What is the future of the world?

Posted on August 11, 2013 by heaventruth

What is the future for the world? Some of the Sacred books prophesize an Armageddon of destruction, where only a few of the religious are saved. In the Tip of the Writing Brush (Ofudesaki), the following verses:

Step by step, I am solely making preparations truly to save the world. 4-36

After that, you may stay as long as you wish, without illness, death, or weakening. 4-37

Further, after the passage of long years, there will be no aging at all. 4-38

This is the joyous life God promises us when all mankind is purified from his or her innermost heart. But to get to this stage, all mankind must eliminate greed, arrogance and self-love from their minds.

The question is how do we remove the evils from our minds? The first step may be to acknowledge God’s truth of the law of cause and effect. Good thoughts and actions bring forth joy; and evil thoughts and actions bring forth suffering in the future. Understanding this concept makes the elimination of greed and arrogance easier to accomplish. Understanding this concept also make it easier to understand God’s original cause of creating mankind.  Mankind was created (effect) to live a joyous life (cause).

God is said to be making preparations to help us understand this important concept of cause and effect.  Ponder the occurrences in your lives, and ponder if the law of cause and effect may be affecting you now.

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Steps to a joyous world

Posted on August 10, 2013 by heaventruth

How do we find true joy? These are the steps according to the Heaven’s Truth Church/ Tenrikyo

Understand the concept of reincarnation. In the Osashizu it states that human go through birth after birth. The soul is eternal while the body is only borrowed from God. For the Christian audience, it is not to say that the soul may eventually exist without the body.

Understand the concept of the law of causality.  Good thoughts and actions result in joy, and evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) thoughts and actions result in future sufferings. The elapsed time between the cause and effect may be prolonged, extending into different life times (reincarnation). This may make it difficult to understand the relationship between our thoughts and our future.

Understanding causality and reincarnation gives us an opportunity to accept the sufferings and misfortunes that occur in our lives. From these occurrences, we are able to ponder and eliminate the evils (greed, arrogance, and self love) in our minds. When this happens, we are making our future more joyous (the law of cause and effect).

But true joy does not exist unless the whole world is joyous. How do we attain true joy?  God tell us to find the causality of the origin of mankind. In the Tip of the Writing Brush is the following:

The reason God began human beings was the desire to see you lead a joyous life. 14-26

God’s truth is that God created all mankind to live a joyous life with everyone helping each other. If we sincerely believe from our innermost heart that this is God’s ultimate truth (the original cause), we become spirited and want to share this joy with the world.

To spread this truth, God has given us a special prayer. This prayer brings others to us; and helps them understand the law of causality. When they are able to eliminate evils from their minds and understand the original intention of God in creating the world, they would also become spirited and want to share this joy with the world. Eventually the whole world will be praying for world salvation. This will result in a joyous world that was envisioned by God before the origin of mankind.

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Have faith in God

Posted on August 10, 2013 by heaventruth


Why is faith tenuous and wavering? The answer may lie in the law of “cause and effect”. What we sow, we reap. Evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) thoughts and actions bring forth suffering and pain.  Throughout time, man has questioned why the good suffer. Even Job, a devout individual questioned his sufferings.

Even if we wake up the next morning, full of spirit and goodness, and our minds void of evil (greed, arrogance, and self love), we still are accountable for our past actions and thoughts. Even when we devote our lives to God for many years, our debts are not cancelled. No wonder we sometimes question our faith, and sometimes even break our ties with religion.

But for those who truly believe in cause and effect, we are consoled by the fact that these sufferings give us guidance to remove evil from our minds today.  When we remove evil, we create a joyous future by the law of cause and effect. Our thoughts and actions today determine our future. We have the ability to create a joyous life. From knots, buds will sprout.

For those who believe that this explanation is too scientific and secular, in the Tip of the Writing Brush, it is stated that God created mankind to live a joyous life with everyone helping each other. If you think about it, this is the first application of the law of cause and effect. Mankind was created (effect) to live a joyous life (cause).  This explanation may give one the encouragement to continue their faith when confronted with sufferings caused by the law of cause and effect. Eventually if we remove evil from our hearts, there will only be good seeds of joy that will sprout in the future. Keep your faith in God strong!

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Why is life so difficult

Posted on August 10, 2013 by heaventruth

Why is the path to a joyous life so difficult (salvation)?  Why is faith tenuous and wavering? The answer may be the law of cause and effect (karma, innen). What we sow, we reap. 

Even if we wake up the next morning, full of spirit and goodness, and our minds void of evil (greed, arrogance, and self love), we still are accountable for our past actions and thoughts. Even when we devote our lives to God for many years, our debts are not cancelled. No wonder we sometimes question our faith, and sometimes even break our ties with religion.

But for those who truly believe in cause and effect, we are consoled by the fact that these sufferings give us guidance to remove evil from our minds today.  When we remove evil, we create a joyous future by the law of cause and effect.  We have the ability to create a joyous life.

For those who believe that this explanation is too scientific and mechanical. In the Tip of the Writing Brush, it is stated that God created mankind to live a joyous life with everyone helping each other. This is considered to be the origin.  If you think about it, this is the first application of the law of cause and effect. Mankind was created (effect) to live a joyous life (cause).  This explanation may give one the encouragement to continue their faith when confronted with their karma (the law of cause and effect).

To keep your chin up in spite of adversity is sometimes difficult. Finding the origin may help you continue your path to salvation. Know the origin that mankind was created to live a joyous life with everyone helping each other. God is helping us!

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Why is it difficult for the rich to receive salvation?

Posted on August 9, 2013 by heaventruth

Why is it more difficult for a rich man to get salvation?  This would include a businessman, a politician, and religious leaders. It is not the wealth, the power, and the knowledge that these people have attained that hinders their spirituality. It is the arrogance that attaches to these people in their pursuit of these goals. It is difficult to maintain one’s humbleness while pursuing goals that the majority of people will never be able to reach.

To become rich and powerful is not evil; but with this position, one becomes easily convinced that one knows more than others, and inevitably the false premise that one is better than another. 

Ironically in this society the poor may also have a difficulty obtaining salvation. They are becoming arrogant and greedy in the belief that they deserve aide without working. Again, it is not the stature in society that prevents the soul from salvation, but it is the false premise that one deserves special treatment without any effort. This is also arrogance and greed.  

In summary, whether one is poor or rich have no influence on salvation.  It is the evils (greed, arrogance, and self love) that prevent us from attaining salvation.  Only when the minds become pure, will we be able to live the joyous life with everyone helping each other (world salvation).

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Going back to school

Posted on August 9, 2013 by heaventruth

Suppose the first test, you have a bad day and only get two answers correct. You get to take a letter home that your updated grade is an F.  But you don’t worry because you still have nine more tests to improve your grade.

The next test, you get nine out of ten answers correct. You are very excited because you received an A on the test. But your happiness does not last because an updated grade of F is sent to your parents. Although you received an A on the current test, the previous test was added and averaged to get the updated score. The initial test is keeping your grade low.  One will have to almost keep on getting perfect scores to receive an A for the final course grade because we are accountable for all our tests.

The law of causality can be compared to the previous subject of grades. Like the test scores, the effect (test result) cannot be cancelled. The effect of the cause will have to sprout in the future. We can follow all of God’s truths and pray with all of our hearts, but we are still responsible for our past actions.

This is why it is difficult to follow God’s path of salvation. Even if we know the truth, God does not cancel our debt; what we have sowed, we must reap. It is with this knowledge that we must ponder what occurs daily as God’s guidance. From these obstructions that occur, we can either suffer or ponder. By pondering, we can eliminate evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) from our minds. With the elimination of evil, our future becomes joyous (the law of cause and effect).

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Planting Seeds

Posted on August 8, 2013 by heaventruth

The path to a joyous world is like a farmer planting seeds to gain a prosperous harvest of fruits. The farmer must first plant the seeds, and then he must constantly weed (chemical and manually) around the developing plant to insure that nutrients are directed to the new plant. For further growth, fertilizer is added to the soil. These methods (path) in agriculture have been tested throughout time, insuring a rich harvest.

The path of the joyous world starts with our prayer (planting the seeds).  God then accepts our sincere prayer and begins to help others eliminate greed, arrogance, and self-love from others (weeding). When their hearts have become purified, God’s teachings are sprinkled on them (fertilizing). When one accepts God’s truth, one sincerely believes that God created mankind to live a joyous life. When one’s life revolves around this principle, one becomes spirited and life becomes joyous (Fruits harvested). One then begins to care about the welfare of others and begins to pray (planting the seeds). This cycle continues until the whole world is praying for a joyous life with everyone helping each other.

Heaven’s Truth Church/Tenrikyo Church

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Illness as God’s blessings?

Posted on August 8, 2013 by heaventruth

The law of cause and effect is difficult to realize because of the long time lapse between cause and effect. It is said that by accepting our sincere prayer, God will begin to shorten this lapse between the cause and effect. In the Tip of the Writing Brush is written:

Until today, whatever wrongdoing there is said to be, perhaps none of you has known of it on your body. 8-41

This mind, God will truly let you know. Everybody, wherever, ponder over it. 8-42

By placing illness on your bodies, God will let you know what evils (greed, arrogance, and self love) exist in your minds. When one ponders over the illness, and eliminate evil, then God will take back the illness. This process of the purification of the mind (God’s blessing) will bring only joy in the future (the law of cause and effect).

 

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Pray for your enemies

Posted on August 8, 2013 by heaventruth

From the Anecdotes of Oyasama, there is a story where the priests of the Shinto religions ransacked the place of worship. They also threatened the lives of the followers of the church. Instead of having animosity towards these people, Oyasama prayed to God to save these people.

Many people will be angered and seek recourse for such blatant actions. We see gang members that seek revenge, we see this retribution on a world wide scale. Even in our daily lives, we see family feuds, and conflicts in work places due to retribution.

But does retribution succeed? In most cases, revenge only brings upon more sorrow and suffering. How unique an idea it is to pray for your enemies? Oyasama realized that for the world to have joy, even the people that try to harm us will be saved eventually. It is with this realization that all mankind will be saved, that we must pray  for the salvation of everyone, including those that oppose us. When all mankind is purified from their innermost heart, the world will see prosperity and joy never seen before.

 

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The Benefits of Membership

Posted on August 8, 2013 by heaventruth

Many of us join organizations to gain benefits. Some participate and truly get involved, while others are members in name only, while also receiving full benefits. We all know people that get truly involved in clubs and organizations. We also know people who sit in the back, and do the minimum in participation. Whether we are actively involved or not, both usually get recognition and benefits of membership.  Some presume that church membership is the same. We all are saved.

Membership in a church may not lead to salvation. There are people that are extensively involved in the church. They research and read their sacred books. They spend valuable time in finding God’s truth. Others are members in name only. They call themselves Christians, Muslims, Hindu, etc.., but they spend most of their time in secular activities.

It is this second group that membership by itself may not get them salvation.  It is this group that may be influenced by radicals and extremist in carrying out acts that may cause others to suffer. They are easily influenced because of their lack of God’s truth.  The past is riddled  with religions that acted against humanity.

In summary, religion is not like a club or organization. Membership does not guarantee salvation. One must study the scriptures, and put them in practice.

 

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