Saturday, February 24, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
The afterlife
I have not written much on the afterlife, so I have decided to talk briefly on it and will avoid the darker side of the afterlife.
I strongly believe in the afterlife and that life is the key to Heaven's door, to me it is a place where souls can live forever with their loved one's and to finally meet God.
Does the afterlife really exist?
Scientific observation and experiments have not produced any proof that supports the existence of an afterlife and so science has not verified it yet.
But it has not proved that it does not exist, so we firstly need to go back to the Bible and John 14:1-4
1 .Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2 .In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 .You know the way to the place where I am going.
Here Jesus told his disciples that he would prepare a room in Heaven for them and will be with them. Jesus was sent from Heaven to Earth and tells us that there are many places in Heaven waiting for them and he would not lie, so this is prove of the afterlife.
Could a NDE be a journey towards the afterlife?
On January 9, 1991, something quiet unusual happened in an Australian hospital. The patient Ken Mullens who made a good recovery from a heart attack had his lunch in bed, when he suddenly felt strange and called the nurse. Within the next few moments he died of cardiac arrest.
The nurse called the doctors who arrived immediately, and tried to stimulate the patient's heart with electric shock treatment for 10 Minutes. Ken did not recover and was declared dead. The morgue attendant was called and the medical staff removed the sensors from the patient and started packing up. Then Ken suddenly coughed, started to breath again and made a full recovery. Records show that he was dead for 20 minutes.
Doctors were lost for an explanation for this phenomena and soon Ken Mullens was asked by the Australian press and TV, to explain what he had experienced during these 20 minutes. - NDE
People who have near-death experience's often talk about floating over their dead body, which if true means that only the body dies but the soul lives on.
We all know about the bright tunnel, but is this the pathway towards heaven or another mystery about what the human brain goes through when it is dying.
But is there only a Heaven and Hell in the afterlife? in my next post on the afterlife, I will be looking at other places people may go to and experience.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Beware the invaders from France
There are swarms of Asian hornets that are dotted all over the forests of Aquitaine and they are big!
They are thought to have arrived in France from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in 2004, another side-effect of gobalization.
Stuart Hine from the National History Muesum says that they are heading north and may find their way to Britain.
They can grow up to 1.8in and can have a wingspan of 3in, the effect of their bite caught my eye as it has been compared to a hot nail entering the body, I would hate to cross path's with one of these.
However bees are most likely to be more concerned because a handfull (not that anyone would be brave enough to hold them in their hands) of these hornets can destroy a nest of 30,000 bees in a few hours.
I shall now be looking out for these bugs as they make wasps look like a teddy bear with a needle.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Blair pours water over Brown at the Labour Party conference!
Source: http://dizzythinks.blogspot.com/
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Holy Nails
In the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the city of Constantinople was sacked and the true cross, which was brought from Jerusalem, was carved up by the bishops and given to the knights and they then gave it to the churches and monasteries when they returned home.
By the time the Middle Ages ended, many churches said that they possessed a piece of the True Cross and John Calvin said that there was enough wood of the True Cross to fill a ship:
There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In some places there are large fragments, as at the Holy Chapel in Paris, at Poictiers, and at Rome, where a good-sized crucifix is said to have been made of it. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it.
But it was said that the nails that were used to nail Christ to the Cross, were are also taken to Constantinople.
Theodoret wrote in his ''Ecclesiastical History, chapter xvii":
'The mother of the emperor, on learning the accomplishment of her desire, gave orders that a portion of the nails should be inserted in the royal helmet, in order that the head of her son might be preserved from the darts of his enemies. The other portion of the nails she ordered to be formed into the bridle of his horse, not only to ensure the safety of the emperor, but also to fulfil an ancient prophecy; for long before Zechariah, the prophet, had predicted that 'There shall be upon the bridles of the horses Holiness unto the Lord Almighty.'
The nails were said to have been used to help create the Iron Crown of Lombardy that is now housed in Cathedral at Monza near Milan. Could the ring still be considered a relic today?
Triclavianism believes that three nails were used to cruify Christ. The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that:
St. Ambrose informs us that St. Helen had one nail converted into a bridle for Constantine's horse (early commentators quote Zechariah 14:20, in this connection), and that an imperial diadem was made out of the other nail. Gregory of Tours speaks of a nail being thrown (deponi), or possibly dipped into the Adriatic to calm a storm. It is impossible to discuss these problems adequately in brief space, but the information derivable from the general archaeology of the punishment of crucifixion as known to the Romans does not in any way contradict the Christian tradition of four nails.
Who can see if the relics we hold in our hands are true pieces of the Cross or its nails, as many Medievel Churches would have claimed to hold a relic of Christ to become more popular and to attract more prigrims. But if they were not, what happened to the real Cross and could its story after Christ be considered a series of journey's and holy shrines or not?
Friday, February 16, 2007
Praying
Well for me, praying is the best way to talk to God and to ask for advice, support and to thank God for his glory.
But does it only have to be Christians that can pray and be heard?
I believe that this is not true, as Christianity is not a club with a membership that you need to enter. Christianity teaches us that God created all men and hence wants all men to know that he is a loving God who has control over our souls, if we believe in him or not.
1 John 5:14-15 tells us that This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to is will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.
This tells us that God will listen to us and deliver to us what we have asked for if it is part of his plan and that God does not always answer our prayers, only when he thinks he should and we must know that.
So why would a non-Christian want to pray?
Well I can give an example of this. Take a story of somebody ill in hospital and their relations are worried about them recovering and know that they can not do much to help the doctors. Now the 20th century has made massive advancements in medicine and recovering from illness is much more likely, however there are still some illnesses that are harder to recover from and doctors can only do their best. So what can the relations do? Even though they don’t believe in God and never have, they may pray to him as they want to believe that there is a all powerful being out that who has the power over life and death and controls the fate of their loved one and so they pray to him for recovery, this is the power of God.
This happened in a episode of Only Fools and Horses when Rodney, who has never talked about praying before, tells his wife that he prayed last night that his brother would make it out of hospital.
I believe that prayer is a very powerful thing and I have know times in my life when I have seen amazing things happen through prayer. I will be selfish and mention my near-fatal car accident when I was younger that really should have killed or seriously damaged me for life, however my recovery amazed people. I know that people were praying for me that day and it may sound crazy to non-Christians, but I believe that God gave me a second chance and here I am studying at University.
Matthew 6:5-15 tells us a lot about how to pray, but how often should we pray?
I often pray just before I go to bed and sometimes pray in the morning, but I sometimes feel that I should be praying a couple of times a day and not to a schedule as I do now, but as the old saying goes there is a time and a place for everything and for me it is church or my bedroom. To me a prayer is often personal.
Now I admire Muslims for the fact that they pray about five times a day and is more then the average Christian, but our prayers may be different. I do not know much about how Muslims pray (apart that they always bend over together and pray towards the Middle East) so I cannot really comment on it.
But I believe the power of prayer is real and is a brilliant thing in our lives, as it allows us to talk to our creator.
What do you think about prayer?
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Man-Del-La
This is a handmade Man-Del-La that I picked up in Canada and it is a native American shield and it is believed that the Gods would safeguard and protect it's owner and by having one in their home, it would bring prosperity, good health and happiness.
I disagree with how some of the material to make it was obtained from some animals, but most of it was made from natural sheep wool and it is part of native American culture.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Mongols
It is hard to think that only about 60 years ago, Europe civilisation may have fallen again under the rule of evil and cruel Nazism. A similar event may have happen in around the late 13th century when the Mongol troops from Central Asia rode into Europe and got as far as Poland, the figures of the Mongol army were about 100,000 to 150,000 soldiers and if they marched into France, Italy and Spain, it may have brought about the collapse of Europe as no country could field that many men.
This was a time when Christendom were sending armies on crusades and the Church was more powerful then the State and Europe was on the way to the Ressisance.
When the European countries first heard about the 'strange tribes' coming from far in the East, they believed that they were Christian warriors from unknown lands as they were attacking Muslim countries in the Middle East, they must have had a stock when they started to attack Europe.
But the steam ran out and the Mongol warriors returned home to Asia, what would happen if the Mongols took over Western Europe and Christendom? it may have slowed mankind down a little and I doubt that the world would be as advanced as it is today.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Romans
I will now talk about the crucifixtion, which was carried out by the Romans and created the christian religion.
The Roman Empire shaped European civilisation from about 265BC to about the 5th Century AD and its fall resulted in a sudden downfall of man that picked up again in the Ressisance.
In 216 BC, during the second Punic war. Hannibal and his Carthage army defeated the massive Roman army at the hilltop town of Cannae and pretty much had Rome at his mercy. However he decided not to lay siege to the city as he knew that he had already won the war.
The Romans refused to surrender, maybe because they were too busy dreaming of greatness and finally won the war by invading Africa under the command of Scipio Africanus. Now if Hannibal had sacked Rome, Carthage may have been the leading European empire for hundreds of years instead of Rome.
So what would have this meant for the crucifixtion of Christ, if the Roman empire failed to take off, they would not have taken over the Near East, which would have meant they would not have been there to put Christ on trial and the Jewish would not have need someone to unite them against the Romans.
If history happened this way, would there still be a Christian faith today, would it be the same and how would history be different?
No Crusades
No murder in Canterbury Cathedral
No Reformation
No Holy Roman Empire to fight against the Turkish invasion of Europe
No Age of Enlightenment
I will not try to determine how the life of Jesus Christ would be different, as it could be seen as attempt to make the Bible corrupt and in need of re-writing. However if the Romans were not in Jerusalem, would Christ still have been put on trial and condemned.
I believe that there would still be a Christian faith today as there has always been God, but if Roman history had been different, it may have made the history of Christianity slightly different.
There can be no answer, as history has already happened. But it does show how civilisation can be shaped by the actions of a few people.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Machu Picchu
The fee is only £150 to do the trek at Machu Picchu in June, but I need to raise a minimum of £2,750 in sponsorship for Action Medical Research to be allowed to go on the trip.
So if you know of any companies that do sponsorship like this, please let us know as any help will be great.
Thank you
Monday, February 05, 2007
Back into the CF
I have missed doing work for the CF and before I started to study at Surrey Uni, I was invited to join a Surrey wide CF group, but had to focus on my first semister.
I have put forward a idea to run a Surrey wide CF blog to go alongside my other blogs, which should be fun to do.
I may also get involved with the local Reigate commitee soon and will try to attend a AGM/social event soon to find out some more.
I will keep you posted about this, it will be good to get involved again.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Not a bad day
Today I decided to break free from my chains and go outside for a few hours, it was the first time I have been out for a walk since my minor operation on tuesday. My doctor will kill me if he finds out! I think I may have lost my fast walking pace though. I got a pile of books on the Pre-Raphaelites from the libary, so a lot of reading to do!
Decided to phone Eva today to make up, with was a good phone call and we decided to put what happened at the Cathedral behind us. I told her about my grandad passing away and other stuff that has happened to us since Christmas time, we have missed a lot and have so much to catch up on, we may need to have our own little Christmas soon...
She is my best girl mate, so it feels good that we are friends again!
Oh, yeah. I have also added a link to the blog of my friend Ruth, check it out.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
I love charity... Quiz 1
Which Positive Quality Are You? Your Result: Charity You are Charity. The spirit of giving has been promoted by every religion. Charity is kindness. It is compassion for our fellow man. Charity doesn't ask anything in return, and in this way it serves as the opposite of greed. "Be charitable with many." | |
Faith | |
Love | |
Friendship | |
Peace | |
Courage | |
Which Positive Quality Are You? |
Purgatory Quiz 2
Why don't you give it a go...
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level | Score |
---|---|
Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very High |
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Very High |
Level 2 (Lustful) | Very Low |
Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Very Low |
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Very Low |
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Low |
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very Low |
Level 7 (Violent) | Very Low |
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Low |
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Very Low |
You have escaped damnation and made it to Purgatory, a place where the dew of repentance washes off the stain of sin and girds the spirit with humility.
Through contrition, confession, and satisfaction by works of righteousness, you must make your way up the mountain.
As the sins are cleansed from your soul, you will be illuminated by the Sun of Divine Grace, and you will join other souls, smiling and happy, upon the summit of this mountain.
Before long you will know the joys of Paradise as you ascend to the ethereal realm of Heaven.
Take the Dante's" Inferno Test
National Blood Service
Anyway I am talking about this because it is a very important issue and not enough people give blood to meet the current demand, only 5-6% of people of people who could blood actually do, which is very sad as there are so many people out there who need it and this means that the NBS relies on mostly the same people to give blood regularly to help the thousands of people every day during planned surgery like hip replacements, in emergencies, to fight diseases such as cancer.
So if you are reading this and have been thinking about doing it, I recommend that you just go for it. I was a little nervous about doing it at first, but it was easy and not as scary as I thought it may be.
You would be doing something amazing.
Visit www.blood.co.uk
Information was taking from a NBS leafet.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Sleep Tight, Have a Silent Night.
I have just woken up and remember the dream quite well and I have not altered what happened in it.
Over the last few days, I have been questioning my faith again and getting a little worried that I may lose it, I really need to go to Church soon!
Anyway, before I went to bed I was planning not to do my evening prayer but decided to in the end and asked for a sign that I should continue to worship and stay on the Christian path on so on...
The strange part was that I had a dream where I was in an Islamic bookshop looking for a Koran to buy for some reason and they had so many, I was really annoying the shop keeper by asking him to get down every book for me to inspect (sounds like me!) but could not decide which one to buy. Then I noticed a carboard book on the floor and saw a little brown Koran in it and asked to have a look at it because it looked the right size and perfect. He picked it up and it said 'Holy Bible' on the cover.
I have always believed that dreams may contain messages, foretell the future and have meanings. I asked for a sign to continue my with my faith and I have a dream where I am in a Islamic bookshop full of Islamic books and Korans that are stacked high and I pick a small brown book hiding in a box in the corner that turns out to be a Bible and people have about eight dreams a night and that it is the only one that I remembered.
So could this be the sign I asked for a just a simple strange dream?
It would be great to hear your views on this.