What should I do when I feel out of place around other Kids or Teens?

Anne asks:

Q: What should I do when I feel out of place around a group of kids or teens?

1. Realize your not alone. Most people you interact with feel the same way no matter how popular they seem to be. It’s so human and normal, no matter what age we are. We were not created to be alone. People want to belong.

2. Become a good listener. People love to talk about themselves. You will never lack a friend if people know you care about them.

3. Do your best to make sure someone you meet doesn’t feel out of place around you.

4. Be prepared to stand alone if the individual or group want to do something that can hurt someone else. Peer pressure can be negative or positive. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing work to change the situation in a positive way or walk away so you don’t contributing to hurting others. It won’t be permanent. Most people eventually come to their senses and try to do the right thing.

5. Relax. Enjoy the simple things in life. People love being around those kind of people.

Can Dead people Hear Us?

Becky asks,

“If you talk/pray to a dead christian, can they hear you and do they go to heaven now or later? “What does the “status of the dead” mean and what are the different variations?”

There are many opinions out there, but few people really know the details of how the spiritual world works. I do know we die physically when all our functions stop permanently. Many cultures pray to their ancestors for good fortune. In the bible, King Saul used a medium to summon the prophet Samuel and actually talked to him. It didn’t end well. Click here to read the story.

One thing is for certain. It is a dangerous thing to fool with the spiritual world, especially through mediums. In India the spiritual world interacts hand in hand with the physical world. To the people it is normal. They understand the danger of interacting with such spirits. It is to easy to be deceived and put into bondage and fear. Many mediums control villages around the world with such power while being under bondage themselves. It was not meant to be.

Talk to the holy spirit instead and let him guide you while using the scriptures to help you get to know the character of God. Remember what God told the disciples after they saw Jesus with Elijah and Moses (Click here for the story) “This is my beloved Son; listen to him”. Thats good advice.

I’ll tackle the question ” When do people go to heaven?” in another post at a later time. Meanwhile here is a cool movie to talk about with your friends.

Why is There So Much Suffering in the World?

Disease, natural disasters, war, tragic accident, killing, raping, watching children die. Why is there so much suffering in the world?

1. It is my opinion that in most human suffering, we only have ourselves to blame. When someone or something keeps us from getting something we want or feel we deserve, we act upon it to get what we want even to the point of obsession. Our actions whether verbal or physical create suffering and hurt for others and ourselves. Unfortunately when we get what we want, we are either disappointed or want more. Eventually those we hurt or oppress, reciprocate and a it becomes a vicious cycle. Anything or anyone in the way suffers for it. We are at war with our inability as a human species to be grateful for what we have, to love one another and to treat our neighbors as ourselves.

2. The earth is a volatile globe of water, fire and earth movement. No one on earth is safe from natural climactic or physical events. It is unavoidable no matter how many politicians get involved.

3. If you believe in evolution than its the survival of the fittest and we should embrace suffering and death as the natural order of things. There are no rules but to survive.

4. If you believe God created us than we are in rebellion like a child is to a parent because we think God is either being unfair to us or keeping us from what we want. It is written God made everything good and our rebellion started and continues to create a chain of events which breaks down that which is good including creation itself. It is written that one day suffering and death will end, the creation and our relationship with God will be restored. To learn more click here

5. We don’t take positive actions to make our lives and the peoples around us better. We have the ability to imagine bad things happening to other people and other places and not us. We become so disconnected to whats happening around us, we don’t even reach out and touch those who live right next door to us.

6. If you are a Microsoft employee it’s all an illusion. We have no control, but are programmed as part of some virtual gaming program developed by super alien teenagers.

“Computer” “Delete program”

What to do if you are lonely ?

1. Spend time with someone else who is lonely so they won’t be. That’s just about everyone especially Sr citizens, widows, single parents and married folks. You know, The Human race. There are billions of them.

2. Get a pet. Pets don’t care whether you are ugly, fat thin or bald. They just want you to feed them and pet them. Be careful though. If you spend to much time with your pet you might start looking like them and vice versa.

3. Be grateful for the people in your life whether or not they are ugly, fat, thin, bald, have smelly feet or talk a mile a minute. There would be a lot less lonelier people in the world if we did that.

What do people want?

All people want to be loved, listened to, respected, celebrated, feel safe, have enough food, shelter and be happy. It is a commonality all humans have.

What gets us into trouble is when we feel someone else is keeping us from one of these things. It usually starts with our relatives and neighbors and spills out from there. Thats how battles begin and wars start.