Self Abuse

 The act of masturbation has many names today. Some of them seem funny or light-hearted. Actually, it is a dangerous practice. I now view it as a gateway sin to greater evils and bigger stumbling blocks. In fact, this practice can actually lead one to view other sexual sins in a light-hearted way. 

When one is engaged in this activity the mind is active. What is the mind actively doing? Well, we are pursuing the wrong ideas. We are acting on them as well. I can imagine King David looking at the woman whom he has sexual desires for. Perhaps he too engaged in masturbation while thinking about that woman. He then went on to commit serious sins. In the end, though he ran back to our heavenly father Jehovah. Our God forgave him! King David is spoken of honorably. What this means is that while we might make a mistake we can turn around and return to our Heavenly Father. We SHOULD never take this for granted! Just because we serve a loving God does not mean we can just "make mistakes" and then say sorry. No! We must struggle and fight with our fleshly desires. Paul a holy man mentions his own fight with the flesh. 

While the act of masturbation is not mentioned in the bible we can figure out using our conscience and other clues that it is a dangerous practice. The fact that people of this world say "It is a healthy practice" shows us just how wrong it is. 

It affects marriage life later on. It creates a warped view of sexual relations. It can lead to self-doubt, addictions, and to fornication. Yes, we are told that fornication is committed in our minds. If I am dwelling on some lady mentally, then I masturbate thinking about this lady...yes, I have acted on a sinful thought and I have sinned. It is like a double sin. When I did this act I felt empty afterwards. I felt like I had done something wrong. Now that I am married I can see I took something away from my future wife. 

So let us make our idle hands busy! Struggle to keep our minds clean! And never live a double life! Rewards will be in store for us!

/tata

More on friends

 I guess this is really something on my mind. You can tell true friends because they love Jehovah and try their best to follow the way he wants us to live our lives. We are told how by the inspired words of Jesus, Paul, Timothy, and many other faithful men. 

One sister who is my friend thought she offended me. She mistook my fatigue for being upset. She right away called and apologized. I right away told her that she had done nothing wrong! I was just tired. I also enjoyed our interaction that night. Looking back our old acquaintances would not have done that. There would backstabbing, gossiping, and eventually a confrontation that would cause a feeling of hate between us. Another nice thing I realize about true friends: They are happy when you are happy, not jealous or envious. When I would hold my wife and show affection to her. Our old "friends" would respond in disgust. Just me holding her hand or giving her a peck on the cheek would result in people saying "That's nasty!" Yet they would be making out with tongues in mouthes with someone who they are not married to. Others would either cheer or show jealousy. 

When your friend is sad you feel sad. You want to only build them up. If they buy a new car or a house you celebrate it happily. There is no smile that is only skin deep. 

True friends want to follow bible principles. They make a point in making this a priority in their lives. They strive to put Jehovah's kingdom first in their lives. Not the ambitions of this dead world which doesn't realize it is dead yet!

Ok time to get this work part of the day started!

/tata

Spending time with real friends

 We have had "friends" over the years. We would meet and eat, drink, and dance with them. From time to time we would even sing together in singing rooms. We thought they were our friends. We were wrong. We were very very wrong. You see every time after spending time together we would have very negative interactions. Arguing and having no peace in our marriage. Strangely these so-called friends were at the center of many of our disagreements. I must say the main problem was me. I wanted to spend time and build them up so to speak. So that is what I did. I didn't realize that I was ignoring my wife. I was honoring other people over her. Well, she my little Yogita did not like it one bit. Jehovah instituted marriage. Rules are laid out in the bible regarding this holy institution. 

As we spent time with people who did not love Jehovah I developed many bad habits. It took peace away from us and hurt my wife and my sons. Now I can see I was hurting myself as well.

At the same time, I was doing things against what our creator told me to do. Living in sin brings the wages of death. But before death comes there is a gnashing of teeth. A constant stressful situation. I was doing things my way, not Jehovah's way. 

We spent time with real friends last week during our summer vacation. It was a wonderful time! Yogita felt comfortable, the boys associated with friends left and right as I did as well. It was like paradise a sample of it. We went home with peace in our hearts. The next day at the Sunday meeting we again had a wonderful time. Learning, singing together, and talking together. 

Bad association ruins good habits, takes away peace, and produces so much stress!

/tata

Another typhoon coming tomorrow..

 Well, here we are again. Another typhoon is heading up through the middle of South Korea. It will brush past us a bit closer than other typhoons. Being that we are in Iksan not Gunsan this one might be bad for this city. We will see. We will follow precautions as the bible tells us to. A bug went through our house and once again it is hitting me last. I do not know why this is. First, George gets sick, then Jeyo. Then Yogita gets sick usually the bug hits her longer. Then finally I get sick. Either the symptoms build up slowly and then subside with a runny nose and some mild congestion, or they build and I get really sick for about 18hrs. Then I am feeling better (weak) and able to function normally. 

 I know this to be due to Adamic sin. He wanted something that did not belong to him. He rebelled and sin took away our favorable standing before Jehovah at the genetic level. This can be seen in Romans 5:12. Adam was not thinking about us. However, Jehovah and Jesus did look after us. This can be seen in Genesis 3:15. One of my favorite scriptures to teach our boys about why things are the way they are. This is of course a lesson to me as well. 

Jehovah's word told of the time we are living in now. Typhoons are one of these things.

So I hope it passes this area and does not hurt people or kill be people. 

/tata

Summer Vacation

 This was the best summer vacation I have had in my life. First I spent two days in the preaching work. Then we had our two family bible studies. On Thursday I was able to attend the midweek meeting. Wow. Just wow! When Yogita and I have our time together we now pray to Jehovah and our time together is better than ever. More positive, no anger, or feeling low. Instead, we discuss things and make plans. We joke with each other or recall times in the past without fighting. We also talk about the signs of our times, and recent talks given at the kingdom hall. We look forward to each Sunday more and more.

Yogita has gotten an upper respiratory infection so she is feeling down since yesterday. She listened to me and lightened her schedule so that she can get home and rest. We watched Jeyo give his first part during the midweek meeting. It was very nice and encouraging. A far cry from where we were not so long ago. Goerge is now teaching part-time and enjoying it a lot. Even if it is temporary. Things are going well for us. 

I will say that all of this is due to Jehovah's blessings on us. The more I rely on Jehovah the easier my way becomes! 

Ok, time to finish this work part of Monday!

/tata

Summer plan update...

 Well, we will not be going to Seoul. At this moment we will spend more time as a family. We will attend both meetings next week. We will also go out in field service for 3 days next week. Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. This might change based on if we can book the pension next week. As it is I expect to enjoy time together as a family. We will visit an older sister and cook together perhaps we can play some board games? I am not sure. Another day I hope to spend at another friend's house. 

/tata