How to "Level Up"
Copyright © November 15, 2021 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
In the late 1970s video games gradually began to become extremely popular.
The first video game I remember was "Pong." The game required that a "digital ping pong ball" be kept on the video screen by using "digital paddles" that were on the left side and right side of the screen.
Then Atari games became extremely popular. This was followed by video games on personal computers, such as the "Commodore 64" and then on "IBM clone computers." The picture on the right is from the video game "Wolfenstein 3D."
Next came "Game Boys" and "Nintendos" and "XBoxes" and "Tablets" and games for "Mobile Phones."
In the twenty-first century most people are familiar with video games.
In many video games a person has to "Level Up" in order to increase the skills of their player so they can advance to the next level of the game and eventually win the game.
The "Leveling Up" strategy for a specific game is usually based on the things you can do in the game.
Discussion
It is also possible to "Level Up" in the "Real World" when you are not playing a video game.
A "Real World Level Up" strategy needs to based on your assessment of what you need to accomplish while you are alive.
This assessment needs to take into consideration short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives.
Short-term objectives would include making sure that you and your family have an adequate amount of food, water, clothing, and shelter.
Medium-term objectives would include improving the "quality of life" for yourself and for your family.
Long-term objectives would be to plan for your eventual demise. This would include having a valid will so that your "things" go to whomever you wish. And it would also be nice if you had enough savings or life insurance to pay for your funeral expenses and to provide for your family during the transition period that immediately follows your death.
Death is inevitable. But funerals are depressing. Therefore most people avoid thinking about death except when it becomes absolutely necessary. This is unfortunate. The reason is because our existence here on this earth is relatively brief (usually much less than 100 years), but our souls will live forever in either heaven or hell. Forever includes millions of years, and billions of years, and trillions of years, and much more.
Since most people do not wish to invest any time thinking about death, most people believe in one of the following:
1. Death is simply the end of life and people do not have an eternal soul or spirit.
2. All people have spirits and all spirits go to the same place regardless of what we do while we are alive.
3. If there is a heaven and a hell, then our spirit will go to heaven if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds.
4. All religions lead to heaven and therefore a person can follow any religion they desire.
5. An intelligent person can create and believe their own personal illusion of what heaven really is.
In the Garden of Eden, the devil tricked Adam and Eve into believing a lie instead of believing what God said. Their disobedience resulted in the eventual death of Adam and Eve and the eventual death of all their future posterity.
The devil is still a liar and the devil hopes that you will personally believe one of the above lies. If you do believe one of the above lies then you will not "Level Up" while you are alive here on this earth. And when you eventually die your eternal spirit will spend eternity in hell. However, your eternal spirit might go to heaven if you "see the light" on your death bed and at the last moment you confess your faith in God (assuming you don't die suddenly and unexpectedly like most people). However, your eternal spirit will not have "Leveled Up" while you were alive and therefore you will be one of the "least in heaven" forever. However, being one of the "least in heaven" if infinitely better than spending eternity in hell. Hell is a place of eternal fire and one day the devil will be chained and he will be cast into hell forever. Hell was originally created for the devil and his demons and hell was not created for people. But the devil can trick people into being cast into hell and being chained forever in one spot if he can succeed in getting us to believe his lies instead of believing what God says.
If you have an eternal spirit, and if your eternal spirit will spend eternity in heaven, and if your life in heaven will be in proportion to what you do now, then wouldn't it be a good idea if you "Leveled Up" now while you still have the chance?
Most religions have doctrines that teach how you can "Level Up" based on the beliefs of their religion.
Religions can be divided into the following groups:
1. Manmade false religions that lead to hell regardless of how many "good works" you do.
2. Manmade altered religions that will result in your being one of the "least in heaven" when you die because you didn't learn how to "Level Up" properly.
3. The true religion of God that teaches you the correct way to "Level Up" so that you will receive abundant rewards when you arrive in heaven.
How can you learn to "Level Up" in a way that is acceptable to God and that will result in a multitude of eternal rewards when you arrive in heaven ? ? ?
The answer is simple. Read God's "instruction manual." God's instruction manual is called the "Holy Bible."
Be careful to select a legitimate translation of the Holy Bible that has not been "adjusted" to support the beliefs of a specific "religion" that claims that their translation of the Holy Bible is the only acceptable translation of the Holy Bible. Any religion that has their own "special Bible" for its members is not a religion you should follow. Instead select a religion that allows you to read any reasonable translation of the Holy Bible and which teaches from the Holy Bible.
You can "Level Up" in either or both of the following ways:
1. Read the Holy Bible for at least 5 minutes each day. Start on page one of Genesis and gradually read to the last page of Revelation.
2. Listen to someone else read the Holy Bible.
I recommend both of the following:
1. Buy a printed copy of the Holy Bible. During really difficult times you may discover that your Bible is your most precious possession.
2. Download a digital copy of the Holy Bible. You can download a free digital copy of the Holy Bible from the following website: www.gideons.org
Additional information about the Gideon App is at the following link on my website: Free App for Dramatized Bibles in English and a Thousand Other Languages.
A printed copy of the Holy Bible does not depend on electricity or technology. Therefore you would be able to read it even in the worst possible scenario.
A digital audio copy of the Holy Bible is really nice because you can listen to someone else read the Bible while you are driving or while you are relaxing at home.
Conclusion
Since 1976 I have been reading the Holy Bible almost every day. I have read several different English translations of the Holy Bible from cover to cover including: The King James Version, The New King James Version, The Living Bible, The New International Version, and the English Standard Version. I have read some of these translations from cover to cover several times.
I have learned the following from the Holy Bible:
1. There is nothing you could have done that God will not forgive. You only have to ask God to forgive you and God will forgive you.
2. The Old Testament contains information about animal sacrifices, and foods that can be eaten and foods that must be avoided, and the penalties for specific crimes.
3. The New Testament tells about Jesus Christ and that His death on the Cross was the perfect sacrifice acceptable to God. Therefore Christians no longer have to sacrifice animals to obtain God's mercy, and we can eat any healthy food that does not make us sick, and we are to forgive everyone and we are to allow God to judge and punish each person as God sees fit.
The Holy Bible can be briefly summarized as follows:
1. Love God.
2. Love everyone God created, including people who hate you.
You could start to "Level Up" today if you really want to have the best possible future.
Respectfully,
Grandpappy.
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com