INTRODUCTION
Mughal Empire, Indian empire that ruled the subcontinent for more than 300 years from 1526 to 1858, except for a brief period under the Sur sultans (1540-1555). During its reign, the empire flourished for about 150 years from 1556 to 1707 under Akbar and his immediate successors, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb.
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was founded in 1526. At its height, about 1700, it encompassed most of the Indian subcontinent. Mughal rulers developed a stable, centralized form of government that served as a model for later Indian rulers. The empire declined in the 1700s and was officially abolished by the British in 1858.
II FORMATION AND EXPANSION
The Mughal Empire was founded in 1526 by Babur, a Central Asian Turk, after he had defeated the Lodi ruler of Delhi, Ibrahim, and occupied the capital at ?gra. Babur went on to conquer much of the northern Indian subcontinent, but died in 1530 before he could consolidate his empire. His son, Humayun, faced difficulties from the Afghans, the sultan of Gujar?t, and above all, in his own camp from his brothers and some of his father’s nobles. He was defeated by the new Afghan leader, Sher Khan Sur (later known as Sher Shah), wandered in exile in Persia, and finally settled in K?bul. After 15 years, by which time the Sur regime was in a shambles, Humayun recaptured Hindustan just before his death in 1556. His young son Akbar soon recovered the lost empire, expanding its frontiers almost to the entire upper India. Akbar, who is often considered the true founder of the Mughal Empire, laid the grounds for the significant economic growth and the fabulous art and building activities of his successors. He died in 1605 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Jahangir.
Under Jahangir, who ruled until 1627, and Shah Jahan, who ruled from 1628 to 1658, the Mughals made significant gains in the Deccan Plateau region. The Mughals gained control over the Marathas, although on northwest borders they lost Kandah?r to Persia and had difficulties against the Central Asian Uzbeks. In 1648 the Mughal capital was shifted from ?gra to Delhi. The empire achieved its greatest physical extent under Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658 to 1707. By the time of his death in 1707, nearly the whole subcontinent was under his rule, however, the symptoms of the demise of the Mughal Empire had also surfaced.
III ADMINISTRATION AND THE NOBILITY
The imperial organization that sustained the empire through the years it flourished was the outcome of a long process of historical evolution. The roots of this evolution lay in the West and Central Asian Turko-Mongol traditions that the Mughals brought with them to India, as well as in the political organization in India under their predecessors. Babur introduced some Central Asian institutions. Humayun made a classification of the nobility and attempted to gain the favor of local chiefs. Under Akbar an imperial principle evolved that organized the ruling class and coordinated the interests of the state with local, powerful Hindu merchants.
The Mughal ruling class was complex and varied, although integrated into a single imperial service. At higher levels this noble class comprised mainly Central Asians, Persians, Afghans, Indian Muslims, and Rajputs. No single ethnic or religious group, however, was large enough to challenge the supreme authority of the emperor. The key officials in the central government and the provinces were all appointed by imperial orders and were accountable directly to the emperor. The emperor was thus placed in a position of supreme power, which in turn was sustained by elaborate laws of court etiquette and royal prerogative.
The tax demand in each region was stated in cash, its magnitude depended on the quality of soil and the level of cultivation. The peasants duly entered the market economy and tried cultivating high-value crops. The system encouraged a cash nexus, bustling bazaars, and an increase in the number of towns. All this coincided with India’s expanding commerce with the outside world, in the wake of the establishment of European and non-European trading companies during this period.
IV DECLINE AND COLLAPSE
By the beginning of the 18th century, symptoms of a crisis appeared in the Mughal system. The Marathas had shaken the empire to its foundations by inflicting defeats on Mughal armies in the Deccan and the west. In northern India the Jat landlords and peasants had repeatedly challenged the imperial authority, while in the Punjab region in the northwest, rebellious groups embracing Sikhism emerged as a significant hostile force. Aurangzeb’s policies and the increasing association of his government with a narrow Islamic orthodoxy dealt a serious blow to the empire, as he reversed the time-honored tradition of Mughal rulership accepting indigenous culture.
Despite Aurangzeb’s actions, the setback to the empire was only temporary, as his successors abandoned his policies. There were, however, several other factors that contributed to the final collapse of the empire. The terms on which the zamindars’ relations with the Mughal state were worked out depended on the strength or weakness of the people and the areas under zamindar control. In time, as the regions experienced economic growth, rulers in these regions felt strong enough to stand on their own. They not only refused to cooperate with the Mughals, which in turn affected Mughal military strength and ability to collect taxes, but were often up in arms.
The nobles, on the other hand, had their own problems. They depended on the emperor for position and power and had no hereditary estates to bequeath to their successors. The principal means of tax collection, which required local Hindu gentry to collect revenue from peasants while keeping part for themselves and paying the rest to a treasury, was cumbersome for the nobles. Its enforcement was thus resisted by the nobility even in the 17th century. Under the conditions of the 18th century, many nobles sought to carve out power bases of their own in league with the local magnates, throwing the interests of the empire overboard. The empire collapsed within 40 years of Aurangzeb’s death. However, while there was chaos in some regions, a kind of autonomous regional political order emerged broadly within the Mughal institutional framework. The symbols of the empire therefore outlived the demise of its de facto power.
My name is MIAN AFAQ TARIQ. I am student of 2nd year in MTB Higher Secondry School. I am living in Sadiqabad(PAKISTAN). My contect numbers are 03342527785 and 03023357300.Go to www.mianafaqtariq.blogspot.com for further intresting articles. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/mughal-empire-a-great-government-of-subcontinent-1013090.html
by Peter Menkin
Spirit Rock is not a New Age Center, per se. Located in San Francisco’s Bay Area (Marin County’s Woodacre), Spirit Rock is home to Buddhists. They are not Zen Buddhists, as they emphasized. They are Theravada, as is one of their founding members, the teacher and popular writer Jack Kornfield.
Many find Spirit Rock a refreshing and spiritual place to visit and take for a retreat. Marin County, and in specific Southern Marin, is not a place for Christian worship. Practicing and church attending Christians are few. So says an older study on religious practice in Marin. ( Tobin, Gary A. and Patricia Lin. Religious & Spiritual Change in America: The Experience of Marin County, California. San Francisco: Institute for Jewish & Community Research, 2002.) The following anecdotal piece of evidence indicates religious interest in San Francisco’s Bay Area Marin County. One librarian at the Tiburon library says most spiritual and religious books in their library are New Age. Christian reading isn’t of interest. Jack Kornfield, the Buddhist teacher, is a popular writer and many read his books here in San Francisco Bay Area and the United States.
Jack Kornfield writes books that are Buddhist teaching.
Random House, the book’s publisher of “…After the Laundry” says: “’Enlightenment does exist’’ internationally renowned author and meditation master Jack Kornfield assures us. “Unbounded freedom and joy, oneness with the divine … these experiences are more common than you know, and not far away.
“‘But even after achieving such realization — after the ecstasy — we are faced with the day-to-day task of translating that freedom into our imperfect lives. We are faced with the laundry.
“Drawing on the experiences and insights of leaders and practitioners within the Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Sufi traditions, this book offers a uniquely intimate and honest understanding of how the modern spiritual journey unfolds — and how we can prepare our hearts for awakening.”
An excerpt of the book is found as Addendum at the end of this article, used with permission from the publisher).
According to a “Marin Independent Journal” article, “His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. They include, A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace and his most recent book, A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology.”
A brief excerpt from “The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology.”(“The Wise Hart”, which Bantam published in hardcover in April 2008, and has just released in trade paperback May of this year.)
“When we learn to rest in awareness, there’s both caring and a silence. There is listening for what’s the next thing to do and awareness of all that’s happening, a big space and a connected feeling of love. When there is enough space, our whole being can both apprehend the situation and be at ease. We see the dance of life, we dance beautifully, yet we’re not caught in it. In any situation, we can open up, relax, and return to the sky-like nature of consciousness.”
So Jack Kornfield, the author, promises in his new book.
My Church friend Letty says Jack Kornfield is not the only writer who is a Spirit Rock teacher. The work by Sylvia Boorstein, titled “It’s Easier than You Think” is about this Spirit Rock teacher’s “…experience as a Buddhist.” The point is that though as a writer Jack Kornfield is popular and known, there are other Spirit Rock Buddhist teachers who write books on the subject.
As someone who is not familiar with Spirit Rock, this visitor came with the idea the place is New Age. What I found was a meditative place, Buddhist, whose staff and ethos is welcoming and friendly. There are few “members” of Spirit Rock, as one does not sign a book for “official” membership, or is one required to enjoy the same Christian rite of inclusion. In other words, all are welcome and people come and go as they like. Mostly, they come and visit and even stay around for years calling themselves Buddhist. It works, and it is enjoyed by many and practiced by the many who visit.
Spirit Rock answers are not necessarily forthcoming in the conventional sense; this journalist was unable to get all his questions answered. These were posed among others, and add to the flavor of their worldview:
The question comes to mind, and will you confirm the fact, too, if true? Has Spirit Rock a relationship with the Dominicans, and if so, what is it; how long has it been going on, and what is the nature and a few specifics about this relationship?
Their answer was “We are Buddhists in the Thai Forest or Theravada tradition, with no association whatsoever to the Dominicans.”
In another email question set, these were asked.
- What is the official name of the room?
- Is Jack associated with a monastery or other organization, or is Spirit Rock his official Buddhist home?
- Is he of a certain Buddhist order or teaching?
- Does the money earned at the talk go to him (in part?)?
- Does money from his books go entirely to Jack?
- What is Jack’s “title,” or in other words does one address him as “Brother” or “Teacher?”
- Is this the formal way? I do realize everyone there calls him by his first name, Jack.
- Has he a press picture of himself with wife, or family?
The email response by one of their kind press officers went this way…
“Here’s what I can tell you. Jack is a co-founder of both Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He was a Thai Forest monk under Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Pong Monastery in Thailand, which is part of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. Here’s a link to info about Jack’s main teacher:
http://www.watnongpahpong.org/aboutajahnchah.php
We call the room where the event was held last night officially the “upper Retreat Hall” with the “upper” in lower case. Usually Monday Night Class is held down the hill in our Community Meditation Hall, so that was a little unique last night. I don’t have an answer for you on the numbers, but it was filled to capacity. Jack often draws pretty large crowds, so that was about what we were expecting last night. Jack doesn’t have a title, other than Ph.D. (although nobody tends to refer to him as Dr., sometimes they do print his name with the PhD after it). He is officially a “dharma teacher” but that wouldn’t be used in caps. He has a wife and one daughter, but we don’t have photos of them all together for release. His family tends to keep a low profile.”
Fair enough reply in its way: it is noted here for his email is so interesting and shows how Spirit Rock responds and how they view the world, which is in character with other religions as they too have a world view which is seen through their lens.
Significantly, many teachers at Spirit Rock emphasize the feminine as does Debra Chamberlin Taylor who writes in their August 2009 “Spirit Rock News,”, I don’t know if there is any other Buddhist center that has a statue of Prajna Paramita sitting as an equal beside the Buddha on their main altar. The Image of the ‘Mother of All Buddhas’ clearly communicates Spirit Rock’s intention to honor the feminine. Some people might ask, ‘What’s the point? It doesn’t matter because enlightenment has no gender.’ This is true, but for many people, especially women, seeing the image is significant both consciously and unconsciously. It’s a reminder that females, as well as males, can fully awaken.
In that same “Spirit Rock News,” the article, “The Sacred Feminine: Restoring Balance in Challenging Times (Interviews by Walt Opie, Communications Coordinator),” a yoga instructor who is a novelist (“Enlightenment for Idiots,”) writes:
Again, it is not an issue of men versus women because I’ve experienced many male teachers who also emphasize these dimensions of practice. But when I’m sitting yoga on a retreat that’s oriented towards the Sacred Feminine, I’m aware of an explicit intention to value the interpersonal aspect of practice; the intimate aspect of practice; the qualities of unwinding and opening rather than dominating and controlling. It’s an approach that emphasizes allowing and being, rather than doing and becoming.
Her name is Debra Chamberlin-Taylor.
The opportunity arose to speak to Jack Kornfield after his talk, for he was in the area of the main upper Retreat Meditation Hall when I was leaving. A more slight looking man than imagined, this writer did not speak to him; it is easy to see he had a piercing and aware look when getting ready to speak at this gathering of what were more than 300. The room was standing room only, with people in the hallway. A greater proportion of those in attendance were young or youngish. Almost half the room was on the floor with flat pillows for the meditation section; the pillows were of good quality, those in attendance educated people, by and large. No hardship here or ascetic undertaking. Jack Kornfield does have a presence, so though he looked like most others who were in attendance, the familiarity of having just seen him and heard his talk came into play. In his way, he has fame.
Something of the evening talk:
The chairs in which the rest of us sat were good quality, in the hall. I remark on how comfortable they are, for many churches haven’t such nice chairs. For many churches, chairs are usually folding chairs. Spirit Rock is a comfortable place, more expensive and elegant than some I’ve been to like Immaculate Heart Hermitage in Big Sur. Impressed with the handsome buildings and quiet of this place of retreat, this retreat center in comfortable surroundings is set-away-from the hub-bub outside.
Glass windows about the hall made the room light. Everyone enjoyed the hall, it appeared. They were a happy crowd.
Call this a crowd? Perhaps, but mostly they appear as seekers. They are not disappointed in Jack Kornfield.
Someone said Jack returned from a book tour just recently, and this was his first talk on a Monday since returning. So the big crowd. Nonetheless, he draws an interested and larger following anyway.
We sat for 15 minutes prior to Jack Kornfield’s arrival to class. He’s been teaching at Spirit Rock for 20 years or more on compassion and wakefulness. Essentially, the evening was one of quieting the mind, ostensibly to be 35 minutes of introduction, talk, and discussion. Of course, this didn’t include about 40 minutes of meditation. It is lovely, the meditation.
Notes about the talk:
7:23 p.m. Still and quiet. Cell phone rang, and people were reminded by Jack to turn them off, and to be present.
7:40 p.m. Quiet, still. One could clearly hear a bird or birds calling outside the hall.
Jack Kornfield sits on a small, elevated stage (riser) with a Buddha behind him and a Prajnaparamita statue. One is black, the other brown. Flowers are set between the Buddha and Prajnaparamita statue behind Jack who is sitting. It is a simple altar. There is a desk before Jack (altar?), and a bell for ringing tto his right(not a clapper bell). He uses it at times during the talk and meeting.
7:48 p.m. He tells us, “Rest in the space of awareness.” The bell is rung twice at 7:50 p.m.
We sat together, all so many people, in connectedness. So went one of the evening’s purposes. Jack spoke briefly about a visit to Israel and Palestine which he said was a peacemaking trip. He called it, “…very expansive.” Spirit Rock offers high callings in a big room.
One sense of the evening was the ethos, that everything spoken of is dear. The evening for many is comprised of dear moments, or so it seems.
8:10 p.m. The bell is rung a number of times to ask people to return from the 15 minute break. There will be a talk on Jewish-Buddhist practice by a Rabbi and Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein. A man sits next to the woman on my right and exclaims to How are you? “I am wonderful.”
8:13 p.m. The talk begins, and we are told, There is no quiz at the end. A request is made that that what people note will “resonate” with them. Jack explains he is having health issues. The 60 year old noted that, “Weird things are going on.” In a note of humor, Jack said, “One doctor asked could it just be me.” The group laughs.
It is time to come back to ourselves, Jack said. He said those present are “seekers.”
8:23 p.m. More stories by Jack, like aphorisms. He quotes Henry Miller briefly during the talk, among others. Jack asks, “What animates your life?” He instructs, Rest in your seat and let compassion allow you to see the world as it is observed. He reads from Rilke. He instructs, Take the seat in the midst of all things.
8:28 p.m. Speaking about George Schaller, the primatologist Jack talks about gorillas and man. His remark speaks of presence and kindness and gentleness. He suggests those present, Sit as Buddha. He says, Our lives are made of rivers. (He said he would speak basics this evening._ He emphasizes, Every breath you take contains a molecule of Julius Caesar’s breath.
8:36 p.m. A story of Iraq illustrates a show of American respect instead of shooting in the war. He reminds those present, Take the seat in the center of your body.
8:44 p.m. Mark Twain is noted, briefly, too. Jack reads from Mark Twain and comments.
Jack tells a story of how meditation helps its practitioner, a training it is for kindness even in the face of death. People are moved, even audibly so.
He mentions Albert Camus, James Baldwin.
Continuing from written notes, he says, To take a seat in the midst of things takes courage. Practice becoming the space of awareness.
8:48 p.m. He says, We are here and now. This is the place of freedom.
George Washington Carver is mentioned.
8:53 p.m. Jack says something about, the madness of the spiritual life. He offers as a statement, The Buddhist nature within you. Things are as they are, he tells everyone in the hall.
9:09 p.m. The talk ends. He offers, Let’s sit for a few minutes. There are 3 bells. Everyone chants, as invited.
End of evening.
Located on 410 acres in rural west Marin County, 30 miles north of San Francisco, upcoming retreats and talks in July are described by Spirit Rock by these titles:
- In a series of classes, “How to be an Earthling: Evolution as a Guide to Spiritual Liberation and Ecological Healing.”
- “The Neuro-dharma of Love – Using Brain Science and Buddhist Wisdom to Illuminate the Heart of Important Relationships.”
- “What do we do Now? The Buddha’s Teachings for Difficult Times”
- “LGBTQ Awakening the Heart of Love and Wisdom: A Daylong Retreat for the Queer/Bi/Trans Community.”
- “The Bodhisattva Path and Vows.”
Addendum:
Excerpt from a book by Jack Kornfield, “from “After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.”
When I found myself becoming a Buddhist monk in a forest monastery of Thailand over thirty years ago, I had to learn how to bow. It was awkward at first. Each time we entered the meditation hall we would drop to our knees and three times respectfully place our head between our palms on the stone floor. It was a practice of reverence and mindfulness, a way of honoring with a bodily gesture our commitment to the monk’s path of simplicity, compassion, and awareness. We would bow in the same way each time we took our seat for training with the master.
After I had been in the monastery for a week or two, one of the senior monks pulled me aside for further instruction. “In this monastery you must not only bow when entering the meditation hall and receiving teachings from the master, but also when you meet your elders.” As the only Westerner, and wanting to act correctly, I asked who my elders were. “It is traditional that all who are older in ordination time, who’ve been monks longer than you, are your elders,” I was told. It took only a moment to realize that meant everybody.
So I began to bow to them. Sometimes it was just fine - there were quite a few wise and worthy elders in the community. But sometimes it felt ridiculous. I would encounter some twenty-one-year-old monk, full of hubris, who was there only to please his parents or to eat better food than he could at home, and I had to bow because he had been ordained the week before me. Or I had to bow to a sloppy old rice farmer who had come to the monastery the season before on the farmers’ retirement plan, who chewed betel nut constantly and had never meditated a day in his life. It was hard to pay reverence to these fellow forest dwellers as if they were great masters.
Yet there I was bowing, and because I was in conflict, I sought a way to make it work. Finally, as I prepared yet again for a day of bowing to my “elders,” I began to look for some worthy aspect of each person I bowed to. I bowed to the wrinkles around the retired farmer’s eyes, for all the difficulties he had seen and suffered through and triumphed over. I bowed to the vitality and playfulness in the young monks, the incredible possibilities each of their lives held yet ahead of them.
I began to enjoy bowing. I bowed to my elders, I bowed before I entered the dining hall and as I left. I bowed as I entered my forest hut, and I bowed at the well before taking a bath. Ater some time bowing became my way - it was just what I did. If it moved, I bowed to it.
It is the spirit of bowing that informs this book. The true task of spiritual life is not found in faraway places or unusual states of consciousness: It is here in the present. It asks of us a welcoming spirit to greet all that life presents to us with a wise, respectful, and kindly heart. We can bow to both beauty and suffering, to our entanglements and confusion, to our fears and to the injustices of the world. Honoring the truth in this way is the path to freedom. To bow to what is rather than to some ideal is not necessarily easy, but however difficult, it is one of the most useful and honorable practices.
To bow to the fact of our life’s sorrows and betrayals is to accept them; and from this deep gesture we discover that all life is workable. As we learn to bow, we discover that the heart holds more freedom and compassion than we could imagine.
The Persian poet Rumi speaks of it this way:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honorably,
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
“Excerpted from After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield Copyright © 2000 by Jack Kornfield). Reprinted by arrangement with The Random House Publishing Group.”
Peter Menkin, an aspiring poet, lives in Mill Valley, CA USA (north of San Francisco). My blog:
http://www.petermenkin.blogspot.com
Scientologist recognized for outstanding contribution to the culture with the Silver Chimera Award for 2009
Scientology Public Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology of Catania, Italy, Ms. Itria Leone, was awarded the 2009 Silver Chimera Award for the impact she has made on the community through her work as coordinator of the Church’s social reform programs.
The 8th annual International Silver Chimera Awards ceremony was organized by dell’Arte Etrusca to raise awareness of social issues and recognize those who have distinguished themselves through contribution that improves the quality of life. With the theme, “Peace in the World,” the ceremony was held this year at the Museo Castello Ursino in Catania, in Sicily.
Ms. Leone, a native of Sicily, has been coordinating the social reform activities of the Church of Scientology of Catania since 2005. At a grassroots level, she has been working to educate children and teenagers on the effects of drugs, to help them make educated choices and avoid the tragedy of addiction. She also coordinates a chapter of Youth for Human Rights International, through which young people learn their rights and help educate their friends and community on the basic rights to which every individual is entitled.
In accepting her award, Ms. Leone acknowledged L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion, for inspiring her to dedicate her life to helping others.
Other recipients of this year’s Silver Chimera Award were: in literature, Dr Sandro Distefano; in medicine, Dr. Ennio Roman; in civil service Dr. Domenico Pinzello, chief representative of the Minister of Interior for the province of Catania, for his many years of effectively combating organized crime, professor Giuseppe Adernò, who has distinguished himself an entrepreneur and cultural leader and Concetta Bufardeci, who has carried on a centuries-long family tradition of representing the country of Spain to Sicily.
Linda Wieland writes for the Scientology Press Office in Los Angeles, CA. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/scientology-public-affairs-director-receives-international-award-1007366.html
Some ministers and pastors are able to sit down and write out a full sermon with little or no help at all. Every once in a while we all get that spark that just sets the words free and before we know it, we have created a sermon for our congregation that feels inspired full of passion. But some weeks the words do not flow so neatly or quickly. It is during these weeks that using sermon outlines can be a good idea.
What are sermon outlines?
Sermon outlines are much like any other outline that helps a person put his or her thoughts down on paper. The outline gives the sermon writer a road map to follow as he or she works to get her thoughts out on paper and ready for the congregation come the end of the week.
Be careful that you do not confuse an outline with a divine Mad Lib! An outline for a sermon is not a “plug and play” application that creates ready made speeches. It merely gives you the guidance you need to find the right passages and verses to share and asks you questions that will help you fill in the exposition between them.
Is it cheating to use a sermon outline?
Absolutely not! At some point every person uses an outline for something…a basic recipe for dinner, a set of directions to help build a house, a plot outline for a novel to sketch out the major turning points of a story, etc. None of these are considered cheating are they?
A sermon outline is a tool that religious leaders can utilize to help them figure out what they think and feel about the topic they have chosen for a weekly sermon. Finding the right words to illustrate your thoughts and inspire others is difficult, and this can help make that process feel easier.
Next, go to this website on Sermon Outlines where you will find information and ideas on how you can be assured of always having a great sermon. http://www.SimpleSermons.net Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/using-sermon-outlines-is-it-cheating-1007042.html
“You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16.3)
The world is in the midst of a tremendous crisis. The economy shrinks at a low rate, and the unemployment’s rate is at its higher level since the great depression. Divorce rates are climbing, and moral values are under attack. Public officials become more and more unpredictable. Strife between nations tends to jeopardize peace in the world. The growth of imposters, the turning of spiritism, and the appearance of the scoffers who don’t endure sound doctrine remind us what Jesus has told his disciples about the nearness of his second coming:
“But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass” (Luke 21.9)
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near-at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place”(Matthew 24.32-34)
Christ is at the doors. That is the message behind all the sufferings that the world is facing today. So instead of looking for some world leaders to deliver you from the global crisis, start a better relationship with the Savior. Only Jesus when he comes back can and will restore your life. Therefore, make plan to be ready when He returns. Don’t let his second’s coming come on you unexpectedly.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/setback-to-recovery-can-politicians-fix-the-current-global-crisis-1003766.html
Friedrich Nietzsche is notable for having declared that God is dead and for having written several of his works in the presumption that man must find a new mode of being given the demise of God. We seldom hear of that last preoccupation that drove Nietzsche. This brilliant German philosopher was a man ahead of his time. Why do I say that? We are now witnessing that new understanding of the God that primarily RELIGION killed.
The God of Nietzsche’s days is dead. But, who was that God and who killed Him-Her-It?
I know, using the word IT loses a lot of the emotional and subjective meaning that we humans must have. It bothers me; however, if I don’t throw it in every now and then, I’ll get stuck in the sympathetic swamp of anthropomorphic overkill that led us to the straw-man God in the first place.
Nietzsche wasn’t comfortable with the ineffectiveness of the naive and popular God to which people prayed to that was OUT THERE somewhere. Nor was his philosophical insights capable or rationalizing or making sense of this God that religion had created with all the rules, rituals, and hierarchy that kept us at bay from the throne of this Being.
Have you ever been there?
In other words, Nietzsche simply couldn’t buy in to the DUALISM that the scientific revolution had proven was impossible to uphold. Nietzsche could not see how a God OUT THERE with a different SUBSTANCE than we DOWN HERE. How was it possible for these two substances to intertwine? What was the signals, means of communications that would feasibly and rationally work? The religious answer of prayer and the Holy Spirit weren’t answer he could accept.
Eleven score and a few years after his death, we now know!
Quantum physics is not even allowing the most determined materialistic scientists to hide. DUALISM is what’s DEAD: not the God, and it’s been replaced by a TRUE image of God that our increased consciousness is producing. We’re not completely there, but we’re a long way from the GRAVE of DUALISM. Quantum physics allows even the most hardened materialist to see the immanence and transcendence of Consciousness. Consciousness (God) is primacy.
God is ALIVE as long as you’re not still worshipping at the altar of the God of DUALISM! 
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/god-is-dead-1001998.html
Perfection is an absolute that many say is impossible; however, depending upon “definitions”, i might be attainable. Matthew 5:48 says that we are to be perfect as the Creator is. The Greek word gives us a bit of a chance here as we can translate “teleios” as to be ALL that we were created to be: live up to our BEING-ness. That’s easier? :-)
So, what’s up with this “non-religious” God stuff?
We, the people have “created God” in our very own localized-regionalized God believing that everyone on the planet should adopt “our God”. Is the one who created ALL a Christian God, Muslim God, Buddhist God, Jewish God, or even more recently a scientific God? Can you see how silly we have made this argument and how devastatingly suicidal?
How many MILLIONS have been killed by religious zealots wanting to force their God on the Godless (those not believing as they did)?
At the CORE of all religions are three fundamental aspects of the nature of God.
1-God is an agent of causation and above all other causation
2-There are more subtle fields of reality than the material level
3-There are God-like qualities (ie. love) that religions teach people to aspire as goals of life.
For we who call ourselves Christians (my definition of a Christian is simply one who follows the historical Jesus in attempting to become the Christos that he did) Jesus was obviously a “perfected being”. I also define a “perfected being” much like what we find in Romans 8: one who regularly has access to the highest level of consciousness (Christians call this the Holy Spirit).
Gandhi would be a “perfected being” (and may others). Who else do you know that freed a nation now with more than a BILLION people (India’s freedom came in 1948) with “ahisma” (non-violence). Christians today ask how is it that we can turn the other cheek with such violence in the world? I don’t know, but Gandhi DID IT. Martin Luther King DID IT. Maybe if the “religious” would get down off their soap box, and humble themselves and their multitude of dogmas and doctrines, sit quietly to hear from God, and SERVE, we might have a shot at saving the world.
I’m way from being perfected, may never attain it, but I can say that I’m less and less serving any sort of “religious God”
How you doing in those areas?
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/perfected-beings-a-non-religious-god-999017.html
Many new religious pastors and ministers get very nervous while they put together their first sermons. Be honest: how many readers of this article found it by typing “how to prepare a sermon” into your favorite search engine?
There are plenty of websites out there that will spell out specific steps you can take when he or she is looking for guidance on how to prepare and put together a sermon. The truth is, however, that preparing sermons is a personal and private process. What works for you one week might not work for you the next. Eventually, as you become more experienced at sermon preparation, you will figure out how to find inspiration when it feels like your mental well has run dry.
One of the ways to learn how to prepare a sermon is to begin by working from a prepared outline. The outline works sort of as a roadmap toward your final product. The outline will help you focus your thoughts and figure out exactly what you want to say at the end of the week.
Some outlines will ask you to start by choosing a scripture that you want to use to inspire your congregation. Other outlines will ask you which topic you want to talk about. From your first choices, an outline can help you fill in your exposition until you have a sermon that is ready to be presented.
Learning how to prepare a good sermon will involve quite a lot of trial and error. As any experienced pastor or minister will tell you…sometimes the words flow easily and sometimes they most definitely do not. Identifying the proper tools (like how to websites, sermon outlines, etc) to help you put together your sermon when you do not feel inspired is part of the learning process that every pastor and minister goes through.
Next, go to this website on How To Prepare A Sermon where you will find information and ideas on how you can be assured of always having a great sermon. http://www.SimpleSermons.net Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/how-to-prepare-a-sermon-999023.html
As with Anna Nicole Smith, the speculation is that Michael Jackson died of a lethal cocktail a muscle relaxant Soma, a sedative called Xanax and anti-depressant Zoloft, an anxiety drug Paxil, the painkiller pain killer Dilaudid, and another powerful painkiller named Demerol. Who thinks up these things? And, did they combine to kill Michael Jackson? I have a more serious question though.
Is the lethal combination of organized religion and human ego killing the church?
The ego is basically born and developed out of the soul’s perceived separation from God. It’s an illusion that the ego promotes for its own survival. Look at how long Christianity has swallowed the tale that we were kicked out of the garden, separated from God, not worthy of God’s love, and so on ad nauseum.
I love the way Kim Michaels put it, “The compulsive need to maintain the infallibility of one’s religion gives rise to an insatiable desire to control everything in order to destroy all threats to one’s illusion. The result is the desire to convert all other people to the one true religion and to destroy other religions. This often leads to the belief that it is better for nonbelievers to die than to stay in a false religion that will send them to hell.”
So, “in the name of God”, Catholicism-Christianity has killed millions (remember the Crusades?).
We’re far more civilized than they who lived centuries ago. Now we just ostracize people, put labels on people such as cult, new age, deceived, and heretics. Because the modus operandi of the ego is to maintain the fact that it is never wrong, breaking free from such fundamental, absolute, literal, and infallible paradigms is near impossible.
But, as one looks back over history you can see the occasional LEAPS in consciousness, the enlightened moments, the renaissances, and the axial age phenomena. We are now THERE and we have been for about two decades now. For those who are dying to their egoic demands, it can be FELT. As I wrote this, goose-bumps briefly appeared. I know! I AM…………we ARE.
Many are breaking FREE of the lethal cocktail of the human ego and the institutional church hierarchy!
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/a-lethal-cocktail-997940.html
Paul had been harping on the differences between gospel wisdom and worldly foolishness. In particular, he had been trying to get the Corinthians to see this difference by contrasting the apparent success of the Corinthian church, which had grown large, wealthy and influential, with the apparent poverty of faithfulness experienced by himself and the apostles. It’s almost as if he was suggesting that his poverty and difficulties were directly related to the unpopularity of the gospel he preached.
However, he was not arguing that faithful Christians must necessarily be poor and unpopular. Remember that he said that he hoped that the Corinthian Christians would be numerous, wealthy and influential for the sake of the gospel — not for their own benefit, but for the sake of the gospel. The point that he had previously made was that the Corinthian Christians should not imitate the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of academic scholarship or the apparent success of the prevailing Greek culture. Rather, Paul called faithful Christians to imitate him. He offered himself as a model Christian, and called all Christians to become model Christians like himself.
It is important to note that he did not want others to simply regurgitate what he had taught them, though his teachings were very important, and Christians should know and understand what Paul taught. Rather, by calling on others to imitate him, he meant that they should not only be able to talk the talk that he talked, but they should be able to walk the walk that he walked. Imitation is more than being able to parrot what someone has said. To imitate Paul means to live in the same way he lived — not in the sense that everyone should be unmarried, itinerant preachers, but in the sense of having the same goals, values and purposes that Paul had. Paul didn’t mean that history should be frozen into First Century technology or culture. Nor was he mandating a cookie-cutter Christianity, where all Christians look alike and talk alike.
Rather, Christians are to imitate Paul’s compassion and commitment to Christ. In essence, Paul was arguing for the necessity of Christian culture. Not a Christian subculture, where ghettoized Christians only associate with Christians or work to produce Christian kitsch, but a culture in which Christ is at the center and foundation of everything.
Do you know the word “kitsch”? It refers to things that appeal to popular or lowbrow taste and are of poor quality. Think of trinkets and knickknacks. But it’s more than that. Kitsch is a German word meaning trash that is used to categorize cheap art imitation that mimics great original art. Kitsch is the product of mass production. Kitsch is produced for only one reason — profit. It may be difficult for us to understand kitsch because we live in a mass produced world. It may be difficult for us to think of any reason to produce anything other than profit. But genuine art thinks otherwise.
In fact, the difference between kitsch and art provides another example of the difference between foolishness and wisdom, between the values and practices of the world and the values and practices of the gospel. Paul calls Christians to imitate him, but not to be mass produced copies of the real McCoy. Rather, Paul has called Christians to become life artists, artists whose medium is life itself, who work in the same style or genre that he works in — his genre was culture. Paul was a human culture artist. He was shaping or working with culture. He was not interested in mass-produced imitation Christianity. He was interested in an abundant flowering of genuine Christianity. The two may look similar, but they are not at all the same.
To show them exactly what he meant, he sent Timothy to them because Timothy embodied everything that Paul was talking about. Timothy was a genuine Christian, not a mass-produced sloppy copy. Paul described Timothy as “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:17). Timothy was not Paul’s biological offspring, he was Paul’s spiritual offspring.
That’s exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about — becoming children of God, heirs of the Kingdom of God, heirs of the covenant of God through adoption by Jesus Christ.
Timothy would remind the Corinthians of Paul’s “ways in Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:17). Here we see the primary element that is to be imitated — not Paul’s dress, nor his way of speaking, or anything about him as an individual. We are not to imitate Paul’s person, but his way in Christ. The Greek word translated “way” (hodos) literally means road and by implication it refers to the way a person progresses through life, the way a person makes progress in the world. We are to grow or make progress in Christ in the same way that Paul grew and made progress in Christ. This is the imitation that is to be central to Christian living.
Phillip A. Ross, author of many Christian books, has been a pastor for over 25 years. Loaded with information about historic Christianity, Ross founded http://www.Pilgrim-Platform.org in 1998. In 2008 he published an exposition First Corinthians that demonstrates the Apostle Paul’s opposition to worldly Christianity. Ross recounts how Paul turned the world upside down in his book, Arsy Varsy—Reclaiming the Gospel in First Corinthians.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/the-art-of-genuine-imitation-994596.html
