The interesting perspective of a typical temple is that it will start off well on devotional spiritual principles. But over time, it's success more so in worldly terms attract the attention of the less spiritually inclined. This is good as more will flock to the temple.
The flip side is that the more who come may not be spiritually imbued to want to push on with the deeper doctrinal purpose but only with the superficial worldly purpose such as being popular and tending to the superficial interests of the masses. If they want free food and grand celebrations with lion dancing, stage shows and fun fair, so be it. If the authority desires that the temple be part of the wider network of the land for welfare and charity, this will be so.
All these are good but the very purpose of setting up the temple by the lord saint of that temple must be revisited and not tossed aside like jos sticks that are stuffed into the urn to be thrown away to make way for more jos sticks. This may seem unbelievable but it happens.
Lord Bo Tien has envisaged such issues when he said that we should not blame the flower for insects coming to it for nectar. This is not the wish of Heaven or the lord saint but the encroaching and take over by the wishes of men of the masses.
Then however, how could the wiser few influence the less wise majority. Inevitably the more ignorant majority will be roped in by the one or few who think they know better and put in place the social practices that had and have been taking place in temples or churches of old, all over the world.
But the purpose of the lord saint in wanting to awaken men to higher calling of religion, the true spirituality is sadly put on back burner to await the time when men will tire out and ask what they have done to end up like one of the many rest. The temple they dominate will not be one above all the rest to shine the way for others to follow and mimic, as envisioned by Lord Bo Tien with regards to any temple or church.
Thus the lord saint Lord Bo Tien too said of any temple in his name. Insects will come to the flower and it will wilt earlier than usual. Many will keep its distance from the flower and even the strongest in spiritual who are supposed to hold fort will be kept away. We may ask what will keep them away. What will sting them to leave? What wind will sweep them away?
The lord saint refers to the strong wind of social that has for centuries swept and continue to sweep most temples to empty them of any chance to shine more in doctrine and in what God wants men to elevate to, though such spiritual elevation is not easy and hard to come by for the masses. The saving of souls through purification via age-old Tao or Way is no longer effective but just rhetoric at best.
Blame not Heaven or saints for insects coming to the flower. Blame not divinity for temples which succumb to the ways of the mundane world. Temples are not and never immune to age old inclinations of society. Though they are temples or churches of God, they are still temples or churches of men. It is men who make up a temple or church.
These ways or inclinations have plagued society for centuries. The few good men in a temple who try to correct the situation are often swept away from a temple. Even if the strongest holds on to a huge tree trunk, he too will be swept away.
But Lord Bo Tien injects a ray of hope. The wind will not blow forever and will stop one day. Men who flock or are misguided by those who know little of the lord saint and his doctrine will tire out and lose steam. Then the good men will return to the temple when they leave the scene.
The ring leaders or schemers will leave when they find staying on is no longer an advantage, no longer able to secure them nectar of personal gain. It would then be meaningless and untenable to stay on. (As the lord saint reference to the flower, insects will leave the flower when there is no more nectar and the flower is wilting.)
They will be entangled with problems of their making. They will realise that they could fare better in worldly matters and gains elsewhere in better and even bigger grass root bodies of society and be in the good books of the 'saints' of men instead of the saints of Heaven.
But for now and the foreseeable future in many temples or churches, they stay on and bask in the gains of staying on. They continue to stake their claims on the temple or church and make it a mega or mammoth church or temple that has semblance of a multinational organisation or even a popular political party in trappings.
The temple or church is exclusive to them and will answer to their whims and fancies. They seem to be able to justify the otherwise not-so-right and this egg them on to be more daring.
They cannot run away from the laws of the land even though they take liberty with the laws of God and saints.
They enjoy and relish being unchecked and unchallenged because they had meticulously rid off those with dissenting voices. It is invariable that they will make mistakes upon mistakes, in fact one too many.
Men must obey the laws of God as well as the laws of the land. This was reiterated by Lord Bo Tien. The laws of the land will catch up with them even before the laws of God.
Their weakness for pursuing the non-spiritual behind the guise of spiritual will be their undoing. They may even claim to be reborn in spiritual and doing things ever so differently and appealing to the fancies of laid back, apathetic and gullible men.
They claim to be the new subcontractor group or chosen ones who will do things differently by undoing what was done by the good pioneers and those who obviously know better, like the pioneers and elders.
They will meticulously displace those with dissenting voices. They just will not hear others views but only want their own voices to be heard. They may even bite the hand that welcome them in the very first place.
God and saints forgive them for they know not what they do and what they are in for and will end up with.
So, the next time you go to a temple, keep your eyes open for the wiser ones from whom you may get some pearls of wisdom but mind you, they are unlikely to be in the temple. Even if they are, they are in the shadows and not in the limelight.
They are not noticeable. They do not stand out at all in the crowd though they do stand out and are spiritually outstanding. They seek peace and shun problems that lessen peace.
Peace is the quality that defines spirituality. Dis-ease and conflict defines the non-spiritual pursuits more of of men who go for the non-spiritual as the goal in a temple.
The best pose to take for men is to go direct for the guidance of God and the temple saint and not look to other men for guidance. Let this need to seek divine guidance direct from God and saints be emblazoned in our spirit in whatever we do, be it in thoughts, speech and deeds.
Unlike God and saints, even the best of men are ever somewhat so fallible. This is the truth and often a sad one at that.
It would be a gem to chance upon someone who is infallible. That is an unlikely find and a problem at that. That is ever more why we are likely to exclaim, "Oh dear, what can the matter be?"
As it is, such a gem of a man is a rarity except a man like Elder Ling at Bo Tien mission whom the lord saint refer to as the unpolished diamond. Even the elder is not infallible though.
Perhaps this is exactly why he is unpolished though still a diamond to the mission of Lord Bo Tien. He kept the doors to mission and temple open to all, even welcoming those not to his liking and not suitable to mission proper.
This is his virtue though the less-religious would think he is dumb and stupid. Such men he embraces might one day rise up against him and undo what he did.
The rarity of infallibility being the case, many will end up exclaiming what could the matter be. What is happening in a temple and why must a temple end up less of a temple? All is because men look up to men and not God. Men end up being swayed by men of poor spiritual substance.
So do put our faith in God and saints and not in men. Men will mislead but God and saint will not. To put the record straight, Elder Ling and men like him are in the know and never ask others to look up to them. They want us to look up to God and saints - not men!
That is why the writer will often call out the name of Omitofo and not turn to men for guidance. You may wish to call out the name of God and / or any saint or prophet. This will be as good. God bless.
Omitofo. Let there be no need to exclaim, "Oh dear, what can the matter be? "
But readers must not go away from this article with less regards for the less religious who prefer the side show of societal trappings name and fame rather than the main show of spirituality and mission in a temple. They may be like insects to a flower but they are the ones who more than anyone else need to be in the house of God.
God will reach out to them but when they will accept the hands of God is the issue. God and saints can wait and men have the time and space to learn. God and saints are magnanimous and benevolent, ever accepting and tolerant of the problems of men.
The issues of men are many and plentiful. This the lord saint Lord Bo Tien did echo not once but time and again. That is why men somehow and always need God and saints and not God and saints need men. The problems are with men and not with God and saints.
The less religious blinded by need for worldly trappings, name and fame may well fare better in the long run than the elders they cross swords with, if they can make amends. Didn't Lord Bo Tien say that the far may be near and the near far?
God wants them to be in a temple or church, never mind if they for now cause miscarriage of spirituality. It is OK with God though the law of the land may not be OK with them. That may well be the problem for which they need God to extricate them from.
Religion and God are more for people like them and not for those who know and are better off spiritually. That is why spiritual elders like Elder Ling have to accept them but make them learn and hopefully one day be better able to make good.
Omitofo
The flip side is that the more who come may not be spiritually imbued to want to push on with the deeper doctrinal purpose but only with the superficial worldly purpose such as being popular and tending to the superficial interests of the masses. If they want free food and grand celebrations with lion dancing, stage shows and fun fair, so be it. If the authority desires that the temple be part of the wider network of the land for welfare and charity, this will be so.
All these are good but the very purpose of setting up the temple by the lord saint of that temple must be revisited and not tossed aside like jos sticks that are stuffed into the urn to be thrown away to make way for more jos sticks. This may seem unbelievable but it happens.
Lord Bo Tien has envisaged such issues when he said that we should not blame the flower for insects coming to it for nectar. This is not the wish of Heaven or the lord saint but the encroaching and take over by the wishes of men of the masses.
Then however, how could the wiser few influence the less wise majority. Inevitably the more ignorant majority will be roped in by the one or few who think they know better and put in place the social practices that had and have been taking place in temples or churches of old, all over the world.
But the purpose of the lord saint in wanting to awaken men to higher calling of religion, the true spirituality is sadly put on back burner to await the time when men will tire out and ask what they have done to end up like one of the many rest. The temple they dominate will not be one above all the rest to shine the way for others to follow and mimic, as envisioned by Lord Bo Tien with regards to any temple or church.
Thus the lord saint Lord Bo Tien too said of any temple in his name. Insects will come to the flower and it will wilt earlier than usual. Many will keep its distance from the flower and even the strongest in spiritual who are supposed to hold fort will be kept away. We may ask what will keep them away. What will sting them to leave? What wind will sweep them away?
The lord saint refers to the strong wind of social that has for centuries swept and continue to sweep most temples to empty them of any chance to shine more in doctrine and in what God wants men to elevate to, though such spiritual elevation is not easy and hard to come by for the masses. The saving of souls through purification via age-old Tao or Way is no longer effective but just rhetoric at best.
Blame not Heaven or saints for insects coming to the flower. Blame not divinity for temples which succumb to the ways of the mundane world. Temples are not and never immune to age old inclinations of society. Though they are temples or churches of God, they are still temples or churches of men. It is men who make up a temple or church.
These ways or inclinations have plagued society for centuries. The few good men in a temple who try to correct the situation are often swept away from a temple. Even if the strongest holds on to a huge tree trunk, he too will be swept away.
But Lord Bo Tien injects a ray of hope. The wind will not blow forever and will stop one day. Men who flock or are misguided by those who know little of the lord saint and his doctrine will tire out and lose steam. Then the good men will return to the temple when they leave the scene.
The ring leaders or schemers will leave when they find staying on is no longer an advantage, no longer able to secure them nectar of personal gain. It would then be meaningless and untenable to stay on. (As the lord saint reference to the flower, insects will leave the flower when there is no more nectar and the flower is wilting.)
They will be entangled with problems of their making. They will realise that they could fare better in worldly matters and gains elsewhere in better and even bigger grass root bodies of society and be in the good books of the 'saints' of men instead of the saints of Heaven.
But for now and the foreseeable future in many temples or churches, they stay on and bask in the gains of staying on. They continue to stake their claims on the temple or church and make it a mega or mammoth church or temple that has semblance of a multinational organisation or even a popular political party in trappings.
The temple or church is exclusive to them and will answer to their whims and fancies. They seem to be able to justify the otherwise not-so-right and this egg them on to be more daring.
They cannot run away from the laws of the land even though they take liberty with the laws of God and saints.
They enjoy and relish being unchecked and unchallenged because they had meticulously rid off those with dissenting voices. It is invariable that they will make mistakes upon mistakes, in fact one too many.
Men must obey the laws of God as well as the laws of the land. This was reiterated by Lord Bo Tien. The laws of the land will catch up with them even before the laws of God.
Their weakness for pursuing the non-spiritual behind the guise of spiritual will be their undoing. They may even claim to be reborn in spiritual and doing things ever so differently and appealing to the fancies of laid back, apathetic and gullible men.
They claim to be the new subcontractor group or chosen ones who will do things differently by undoing what was done by the good pioneers and those who obviously know better, like the pioneers and elders.
They will meticulously displace those with dissenting voices. They just will not hear others views but only want their own voices to be heard. They may even bite the hand that welcome them in the very first place.
God and saints forgive them for they know not what they do and what they are in for and will end up with.
So, the next time you go to a temple, keep your eyes open for the wiser ones from whom you may get some pearls of wisdom but mind you, they are unlikely to be in the temple. Even if they are, they are in the shadows and not in the limelight.
They are not noticeable. They do not stand out at all in the crowd though they do stand out and are spiritually outstanding. They seek peace and shun problems that lessen peace.
Peace is the quality that defines spirituality. Dis-ease and conflict defines the non-spiritual pursuits more of of men who go for the non-spiritual as the goal in a temple.
The best pose to take for men is to go direct for the guidance of God and the temple saint and not look to other men for guidance. Let this need to seek divine guidance direct from God and saints be emblazoned in our spirit in whatever we do, be it in thoughts, speech and deeds.
Unlike God and saints, even the best of men are ever somewhat so fallible. This is the truth and often a sad one at that.
It would be a gem to chance upon someone who is infallible. That is an unlikely find and a problem at that. That is ever more why we are likely to exclaim, "Oh dear, what can the matter be?"
As it is, such a gem of a man is a rarity except a man like Elder Ling at Bo Tien mission whom the lord saint refer to as the unpolished diamond. Even the elder is not infallible though.
Perhaps this is exactly why he is unpolished though still a diamond to the mission of Lord Bo Tien. He kept the doors to mission and temple open to all, even welcoming those not to his liking and not suitable to mission proper.
This is his virtue though the less-religious would think he is dumb and stupid. Such men he embraces might one day rise up against him and undo what he did.
The rarity of infallibility being the case, many will end up exclaiming what could the matter be. What is happening in a temple and why must a temple end up less of a temple? All is because men look up to men and not God. Men end up being swayed by men of poor spiritual substance.
So do put our faith in God and saints and not in men. Men will mislead but God and saint will not. To put the record straight, Elder Ling and men like him are in the know and never ask others to look up to them. They want us to look up to God and saints - not men!
That is why the writer will often call out the name of Omitofo and not turn to men for guidance. You may wish to call out the name of God and / or any saint or prophet. This will be as good. God bless.
Omitofo. Let there be no need to exclaim, "Oh dear, what can the matter be? "
 |
| No eyes to see who is right and wrong. All are right in one way or other. The wrong may well be in the right in the long run if they can learn |
But readers must not go away from this article with less regards for the less religious who prefer the side show of societal trappings name and fame rather than the main show of spirituality and mission in a temple. They may be like insects to a flower but they are the ones who more than anyone else need to be in the house of God.
God will reach out to them but when they will accept the hands of God is the issue. God and saints can wait and men have the time and space to learn. God and saints are magnanimous and benevolent, ever accepting and tolerant of the problems of men.
The issues of men are many and plentiful. This the lord saint Lord Bo Tien did echo not once but time and again. That is why men somehow and always need God and saints and not God and saints need men. The problems are with men and not with God and saints.
The less religious blinded by need for worldly trappings, name and fame may well fare better in the long run than the elders they cross swords with, if they can make amends. Didn't Lord Bo Tien say that the far may be near and the near far?
God wants them to be in a temple or church, never mind if they for now cause miscarriage of spirituality. It is OK with God though the law of the land may not be OK with them. That may well be the problem for which they need God to extricate them from.
Religion and God are more for people like them and not for those who know and are better off spiritually. That is why spiritual elders like Elder Ling have to accept them but make them learn and hopefully one day be better able to make good.
Omitofo
