Do you think evil is overpowering the good?

I was reading an article that talked about a man named Bruce Streather a successful lawyer but an atheist remarked, “In my work as a lawyer, I have seen so much evil. I have always believed in the power of evil.”. I guess handling innumerable cases with various shades of crime possibly showed up at its best to eliminate the goodness and make it look like evil is winning all the time. This had a serious effect in his entire belief system. It was difficult for him to have faith in God and to believe that there is something called "good".  

His family with three teenage daughters would go to church regularly. Once, as a result of considerable persuasion from his wife and his daughters, he visited a program that dragged him into a discussion on God and the power of goodness and at the end Bruce comes to cognizance that there is definitely a God and remarks, “if there is a power of evil it makes sense to believe that there is also a power of good.”.

We struggle with the global evils of terrorism, the rise of various terrorist groups around the world, the tragic plight of refugees, the newer computer virus that can steal all our personal information and leave us on the streets, starvation, poverty, the destruction of the environment, corrupt governments and countless other domestic, local and international issues. 

We also face struggles against evil in our own lives – temptation, sin and addiction. Recently in India and abroad there are news in the film industry how people with power misused the opportunity by abusing and humiliating female workers. In some cases, people apologize and in other retaliate using the power once again to subdue the truth and make evil look triumphant.

The tightening of systems, laws are still unable to curb the vices and restore peace, it is only increasing unimaginably. God wants to set people free both from the literal bondage and oppression experienced by modern day slaves, and from our slavery to sin and addictions (such as a reliance on excess of alcohol, drugs violence or pornography). Do you wish to be delivered?

You can be good and radiate the power of goodness among your family, society and in your country by asking God in prayer to transform you. It is said in the Bible “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make your free”. Let's be free and liberate our society and our nation from all evil.

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Which is overpowering? Secular or Sacred?

Life is so compartmentalized today, that we bring demarcation in every facets of life. Our goodness and virtues are limited to place, situation and context. We sometimes, believe we need to put different masks and portray images to make our survival better. I can understand, our roles can be different based on our responsibilities, but why do our goodness and virtues need to bend to vices with our position?

Dr. R. Richard puts it beautifully, “To separate the sacred from the secular, to remove religious belief from social discourse and public intercourse is to arbitrarily divide sacred and secular, private and public. Human life, individual and corporate, grounds the connection. Distinguish but don't divide unless you want to devalue life!

This life is not conditioned and a result of physical union alone. Medical Science & human intelligence does not have the ability to create a new life, it is only striving to find what is available and see how best it can sustain life, even that too for a temporary period. I heard an atheist stating that “death is a technical error”. Oh really, do you think so? We are limited and finite compared to the infinite.

The grandeur design of God, the universe is a display of divine goodness and we are His Masterpiece. God expects us to be who we are and integrate life, and not devalue it by separating Sacred from secular. Conflict of roles, character and position can have a serious effect on our children too. Let your time with the sacred transform you as a person in order to make this world a better place not use the name of the sacred to revolt, terrorize and make the life of the vulnerable and poor miserable.

It is worth pondering these lines by G. K Chesterton, “We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening a mob with the news that grass is green.”.

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Survival Run!

There is only one happiness in this life, to love and to be loved. George Sand

  

We area in a race for survival. For some life comes easy for most it is very difficult. "Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory. Collins dictionary describes the phrase, ‘referring to a situation in which only the strongest people or things continue to live or be successful, while the others die or fail.’. We cannot deny the fact we need each other and even God designed the creation that way but we have limited our circle based on our personal convenience and interest.

Life can give immense meaning and bring joy when we try to give a helping hand to someone who is anxiously waiting for a help. Do we teach our children to share, help, be kind? I doubt if we are any longer familiar with the word kindness, love. Even if it has to be, it turns out to be selfish most of the times.

Sometimes we think people will take advantage of our kindness and remain isolated. I am sure it is not the case always. All of us can recall someone helping us at some point of our life. God has installed emotion in us, which is so beautiful and make sense to living. Do we mind igniting it and sharing the love and kindness?

I just want to share the real story of ‘Survival Run’ a triathlon (like marathon but with lots of natural hurdles) to complete the distance of 12 kms. This happened in San Francisco in 1971 where Harry Cordellos (Blind) took part and successfully completed with the help of Jack Bettencourt. Watch the YouTube video (link provided) how Jack Bettencourt guides him throughout. This is so, so inspirational. 

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The Earth just escaped a major Catastrophe! Do you know about it?

There is a constant fight against terrorism, pestilence, accidents, internal and external threats, communal disturbances and so many other factors. 

Recently as I was going through Investopedia reports where it is recorded that India has increased its military spending by 5.5% from 2016 to 2017 and spent $63.9 billion in 2017. The 29 NATO members as a whole spent a total of $900 billion in 2017. A new study has found that the U.S. has spent $2.8 trillion on counter-terrorism operations since 9/11,(John A. Martinez Jr./Marine Corps). This is all in regard to the fight against terrorism.

But do we ever have an inkling of the many asteroids that brush past the Earth, some were so close that they could have shattered the planet earth to pieces, yet passed through without harming it. Near-Earth asteroids such as Bennu and 2019 OK which passed close to Earth this week, pose a potential threat to our planet (NASA, Michael J. I. Brown, Monash University.) Astronomers, who meticulously track all objects that come close to Earth completely missed this until it was way too close. These are beyond human control. 

The Creator of the great universe has orchestrated the galaxies, the solar system and here we are in this marvelous universe, which is so beautifully designed but does it point our direction to God? Are we even thankful to him and learn to be responsible to keep this universe healthy and be responsible to each other? Strange! We spend so much to protect ourselves from the mess we have created and strive to obliterate each other through wars and destroy the creation of the divine God. We failed to realize that God can obliterate us in seconds with one ginormous meteor but still withholds His Power, for the love of His creation.

We have come to a time where people are striving to constrict the belief system, forcing people to believe a certain creed based on vested interest, disturbing the national harmony of brotherhood. Today we have this classification of minority on the basis of status, religion and so many other factors.

We tend to forget we all have to leave this earth one day however strong and mighty we are. What is so important is to realize we have a soul. We are made with a soul to connect to the Creator and honor him and respect his creation and not to substitute God by worshiping the creation and the creature. The Bible records this, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.". May we thank God for the breath of life and preserve His creation.

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Reference

Near Earth asteroid tracking

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/05/16/heres-how-much-the-us-has-spent-fighting-terrorism-since-911/

Heartsets, Healthsets & Soulsets

Mindsets, Heartsets, Healthsets and Soulsets. Have you heard these words? it is no doubt uncommon, but it made so much sense to me as I read the book ‘5 am club’ by Robin Sharma who is knows to be the leadership genius. This book narrates about a story of an encounter of a homeless man by an entrepreneur and mark the discourse of the homeless man - It's brilliant.

‘I only eat the best food, though I don’t eat a lot of it. I only read the most original and thoughtful books, spend my time in the most light-filled and inspiring of spaces and visit the most enchanting of places. And when it comes to relationships, I only surround myself with human beings who fuel my joy, stoke my peace and excite me to become a better man. Life’s way too valuable to hang with people who don’t get you, who you just don’t vibe with. Who have different values and lower standards than you do. Who have different Mindsets, Heartsets, Healthsets and Soulsets. It’s a little miracle how powerfully and profoundly our influences and environments shape our productivity as well as our impact.”

We are surrounded by virtues as well as the many vices. But unfortunately, our general inclination always forces us to choose and settle for that which is temporarily satisfying. The generation today are surviving devoid of conscience. Anything that refers to the matters of heart, soul, health is pushed to hermits and to godman which is not actually true.

C S Lewis points out and says, “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”. God has made us in His image and designed us to contain the most high God in our heart. You are not designed to live in a substandard way heartless and soul-less, but to be the best version of what God has created you for. You cannot try to become one, you need to connect to God with your heart and soul and give meaning to your living.

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Striving to fit in?

Childhood is the true phase of your life where you learn to be original, with no sense of inhibition, shame or fear. You learn to articulate things as you see without fabricating it or coloring it to make it look good. But slowly it is the adults who taught you to limit your powers, shackle your genius and betray the truths of your heart. Very soon you find yourself boxed in and designed to operate at a very superficial level.

The lamp of your creativity, your positivity and your intimacy with your greatness grew dim as you began to worry about fitting in, having more than others and being popular. Well, here’s what I say: participate not in the world of numbed-out grownups, with its scarcity, apathy and limitation. Your surroundings really do shape your perceptions, your inspirations and your implementations. The right values and ethics that you hold on to, will give you the freedom to choose things that are worth and edifying.

The Bible exhorts us by these words, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable -if there are any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy-dwell on these things". This is not a religious emphasis, but a divine way to healthy living which has a capacity to impact our personal life as well as the society we live in.

Why do people continuously strive to fit in to find their significance? God has blessed each one of us with unique gifts and potential to be a better human and live a life that can bring happiness and peace to oneself and to others. Let us help our children and the people in our influence to unleash the goodness and make them realize that they are worth living to impact the community and nation.

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Dealing with negative Habits!

Life is filled with choices and it depends on us as to what we want to choose and why we choose it. What we are today is the result of choices we made at some point of time in our life. Many are hooked into habits that are detrimental to an extent, which has destroyed their career, health and families.

When one habit gets ingrained, especially the negative ones, a person finds impossible to shun the habit when he/she actually wants to come out. The general misconception that people have is that they are in perfect control and can operate the habits in their terms, which is not actually true.

'If you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or break a bad one, it is not because you have lost your ability to improve. It is often because you have not yet crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential (persist long enough for a breakthrough). Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from twenty-five to thirty-one degrees. Your work was not wasted; it is just being stored. All the action happens at thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit.'. Atomic Habits

Think with me on this, what if each one thinks it is my life and my choice? It will be disastrous. Our personal habits and behavior have ripple effects on others too. This is exactly how the rapists, child traffickers and fascist think and contribute to the depravity of the society and our country.

In addition to this, another area to consider and be conscious of is the moral framework. Sadly, the moral framework now, to a larger extent has been made relative and makes people forget that it has an effect on others whether it is good or bad habits. The Bible states that out of the man’s heart comes evil thoughts that leads to evil work that has a serious implication on the society. You cannot solve from within. You need a Savior from outside who has a capacity to look into your heart and deliver you and me from areas and habits that captivates us for bad.

James Clear in his book "Atomic Habits" points out how these stages work to form good or bad habits. Avoiding the cues at the source will do much good, failing which we will end up hooked into all sort of negative habits that will have a serious impact.

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