The floor may not be a robot. Nickelodeon has made some very dark episodes of Spongebob that never made it into television or the internet, and you probably never knew about this. It's about time I tell you the truth. I was one of the people who saw one of the unreleased episodes of Spongebob, and I can tell you it was very dark and depressing to watch. It was very different and wasn't funny at all, unlike many other Spongebob episodes I have watched. This one barely included any funny jokes on it at all. It was on a serious tone. I didn't see any type of comedy on it. You may be wondering, how did I get to see this episode? Well, I decided to buy some Spongebob VHS tapes on eBay several years ago, since I was a fan of Spongebob at the time and I really enjoyed watching the show. One of the sales that caught my attention the most, however, was one that only contained the Spongebob production VHS tapes, which could mean that the seller originally worked on the production of the series in some way. I found that actually very cool, but I was wondering if the seller actually got permission from Nick to sell those tapes. However, I didn't think much of that and I eventually forgot about it. The description said that the tapes were animation tests, storyboards, deleted scenes and unreleased episodes. I was very interested on the unreleased episodes and deleted scenes, so I have decided to buy it since I obviously did not want to lose the opportunity to get rare stuff from Spongebob. Being the only offer, I easily won the auction and agreed the shipment with the seller. A few days after buying it, I finally received the package. I opened it and took a look at the tapes, but one that caught my attention the most was a tape that was titled, Sadness. I found the title to be pretty odd. I was pretty curious to see what contents this tape contained, so curiously, I played the video before any of the others I received. The title card then shows up. The color for the text was dark red and the shadow for it was black. There were also some visible scratches on the text. The background was a very dark pineapple background, and there were some visible small drops of blood as well as one splatter. This kind of disturbed me, honestly. The music used for the title card was happy music, which was very unfitting for an episode about sadness. The opening credits had people I never even heard of. The episode started pretty normally at first. Spongebob is watching TV when Patrick knocks on the door. Spongebob says for him to come in, and Patrick shows him the game, Eels and Escalators. At this moment, I thought that the episode took place before the episode, Sailor Mouth, because here, Patrick was introducing the game for the first time. Spongebob finds the game cool and is excited to play it with Patrick. However, before they start playing the game, Patrick tells Spongebob about the rules of the game first. Spongebob then understands and they start playing the game. Patrick keeps moving up Escalators while Spongebob gets sent down the Eels. After losing the game, Spongebob gets a get-sad, but he later gets okay with it and tries again, thinking he was going to win this time. This is where things get worse. After many attempts of trying to win and just losing in the end, Spongebob loses his cool, goes out of character and goes on a crazy rampage, which also involved assaulting Patrick and going into Bikini Bottom causing a ruckus. You may have not heard of this word before, but it means causing disturbance or commotion. Eventually, he was caught by the police and was arrested for assault and public disturbance. Spongebob, while in jail, says, Stupid Spongebob, why did you do that? I don't even know why you had to do that.  Hopefully I won't be in here for too long. Maybe I'll get bailed out and go on about my day and apologize to Patrick for my terrible actions. I don't think I'll be here for that long. A time card saying, one day later, shows up on the screen for two seconds. The time cards on this episode were not spoken by the French narrator this time. It cuts back to Spongebob in jail. He says, I've been here for one day and nothing has happened. Okay, I think I have learned my lesson here. Now let's see if I can get someone to bail me out. Another time card saying, five hours later, shows up for two seconds and it cuts back to Spongebob in jail again. He says, Um, it's been five hours and I'm still here. I don't like it here. Boy, I could sure use a little snack right now, but I don't have any Krabby Patties. This is getting ridiculous. The last time card shows up on the screen for two seconds saying, the next day. It cuts to Spongebob in jail for the final time. He screams, and really. I want to get out of here now. I want to get out of here now. I don't like it here. I want to get out now, now, now. A police officer fish then comes and says, and really.  You got yourself a visitor. Spongebob then comes down, becomes happy and says excitedly. Oh boy, maybe he's here to bail me out. Flats the flounder, the character who also appears in the episode. The bully turns out to be the visitor and threatens to kick Spongebob's butt. Spongebob gets shocked as he says. Oh my. He starts to scream. Get away from me.  I can't take this anymore. Spongebob then escapes the jail, running away. It then cuts to Patrick walking on the street. What I noticed is that the sky this time was gray, meaning that it was going to rain. Spongebob finds him. Patrick then says, and really. What do you even want from me Spongebob? Look, I understand you're angry, but. Spongebob is then interrupted by Patrick, who says. But nothing. I personally have had enough of you for the last time. What you did at the pineapple was totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. Patrick, look, I honestly didn't mean to do it. I just had a rough day that day and I let the worst get to me. And I shouldn't have punched you in the face and send you flying out the window. I don't care about how good or bad your day was that day. I can tolerate you losing your temper on things like that, but you punching me out the window is a different story. Not to mention, I had to go to the hospital for three days. Three days! Oh, Patrick, I really want to say that I'm so, so sorry for what I did to you. I will never ever do that again. Spongebob, after what occurred at the pineapple, all over a game of eels and escalators. You can now consider this friendship officially over. At this point, sad piano music starts to play in the background. Things were going to become really depressing now. Spongebob becomes shocked at this, as he says. What? Patrick? No, I don't want to end our friendship. You've been my best friend for so many years and I don't want anything bad to happen. Please, please, please. No, I will never become friends with you again. We're just not compatible anymore.  Patrick then begins walking away, as Spongebob says in a very shaky voice, as he was ready to start sobbing uncontrollably. Goodbye, Mr. Best Friend. Spongebob then sits on the street, crying as he screams Patrick's name. He then screams. Why did I have to do this, Neptune? Why? Sandy then comes in and asks. What is going on, Spongebob? Spongebob then explains. I lost my best friend over my anger issues, but what really ended our best friendship was when I assaulted him and threw him out the window. Well, Spongebob, it's no surprise that you lost your cool over a game of eels and escalators. Wait, how do you know about this? Spongebob asks. Patrick told me everything that happened and Spongebob. I should am appalled by your actions. I would never assault my best friend over losing a game like that. Spongebob, after what you did to Patrick, I'm to ending this friendship.  Spongebob becomes more sad than before, starts to cry uncontrollably, screaming. No, I lost Sandy. No, no, no, no, no, no. It then starts to rain, as Spongebob runs away crying loudly. The screen then fades to black instead of using the bubble wipe transition like always, and the sad piano music faded out. I found this episode to be very depressing. It wasn't like any other episode of Spongebob I've seen, this one was actually on a serious tone. There weren't any jokes here or there. This one was well written and did a great job on being a sad episode. I really wanted to see what would happen in the end. It fades to a new scene, with Spongebob coming from his home, very depressed. He says. I never thought I'd lose my best friends. At least I have you, Gary. Right? Gary then becomes shocked when he sees Spongebob. He immediately runs away from his home as Spongebob chased him, screaming. Gary, come back, Gary! Spongebob then stops chasing Gary. He screams. I thought we were friends. Why, Gary? Why? Spongebob then returns to his home, crying even harder. He says. How did Gary know what I did? Spongebob then looks at his TV, only to find out that there were news talking about him, who escaped from prison, assaulted Patrick and caused public disturbance in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob receives a call from his parents, who told him to come to their house and stay there for a long while, because they wanted to ground him, but also talk to him first. Spongebob lies, saying he's going to come there at that moment. He then runs to his bedroom, crying. He looks at the window with a depressing look on his face. He says. I can't believe it. I just can't believe this. I lost all of my friends because of what I did to Patrick. Patrick was my best friend, we did so much stuff together such as jelly fishing, going on trips, pranking each other and other people, and all that fun stuff. And now, this has now ended, thanks to my terrible actions and anger issues, and I have no best friend left. Why do I have to lose everything in life? Why? That's it.  Now it's time to do what's necessary. Spongebob then hears Squidward calling his name.  He asks what Squidward wanted. Squidward tells him to stop acting suicidal and accept the fact that what he did was wrong, and that he needed to pay the consequences. Spongebob tells Squidward that he does not understand what he's going through. Squidward says that he knows exactly what he's going through. He said that he knew everything that occurred at bay. But Spongebob asks what Squidward was doing in his house. Spongebob thought that Squidward hated him and would leave him be. Squidward says he normally would, but he admitted he didn't like to see a guy like Spongebob with depression and suicidal thoughts, so he wanted to help.  Squidward becomes shocked and tries to stop him, but Spongebob quickly runs outside, which was still raining at the moment. This time the raining was a lot stronger and there were really strong winds outside. Squidward chased Spongebob as fast as he could, calling his name. But when he reaches him, he was at the top of a mountain. Squidward tells Spongebob to stop, and that suicide was not the solution to his problem. Spongebob disagrees and says, I don't have anything to do in my life now, Squidward. I did something wrong, caused public disturbance on the city, no one likes me anymore, and now, what do you expect me to do? I don't want to live this new life of mine anymore, Squidward. I just don't want to live anymore. My life is no longer as happy as it used to. I just want to end all of this already, Squidward. I just want to. Squidward runs after Spongebob to grab him before he falls, but it was already too late. The strong winds made Spongebob fall before he even jumped out of the mountain. Squidward screamed loudly. SpongeBob, no! Right before he hit the floor, the screen glitched for 27 seconds, with loud distortion, static sounds playing on the background.  Before the glitching stopped, a message appeared on the screen for a split second, saying, I have found peace. The glitching then finally stopped. A message faded on the screen and stayed there for 5 seconds, saying the following. Suicide is not an answer. It's destruction. I was really shocked at how incredibly depressing this episode was. I actually cried at the end. I never thought a Spongebob episode like this was produced, but now I know that it was. I am glad they didn't put this on the air, but really, they could have made the ending for this episode more lighthearted, but no, they didn't. I thought that the executives decided to cancel the episode, as they felt that what had been produced was too dark for young viewers. I just wish I could contact the seller for more information about the episode, but the ebay page for the tapes was already done since I bought it. Another thing I noticed is that the opening and closing credits included a bunch of random people that were not credited on the previous episodes of the show. Only a small amount of these people were actually credited in the later episodes of Spongebob, but my question is, who are those people? Not to mention that many of these didn't appear on the credits of many of the later episodes, meaning that they could have possibly been fired after working on such a dark episode. I don't think my question will ever be answered.


Okay welcome back. We were looking at chapter three where our focus is on how do you make a choice to find to marriage, how do you find and what do you do to work towards making that choice. We did discover four areas of compatibility. We looked at some warning signs that we need to consider to be addressed and to be sorted out. We looked at expectations of how it's important for us to jot down needed expectations of marriage, what we would like to see as qualities and traits. In the person we want to marry, what kind of a home and family do we have visualized in the way we see marriage. We also looked at a certain question on is there an appointed one and only. We looked at it through the story of how Abraham servant goes to find a bride and how Rebecca was in a position or in a place of making that decision. How Abraham servant did not override that decision or her family's decision but went dependent on God's guidance and also looked at the person, looked at Rebecca in making that choice. So that's where we were to. So any questions up to this point, if not, let's move forward in even as we look in on other certain points on making a choice in marriage. Any questions here? Okay. All right, so let's move forward to discuss a couple more of points. Even as we've kept reiterating this one truth that marriage is not just about finding the right person, but it is also being the right person. So it's not only about finding the right person, but also being the right person and what you can do to build a healthy relationship and a healthy marriage. Okay, so the common question that again they're looking for is how do we do the seeking? How do we search? How can we come to a place of how do we do the seeking? Okay, so again, we need to understand that there isn't any perfect person, there is no perfect partner, there is nothing called a perfect partner. So it is not about finding the perfect person. Okay, it is to come to a process of being able to doing the seeking, the asking and the knocking. As you see in Matthew 7, 7 to 11, it talks of ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. Okay, so with whatever you have, we have learned up to now in this chapter. It's important to step forward to go find, to seek, to maybe ask and to knock to find the right person while you are trusting God to guide you and to bring you to the most suitable person for your life. Okay, God brings you to the person who is right but not the perfect person. Okay, remember that everyone, all of us keep progressing, keep growing, keep changing and what we are looking at is only certain guidelines when you are seeking the person. Okay, so one of some of the ways that you can seek is wherever you are, wherever in your own community, in your own church community, wherever you are in your local church community, you may be engaging with a lot of people with the larger community. So pray and consider if there may be people who may be suitable for you or who may be the person God you feel God is directing you to. And once you are able to identify that, get the help of some mentors or some leaders in your community. Alright, before you approach someone, get the support and the help of other leaders or mentors in your church. Also, you can also look beyond looking into other churches or any other websites or matrimonial probably events or programs. You know, attending some of that like in a city like Bangalore, there are times that there are young singles meet, you know, young youth meet together. And there's nothing wrong in seeking and at all the possible avenues or opportunities that you have access to, because God can help and direct you through different ways in being able to help you find a suitable person. So be open to how God would desire to work through in your life. It could also be in opening this up to your family where families are open to seeking people and getting you in touch with that. That's also another way. There are many ways that it can be done depending on the kind of cultural context you are in and where you are. So when you make the decision on the person you're going to marry, remember it is many things. You are being led by the Spirit of God. You are keeping in tune with what God's word says. You are using the wisdom, the knowledge, the judgment, the understanding you have from God. You are also taking the counsel of people around. So when you utilize all of this together, you can be assured that you are making the right decision. So another question that often comes up, especially in the context of finding someone to marry is how does one discern God's guidance? How do you understand and walk in the guidance that God is giving you? So just putting you through a couple of scriptures, Ephesians 5.17 says, understand what the will of the Lord is. And how do we do that is when we are not conformed to the world of Romans 12 too, when we're not conformed to the world, but we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. So that's what scripture teaches us. The renewed mind, what does the renewed mind do? The renewed mind is able to help understand, to reason, to see what is the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God. When the mind is renewed, when it is in accordance to the word of God, the renewed mind is a place where you can discern and understand and reason what God's will is for you. And while you're doing that, it also takes the guidance or it takes the understanding, the wisdom, the Holy Spirit gives you to understand and know what the will of God is. So when you're designing the guidance of God, you're using the mind, the renewed mind, that looks at what God's will is for your life as well as listening to the Holy Spirit and also thinking through practical things using the wisdom and understanding that God has given you in the word and by His Spirit. So as you're seeking the guidance of God about who you should marry, it's important to take these following questions or these following aspects into consideration. So first and foremost, as you feel that the Holy Spirit is guiding you and you're being led to a person, the first question you may need to check and ask yourself is, does this person have the traits and the qualities that I have been seeking for, that I have put down in my expectation list? Is that something that I see? Are there are the traits and the qualities that I'm looking for? Is it something that I can see in the person? Then is to see if there is compatibility in those areas, the spiritual, the physical, the emotional and the calling that's there in life. That's again what you would look for. Then looking to see if the person is prepared for marriage and are they showing signs of preparation? The next thing you would look for is, are there any specific warning signs that you notice and is it something that has been adequately addressed? Then you would look for, is there anything that indicates to you any circumstance that is there externally that indicates to you that God is guiding you through this? There may be certain orchestration of certain circumstances happen in such a way that God is guiding you into making a choice. Next is, is the Holy Spirit leading you into this decision? Do you feel the peace of God about this entire situation? Is this something that is mutual? Is the other person also ready to say yes? Are you also in a place to say yes? Is there support from others, maybe the parents or other people that you hold dear? Is that something that you see? At the same time, we do know and understand that this may not be possible in every situation, especially when parents do not see the importance of your faith in choosing a partner. So if that sometimes we may not see that, but overall you're looking to see if there is support from parents. And lastly, is there support from spiritual elders who oversee your life? So these are some of the recommendations that you take as you discern God's guidance. Looking at listening to the Holy Spirit through by being renewed in your mind, you're able to reason and understand if your choice is according to what God's desire is. And also thinking through this with wisdom and understanding by what is given in the word and the Holy Spirit. With that, you consider these things in order to make your choice in order to understand what God's guidance is in this matter. Now, there can be a point of time that even as you may have decided to be married, it may take you some time. It may take you a while to find the person or to come to meet someone who you would like to marry, which means you are going to be in waiting, which means it takes patient waiting. So while you are waiting, what do you do? Romans 12 2 says be joyful, be patient and pray at all times. So it says to be joyful and to be patient and to pray at all times. Hebrews 11 1 says to have faith that the things that you hope for is something that you will see be certain. You'll be certain of the things that you cannot see at this point of time. So the search, although it can take some time, even as you're waiting and looking for a life partner, you continue to live in hope, continue to be joyful. Continue to be patient. Continue to do what you need to in this current time of life. All because you're waiting. You do not need to abort everything else around your life. You can continue to stay focused and busy with what God is giving you to do. And this is the right time to be able to work on yourself, to build yourself, to edify, to develop yourself and growing in what God has called you to do. So it's not just staying passively and idly boredom with complaining, with bickering while you're waiting. But it is a time to be engaged in preparing yourself in continuing to do, number one, what you've been called to do and what your larger calling for life is. So the waiting period has a lot more activity than when we think waiting doesn't mean you close up everything else and just wait for the person to walk into your life. But continuing to focus and doing what you need professionally, spiritually, financially, emotionally, as part of your learning, as part of building connections with people. Continue doing that. That is something that doesn't get about it. Okay. The next part of, okay, just stop here for a couple of minutes. Any thoughts, any questions? That's what very quiet class today. Is everybody awake? Is everyone awake? Thumbs up. Okay. Thank you, Anthony. Thanks. All right. Okay. So we'll move on to the next part of it, which we're looking is about marriage. Okay. Marriage. Okay. Let's understand and see that, you know, the five that Matt, I think someone has a question. Okay. Okay. So when we're looking at marriage, remember, it is just not the wedding ceremony. Okay. A lot of people are very excited about what happens on the wedding ceremony, which lasts for a day or maybe two or in some cultures, maybe a week, I guess. Okay. So the marriage is definitely a lot more than just the wedding. So the wedding ceremony definitely is a wonderful, pleasant, memorable event where you and the person you're going to marry comes and shares vows, exchanges vows. And with God as witness is being united. It is the beginning. It marks the beginning of your life together. Okay. While there may be a lot of planning and things and excitement towards that, it shouldn't take away from preparation, from preparing for the marriage. Okay. It's important to prepare for the marriage just as much a lot more than just preparing for the wedding. Okay. Because I think when people get into this marriage preparation into, you know, the details of the wedding takes a lot more of significance, but it is through that you are actually preparing for the marriage. Okay. So remember that marriage, as we've been saying over and over, it's more than finding the right person. So when we look at Proverbs 24-34, it says homes are built on the foundation of wisdom and understanding where there is knowledge, the rooms are furnished with valuable, beautiful things. So deciding to get marriage and preparation for marriage are two different things. Once you have decided to get married, then comes the huge need to prepare yourself for marriage. And it is where you take time to do this. Because as Proverbs talks about, homes are just not built on a decision. It's built on the foundation of wisdom and understanding.  So taking time to discuss and talk through the different areas we spoke about is extremely important. It's also important to prepare oneself emotionally, to prepare financially, to prepare for what it takes to manage a home and a family, to build a home, to look for how there can be changes that come as a result of marriage. Being able to discuss what the relationships of the larger family looks like, what church looks like, what ministry looks like, what service in church looks like. So there can be many things that needs to be discussed. So marriage is more than just finding the right person, you find the person okay, but then it comes to actually talking and discussing and preparing for that. So we move on to what happens in the engagement period. So now this again can be very different for different cultures. For some cases there may be a long duration of an engagement. For some it's a few months to a few days. There can be something like a formal engagement or it's just a word that's being said. But nevertheless through that engagement period there are certain guidelines that we would like to share so that we know what is expected of us. So the first guideline that we're looking at is to remember that to keep oneself sexually pure, to refrain from any sexual encounter during this time of engagement. That is to place a needed boundaries still the point of marriage, to keep oneself pure, to honour the sanctity of marriage, to honour the sacredness of that intimacy. So to keeping oneself pure before marriage, during that engagement period the expectancy is to keep oneself pure by not engaging in any encounter until you are married. The standards for those in ministry are definitely higher, especially for young people who are serving in ministry or in their church. It is important to hold this in great regard, to hold this in stricter standards. Because if you look at 1 Timothy 4-12, this is what Paul's telling Timothy. He says, don't let anyone look down upon you because you're young but be an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, love, faith and purity. So as a minister, you continue to have your life be an example, be a role model to those because you are being watched. As a minister, you are being watched and people learn from you and you would want to hold those stronger standards. So another guideline is to not play married. That is until you are married, remember you are not married. So which means there are those boundaries that until the point of time that you are married, you as a person do not have an entitlement to the other person's body or money or time or future. So when you're in a premarital relationship, you need to still take care of yourself. Stand on your feet and ensure that you're having a time with other people doing the things that God wants you to do. You do not revolve your life around this relationship. If you do see something like that happen when there are some warning signs where there is a lot of manipulation or a lot of, you know, the person doesn't allow any kind of an interaction with others. If you do find these things, you know, it is important to resolve this and to really consider keeping the marriage off till the point of time that you're able to discuss and work through some of these issues. Often people just keep getting into marriage with the fear of breaking away because of the kind of preparation or kind of things that have already been done. But remember, it's always better to break up an engagement rather than to live through a bad choice in your marriage. So what are some red flags that a breakup of an engagement may be necessary? One is if the other person becomes abusive, is very controlling, extremely manipulative, you know, wants to hold on to things of your life and what you should do, how you should do it. That's an indication of a trait of a co-personality trait. So that's one sign of a breakup. The second one is if they are being very emotionally dependent for every emotion turning to the other person that always wanting to be spoken to, wanting to be cared for, needing to call.  Not allowing any specific space and being like an emotional crutch, that could be a sign. The third one is failing to carry certain responsibilities, whether it be in their job, whether other commitments, even preparation to marriage where you're not seeing a commitment on what was decided that becomes a red flag. If there are differences in the way you're in your spiritual understanding and your intimacy with God, if the maturity levels are very different, if there are the disciplines towards spiritual growth and maturity, you see that there is a huge lack, even the understanding of what they see in their doctrinal understanding, all of that, if that becomes visible, that's again a red sign.  And last, if there is, if you do find a disapproval of parents and valid reasons that they give you of something that they found or something that they understand, which you've been blind to see, that could be another sign. Okay, so we've come to really work through to see how do you make a choice, how do you come to a place of writing down your expectations, what happens when you get engaged, what's important in the period working through preparing oneself as well as seeing any kind of potential problems at your time, at your engagement in the other person. Okay, the next part of the last part that we will look at is singlehood. Am I, are you called to be single? Okay, so when we look at marriage, we know that by default, marriage is a part of the Genesis Commission by default, it is part of the Genesis Commission. As you would read in Genesis 128, God says, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Okay, it is part of it. However, you know, it is also important to consider that marriage may not be something that everyone chooses to do. Everyone in 12, I will read that out. Am I audible? Am I audible? Alright, so we look at how singleness can be a choice that you make for God or choice that you make for reasons for the kingdom, for purposes of the kingdom. Okay, so let's just read Matthew 19, 11 and 12.  It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn't for everyone. Some from birth seemingly never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you're capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it. So we see here how Jesus is talking about what can be some of the reasons why someone chooses to be single. Okay, and here Jesus points out that some may decide not to get married for kingdom purposes or kingdom reasons. Okay, it's probably that they have chosen to keep themselves for a specific calling for God's kingdom. And as a result has chosen to remain single to be on their own. Okay, so singleness could be a choice that you make for Am I audible? Sean is not able to hear me. Am I audible for the rest? Yeah, okay. All right, if there is something you're not able to hear, would you please just put it up on the chat, I can respond. I can respond to that. Okay, so we were looking at singleness being a choice so that you can make for kingdom purposes. The next we see is that singleness is a gift. As we see not all remain single, but it's a gift and you see Paul has remained single. And he does say in these which we read first Corinthians chapter seven, some of these verses, he speaks he explains that the ability to do so is a gift. Okay, and that's something that comes the equipping of of being single comes from God himself. And that maybe not everyone has the ability or the empowering to be single. And so there is no sin in getting married. I'll just read that and I'll take the question mean after that. First Corinthians seven, seven to nine and 28. Sometimes I wish everyone was single like me, a simpler life in many ways but celibacy is not for everyone, any more than marriages. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others. I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me. But if they can't manage their desires and emotions, they should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually tortured life as a single. But there's certainly no sin in getting married, whether you're a virgin or not. All I'm saying is that when you marry, you take on additional stress in an already stressful time and I want you to want to spare you if possible. So Paul talks about it being a gift and being empowered only by God to be to have to be single and that everyone is not in a place of being single. And if it is far better to be in a place of marriage rather than to have temptations and succumbing to that. Yes, Meena, I think you have a question. Meena, John, did you have a question? Meena, would you like to share your question? Okay, I think, all right, it's by accident. So we look at the third one. The third point is that singleness is a choice. So we looked at how singleness is a choice that you make for reasons of the kingdom. Singleness is a gift and singleness is a choice that you make on unspiritual pursuits. So we do see that marriage definitely brings about a lot of responsibilities. And so some may want to live a life of singleness so that they could focus their complete attention on what God wants them to do and to live that life in service to what God desires of them. So even though, so I think over here, we will read that passage out, that even though marriage can have and has many responsibilities, it is not an inferior state, okay, compared to that of singleness. It just talks of the choice that you make. If there's something else that you want to pursue, Paul says, you know, go ahead and do that. But there isn't a one is better than the other situation here. Okay, both are equally honorable and singleness becomes a choice. So let's just read 1 Corinthians chapter seven versus 32 to 38. Would someone else like to read this passage please? Somebody else? Sean, would you like to read the passage? 1 Corinthians 7, 32 to 38. Okay, Sean's not there. Nina Santosh? Nina Santosh, would you mind reading 1 Corinthians 7? Yes, yes. Second Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 32 to 38. 1 Corinthians 7. But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried, cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. There's a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper and that you may serve the Lord without distraction. But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly towards his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth and thus I must be, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin, let them marry. Nevertheless, he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity but has power over his own will and has no determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin doing well. So then, he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better. Thank you Nina. Alright, so through this passage we see that the kind of responsibilities a person in marriage does have. So it says that there are many things that a person in marriage, the attention gets moved to. However, singleness, if anyone is convinced to singleness, choosing a life of singleness, they can continue to focus on their attention on pursuing God. The choice of singleness comes as a choice because you want to pursue things for God, you want to pursue God and the things of God. You want to pursue Kingdom purposes, things to do for the Kingdom or it is a gift that God has empowered you for a life of staying single. So it's good to ask yourself these questions to see if you are called to a life of singleness. So do you feel that you are empowered to be single and have the strength to remain single the rest of your life? If you have an answer, the answer to that is yes. If you feel that there is the God is calling you to a specific purpose, a Kingdom purpose for which if you do get married, you would not be able to pursue freely what God wants you to for the Kingdom because there are responsibilities for the marriage and family. So would that be a yes?  So if there is a yes in all of these questions, then it is likely you could consider a life of singleness. Otherwise moving ahead to really consider and preparing ahead for marriage is what is needed. So we've come to the end of this chapter.  If you look at the end of that chapter, that entire chapter has a couple of questions of writing down your expectations in marriage and expectations of the person you married. So for those of you who aren't married, this is an excellent exercise to do. And for those of us who are married, it's an excellent exercise for yourself to rework or to re-engage with your spouse about expectations in marriage, what you would like to see in the future years you'll are together of how you would like to see your family, how you'd like to see your marriage building up. Maybe it hasn't been in a place where you've never had an opportunity to discuss these expectations. But this can be a time where you are actually doing that. So you are reworking some of those expectations and establishing a better relationship going forward. So for those of us who are married, we continue to keep our spouses. Even if it didn't match up to your expectations, it is a call to you to revisit that again, to reconsider and bring back that conversation with your spouse so that your marriage can work towards what God's calling it to do. Okay. All right. I think Jacqueline has a question here. According requested some clarity on 1st Corinthians 728. Okay, I'm just going to pull up that verse. Jacqueline, just give me a minute. Shall I read it? Yes, yes, please. Yeah, but if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.  And I want to spare you this. Okay, so your question is, Paul writes that marriage invites trouble and has confirmed stress with it. But isn't it actually given by God for fellowship and friendship and love? What thought is Paul telling us here? Okay, so for the fact that, so I think what Paul is bringing about here is that when you come together in marriage, definitely there are responsibilities. There are different things that need to be done, which number one starts with getting to know the person, understanding each other, learning to know differences, working towards building a home, working towards taking care of finances. Then comes the child wearing, working with the children, bringing them up in the ways of the Lord, taking care of their personal needs. So what he's trying to bring about here is that there are these stress that is going to be there. And there are times of conflict that is going to come. So even though this was established to build, like you said, fellowship, friendship and love, with it also comes its challenges. So he is looking at it from the perspective of when he's comparing it with singleness. When it compared to singleness, these kind of responsibilities or stressors are minimized because you are an individual working towards the pursuits of God. Your attention is not wide with other things of taking care of a marriage and its response or a family and its responsibility. So in comparison to this is what he is talking about over here. So it is something that can be filled with responsibilities and stress. Nevertheless, if you are at a place where, as Paul, if you are going to pursue something of God, he recommends. He says, right, I want you to spare. Okay, that's what it says in my version. I'm just trying to pick it up from another version. Just ask me a minute. Yeah, so it says, it's nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you. So he's saying those who marry will have physical and earthly troubles, and I would like to spare you of that.  It's not something that he is saying against marriage, but saying if you are pursuing things of God, then being single would help you in that pursuit greater than being married with the responsibilities it brings. Is that clear, Jacken? Jacken, is that clear? Yeah, it. Thank you. All right. Any other questions on this? If not, I think we could close. Next week we will be going further in detail about elements of marriage. We looked at the preparation, building a base, a strong biblical foundation, and now we will be getting into the elements of a good, healthy Christian marriage. If there's nothing, let's we could just close with a word of prayer. Can I request one of the students to close in prayer, someone who hasn't spoken today, anybody? Prabhu, Prabhu Manikam, would you like to close in a word of prayer? Or Shivakumar? Okay. Prabhu's mic is not working. Shivakumar or Sean? Gene, I can.  Thank you. Shivakumar, are we praying? Shivakumar, are you praying? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, thank you Jesus for this wonderful session of God. Thank you for everything that you spoke to us today through Gene of Father God. Thank you for all the discussions we had, all the things that we need to work on Jesus. We pray, God, as we go back and reflect on the things that we heard and we learned today that you give us the wisdom and clarity on how we need to do it, Lord Father. We pray, God, that we will be able to practically apply these things in our lives and with your help, that we'll be able to go forward and learn things more. We thank you for all the students who are in the class today. We pray, God, that you help them, you guide them and give us wisdom to carry it forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much, Beverly. Thank you all students. God bless. I'll meet you next week. God bless.


Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin Louder. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live. A small girl walks through the streets. She is cold and hungry. Where can she find help on a cold winter's day? Matches! Light your fires with my matches! Would you like to buy some matches, sir? What about you, madam? They are the best kind. Strike them against any wall. They will burn. Someone must want some matches. Anyone? The Little Match Girl is a popular story. Hans Christian Andersen wrote this story. He wrote many children's stories in the 1800s. People like to tell the story of the Little Match Girl during the Christmas season. Both adults and children enjoy it. But is it a sad story or a happy story? Liz Wade tells the story of the Little Match Girl. A cold wind blows across the town. People hurry along, holding their warm coats close to their bodies. It is a cold winter. They will be happy to get home to their warm fires and nice food. Street sellers count their money at the end of the day. But for the Little Match Girl, there is no money to count. No one wants to buy her matches, so she is afraid to go home. Her father will beat her for sure. The Little Girl walks across the street. The snow falls on her long hair. She looks up at the tall, beautiful houses as she passes. She can hear people laughing inside. The smell of food cooking rises in the air. The people are preparing their last meal before the New Year. The Little Match Girl walks to a quiet street corner. She sits down holding her knees. She tries to pull her feet under her body. They are so cold. She has no shoes or coat. Her feet are blue from walking on the cold ground. Maybe she should go home, but even her home is not warm. Her family has no money.   If only she could be warm for just a minute. Then she has an idea. Matches. She has her matches. Her father would be angry if she wasted any matches. But she only wants one, just one. Maybe it will warm her freezing fingers. The Little Girl gets a match. She strikes it against the wall. Fire. The warm orange light shines in the darkness. The Little Girl looks hard at the small dancing fire. She imagines that she is sitting by a warm cooking oven. It seems so real. She can see the oven. She can feel its heat.  How the fire burns! Then the fire from the match goes out. The oven disappears. The Little Girl is once again in the cold darkness. Only the half-burnt match remains in her hand. The Little Girl is so sad. Her happiness had come and gone so quickly. Maybe she could burn one more match. She takes another, and she strikes it against the wall. Fire lights up her sad face. She smiles. This time she sees the wall become thin. It is almost like paper. She can see through it. Behind it she sees a room. Such beauty! There is a huge table with hot food on it. She can almost taste the hot food.  But suddenly the fire from the match goes out. Once more everything disappears. Only the gray wall remains before her. So the Little Girl strikes another match. The golden fire burns again. This time she is under a huge Christmas tree. Beautiful bells and flowers hang from the tree. Lights shine from its green branches. It is the most beautiful tree she has ever seen. She reaches her hands toward the lights. Then the match goes out. But the Christmas lights begin to change into stars in the sky. One of the stars falls back to earth. The Little Girl thinks to herself, Someone must be dying. The Little Girl starts to think of her dead grandmother. Her grandmother told her that when a star falls from the sky, a soul goes up to God. She misses her grandmother so much. The Little Girl lights another match. This time standing in the light she sees her grandmother. Her grandmother was the only person who ever showed her love. She looks beautiful. The Little Girl cries, Grandmother, take me with you. I know when the fire goes out you will disappear. Please take me with you. The Little Girl takes all the matches. One by one she strikes them against the wall. She burns them quickly so the picture does not disappear. The light shines brighter and brighter. It is as bright as day. She sees her grandmother more clearly. Her grandmother has never been so beautiful. The Little Girl reaches out to her grandmother. Her grandmother stretches out her arms to receive the Little Girl. The Grandmother takes the Little Girl in her arms. They fly together in joy high above the earth. There is no cold, hunger, or fear. They are with God. In the corner on the street, the Little Girl is leaning against the wall. She has red cheeks and a smiling mouth. But she is frozen. The New Year's sun rises on the sad figure. The child sits there still and cold. She is holding a bundle of half-burned matches. Only a few people walk on the quiet streets. They stop at the street corner. They see a small body on the ground. Poor thing, she was trying to keep warm, the people comment. But no one knew the beautiful things she had seen. They did not know how happy she was to be with her grandmother. She had gone happily into the New Year. The Little Match Girl is a popular story at Christmas time. It is an imaginary story, but people see many messages in it. Some people say the Little Match Girl makes them think about people who have less than them. They think about people who may be poor or lonely at Christmas or the holidays. The story encourages them to help people in need. Other people see a message behind the pictures in the story. Each vision made the Little Match Girl feel happy. But the picture she wanted to stay with her was the one of her grandmother. This was the only one that offered a different kind of happiness. Love Unconditional love is another message some people see in the story. The grandmother represents a love that does not die. This love carries the Little Girl to a place without pain or suffering. This makes some people think about God's love and heaven, especially at Christmas time. And they think of his love that will carry them to a better place one day. Heaven Have you heard this story before? Do you think this story was a sad story or a happy story? Tell us what you think. You can leave a comment on our website or email us at contact at spotlightenglish.com You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The writer of this program was Marina Santy. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. You can listen to this program again and read it on the internet at www.spotlightenglish.com This program is called The Story of the Little Match Girl. Visit our website to download our free official app for Android and Apple devices. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. From all of us at Spotlight, Merry Christmas!


I'm making plans for a new tattoo. In fact, the next time you see me, it'll probably be eternally etched into my skin. And every time I dream about the next installation on the art gallery known as my body, I find myself reflecting on who I am, on who I've been, on who I still might become. You see, I want to literally live my life on my sleeve, a reminder to myself and anyone with eyes to see, a reminder that in order to know where I'm going, I have to know where I've been.


Chechen leader, threatens U.S. with revenge. The head of Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Katirov, has warned the U.S. that it will face retribution if it does not lift the sanctions on his mother. Washington imposed financial restrictions and a travel ban on Imani Katirova and several other Russian individuals and entities on August 24. The day Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day, Katirov's mother was sanctioned because she is the head of the Akhmat Katirov Foundation, which the U.S. claims was involved in the re-education of Ukrainian children evacuated by Russia from the war zone. In a post on telegram, Katirov, who was himself blacklisted by the U.S. and EU, said the restrictions against my dear mother came as a shock even to him, despite the fact that he has become used to the illogical sanctions decisions by the U.S. and the West. The whole world knows that she's engaged in nothing but charitable activities," he said. Imani Katirova was only sanctioned because she is his mother, Katirov claimed, and because of this, the American decision can only be viewed as a deliberate and cynical disregard for all ethical norms. However, he insisted that the sanctions are painless for Russia and are only imposed by Washington to comfort itself. We'll keep breaking the backs of NATO-Ukrainian gangs, Katirov said. The State Department is feeling too cozy while pushing the Ukrainian people to their death and hiding behind rainbow democracy. This American filth must be crushed, Katirov said. The Chechen leader called upon Washington to immediately lift the sanctions on his mother. Otherwise, I won't forgive you for this. I'm ready to do anything," he warned.


My name is Monica Sierra. I'm from the Communications Department of the ECB and I'm very happy to be here with the winner of this year's Young Economist Competition Leslie Shang Shen So congratulations Leslie. I just wanted to ask first. Well, how are you feeling right now? I feel absolutely thrilled. This is a great honor and a great encouragement and thank you very much to the selection committee for this award Could you tell us a bit about your paper about your research paper? Absolutely. So my paper studies how the globalization of banking system has affected credit allocation across firms and the macroeconomy. I Raise this new perspective that bank specialization in global versus local risk is a key mechanism in introducing how firms decide which bank to borrow from and I show that this type of bank Specialization give rise to a double adverse selection problem, which means that Both global and local banks are getting the worst type of firms in terms of characteristics It does not observe and that generates spillover and implication of funding shocks across borders Okay. Thank you. What would you say is really innovative about your research? Well, I think Now I raise this new perspective about bank specialization in global versus local risk And this is no deviates from the traditional way to look at why do some firms go to certain type of banks versus others and there's also important policy implications a Lot of the talks about how should we regulate global banks these days has been about capital ratios and my results point that Maybe some attention should be looked at how exposed our global shocks global banks to global risks And my results show that global banks are loaded Exposure to global risk because they tend to lend to firms that are more exposed to global risk And those risk can be amplified during crisis times. Okay. Thank you And What would you say after your experience here after the three days at the central banking form? What would you suggest for PhD students and economics who are maybe interested in participating in the competition next year? What are what are your recommendations? I would highly encourage them to apply. I think this has been a really great experience Of course, no at the poster sessions for us We get a chance to talk about our own research to top academic economists policy makers and journalists At the same time at nose by sitting at these panel sessions We really get good exposure to no the hot topics that's being discussed in the policy circle and among academics and the conversation is just really dynamic and It is just a great opportunity for PhD students to know get a better sense of their profession Yeah, what would you say was the highlight for you of this experience? Just meeting many great Economist and policy makers that I have no been reading in the news and Looking at their work for so long and having an opportunity to talk to them about my own research and hear their Perspectives about what's happening in the economy in the world right now Great. Well, I don't want to keep you too long because you must be really eager to get back to your family and friends To tell them about the great news. So I would just like to congratulate you once again and wish you all the best Thank you very much. Thank you You


In this study, the researchers analyzed the prevalence of BRAF mutations in Korean patients with non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC. They found that only 1.3% of the patients tested positive for BRAF mutations, which were mostly V600E mutations. Additionally, they observed that the presence of micropapillary components in the tumor was associated with BRAF mutations. This article was authored by Hyoyoung-on, Chung-hwan Lee, Min-ki Lee, and others.