faith

i hope the medical leave of steve jobs results in good health and an added zeal to make great products.

next week americans around the globe will sit down and give thanks to God for all, thanksgiving 2005. be it katrina, rita, 9/11, dover PA school board, alito, or limbaugh milestones, it is all good, and God deserved the propers. a trend over the last five years, is moving from the big breasted turkey dinner, to a heritage bird, or what the first few thanksgivings might have served, instead of the genetically engineered and bred bird that goes on most peoples plates.

www.marysturkeys.com
www.reeseturkeys.com
www.heritagefoodsusa.com
www.heritageturkeyfoundation.org
www.slowfoodusa.org

now that terrorism is coming home, first nairobi, then new york, then kabul, then baghdad, and now london it won’t be long until we are all dodging bullets and bombs. wait, i already live in los angeles, where little girls are being shot by SWAT snipers, and gang bangers are shooting senior citizens. i already live in a terrorist community where on a good year 2000 folks are murdered, but now the threat may come from across the seas or across national boarders.

we all need to learn what is means to become a true muslim (arabic for one who surrenders) to learn what makes most of the world tick (including me). no, don’t study in a religious school in jalalabad , but learn some of the jargon of the jihadist and of the faith walks of others. like women in islamic nations who wear headscarfs. these garments are called a:

hijab

now in the conquered nation of afghanistan, they wore a special headscarf called a:

burka

so now we’ve all learned something. the people of mid asia (india, pakistan, afganistan) wear burkas, and the egyptians, saudi arabians, and moors wear hijabs.

is it proximity, lack of sleep, clarity, or some unknown metaphysical factor, but somehow the power of God is coming true to me. i don’t think i’ve ever doubted that a creator, a lifeforce, the alpha and the omega, exists. this natural balance, and the beauty of the physical world make not believing more incredulous than believing. throughout history, human minds yearned for religous understanding, and knowing who God is. descartes, plato, washington, mohammad, Jesus, hume, king, kant, and freud all seeked answers, and many of them found them in faith.

the metaphysical realm is real. as social creatures, we try to keep in touch electronically via mobile phone, IM, e-mail, and voice, but we still feel very alone until we hug each other, kiss each other, talk to each other. we must share each other’s souls and life force to be truely together. that’s why we travel great distances to be together. God, and the various faiths that tie this globe together, takes over when people fail. when planes fly into building, when bombs shaped like food blow off our legs, and neighors steal, we look to God and ask, “why?” maybe the holy scriptures has the answers, be it the quran, christian Bible, hebrew Bible, the inferno, or other text. religious people throughout time tried to stay transparent. if you look to Jesus, he always pointed to the Father. mohammad did not want to even have a burial mound or for people to know his birthday, as to deny focus on the Father, on God. jews love God, hindis love God. budhists love God. somehow generatation for at least 12000 years has decided on one true God. now how we rationalize and visualize God is entirely different, but in my heart i feel we all hear the siren of God, and hopefully it does not lead us to lives dashed on rocks like in the odessey, but to life and understanding of each other and where we fit in God’s master plan.

we live in a nation state founded on judeo-christian values. the community of presidents, and most nearly everyone else prayed to a higher power for guidance and strength to start a civil war against the british empire now over 200 years ago.

for over 2000 years most westerners believed that God sent a messenger, a Christ, in the form of Yahushua of nazareth, now known as Jesus (a greek/latin combination of the original aramaic). the Father Yahweh sent his only son Yahushua as his human representative to warn and teach on the coming of the imperial rule of God. now we live under and in the imperial rule, and i’ve taken it upon myself to learn the teaching of Yahushua since august 1998.

under the teaching of dale bruner, a retired professor from whitworth, i’ve had the pleasure to walk through the gospels of Yahushua, starting with Matthew, then Mark, and now in Luke. as long as my teacher has breath, we’ll march right on through the entire Christian bible. reading word by word, multiple translations, along with the original translation from greek and latin of dr. bruner, i have come to my own conclusions of what the gospels of Yahushua really mean to humanity, and how it relates to my life. as a test of devotion, my personal tranlation is from the jesus seminar, a left wing group striving to recognize the historical jesus, but also appearing to discount everything that this historical figure said and did. recently a tomb dig uncovered a coffin with the words, “here lies james, brother of Yahushua.” i would suggest that if you start your own journey into the ancient religous texts, this is the starting platform along with other texts of Funk. goodluck on your own spiritual journey.