The Four Seasons

Posted on June 15, 2014 by heaventruth

How amazing it is to have the four seasons of the year. For those living in the east coast, the distinction between the seasons is very noticeable than for those on the west coast. The orange leaves in the autumn are spectacular; almost indescribable and difficult to convey the emotion that it brings upon to the viewer. How mundane it would be to have only one season of the year. Of course, besides the emotional and visual affects the seasons have upon us, they also serve to bring upon climatic changes, which affects the world in many ways.

One can also say that mankind has different stages, possibly four seasons in a lifetime. Each stage has it purpose, with the last stage linked to the end of life. Each season can have its ups and downs, dependent on circumstance that we have and have not control over. In the early season, we are mostly dependent on our parents or caretakers for our happiness and security. But as the seasons change, our happiness becomes more dependent on our selves; and finally as we approach the end of our final season, we may become dependent on others again.

Sometimes we do not realize the season, until we go to a reunion, or see someone who we have not seen for a long time. Although we realize that we are getting older, we do not usually see the subtle changes in our appearance that others will see in us. We become depressed when we realize what season it is, especially when it appears to be the last season. But should we get depressed?

Each season has its purpose, and each season can bring happiness. The end season usually brings upon much knowledge. This stage should be about closure to our lives. We realize that we have much knowledge, yet we also realize that we may need help from others due to our physical and mental decline. We do not have complete control. But at this stage of life, we are not expected to perform to the highest level by society. We are expected to reap the benefits of our past efforts. For some, this may not be realized due to financial difficulties. The end season may not bring upon happiness. Unlike the seasons of the year, we do not get another season to bring upon happiness, or is there?

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Why Our Religion Does Not Grow

Posted on June 14, 2014 by heaventruth

Why does our religion not increase in membership since the explosive growth in the late nineteen century? The answer may be in the Tip of the Writing Brush (Ofudesaki). The religion was founded in the rural farming community of Tenri Japan where farming was the main occupation. Many agricultural terms are used in the Tip of the Writing Brush, making it easier for the nineteen-century reader to understand God’s intentions. The following is my interpretation of why the religion is not flourishing.

The church is an establishment to plant the seeds, or bring in new members. Many times in religion, we get to the point where we want to share our religion with others. We want others to understand God’s truth. The church serves this purpose of bringing in new members to share our joy (planting the seeds). God has given us a prayer called the Joyous Service which serves to bring people to our churches. This Joyous Service is referred to as the fertilizer. But this prayer (fertilizer) is ineffective without the true sincerity of the prayers. To gain true sincerity, one must have a pure mind without greed, arrogance, and self-love. Weeding of the mind is necessary in order for the Joyous Service to be effective.

Our churches do not grow in membership because:

  1. More attention is focused on the Yorozuyo and the 12 songs, instead of the Joyous Service. The Joyous Service is the prayer that will bring people to our churches. The other dances appear to be motivational songs for the early followers.
  2. We the prayers must weed our minds of the dusts of greed, arrogance, and self-love.

Ironically, understanding the science of farming may lead to the joyous life of all mankind that had been promised by God in the beginning.

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VERSE OF THE WEEK

Posted on June 14, 2014 by heaventruth

WHY DO SOME SUFFER WHILE OTHERS HAVE JOY? HOW DO WE FIND JOY?

GOD CREATED ALL MANKIND TO LIVE A JOYOUS LIFE WITH EVERYONE HELPING EACH OTHER. BUT HOW DO WE LIVE THIS JOYOUS LIFE?  WE MUST FIRST BELIEVE IN CAUSALITY.

UNDERSTANDING CAUSALITY OPENS THE PATH TO JOY. CAUSALITY EXPLAINS WHY WE SUFFER OR HAVE JOY. NO MATTER HOW DESPERATE OUR SITUATION MAY APPEAR, WE CAN PLANT GOOD SEEDS NOW THAT WILL BLOSSOM INTO JOY. WE CAN GUARANTEE A JOYOUS FUTURE!

GOD WILL BEGIN TO HELP THE WORLD UNDERSTAND CAUSALITY. WE HAVE A SPECIAL PRAYER  ASKING GOD TO HELP OTHERS UNDERSTAND CAUSALITY.

INTRODUCTION:

God has created mankind to live a joyous life with everyone helping each other (the original causality).

THE REASON BOD BEGAN HUMAN BEINGS WAS THE DESIRE TO SEE YOU LEAD A JOYOUS LIFE. (Tip of the Writing Brush 14-26)

OUR BELIEFS:

We believe in the Law of  causality. Good thoughts and actions result in joy.  Evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) thoughts and actions result in suffering and inconveniences in the future.

God will begin to shorten the time lapse between the cause and effect, making the relationship easier to understand. God has given us a  special prayer that will make this possible.

OUR MISSION:

To eliminate greed, arrogance, and self-love from our minds, thus making our special prayer more receptive to God.

To pray daily with our special prayer (Joyous Service), asking God to help  people realize the law of causality. When this happens. people will begin to eliminate evil (greed and arrogance) from their minds.

To tell the world what God is going to do when he accepts  our special prayer (shortens the time lapse between cause and effect, making this relationship easier to understand). Ponder over any illnesses. They may be God’s guidance in teaching you causality.

To heal the illnesses brought upon by God’s guidance by performing our healing prayer (Sazuke).

OUR GOAL:

TO HAVE ALL MANKIND UNDERSTAND CAUSALITY; AND TO HAVE ALL MANKIND LIVE A JOYOUS LIFE BY HELPING EACH OTHER.

VERSE OF THE WEEK:

No matter how serious your illness will become,

I shall save you by the Sazuke (healing prayer). 6-108

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Working to feel “Good”

Posted on June 11, 2014 by heaventruth

Hard work use to be a virtue. But in today’s society, the least amount of work appears to be the norm. We see our coworkers on their mobile device when their supervisors are not present. There is no motivation to excel. We see this in our school system, and in our government. Work appears just a way to earn money. Should work mean more?

In Japanese, work is hataraku. Hata means the people around; raku translates into comfortable. To work means to make others comfortable. When we work hard, our supervisors and co-workers are comfortable. We are bringing joy to others. As opposed to malingering and complaining at work. It makes everyone else feel uncomfortable.

Bringing joy to others by working hard may bring upon God’s blessings. One may become spirited, and full of positive energy. If you dread going into work every day, try to work harder, and help others. This may ironically make you enjoy your work, and become spirited and happy.

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Weeding and Fertilizing for a Rich Harvest

Posted on June 8, 2014 by heaventruth

The majority may not always be right. I believe that the writers of the United States constitution knew this fact. There are religions that believe that they represent the truth of God; and they point to the number of people in their religion to prove that God is on their side. They believe that might is right; and with God on their side, continue to harvest members.

Many religions struggle how to bring people in their churches. Many believe that God will bring people into their churches. Some force their religion on others. Examples include conquering of nations in the past, and converting these people by force. Their justification would be that they are helping people see the truth.

In the Heaven’s Truth Religion (Tenrikyo), the terms fertilize, and weeding are terms used when talking about increasing membership to a religion. These terms were familiar to the agricultural society where our religion was founded. As we know, fertilizer and weeding increases the harvest of a crop. The farmer must work hard in obtaining a good crop. This requires water in addition to weeding and fertilizer. This hard work is also required in obtaining church member. We must work diligently. We must weed and fertilize in order to bring people into the church. I will explain.

The term fertilizer is sometimes used in reference to our special prayer. This prayer is called the Joyous Service. We ask God to help eliminate evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) from the minds of others with this prayer. God brings people into our lives with this prayer, thus indirectly increasing church membership. But the fertilizer (Joyous Service) does not work automatically. For the prayer to be effective, our minds must be pure of evil. That is why we must continually eliminate greed and arrogance from our mind. This is the weeding of our minds. We must have true sincerity before God accepts our special prayer.

For those churches that are having a difficult time increasing membership, weeding and fertilizing may be in order. Sweep evil from your hearts first, and then pray that God helps others to eliminate greed and arrogance. Weed and fertilize and a rich harvest will become eminent.

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We do not understand

Posted on June 6, 2014 by heaventruth

Believe it or not human beings are the only animals that God has given the ability to reason. In life, there are occurrences or things that are true, and there are occurrences and things that are false. In between there is what we call the gray area. The expression stretching the truth, may point to occurrences or things that are in the gray area.

Throughout time, mankind has for selfish purposes have made the distinction between the truth and non-truth imperceptible. In the famous impeachment of a president, even the definition of the word “is” was questioned. The large gray area that separated the truth and non-truth has disappeared; we cannot understand the truth when it is in front of us. This occurs in religion and especially in politics, where some factions may only vote for their party, even though their candidate is corrupt, and dishonest. The distinction between the truth and non-truth is gone.

In the Tip of the Writing Brush (Ofudesaki), God compares the mistaken mind with a bent or distorted mirror. The bent mirror does not reflect our true image, as a mind that cannot understand cannot perceive what is true. In the Tip of the Writing Brush is the following:

Though the mind of God hastens day by day,

there is no understanding in the mind of my children.

Faith in people and God are good; but it must be based on the truth that we see. Have a mind like a perfect mirror that reflects the true image. Make your decisions based on the truth that we see daily.

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Hope is Eternal (edited)

Posted on June 6, 2014 by heaventruth

It is unfortunate that when are lives are happy, we do not think of God, or pray daily. But when we suffer emotionally or physically we tend to turn toward God. We tend to hold on to the belief that God will help us. Most of us consciously know that God will not help us; but we hold on to that remote chance. What makes us hold on to this truth?

Many of us want to believe that we have a protector that loves us and helps us. This belief may derive from the care that our parents gave us. We have a plethora of stories in our sacred books where God helped our ancestors thousands of years ago. But many of us have not experienced those miracles, and blessings.

It is a hope there is a benevolent God who hears our message. How soothing it is to clasp our hands praying upwards toward God, “Please help me, and I will do anything you ask, please, please help me” Some would say that this action of talking to someone, even to an uncertain God, lessens our suffering.

When does God interfere in our lives? Does he divert the bullet to protect the innocent victim? Or is God a spectator in our lives. Does God choose not to help us? From what is occurring in the world, God is either a spectator, nonexistent, or chooses not to help at this time. The evil people of the world continue to prey upon the good. If God existed, and is good, would you not expect that God would help the good people, and punish the evil people?

But despite the evidence of God’s non-actions, we continue to pray when we suffer. Ironically, suffering and inconveniences in our lives may be the connection to God, and to our salvation. Why do we suffer? The following is from the Osashizu:

Look at how causality is working in the world, and you will see the journey taken before. January 30, 1892 Instructions (Osashizu)

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Hope is Eternal

Posted on June 5, 2014 by heaventruth

It is unfortunate that when our lives are happy, we do not think of God, or pray daily. But when we suffer emotionally or physically we tend to turn toward God. We tend to hold on to the belief that God will help us. Many of us consciously know that God will not help us; but we hold on to that remote chance. What makes us hold on to this hope?

Many of us want to believe that we have a protector that loves us and helps us. This belief may derive from the care that our parents gave us. We have a plethora of stories in our sacred books where God helped our ancestors thousands of years ago. But many of us have not experienced those miracles, and blessings.

It is a hope there is a benevolent God who hears our message. How soothing it is to clasp our hands praying upwards toward God, “Please help me, and I will do anything you ask, please, please help me” Some would say that this action of talking to someone, even to an uncertain God, lessens our suffering.

When does God interfere in our lives? Does he divert the bullet to protect the innocent victim? Or is God a spectator in our lives. Does God choose not to help us? From what is occurring in the world, God is either a spectator, nonexistent, or chooses not to help at this time. The evil people of the world continue to prey upon the good. If God existed, and is good, would you not expect that God would help the good people, and punish the evil people?

But despite the evidence of God’s non-actions, we continue to pray when we suffer. Ironically, suffering and inconveniences in our lives may be the connection to God, and to our salvation. We continue to pray, especially when we suffer.

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Taking the High Road

Posted on June 3, 2014 by heaventruth

It is very easy to take the high road when everything is going with the wind. How easy it is to extol virtue, and tell others how to behave. But what happens when there is an inconvenience that obstructs our happiness. We often lapse back to our pre conversion mind of selfishness. It is not easy to take the high road when you are going against the wind. Why does God place these inconveniences in our lives in spite of our supposed religious conversion into a good person?

The answer may be causality. Understanding causality may be the process of purifying our minds (making us good). We sow what we reap. When the effect of negative causality appears, we have two choices. One choice would be to react negatively to the event, causing more suffering in the future. The other choice would be to accept the negative event in a positive manner, resulting in the cancelling of the bad causality. To say that we have changed is not enough; causality continues to test our resolve until our minds become pure. For some, this process may take a long time.

We may continue to persist that we know God’s truth. Some say just by declaration, God will save us; but causality may make us prove our declaration.

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The Prayer to Save All Mankind

Posted on June 2, 2014 by heaventruth

What do we want to happen to the evil people of the world? Most people would want them to be punished, banished, and even executed so they would not be able to hurt others. In the Heaven’s Truth Church (Tenrikyo), we pray to God to help them eliminate the evils in their heart. In the Tip of the Writing Brush is the following:

Among all mankind, there is no one who is evil.

It is only a bit of dust stuck on. 1-53

It is prophesized that all mankind will be purified from their innermost heart, and the world will experience true joy. It is with this simple prayer that God has given us that will help eliminate the evils in these lost souls. The world will not become good and pure because of the elimination of the evil people; but it will become good because the evil people will become good. We have a special prayer that will bring salvation to all; even to those that we feel are incorrigible.

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