Living a fulfilling life as a Lean Christian in a Fat World ©

Based on the OPEN source and non-copyrighted article   “Sacrifice ” by the Late Adhyaksha Anubhavananda Kesava Raya Sarma Mandapak which was later translated from the Telegu by H. Kaveribhai “ Asato ma sat gamaya  (From Illusion lead me to the Truth);  Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya  (From darkness lead me to Light);  Mrityur ma amritam gamaya  (From death lead me to Immortality)” –  Bryhad Aranyak Upanishad 1.3.28 ) Hindus have recited this  familiar prayer  for centuries, and it expresses the universal hunger for escape from spiritual emptiness, spiritual uncertainty, and spiritual death. It was written by the sages who recognized that spiritual Truth eluded them; that they were imprisoned by spiritual darkness; and that they needed eternal life. The sages recited this prayer continually, even as they developed many philosophies, rituals, and divine personalities that they hoped would provide the answer to this prayer. While the sages knew of some...

The Bible is comprised of two parts (a) Old Testament -OT (which is the Jewish Torah and their prophetic and other writings. There are 39 books in OT), New Testament-NT (which begins with the birth, life, death, resurrection of Christ and the spread of Christianity as told by his key disciples. This has 27 books). In total the Bible has 66 books, which is considered canon or Word of God. Hence, Bible has to be recognized as 1 book with 66 sections with one story, which describes the Plan and Purpose of God in the life of human beings. In the OT days the Jews did not speak the name of God, hence they referred God as YHWH. This was done out of reverence to God so that no man would desecrate the name of God, since they would not be able to pronounce the name of God with these letters. His name was kept at a high esteem. He was considered Most Holy.   This was his prime and key characteristic that is communicated all through the Bible. With the introduction of English language, ...

Josephus, the Jewish historian, described crucifixion as “the most wretched of deaths.” People in those days recognized its gruesomeness that suicide was preferred over crucifixion. This is what Jesus took on and suffered excruciating pain on the cross, for each one of us. On that day, a long nail was driven between the bones of his feet, lodged firmly enough between those bones to prevent it from tearing through his feet as Jesus arched upward, gasping for breath. In order for him to breathe, he had to push himself up by his feet, which were nailed to the vertical beam. However, because the pressure on his feet became unbearable, it wasn’t possible for him to remain long in this position, so eventually he would collapse back into the hanging position. As Jesus pushed up and collapsed back down again and again over a long period of time, his shoulders would eventually be dislocated and pop out of joint. Soon the out-of-joint shoulders would be followed by the elbows and wrists. These...

From the first century onward Christians have had two key traditions, which were established by Jesus himself. The first is the Believer’s baptism and the second is Communion or Lord’s Supper. To focus on the subject at hand, I am going to focus on the second tradition. After the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles, and the new Christian believers regularly practiced communion as often as they met. This tradition has continued over the past 2000 years. However, over the years different church groups have been split over the way communion was practiced. This was partly due a false understanding of the Bible or due to some man made traditions. My goal here is to evaluate the purpose and practice of communion through the Bible ONLY. Here are some deductions that we can make based on what we read in the Bible. Jesus established Communion  - Jesus established Communion before dying on the cross and we see in  Matthew 26:26–29 (NKJV)   And as they were eating,  Jesus took ...

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. When we allow fear to overcome our lives, we begin to lose what we were destined for.   The Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear.   When things do not happen the way we desire, we allow the spirit of fear to take residence in our lives.   Fear makes us lose what God wanted us to receive.   Fear acts like a fog in front of us and many of us may give up before the race is over. There is this story about Florence Chadwick who was a competitive swimmer.  However, on July 4, 1952, Chadwick attempted to become the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. The weather that day was not auspicious-the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so thick that she could hardly see the support boats that followed her. However, after about 15 hours and 55 minutes, with only a h...

The other day I was reminded of the differing characteristics between a pig and a cat.  The pig loves the dirt so much that it keeps going back into the swamp, as if the dirt is pulling the pig into the swamp.  However, the cat has a total opposite nature.  The cat is a clean animal, the moment a single drop of dirt falls on its body it immediately cleans itself. Interestingly, I saw a similar analogy in our lives.  I am sure if you look into your life you will find some things or some characteristics that you seem to be constantly struggling with or inadvertently doing.  Many times we wonder why we keep doing those things?  We make every effort to cover it up, read books to understand the root cause to possibly resolve them, sometimes we try counseling for help, and sometimes we even talk to friends or family for assistance.  No matter what we seem to do we never seem to get complete deliverance from these infirmities that exist in our nature....

The year 2019 offers us three bible verses as promises for us. First, in the book of Exodus, the Israelites under the leadership of Moses are delivered from Egypt’s 400+ years of bondage as God amazingly takes them through the Red Sea on dry ground. He then feeds them manna in the desert. But when they reach Meribah the Israelites begin to complain about being brought to the desert with no water and then God brings out water from a rock. As they reach Mt Sinai, God gives Moses the two tablets of 10 commandments and when he comes down the mountain Moses sees the Israelites again rebelling against God by creating a golden calf. God is angry at the people and Moses pleads for them. That is when we see God saying in Exodus 34:10 (ESV) 10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels , such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome t...