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Do we have an immortal soul in each of us? Do we live on as spirits or ghosts after death?
Before I learned what the Bible really taught, I incorrectly believed that we all have souls that lived on after our physical death, and that these souls are conscious of everything. I believed more so ... Views: 3714
As a pragmatic Buddhist, I felt a lot of skepticism when I first encountered the Law of Attraction (LOA). Many things I’ve seen really stretch my credulity. But the more I think about it, the more I see nuggets underneath the hype that make sense to me, if reformulated a bit. While I wouldn’t go ... Views: 1642
There are so many great things about this time of year. The Fall starts with some beautiful weather and relief from the summer heat and then before you know it, it is already Christmas season. The Christmas season seems to start earlier and earlier each year. The decorations started to appear ... Views: 623
What, if any, is the difference between preaching and teaching? Some preachers teach and some teachers preach. Is a lecture more preaching or a speech more teaching? I am a pastor with nearly 20 years of preaching experience. I will attempt to explain the difference.
As a pastor, the ... Views: 2645
One man has turned your safe world upside down. (See “The Burden of a Decision”) You were comfortable adjusting to Greek rule, and allowing those modern Hellenists to do what they wanted as long as you could live in peace. Matityahu has forced the issue to the fore, and you now have to ... Views: 747
You've probably heard about a recent campaign in San Francisco, California to put a measure on the ballot banning circumcision. I think this campaign illustrates some of the troubling assumptions people are increasingly making about spirituality in our culture, and I'm going to look at some of ... Views: 1236
Stories about good triumphing over evil are heartwarming; they make good movies and make us feel a bit nobler as human beings.
In reality there is no contest between good and evil but there is a raging battle between truth and lies. There is also an objective in the battle, which is; the ... Views: 1062
“We share what we know, so that we all may grow.”
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WHAT DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS?
(from BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM)
website: www.voiceofislamtv.com
Introduction:
Craig is studying the teachings of different religions (to find ... Views: 990
Many interfaith/Jewish weddings include the Seven Blessings. I was asked to officiate a ceremony, with a Secular Humanistic non-theistic Hebrew/English version of the Seven Blessings. I searched for a Hebrew version (I found only one or two), and nothing I found felt right, so I resolved to ... Views: 3942
A lot of people do not really understand the meaning when I say personal development, but everyone seems to understand personality development and they're one and the same.
The purpose of this article is to stimulate your mind. I really want you to think for yourself and not allow me or ... Views: 2090
We could easily describe the story of the Buddha going forth from his home as an archetypical experience, where the story of the Buddha was not only ascribed to him, but to previous Buddhas. It seems that everybody “who seeks enlightenment must go through this transformative experience when he ... Views: 2717
All unrepentant wicked people will be cast into hell, where the fire will burn for eternity. But what does "eternal" fire of hell mean? What does the Bible say?
Let us study what the Bible says below about the condition we know as "hell:"
1) Jesus said, "…fear him who is able to destroy ... Views: 3857
The 17 Natural Laws of Healing.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Christ Jesus has freed us from curses, sickness, disease and ... Views: 1337
The longer I live the more I realize that things are always changing around us; whether or not we want to admit it. We don’t like change. It must be in our genetic makeup to want to keep things like they are. Even my five year old grandson hates change. It’s just normal.
If you are a religious ... Views: 4093
It’s so easy for us humans to get bogged down in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, which are mostly not good stories.
Our mental chatter goes round and round about how inadequate we are, how much we mess up, how we aren’t as good as someone else is, how we ought to be better, ... Views: 1326
Are you ready for this Christian soldier? Buckle up the belt of Truth. We're gonna get into some good tactics here. Regardless if we like it or not, we're in the midst of spiritual warfare. The main battlefront of this war is our mind and the winner wins the soul. It's time to get tactical and ... Views: 3387
Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul corrected the way they were participating in what we today know, depending on our particular tradition, as the Mass, Eucharist, Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.
“When the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry ... Views: 1240
O.P.: “Out of Place… Obedience and Poverty
Religious men and women are admirable in consecrating their lives for the sake of the gospel. They ‘denied’ themselves by leaving their families, possessions, and even their personal dreams of enjoying life. They ‘carried their crosses’ during ... Views: 5918
This is the story about how a small, practically unknown town in the pine barrens of New Jersey got the name: Double Trouble. They say this small cluster of houses, barns, sawmills and sheds in a crossroads village in the backwoods of the flat pine barrens (near present day Toms River) got its ... Views: 1669
"God is dead," said Nietzsche. Well, maybe somewhere, but not here, as the PBS special, God in America makes abundantly clear.
I recently interviewed the chief editorial consultant to this PBS special, airing this week, Dr. Stephen Prothero. As the distinguished professor of religion at ... Views: 1496
Millions think that Jesus literally flew up into the sky to God, who was working things like a puppet master from a place somewhere up there called heaven. They get the idea from the Gospel of Luke and its second volume, the Book of Acts. Both are actually one single work in two volumes, which ... Views: 1843
I grew up with The Lords Prayer. I’ll attach a very long caveat to that statement. I was borne, and raised in a Jehovahs Witness household. It was kosher to read The Lords Prayer in passing, as part of the Bible in its entirety. However, to pray The Lords Prayer, or to contemplate the depth ... Views: 3530
Many people wonder that their soul can be stolen, but it is so. However, it is written, that to steal someone's soul, especially for bad purposes, is the biggest crime, far worse than normal murder. In fact it is a crime that officially does not exist and therefore cannot be committed, which ... Views: 699
There are many political and religious systems that are supposed to be best, or at least their founders claim so.
The following social system can be called both political and religious, or, if you like, the both in one. It is about a way how to remove all the extremes from human life in order ... Views: 603
The debate on global theology We recognize that it is almost impossible to get an impartial view on the issue of global theology. This is because the people that have been working on this issue are determined to find the means to present their own religious learning in a format that is ... Views: 710
The bread and wine served at the Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, or Communion—whichever your tradition calls this occasion—started out not as isolated elements of bread and wine, as they are in churches today, but as essential parts of a normal dinner.
As the followers of Jesus spread ... Views: 1579
Are you a religious or spiritual individual? Maybe you’re both or maybe neither, but I believe that these viewpoints play an important role in molding your Identity. As for me, I am still figuring it all out. I can’t tell you how many times I have had serious conversations with my boyfriend, ... Views: 990
We are part of an evolving reality grounded in a divine harmony that pervades reality and draws everything into patterns of increasing complexity and centeredness.
You and I are bathed in the original mystery of order coming out of chaos.
Our minds, as we try to understand this order, ... Views: 712
I received the following article and do not know who wrote it, but it’s worthwhile. I’m using it to prepare to listen to the sound of the Shofar: It’s high summer and we’re all out there seeing each other. We’re not
hidden away in our homes and offices as we are in winter’s cold. We’re ... Views: 739
(cont. from Part 1)
(1). Does this place create an overall atmosphere of fear? Do you feel uneasy or like you are being watched? What time of the day or night? (3A.M. is a favorite time for evil activity – since it is directly opposite the 3 P.M. death of Jesus) Does this happen cyclically ... Views: 1614
No, hellfire does not exist but hell does. Torture by fire does not exist as you can only guess how this does not apply since there is only a God of Love. There is only separation from Father, that is the true hell. Hell does exist, hellfire does not! We have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, by ... Views: 1828
It made little sense to me why my wife would hide Eat, Pray, Love in the nightstand beside our bed. So, when I decided to see what all the fuss was about, I reasoned, “No need to buy a copy since there’s a perfectly good one in the nightstand beside our bed.”
You’d have thought I just made ... Views: 2163
In a list of the most stressful jobs you can have, being a minister came in as one of the top ten. Pastors weren't surprised by that at all, but what if things were different? What if we practiced what we preached?
When I mention the stressful nature of ministry to people outside of the ... Views: 2087
This is not the first time it is being suggested that parts of the Qur'an (Koran) were authored by an alien. It seems the Qur'an contains scientific information that could not have been known in Muhammad's (Mohammed's) time and that was subsequently proven to be correct. This lies in sharp ... Views: 2722
The church today appears to be more lost than the world it's trying to save. One reason is that the church has so wedded itself to western culture that Christians today look and live more like the culture around them than the Christ before them. The irony is, while the church almost continually ... Views: 2199
Interesting you would ask me this, as others have asked me this question, too, and I suppose it is because I no longer pretend to believe that Christianity is the only way to know God. Yet, as far as my own faith journey is concerned, I regard myself as more Christian today than I've ever ... Views: 2964
There is in everyone the longing to know intimacy with the Divine. The only difference between people is that a few are aware of this longing, while most are not. For those who are not, life is a constant challenge, even a frustration, as they search for God everywhere but the one and only place ... Views: 3133
Beliefs of Buddhism is the spiritual philosophy to understand his individual life of man, the absolute life, consciousness and subtle problem of human suffering and human suffering that can be controlled based on meditation and conscious experience. It helps understand the metaphysics of the ... Views: 1870
Spring means the birth of new beginnings, but it also signals a dawning of mowing the lawn. For many, home improvement ideas begin to dance around in our heads.
My wife and I live in an older home and we had a concrete pad in front of the side door for as long as I could recall. The ... Views: 1459
With so many responsibilities and pressures tugging at us, it’s hard to think of much else than self.
“Oh, we’re just human!” Some might say. It must be instinctive, for even kids wanna horde. Of course there could be something said for adult toys too.
We could learn a lot from ... Views: 1561
Ministry is going through a shift – really, a kind of death (of the pastor-centered approach to ministry) and resurrection (of a team approach). We see it in the numbers: more and more pastors out of work, more and more churches closing their doors, less and less money available for programs and ... Views: 1634
Everything happens for a reason. Most people have an unfilled sense of longing for something they just can never quite put their finger on. Our modern world is so full of technological distractions that it becomes nearly impossible to hear the inner voice that comes from somewhere deep inside ... Views: 4812
In a period of less than one hundred years, humankind advanced from traveling by horse and buggy to making a trip to its planet's satellite. Just imagine what the humans might be able to accomplish over the course of the next ten thousand years! That is possibly enough time to develop techniques ... Views: 2340
The passing of a relative made the thought of inward examination all too evident - funerals have a way of doing that. The words, "What if?" were a constant pry upon my mind for days.
"How old will I be when I go?" A probe of, "What will it be like when the end comes?" spun around in my head ... Views: 2017
How to fulfill your divine destiny? Christians have struggled with the flesh since the early apostles walked the dusty roads of Jerusalem, hence the Bible states, "The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41b KJV). How do you overcome the flesh to fulfill your divine ... Views: 3794