Requesting Prayer for Dr. M. A. Thomas

Please be in prayer for my grandfather Dr. M. A. Thomas as he has been hospitalized with pneumonia. For updated information, please visit Hopegivers.org

Live Coverage of the Terror in Mumbai, India

For those looking for information about what is going on in Mumbai, you can find live coverage news at IBNLive.com and NDTV.com
For those looking for important contact numbers in Mumbai, Pinstorm.com has a help page for the Mumbai attacks.

Olympics Politics

Help stop the genocide in Darfur
The following post was posted by Sarosh Syed on blogfordarfur.org

Joey Cheek Denied Entry to China

Joey Cheek, 2006 Olympic gold medalist and co-founder of Team Darfur, has been denied entry to China for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Joey, who has also contributed to this blog, had been granted an entry visa to attend the games and support Team Darfur, an international coalition of Olympic athletes helping to raise awareness about the Darfur genocide. Last night, however, the Chinese government revoked the visa.

According to the Washington Post (registration required):

A Chinese official informed Cheek that it was not necessary to give a reason for revoking his visa less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to fly from Washington to Beijing.

In a statement published on the LA Times web site, Cheek said:

I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur.

Help stop the genocide in Darfur

. . . Love God and Love People - The Two Greatest Commands

there are two extremes to be avoided with regards to these commands. one could get completely focused on loving God and ignore people, or completely focused on loving people and ignore God.
the first extreme is due to our selfish nature. the focus here is not truly loving God, for true love for God leads us to love others too; rather, it is a love out of our selfish desire to feel more spiritual than others. the second extreme is due to a failure in understanding our priorities. love for God is the first command, and then is the command to love others.
first of all, the order is important: first, love for God, and then, love for humanity. but, the combination is also important: love for both God and humanity is necessary. in all these, love for self should not be neglected, but, it is also something we need not work at, as it is natural. love for God takes first place; love for others takes the next place; and love for self takes the last seat!

Love God and Love People - The Two Greatest Commands . . .

according to God, the Lawgiver, the two most important commands r these: first, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; second, love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31).
notice, it is not a suggestion, but a command. love is hard work. it does not come naturally to us. if loving God and loving others came naturally to us, then, there is no need of a command. naturally, we r inclined to love only ourselves.
loving others and especially, loving God goes against our fallen nature; hence, this makes loving God and loving others rather an impossible task. this huge task requires the need of something more than natural - a supernatural support. in other words, we need God's help to put Him and others before ourselves. however, just as God's help is crucially necessary, so is the need for our willingness to love.

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Freedom of Choice

one of the greatest truths in Christian theology is that God has given all humans freedom to make choices. this is evident from even the first few verses in the Bible. God gave Adam and Eve freedom to choose from any of the trees for their food. of course, there was a certain limit. but, it was not like there was a boundary set against the tree of life. it was still open because God created humans with the freedom to choose.
well, He is the same God today, and humans still have the freedom of choice, and none can take away that right from us. however, choices have consequences. we sow what we reap. when Adam and Eve chose to go against God's warning, they fell short of His glory. their choice to disobey separated them from God, and they tried on their own to please Him so that they could get back to Him. but, it is not that easy. God took the initiative Himself and provided a way for humans to get back to Him, and that way is through His sacrifice on the cross. we have a choice to either take His provision, which is the only way, or try on our own to set it right, which is impossible.

Unchangeable Truth

i was listening to NPR, and they were interviewing someone who was doing a rendition of 'Messiah', and she said that the 'Messiah' performed today has some differences frm the original and that it has 'evolved.'
well, it's nothing new; it happens in many fields. even the current tech world is constantly changing. very few, if any, still use MS Windows 3.0.
well, it's not just in the comp field, but also in science and medicine. sometimes, what we always believed to be true changes. but, there r also some unchangeable truths.
some truths do not change. it can't. if there is no unchangeable truth, then there is no use/meaning in what we say/write/do.
i believe that what has always been will always be. unchangeable truths are never dependant on our understanding for their existence. no matter what we believe or understand, the unchangeable truth is always going to remain the same. our understanding of the truth may change, but the Eternal Truth does not.
now, why did i say all this for? i don't know . . . may be just to give some a headache or something to think abt :)

True Rest

everybody needs somebody. no one can spend the entirety of their lives without having at least one person to talk to or rely on. yes, sometimes, we like to be left alone; but, we cannot be like that forever. we eventually need someone; we all need a friend. usually family and friends fill this role.
then also, everybody needs God. friends are important and necessary; but, there is only so much they can do. then, we realize the need for someone greater - greater than us, greater than our friends, greater than all. we look for someone to whom we can take all our worries to, someone with a hope greater than what the world could provide, someone with a love greater than what anyone could sacrifice. so, we set out in search for God. why is this so? i believe St. Augustine's words answer that best: 'God hast formed us for Himself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Him.'
and guess what Christ said: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)

By His Grace

i talked to my friend about this new blog, and he told me about how the verse from 1 Cor. 15 has been so often misquoted and wrongly used. some have used this verse to justify their lifestyle saying, 'I am what I am by the grace of God.'
hence, i would like to clarify that my intention in naming this blog 'By His Grace' is not to justify my actions/lifestyle. rather, my intention here is just to state the most important fact of my life that it is entirely by God's grace alone that i am spared the punishment that i deserve and that it is entirely by His grace alone that i am rewarded with a blessing that i do not deserve.