Islam is not synonymous with "Terrorist."

Many people know little to nothing about the many religions of our world, yet find it in their agenda to judge the world on a title. Recently, I've been doing a lot of study on the connections between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Many people fail to see that all of these have one common root. Many fail to realize that when you break it down, they all worship the same God. So I'm going to break it down for them.

Judaism finds it's roots in Issac, son of Father Abraham. Issac was the only legitimate son that Abraham had with his wife, Rebbecca. There are two sects of Jews, the Orthodox, or religious Jews, and the Unorthodox Jews. The name of the latter being self explanatory. As far as my understanding goes, the difference in the two is a religion, and a nation. That could be wrong, but moving on.

Christianity has the very same foundation as Judaism, without many of the customs. Jews believe that their Messiah is yet to come, Christians are simply Jews that believe that Jesus was, is, and will forever be, that Messiah. The two religions above I will say no more on, because many of you know the story behind the two.

When I say the word "Islam," or "Muslim," many of you jump into your bomb shelters and prepare to wait out an air raid. The simple thing you all need to know right off, is that Muslims are not terrorists. Many terrorists are Muslim, but to assume that many Muslims are terrorists is both stereotypical and racist. Islam also finds its roots right back as Father Abraham. Before Issac was born, Abraham and Rebbecca thought they were not able to have children. Because Abraham needed an heir, Rebbecca had him sleep with her servant, Hagar. She was soon pregnant, and gave birth to a son, Ishmael. When Issac was born, Rebbecca had Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael, her son, into the wilderness. They wandered, and are said to have been found by God, and given water. The place they were given that water is now called "Mecca," the holiest city in Islam. Moving forward a few years, and by a few, I mean a lot. It was many years after the birth and death, and resurrection of Christ that the prophet Mohammad came along. He claimed that "Allah" or "God" had spoke to him how Muslims should live their lives, and collected these teachings in the Holy Quran. The five pillars of Islam are Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Poor-due (giving to the poor), and Hajj (the pilgramage to Mecca). When you look at the Islamic faith, it is remarkably similar to Judaism in many ways, but as my History teacher pointed out, Muslims have more faith than those in any other religion. We look down on them, but should we not want a faith like that for our own God?

Now I'll address the radical Muslims. Mohammad's teachings told Muslims to "Defend the faith against infidels." An Infidel is anyone who does now practice Islamic faith. The Muslim extremeists took that to mean, "If they don't worship Allah, cut their heads off, or drive planes into them. That'll teach them." I've had Muslim friends, none of them have ever driven a plane at me, and i still have my head. As far as i know, there has been no cynide in my food, nor hoses leaking posion gasses into my bedroom. Bottom line, we need to stop assuming that every man wearing a turban, is wearing a bomb. Believe it or not, they ARE sold seperatly. So next time you see someone who is clearly of Islamic faith, instead of judging, respect them, and go on your way.

Peace and Love guys.

"Christianity"

I’ve noticed a few things lately that have been getting on my nerves. The biggest of which is the fact that many people who call themselves “Christian“, have no qualms about looking at a person they see on a street, and judging them. Many “Christians” would look at a man with tattoos and piercing, and frown upon him. I once walked through the streets of St. Paul with a “Christian” group, and one of our LEADERS told me it was stupid to give three dollars in change to a homeless man. He told me that the man would simply go out and buy alcohol with it. Take it from this angle, what would Jesus have done? I can’t really know, but I can only assume that he would have sat with the man, and helped him in anyway that he could. Are we not to live our lives as close to his as we can? Why is it then that “Christians” take on the “high and mighty” attitude that has brought so many negative connotations to the Christian faith.

I’m not saying that we all need to become Jesus. I know that I’m far from it, and I don’t know anyone who is anywhere close to it. That’s the point. The point is that we are TOO far from it. When did looking down at everyone we encounter become ok? It’s been this way forever. It’s sick and wrong. Does nobody see that in doing this, we are becoming what we most hate? Am I the only one who hates it so much? I know I cannot possibly be. It’s time to step up and do as Christ would have us do. Throw down our egos and learn a little humility (that is a word, ask my girlfriend)

Peace and Love

Narcissism and Pessimism

Looking at the world, I sometimes see a dark, corrupt, crooked world. Other times, I look out, and see the beautiful things created by God. All around the world, people are at war with their neighbors. Left and right, everywhere we look, we see parents divorcing, children without direction through the world, hate and stress causing pain all around. All of this is contradicted if you look just a little deeper. How many people, when you ask them what they see in the world, would tell you that they see the grace of God everyday? A woman plagued with cancer, healed, and allowed to live her life. A young mother holding her beautiful smiling little boy. We seldom see the beauty in the dark world.

But this should not be so. Where there is light, there can be no darkness. One tiny candle can illuminate an entire room in darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. But if there is light, there can be no darkness. So how is it that there is so much darkness in our world? Should not the little things all around us cast the darkness into light? The truth is, we have become accustomed to expect the worse. We look for the negativity in life, and it is all we see. We look right past the small joys in life, and automatically see a huge negative picture. I'm guilty of it as well. In reality, we all need to stop being so narcissistic and pessimistic, see what God is doing in our world, and do whatever we can to do HIS work, stop thinking about ourselves, and take on a servants heart.

Peace and Love all.