[FONT=arial,Verdana,Helvetica,'Sans Serif']Dear namjap ji,
These are nice small essays compiled beautifully.I am quoting the following from the passage from above,i.e. God is not a vending machine.
Quote
"God is not a thing. He is a being. He has a will. He has desires. He relates to people. He has personality traits. Prayer is a fancy word for talking to God. God, who knows everything, even before we say it, knows the difference between our thoughts and wishes, and when we are actually addressing him. He hears our prayers and responds. His responses are based on his personal decisions. We cannot predict how he will respond to our prayers.."
Unquote
This is really beautiful. Regarding aad ji's comments, I do endorse her views that all faiths are good and nice. Each and every sage who has given the' word of God' has opened a path to lead a truthful life. None of the religion is to be discarded in preference to the one that we practice. All these were God men. They would all be classified as saints as per the concept of sikhism. All faiths have some connection through the fact that every religion and faith proclaims that He is Supreme and that we should practice a truthful life and help others in the manner that is possible for us.All the faiths have recommended the service that should be carried out without expectation of the reward.This is the message of sikhism ;It is the message of Christianity.
In other words, they proceed to idolize the great Soul that we call as God. The memory of the sage is indeed sharp and strong at the beginning, but it gets blurred with time, and men come increasingly under the sway of misguided and false notions that finally crystallize into stupid, irrational practices. Sikhism does not have many rituals except for being in love of God and be in His memory. I am not saying that it is all about sikhism. These are some of the essentials of the sikhism besides many other.
Yes, this body is the temple of God.
Thanks for the thread and the posts.