Spirit and Life: Trying To Make Sense of It All

By Nombuyiselo Luphiwana

Trying to make sense of life's tough questions. Are we alone? Is there a God, and if there is one what kind of God is He? Or She? Do our lives have purpose or meaning? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Will things ever get better or are human beings destined to suffer? What is the conflict between religion and science really about? These and many questions go through every thinking person's mind from time to time. The book is the author's attempt to find answers to the questions of life. Through studying books of wisdom passed down to us by our predecessors and through discoveries made by science a picture is being to emerge about the nature of the life we are living here on earth. We are beginning to see how things fit together. In John 8:31 Jesus said if people continue in his teachings they will know the truth and the truth will set them free. And in 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul said that things are not clear to us right now. It is as if we are looking through a dark mirror. Sometimes what we see is a distorted image. Sometimes we are not even sure of what we are seeing. But there will come a time when we will see things clearly. Is trying to figure things out then a waste of time? Should we leave those questions alone and just wait for the time when they are revealed to us by God at whatever time He/She sees fit? Is ignorance bliss? Unfortunately ignorance is not always bliss. What you do not know may hurt you. To navigate life will as little pain as possible we need to know more about how life works; how things work. Finding out the truth of things should be everyone's preoccupation because it affects all of us. It should not just be the preoccupation of scientists and scholars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nombuyiselo Luphiwana
• Release date: Aug 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005024413

Nombuyiselo Luphiwana

I consider myself a student of life.

Book preview

Spirit And Life

Trying To Making Sense Of It All

Nombuyiselo Luphiwana

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2020 Nombuyiselo Luphiwana

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Truth

Chapter 2 - The Missing Information

Chapter 3 - God

Chapter 4 - For The Love Of God

Chapter 5 - Religion

Chapter 6 - The Presence

Chapter 7 - There Is No Death

Chapter 8 - Spirits Among Us

Chaptrer 9 - Faith

Chapter 10 - Friends In High Places

Chapter 11 - The Holy Spirit

Chapter 12 - Judgement Day

Chapter 13 - Life After Death

Chapter 14 - Pain

Chapter 15 - Death And Aging

Chapter 16 - The Death Penalty

Chapter 17 - Prayer And Meditation

Chapter 18 - Diet

Chapter 19 - The Revelation Continues

Chapter 20 - The Age Of Justice

Chapter 21 - The Revolution Continues

Chapter 22 - The Law Of Karma

Chapter 23 - Churches

Chapter 24 - Trees

Chapter 25 - Healing The Earth

About The Author

Connect With The Author

Recommended Books

Introduction

The big mystery that is Life. Some may say the mystery is what makes life exciting. But the mystery is not supposed to remain a mystery forever. Eventually we are supposed to figure everything out, then things will no longer be a mystery to us. Besides, figuring out life's mysteries will protect us from harm, from running into walls we did not know were there.

This book is my attempt at figuring out life's mysteries. It is written for people who have not been exposed to spiritual and metaphysical ideas. Hopefully it will get them thinking about things they have not thought about before and that will lead them to search and define their own truth based on what makes sense to them and not on what someone tells them. People should not accept anything I or anyone says unless it makes sense to them or their experiences have proven it to be true. That is the way it is supposed to be. Each person is responsible for their own belief system. When it comes to belief there is no one size fits all. This book is not the last word on any subject rather it is the beginning of my exploration in that subject.

Chapter 1 - Truth

Searching for the Truth is like digging for gold. You have to dig through a lot of dirt to find that nugget of gold. Similarly, you have to dig through a lot of untruths to find that tiny nugget of Truth. Be aware though: not everything that is written in the Bible (or any other scripture for that matter) is the Truth. There are fragments of truth in there but they are mixed up with a lot of untruths. Your task is to figure out which parts are true and follow them and discard the parts that are untrue. If you take every word in the scriptures as the literal truth you will go astray. You will do the wrong thing. Have you ever wondered why it is that religious practice does not necessarily make people better? It does not make people kinder or more moral. It is because religions teach people both the truth and untruth. The people are then following untruths together with the truths contained in their scriptures.

Scriptures are fallible

The truth is that scriptures, including the Bible, were written by people who were fallible (they could get things wrong). Sometimes what they wrote was divinely inspired, sometimes it was not; it was just their ideas. The people who wrote the Bible for instance did not know everything that is out there in the Universe. There were gaps in their knowledge and they filled those gaps with their ideas, opinions, and beliefs. Those ideas, opinions, and beliefs could be right or they could be wrong. The task for us is to recognise when what the scripture writers are saying is divinely inspired (it is the truth) or when it is their ideas, opinions, and beliefs. Today with scientific discoveries we know more about how things are in the world and how they work compared to the people who wrote our scriptures. So, why is our worldview held hostage to a worldview of people who knew less than we do?

Truth is eternal

Truth is eternal, it does not change. Something that was true in biblical times is still true today and will always be true. Ideas can be true or untrue. If they are true they will stand the test of time and if they are untrue they will eventually be found out and discarded. That is the way it is supposed to be. Religion, culture, traditions, or scriptures are not infallible. They represent the highest knowledge people of a particular time attained. Since our knowledge is not yet perfect, our religions, our scriptures, our cultures, or our traditions are not perfect. Not even science is perfect because it is not complete, scientists do not know everything. As our knowledge increases our cultures and religions should change to reflect the new knowledge. We are on a journey of discovery that takes us closer and closer to the Ideal which is the Supreme Goodness (God). We are discovering God’s will; what is acceptable to God (what God wants) and what is not acceptable to God. We are supposed to keep changing our behaviour to be in line (aligned) with what we are discovering about what God wants. That is why our cultures and religions have to be constantly changing (evolving) as we adjust them to reflect the will of God as we know it (not as our ancestors knew it); until at some time in the future, our cultures and religions become perfect representations of the will of God.

God should be our guide

Right now when it comes to our scriptures, cultures, and religions we are not guided by God. We are guided by those human beings who came before us, our ancestors. That is, we look up to our ancestors, not to God. But our ancestors knew less than we do now about how the world works and their view of Life was based on less knowledge than we have now. Just through science we have discovered many facts (truths) that our ancestors did not know. Our situation is like a student in high school looking up (or down) to a student who is still in primary school for guidance. That will not help the high school student’s progress. In fact it will slow him/her down and even lead him/her astray. Even our inner moral values (our conscience) are improving. There was a time when our ancestors thought that it was okay to treat other human beings like property, buying, and selling them as slaves. Now we know better. We know that enslaving other human beings is morally wrong. So if our ancestors were wrong about that, how can we assume that they were right about everything else?

God’s plan

We are constantly improving and becoming better people. That is part of Gods’ plan. We are supposed to ‘grow’ morally and spiritually and become better people. In our cultural and religious practices we have to take into consideration truths that have been discovered, that our ancestors who wrote the scriptures and the dictates of our cultures did not know. We must always strive to represent the highest truths that we know in our lives. We must live our lives according to that truth. We must keep only those cultural or religious practices that are in line with that truth and drop the rest. That is how we will move closer to God who is the Highest (The Most High). Religion and culture are not meant to be static. They are meant to keep on changing to accommodate the truth as more of the truth is revealed. When they become static they become ‘deadly’, both spiritually and physically, as they continue to teach out-dated ideas, ideas that do not work. Cultures and religions should be constantly integrating current human knowledge (both scientific and spiritual) so that they can reflect the Highest that we know.

Jesus' teachings

In the Bible Jesus’ teachings have stood the test of time. What he taught people is as valid today as when he taught it over two thousand years ago. Other teachings by other people are sometimes no longer valid today; they do not speak to our life experiences. As a result their practice has been dropped. In other religions it is the same. Each religion was founded on some truth. The founders of the religions were mystics who knew the truth and taught it. The problem came after the founder died and the followers began adding their interpretation and ideas to the teachings. If you want to find out which parts of a religion are true, you have to strip it bare, right to the bone; right to the original teachings of the founder. Everything that has been added to that, all the interpretations are likely not true. In Christianity for example, the founder Jesus taught love and peace; so you have to judge any other Christian teaching or belief based on whether it promotes love or peace among people. If it does not do that it is not consistent with how Jesus thought based on what he taught

It is not about religion

It does not matter what religion you follow, the Truth is the same across all religions so all religions will agree on those teachings that are the Truth. The founders did not contradict each other because they all knew the same things, the same truths. They followed the same Way of God. The problem is with their followers who do not know the Way of God or do not follow it. The one true religion that every person should follow is the Truth. The Way of Truth is the same as the Way of Love or the Way of Peace. When you set out to discover what the Truth about Life is you will