Growing Up Around Christians in Organized Religion

I was born in the 1960s and raised in Southern California, United States of America. During that period of time, and in the area I was raised, there was basically one religion that dominated every aspect of mine and my friends lives. That religion was Christianity. When I was in elementary school, I knew one Jewish boy and he looked different than the Christians and even talk different. He was very smart and spent a lot of his time reading, instead of playing at recess.

There were no Muslims or Hindus and it was a predominantly white environment. The first black students I seen was when I entered the eighth grade and by the time I finished high school, I could count all of the black students I had met on both of my hands. So now you have a pretty good idea of my life, living in a white neighborhood that was 90% Christian.

As you can guessed it, I was raised a Christian, but not a regular Christian, I was a Methodist and proud of it, until my parents got tired of the church elders asking for money or if my father could help build the new church. My father explained to them, that he needed to work to support his family and could only contribute, what ever he could to the church and no more. They were very unhappy and made it uncomfortable for us to go to the church anymore.

Hard to imagine, isn't it. Christians asking for money and then when they don't receive it, getting mad at one of their brethren.

Well it was time to switch churches and we are now going to the Crystal Cathedral Church in Garden Grove California. These people had everything and it was a large church. This was before they built the massive glass structure that is presently the church sanctuary. I enjoy going to this church, because we didn't have to go to Sunday school and got to sit with the adults to worship.

By the time I was 15, neither one of my parents were going to church anymore and my life didn't seem to change that much, even though I prayed every night with my brother. Maybe that was it, I didn't have to go to church as long as I prayed every night... By the time I was 18 years old, I was more confused about organized religion than ever before and this included Christianity.

How can someone kill in the name of God? The Muslims were doing it, the Christians were doing it, the Muslims were fighting the Hindus in India and it all seemed normal. It didn't seem normal to me, when I was supposed to love my neighbor and live a life like Christ who never seemed to start fights or even get mad. Maybe a couple of times, over some money, in the Temple.

I have chosen not to be a part of organized religion. I'd figured out that most of our religious beliefs came from our upbringing. This seems to have brainwashed us into believing we are better because were right and know for a fact, that we have chosen to belong to the right religion. What if were not right?

I want to ask you a question, do you think that other religions are wrong and yours is right? If you really spend some time and think about this, you will see, that your religion is not that different than someone else's and neither was their upbringing. Most religious followers, belonged to the religion of their childhood.

Who Is Jesus?

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual videos filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Healthy Lifestyle Tips

Religion and Spiritual Communication

How do we overcome our difficulties talking about religion with other people? This would also include people that we talk to about religion and agree with us. If someone tends to agrees with us most of the time, this could create difficulties in a different way. Their constant agreement could tell us a couple of things about them, either they don't know enough about the topic you're discussing, have no interest in it or they don't want to upset you and will tend to agree with you often if not always.

The biggest problem, dealing with the difficulties in talking about religion would involve two people who disagree on one or many topics. These topics could range from very important (life changing and factual) to common beliefs. When someone ask you a question like, "Do You Believe in God?", this could lead to an argument with the wrong person.

You can be honest, but always have an exit response if things get a little out of hand. Whenever someone chooses to become animated or mad at me, because of something I said, that they don't believe in, I can simply choose to remove myself from their presence. I would like to point out to my readers, rarely do I ever choose to remove myself from any heated discussion but often encourage or egg them on.

If you don't feel comfortable asking questions about religion, but seek answers from others, start with simple unoffensive questions and lead your way into the bigger ones. For example if I wanted to know, why someone believes in Hinduism, but am afraid to directly ask them... have someone else asked them. Okay maybe that's the easy way out, but you could always start with a question related to their childhood like," How Old Were You When You Started Going to Church?"

They might reply with, we don't go to church, we go to Temple or Mandir. This often breaks the ice that could lead to the end of the conversation, quickly. If you did a little research before you spoke with them, you could always replace church with the word temple but not Mandir. This might give them the impression, you already know about their religion, let them explain their religion to you.

If this is handled in a nonthreatening way, it could lead to a friendship of greater trust and now you can ask the bigger questions. Asking the big questions sometimes, even in a friendly environment this could become frustrating if your intentions are other than just gathering information. Don't try to convert anyone to follow your religion or spiritual practices. This could end the relationship quickly and cause bad feelings.

Treat people like you would like to be treated and if you treat people poorly, disregard the last statement and treat people with kindness and compassion.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

If you want to read something funny and get your daily laugh in, you need to read this, it's funny Using Religion Responsibility. It's based on overindulgence.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Religious Faith Or Religious Fac

Rich Brother Rich Sister - Two Different Paths to God, Money, and Happiness by Robert Kiyosaki

"Rich Brother Rich Sister: Two Different Paths to God, Money, and Happiness" by popular author Robert Kiyosaki and his sister Emi Kiyosaki is an interesting and enjoyable book. At first, I really didn't know what to expect with this new direction Robert Kiyosaki has taken, but I did enjoy this newest book by the author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad."

One of the first things a person can learn, is Robert Kiyosaki knows how to make money. After make a lot of it with his book about Money, Kiyosaki is now exploring the areas of spirit and health, two other topics that rank high on the money making list of book topics. And Kiyosaki states right up front that one of the reasons he wrote this book with his sister was to make money and help her pay medical bills and become a millionaire too.

Even if Kiyosaki is capitalizing on his fame to write a book in a different genre to make even more money, that does not take away for the interesting stories about his and his sister's lives and lessons they learned. I think many people ask the same or similar questions about life, God, spirit, etc. Kiyosaki has now shared some of his questions and the answers he has found.

At times, I felt the book was a bit redundant. Some things are repeated unnecessarily, and at other times I felt a lack on continuity between the portions written by Robert and those written by his sister Emi. However, considering the very different paths their respective lives took them along, it is easy to see why the chapters do not flow seamlessly. Additionally, at times I felt they were reaching a bit to try and make spiritual lessons from certain examples. Some people might even think that the book is a bit "preachy" with Kiyosaki's own beliefs on morality.

These small things did not take away the enjoyment I got from reading the book. I liked the portions written about Robert Kiyosaki's life a bit more than his sister's, but that may be because I am more familiar with Robert and his other works, and I also spent time in the military, so I enjoyed hearing about his service and how it influenced the rest of his life. As someone who has also studied Buddhism, I did like learning of Emi Kiyosaki's journey into her Buddhist faith.

There are sections of the book, that if you read as a book to learn from, you can gain valuable lessons to apply to your own life. I think this is true with most biographies, but this book makes a point to illustrate certain lessons. Robert and Emi Kiyosaki are both teachers, so I guess it is hard for them not to teach. There were sections that blared "here's a lesson, listen up!" I for one liked the lessons included in this text. There were lessons on life, living, money, Buddhism, all combined in one book.

I think if you are a fan of Robert Kiyosaki's other books, you will enjoy learning more about him. If you are not a fan, you probably won't even read this book, and you might just be missing out. After reading this text you may just have a greater respect for where Robert Kiyosaki came from and what he is trying to do. I know I do.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a mediator/attorney with Bennett Law Office P.C. and an author/speaker through his own company Burrese Enterprises Inc. He teaches people to live with the warrior's edge through his writing and speaking on a variety of topics focusing on the business areas of negotiation and success principles as well as self-defense and safety topics. He is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks, several instructional dvds, and numerous articles. You can find out more about Alain Burrese at his websites http://www.burrese.com and http://bennettlawofficepc.com

Growing Up Around Christians in Organized Religion

I was born in the 1960s and raised in Southern California, United States of America. During that period of time, and in the area I was raised, there was basically one religion that dominated every aspect of mine and my friends lives. That religion was Christianity. When I was in elementary school, I knew one Jewish boy and he looked different than the Christians and even talk different. He was very smart and spent a lot of his time reading, instead of playing at recess.

There were no Muslims or Hindus and it was a predominantly white environment. The first black students I seen was when I entered the eighth grade and by the time I finished high school, I could count all of the black students I had met on both of my hands. So now you have a pretty good idea of my life, living in a white neighborhood that was 90% Christian.

As you can guessed it, I was raised a Christian, but not a regular Christian, I was a Methodist and proud of it, until my parents got tired of the church elders asking for money or if my father could help build the new church. My father explained to them, that he needed to work to support his family and could only contribute, what ever he could to the church and no more. They were very unhappy and made it uncomfortable for us to go to the church anymore.

Hard to imagine, isn't it. Christians asking for money and then when they don't receive it, getting mad at one of their brethren.

Well it was time to switch churches and we are now going to the Crystal Cathedral Church in Garden Grove California. These people had everything and it was a large church. This was before they built the massive glass structure that is presently the church sanctuary. I enjoy going to this church, because we didn't have to go to Sunday school and got to sit with the adults to worship.

By the time I was 15, neither one of my parents were going to church anymore and my life didn't seem to change that much, even though I prayed every night with my brother. Maybe that was it, I didn't have to go to church as long as I prayed every night... By the time I was 18 years old, I was more confused about organized religion than ever before and this included Christianity.

How can someone kill in the name of God? The Muslims were doing it, the Christians were doing it, the Muslims were fighting the Hindus in India and it all seemed normal. It didn't seem normal to me, when I was supposed to love my neighbor and live a life like Christ who never seemed to start fights or even get mad. Maybe a couple of times, over some money, in the Temple.

I have chosen not to be a part of organized religion. I'd figured out that most of our religious beliefs came from our upbringing. This seems to have brainwashed us into believing we are better because were right and know for a fact, that we have chosen to belong to the right religion. What if were not right?

I want to ask you a question, do you think that other religions are wrong and yours is right? If you really spend some time and think about this, you will see, that your religion is not that different than someone else's and neither was their upbringing. Most religious followers, belonged to the religion of their childhood.

Who Is Jesus?

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual videos filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Faith Belief Or Education

Religion and Spiritual Communication

How do we overcome our difficulties talking about religion with other people? This would also include people that we talk to about religion and agree with us. If someone tends to agrees with us most of the time, this could create difficulties in a different way. Their constant agreement could tell us a couple of things about them, either they don't know enough about the topic you're discussing, have no interest in it or they don't want to upset you and will tend to agree with you often if not always.

The biggest problem, dealing with the difficulties in talking about religion would involve two people who disagree on one or many topics. These topics could range from very important (life changing and factual) to common beliefs. When someone ask you a question like, "Do You Believe in God?", this could lead to an argument with the wrong person.

You can be honest, but always have an exit response if things get a little out of hand. Whenever someone chooses to become animated or mad at me, because of something I said, that they don't believe in, I can simply choose to remove myself from their presence. I would like to point out to my readers, rarely do I ever choose to remove myself from any heated discussion but often encourage or egg them on.

If you don't feel comfortable asking questions about religion, but seek answers from others, start with simple unoffensive questions and lead your way into the bigger ones. For example if I wanted to know, why someone believes in Hinduism, but am afraid to directly ask them... have someone else asked them. Okay maybe that's the easy way out, but you could always start with a question related to their childhood like," How Old Were You When You Started Going to Church?"

They might reply with, we don't go to church, we go to Temple or Mandir. This often breaks the ice that could lead to the end of the conversation, quickly. If you did a little research before you spoke with them, you could always replace church with the word temple but not Mandir. This might give them the impression, you already know about their religion, let them explain their religion to you.

If this is handled in a nonthreatening way, it could lead to a friendship of greater trust and now you can ask the bigger questions. Asking the big questions sometimes, even in a friendly environment this could become frustrating if your intentions are other than just gathering information. Don't try to convert anyone to follow your religion or spiritual practices. This could end the relationship quickly and cause bad feelings.

Treat people like you would like to be treated and if you treat people poorly, disregard the last statement and treat people with kindness and compassion.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

If you want to read something funny and get your daily laugh in, you need to read this, it's funny Using Religion Responsibility. It's based on overindulgence.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Luck Is What Happens When

Growing Up Around Christians in Organized Religion

I was born in the 1960s and raised in Southern California, United States of America. During that period of time, and in the area I was raised, there was basically one religion that dominated every aspect of mine and my friends lives. That religion was Christianity. When I was in elementary school, I knew one Jewish boy and he looked different than the Christians and even talk different. He was very smart and spent a lot of his time reading, instead of playing at recess.

There were no Muslims or Hindus and it was a predominantly white environment. The first black students I seen was when I entered the eighth grade and by the time I finished high school, I could count all of the black students I had met on both of my hands. So now you have a pretty good idea of my life, living in a white neighborhood that was 90% Christian.

As you can guessed it, I was raised a Christian, but not a regular Christian, I was a Methodist and proud of it, until my parents got tired of the church elders asking for money or if my father could help build the new church. My father explained to them, that he needed to work to support his family and could only contribute, what ever he could to the church and no more. They were very unhappy and made it uncomfortable for us to go to the church anymore.

Hard to imagine, isn't it. Christians asking for money and then when they don't receive it, getting mad at one of their brethren.

Well it was time to switch churches and we are now going to the Crystal Cathedral Church in Garden Grove California. These people had everything and it was a large church. This was before they built the massive glass structure that is presently the church sanctuary. I enjoy going to this church, because we didn't have to go to Sunday school and got to sit with the adults to worship.

By the time I was 15, neither one of my parents were going to church anymore and my life didn't seem to change that much, even though I prayed every night with my brother. Maybe that was it, I didn't have to go to church as long as I prayed every night... By the time I was 18 years old, I was more confused about organized religion than ever before and this included Christianity.

How can someone kill in the name of God? The Muslims were doing it, the Christians were doing it, the Muslims were fighting the Hindus in India and it all seemed normal. It didn't seem normal to me, when I was supposed to love my neighbor and live a life like Christ who never seemed to start fights or even get mad. Maybe a couple of times, over some money, in the Temple.

I have chosen not to be a part of organized religion. I'd figured out that most of our religious beliefs came from our upbringing. This seems to have brainwashed us into believing we are better because were right and know for a fact, that we have chosen to belong to the right religion. What if were not right?

I want to ask you a question, do you think that other religions are wrong and yours is right? If you really spend some time and think about this, you will see, that your religion is not that different than someone else's and neither was their upbringing. Most religious followers, belonged to the religion of their childhood.

Who Is Jesus?

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual videos filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Guilt Feeding On Your Conscience

Religion and Spiritual Communication

How do we overcome our difficulties talking about religion with other people? This would also include people that we talk to about religion and agree with us. If someone tends to agrees with us most of the time, this could create difficulties in a different way. Their constant agreement could tell us a couple of things about them, either they don't know enough about the topic you're discussing, have no interest in it or they don't want to upset you and will tend to agree with you often if not always.

The biggest problem, dealing with the difficulties in talking about religion would involve two people who disagree on one or many topics. These topics could range from very important (life changing and factual) to common beliefs. When someone ask you a question like, "Do You Believe in God?", this could lead to an argument with the wrong person.

You can be honest, but always have an exit response if things get a little out of hand. Whenever someone chooses to become animated or mad at me, because of something I said, that they don't believe in, I can simply choose to remove myself from their presence. I would like to point out to my readers, rarely do I ever choose to remove myself from any heated discussion but often encourage or egg them on.

If you don't feel comfortable asking questions about religion, but seek answers from others, start with simple unoffensive questions and lead your way into the bigger ones. For example if I wanted to know, why someone believes in Hinduism, but am afraid to directly ask them... have someone else asked them. Okay maybe that's the easy way out, but you could always start with a question related to their childhood like," How Old Were You When You Started Going to Church?"

They might reply with, we don't go to church, we go to Temple or Mandir. This often breaks the ice that could lead to the end of the conversation, quickly. If you did a little research before you spoke with them, you could always replace church with the word temple but not Mandir. This might give them the impression, you already know about their religion, let them explain their religion to you.

If this is handled in a nonthreatening way, it could lead to a friendship of greater trust and now you can ask the bigger questions. Asking the big questions sometimes, even in a friendly environment this could become frustrating if your intentions are other than just gathering information. Don't try to convert anyone to follow your religion or spiritual practices. This could end the relationship quickly and cause bad feelings.

Treat people like you would like to be treated and if you treat people poorly, disregard the last statement and treat people with kindness and compassion.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

If you want to read something funny and get your daily laugh in, you need to read this, it's funny Using Religion Responsibility. It's based on overindulgence.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a spiritual video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Developing Wealth Building Habit