Maintaining spiritual equilibrium comes with understanding the loss and gain that exists in spirituality. The rules that apply to a spiritual loss and gain are hardly the same as those viewed from a carnal perspective. A good example of understanding how this works is by looking at the story of David and Goliath in the Holy Bible. David’s lack in height, weight and experience in battle should make it easy for him to be defeated by Goliath. From a carnal perspective this would be David’s loss and Goliath’s gain and would make logical sense. In the spiritual world David’s lack described above can easily be overcome by his faith and strength in spirit whilst the opposite is true for Goliath. Sustaining spiritual equilibrium requires us to understand how principles of this nature apply in our everyday lives. The three instances described below help us understand in more depth how spiritual equilibrium is sustained.

Spiritual Cleanliness

Spiritual cleanliness does not look at what we take into our bodies. It looks at what is in our hearts and spirits. If we possess a clean heart and a spirit of obedience for the word of God then we are rewarded by a place in his kingdom. Equilibrium is maintained in spiritual cleanliness by the mere fact that we cannot die from the physical. Equilibrium is also maintained here by the fact that our true death is not by the loss of life but by the loss of a place in God’s kingdom. Death is not the fear in spiritual cleanliness rather hell is.

Death for the unrighteous

Another way of looking at how the balance of spiritual equilibrium is possible is captured in these words from The Holy Bible, ‘For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’

These words show us that despite the evil acts that we commit there is a safety net in accepting Christ in our lives. His death is our path to God and a means of seeking righteousness. Looking at things from a carnal perspective would make no sense in this reasoning why our Lord should die for sinners. The death of our Lord here is our gain in order to maintain spiritual balance. This goes to show that God loves us and ensures that we always have a choice to come to him.

One man’s offense is the death of many

In another sense spiritual equilibrium is also maintained in these words from scripture, ‘But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.’ These words of scripture are written in reference to the sin committed by Adam in the Garden of Eden and how we are rescued from this sin through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The mystery behind the spiritual world is difficult to comprehend when we use worldly wisdom. However we can see that God has a plan to save us from any situation that we may find ourselves in. If death came to us through the sin of one man Adam then life is returned to us through the righteousness of one man, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Spiritual equilibrium allows us to understand God’s wisdom and love toward us. If reasoned carnally it makes no logical sense. It is also a means by which we know there is a reward reserved for us in spite of the long suffering or tribulation we may face in life.

The most striking use of sacred space in the Old Testament appears to be employed to reflect the relationship that exists between God and Israel, His chosen people. The same understanding of sacred space is also apparent in the New Testament where the relationship is between God and ‘spiritual Israel’, through the person of Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:29).

Both Israel and the Christian Church are ideally God-centred communities which have been chosen by God and set apart (made holy) from the rest of the world (Leviticus 29:2; Exodus 19:56; 1Peter 1:15-16; 2:9). If it is the relationship Between God and his chosen people which constutes sacred space, then the rest of mankind who live outside a relationship with God also live beyond the boundary of sacred space and are therefore in profane space. Think of the relationship between God and his people as a circle (God) within a circle (God’s people). Outside of the circle of God’s people (sacred space) are the rest of mankind (profane space). This conception serves as a template for the various examples of this type of sacred space found in the Jewish and Christian scriptures.

In both the Old and New testaments this relationship between God and his people is founded on a covenant, which is basically a contract, or mutual agreement, between two parties. According to Genesis, the Hebrew book of beginnings, Adam and Eve, our primordial parents, lived within a specially created garden east of Eden (2:8). The garden of Eden can be seen to correspond with the above model of sacred space, with both Man and Woman living within its boundaries, in a harmonious relationship with their Creator. However, this arrangement was maintained on the basis of a divine command, that man “must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (2:17). When Adam and Eve disobeyed the command, the arrangement was nulified and they were both driven outside the garden into profane space, into a world of death (3:17) that was never meant to be, and no longer in a perfect relationship with God (Genesis 3).

Both the Old and New testaments present a way back for mankind into sacred space (or relationship) with God.

In the Jewish scriptures, the call of Abr(ah)am illustrates the transition from sacred to profane space. The Lord instructs Abraham to leave behind the pagan influences of his fathers household and country, and travel to Canaan where he is promised to become a ‘great nation’ (Genesis 12:1-2; Joshua 24:2-3). According to a certain Jewish commentary on the Pentateuch, this separation was necessary for reasons of spiritual cleanliness (Hertz, J.H ‘ed’, 1960, p.45). And so, Abraham made the transition from The profane realm of idolary into the sacred realm of the true worship of the One True God.

The most memorable account in Biblical history, concerning a transition from the profane to the sacred, has to be the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

The Red Sea can be seen to correspond with the boundary between the sacred and profane spaces. The Israelites, as Gods chosen people, passed through the Red Sea (a kind of mass baptism) to safety, whereas, when the Egyptians attempted to cross over the Red Sea they all perished (Exodus 14:26-30). It would seem that sacred space can be destructive towards those who are not permitted to enter into it.

From the Red Sea the Israelites were led to another area of sacred space at the foot of Mount. Sinai, where Israel willingly enter into a covenant with God (Exodus 19:8). Again, the sacred can be seen as destructive. Limits are placed around the foot of the mountain, setting it “apart as holy” (Exodus 19:23) and any unwarranted approach is to be punished with death (Exodus 19:12-13). Also, the Israelites must be ritually clean before they can approach the sacred area.

The area around Mount Sinai corresponds well with our concept of sacred space. The people must wait outside the boundary of the mountain in profane space until they are ritually pure (Exodus 19:10-11, 14), only then are they permitted to cross the boundary into sacred space.

The mountain itself corresponds with the inner circle where God dwells and manifests himself (Exodus 19:3, 16, 18, 20). Entrance into this sacred space is regarded as “meeting with God” (Exodus 19:17), further illustrating that a relationship between God and mankind is something that takes place within sacred space, in one form or another.

The arrangement of the Israelite camp, during the forty years spent in the desert wilderness also conforms well with our model of sacred space. The twelve tribes were arranged around the Tent of Meeting (numbers 2) where God had made his dwelling (Exodus 25:8; 40:34). Inside the Tabernacle of God there was an area considered to be most sacred known as the Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place, which was separated from the Tabernacle by a curtain and housed the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 26:33). The high priest of Israel was alone permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, and then, only once a year when he would sprinkle blood over the cover of the Ark, making atonement for the sins of Israel (Leviticus 16). Unauthorised entrance into the Holy of Holies, as at Mount Sinai, was punishable by death (Leviticus 16:4) and also ritual purity was necessary (Leviticus 16:4). The Tabernacle, especially the Holy of Holies, corresponds with the sacred space of the inner circle, the surrounding camp fits with the sacred space of the outer circle, while the profane area, the Desert widerness, lies outside the boundary sacred space. Later, the Temple of Jerusalem came to replace the desert Tabernacle, sharing the same arrangement of sacred space as that of its predecessor, with a Holy of Holies as its most sacred area (1 Kings 6), that served as a dwelling place for God (1 Kings 8:13).

In the New Testament, the above model of sacred space as a God-centered sacred area remains conceptually the same, although there is no specific sacred geographical location such as that at Mount Sinai or the Temple of Jerusalem. Rather, sacred space is located in the invisible spiritual realm (John 4: 20-24). It is now Jesus, as God incarnate who occupies the inner circle, and is the center of attention relative to the Lord God of the Old Testament (Psalm 141:8: Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2: 9-11). Also, Jesus replaces the function of high priest as mediator and purifier, providing access for God’s people to the inner circle without the threat of death (Hebrews 8:2; 10: 19-22: Romans 5:1-2).

The kingdom of God, which is connected with both heaven and earth (Matthew 6:9; 16:18; 18:18) also conforms to the same model of sacred space.

In the book of Revelation there is a symbolic representation of the kingdom of God, with God’s throne in the centre (the inner-most circle) surrounded by ‘twenty-four elders’ (the outer-most circle) who have been interpreted by New Testament scholar William Hendriksen as “probably representing the entire church of the old and new dispensation” (1995, p.85).

In the gospels there is mention of a profane area beyond the kingdom of God that is described as both a ‘fiery furnace’ and a place of “darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 13:41-42).

The final description of God’s Kingdom is found at the end of the book of Revelation. It is described as “a new Jerusalem” descending from heaven:

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 21:3 kjv

Again we have a clear representation of sacred space as an area of relationship between God and his people. At the centre of the new heavenly Jerusalem is “the Lord God Almighty and the lamb” (21:27 N.I.V). Outside the city wall, in profane space, are all those who do evil and are excluded from the sacred space of God’s kingdom (21:8; 22:15). Also, access to the tree of life is restored indicating that the kingdom of God is a restoration of the untainted relationship mankind had with God in the beginning in the garden of Eden (Revelation 22:14).

Gaming world has never been better ever since the release Wrath of the Lich King expansion is already available. Here are easy guide tips on what the Ebon Hold is about:

a. Death Knights Can be used when you reach level 55.

Even if You are in the Alliance or Horde, you need to be in the level 55 category to be able to play the DK’s

b. Alistra, Amal’thazad, Lord Thorval – They are the trainers that will help you upgrade your skills.

c. Corpulus, Gangrenus and Master Siegesmith Corvus – They are the ones assigned for the player’s Weapon repairs, new weapons or rejuvenation flasks.

d. Lich King – Will give the quest at the first stage.

e. Highlord Darion Mograine – Leader of the New Dk’s that will kill the lich king

f. Baron Rivendare – the Death knight level 62 Leader, which new styles and specialties are given.

These easy tip guides are the main topics to which the Acherus the Ebon Hold is all about. Gamers as they played the Wow for the past 4 years know that Acherus The Ebon Hold once belonged to the horde and when a battle took place between great paladin Fording and won it over against the lich king, then the hold became the headquarters for the knights.

When you start the game in the archerus, you will also find out that no fights will ever happen since the place is a holy place which fighting is not allowed.

Death Knights are among the strongest character there is to which you need to know the WOTLK Acherus Ebon Hold Tips even more that what these article is giving you. To be ahead of others means you must have lesser mistakes.

First there is the Creator, Jehovih, then His creation, and there is nothing else. What does this mean? Simply put, nothing can create or make itself and since nothing "just happens", without a cause, then He is the cause or Creator of all.

Jehovih is a Great Spirit that fills all space. Everything is inside of Him. Everything is a part of Him. The Universe, which comprises everything, is endless. Mortals cannot comprehend this, because mortals have finite (limited) minds. But Jehovih has an infinite mind, that we mortals will never understand.

The Universe is filled with countless stars, really suns, which have planets revolving around them, which are called solar systems. In each of these solar systems, is at least one planet which has human life, of some sort. Some of these humans are so far developed, that war is unheard of and some can even travel to distant start systems, at will.

At the beginning of our lives, as an embryo, Jehovih gives a tiny part His Spiritual Self to us, which gives us eternal life also. We are created with this ability, but this can be taken away by adults, especially parents, who do not believe in some sort of God or some sort of life after death. In this case, the unbelieving spirit might be annihilated, never to be seen again.

Down through history, in order to lift mankind up, Jehovih and His Holy Angels, have sent to earth, certain men who are called Great Leaders Forth.

When humans die (get out of their bodies) they are actually born into the spiritual world. Each person then goes on for further development in schools, colleges, etc. Over many hundreds of years, certain spirits evolve to become Gods, Goddess, Lords, etc. who rule over entire planets, or sections of planets, for certain periods of time.

In every one of these star systems (solar systems) there always emerges certain Lords, under Jehovih, who get impatient with the Creator, to clean up the earth of thousands of dictatorial man-gods (false gods) who enslave mortals, for their own use.

This same thing happened on earth, which the angels call THE RED STAR. These Lords, who broke away from Jehovih and His Chief God, formed a confederacy, and since there were three of them, they called themselves The Trinity and claimed to be worshipers of The Holy Ghost (Jehovih). When Jehovih saw that they called Him a "ghost", He said, "I am not a ghost, I am a Person".

The first thing these rebels did, was to clean up the earth, of all those petty false gods and throw all of them and their worshipers into hells that they created for that purpose. These hells were not lakes of fire, but huge areas that were walled around by fire, so all could not escape and they put poisonous gases in there, to torment their prisoners continually.

After that, these rebellious Lords, now started telling earth people that they were the creator and this made them FALSE GODS. They then started warring with each other trying to be the "TOP DOG" and throw all the other false gods in hell and be THE RULER over all the earth. After warring with each other for hundreds of years, they finally called a truce and portioned off the earth and settled down to "a sort of peace" with each other.

Meanwhile, when they had been fighting each other, Jehovih had been sending his Great Leaders Forth to earth to teach mortals about Him, their Creator. When the false gods saw what Jehovih had done, they decided to declare war on Him and all those who worshiped Him. They also sent to earth 49 saviors, to various parts of the earth, to teach mortals to worship the Trinity and the Holy Ghost. All of these were put to death ignobly, by being poisoned, burned to death, etc. and 16 were crucified.

Ref: "The Worlds Sixteen Crucified Saviors -Christianity Before Christ" by Kersey Graves and Acharya S.

So the struggle for the hearts and minds of mortals went on for a long time. Finally Jehovih and his angels inspired Europeans to go across the ocean to a new land, to found a nation (America) with religious freedom. So that was done.

Then, at the beginning of the 1800's, Jehovih had His Chief God throw all of these false gods and all of their worshipers in hell. After leaving all of them in these hells for a season, He had His Chief God, and millions of angels, take all of them out of there, to heavenly plateaus for healing.

After that Jehovih had all of the false gods brought before His Chief God for judgment. These false gods were told that since they had caused all of these people to fall down and worship them, they were now responsible for their resurrection.

Even now on earth there are great problems between these religions, especially the Christian, Muslim and Jewish. God only knows when peace will ever come to earth, but one thing I am sure of is this:

Peace on earth will "not come" until all of the dictators and leftest governments are overthrown and all extremist religious attitudes of all religions, are done away with.

The word “fatwa” has been spoken about and widely used throughout media in the recent years, which commonly expresses and indicates that a death penalty has been announced to someone or to some people of the society. It is because of the misuse of this term that we find too much confusion about its meanings. It is not the declaration of war or to announce the death sentence but it is very important and honourable term in the Islamic law and Jurisdiction. It is basically the opinion of an Islamic Scholar, issued by an expert and competent in the Islamic religious law; who is called “Mufti”. He issues verdict about particular issues in the light of the Holy Quran, Sunnah and Ijma (consensus or agreement of the Muslim learned and pious Scholars on the religious issues).

Fatwa is derived from the basic root word “Fata”, which means an explanation or clarification of a specific issue according to three basic sources that mentioned above. The importance of Fatwa about the issues that occur in our daily lives cannot be denied by anyone in the society. One can ask learned, religiously well-known and pious scholars if he/she does not know or find any detail references about the issues, as Allah says:

“So ask of those who have knowledge [learned religious men], if you know not.” (An-Nahl 16:43 and Al-Anbya’ 21:7)

Numerous verses in the Holy Quran highlight the importance of fatwa. Among those is this verse:

“They ask you for a legal verdict. Say: “Allah directs (thus) about Al-Kalalah (those who leave neither descendants nor ascendants as heirs)”. (An-Nisa’ 4:176)

Ifta (giving Fatwa) is an honourable position and a great rank. A “Mufti” (the one who gives fatwa) must be learned and pious person, because he is the inheritor of the Prophet PBUH in conveying the true Message of Islam in the form of rulings on different issues. And he must be mujtahid (one who is gifted and capable of knowing the secrets of the Quran and the Hadiths.).

Imam Shafi, said:

“It is not allowed for anyone to give a fatwa (ruling on Shariah issues), except one who is entirely knowledgeable of the Holy Quran including the verses that are abrogated and by which verses they were abrogated, and which verses resemble each other in the Holy Quran and the chapters that revealed in Makkah or Madinah. He must know the whole collections of the Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), both the authentic and the false (weak or fabricated). He must know the Arabic language of the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) with its grammar and eloquence as well as know the poetry of the Arabs. Moreover, he must be aware of the culture of the various people who live in each different nation of the society. If one has all these attributes, he may tell and inform the people what is permitted (halal) and what is forbidden (haram). Otherwise he has no right to issue a fatwa.”

Imam al-Nawawi said:

“Know that ifta` (giving Fatwa) is a weighty matter and an honourable position because a mufti is an heir of the prophet [peace be upon him], fulfilling a communal obligation.” [ The Forty Hadiths of An-Nawai ]

It is reported that ‘Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak was asked, “When can a person issue a ruling?” He replied:

“When he is knowledgeable about the narrations (hadith and traditions of the Salaf), and has insight into [juristic] opinion.”

After Prophet’s (peace be upon him) death, his beloved companions were issuing the rulings according to the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) as they were more knowledgeable of both sources. There are many companions whose rulings were preserved among them are: Umar bin Al-Khattab, Ali bin Abi Talib, Abdullah bin Masud, Aisha (the Mother of the Believers), zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Abbas and Abdullah bin Umar. One can compile a huge book of rulings, which issued by each one of them (May Allah be pleased with them all). After them, this task was taken up by the genius and pious students of the companions of the Prophet PBUH. With the passage of time, this task was gradually undertook by such pious and sincere religious scholars in all parts of the world until our times.

According to the above detailed explanation of the term “fatwa” and “Mufti” one, who has no such attributes and qualities, should avoid and be aware of giving rulings about which he has no knowledge, Allah says:

“And follow not (O man I.e., say not, do not or witness not, etc.) that of which you have no knowledge.” (Al-Isra’ 17:36)

Finally, we ask Allah to bless us with beneficial knowledge and good deeds, pray that He convey His religion through us and Bestow His blessings on our Prophet (peace be upon him), his family, his Companions and those who follow their way till the Day of Resurrection. Ameen

Christianity has long endowed the natural world with sacred meaning. Every day, material existence – food and drink, life and death, humans and animals, Earth and sky – is recalled in countless rituals and stories as the primary medium through which God relates to humankind and the wider Earth community.

Christianity's central ritual is a group meal that remembers the saving death of Jesus by celebrating the good gifts of creation – eating bread and drinking wine. Its central symbol is a wooden cross – two pieces of lumber lashed together as the means and site of Jesus' crucifixion. Its central belief focuses on the body – namely, that God became flesh in Jesus and thus becomes a mortal, breathing life-form who experiences life's joy and suffering.

And Christianity's primary sacred document, the Bible, is rich with ecological imagery that stretches from the cosmic potter fashioning the first man from dust to the tree of life yielding its fruit to Earth's inhabitants. Christianity, then, is a "deep green" or "earthen" religion because it binds God to the created order and thus values ​​the natural world as a holy place.

In Finding God in the Singing River , I take up the question of Christianity's earthen identity by way of a nature-based retrieval of the Holy Spirit as the green face of God in the world. The Holy Spirit reveals herself in the biblical literature as a physical, earthly being who labors to sustain humankind and other beings' solidarity with one another. The natural world – the body of God, as it were – is best understood as the primary mode of God's presence among us today.

Without a deeply felt spiritual bond with the Earth community as the enfleshment of God's presence, it is difficult for Christians and other people of faith to develop long-term, sustainable relationships with the good creation God has made. A partial turn to valorizing nature as sacred ground was made in post-Vatican II papal encyclicals and bishops' pastorals where the created order is understood sacramentally as the dwelling place of God's goodness. But a residual anthropocentric bias in contemporary Catholic thought – namely, that the end of creation is human flourishing – has prevented a full biocentric turn to ascribing holiness or sacred value to the created order.

In the earthen theology I propose, Christianity's "animist" identity is reawakened through the ancient ideas of incarnation and spirit – the Bible teaches that while God is beyond all things, God is radically enfleshed within all things. Apart from a thoroughgoing deep green reawakening of Christianity's central teachings, it will be impossible to experience a spiritually charged connection to the land that is our common home and common destiny. Without this connection, the prospects of saving our planet, and thereby saving ourselves, are not good.

It's elemental, my dear

While Christianity's primordial identity is fundamentally nature-centered and body-loving, this thesis has historically been at odds with a residual Platonist tendency within Christian theology to emphasize spirit or mind as superior to matter or body. But rather than prioritizing the spiritual over the earthly, Scripture figures the Holy Spirit as a carnal, creaturely life-form always already interpenetrated by the material world. Indeed, the Bible is awash with imagery of the Holy Spirit borrowed directly from the natural world. The four traditional elements of natural, embodied life – earth, air, water and fire – are constitutive of the Holy Spirit's biblical reality as an enfleshed being who ministers to God's creation.

As earth, the Holy Spirit is both the divine bird with an olive branch in its mouth that brings peace and renewal to a broken world, and a fruit bearer – such as a tree or vine – that yields the virtues of love, joy and peace in the life of the disciple. As a bird or a flowering tree, the Holy Spirit is a living being who shares a common physical reality with all other beings. Far from being the "immaterial substance" defined by the canonical theological lexicon, the Holy Spirit is imagined in the Bible as a material, earthen life-form who mediates God's power to other Earth creatures through her physical presence.

As air, the Holy Spirit is both the vivifying breath that animates all living things and the prophetic wind that brings salvation and new life to those it indwells. The nouns for the Holy Spirit in the biblical texts – rûach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek – mean "breath," "air" or "wind." Literally, the Holy Spirit is pneumatic, a powerful air-driven reality analogous to a pneumatic drill or pump. The Holy Spirit is God's all-encompassing, aerial presence in the life-giving atmosphere that envelops and sustains the whole Earth. As such, the Holy Spirit escapes the horizon of human activity and cannot be contained by human constraints. The Spirit is divine wind – the breath of God – that blows where she wills, driven by her own elemental power and independent from human attempts to control her, refreshing and renew-ing all broken members of the created order.

As the living water, the Spirit quickens and refreshes all who drink from her eternal springs. As physical and spiritual sustenance, the Holy Spirit is the liquid God who imbues all life-sustaining bodily fluids with flowing divine presence and power. Moreover, the water God flows and circulates within the soaking rains, dewy mists, thermal springs, seeping mud holes, ancient headwaters, swampy wetlands and teeming oceans that constit the hydrospheric Earth. The Holy Spirit as water makes possible the wonderful succulence of life as we experience it on a liquid planet sustained by nurturing flow patterns.

Finally, as fire, the Holy Spirit is the bright flame that alternately judges evildoers and ignites the prophetic mission of the church. Fire is an expression of God's austere power. On one level, it is biblically viewed as the element God uses to castigate human error. But it is also the symbol of God's unifying presence in the fledgling Christian community where the divine pneuma – the rushing wind of God – is said to have filled the early church as its members became filled with the Spirit, symbolized by, as it says in Acts 2: 3, "tongues of fire [that were] distributed and resting on each one" of the early church members. Aberrant, subversive and creatively destructive, God as fire scorches and roasts who and what she chooses apart from human intervention and design – like the divine wind that blows where she wills.

God as Spirit is biblically defined according to the tropes of earth, wind, water and fire. The Earth's bodies of water, communities of plants and animals, and eruptions of fire and wind share in the Holy Spirit's very nature, as she is continually enfleshed through natural landscapes and biological populations. The Holy Spirit is an earthen reality – God's power in the land and sky that makes all things live and grow toward their natural ends. God is living in the ground, swimming through the oceans, circulating in the atmosphere. God is always afoot and underfoot as the quickening life force yearning to bring all denizens of our sacred Earth into fruition and well-being.

Idolatrous ecology

Pope John Paul II and many bishops – as well as countless religious leaders from non-Catholic traditions – have broken new ground in religious environmentalism by emphasizing the biblical creation story and the ethic of respect for life as central to a moral response to the ecological crisis. On New Year's Day 1990, Pope John Paul II issued "The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility." A year later, US Catholic bishops promulgated

"Renewing the Earth" as a response to the crisis. These statements and others emphasize the goodness of God's creation, and that Adam and Eve were made in God's image in order to exercise dominion over the Earth in wisdom and love. Human sin, however, destroyed this divine ordering and creation has suffered as a result of human beings' continued decisions to not live in harmony with the Creator's plan. Pope John Paul and the bishops have regarded the environmental crisis as a moral crisis.

Catholic social teaching prioritizes human welfare as the bedrock norm for maintaining the well-being of creation. In his 1990 World Day of Peace address, Pope John Paul made this point in the language of a moral first principle: "Respect for life, and above all for the dignity of the human person, is the ultimate guiding norm for any sound economic, industrial or scientific progress. " The pope and bishops contended that locating human need at the center of environmental policy-making results – in a ripple-like effect – in the extension of moral regard for non-human creatures.

The logic is that once the needs of the human community are secured, human beings will be empowered to reach out in justice and compassion to the wider biotic community. At the World Day of Peace in 1999, the pope makes a similar point: "Placing human well-being at the center of concern for the environment is actually the surest way of safeguarding creation; this in fact stimulates the responsibility of the individual with regard to natural resources and their judicious use. "

It is understandable why they place human dignity at the center of environmental well-being. On apparent biblical grounds and in light of the environmentally degraded state of most human populations, it is natural to posit the restoration of human dignity as the keystone value necessary for building a morally just social and ecological order. It is assumed that making human flourishing the center of environmental concern will have a green halo effect on other beings.

'Ecological without being ecocentric'

Catholic social teaching has another reason for assigning, relative to the whole of the natural order, supreme value to human well-being: It protects Christian ecology from erasing the distinctions between humans and others in the manner of creation spirituality. This anxiety with this type of spirituality is given full expression in the bishops' 1991 pastoral statement, which calls for a love for creation that is "ecological without being ecocentric." The bishops warn, "We can and must care for the Earth without mistaking it for the ultimate object of our devotion."

This statement clarifies the difference between "ecological theology," which preserves the hierarchical order that separates Creator and creation, and "ecocentric theology," which runs the risk of overly venerating nature as an object of worship, according to the pope and bishops. If there is excessive dialogue with nonreligious environmentalism, mainstream Protestant and Catholic theology worries that Christianity will disintegrate into a neopagan reverence for earthen well-being that blurs the distinctions between God, humans and others – which some Christians deem necessary for a proper and ordered relationship with creation. In a word, the charge against deep green theology is idolatry, that is, bestowing undue reverence on the creation that diminishes God's status as the supreme bearer of absolute value. But how well-grounded is this charge?

Human dignity – the primary focus of classical Catholic doctrine – is best secured by maintaining the health of biologically diverse species linked together through intricate feeding relationships. Correspondingly, practical decisions about resource allocations and the like should focus on ensuring the dynamism and vitality of the energy cycle, not on the particular needs of individual participants within the cycle, including individual human needs. In conversation with conservation biology from a religious perspective, we humans should see ourselves as equal citizens of the biotic order, rather than as overlords of creation who possess more value than other beings.

Critics regard this subordination of human concerns to the welfare of the whole as a dangerous flattening of important differences, even a kind of ecofascism in which human interests are now located in – or subordinated to – the wider orbit of ecosystemic interests. The point is not that human happiness is unim-portant in green systems theology, but rather without the well-being of the whole as the paramount concern, attention to human needs and in-terests is not possible. Frankly, if the worldwide system of energy flow patterns collapses due to ecocatastrophe of our own making, then our discussions about whether human beings have more value than other beings will seem academic at best and, at worst, contributory to the very mind-set that gave rise to the collapse in the first place.

Home of God's presence

If earthen theology seeks to shift the center of gravity toward ecosystem well-being rather than human flourishing as such, does this make it a type of paganism or idolatry that dare not speak its name? I think not. The witness of Scripture and tradition is to the world as the abode of divinity, the habitation of life-giving Spirit, the home of God's presence where the rhythms and vitalities of everyday life are sacred. All life is sacred because the Earth is a natural system alive with God's presence, which supports the well-being of all created things.

God's gift to all beings is this highly complex, biologically diverse Earth where life itself is celebrated in all its fecundity and passion. Sacredness inheres in the God-given capacity of plants and animals to stock and replenish the food chain on which we all depend. God as Spirit is the green force in the Earth who animates the living food chains that make possible the flow of energy for all of us.

It is not blasphemous, therefore, to say that nature is sacred. It is not mistaken to find God's presence in all things. To speak in animistic terms, it is not wrong to re-envision Christianity as continuous with the worldviews of first peoples who bore witness to and experienced divinity everywhere – who saw and felt the Spirit alive in every rock, tree, animal and body of water they encountered. God is holy, and all God made participates in that holiness. Thus, when we labor to protect and nurture God's good creation, we invest all things with inherent, supreme value as a loving extension of God's bounty and compassion.

Sacred, then, is the ground we stand on. Holy is the Earth where we are planted. Discovering the natural world as holy ground has the potential to vivify our primordial sense of belonging to the life-web that our kind and others need for daily sustenance and future well-being. This perspective signals a revaluation and continuation of characteristic Christian themes that celebrate the important connection between human beings and the natural order that sustains them.

Christians speak of the embodiment of God in Jesus 2,000 years ago, but now the entire life-web is the incarnation of God's presence through the Spirit on a daily basis. Christians speak of the miracle of the Eucharist, in which bread and wine become Christ's flesh and blood, but now the whole Earth is a living sacrament full of the divine life through the agency of the Spirit who animates and unifies all things. Christians speak of the power of the written word of God, in which God's voice can be heard by the discerning reader, but now all of nature is the book of God through which one can see God's face and listen to God's speech in the laughter of a bubbling stream, the rush of an icy wind on a winter's day, the scream of a red-tailed hawk as it seizes its prey and the silent movement of a monarch butterfly flitting from one milkweed plant to another.

In the warmth of the sun, the shelter of the encircling sky, the strength of the great oceans and the fecundity of the good land, we have everything we need to recover our kinship with the Holy Spirit and the Earth.

India is the land of spirituality which calls religious inclined people and spiritual seekers from several parts of the globe. This place is often quoted as the land of gods and several religions. It is the birth place of various religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Large number of tourists comes here to feel the pulsating vibes of several religions which are intact in its temples, shrines and holy destinations. Millions of devotees as well as tourists from across the globe prefer India Pilgrimage Tours to discover the charm and fascination Indian religions. The well known Indian pilgrimage which are preferred by devotees as well as tourists are:

Hindu Pilgrimage

India is the most popular and the most preferred destination for Hindu pilgrimage tour. Millions of tourists as well as devotees from several parts of the India and world visit several holy sites of India. Each religious destination is steeped in deep mythology and has interesting legend behind it. Religious destination of India is situated across the country which is visited by scores of tourists throughout the year. Although each religious destination has its own glory but still some are the most popular. The major Hindi pilgrimage destinations are Haridwar, Vaishno Devi, Char Dham, Mathura, Amarnath, Varanasi, Rishikesh, Vrindavan and many more.

Buddhist Pilgrimage

India is the birthplace of Buddhist religion. There are number of sacred Buddhist sites which are related to the life Lord Buddha. These sacred sites are popular among the follower of Buddhism and tourists. There are four main Buddhist pilgrimage destinations which include Lumbini the birth place of Gautama Buddha, Bodh Gaya the place of his enlightenment, Sarnath is the place where he delivered his first teaching and Kusinagar the place of his death. These four Buddhist holy sites are the best places to feel the mystic charm of Buddhist religion. The other well known religious sites of Buddhism are Rumtek Monastery in Gangtok, Dharamsals in Himachal Pradesh, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh and Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra.

Sikh Pilgrimage

Sikhism is another most popular religion which emerged during the early 16th century in the state of Punjab in North India. This religion was founded by the Guru Nanak which was later mentored by nine successive guru. Thousand of Sikh as well as non Sikh devotees flocked to number of Sikh pilgrimage sites to feel the charismatic charm and glory of this religion. The popular Sikh sacred sites include Golden temple, Anandpur Sahib, Takht Sri Damdama Sahib and Hemkund Sahib. The Golden temple is the most famous Sikh pilgrimage located in the holy city of Amritsar.

According to tradition, Golgotha – the “place of the skull” in Hebrew – is the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the heart of the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, now marks this location. It is an important landmark in the history of Jesus in Jerusalem, as well as in Jerusalem history itself.

As early as 40 years after Jesus’s death, Christians were coming to this site to worship. In his efforts to suppress all other religions other than the pagan Roman one, the Emperor Hadrian built a temple to Aphrodite over the site.

The Roman temple was razed by the Emperor Constantine, who decided to build a church here after his mother, Helena, identified the location as Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. Constantine’s church stood for almost 700 years, until it was destroyed by the incoming Muslims. This event sparked the First Crusade, and led the Crusaders to conquer Jerusalem and rebuild the church.

The church’s turbulent history is evident in its architecture, which is a mixture of Byzantine, medieval and 12th-century elements from the Crusaders.

Different religious sects have fought for centuries over control of this most revered of all Christian sites. Today, a strict status quo governs what parts of the sprawling building belong to what faction, and when prayers services may be held.

Within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is Golgotha itself, as well as the place where Jesus’s body was anointed and prepared for burial, and the cave where he was laid to rest. In addition, you’ll also find a cave where Christians believe Adam is buried, the tomb of Philip d’Aubigne, signer of the Magna Carta, and, on the roof of the church, an Ethiopian Copt village. There is also some of the most significant artwork in Israel to see here, and many colorful legends to be heard. In fact, there’s so much here, it’s best to have a guide or a good guide book to get the most out of a visit.

While most Christian denominations accept that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built over Golgotha, some Protestant denominations believe that Golgotha is actually a rocky outcrop outside the Old City walls. Not far from the Damascus Gate is what is now known as the Garden Tomb.

The suggestion that this was the true Golgotha was first popularized by Maj.- Gen. Charles George Gordon in the late 1800s, after he noticed that the rocky cliff resembled a skull from afar. Moreover, several tombs were found in the vicinity. The same idea had already been put forth by several other visitors to Jerusalem.

Although archaeologists believe those tombs to date from the 8th century, the Garden Tomb has become a popular pilgrimage site for Protestant Christians. Meanwhile, Catholics, Greek Orthodox and other sects hold fast to the tradition that Golgotha lies within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

After Jesus and His disciples spent the early evening celebrating Passover inside a room in Jerusalem, He needed to be alone to pray to God. Three of His disciples accompanied Jesus to the garden of Gethsemane before He was taken by Judas and Roman soldiers to the Pharisees. According to the 26th Book of Mathew verse 37, Jesus “began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” He told His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Later, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Mathew 26:38-39).

At Gethsemane, Jesus seemed uncharacteristically fearful. Throughout the Gospels, He is always courageous, strong and poised. He is the Christ who created heaven and earth. As the Son of God, He never showed any kind of fear. But in the garden He was not only apprehensive about His fate, He trembled, stammered, and walked back and forth frantically between God and his disciples. He asked God if there was another way, but he received no answer. He fell facedown, too weak to even stand on His feet (Matthew 26:39). Luke states He was so distressed that His forehead sweat blood.

Many Christians have the misconception that Jesus agonized only about the physical pain he would endure the next day, which included being scourged, struck by Roman guards and placed a helmet of long, sharp thorns on his head, and finally, the crucifixion. But Jesus appeared more consumed about the “cup.”

Why did Jesus ask the Father if He could take the “cup” away? It was the cup of wrath that contained all of the sins of mankind and He would bear them on the Cross. All sins are taken out on the individual who does not accept Jesus’ sacrifice when death comes; the sinner goes to hell where torment is violently inflicted every second for eternity.

God probably gave Jesus a glance at the horrors of hell to show and prepare Him for all of the inflictions He would experience on the Cross. What Jesus felt was hell itself, already creeping around His soul, while visions of hell horrified Him to His soul’s core. For a while, Satan probably tempted Jesus. If He took the cup, He would pay for the sins of everyone living on Earth. To be saved from going to hell and enjoy eternal life in heaven, the soul must believe in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross.

To get an idea of what hell is like for every sinner that goes there, we must ask those who went there after they died and soon came back to life. Ronald Whitaker was a “hardcore” atheist and sinner. Many years ago, he became extremely ill with acute hemorrhagic necrotic pancreatitis and he knew death was moving swiftly toward him. That night as he lay in a hospital bed, his body slipped many times into “darkness” which frightened him so that he called it “untold terror.” Many testimonies of other unrepentant sinners who claimed to have traveled to hell after temporarily dying, woke up “screaming”, “terrified” and “frightened” after witnessing many other people being tortured by huge, fierce demons whose bodies they were tearing apart. Some claim they saw souls on fire whose bodies repeatedly disintegrated, then became whole again.

We cannot begin to fathom what God’s only Son went through at Gethsemane. All we have are the Biblical Scriptures of Mathew and Luke who record what Jesus told them. We know that before the mob that came to arrest Him, He had received the strength and joy that prepared Him to endure physical torture and to drink the spiritual cup of God’s wrath so that believing souls could go to heaven and enjoy eternal life.

How many times today have you focused on how stressed you were? Now, how many times today have you focused on how blessed you are? Since our behaviors are products of our thoughts it’s important to focus on the right thing.

Your spiritual quality of life really is a matter of what you choose to focus on.

Proverbs 17:22 – A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. (Amplified Bible)

Romans 8:6 – For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (KJV)

Having the heart and mind of a researcher (bitten by the “Research Bug” in college and graduate school) I could present study after study showing the unparalleled beneficial effects of having an optimistic attitude (life) as well as the detrimental effects of stress (death).

Instead, in my limited time with you I’d rather show you how you, too, can learn to Focus on Feeling Blessed Not Stressed and how that, in itself, can enrich your life and your godly walk.

1 Timothy 4:14(a) – Do not neglect the gift which is in you, [that special inward endowment] which was directly imparted to you [by the Holy Spirit] (Amplified Bible)

Also, our calling in life… our individual God-given ministry… has a physical component as well as a spiritual one so I can’t forget…

Ephesians 4:12 – His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), (Amplified Bible)

Ephesians 4:16 – For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. (Amplified Bible)

To sum those verses up, in my particular case I’m to walk worthy of my calling (Ephesians 4:1(a)) which is to help equip the saints (You) to find time to devote to spiritual growth so that you can have the time and energy to do your own work for the building of the church. And I’m to do this in a loving manner (vs 15).

By doing this I’m doing my part which will help build up the church.

That’s why I am determined to be a good steward of the talents He has placed in me, the opportunities He has placed before me, and to use both for the glory of His Kingdom.

Put more plainly, my overall ministry – my calling in life – is to help you find more time for God and part of that is noticing Him in the normally–unseen things in life. The happenings we think are really cool or awesome “coincidences” are probably our most loving God at work blessing us.

When you notice God’s blessings you’ll automatically be spending more time with Him because you’ll be thanking Him for more things and thinking of Him more often. There you go… spiritual growth throughout the day not just in a concentrated single period of time.

Through the years, with the Holy Spirit’s help, I’ve trained myself to see God… really SEE HIM… in almost everything–good and bad–and am charged with demonstrating this “gift” to others.

You can ask the Holy Spirit to help you do the same.

I know, without a doubt, that you can lessen the stress in your life and switch your focus to the blessings. Then, since what you focus on magnifies, get ready to feel more blessed than you ever have.