The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

I have been listening to a lot of jazz and classical music over the holidays, because there is something about this kind of music that sooths my soul. I can't complain, this year has been a great year for me. I became a published writer/author, and I became an uncle for the first time. I shouldn't feel a sense that this year has been a failure, and I could chalk it up to me just being too hard on myself and trying too hard to meeting other's expectations. I think around this time of year, we over think many things, and we have real expectations that we place on others, that if not meet immediately, we become hurt and toxic. I think that if we have eyes of wisdom this year around, when the bad stuff happens we won't be so surprised by it. Like any time of year, we want to be happy, but this is the time of year that we spend with family and friends and it can be the most dangerous time of year when things don't go as planned. We fear being in pain, and we fear our lov...

No one including myself likes to hear of a cherished public celebrity passing away, especially when you yourself are ageing and childhood idols are now become memories instead of living icons that can still bring you comfort. We grew up feeling that we knew these people, as their passing from this life to the next seems to confront us with our own mortality and what will happen to me when I die becomes the unanswered question in our own minds. Celebrities can inspire hope, so when we loose them we feel like a little bit of their light in us passes away too. Nobody want to face their mortality, it is usually not until we are faced with the prospect of death that we realize how important this life is, and how important it is to be prepared fro the next life. Not every one believes in Heaven, I think more of us believe in Hell and the idea of spending an eternity in a place of suffering scares us that we forget to live. We want to live the right way, and we want to face death with confi...

Unfortunately, my memory doesn't remember my very first Christmas as a little baby, but this year I have the fortunate blessing of being an uncle for my precious little nephew. When you think of Christmas or at least when I think of Christmas, the first thing I think about is presents. But there is a presence that I have come to yearn for this time of year, and that presence is the Lord. I became more alive spiritually when I was 21, when I prayed a prayer that changed my life. In the quiet of my bedroom, I offered my life to Jesus Christ. Being a Catholic, I went through all the necessary sacraments that I was brought up to receive. The first sacrament was reconciliation, and I did this in grade school, probably in grade one or two. We then moved to Markham, and I attended St. Patrick's elementary school which surprisingly still looks the same. Right next to my grade school is the church that I attended at 21, and have returned to lately. We had a religion class, and sometimes...

I have given myself liberty, in the hopes of bringing awareness to something that I sensed was a problem for quite some time. On October 4th of this year I was accused informally of causing division in the church I attended, Harvest Bible Chapel York Region, in Markham Ontario, Canada. I say informally because I was asked in an email by their executive Pastor George Stavropoulos to meet with him, as he explained it he wanted to give me a chance to defend myself in the event that I was wrongfully accused. I explained to him that if I was wrongfully accused the elders in this church have enough wisdom, and are capable of working out the situation. You see, I had posted something on Facebook that didn't line up with what one of the elders thought was against church doctrine. In a private Facebook message this elder pointed out that there was a problem, but he never explained what that problem was, he just quoted Romans 16:17-18. This is what the message reads: "There is a ...

Emotions are getting a bad wrap these days. There are many times in our lives in this present age, where tears would be the appropriate response to all the tragedy we are seeing in our world right now. We must remember that through all we listen to, watch, or read on social media that we live in a relatively calm world. It is us humans that run this world, even  if you believe that there is a God and he is somehow using us as His puppets, you would have a distorted view of the God you believe in. Christ said, "The Kingdom of God is within you" contrary of social distortion, he stresses to the religious leaders of his day that His Kingdom was not of this world. In a word, God's Kingdom is the kingdom of Love. Yes, I believe in the bible and I believe what it says about having faith, and this is how we enter God's Kingdom, but in my understanding of the truth, no one is excluded from God's Kingdom and those who through their rejection of the greatest commandment, wh...

Because I have titled this blog with two questions, I will try to answer both of them at the same time I am writing this. These questions can created a lot of confusion within Christendom because the spectrum of social status with in it will give you all kinds of answers. I must speculate a bit on the first question, because to claim a historical Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Messiah, in order to have a lot of wealth would have to have a high social position in the time in which he lived. Why would a Jewish and Roman society crucify a wealthy person, someone with money, surely it would be a great scandal in the time that Jesus lived. In order for Jesus to be rich he would have to been greatly educated, and this verse shows that he had little education; 14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, d when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teachin...

There is approximately 13 days untill Christmas Eve as I write this and soon we will be entering a new year. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, it can be a high level anxiety holiday for some of us who are vulnerable and surely emotions run high this time of year if there are unfulfilled dreams or unresolved conflicts in our lives. The bible has given hope to many throughout the centuries, but we live in a world where even the good we find written in those pages can be used for self-fulfilling agendas or reasons, where those who truly see the person and meaning behind those pages, see beyond the hate that so many in today's world use it for. But I am not hear to use the bible to condemn sinners because I am one of them, and I'm sure the founders of the church felt the same way. In today's Protestant society there are some people who call themselves Christians who look down on the disenfranchised, instead of integrating us in their society. I am one of those people that this...

Judgement is not a topic that most people like to talk about, doesn't the bible say judge not lest you be judged? But we live in a world unfortunately where we are placing our judgements all the time. But God's judgements are not like human judgements. We base our judgement on a person, place or a thing with preconceived notions about how we think that person, place or thing should be acting. Mostly, when someone doesn't meet our needs or expectations they become our enemies. It really doesn't take long for someone you have good feeling for to become the object of our scorn. People can be finicky and we can very easily become fair-weather friends, but when the going gets tough you really find out who are your real friends by who stuck with you, and is still there. Sometimes we look to people to meet our needs and when they stop meeting our needs, they are no longer useful to us. We can experience in this life very harsh judgements by those who feel a sense of pride ov...

It's not that the church doesn't have the desire to reconcile sinners or Christians in the modern church, the desire is there. My argument is that they are too much concerned with uniformity rather than unity. Uniformity is defined as; the quality or state of being uniform. Unity is defined as; the state of being one; oneness. There is a subtle difference in being uniform and in being in unity. Doctrinally speaking the church should be in unity, but at the same time unity of doctrine doesn't mean that you give up your free will. Uniformity, as I see it means that we all behave in the same manner, just think of an army. The soldiers are in uniformity, they all are asked to behave and are trained to behave in the same way. It can be a matter of life and death if someone steps out of line. Unity doesn't mean we all behave in the same way, it is a call for unity of heart. In the bible God makes a new testament promise in Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I wi...

I guess the highlight of my year in 2016, was becoming an uncle for the first time. It seems like a dream ago when my brother made the announcement that they were having a baby. I call this part of the year "The great anticipation!" The journey to see the mom, my brother and my little nephew was beyond what words can say. I was so proud of the mother and father, and prayed deeply that morning for a safe delivery. I kept using the phrase "Lord willing" throughout the whole expectancy process, and I will continue to use those words, as little Ezra grows up. I think we all want things to go perfectly in our lives, and when life throws stuff at us that we weren't expecting I think we can freeze up. My brother having a baby with his partner, is bringing so much joy into my life, and with that the responsibility of caring for another human being. I never thought that having a baby was so much work, but when you parents and family members look into the eyes of a beau...