Seeking God
"A greatly significant understanding that many fail to ponder is that Jesus gave up EVERYTHING for us. And I do mean everything. He, as the Son of God, could have remained in the heavens while we struggled on the planet. He sacrificed the luxuries beyond our comprehension to come to live with us. Then, he spent his efforts to serve others rather than amass wealth and possessions. This was the spirit of placing the created before the Creator. He was humiliated, scourged, stripped bare, and so inhumanly treated that most cannot begin to understand the degree of suffering that he endured-giving all that he was for us. He had the blood that coursed through his veins drained on the ground for your sin. The scripture states that to gain your life you must first lose it. Jesus gave the example meaning as he is now at the right hand of the Father by being obedient to God with his sacrifice. Now, the question is, will you give up everything for Jesus in return?
To the Abyss
Addressing the age-old assessment provided by those who have lived multiple decades, things have changed and do not appear to be beneficial or improved. There is a feeling that change is necessary to ensure the continuation of our heritage. This book chronologically describes the aspects of living that have taken us away from the timeless, universal scriptural principles that have formed our civilized development to the present time. The use of reflection and experience, as well as the results of a combination of extensive, secular-based education, naturalistic observations, and the inherent advantage of understanding attained from the experiences from a past age to the present state of humanistic/scientific hegemony is the backdrop for attempting to address the common question: What has led us to where we are at this point in time? As it is the author's belief that the course to correction is an individual journey, this book seeks to provide insight for others to understand how we arrived at the present state.
Spirituality
The undeniable truth for many is that their spirit is in pain. It is manifested in many ways, such as anger, grief, anxiety, depression, or a lack of hope in their future. The most immediate need is to realize there is a means to overcome the pain, and it involves having a spiritual life. This is the basis for this work's initial printing in 2012. Since the initial printing of the book's first edition, entitled Spirituality: Key to Physical and Mental Well-Being, it has become apparent to the writer that this pained spirit operates deceptively by lack of reason and purpose. This absence of rational-based thinking and preference for emotional feelings over reasoned behaviors represents our present place. This is how our world has adapted to the luxuries and illusions of security in the present social order. The result is a lack of critical concern for the individual's (and civilized societies) survival to be assured into the future.
Spiritual Health Inventory Scores & Abstinence
A study of US military veterans, post-substance abuse treatment, to determine whether spirituality scores calculated from the Spiritual Health Inventory (SHI) correlated with abstinence or length of abstinence. 32 veterans responded and completed the SHI and a Brief Form Questionnaire that consisted of a total of 31 Likert scale questions designed to measure spirituality scores and self-report of recovery duration, importance of AA/NA participation, and actual participation rates. Parametric test measures (independent sample t-test and Pearson's r correlation) were employed with results indicating that spirituality was significantly correlated with abstinence and length of abstinence. Respondent ages or AA/NA participation did not significantly correlate with abstinence. Future research should include a larger sample size to adequately address power analysis requirements.
