Back in the day when I was in college - my prof. in Philosophy 'threw a monkey wrench' ... in that, "If the Christian/Jewish God is so loving, why does He allow children to suffer of hunger, starvation and such all over the world...?"

The answer came back to her -> God doesn't allow it. Man does. God has given all the means and resources to see to these things - but man in his selfish - greed and lust for power allows it to happen." Then the person went on to ask the Prof. "Ma'm with all due respect, what have you done to help stop this very thing?" She turned very deep red in the face and we suddenly changed the topic.

I think angels are there - but I feel we are suppose to be our brother's keeper .. and help when we can. No I am not talking Socialism or such .. but I am talking Charity - Caring and such. We take care of our 'home' first .. and then as it is available to us - we reach out ...

Example and NO I am not tooting my horn. There are good "Support a 3rd World Child" groups out there - that do indeed "do the job" .. for the past 30 years my wife and I have supported over 14 kids .. and we made it a family project with our kids as they were growing up. They began to see at an early age, just how lucky and blessed they were, when they saw the kids we supported and the life they live. As one of my kids said, "Dad, it's like they live in and on a totally different planet! We really do have it good, don't we?"

Now they are beginning to see, as they can do this, they do. They are still starting out .. but the seed has been planted in them and it will go forth with them as well. Our daughter is even now thinking of ways to get her daughters to see and understand ...

Angels are there .. but .. sometimes "angels" are us as well .... we can be "Guarding Angels" if we choose.

I now step off the soap box .. Sorry for the Preachy tone .. (This is dear to my heart .. )

This is an excellent comment that inspired me to post a comment. Do angels exist? I think so. Looking back on my life, I feel that there were times that I should have died years ago. I don't believe that I ever saw or heard an angel. Still I feel that angels do exist. They might be in human form or they might take over a person's mind to borrow that person's body for a few moments. I also feel that some of the entities in my home may be invisible and silent angels.

I have read a story today in my local newspaper of how a spirit or angel disguised as a nurse in a hospital put a patient at ease. This patient described how the nurse came into his room and eased his worries and physical pain. The next day, the patient asked the other nurses who this kind and compassionate nurse was? None of the other nurses knew who this nurse may be. No such nurse worked the floor or even in the hospital that may have described this nurse.

The patient mentioned above writes a column in my local newspaper. When a reader read the story about the mysterious nurse, the reader sent either a letter or email to the newspaper columnist. The reader who sent the letter described a similar mysterious nurse. The reader (wife) took her husband to the emergency room for a life threatening medical condition. An elderly nurse told the wife that the husband will be fine and that God will take care of the husband. The husband was admitted and the wife went back to the emergency room to thank the elderly nurse. None of the other nurses on duty knew of this elderly nurse. The director of nursing said no such elderly nurse worked at the hospital.

The husband who survived did recall a nurse that looked exactly like the mysterious elderly nurse from years ago. That nurse took care of the husband when he was a teen many years ago. That particular elderly nurse died many years ago.

I have always wondered where angels got their wings from. http://www.the-gospe...els-have-wings/

One of my favorite TV shows was "Touched By An Angel"

My own brother had many memories of a past life when he was a child. He talked a lot about when he was a "big man" and a teacher. He also has had very vivid dreams all of his life in which he is a dark-skinned man swimming with a child who was his child in the dream. Suddenly my brother is dragged under the water by a shark. To this day, my brother is absolutely phobic about sharks.

I myself have always had a phobia about big ships. I get physically ill when I even see a picture of one in a magazine. Turns out that my father is also terrified of ships and so is one of my nieces. Believe me, my father and I never discussed this fear until I was an adult and we had never talked about it with my niece. So why are we so afraid of ships?

We're not afraid of small boats at all. We're not afraid of water or the ocean. So why does the idea of getting on a big ship make us hyperventilate?

I was discussing this with a friend one evening who suggested that we'd all gone down on a big ship in a past life and it made me wonder....

People like this guy are on the fringe of Christianity. I always wonder if people like him who may call themselvs Reverands are realy Christian. People like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who say they are Reverands but never preach the Christian believes. Probably just a bunch of hucksters who get an online pastors permit so they can claim a tax deduction for religious purposes.

It's the people like this that scare me the most. They are dangerous, dangerous people. Can you imagine the implications of something like this? It would be horrific, to say the least. Also, imagine someone saying that all Christians or Muslims had to register. It would be war. Neither group would stand for it.

Here's the way I see it, plain and simple: The religious shouldn't be treated like special citizens because of their belief, and the atheist shouldn't be treated like a second-class citizen because of their non-belief. End of story. It's really not hard to comprehend.

Read more here: http://www.care2.com...l-registry.html

KK- Buddhist beliefs are actually something I really don't know too much about. I did work for a Sanskrit master once though- not the greatest of experiences. Pretty weird guy. Didn't quite grasp the concept of bill paying lol. I did mention that to him one day- "I'm pretty sure Karma isn't going to like all of these past due invoices."

Every religion has it's jerks. Or maybe he was just absent minded like me.

Reincarnation is like any religious doctrine - you have to consider it in the context of the religion it is drawn from. In the Buddhist, Hindu, etc. faiths, it brings great comfort and hope to literally billions of people. I'm pretty sure that the majority of people around the world believe in reincarnation, including about 25% of American Christians (like me).

I don't think that many people would continue to practice a religion that held no hope of redemption. I know I wouldn't. It may take me a lot of lifetimes, but I'm going to make it out of here. /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

KK- Buddhist beliefs are actually something I really don't know too much about. I did work for a Sanskrit master once though- not the greatest of experiences. Pretty weird guy. Didn't quite grasp the concept of bill paying lol. I did mention that to him one day- "I'm pretty sure Karma isn't going to like all of these past due invoices."

/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Bless his heart! He's one person that deserves another chance. He was such a sad person. He was like Keith Whitley - so talented and so tortured.

I agree, hope he is getting another 'go round'.

Symp and KK, I think you are both correct about the reincarnation thing. I had to take a college class on world religions and this was how it was taught to us. I wonder if Kurt Cobain believed in karma.

Bless his heart! He's one person that deserves another chance. He was such a sad person. He was like Keith Whitley - so talented and so tortured.

everytime you speak you open my eyes to other things i did not know was out there. makes alot of sense now. thanks st

Here is the thing -

I've been told by unsolicited PLR's that ...

I was an Indian Chief.

.... Fact - I have two Native American's in my genealogy that were chiefs of tribes on the East Coast and Mid-West.

I was a King.

.... Fact - I have several KINGS in my genealogy on my mom's side and dad's side .. both adoptive father and my blood father.

I was in the military.

.... Fact - I have Captains, General and such in my family background.

You helped the slaves.

.... Fact - My great-great grandfather with another man - each sold 100 acres of their land and put the money to buy slaves to set them free.

See the thing is - if one actually looks into their genealogy - they would be surprised at how diversified their history is!

I even have some bad guys - gals in my past as well.

The thing is - PLR's unless they can be very specific ... which more then not they are generic and for good reasons .... are safe because just about anything and everything would/could fit.

Like my daughter was told - "You were a great artist in one of your past lives. That is why you love art so much!" Her reply made me proud - "Or it could be that art runs in my families blood. My dad and mom's sides of the family both have long lines of artists." Which is true. You were to look at my daughter's picture and her cousin's .. you would think they were twins. They both share more similarities then just looks. Their art, music, interests ... sometimes genetics can be 'scary' ... /wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> But there is no doubt they are related ... oh and they were born 4 years apart ....

OH - the PLR's response to my daughter? "Oh, I suppose that works too." and walked away. She said, "He obviously realized I was not impressed." So proud of her!!

I guess there are many different beliefs in reincarnation and people have adopted maybe their needs into this belief.

Constant rebirth, never ending.

I thought the Hindu belief in reincarnation was, the soul being inmortal goes onto birth again and again. Lessons are learned and experiences, you evolve spirtually. Then you so to speak graduate from physical birth.

I never thought reincarnation process went on forever, but what do I know anymore.

You are absolutely correct, SFTD. The Hindu and Buddhist religions share the belief that you can release yourself from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth (Samsara) by achieving enlightenment. There is as much HOPE in these religions as there is in any other belief system. Maybe more.

"As he [The Buddha} meditated under a tree, he saw all of his past lives, and then the past lives of others. Eventually he gained a perfect, omniscient knowledge of this world and the world beyond it.

In Buddhism, this state, which the Buddha couldn't relate in language, is called nirvana. The word is Sanskrit for "to extinguish." In this case, it means to extinguish ignorance, hatred and earthly suffering. The term is most closely associated with Buddhism, though it's applied to a similar concept in Hinduism. By achieving nirvana, you can escape samsara, the cycle of reincarnation that characterizes both Hinduism and Buddhism. In each life, a soul is punished or rewarded based on its past actions, or karma, from the current life as well as earlier lives (which also include lives as animals).

It's important to note that the law of karma isn't due to a god's judgment over a person's behavior; it's closer to Newtons law of motion -- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It happens automatically, of its own accord.

When you achieve nirvana, you stop accumulating bad karma because you've transcended it. You spend the rest of your life and sometimes future lives "working off" the bad karma you've already accumulated.

Once you have fully escaped the karmic cycle, you achieve parinirvana -- final nirvana -- in the afterlife. As with Hindu nirvana, souls that have achieved parinirvana are free of the cycle of reincarnation. The Buddha never specified what parinirvana was like. In Buddhist thought, it is beyond normal human comprehension."

http://science.howstuffworks.c.....rvana1.htm

"The Sikhs believe in the evolution of the Soul and the principle of reincarnation. The soul is believed to be a tiny spark of God’s light "detached" from the Almighty. This spark is separated from God and wants to become pure so that it can "reunite" with God. For this to happen, the Soul has to evolve and purify itself so that this reunification with the Supreme Soul can take place.

The law of Karma is another concept central to this faith. Ones actions in this life will have a direct influence on the type of life now and in your next existence! So to adhere to these principles, the dedicated follower must lead a disciplined personal life and must uphold the moral and ethical rights of all the peoples of the world."

http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.....kh_Beliefs

So the belief in reincarnation is just like every other religion: we're either working our way toward some kind of Heaven or Hell. What hell could be worse than being stuck in an endless cycle of incarnations, steadily becoming more evil and selfish?

As for there not being enough souls, I really do not follow that logic. Whether we are reincarnated or newly incarnate, if we have a soul then there has to be enough to go around, right? (Assuming that the soul exists at all). So either they all already exist or they are being created continuously as needed. Personally, I like the Sikh image of God as a bonfire, constantly creating sparks of light that become our souls, our divine spark.

The reason this planet doesn't seem to be evolving may well be because the people who are nearing perfection either don't reincarnate or don't reincarnate here. It would be pretty arrogant to believe that this planet is the only place there is. There are many other possibilities, such as parallel universes. other planets, a spiritual realm. It makes sense to me that our reality is only one of many and that it is reserved for people who are not very highly evolved, spiritually speaking.

I don't know why we don't remember our past life. My guess is that it's a kindness. I know I have enough memories and problems in this life, so how would it help me to remember the old ones? Would anyone really want to remember all the pain and suffering in the past lives? Would anyone want to remember dying? Not this chica.

Personally, I believe in soul groups and I believe in soul mates. I'm married to mine. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />