs terrorize your neighborhood as long as their community is safe. They don’t care if you have health care as long as their family is insured. There are a lot of problems in this world. But God has already done what He needs to do to solve them. He created you.—Burton Barr Jr.

Who is my neighbor?

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” Jesus said. “Who is my neighbor?” they asked Him. And with the story of the good Samaritan, He tried to show them that it is anyone who needs our help, regardless of their race, creed, color, nationality, or condition.2

The good Samaritan is a wonderful story about the poor guy that got beat up along the road by thieves, and the good Samaritan picked him up and took him to the inn and told the innkeeper, “Whatever you spend, I will repay you.” Who was the good Samaritan like? The Good Samaritan was like the Lord, and the innkeeper is his steward, like you or me. And whatever we spend to rescue people and save souls, He will more than repay!

“Whatever thou spendest,” He says, “I will repay.” No matter how much we sacrifice, I will say with the great pioneer missionary, dear Dr. David Livingstone, that “you cannot outgive God.” He said, “I never made a sacrifice! No matter how much I gave, God always gave me back more.”

So I think you’re going to find out you haven’t really sacrificed at all in giving to others. You’ve invested, and the returns are going to be far beyond anything you have invested. The greatest investment we have to make, of course, is ourselves, our lives and our time for others.

I believe God is going to bless every sacrifice we make, not only eternally with the souls of those we lead to Him, but He’s also going to bless us every other way in the bargain. We may temporarily look like we’re losing something or sacrificing a little, but look at later!

So we never lose by giving; we only benefit. “He that withholdeth, it tendeth to poverty, but he that scattereth abroad, it increaseth.”3

1 Job 14:1.
2 Luke 10:29–37.
3 Proverbs 11:24.








anchor.tfionline

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5 KJV

Faith that trusts even though you seem to stand alone. Faith that trusts when your heart is sinking and it aches within you. Faith that trusts when you do not understand, and when you cannot feel. Faith that believes and looks on in the face of discouragement. Faith that is sturdy and stout and will not be moved by doubt. Faith that hopes. Faith that believes in Me. Faith that stands on My Word. Faith that marches on and endures all things, knowing that I will not fail and cannot fail.

This gift of faith is faith that will move mountains, and will stand when all else fails, faith that will change the world and conquer the minds and hearts of men. This anointing of faith that I give to you is the victory that will overcome the world.

Do not fear for the times of testing that tumble about you. Know that through these I am able to give you a great gift of faith. This great faith is a work of My hand; it is My gift to you. It descends from above as you simply place your trust in Me, regardless of the circumstances you face.

I am working and I will come alive within you as you walk on and simply trust. Be encouraged, for you will know Me in ways that you have never known before. Rest now. Have peace. I am near! Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, the things that I have prepared for you who accept this gift of faith that I freely give to all who ask.

Establishing the connection

“I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. … All the world is mine and everything in it. Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”—Psalm 50:10–12, 14–15 (4)

As the master of the universe, all true riches and abundance belong to Me. I have in My hands all that you ask for, all that you seek, and all that you strive for.

I am willing and able to bless you in the ways that you seek, but I can only fully bless you and supply for you when you place your trust in Me and have faith in My will and plan for your life. As you do your part to place your trust fully in Me, I will never fail to guide and keep you, and give you the perseverance and strength to overcome everything you meet throughout your life journey.

Take the time to be like Mary, who was content to sit at My feet, listen to My words, and spend time with Me. Then you will find the strength for your work, and it will be blessed. You will reap dividends of faith and peace that will give you the strength to travel down the path of My will.

The secret is found in spending time with Me—time in My Word, time to be strengthened, to have your faith renewed and your connection and link with Me established. That is the secret to overcoming and success.

4 NLT.








AnchorTFIOnline

(Recently, two interesting blogs were posted on ESP and After-Death experience. The following is from one of my previous blogs on those subjects. I prefer to post it as a separate blog rather than a comment due to its length.)

The electromagnetic spectrum is the distribution of electromagnetic radiation according to frequency or wavelength, and energy.
Frequency is defined as the number of cycles per second (Hertz)
Wavelength is the length of a single wave or cycle.

The energy of a frequency is proportional to its magnitude, i.e.,
low frequencies have low energies and high frequencies have high energies.

All these frequencies can be present together and occupy the same space simultaneously. This is demonstrated by the presence of frequencies from the various radio and television stations being present in space. We can select a particular station by tuning in our radio or television receiver to its frequency which enables us to receive its broadcast only.

A band of frequencies constitute a dimension.
There are a multiple number of dimensions.

Your consciousness is tuned to the 3D wavelength, which determines what you physically see and how you interact with objects. The 4th dimension has a different set of properties, hence you cannot see anything from the 4D reality, unless you change the frequency of your body to correspond to the frequency of the 4th dimension. Each dimension has its own specific frequencies and wavelengths. Life in the universe is not limited to the 3rd dimension; it is just that we cannot see the other realities that exist, because those realities have different frequencies and wavelengths that do not correspond to our 3D senses. Therefore, our physical existence on Earth is simply one of many infinite realities in the “Multidimensional Universe.”

I believe that when we die, our consciousness, soul, spirit or whatever, enters into a different dimension with a different frequency or vibration from that which we can normally feel or sense in ordinary day-to-day life. If someone is able to tune in to that frequency range, they may receive messages or signals from that dimension. This is similar to the reception of broadcasts from various radio stations or television channels, where we need to tune in to the operating frequency of a particular station or channel.

Signals from these different dimensions or frequencies are always present around us. I think that certain people like a “medium” in a séance, or a shaman, may be able to tune in to those other frequencies or dimensions and to communicate with others who exist in those dimensions. However, I prefer to confine such interactions with those dimensions to different frequencies, within the electromagnetic spectrum, which can be experienced right here on Earth. I cannot quite grasp the idea of an individual, or part of an individual actually travelling in outer space to some distant planet, star or galaxy as some persons claim.

However, I can see how the idea could have originated. Shamanism was first practised thousands of years ago among aboriginal or indigenous peoples, who had no knowledge of science regarding frequencies and dimensions. In fact, such science was not even developed at that time in the Western world where it originated,(I think). Such an experience certainly must have felt like an "out of this world" experience, (which, in fact, it is, if one considers it involved a frequency dimension that is different from that of ordinary day-to-day experience). It seems natural to me that those shamans would have associated those experiences with the distant planets, stars and galaxies that are literally out of this world, i.e., planet Earth.

Paranormal experiences, such as ESP, probably occur when there is an interaction of the reality of some other dimension with that of our ordinary day-to-day world.