“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” -Oswald Chambers-
The most important and difficult challenge in life is to tame the wild horse within you, your unbridled emotions. Don’t you see most of your relationship issues are all because of your emotional reactions and eventual anger, aggression, pain and frustrations that keep you busy in inner conversations that are not pleasant. How do we change this reactive default program? Self-awareness is the only way. Awareness gives you access to your inner mind and also helps gradual transformation from reactions and pain to response and compassion, leading to happiness.
~~ Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”-- Lao Tzu
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful."
– Marie Curie
The Nature of Evil
Evil, being negative, as is punishment, neither can stand eternal. –John Scotus Erigena (Irish church leader, 875)
Marie Huber, Swiss Protestant Theologian
Reason teaches us that Good having a divine Principle, ought to be stronger than Evil, which is essentially nothing but Disorder and Depravation; that Evil putting man into a State of Violence, that State cannot continue for ever; that this State of Violence supposes its contrary in Man, struggling against it…that God being the God of Order, and the undoubted Sovereign of the Universe, can never consent that Disorder and Confusion should prevail there for ever.
Hannah Hurnard
How could the Bible possibly speak of the perfect victory of God our Creator who loves righteousness and cannot bear evil, if that victory really means that He cannot bring His own creatures at last to hate evil as He hates it, but must confirm multitudes, indeed the majority of them, in their choice of evil for ever and ever?.. What sort of victory is it to be able only to subdue evil and prevent it harming any but those who choose it, and to be unable to bring human souls to abominate it and desire to forsake it, so that the evil itself ceases to exist?..
Andrew Jukes
To say that sin, assuming it to be opposed to God, has the power of creating a world antagonistic to God as everlasting as He is, attributes to it a power equal at least to His; since according to this view, souls whom God willed to be saved, and for whom Christ died, are held in bondage under the power of sin for ever; and all this in opposition to the Word of God, which says that God’s Son was “manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil…”
Thomas Allin (Christ Triumphant)
To go on punishing for ever, simply for punishment’s sake, shocks every sentiment of justice. And the case is so much worse when the punishment is really the prolongation of evil, when it is but making evil endless.
Alison Rutherford Cockburn ( author of “Flowers of the Forest"
The almighty maker of souls has various methods of restoring them to the divine image; it is impossible his power can fail; it is impossible for his image to be entirely obliterated; it is impossible that misery, sin, and discord can be eternal!
Almighty power, wisdom and love cannot be eternally frustrated in his absolute and ultimate designs; therefore God will at last pardon and re-establish in happiness all lapsed beings. Chevalier Ramsey (1686-1743)
Though a fall has been permitted, evil shall have an end, and the creature through God’s wondrous wisdom even by its fall be raised to a higher glory. Scripture distinctly teaches that, “the creature was made subject to vanity, not by its own will, but through Him who subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”–Andrew Jukes, the Restitution of all Things, p 113
Here is where I now stand. I believe in both heaven and hell. I do not believe they are equally balanced opposites going on forever. Such would suggest a Zoroastrian dualism, a tie game between God and the devil. Emphatically, NO! The darkness can never overcome the light! --Randy Klassen, “What Does the Bible Really Say About Hell?”
It becomes morally impossible for all things to be both subject to Jesus Christ and yet sinfully rebellious against Him at the same time! –Charles P. Schmitt, “The Unending Triumph of Jesus Christ”
If but one soul were to remain in the power of the devil, death, or hell, to all endless eternity, then the devil, death, and hell would have something to boast of against God. Thus death would not be entirely swallowed up in victory, but always keep something of his sting, and hell would ever more be able to make a scorn of those who would say, ‘O hell, where is, your victory?’- The Everlasting Gospel – Paul Seigvolck, 1753.
V. Gelesnoff
The current Evangelical Theology involves in its system belief in the deathlessness of sin, the indestructibility of error, and permanence of evil. That though there was a time in the history of the universe when sin in any shape or form did not exist, when no cry of pain or sense of guilt darkened the all-extensive bliss and holiness of creation, yet since sin has once effected an entrance into such a scene, it has come in NEVER TO GO OUT AGAIN, indestructible, unconquerable, ineradicable, endless. Absolute happiness and sinlessness have forever vanished like the phantom of a dream. The ‘eternal state’ is a universe endlessly finding room for myriads of souls rolling and writhing in the burning agonies of ceaseless flame, eternally sinful, vile and morally hideous. It pictures the “final perfection” yet to be attained as having room for a vast cesspool of immoral and degraded beings, continually existing in opposition to God.
JUSTICE REQUIRES that sin should be put an end to. --George MacDonald
When your cup is filled it spills over, when the cup of your life is filled with positive emotions, then love and compassion, empathy and healing just flow through your. So, fill your cup first. If you have, then you can give. To give first feel that you are only an instrument, so you can always open your heart to give and give to whomever can offer you an opportunity to serve. Serve whenever you get the opportunity, anything that would bring a little smile to the other, heal others pains and agonies. Don’t worry about the cruel people around, there are so many good people in this world, be one amongst them and join the celebration of the good and God.
~~ Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
"Be silly, be energetic, be selfless, be resilient, be compassionate, be forgiving, be loyal, be loving… Be Doglike.-- Ron Schmidt
Life Is…
“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” -Forrest Gump
“Life is a spell so exquisite that everything conspires to break it.” -Emily Dickenson
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein
“Life is like an elevator, a lot of ups and downs. People pushing your buttons and getting jerked around.” -LeCrae
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“If God be unchangeable, then what we see-of Him at any moment, must be true of Him at every moment of time; true of Him also both before and after all the moments of time; always and for ever true of Him. If His purpose be to save mankind, that purpose stands firm for ever, unaffected by man’s sin, unshaken by the fact of death, unaltered and unalterable by men, by angels, by naught conceivable." -Salvador Mundi-
“The time for universal praise is sure to come some day. Let us begin to do our part now.” Hannah W. Smith-
“We are built to love. Have the bravery to open the heart you have contracted from life’s disappointments. This is how the heroes roll.”
– Robin S. Sharma
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”
– Ashley Smith
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“When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him. Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done.” -N. T. Wright
Silence is unnatural to man. If two persons meet and they don’t talk, it feels weird. We always are bent upon proving our false persona that is ego through constant inner and outer chatter. In deep sleep it stops. In dream and waking it starts. Yogis or seekers realise early the reality that true peace is in silence. They start finding time (not excuses) to sit quietly and practice silence. How? Like a diver they dive inside the body and feel the sensations. It relaxes the body. Mind is given practice to feel the breaths (life-line) or just observe and surf. Regular practice brings that D-Day when you do not know you reached the magic moment, no thoughts, no mind! No worries no anxieties. Just Being.
~~ Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone’s hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours.”-- Vera Nazarian
“Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.”-- Roy T. Bennett
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“God’s whole employment is to lift up the humble and cast down the proud.” -unknown-
“Swallowing your pride seldom leads to indigestion.” -unknown-
“A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.” —unknown-
“I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man.” - D.L. Moody-
“In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, Lucifer could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige.” - C.S. Lewis
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Doing without knowing the true Doer is a fallacy of mind. To experience intuitively a state of non-doership while doing all that is mundane is enlightenment.
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“All the failures in my life freed me from all my fears so that I can succeed.”-- Patience Johnson
The Spirituality Revolution — David Tacey
Spirituality and fundamentalism are at opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. Spirituality seeks a sensitive, contemplative, transformative relationship with the sacred, and is able to sustain levels of uncertainty in its quest because respect for mystery is paramount. Fundamentalism seeks certainty, fixed answers and absolutism, as a fearful response to the complexity of the world and to our vulnerability as creatures in a mysterious universe. Spirituality arises from love of and intimacy with the sacred, and fundamentalism arises from fear of and possession by the sacred. …
The fact that religious tradition fails to recognise another expression of the religious instinct is hardly a recent phenomenon. The old religious form often despises the new, not only because the new revelation challenges the authority of the old, but because the old religion thinks of itself as complete and absolute. Religion is sometimes ‘full of itself’, and this is what Paul Tillich, the influential theologian, referred to accurately as ‘the sin of religion’. …
Spirit is felt to be spontaneous, freely available and democratically structured, whereas religion is perceived to be doctrinal, regulated and authoritarian. Spirit is felt to be holistic and urging us towards wholeness and impletion, whereas religion is perceived to be promoting perfection, sidedness and imbalance. …
Religion acts unwisely if it moves against nature and considers itself above the laws of change. Eventually, it inhabits a kind of time-warp, and it clings to this state with some self-righteousness, believing it is upholding and representing the will of God. …
Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.
Lenny Bruce
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“The “show business,” which is so incorporated into our view of Christian work today, has caused us to drift far from Our Lord’s conception of discipleship. It is instilled in us to think that we have to do exceptional things for God; we have not. We have to be exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, surrounded by sordid sinners. That is not learned in five minutes.” -Oswald Chambers-
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”-- Oscar Wilde
“We cannot exercise our faith beyond what we believe to be possible.” -John G. Lake-
“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.” -George MacDonald-
“Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing 'til it gets there.”-- Josh Billings
“The one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. Those who walk alone are likely to find themselves in places no one has ever been before.” - Albert Einstein.-
No waste no want. Whether it’s the food offered to God or not, if we all just visualize what’s happening with the rest of the world, we’ll be able to see millions of children all over the world die of hunger and malnutrition. If we cannot contribute towards their welfare, let us all pledge we should take as much food on our plates that we should be able to consume comfortably without going into excess. All food is the offering of the divine for all of us, and our body is nothing but food. When half the world dies of hunger, should we not be more and more determined to never waste and only honor our needs?
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“The goal of meditation is not to get rid of thoughts or emotions. The goal is to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions and learn how to move through them without getting stuck.”
– Dr. P. Goldin
“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”-- Frank Ocean
Love is the purest of Energy. For this energy to manifest the conduit has to be without any obstacle. The ego is the obstacle, the block in the channel. For love to flow the instrument has to be in tune with the Divine. Once the instrument, that is you and i, is ready and the ego is surrendered to the Divine, then Love flows, and it is a happening, for there is no DOER for this love. Like a flower flowering and spreading fragrance, so also love’s fragrance spreads without any INDIVIDUAL DOER. That is what is meant by Love happens.
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari“When someone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million, empty words.”-- Thema Davis