The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Compassion is at the Heart of the Gospel. Compassion could be said to be a Buddhist doctrine but it also runs through the heart of Christianity as well. There is the famous passage of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke, where the rich man had more than enough wealth and food but refused to share it with the poor man who used to beg at his gate. They both died, and the poor man was taken by the Angels to paradise, while the rich man ended up in torments in hell. God's justice is that when there is suffering on earth, He does't immediately make up for it by making all those who suffer with poverty rich. The poor man's poverty in this story was not as some think a curse of God, the poor man had all the chances to succeed in his life as the rich man, but God in His providence saw something that we humans don't see, and that is the eternal outcome for our choices on earth and how we treat others less fortunate than we are! Yes Jesus said you will always have ...

The Secret to Staying Happy. Young people get it, they live in the moment and of course this is because they have more energy and haven't given up on their dreams. If there is something we should know about happiness it comes from staying youthful. There is an innocence that of course can't be fully recaptured, but if you aren't careful you might grow up to become jaded, you know like those people you always resented in your youth. Bob Marley in Redemption Song said "emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds." Part of staying happy is being kind to yourself, and being carefree to a certain degree. When you get older you might have less energy but that doesn't have to make you unhappy. Part of keeping yourself young at heart comes from knowing your limitations, but not letting that stop you from feeling young. Just because you have more responsibilities, that shouldn't stop you from dreaming. Life is short and we w...

My Experience at a Non-Denominational Church. I got into a bit of trouble for my practise of mindfulness meditation. It made me feel like a hypocrite. It made me doubt my salvation and it forced me to alienate myself from that church and it's people. It made me feel that I was a bad person and unforgiven. There are many things that people do wrong, but as a Christian in this kind of a church, my entire life was on display 24/7. I was held accountable before this sin came out, and because of my pressure to conform to the ways of the world, I enjoyed this kind of small group accountability. But this sin of meditation didn't come out in a small group setting, it came out online on Facebook in public. As a result I experienced emotional trauma for 3 years and ongoing, and a greater isolation from the other concerned people in my life. They and I didn't understand why I didn't attend this church anymore. I also lost my desire to serve the Lord, which I had been doing wit...

They are Living in Harmony with Nature. I am not against progress, but there is a price we pay in the developed world when we suppress the laws of nature. One thing I am understanding about indigenous peoples is that they are the richest people in our world. I'm not talking about economics, but the wisdom and knowledge indigenous peoples provide our culture and the culture of the world, is literally priceless. We cannot understand fully what it means to live off the land, or to live in harmony with nature, but they can. We are a developed country and we have never had to live off the land. Yes there were pioneers and they really did live off the land, but somewhere the harmony was broken. I want to say that there is an interdependence between indigenous peoples and the so called developed world. Part of our environmental crisis lies in the fact that we don't see or understand this. We live in a state of dependence on each other, and there isn't a need now to go back ful...

On Long-Term Illness. First I want to say that I was born in Canada and I was born a Canadian citizen. For 25 years in my life I was healthy, and never knew what it was like to live with a long-term illness. When I was 25, euthanasia wasn't allowed in my country. It was a shock to receive a diagnosis for a long-term but not terminal illness. The nature of my disability limits my ability to live like the rest of society, but I don't identify with my illness. I am a free person, and what my disability limits me I have no limits in my mind. At first I couldn't see a future for myself, and because part of my illness involves a depression, thoughts of ending my life or giving up hope is never a realistic option for me. I have always been a person of faith, and my faith has stayed with me as a disabled Canadian citizen. I can see how some people want their pain to end, but in moments when I feel that I can't climb the mountain of my disability, I am always reminded that m...

I Wish I Could Relive My 20's. I had just become a born again Christian and had high hopes for my future but quickly lost that faith. What happened to me next was I decided to move on. My intentions were not to isolate myself, but that is what happened next. I thought that putting myself into a University setting, I would be preparing myself for my future and the problems of my lack of a social group and status would be solved. I had never been the lone ranger type of person, and that year when I attended Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, I had worked at Greenpeace in Toronto that summer, so I had made a lot of friends and connections. However, when I left Toronto and moved to Peterborough those connections were lost, (or so I believed!) Before the school year started, I was sitting in a café and happened to recognize someone I worked with in Toronto. I approached her and said hi, and I think we hung out for the day. It happened that Greenpeace either bought or rented ...

We are living in a time where very few people experience God's real presence. How do you know what God is? If I am going to talk about His Presence I am going to have to recall when I first became aware of it. First to live in the presence of God requires that you are open to believing in Him. I have believed in God for most of my life, so it is hard to say that growing up that I ever felt separated from God. Preachers like to say that sin separates us from His presence, and while this is true, there is something else that I have learned that cuts people off from Him, and that is their suppression of His presence. We all have an awareness that God exists, so it isn't my imagination working when I tell you that God is real. Part of the reason people don't believe in God, or believe they are sinners is because they are suppressing this truth. Read: 18 But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They kn...

Why I believe we are less free. Humanity has failed to understand the seriousness of sin, and what unrepentant sin and unresolved conflict can do to a once free society. Mankind has asserted their own will, rather than submitting to the will of God. The reason why I believe mankind has lost it's freedoms goes beyond just not believing in the bible, but great indifference to the things that once made us free. We can be loving, and not be free, but neglect of fighting our own sin and even denying the doctrine or Original sin, has lead people to believe that there is no God, and we are the authors of our own destiny. To fail to fight for the common good leads people into falsely assuming that it is right to assert our own will over other people and not practice the realities that lead to the common good of humanity. To live in a self imposed isolation from the truth that once made this world a peaceful place, is dangerous to freedom. Suspicion and unreality feeds this world's ...