Tag: #religion

Is Multi-Tasking Good for Us?

5 February 2024

Performing multiple tasks simultaneously may be harmful to our mental well-being.
Picture: The Advot Project

A couple of days ago, I was just about to begin cooking a meal when I realized that I needed to take my car out of the parking area and position it by the roadside as my housemate was going to park his car behind mine. In an act of providence, immediately after parking my car by the roadside, I ran back into the house and upon seeing the fry-pan heating up on the stove, I exhaled just remembering what I was in the process of doing prior to rushing outside.

In my younger years, I was fascinated with multi-tasking. It was primarily in the feat of juggling a variety of tasks simultaneously that I found quite sensational. For example, I would attempt having my laundry spin in the washing machine, while cooking lunch on the stove and place my wardrobe of clothes, towels, pillow and blankets outside to sundry.

The urge to become increasingly productive fueled my cravings in multi-tasking.
Unfortunately multi-tasking is not as super-productive as I envisioned it to be.
In a research statement published in 2020 by Dr. Kevin Madore and his team, the article states, ‘Heavier media multitasking is associated with a propensity to have attention lapses and forget…the degree to which an individual engages with multiple media types in a given media consumption hour (for example, watching television while texting)—are provocative, in part because heavier [multiple media types are] associated with reduced working memory and episodic memory even when performing a single task, possibly because of its positive relationship with failures of sustained attention and increased mind wandering..’ 1 

Making it even more obvious of the adverse effects of attempting multiple tasks simultaneously is explained in detail in another article released by Dr. Madore and Wagner in 2019, which states, ‘the human mind and brain lack the architecture to perform two or more tasks simultaneously…individuals almost always take longer to complete a task and do so with more errors when switching between tasks than when they stay with one task.‘ 2 

Additionally, multi-tasking has been linked to chronic stress as the mind is taxed with processing and responding to a variety of information and preparation for expected objectives. There is also the dangers of engaging various media platforms which leads to decreased concentration spans and inability to distinguish between priorities.

In Fiji and in many places in the world, walking home after school and work whilst engaging media on a device (while in a public space) can lead to being robbed, assaulted, missing your stop or even being hit by an oncoming vehicle. Or even at home, where burning stoves without your supervision can extend to torching your house.
Furthermore, a significant amount of time can be wasted due to engaging multiple media streams and platforms.

With an abundance of distractions and the urge to accomplish multiple tasks and goals in a shorter period of time, it is very easy to lose sight of what and who is important and what who is not.

To conclude, I have noticed a great deal of anxiety and depression in my increased usage of social media. But this engagement of mine has been inevitable due to my great distance from family and friends. Secondly, my fear of financial deprivation and inability to attain important possessions such as my own house, clearing off my debts and other pressing issues fuels my relapse into attempting multiple tasks simultaneously.
The Bible counsels us in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.“


The bottom line is there needs to be a balance between ambition and satisfaction with current progress. We also need to value and appreciate the special people in our lives and never forfeit the time and experiences spent together – for that is what fuels the social media networks – loneliness and desire to belong and be accepted.

The cravings for earning and accumulating money is instigated by the desire to afford a comfortable life for your loved ones and freedom to pursue your hobbies and other enjoyments.
But instead of focusing on what isn’t and yet to unfold, let’s not discredit and overlook what we have and who is there with us.

Stay blessed and focused dear reader!

References:
1. Madore, Kevin P., et al. “Memory Failure Predicted by Attention Lapsing and Media Multitasking.” Nature, 28 Oct. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.

2. Madore, Kevin P., and Anthony D. Wagner. “Multicosts of Multitasking.” Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 1 Apr. 2019, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7075496/.

Religious Zeal

22 May, 2022

Women are highly scrutinized and demeaned in zealously religious countries such as India, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
Picture: AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE

As I read the latest mandate by the Taliban for female Afghani news presenters to wear a veil or mask (effective as of May 21, 2022), I thought of an idiom in my native language which translates, ‘hot and cold like the corrugated iron.” I recognize the need for feminine modesty amidst a world that is very explicit and very irreverent; But, in my opinion, if the women are required to cover up in the spirit of modesty and female safety, there should be proportionate measures enforced regarding rape, pedophilia and physical assault against women in Afghanistan. 

Which then brings us to the problems of religious zeal; the Bible highlights in Romans 10:1-3,
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

In the Bible text above are the dynamics of religious zeal: desiring to protest for the righteousness of God, but lacking discernment and a personal practice of these very principles in my own life. Eventually, condemning others in order to satisfy our own zeal and passion for God and his righteousness. Some Bible believers might even establish their zeal on Proverbs 27:5-6, which says, “Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”  While this text might seem a worthy mantra to poke condemnation and declare “hell-fire” to the “sinners” of the world, the Bible is a complex manual that must be prayerfully considered in its entirety before drawing conclusions.

Let us consider other passages in the Bible such as John 16:7-8, which reads, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…”  Here we see Jesus declaring that the Comforter, The person of the Holy Spirit will succeed Himself and do three important tasks: Reprove the world of sin, counsel in righteousness, and judgement. This is the way the God of the Bible deals with humanity’s sin problem.

(Check out my latest publication SIN and SALVATION now available)

The Holy Spirit (not any human being) eleng-ko (Strong’s Greek1651) the world of sin, meaning in the Greek, to tell a fault or identify a weakness; then He counsels in righteousness or offers practical solutions and a recovery plan; finally the Holy Spirit outlines an outcome, or a reward package that awaits our decision on whether to ignore His reproof and regress, or comply and grow as an individual (judgement).

The fragility and discretion of God’s approach when dealing with humanity’s sin is exemplified in Jesus Christ’s handling of the case of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).

The Pharisees, with a mixture of religious zeal and deceitful intentions towards Jesus, drags a young woman from the bed of her lover to the temple courts where Jesus is teaching his earnest listeners. The Pharisees, in the midst of a mumbling crowd and Jesus, lay out the charges against her and condemn her to stoning. Then they deceitfully ask Jesus what is His opinion of the matter, in order to build up evidence against Jesus. Jesus ignores the tense unfolding of events and crouches down to write with His finger in the dust of the ground. The Pharisees then grow impatient and press Jesus again for a reply to their pleading. Jesus then arises and says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And then He stoops down again to continue His writing in the dust of the ground.

A crowd watches as a woman is beaten by a sharia police officer dressed in black robes at a public square in Aceh, Indonesia’s only province that practices partial sharia law (Photo Credit: Riza Lazuardi/AFP/Getty Images)

The Bible then describes, in John 8:9, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  
I would like to highlight here the clashing frontiers of CONDEMNATION  and CONVICTION.

The Holy Spirit convicts our conscience, which then brings us to a point of mental awareness. On the contrary, hurtful people and religious zealots stone us to stubbornness and hard-heartedness with condemnation and a holier than thou attitude.  And please note, when you read the story of the woman caught in adultery, the woman’s name is never mentioned. This is a hint to how discreet the God of heaven is towards every individual’s profile. He is not in the line of public shaming.

The Bible commentator and inspired writer Ellen G. White, in her book The Desire of Ages, concerning the woman caught in adultery, wrote, “In His act of pardoning this woman and ENCOURAGING HER TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE, the character of Jesus shines forth in the beauty of perfect righteousness. While He does not palliate sin (ignore it’s severity or seriousness), nor lessen the sense of guilt, He seeks not to condemn, but to save. The world had for this erring woman only contempt and scorn; but Jesus speaks words of comfort and hope…Those who are forward in accusing others, and zealous in bringing them to justice, are often in their own lives more guilty than they. Men hate the sinner, while they love the sin. Christ hates the sin, but loves the sinner.”
(Source: E.G. White, The Desire of Ages, Pacific Press Publishing Association: Mountain View, CA(1898), p. 462)

Finally, addressing Proverbs 27:5-6 and religious zealots, open rebuke is not equal to public shaming. In the light of John 8 and Scriptures such as Matthew 18:15 and Galatians 6:1-3, we should definitely see the importance of raising awareness of sin, in the spirit of love; but also exercise privacy, discretion, consciousness of our own personal flaws, and also offer practical solutions. And most importantly, invest our own time in assisting these individuals with reform and ENCOURAGING THEM TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)

Check out my video about the difference between Condemnation and Conviction

A Religious Influence in Society

June 17, 2019


































  • Religious Influence…Music artist Rihanna poses in a papal stylized outfit for the 2018 Met Gala in New York.
    (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/ Getty Images)

Religious practice and worship of deities and supernatural beings, have been the foundations of human history and society ever since. This is proven by history and archaeology.

For example, in 1994, German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, in collaboration with the Turkish Şanlıurfa Museum, excavated the Göbekli Tepe temple site in Southeastern Turkey. They unearthed the first few pillars of what archaeologists claim to be the site of the oldest megaliths ever discovered in human history. It is presumed to be older than the Stone Henge (measuring through stratigraphy, or the observation of rock layers and stratification). The ancient site contains 200 large pillars all above six metres in height and weighs up to 10 tonnes (10,000 kg) in weight. This would have required hundreds of people to construct. National Geographic writer Charles Mann, in his article The Birth of Religion (which appeared in the June 2011 National Geographic magazine) writes, ‘As important as what the researchers found was what they did not find: any sign of habitation. Hundreds of people must have been required to carve and erect the pillars, but the site had no water source—the nearest stream was about three miles away. Those workers would have needed homes, but excavations have uncovered no sign of walls, hearths, or houses—no other buildings that Schmidt has interpreted as domestic. They would have had to be fed, but there is also no trace of agriculture. For that matter, Schmidt has found no mess kitchens or cooking fires. It was purely a ceremonial center. If anyone ever lived at this site, they were less its residents than its staff.’ This reveals that the gathering of worship sparked civilization – not agriculture.1

  • Massive pillars at the temple Göbekli Tepe, (more than 5,000 years old) in Southeast Turkey.
    Claimed to be the oldest megalith ever discovered in human history (Picture: Vincent J. Musi)

Atheism and its rise to fame, owes a lot to the Greek philosopher Protagoras (B.C. 481-411) who famously preached, “As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many are the obstacles that impede knowledge, both the obscurity of the question and the shortness of human life.” For this ideology, the Athenians rejected him for thinking nonsense and burned his books. 2
On the other hand, modern agnosticism was publicly defined by Thomas Henry Huxley at the meeting of the Metaphysical Society in London, in 1869. Huxley, a British biologist and a Darwin-evolutionist, stated, “It came into my head as suggestively antithetical to the ‘Gnostic’ of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant.” 3 Modern atheism, agnosticism and skepticism are concepts meditated upon by certain influential individuals, but does not reflect the beliefs and affirmations of the majority of humanity.

A demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories, done by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life (a research team based in Washington D.C.), finds that there are 5.8 billion adults and children who are practicing religion. This represents 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion people.4
While on the other hand, another recent Pew Forum research study found that about 1.1 billion (16% of the world’s population) have no religious affiliation. But ‘Surveys indicate that many of the unaffiliated hold some religious or spiritual beliefs (such as belief in God or a universal spirit) even though they do not identify with a particular faith.’ 5

But religious non-affiliation (atheism, agnostic, skeptic) does not mean absence of religious practices such as belief in a god, use of or in reference to a god, rituals, or prayer. Another ironic finding was that non-religious atheists were actually MORE religious than Christians – specifically in the United States of America. In fact, in the United States of America, the secular society have adapted and used religious themes in social gatherings on numerous occasions. The biggest example recently was the 2018 Costume Institute Gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is the biggest annual event on the fashion fundraising calendar. Started in 1948, today brings together the most famous faces from fashion, film, music and art to celebrate the launch of the Institute’s latest exhibition. The 2018 fashion exhibition was themed Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.

The BIG LIFE QUESTIONS here is Why is there insufficient evidence of an existing god or gods? If God so exists, who is it/he/she? how are they/them/it/he/she , in terms of personality? Or, if there is a God, why is there so much suffering and killing?

Please look forward to the second part of this article where we will answer these questions. Also, we are launching an e-book at the end of this month entitled, ‘Seven Religious Doctrines Not Found in the Bible.’ The short book will simply discuss pilgrimages, sexual obsession and perversion in religion, blind faith and the Force, among other interesting Food For Thought topics. If you are interested, email us at big.life.questions.101@gmail.com. We would be happy to converse and get in contact with you!

Citations
1. Manns, C. (2011). The Birth of Religion. The National Geograhic. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2011/06/gobeki-tepe/ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].

2. Laertius, Diogenese (2013). Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English Translation). 9th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.464, 465.

3. (AGNOSTICISM Encycloaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011)


4. https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf


5. https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/ 3. (AGNOSTICISM Encycloaedia Britannica: Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011)