Recently I read a news saying there’s a massive drop-off in church attendance. The news startled me for a minute, but I realise this is a sign of a changing society – a secular society. There’s nothing for the church to panic about. But yes, they need to do some soul searching.
There is a difference between believing in church and church going. Those not going to church are not atheists or agnostics. They are God loving and God fearing, but perhaps somewhere they think the church has nothing to offer them. For them the age-old church services are boring. Instead they would like to do more fulfilling things at weekends. It’s possible they may be looking for spiritual pursuits, rather than religious ones. For them wisdom and rational thinking is the order of the day; superstitions and rituals are a passé.
Basically it all boils down to faith and conviction. And faith has no reason. A man filled with compassion will believe in serving the humanity than going to church or for that matter any place of worship. That’s his faith. This is nothing but religion backed by philosophy. He sees the Divine in his action.
To substantiate my viewpoint, let me quote Swami Chinmayananda, who has given a beautiful and a very concise definition of faith.
He says, “Faith is to believe in what you do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
Swami Vivekananda – who preached and practised spiritualism rather than superstition and ritualism – said that more evolved followers focus on philosophical aspects of the faith. Swamiji said, “He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God.”
Secularity is partly to blame for this change in society, but so too is the church. Why people seeking spirituality are not interested in what the church is offering? Why are they turning to everything except the church? Why do they think – the church has nothing to offer, it’s boring, irrelevant, dull, oppressive, dogmatic, it’s caught up inside its own issues like clergy abuse and then trying to cover it up, not practising what it preaches, etc?
The church has to do some serious introspection for this exodus. I am not surprised if today more and more people are claiming to be spiritual and not religious, faith-filled and not church-goers. Sadly, this is the state of the church.
***Petrol could soon be cheaper than bottled water
Well, it seems petrol is in deep water.
Petrol and water at one time the price was oceans apart, now according to Royal Automobile Club (RAC) the price of petrol at the pump could drop to around 86p per litre, which would be less than a litre of bottled water costs at most supermarkets.
Petrol prices have been tough on drivers over the past few years. In the UK at least, refilling your car had become really expensive for many who enjoy the kind of cars that upset Greenpeace.
The price of oil has been plummeting recently, with savings passed on to drivers at the pumps.
According to the RAC motoring group report, it’s all because the cost of Brent crude oil has dropped to below $30 a barrel – the lowest since 2004, and 73% lower than its high last year – and is possibly expected to continue to fall to just $10.
The cause of the drop is attributed to the fact that the USA’s stockpiles are ridiculously high, driving down demand. According to The Telegraph: The US Energy Information Administration said its gasoline stockpiles grew by another 8.4m barrels in the week to January 8, higher than analyst expectations of 1.6m.
Simon Williams, RAC spokesman, said: “Breaking through the pound a litre price point for both petrol and diesel was clearly a welcome landmark, but it looks as though there is more to come. In fact, we may get to a bizarre time when a litre of fuel is cheaper than a litre of some bottled waters.”
The glut of oil being pumped out by the US and other producers, combined with slowing world demand from the likes of China, has weighed heavily on the price of oil and other commodities. The worldwide slump puts more money in consumers' pockets.
Needless to say, now is the time to drive home the dream car you always wanted.
***Easy come, easy go
Most of us think that winning the lottery is the ultimate thing in life. Well, nothing wrong in getting easy money, but, I think, it certainly is not a replacement for hard-earned legal money.
The latest to enjoy the windfall are David and Carol Martin, the biggest winners in the National Lottery’s history, who scooped £33 million in Saturday’s record rollover. Initial reports suggest they intend to spend the money wisely – like giving some amount to help victims of recent flooding in their home town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders, etc.
According to a study published by the University of Kentucky in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University Law School, lottery winners declare bankruptcy at twice the rate of the general population.
And that’s because money arriving by luck or circumstance is simply easier to spend than money earned through hard work.
Few manage to spend the jackpot judiciously. More often than not, we have heard the riches-to-rags stories of lottery winners. That’s because their life is hijacked by lottery. They easily fall prey to lust, leisure, drugs, wine, gambling, extravagant lifestyle – often forgetting to cut the coat according to the cloth. The result is – it’s back to square one, or even worse than that. Some of them even end up taking the extreme step, because they are not able to handle the upheaval (becoming target of criminals, lack of anonymity, friends, relatives, etc.) it causes in their life. Suddenly having tons of money changes everything – and rarely for the better.
The message is – striking gold doesn’t guarantee richness unless the person is wise or stays away from vices.
