myTakes: Religion & Spirituality

I’m not here to talk about people who have only the image of success: those with millions but are being abused or cheated on, or suffering drug addictions and suicidal thoughts, or having serious mental issues that make...

Here is an image posing the dichotomy of miserliness and generosity The bible says the stingy man is eager to get rich and does not know that poverty awaits him. Most people think stinginess is about money but money is...

The first example of divination I can come up with is in Genesis when Jacob’s uncle uses divination to learn that Laban has become wealthy through his provision of shelter for Jacob. He invites Jacob to continue living...

I can think of multiple times in my life where God used my desire for men to control me. I remember I should have gotten an A- in my religion class but I had a crush on my classmate and worked extremely hard to impress...

1. The Ceiling Is Limitless A mentor sees not only your current situation but your future potential as well. They see the things about you that are beautiful and not the things about you that are ugly. They celebrate your...

Every year, God teaches me new social skills and life lessons so I thought I would make a list of the most important things that I believe I learned each year. 2017 That was the year I learned to be merciful and not to...

Jesus said we should tolerate jerks by being civil and respectful and considerate. How much more should we tolerate those of different cultural, ethnic, or spiritual backgrounds! Jesus said, you should say hi to different...

I had one dream 14 years ago during the Christmas holidays while sleeping at a vacation hotel. In my dream I was headed towards a party at my friend’s house but I was going the wrong direction and a charming guy in a...

When I first began university, I knew a guy who wanted God to reward him for being religious by making him the president of the United States, but that is not as easy as it seems. Jesus said he who is least among you is...

A grateful person, does not abuse the gifts he is entrusted to, and the scriptures teach, that those who abuse their gifts and blessings will be shamed and humiliated, for some it happens while they are alive, and for...

This weekend, I wanted to pray and worship but I just could not feel God’s presence and when I tried to do joyful meditation, I felt a sense of isolation and coldness instead and I realized the issue after studying the...

There were two strategies that I used for many years, and I realized neither one of them is 100% reliable. The first strategy I used to understand bible symbols through functional and impressionistic scoping. I assumed...

When Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, he made the commitment to only leave his kids with ten million each upon his death. Warren Buffet’s wife was worth ten billion and did the same, leaving each child only...

A few years ago, I was in an unhappy relationship. The guy was never abusive or disloyal, but he was insecure, inept at conversation, lacking in confidence, extremely slow at text and messenger conversations, and did not...

I used to be jealous of a girl who had done everything I had tried to do and done it better than me because she would always drive me out of the discussion and when I tried to make new friends, she would steal them me by...

In the same way that this Christian Musician coincides the friendship of God with the fear of God, so the fear of God makes you friendly towards others, and this friendliness is an expression of your fear of God, not of...

The Arabian trinity goddesses are very similar to Indian trinity goddesses. In India, we have trinity goddesses called Goddess Saraswati - the goddess of knowledge, Goddess Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and Goddess...

The bible says a man’s heart reflects the man, and a teacher is dependent on his student, for his lessons to be transmitted and understood, otherwise he cannot out them into action. While Jesus died on the cross and was a...

The poor widow giving her small donation here In one biblical story, Jesus was at the temple with his disciples and a bunch of rich rulers and pharisees were giving large donations to the temple while a very poor widow...

As a kid, I felt shame a dozen times a day cause my parents would both yell at me and tell me I was stupid or ugly or masculine or fat or weird and I was socially awkward at school leading to harassment by bullies and...