Footsteps of Paul

One way to empower ourselves is to follow the footsteps of those who are great. Usually, this means following the internal thoughts and wisdoms. Nevertheless, it is also good to follow the external path physically as it should enhance our appreciation of those great people.

According to the Holy Bible, a great man who worked very hard to establish what is now known as the Christian faith, but was still a sect then, is Apostle Paul. I came across Christian Cruises, where one of its itineraries is planned according to Acts 27-28 on Apostle Paul's journey from Italy to Rome ... , from 16 to 26 July 2008, from USA, or optionally post-trip extension to Paul's Malta until 30 July 2008.

I did a search and extracted from the NIV Bible the places Apostle Paul had passed by:

• Acts 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy...
  
• Acts 27:2 We boarded a ship from Adramyttium...
  
• Acts 27:3 The next day we landed at Sidon...
  
• Acts 27:4 ... passed to the lee of Cyprus...
  
• Acts 27:5 ... across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.
  
• Acts 27:7 ... we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone.
  
• Acts 27:8 ... came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
  
• Acts 27:13 ... sailed along the shore of Crete.
  
• Acts 27:16 As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda...
  
• Acts 27:27 ... we were still being driven across the Adriatic¹ Sea...
  
• Acts 28:1 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.
  
• Acts 28:13 ... arrived at Rhegium... we reached Puteoli.
  
• Acts 28:16 When we got to Rome...
  

This Christian Cruise is on an authentic sailing vessel with all the activities and amenities found on a private yacht. The group will enjoy the privacy of a Christ-centered family itinerary and teachings. Some interesting places being visited are Pergamum which is an important 7 churches site, Ephesus where Paul delivered one of his most moving sermons, the actual cave in Patmos where John had been banished and received the Book of Revelation, and much, much more! I guess most importantly is that there are also Bible teachings on board and on shore by top Bible speakers.

They also have other Christian Cruises itinerary such as The Exodus: Retracing the footsteps of Moses.

¹ An area extending well south of Italy.

The Vacuum Law

I attended the talk on 22 Feb, "HINDUISM REDISCOVERED: A Religion in Vogue" by Vivekacharya Pavan Choudary, CEO, Vygon India.

It was interesting during the Q&A session, where he shared his wisdom in answering the questions. I would like to share some of them here.

Wisdoms from a talk by Vivekacharya Pavan Choudary -- Part 2

This is another meaningful story he told. As I can't remember every words, I am retelling it from the story I think I heard.

A farmer prayed to God and asked to be made wealthy. God agreed and assure him that his house will never be lack of grains. Indeed, he was happy to find that every morning he finds a full bag of grain no matter how much he has used up the day before.

However, he didn't feel that God has granted his wish, which was to be wealthy. He was actually a little angry that God is so stingy only making his bag of grain full at the beginning of each day. Year after year, as his family enjoyed the never empty bag of grain, deep in his heart he was always wondering why is God so stingy?

Finally, he passed away and met God. He asked about this life long question he had. God explains, I am not stingy, but rather, it was you who is stingy. ... How is this so? If you were to share most of your grains to others, just imagine only a mere 2% of them return you something, wouldn't you become very wealthy? Instead, you kept this blessing I gave you to yourself. Thus, the blessing didn't grow into bigger blessings.

He then brought up a recent case in real life. Somewhere in Canada a corn farmer has been winning awards for producing very good quality corns. When reporters ask him for his secrets recipe, his recipe is not any secret. He has always shared all his knowledge and know how about farming good quality corns to other farmers. Then, as everyone produces good corn, he is more motivated to do more research and study how to improve. As a result, he has been able to keep winning.

Below is an excerpt from a speech by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, God's Hope for Man given on October 20, 1973 in Washington, D.C.

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Jesus came as a savior, but his teaching was, "... the Son of man came not to be served but to serve ..." ( Matt 20:28 ) Jesus taught that the greatest love in this universe is to give one's life for his enemy. The teaching of the Bible is contrary to the common rule of our worldly society. It is exactly the opposite of the way of this self-centered world. The Bible teaches complete giving and total sacrifice. "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matt 10:39 ) It seems almost foolish to think seriously about living this way in man's evil society. But once you know God's principle, you discover that there is actually no wisdom greater than this.

Jesus Christ's teachings hit the very core of this fundamental truth. The more you give the more you receive. God rewards total giving with total love, and total sacrifice with total life. Giving creates room for God's love to enter The more room and the greater the vacuum created by your giving, the faster you will be filled by the flow of God's love.
---

Thus, share, what we've already been given, because the reason we were given these things is for us to share it out.

I would like to call this The Vacuum Law.

Part 1
Part 3

Ask, and you will be told

Asked by waukeene
Why would the serpent set itself up to be the recipient of God's wrath?
What did it have to gain? Why bring death upon itself?

-------------------
My humble Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The serpent symbolizes the Archangel Lucifer in the story recorded in the scriptures through receiving of revelations years after the happenings in the garden of Eden, to teach the people of the time. Lucifer and other angels were created as servant/helper position to assist God in the creation. Before the creation of Adam and Eve, they were the beings who are most alike to God, and thus enjoy the most loved from Him. After the creation of Adam and Eve, they "lost" this most loved position as Adam and Eve were to be the children of God, who is even more so as the image of God, and thus received love from God at a higher level than the archangels.

For people who have observed the reactions of most first born when the second born arrives on earth, you can see the similarity.

Lucifer probably didn't consciously decide to seduce Eve but naturally attracted to her as she, being the last that is created, was the most beautiful creature on earth. However, all of them knew of the commandment given to Adam and Eve, but it was the responsibility Adam and Eve to follow the commandment.

In our world, there are many who have done many stupid things to the extend of bringing death upon themselves in the process to obtain love. Lucifer was the first who started this. Eve and Adam, through following Lucifer's word instead of God's words, inherited such elements from him, no longer a pure creation of God, and thus God could not love Adam and Eve, and their descendants freely as His children, because Lucifer and his gang have been accusing human beings as not worthy to be the children and to receive the love of God.


Now, give some thoughts to it, who is most sad? Lucifer? Adam? Eve?






No, it is the parent and master, God who is most sad.

Lets learn and not make similar mistakes:
1) Learn to see from God's point of view, or a point of view that put the greater good at higher priority than oneself. Lucifer knew God's plan, he knew he will have such feeling of lack of love, but he should put God's desire at the priority over his own desire.
2) Learn to hold on to own proper position, or play the correct role. Lucifer is created as servant/helper, thus should not leave this position, causing great damage to God's plan to create an ideal world where all can receive His love through proper channel.
3) Learn to live in proper order and structure. Eve's position as daughter of God should not have followed a servant/helper position Lucifer, and Adam's position as son of God and elder brother of Eve should not have followed Eve's proposal. They should know that they are answerable to God, and thus should have followed and consulted God when in doubt.
4) Learn to admit mistakes, if already made, and sincerely repent for them and accept the undesirable consequences. After erred, Eve felt bad to be the only one who did wrong, shouldn't have led Adam to err, but should have gone to God to repent. Adam too should have gone to God to repent instead of hiding. Doing so, they avoided responsibility and consequences, but also lost the position of masters of the universe. Thus, they became the servant of the servant Lucifer. In Jesus' words, ...of their father the devil...

Source(s):http://www.tenbiggestmyths.net/spirituality/original.sin/

Who has been most sad all along?

Another best answer from me chosen by the asker.

The second-most widely translated book is..

I don't need to say which is the first. Today I found out from the New World Encyclopedia, the second-most translated text is the 道德经.

That's something I never thought of, but shouldn't surprise me too much.

Did a quick search but couldn't find the third-most translated text.

Don't reduce your love to parents after knowing God

I was reminded about a concept that I think was misunderstood by many. (Before I begin, I should say that I am not too familiar with the Bible and I am talking about the concept here, i.e. not about the actual meaning of the verse.)

In the Bible Matthew 10:37 "Jesus said to his apostles: ‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ..." Initially, this gives me the impression that we have to love our parents lesser so as to fulfill the condition that we do not love our parents more than Jesus. I am not surprise if there were many who felt likewise.

Now I understand it as follows: Assuming that we naturally love our parents very much and loving them is correct, without doubt. Thus, the idea of reducing our love for them is not an acceptable concept or option. In this case, the only way to satisfy the request of not loving our parent more than Jesus will be to strive to increase our love for Jesus.

In some way, this is similar to the common behavior of choosing the easy way out. Last time, some how I avoided from being rich and was having low level of satisfactions. This is the easy way out for living 'comfortably' by lowering our standard of 'comfort'. By a similar logic as above, now I set higher standard of comfort and strive for it, by putting more effort into achieving that. In doing so, I foresee that the overall standard of comfort in a society will be raised and everyone benefits. In 'easy way out' case, I'll remain as comfortable through illusion and this will not benefit those around me.