arkanzaki

ok, weightlossThat's a very very broad subject, and many theories on the issue.I will talk about some practical ways.There are two main pathways to lose weight, and I suggest combining the two.The first one is to eat less than you burn, and the second is to burn more than you eat.The first one consists of diminishing your calories intake, and the second one consists of raising the metabolism, the speed at which we burn energy.Now what is tricky, is that lowering one's calorie intake, lowers one's metabolism, and therefore we burn less. And raising our metabolism makes us eat more calories.That's annoying... but that's how God made us.Now to find the correct balance is what is very important. The trick is to be very honest with ourselves and pinpoint exactly where we stand in the energy intake-energy burning scale. The trick is to eat a little bit less than we do usually, and exercise a little bit more than we usually do, and every month diminish intake and increase exercising a little bit. It's by making consistant and regular baby steps, easy and continuous improvements, that we can lose weight with little effort and difficulty.losing a few pounds every month for 2 years is more stable than losing 40 pounds in 2 months. what goes easily will come back easily. Our bodies need discipline, long term discipline.Fun also helps. Many people who lost a lot of weight did so because they found out they enjoyed some kind of sport, and practiced it as often as they could. So it was not just a "weight loss workout" but fun.Don't look at women's magazines, no one can live upto the way they look, not even the models themselves.that's why they have so much surgeries and make up on their bodies, or are anorexic.Enjoy your bodies, but be healthy. Don't change because of the way you look, but change because of what you will enjoy with your body. Enjoy your health.

ok... I have rarely read answers like "I am christian but I don't believe in God" or "I am Christian and I believe in ghosts because they're in the Bible"... what bible is that? you must be reading into the text.For this reason, I will not say "I am a christian". I actually refuse to be called "a christian" because of what this means now. I am a disciple of Jesus, a servant of God, a man who is less than a worm, more like the dirt on which the worm slides on.Yes, that's how I would introduce myself.I will not tell you what I think or feel or imagine or have seen in a movie or wish was like some movie, but I will rather share with you what I have read from the Bible. Do not worry, I will not quote any passages, not to bore you people to death. But if anyone wants the relevant quotes, reply my post or message me or how ever that works.I will start with what I found in the Bible that makes me believe in everything.I was an agnostic, and I read what Jesus spoke, and at this point I believed in God, in a personal God, because I recognized the goodness of Jesus and He was what made me believe. His words have never been matched, no one has ever spoken like he did. Even until now, 2000 years later. He is actually offensive to most people throughout history. He makes prophets look like they were so far from God, because of the words he said. I believe everything Jesus said.Jesus preached of what comes after this life. He actually focused so much of his preaching on the 'after-life'.Jesus spoke of heaven and He spoke of Hell. Until Jesus, the word for Hell in the Old Testament was 'world of the grave' or 'the grave' or 'world of the dead' because of the word "sheol" which litterally means grave. Instead, Jesus used the word 'gehenna' or 'gehennom', which means 'valley of the family of Henna' or 'valley of the family of Hennom'. That area, used to be a place where there were temples to 'gods' that demanded human fire sacrifices. King Josiah could not stand such temples in which humans were sacrificed, and so he completely destroyed them to the ground, and made of them a never ending garbage dump. And what do you do with garbage when it gets too big a pile? you burn it! (garbage was much more environmentally friendly than now - lol).So that's where the expression "fire of hell" that Jesus used came from. The fire of "gehenna", the garbage place that was continuously burnt. A place of never ending cleansing, a place where the garbage will never stop, a place from which garbage cannot escape. Jesus said that in Hell there was suffering, weeping and gnashing of teeth. It seems to be an expression of great suffering.Jesus also spoke of Heaven or paradise. He also calls it the place where his Father is, or the house of his Father, in which there is place for all who follow him. Jesus also called it "the kingdom of God" and the "kingdom of heaven". But what is strange, is that Jesus spoke if this kingdom as one that starts NOW and continues beyond this life, for all eternity.Both prophet Isaiah and John of the Apocalypse describe heaven as eternity in worship to God, where will be never ending joy of being in the presence of God in His fullness. Joy with God for all eternity... who would not want that?Now the million dollar question is "who deserves heaven and who deserves hell?"I love this question, because if I were to make up two lists of who deserves heaven, I would probably put people I like or people I think are good, and on the list of hell, I would put people who have been horrible to me, or people I thought were very evil because they killed millions or mollested children...But you see, what Jesus has to say about this, is very strange. He actually challenges us to think differently.He said that whoever breaks the smallest commandment of God, deserves Hell. He said that getting angry is like murdering someone, and that if we curse even the smallest curse "you foul" we deserve hell!!! He said that looking at a woman with lust, is like we already had sex with her in our heart. He said that if someone strikes our cheek we should turn the other cheek, if someone steels our shirt, give our jacket also, and if we are forced to walk a mile, walk 2. He said also one of the most challenging things, "people teach you: love your neighbor and hate your ennemy. But I SAY to you, love your ennemies, pray for those who want to kill you, do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you, so that you can be like your Father in Heaven." He also said "BE PERFECT as your Heavenly Father is PERFECT". He also said that unless we are BETTER than the MOST RIGHTEOUS MAN on earth, we will not enter heaven.What does all this tell us? For me it is very clear. We all fail the test. We all fall short of what we are supposed to be like to enter heaven. We are actually so far from it, that there is no way we can fix it. We will never be PERFECT as Jesus is commanding us.So what does this mean? Is heaven deserted and hell packed with all of creation?Does God create us only to throw us in hell, in eternal suffering? That doesn't sound like a very loving God...Here's the thing though... God, before He even created the universe, had the problem - our problem of failing him - already solved.Now I will tell you a story:There was a great king who had power over all the earth. He was a very just king and a very tough king. He had very severe laws like: anyone who curses will be cursed, anyone who mocks will be mocked, anyone who lies will be spat at and slapped, anyone who steals will be flogged 50 times, anyone who has sex outside marriage will be pierced, and finally anyone who curses the KING himself, will be put to death.Now the King had a slave he loved so much, so much he loved him as if he were his own son.But one day, the secret police of the King came to him and told him: we personnally witnessed your slave, the one you love like your own son, cursing, mocking, lying, stealing, have sex outside marriage, and cursing YOU mylord!! what will you do?When the king heard this, his heart was torn in two. He called for a grand trial, in front of all the people, in which he will declare his judgement on the slave he loved like his own son.Now all the people wanted to know what he would do, 'will the king let his slave go? if he does, he would lose his justice! but if he punishes him, he will be merciless, he will put to death even the one he loves as his own son! what will the king do?'Came the trial, and the king was on his throne, facing the slave between the guards and executionners, and all the people were behind the slave. The king spoke his judgement:"my slave, my most beloved slave, the one I love as if he were my own son, has broken my laws. He has mocked, cursed, lied, stole, had sex outside marriage, and cursed ME. The punishment for such crimes are that he should be mocked, cursed at, spat at, slapped, pierced, flogged 50 times and he should be put to death for cursing ME, the king.MY LAWS ARE ETERNAL! THEY MUST BE OBEYED AND PUNISHMENT MUST FOLLOW ANY BREAKING OF MY LAWS!!"The people were shocked, silent, they could not believe how harsh the king spoke.Then suddenly the king rose, removes his crown, lays it on his throne, removes his king's robe, and lays it on his throne too, as he stands half naked in shame in front of his people. then he goes down from the throne, walks towards the slave who was in bounds. He personnaly removes the slave's bounds, and then takes the shirt of the slave, and wears it on himself. Then he tells the slave "you are free to go". then the king stood in the exact place of his slave, between the executionners, and says outloud:APPLY THE LAW.And the king was mocked, people yelled at him "if you are the king, save yourself!! prove to us you truly are king!!" He was cursed, he was spat at, they bound his eyes and slapped him shouting "prophesy! which hand hit you? prophesy!!!" They mocked him by kneeling in front of him and saying "your magesty". They flogged him so much that his blood was everywhere except in his body. They made him a crown to mock him, one made with thorns, and they pierced his head with it. And in the end, they crucified him, and he died.We all know the story does not end here... It actually starts here.We all have broken the word of God, we all have lied, stolen, cursed, hated, lusted, etc... and the punishment for being like that is hell. But the gift that God has given us, is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord and savior.Jesus said "whoever believes in me will shift now from the road to death to the road to life"He was asked "what is the way to eternal life?" and he replied "I am the way, and the truth and the life! No one comes to the father, except through me."And Jesus also said "my sheep are in my hand. no one can snatch them out of my hand. My father gave me my sheep. No one is greater than my father, no one can snatch them out of my father's hand! I and my father are one."I hope you have questions or very interesting replies, disagreements or arguments. But don't expect much back, because This is not about proving anything, but it is faith. And faith is when you cannot prove a thing, but just know.