Friday, October 2, 2009

Living the Ultimate Lie - Religious Fundamentalism

I've been doing research on Christianity and other religions throughout the world for quite some time and find it hard to believe that most of these religious followers, won't even listen to facts that I and others have found regarding their religion.

I find most of these people to be living the ultimate lie and when it comes to Christian fundamentalism or someone who I would consider to be a super Christian, these people adamantly hold both hands over their ears, while stomping their feet, trying to scare me into submission.

No matter how you slice it, no matter how you want it delivered to you, the truth is always going to be the truth. If you won't listen to the truth, you will live trapped living in a world of lies. It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian who believes in Jesus or an Islamic follower of believes in Allah, the truth, for most people, can only be found outside of your religion.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. How many religions talk about how the world was created, most of their followers, choose to believe their religious leaders and their religious text, without ever questioning, but often doubting what they were taught.

Science teaches us one way, religion teaches us another, however, neither one of them have any scientific evidence to back up their theories.

The minute that you state either one of these beliefs as a truth, you're living in a world of lies. If a scientist or religious leader, can convince you that their way is right, they have simply took a belief, without any evidence and made it into a fact. This illusion, is simply a belief that you have personally made into a truth and as long as you continue to believe this, without doing any of your own research, you will continue to spread lies and rumors throughout the world.

Problems With Noah's Ark Story

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Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a religous article library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

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Check This Out - 1 Corinthians 14:34

If you're a woman, you might not want to read this article. If you're a man who supports male chauvinistic ways, I guarantee that this is going to be an article that you won't want to miss.

I have watched women who believe in other religions, all over the world, consider men to be superior to them. I have watched men treat women as subservient and sometimes has subhuman beings, even though these women are someone's wives, sisters or daughters.

But the Holy Bible, come on I can't believe that this is the word of God. Read this and if you have to read it again, but is this really in the Bible, did God actually write this or is this something that was written by man, to make women live lives of servitude.

Here it is, read it for yourself, 1 Corinthians (TWB) 14:34 let your wives keep silent in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as the law also says. Is this what Christianity is all about or is this just part of what Christianity represents.

Are women really supposed to be quiet in the assemblies of God, in church or places of worship? Am I reading this right? Your wife's keep silent in assemblies, it doesn't say anything about men remaining silent in assemblies.

Oh yeah, for it has not been permitted for them to speak, what the heck are they talking about. Are you telling me that Christian women are not allowed to speak inside of their place of worship? Is that where these assemblies meet or are they talking about something else.

I would like to make a suggestion, too any Christians that are reading this article, this would be a great topic for discussion, at your next prayer meeting or Bible study group.

With religious text like this, you can understand why some women don't have equal rights to men. Its beliefs like these, that will eventually end up forcing large religious organizations to change or become part of our history.

Watch this Video on Women and Bible Problems

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site: If your interested in a different point of view READ THESE ARTICLES - Great Articles For Christians

Greg Vandenberge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Is Overpopulation a Religious Problem?

Overpopulation really isn't that hard to understand. People love each other, want to reproduce and have offspring. Their parents took care of them, and they will take care of their children. People love to have families and these families love to have more families. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Now is overpopulation a religious problem? If you listen to religious text and understand a few simple sentences, you will see that there are plenty of religions all over the world that encourage the multiplication of mankind.

In the Bible, God tells man to be fruitful and multiply. If you read this a little differently, you might take it that God wants men to eat as much fruit as he wants to and plant more trees so that he can have more fruit and be fruitful.

That's not exactly how most Christians read this Bible verse. Christians need to have more children, and their children need to have more children. This is how they interpret the words, to be fruitful and multiply.

I do believe that religions all over the world play an important part in our worlds population problem today. It's not the people who are educated, that are constantly reproducing, in today's world.

Most religions support population expansion, but what are they going to do, once the world becomes so overpopulated, that we can't even take care of ourselves. This should give you another point of view to look at, especially if you one part of the problem and not the solution.

What About The End of The World

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.
His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible. This book provides Christians with superior biblical knowledge , answer some tough questions and should be read by every faithful follower of Christ.

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Manipulating Bible Verses - Thou Shall Not Murder

If you're a Christian, you've probably heard of this Bible verse. Thou shall not murder. If you've heard of it, you probably know that it's one of the 10 Commandments or one of the original laws from Moses. However, most people don't know about its application to Christianity.

If I was to tell my children, not to lie and always tell the truth but I was a liar, would this be considered a good example for my children? If my children seen me lying and then I told them not to lie, would they consider that a lie? Does this example make sense to you?

As the parent, I'm the example. As the children, they are my disciples or followers. By lying to my children, I am showing them that it is okay to lie or stretch the truth or even manipulate the English language for my personal benefit.

How much different is this example from the example of the way some Christians use the Holy Bible? "Thou shall not murder," to me translates into," you should not kill." That's pretty simple and easy to understand, wouldn't you agree.

I could easily manipulate this Bible verse into, thou shall not murder, only applying it, to killing someone without a reason or you can kill someone in the name of God. You can change the meaning of anything if you really want to.

The point I would like to make here, is that the truth always comes out in the end, once the lying and the manipulation becomes visible. Do you have the ability to tell who's lying and twisting the Bible scriptures for their benefit or personal gain?

Bible verses that are clearly written, shouldn't have any hidden messages. "Thou shall not murder," is easy to interpret, once you understand what all four of these words mean and this task can easily be accomplished with a dictionary.

Thou - refers to you, the person being addressed or written to.

Shall - it will happen in the future or is intended to happen.

Not - is often used to express refusal, denial or the negation of the statement, just made.

Murder - the crime of killing another person deliberately and not in self-defense.

With the definition of these four words sitting right in front of us, you could still interpret this Bible verse in the few different ways. I'm going to take a stab at it and interpret it as I see it.

"You should not kill another person deliberately or outside of self-defense."

This means that I am not allowed to kill anyone, in the name of God, during war, or for any other reason except for defending myself.

When it says," Thou shall not murder," how does this apply to animals or anyone who is involved in a death sentence. Judges, lawyers, prison guards and other individuals who are directly involved in the murder of someone else.

How many other Bible verses have been manipulated for the benefit of Christianity?

God Said What

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible. This book provides Christians with advanced biblical knowledge, answer some tough questions and should be read by every faithful follower of Christ.

Click here if you're interested in Basic Christianity.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson

Spencer Johnson has done very well for himself by taking simple lessons and sharing them in short stories. It is not surprising that USA Today called him "The King of Parables." "Peaks and Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You - At Work And In Life" is Johnson's newest parable, and like those before it, this book contains more than meets the eye.

The book is short, only 99 pages, and some of those contain only one quote. And like his other books, it is a smaller formatted hardcover. However, despite its length, there are some practical pearls of wisdom that if applied will make one's life more positive. It would be easy to dismiss this book as too simple, or too easy. After all, in the text Johnson refers to the story as common sense. But how many people actually apply the simple lessons of life? Treat others as you want to be treated is a universal lesson found throughout history, but do people actually apply it? Some do of course, but so many don't.

Often, we spend countless hours, sometimes even lifetimes, searching for some profound truth or magic moment that will enlighten us and make all of our troubles disappear and success and riches materialize in abundances we only dream about. While searching for the complicated, we sometimes fail to listen to the simple. We forget what we know. We don't apply the lessons we do learn because we are too busy looking for something greater.

What I like about "Peaks and Valleys" and the other books by Spencer Johnson is that they remind us of the simple, and encourage us to apply these simple lessons to our own lives. One of the lessons in "Peaks and Valleys" is to imagine yourself enjoying a better future in such specific, believable detail, that you soon enjoy doing what takes you there. This is not new. Earl Nightengale taught the same lesson in his "Strangest Secret." Nightengale taught "We become what we think about most of the time." Others have taught variations of this, and it is so simple that it is often overlooked.

Just because I have heard variations of this lesson before does not mean I didn't enjoy it here. Like the young man in this book, I too forget these lessons at times, especially when the hustle and bustle and stresses of today's world seem to overwhelm at times. The short time it took me to read "Peaks and Valleys" was a relaxing reminder of some important concepts that when followed make life better.

I would encourage anyone to take a little time for yourself, find a relaxing place, and enjoy this short parable by Spencer Johnson. Then take a little longer to assess how you can apply the lessons from this story to your own life. If you do, you just might find yourself enjoying more Peaks and realize your Valleys are not as bad as you thought.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a mediator/attorney with Bennett Law Office P.C. and an author/speaker through his own company Burrese Enterprises Inc. He teaches people to live with the warrior's edge through his writing and speaking on a variety of topics focusing on the business areas of negotiation and success principles as well as self-defense and safety topics. He is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks, several instructional dvds, and numerous articles. You can find out more about Alain Burrese at his websites http://www.burrese.com and http://bennettlawofficepc.com

Feng Shui and Symbols - What You Have in Your House Says a Lot About You

What does a broken statue of a rooster have to do with Feng Shui? Feng Shui teaches us that everything in our house is a reflection of what is in our mind. Symbolically speaking, your house and the things in it reflects your thoughts, feelings, and spirit.

So let's get back to that rooster. One of my clients had recently separated from her husband. I noticed that a statue of a large bird was directly facing her bed, so it was probably the first thing she saw when getting up in the morning. Upon closer examination, I noticed two things; first, one of the legs had previously been broken and was wrapped in what appeared to be a cast. Second, I realized that it was not a chicken; it was a rooster. Unfortunately, the coxcomb on the top of the head had broken off, probably in the same fall that broke the leg of the statue.

I examined this unfortunate art piece for a moment and then said to my client, "Do you realize that the first thing you see in the morning is a broken cock?"

After I picked her up from the floor (she was laughing so much she just collapsed), she gasped out, "You have no idea of how perfect that observation is." Not wanting to really know much more, I suggested we send out the broken rooster for repair. We then talked about what she really wanted to see first thing in the morning; it was her flute and music and a picture of her daughter.

Another client was having a hard time keeping relationships with men going. Visiting her apartment was like seeing a shrine to her daughter. Everywhere was a mother/daughter photograph. It felt like she was already in a relationship and there was no room for any other one to grow.

Everything that you choose to surround yourself with has symbolic meaning and reflects something about your life. Whether intentional or not, all those objects, pictures, photographs, and pieces of furniture resonate with information about you. Take a look around at your house. What is the first thing you see when you enter your home? When you get up in the morning? When you sit down to eat? Do those objects support you in living your best life? Observe what you have around you and then experiment. See how you feel swapping out the images that surround you for other ones that are a better reflection of who you are and where you want to go. I've seen this simple action do amazing things to improve people's lives.

Interested in learning more about Feng Shui and ways to improve the energy in your home or office? Get great tips and motivating messages by subscribing to the Empty Your Nest newsletter at http://www.emptyyournest.com

Book Review - "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens"

I just finished reading "7 habits of highly effective teens," by Sean Covey. This book is written by the son of the famous author of "7 habits of highly effective people," Stephen Covey. The author attempts to shed light on some issues that teens face and how they can best overcome them. As the CEO of a teen jobs website, I read dozens of teen related books each week. In my opinion, this is one of the most engaging and entertaining teen related book I have ever read.

This book will provide meaningful content for teens, such as advice for improving their self image, how to build friendships and how to resist peer pressure. What I like most about the book is the way the ideas are presented and the format. The author uses a lot of graphics, cartons lists, quotes and other elements to really hook the reader and compel them to keep reading. Another great part about the book is the real life examples that the author writes about. There are real stories of teens that have been faced with huge obstacle and the incredible stories about how they overcame adversity. This part of the book was very inspiring to me.

The one criticism that I have is the fact a lot of the tips and suggestions are quite obvious and really basic common sense. I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the real teen stories, as I think a book can be written on that topic alone.

In closing, I highly recommend this book to teens and parents of teens.

Dan Keller is the CEO of the popular Teen Jobs site and runs a Teen Forums site as well.