Spiritual Archives

How to Be More Present & Mindful of Negative Thinking

Want to know how to be more mindful and present? How can you practice this if you’re plagued by negative thoughts? According to psychotherapist Russ Harris, you can’t get rid of the negative thoughts and feelings that distract you in everyday life—especially the feeling of fear. Harris stresses that learning how to be more present and mindful of your thoughts and fears requires continual practice. Read on to learn how to be more mindful and present, despite negative thought patterns, based on Harris’s advice.

3 Possible Solutions to Poverty Your Church Can Implement

What are some possible solutions to poverty? How will these tactics help your local communities? In When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert outline three specific intervention tactics for your church to consider as you contemplate ways to help the poor in your area. These tactics are job preparation, financial education, and opportunities for wealth accumulation. Let’s discuss each of these solutions to poverty in turn.

What Poverty in the United States Looks Like & How to Fix It

What is poverty in the United States like? How can we solve the poverty issue in the U.S.? Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, the authors of When Helping Hurts, point out that churches are often best equipped to help the poor in their own communities. While missions to alleviate poverty in developing nations may get more press, there are still poor communities in America. Let’s look at a clear picture of what poverty looks like in the contemporary United States.

Why Can’t Women Be Priests? The Real Reason

Why can’t women be priests? What does paganism have to do with the exclusion of women from church leadership? To this day, the Catholic Church remains staunch on its policy that women cannot be ordained into the priesthood. According to Brian Muraresku, the exclusion of women from the priesthood and other official church leadership was a way to eradicate all traces of paganism. Keep reading to learn about the history of the exclusion of women from church leadership.

Poverty Alleviation Projects: Who Should Run Them?

How should you begin a poverty alleviation project? Should you be in charge? In When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert advise that sometimes, other people or organizations are in a better position to minister to a given community than you or your church are. If that’s the case, you should let the people who are most qualified to do the project take charge of it. Read below to learn why you should step back on your poverty alleviation project.

Brian Muraresku on Mysticism and Christianity

What is the connection between mysticism and Christianity? Why did the early church want to overthrow mystical practices? At the time of the birth of Christianity, the Greeks practiced a polytheistic religion, which included a rich mystical element. Practitioners sought to attain a profound spiritual connection with the supernatural through a direct mystical experience, which was facilitated by the ingestion of psychedelic brews. Here’s how Christianity put an end to Greek mystical traditions and overtook the Greco-Roman world.

Why Did the Church Reject the Gnostic Gospels?

What is Gnosis? Why did the Church reject the Gnostic Gospels? The Gnostic Gospels are a collection of books purportedly written by followers of Jesus, likely between AD 120 and 150. Although the writers themselves professed to be devotees of Jesus and claimed to be revealing truths from him, leaders of the early Christian church omitted these books from the Biblical canon. Here’s why the Gnostic texts were excluded from the official Christian canon.

How to Manifest Your Dreams Into Reality

What does it mean to “manifest” something? Can you really think your dreams into being? The idea that you can manifest your dreams by thinking may sound incredulous. But ultimately, everything begins with a thought—an idea, a desire, an intention. Thought energy shapes the world, and you can channel it to shape your life. Here’s how to manifest your dreams into reality.

What Is Paternalism? The Superiority Complex, Explained

What is paternalism? Why do some people treat the poor like children? Paternalism is a superiority complex where people treat others like children. Manifesting this complex delivers the message that some people are incapable of taking care of themselves, and often brings more harm than good. Keep reading to learn more about how paternalism hurts others.

The Immortality Key: Book Overview (Brian Muraresku)

What is Brian Muraresku’s book The Immortality Key about? What is the key message to take away from the book? The Immortality Key, published in 2020, is Brian Muraresku’s deep dive into the origins of Christianity and its overlap with pre-existing pagan religious customs. Muraresku argues that Christianity began as a female-led mystical cult that used psychedelics to induce transcendental states to connect with the divine. Below is a brief overview of The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian Muraresku.