The 10 most educated people on the planet: Lessons for Young People about Priorities!

By Clive Mutame SIACHIYAKO

As of December 2011; the people below were far the most educated people on the planet (after all who spends their entire life studying?) but they do hold more degrees than a thermometer.  This may be of interest to some people out there.  Thanks to online colleges for this one.

1. Michael Nicholson: He has been racking up college degrees since 1963 and doesn’t have any plans to slow down soon. The 67-year-old has taken full advantage the tuition discounts he and his wife get by working at Western Michigan University. Over his lifetime, Nicholson has amassed 27 different degrees, including two associate’s degrees, 19 master’s degrees, three specialist degrees, and one PhD. Nicholson doesn’t pursue degrees for work, he just loves to learn and likes being able to take advantage of courses that help him learn about a wide range of subjects. His wife has also taken up the college hobby, earning seven degrees of her own. Nicholson is currently working on two more master’s degrees and plans to keep going as long as he can.

2. Zhou Baokuan: Over 35 years of study, Zhou Baokuan has earned nine degrees in total. He’s currently finishing up what will be his tenth degree, a PhD at Fudan University, to add to his collection which, include three other doctorates, two master’s, and four other bachelor’s and technical certification diplomas. It hasn’t been an easy road for Baokuan. He estimates that his studies have taken him over 126,300 hours to complete. He currently holds the record in China for the most number of degrees completed.

3. Benjamin Bolger: Overachiever Benjamin Bolger hasn’t just gotten a lot of degrees (11 in total), but has gotten them from some of the most prestigious colleges in the world. He got an early start, graduating at only 19 from the University of Michigan with his bachelor’s degree. In 2008, Bolger graduated with his first doctorate from Harvard, though he is no stranger to Ivy League schools. He also holds degrees from Columbia, Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth, Oxford, and Cambridge (not to mention another degree from Harvard) and is still studying for an additional five through Penn and Cornell. What makes Bolger’s story even more amazing is that he has struggled with severe dyslexia his entire life, a disability he’s clearly never let hold him back.

4. Dr. Hardial Singh Sainbhy: With a total of 35 degrees to his credit, Dr. Sainbhy is one of the most degreed people in the world. This Indian super student has degrees in a wide array of subjects, holding 15 masters degrees, five post-graduate diplomas, a bachelor of law, AMIE and AMSIE certification, and numerous bachelor’s degrees. Sainbhy has spent most of his life in a college classroom and plans to keep earning degrees for as long as he’s able to attend classes.

5. Ashoka J. Prasad Jr.: Indian professor Ashoka Prasad is a leader in the medical field in his country, helping advance pediatrics and neonatal care for Indian citizens and has taught at schools like Columbia, U Penn, Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge. While he may teach health-related topics to his students, he has degrees in a much wider range of studies, totaling 19 degrees in all. These degrees include an MA in anthropology from Cambridge as well as MRC in psychiatry from the University of Edinburgh though he holds others in geography, history, mathematics, and aviation medicine. 56-year-old Prasad has since retired to his home in India, but he still writes and speaks on many psychiatry topics.

6. R.K. Rai: Some people just can’t get enough of being a student, and R.K. Rai is one of those people. Over his lifetime this 65-year-old has earned more than 30 degrees, including a mind-boggling 22 MAs, 5 PhDs, and three D. Litts – all in widely divergent fields. Now retired from his work as a professor, Rai believes that lifelong learning is essential to a happy life, which may be why he plans to keep earning degrees even though he’s retired from academics. He’s currently working on a MA in astrology from Magadh University and plans to return to college as an administrator in the coming months.

7. Robert Raffa: Dr. Robert Raffa is currently professor and chair of pharmaceutical studies at Temple University, and he has never shied away from academic life. This professor holds five different degrees, including two bachelor’s, two master’s, and a PhD. Unlike some of the others on this list with more degrees, Raffa uses all of his certifications, having engaged in a variety of research projects, written books, and taught classes related to chemistry and pharmacology. He’s also won numerous awards and grants, showing that you don’t need a dozen degrees to stand out in your field.

8. Satch Ejike: African-born lawyer and social scientist Ejike has dabbled in a little bit of everything during his academic career. He holds five degrees that include an LL.B. in law, B.L in law, MS in political science, MA in humanities, LL.M. in business and taxation, and a PhD in business history and public policy. While Ejike has had teaching positions in law and the humanities and currently works as a lawyer, he’s perhaps best known for work that has little to do with any of his five degrees. He’s the author of a number of books on the physics of attraction, with the aim of helping couples stay together and form closer bonds.

9. Daniela Simidchieva: With an IQ of 200, Daniela Simidchieva is one of the smartest people in the world. She’s also one of the most well-educated. She holds five masters degrees and two bachelor’s degrees, in fields as diverse as English, economics, and electrical engineering. She managed to do all that learning while still being a mother to her three children, something any parent in school should find inspiring. Currently, Simidchieva works for Progressive Business Solutions as an expert on international programs and projects, but even she, with all of her degrees and expertise, had a hard time finding a job in this economy.

10. Michael Griffin: While he might not hold the insane amount of degrees that some others on this list do, Michael Griffin’s educational history is still impressive, to say the least. A physicist and aerospace engineer, Griffin was the chief administrator of NASA until 2009. His degrees, seven in all, no doubt helped him to land that amazing job. He has a BA in physics, an MS and PhD in aerospace engineering, an MS in electrical engineering, an MS in physics, an MS in civil engineering and an MBA. Before being appointed chief of NASA, Griffin was also working towards finishing an MS in computer science at Johns Hopkins. In 2007, Time named Griffin as one of their 100 “Most Influential People,” and with his education and expertise, we have to agree. Courtesy of edgalaxy.com/journal/2011

WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT KISSING, CUDDLING, ROMANCING BEFORE MARRIAGE??

By Tinashe Maruta

Firstly let me make something very clear, your engagement ring doesn’t guarantee any marriage benefits, you are still boyfriend and girlfriend until you take the vows before the Lord and a priest joins you. 

How far can you go without a marriage license? It would be really nice if the Bible said "with thy lips together thou may kiss, but with thy lips parted thou shalt not kiss" or "above the waist you shall touch freely, but below the waist you shall not touch." Because such detailed limits are not given, some will suggest that God does not care if we KISS, slip a hand under a blouse, up a skirt, or into a pair of pants. It is increasingly common for Christians to believe, and even teach others, that as long as the penis does not enter the vagina, it's "not sex." 

All sexual activity is sex. God's design of sex doesn't merely include the act of sexual intercourse. It's also everything that leads up to that act, and everything on the sexual continuum is meant to end in that act. It's called foreplay, and it's a fundamental part of God's design for sex. In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said, ‘’But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart’’. This implicates that it is the thought that counts to God and this is also why the bible says in 1Timothy 5verse 1, ‘’….Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. When we are dating, we are brothers and sisters and the key words in that verse where treating one another with absolute purity. During the dating period, your body belongs to God and after marriage that is when the Lord shares your body with your spouse. You will belong to him, and him to you. 

Ephesians 5:3 says amongst you, there should be not even a hint of sexual immorality. When we talk about sex, it is not just the penetration of sexual organs. Sex does not begin with the penetration but it begins with cuddling, kissing, romancing and these are what we call the foreplay. A couple can never truly enjoy sex without the foreplay. The foreplay is the whole big deal in sex and penetration will be just the finishing phase. 

This is why the bible says treat one another with absolute purity and that there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality. The moment you start kissing your partner, you will stimulate sexual feelings and arouse that person. Yes Paul said greet one another with a holy Kiss but 1Timothy 5:1 tells us about purity. Would you greet your sister/brother with a French kiss?? The moment we indulge into things that causes sexual stimulation, we will be already committing adultery/fornication as it is the fore play of sex and foreplay is the whole game or big deal of sex. Some partners don’t even need to reach the penetration as this alone can reach orgasm. Foreplay belongs to the marriage bed and the bible says in Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 

In Genesis 26 we read that God told Isaac to stay with the Philistines in lieu of going to Egypt. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he told them that Rebekah was his sister, because she was beautiful, and he was afraid that the men would kill him to get at her. In verse 8 we read, "When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" This shows that there is a type of activity which is only appropriate with a wife, and not appropriate with a sister.

 Kissing, cuddling, and romancing outside of the bonds of marriage neither proves nor enhances true love. Rather, it proves, demonstrates, enhances a physical attraction that is Biblically classified as lust when not consecrated in marriage. This truth bears itself out not only in our emotions, desires, and common sense, but literally in our physical bodies. The moment two people begin kissing or touching each other in a sexual way, both the male and female body — without going into unwarranted detail here — begin "preparing" for sex. God has designed us that way, and when we begin any sort of sexual activity, our bodies know exactly what's going on — even if our self-deluding minds deny it. 

Why didn't God spell it out for us in the Bible? Actually we think He did, but because we are products of the society we live in we don't see it. Up until very recently it was commonly accepted that stimulating the breasts or genitals directly or indirectly WAS SEX. In the days before reliable birth control many prostitutes made a living doing everything but intercourse. So when Paul says "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?" (1 Corinthians 16a NKJV) those who read it would not have thought he was referring only to intercourse, but to any and all of the ways a prostitute of the day would pleasure a man. Even married couples might regularly resort to sex without intercourse in order to not conceive. So perhaps our failure to understand that things like oral sex and petting to orgasm are unacceptable outside of marriage is our fault, not God's.