The Vegan Lifestyle

Teaching in college was fun. It was exciting and very challenging.

After passing the Mechanical Engineering Licensure Examinations,  I applied as an instructor in one of the technological institutes in Manila. I was hired in June 1984, and was assigned to teach major engineering lecture and laboratory subjects, and a mathematics subject too.

I taught Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Thermodynamics, Industrial Processes, and Analytic Geometry.  I liked the latter very much; it was one of my favorite subjects in college. My professor was very proficient in teaching mathematics, and I inherited her teaching style.

I liked teaching mathematics in college. I loved sharing my knowledge to my students, especially to those who were very interested to learn, and to the inquisitive ones. My mathematics class was composed of about thirty sophomores. I had junior and senior students too in other subjects that I handled.

Some of my students in Analytic Geometry were slow learners, and I had to teach them Algebra to be able to solve the problem in Analytic Geometry. But some of my students were good, and fast learners too. To the gifted ones who were very interested to learn, I taught Theory of Equations, and other mathematics subjects  during my free time.

I had a very hectic schedule. I had classes from 7:30 o’clock in the morning up to  9:30 o’clock in the evening from Monday to Friday. During Saturdays and Sundays, I taught the laboratory subjects of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning lecture subjects assigned to me. It was from 7:30 o’clock in the morning until 9:30 o’clock in the evening.

I was not a Seventh-day Adventist then, so there was no problem teaching during Saturdays. But on Sundays, I was supposed to go to church to worship, but I barely had time to spare. I lost weight during that semester.

I had only one semester teaching stint in that institute because  I was called up to work in Abu Dhabi as a site engineer in the oil and gas projects of ADCO onshore.

Before leaving for Abu Dhabi, my students saw me and begged for me to stay. I liked to stay, but the chance of working abroad was very tempting.

After working for five years in Abu Dhabi, I applied again to teach part time in another engineering school in Manila. I was then working as a Mechanical Engineer in the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the school where I taught part time was just near by the office where I worked. I taught Physics and other engineering subjects there.

It is almost twenty five years now since I taught in college. I always cherished the joy and happiness I gained from teaching in college. I remember my best friend who is now in Las Vegas who used to tell me not to forget to enjoy life even if I have to work hard. I bet he is enjoying his life watching Las Vegas Shows, or maybe going out with our other friends who are also working there. I wish I could also join them, I even want to consider maybe continuing to practice my profession there too.

There is always hope no matter what the situation. Even in death, there is hope of after life.

People are suffering in miseries and afflictions. More people around the world are subsisting in hand-to-mouth existence. Millions are dying of famine, and still more from diseases that plagued our world today.

All of these can be attributable to our being ignorant of who God is and what he can do for us. The moment we learn of God, all our sufferings and miseries will vanish like a smoke, and we will have peace and joy in our lives.

Knowing God does not only brings peace and happiness in life, but eternal life as well. The seemingly insurmountable sufferings we have here on earth cannot go with us to heaven. And if you are willing to surrender your life to God, he will surely carry all your burdens and cares with him.

Knowing God brings the very best of health. It brings peace to a weary soul. It brings hope, and hope brings joy and happiness without bounds.

When in this life we have hope in God, our body is tremendously benefited health wise. All the organs of our body will be invigorated and strengthened by hope, and our immune system will become stronger and will function perfectly together with the other systems of our body.

Diseases cannot thrive in a body that has its hope in God. When we surrender our lives to God every morning, and allow him to work in us, our lives will turn for the better, and each moment of our lives will become happier and more livable.

Let us trust in the Lord with all our hearts,  and let us not lean on our own understanding. Let us not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.  The world will always have plenty of sorrows and miseries, and if we worry about all these, our lives will become more miserable.

We have a loving Father in heaven who loves us more than our parents loved us. His loving mercy never ends – he will surely lighten our heavy burdens and carry us through in our times of sufferings.

The Lord enjoins us not to worry about tomorrow for it is useless worrying when worrying  itself cannot change it a bit. When we worry so much, our minds and bodies become stressed, and very soon we become sick.

Let us not lean on our own understanding, as the Lord commanded us. Our human understanding is limited, and we do not understand the beginning and the end of a thing. The world is in economic crises, and we expected being laid off  from our jobs; prices of commodities rising up, and the fees of public and private services rising with it too. When we rely on our own understanding and strength to solve all these problems in life,  we will have lots of hardships, and end up in hospital, or worst, commit suicide when overburdened by so many insurmountable problems in life.

There is always hope even from an incurable disease. When we come to realize that God created us in his own image, and he breathed his very own breath into our nostrils, we will rise above all diseases and conquer them for good. We can rise above all the sufferings and afflictions when we realize that there is a divine breath in us so pure, so invigorating, and so holy for diseases to even thrive in our body, and for problems to even conquer our hearts and minds.

Fasting is good for the health. Many health benefits can be derived from fasting. Fasting cleanses the body  of toxins,   and allows the digestive system to rest.

I had had proven that fasting is good for health. The longest fasting I had was three days. Whenever I fast, I do not take anything except water;  no juice, no coffee or any drink except water.

When I started fasting, I noticed my stomach became hot. I thought fasting should be done without water, so I did not drink anything on the first day. I was forced to  drink water on the second day to relieve the heat inside my stomach.

Fasting is good for health.Though quite hard to do at first, but if you are eager to fast, and proceed whatever the feeling, you will notice as the day goes by that you become accustomed to it. I had that feeling on the second day of my fast. It became bearable on the second day, and easier as the days went by.

On the third day everything returned to normal, and the general weakness  due to hunger disappeared. My strength was restored, and there was a feeling of wellness, and a desire to continue the fast for a week. But there was an apprehension on my mind as to what will happen to me if I proceed to fast for a week or more, as it was the first time I fasted. So I stopped my fast after completing the third day, and came out from it gradually.

It is important to come out from fasting gradually. Liquid and juices should be taken after the fast for the digestive system to adjust accordingly. On the second day after the fast, solid food can be taken but lightly and in small quantities. It is better to take fruits and nuts. But avoid meats, for these are heavy proteins that are hard to digest. Give the body enough time to adjust gradually before taking other solid foods.

Fasting is good for the health. I noticed after the fast that my health improved. No more constipation, and my headaches disappeared, and I was able to sleep well at night. My  foods taste delicious and palatable, and I became stronger each day after the fast. This could be probably because of the taste buds being cleansed during the fast and the digestive system being able to easily assimilate and absorb the nutrients from the foods I took. And the best benefit I derived from fasting was the sharpness of memory and the keenness of mind. It was very easy to study my academic subjects after my fast, and I got high marks in my math subjects. All of these are proofs that fasting is good for health.

You can fast also by skipping your meals in a day. You can skip your dinner, and sleep without taking anything but liquid or fruit juice. Indeed fasting is very good for health. This is very good for the body. You will reap lots of health benefits from it. Or you can fast once a week or once a month, whichever is comfortable to. You can do it during weekends when you do not report to work and just stay at home. You can start fasting during weekends by skipping your lunch or dinner whichever is comfortable for you, and prove it yourself that fasting is good for health.

Most people believe that science, specially mathematics is an exact science. But how precisely exact is science? Can we completely rely and depend on its exactness?

From the Renaissance period, when science started to bloom and flourished in Europe, up to the present time, the world wondered in amazement at the incredible inventions and discoveries  made by science that greatly changed the world. From the 14th up to the 17th century, Germany produced geniuses whose inventions and discoveries still amaze the modern man.

Science has provided man with all the comforts that greatly benefited his life in this world where he lives. Automation in almost everything has made man’s life easy and livable. Advances in electronics and communications, and modern transport systems have shrinked  the world in terms of time and space. Doctors from different parts of the globe can now simultaneously operate together on a patient in another remote part of world. And you can talk to your friends and relatives who are on the other side of the globe face to face without any loss of time.

Computers are becoming smaller and faster. The internet has linked peoples around the word, and is a very powerful tool in the efficient dissemination  of various vital information to the whole world for business use and other purposes.

We are very grateful for all these scientific inventions that made our lives on this Earth comfortable. But we cannot forget of the many major disasters that were directly or indirectly caused by this inventions. One glaring example is the devastations wrought by nuclear weapons such as atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, netron bombs, nuclear warheads, and other weapons of mass destruction. Most people cringe in fear to even think that in one moment, the whole world will melt in a nuclear holocaust.

Are these inventions a boon or a bane? Why do millions are dying of famine in Africa in spite of the advances in scientific farming and modern weather forecasting? Why are so many incurable diseases are still thriving in spite of the wonderful discoveries in medicine and genetic engineering that can be used to alter the DNA and RNA of human beings for the betterment of man?

The probable answer to all of these could be that science could not be an exact science after all. Consider the explosion of the Challenger in mid-air? Was it a human error or a science error?

Science is founded on corollaries, theories and laws that were made and verified through experiments. These theories and laws are derived from the results  of  experiments of things, conditions, and events in a closed system. When we say closed system, it is limited, for indeed it is very impossible to conduct an experiment that includes all space, all time, all conditions, all parameters, and all variables of this universe. That is why scientists divided them into small parts and closed them so as to experiment on it successfully.

It is very obvious then, that whatever theory or law that may be derived from the result of these experiments on closed systems are limited, and are therefore bound to fail when applied to another system or systems not covered by that experiment. That is why mathematics, in spite of its being an exact science is not applicable in hyper space. This could also be the reason why the Unified Field Theory has not been established up to now.

Probably the world needs another mathematics besides the ‘exact mathematic’ that we have now. Albert Einstein has started to quibble some 16 very hard differential equations for the Unified Field Theory, but unfortunately, only one or two understood it, and they might be dead by now. Einstein lamented the fact that our mathematics today, though ‘exact’, is very limited, and the world needs another entirely different mathematics to finally establish the Unified Field Theory to enable man to travel instantaneously in time and space.

With the so many calamities happening around the word nowadays, most people ask: “Will this Earth end soon”?

The whole world is waiting for that doomsday on December 21, 2012. Christians and non-Christians alike are preparing for that coming event. The Mayan calendar ends on that day, and it is predicted that a very unusual galactic alignment  of  our solar system with the center of Milky Way will occur on that day which will trigger upheavals that will finally obliterate this planet Earth. The Mayans never missed their predictions, they said, and more people believe on this prophecy.

Whether the prediction comes true or not, there is only one absolute truth to say about it: Nobody knows what exactly will happen on December 21, 2012 – only God and He alone knows it.

Fearful ominous events are brewing around us. Earthquakes are happening in quick successions and in greater intensity. Wars, and rumors of wars are in our midst, and famine is everywhere. Are we in the time of the end, or are we in the end of time?

Our days could be the time of the end, and December 21, 2012 could be the end of time. Nobody knows except God. The night is almost over, and the dawn is fast approaching. Are we ready for that day?

The signs of the times are becoming clearer and clearer everyday. The roaring thunder is in the offing; the trumpet call is soon to sound. Where shall we be on that day? And on whose side shall we be found – in the Lord’s or in the devil’s?

The time is nearing so fast. Calamities happen everywhere. Earthquakes happen almost everyday, and thousand perished from it. Famine stalks the lands everywhere, and death stinks behind it. The guns of wars are incessantly rumbling in the Middle East and other troubled parts of the globe. Where is peace for mankind? How many more lives will be sacrificed to finally find this very elusive peace?

Indeed, our days are at the time of the end, and very soon the  end of time will come and shall caught us unaware. The love of many are waxing cold, and the hearts of many are bereft of mercy and sympathy. Heinous crimes and immorality are everywhere every time, and most men have gone astray from their creator and God.

The end of time is almost upon us. The day of the final reckoning will surely  come upon us all. What are we doing to prepare ourselves to meet our God on that day?

If you want to be rich, give generously. This is the secret of getting rich.

People have endlessly worked and strive to be rich, but most have failed. Millions around the world are subsisting in dire poverty, and are gone to their final resting places without achieving their dreams in life.

Why? Because we are stingy, and we give very sparingly. We hold on to our dimes very tightly, and do not dispose of it to our less fortunate neighbors. By so doing, we lose hold of it together with other wealth that we have.

It is very obvious and explainable.  Try this yourself and have an experiment. Hold a coin in your hand very tightly. Very soon, you will lose energy, and become tired, and the coin will drop from your hand. Or try hitching at the back of a running jeepney, with your hands holding very tightly onto a metal handle to prevent you from falling off the road. You will notice that your hands will easily become weak and tired, and you are dangerously bound to loss your grip on the handle and may fall from the vehicle.

That is exactly what will happen to our money too. When we do not give, we loss them very quickly. But when we give them to the poor, it returns to us abundantly.

This is an irrefutable truth. Why do I emphatically say so? Because the Lord said so. In Luke 6:38, the Lord enjoined all to “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom”. When the Lord says, it is absolutely true for the Lord cannot lie.

Another secret to becoming rich is to return our tithes and offerings to the Lord. The tithe is the tent part of our income, and it belongs to the Lord. All what we have rightly belongs to the Lord for it comes from him, and we are only stewards of all these things. The Lord wants that the tenth part be returned to him faithfully, for it rightly belongs to him. Those who do not return this tenth part or tithe are cursed because they are robbing the Lord.

For the hesitant and doubtful, the Lord dares them: “…prove me now herewith…, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10). You want to accept the challege? Try it,  and do it.

Many Christians have faithfully returned their tithes and offerings, and they have been richly blessed by the Lord. Even big manufacturing companies that are owned by non-believers returned their tithes and offerings, and have been abundantly blessed by the Lord as well. Their financial profits zoomed tremendously, and they have doubled or even quadrupled their tithes and offerings.

The Lord is not a respecter of persons, and there is no favoritism with him. His promise is for all, be you a Christian, a believer or not.

Catarrh or excess mucus in the body is caused by the swelling of the mucous membranes in the head in response to an infection. Its symptoms are runny nose, headaches, post nasal drip, sinusitis, gastritis, sore throat, glue ear syndrome, and respiratory problems.

The following are simple natural remedies for catarrh:

• Eat fruits, and drink fruit juices
• Avoid pasteurized milk, white flour, sugar foods, cold drinks, and meat
• Avoid foods that are hard to digest – they tend to form more mucus in the body
• Eat more fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables
• Avoid any allergens or foods and ,substances that may cause allergies, such as milk and other dairy products
• Avoid all irritants such as smoke, fumes, chemicals, drugs, foreign objects, alcohol, spicy foods, and other poor food combinations
• Include these nutrients in your diet: vitamin A (5,000 I.U.), vitamin D (1,000 I.U.), vitamin C (2,000 mg), vitamin E 400 I.U.), calcium (2,000 mg), potassium (1,000 mg),  and magnesium (1,000 mg).
• During the illness, put 1 teaspoon of salt in a pint of  soft lukewarm water. Pour your hand full of it, and sniff it up your nose, until it comes out from your mouth. Gently blow your nose while holding the other nostril shut and then the other. Gargle with salt water, and if the nose does not unplug, jump up and down for a minute and sniff and blow again.
• Use steam from humidifier to break up the mucus
• Drink lots of water, drinking primarily of fluids with fruit juices at times
• Eat high-fiber diet, using raw foods, and whole grains such as brown rice, buckwheat, and millet

The whole world is currently undergoing financial crises. More banks have closed, and the value of dollar has plunged down gradually. More businesses are affected, and more people loss their jobs.

Financial crises are always with us. As long as we are alive, they will remain to exist. It is therefore imperative that we learn some ways how to minimize the adverse effects of it in our daily lives. There is no other way, but to live with it. It is suspected that a group of very powerful men are manipulating the economy of the world. And if ever it is true, we cannot arrest them and bring them to court and convict them of their criminal acts.

The only thing we can do is to conserve  to save for the future. One good step is to save on electric bills by reducing our power consumption at homes and at the workplace. Put off lights that are not necessary, and put off the television set when nobody is watching it. Put off the air conditioner when no one is using it, or better still, share air conditioners with members of the family. By this, you will not only save power in using the air conditioner, but save save power too fro reduced number of lights used.

Do not open the refrigerator often, it increases power consumption when its coolness is dissipated to the air and the compressor motor starts to bring the temperature back to its setting. When a motor starts, a high power supply is needed resulting to a higher power cost.

Do not use your car when not very necessary – ride the jeepney, the bus or the train when going to work. It is cheaper and hassle-free.

Save on water consumption. Use your last washings to water your plants, or to clean the porch, or even clean the tires of your cars. Save the water when you take a bath; this can be used to flush the toilet.

Minimize your shoppings in supermarkets by scheduling them. Buy all the necessary vegetables and ingredients for the whole week, and avoid unnecessary errands to the market. By this you save a lot from fuel or from transportation fares, and from the increases in prices of goods that may come unpredictably.

When shopping in malls, be sure to buy what you need, and not what you want. We always have a long list of wants, and it takes a lot of our hard-earned money.

When going out with the whole family, be sure that you eat your lunch at home before going out. Children like to eat at McDonalds and Jollibees, and we easily loss a lot of money in one meal. Eating outside is not safe. It is better to eat at home where we prepare our own nutritious food for the whole family. By this,  we can be sure that the food we eat is safe and clean, and  cheaper too.

Clean your own garden and backyards instead of hiring somebody. It is a good exercise for your body. You do not only save money in hiring somebody to trim your garden, but you also save money from hospital bills and doctor’s fees when you become sick because of inactivity.

I always wonder why most people flock to the city. What is it that attracts them to the city?

People sell their lands, and houses just to go and live in the city. I cannot understand why they should suffer miserable lives in the slum areas of the city. It is true that city life is vibrant and high tech, but all these sophistication cannot feed their hunger, nor cover the heaps of stinking garbage that are ever present in slum areas. The city has more jobs to offer, but these are menial jobs for the uneducated ones. Most of the time, they are underpaid, and on a contractual basis. And you can lose this hard-earned money to pickpockets and holduppers  sometimes.

And life in the city is not conducive to good health; the air is polluted with toxic fumes and chemicals from vehicles, and factories. There is no proper sanitation in the slum areas; the human wastes are not disposed of properly. The streets are littered with stinking garbage that float during floods and this may contaminate the water supply and cause some diseases. The children wallow in the floods, and dirty water of lakes, rivers, canals and creeks where the city sewerage system flow.

I wonder why people should subsist in the city. In the rural area the surrounding is very clean, and the air is fresh and invigorating. The sea is crystal clear, and very good place to swim. And the food is fresh from the farms, and very nutritious too.

Seventh-day Adventist education is among the best education systems in the world, if not the very best among Christian education. Though a bit expensive compared to to those acquired from public schools and from other Christian schools, Seventh-day Adventist education is the best choice.

The first and foremost reason why Seventh-day Adventist education is the best in the world is that it inculcates not only good moral values, but it genuinely teaches the way of the Lord through the truths in the Holy Bible. When we say the way of the Lord, we mean His righteousness, and His righteousness are His commandments.

Children who attend Seventh-day Adventist education are taught to follow good moral values, which is the most important thing in life. As a motto says, “There is no greatness without morality”, so there is no greatness in any education, no matter how literarily or academically superior it purports to be,  if it does not teach good moral values and endeavor to effectively inculcate them in the minds of students. Therefore, the primary objective of any education, be it Christian or secular,  is to effectively teach and inculcate  good moral values to children, and to ensure that they acquire it completely that it may become their guiding light in their struggles in life.

Seventh-day Adventist schools, as in other secular, and other Christian schools offer Bible study subjects to their students. But there is a big difference. The Seventh-day Adventist schools teach what is in the Bible, no less, no more. It does not teach doctrines that are not biblical or not found in the Bible. Seventh-day Adventist schools believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and should therefore be studied and be followed as a true guide in life.

Speaking of following  the Word of God, the Seventh-day Adventist education teaches the importance of obeying the ten commandments of God. One of these commandments which the Seventh-day Adventists faithfully obey is the fourth commandment: the keeping of the seventh-day sabbath holy. Seventh-day Adventists believe that the true sabbath is the seventh-day or Saturday as it has been during the time when our Lord Jesus Christ was with humanity in His incarnate body. So, Seventh-day Adventist schools teach the importance and sacredness of the seventh-day sabbath. It holds half-day classes on Friday to allow students to prepare for the coming of the weekly sabbath which begins at the setting of the sun on Friday.

Seventh-day Adventist education teaches children how God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Children are enjoined to attend the sabbath school lessons, and to participate in the various activities during the holy hours of the sabbath. They are taught to sing hymns and praises to the Lord,  and to pray to the Lord not only during sabbath, but also during family worships in the morning and in the evening.

Seventh-day Adventist education also teaches the healthy diet and lifestyle. Seventh-day Adventist churches conduct health seminars to educate its members on health and to live life happily to the full. It teaches the importance vegetariansm to gradually guide men back to the original diet given by God.

Seventh-day Adventist education teaches the difference between the clean and the unclean food. It teaches that tobacco, coffe, tea, narcotics,  and other stimulants such as the food enhancers and additives  in all processed foods are harmful to the body, and therefore must be avoided because the body of man is the temple of God and should not be defiled.

Seventh-day Adventist education teaches respect for all men because all are brothers and sisters created in the very image of God. It teaches to obey and respect those in authorities for they are mandated by God. And this is done when people learn to obey the moral laws of God. Seventh-day education teaches what the Lord commanded to everybody: “Do unto others as you would others do unto you”.

Seventh-day Adventist education teaches wisdom and knowledge to fear and reverence the Lord. It teaches how to live a healthy life free from diseases and afflictions. It teaches how to love our neighbors, and to respect those in authorities to live peaceably. It teaches the way to eternal life.