Late Night Thoughts

So, this is what confuses me about religion, among other things.

If Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God, and has divine power, they must also believe that he is all of those things for everyone else as well, correct? Like, we all have our "God," but that God isn't just ours, it has to be the same for every single person on this planet whether they believe in it or not.

I guess it's just a confusing topic. If Allah is the real God, then it's him I have been praying to and not Jesus, right?

I don't know. Who does? I guess we all have our beliefs and there really is no way to ever justify any of them as being correct. It's the dividing factor among humans and the number one cause of all conflict and war, I guess there's a reason for that right?

Ice Cube!

A pretty interesting article to check out on the famous N.W.A. rapper and his religious views.

Ice Cube apparently converted to Islam in the 90's, after he had already sold millions of copies of "Straight Outta Compton," because he wanted a religion that was just between him and God. He's not a regular mosque-attender and my guess is he hasn't made the Hajj yet, but good for Ice Cube if he made a choice and stuck with it.

Check out the rest of the article for a lot more information!

Ka'bah

While studying for the final (the cancelled final), I got stuck researching the Ka'bah and the Hajj. I realize that Mecca is an extremely vital place for Islam as a whole but I really didn't understand what the entire "lets walk in circles around this cube" thing was all about.

I guess what really interested me was what the cube was and if there was anything inside.

I learned that the cube is called the Ka'bah! It's originally believed to have been built by Abraham, even though it has since been rebuilt due to disaster and natural disaster. The cube is the house of God, and its believed to be the most sacred place on earth. It symbolizes so many things for Muslims all throughout the globe, and it's an obligation for able Muslims to visit it at least once during their lifetime.

The Ka'bah keys are owned by one family that has passed them down for generations!

AND!

Only a select few get to venture inside of the Ka'bah, but it's the only place in the entire world where Muslims are allowed to pray in any direction they wish.

Learn Islam! Thats an order!

I found an article today about a landlord who was involved in a dispute with a Muslim tenant. The judge heard the entire case, and then as part of the punishment, judge Paul Yee Jr. ordered the tentant to learn about Islam. The landlord was being prosecuted for allegedly pushing tenant down a flight of stairs after a series of allegations involving religion.

The judge and his actions are being investigated because of the punishment being unusual and what the article describes "an unconstitutional outrage."

Here's a picture of the man himself. Judge Paul Yee Jr.

Here's the article to check out. 

Interview With a Friend Pt. 2

For this post I decided to return to the theme of interviewing a friend about their religious background. In my opinion, you can learn a lot more about faith and practice from the people around you than you ever really could from textbooks or articles online. 

The last interview had a general theme because my friend was a councilor at a Christian summer camp, so I kind of knew what to ask and roughly how she would answer, but for this interview, I made sure to catch my new respondent completely off guard so that the answered couldn't be practiced or rehearsed. 

What is your own religious background? 

"I was raised protestant congregationalist. Basically confirmed in 7th grade, went to church a lot as a child, and not so much really now."

What was the confirmation process like as a protestant congregationalist?

"Basically, we had confirmation meetings once a week for a year where we were taught about scripture and related items."

How many people were in this group?

"Two, another kid from my school and I."

How do you think having a group that small helped your experience?

"I mean I got to know the pastor pretty well, and I never did the reading so I always got called out, and it was pretty awkward."

Nice man, do you think that that experience so long ago shapes the way you make certain decisions today?

"Not at all. Because I think now I have a better idea of what I believe."

Thanks 

The Well?

This past weekend I went to a church in downtown Boulder called "The Well."

It's main focus is creating a community, so the mass usually isn't started until everyone is done chatting in the main lobby area and makes their way into the actual area where mass is held. This being my first time, I had no idea what was going on and I was extremely reluctant to talk to anyone, so I just went in a played on my phone until around 11:09, when the mass finally began.

The service had a huge focus on music, similar to a lot of churches, and I actually highly enjoyed the message and stayed afterwards to talk with some different people.

The Well is relatively new and also relatively underfunded, thus their masses are held in a middle school auditorium with all of the necessary equipment loaded and unloaded from the back of a U-Haul truck before and after the service. It was really interesting to see that despite their lack of resources and capital, they didn't ask for much, and they still only had one goal in mind, which is to serve God.

Maybe it's worth checking out in the future for any of you guys.

Kairos Retreat

The Kairos retreat is probably the single most defining experience and memory that I can think of in my life so far. Kairos, in a dictionary sense, means "the perfect, or opportune, moment" and the retreat is a spiritual (often Catholic) four day retreat that takes place during your junior or senior year of high school.

Some of you may have heard of this retreat or even gone on it yourself, as it is pretty popular throughout the country. In my church, it's student led by 8-10 student senior leaders, and usually accompanied by 3-5 adults who supervise the time and make sure things flow smoothly. I went on the retreat as a junior, and then led the retreat twice as a senior. It really is way too powerful to go into much detail over, as I could (and probably would) turn this blog post into a novel, but I want the audience to get the gist of what happens on Kairos.

The retreat is compromised of a multitude of activities, but the main element are the eight student-led talks that are given throughout the weekend. The talks are:

Know Yourself

Faithfulness

Ideals

Study & Prayer

Christian Leadership

Sacraments

Love In Action

And there are four accompanying adult talks as well:

LifeGraph

God's Friendship

Results of God's Friendship

Obstacles to God's Friendship

These talks are the most important element of the retreat, each one can range from anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, and they are usually full of wisdom and profound theology. The talks always encompass some kind of hardship that the writer has faced and how their specific topic relates to their own life. The retreat gives kids a better idea of the faith that they claim to practice, and inspires them to choose for themselves what they believe. There are often tears shed, and small groups usually lead retreatants to feel compelled to share stories from their own lives as well. I could go on for days explaining the process or giving an overview of the talk I gave, but lets just save that for another time. If ya ever want to talk about it, or talk about anything, I'd love to chat.

Doubt, Cry, Trust, Live.