If there’s One God, Why All the Different Religions?

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Lee — 384 Comments

Do you Have to be Christian to Go to Heaven?

Since there are so many religions, which one is right?

Why are there so many religions? Isn’t there only one God? Why didn’t God say the same thing to everyone? How do I know which religion is right?

Perhaps God does speak the same truth to people all around the world. The question is, when God speaks, what do people hear?

Two people can listen to the same story and come away with very different meanings. We hear what we need to hear in order to face our own particular challenges. People of different times and cultures hear God differently, according to their own cultural and spiritual conditions.

It’s not that God is different for different people. God is eternally the same. It’s that we humans are different from one another, and we each see God in our own way. God gives every person and every culture what’s needed to know and love God, and to love and serve their fellow human beings.

It is common for people think their religion is the right one. Many Christians say you have to believe in Jesus to go to heaven. Yet the Bible does not focus as much on what we believe as it does on how we live. People who live good, conscientious lives of service to others are living in the spirit of Christ no matter what name they may use for God.

For more on many religions and one God, please click here to read on.

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Posted in All About God

It’s Not All In Your Head (And It’s Not All Your Fault)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Lee — 5 Comments

Recently I’ve been reading anewfreelife’s blog on “rising from the ashes of domestic violence.” Here is her description of the blog:

I am a survivor of domestic violence, and this is my voice. I am here to share with you what it feels like to be stripped of your dignity by those whom God and nature declare should care for you. And, I hope that this will be a place for other survivors to find their voices. Let the healing begin……..

The subject matter is not pleasant. But it is good reading. Her story of being abused throughout her childhood, and as an adult in her sixteen-year marriage, is heartbreaking. Yet her heartfelt, skillful, and evocative writing, and her ongoing story of breaking free and beginning a new life, is heartwarming. Give it a read. It’s well worth the time.

Many thoughts come to mind as I read her posts. For now, I’ll share just two:

First:

It’s not all in your head.

There’s an idea out there that’s especially popular in New Age circles: There is no such thing as evil. Nobody else can hurt you. Anything hurtful that does happen to you is the result of your own negative or misguided thinking.

BULL!

For more on how there really is bad stuff out there, please click here to read on.

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Posted in Pain and Suffering, Sex Marriage Relationships

Which Tree is in the Middle of Your Garden?

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Lee — 35 Comments

For a video reading of this article on YouTube, click here.

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life

In the spiritually symbolic garden that God planted eastward in Eden in Genesis 2—the garden where God placed Adam (a Hebrew word meaning “humankind”), and later Eve (a Hebrew word meaning “life”)—God also planted many trees.

Only two of the trees are specifically named. Their names make it clear that these are not literal trees—like oaks, maples, and hickories—but trees that represent something deeper about human character and life.

On the planting of those trees, some translations read something like this: “In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

But that’s not exactly what it says in the original Hebrew language.

Here is the verse in which those trees are planted, in a fairly literal translation of the Hebrew:

And Jehovah God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)

Do you notice the difference?

For more on the trees in your garden of Eden, please click here to read on.

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Posted in Spiritual Growth, The Bible Re-Viewed

What Does the Bible Say about Video Games? Part 2

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Lee — 15 Comments
The Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse, by Peter Paul Rubens

Michael and his Angels Fight the Seven-Headed Dragon

(I recommend that you read Part 1 of this article first)

A mighty warrior girds on his sword and shield and prepares for the great battle. Today is the day. The evil, multi-headed dragon has been taunting the world long enough, wreaking havoc on everyone in his path. Now comes the day of reckoning. Now comes the defeat of the raging beast.

Am I talking about this scene from the book of Revelation in the Bible?

Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. . . .

And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they did not prevail, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9)

Well . . . I certainly could be talking about that scene from the Apocalypse . . . .

For more on what the Bible says about video games, please click here to read on.

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Posted in Sports and Recreation, The Bible Re-Viewed

How Big is the New Jerusalem?

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Lee — 74 Comments

The last two chapters of the last book of the Bible—Revelation—describe the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

The new Jerusalem is not a physical city. It is not going to literally descend onto the earth. If it did, its top would stretch hundreds of miles beyond earth’s atmosphere into outer space. People living there wouldn’t be able to breathe!

Everything John described in the book of Revelation, he saw in the spiritual world, not in the material world (see Revelation 1:10; 4:1–2; 17:3; 21:10). Even if we interpreted the book of Revelation literally, there would be no reason to believe that what John saw happening in the spiritual world will take place in the physical world.

It helps to understand that “heaven” and “earth” could also be translated “sky” and “land.” What John saw visually was not really a new heaven and a new earth, but a new sky and a new land: the sky and land of the spiritual world.

But what I’m most interested in right now is how big this new Jerusalem is.

For more on the size of the new Jerusalem, please click here to read on.

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Posted in The Bible Re-Viewed

The Evening and The Morning, by James Spilling

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Lee — Leave a comment

This may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you enjoy nineteenth century literature, here is one of my favorite classic didactic novels. It is a semi-autobiographical account of a skeptic who found faith through the spiritual teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg:

The Evening and The Morning: A Narrative, by James Spilling

For further description and review, please click here to read on.

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Posted in Books and Literature

What Does the Bible Say about Video Games? Part 1

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Lee — 8 Comments
Colleen Lachowicz and her World of Warcraft Orc

Colleen Lachowicz and her World of Warcraft Orc

There’s an old saying that’s popular among political candidates and publicity hounds: “All press is good press.”

Colleen Lachowicz is finding out whether or not this is true.

Who is Colleen Lachowicz?

Colleen Lachowicz is a Democratic candidate for state senator in Maine’s 25th district. The Republican Party of Maine recently “outed” her as an online gamer. Specifically, she has a high-level “orc assassination rogue” character in the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) “World of Warcraft.” Her Republican opponents have made her online gaming into a campaign issue, putting out press releases and attack postcards about her “disturbing alter ego” and “bizarre double life.”

For more on video games and the Bible, please click here to read on.

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Posted in Current Events, Sports and Recreation, The Bible Re-Viewed

Does Suicide Work?

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Lee — 99 Comments

The scourge of suicide

Each year, tens of thousands of people in North America, and up to a million people worldwide, take their own lives as an escape from situations that feel overwhelming and hopeless to them. Millions more make unsuccessful attempts.

There is plenty of good information available on the psychological, emotional, and social issues involved in suicide, and its effects on friends and relatives. We don’t need to repeat it all here. Instead, let’s take a look at some of the spiritual questions involved in suicide:

  • Do people who commit suicide go to hell?
  • What happens to people after death if they commit suicide?
  • Does suicide work? Do we really escape from our problems if we kill ourselves?
  • Is there a path to heaven for suicides who are good people at heart?

For some answers to these questions, please click here to read the full article.

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Posted in Pain and Suffering, The Afterlife

Lee Boyd Malvo: Human Justice vs. Divine Justice

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Lee — Leave a comment
Lee Boyd Malvo mug shot

Lee Boyd Malvo mug shot

Lee Boyd Malvo. To anyone who was living in the Washington, D.C. area in October, 2002, that name, along with the name of John Allen Muhammad, is indelibly associated with terror, pain, and death.

Muhammad was tried, convicted, and executed for the series of sniper attacks that killed or maimed thirteen people in the D.C. area that month. This killing spree was the climax of a series of robberies and shootings all across the country.

Muhammad’s accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was seventeen years old at the time of the D.C. beltway shootings in 2002. Since the law does not allow the death penalty for people who were minors at the time they committed their crimes, Malvo was sentenced instead to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Please click here to read on about human justice vs. divine justice.

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Posted in Current Events, Pain and Suffering, The Afterlife

What Does Religion Have to Do with My Profession and My Daily Work?

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Lee — 8 Comments

What Business does Religion have with Business?

Many people think that religion and business have nothing to do with each other, and that money is somehow anti-spiritual.

But did you know that money is one of the most common subjects of Jesus’ parables? The Bible talks about money all the time because money means value. And though we may think of our work and the money we get for it only in terms of material value, the Bible looks deeper and sees their spiritual value.

In the Bible, we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to do good for our neighbor. Does this only mean volunteering and giving money to charity? If so, then the majority of our lives is spent doing something God doesn’t care about. That makes no sense. In fact, when we are doing our job honestly and faithfully out of a desire to serve our fellow human beings, we are serving God far better than if we merely attend church services.

Serving God is not just about words and rituals. It’s about loving and serving our neighbor. And that means getting actively involved in the world and its business dealings.

For more on practical religion, please click here to continue reading.

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Posted in Money and Business, Spiritual Growth
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