  Spiritual
This week: Leaps of Faith Edited by: Jeff  
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"To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.
To one without faith, no explanation is possible."
-- Thomas Aquinas
Spirituality Trivia of the Week: The term "megachurch" is usually in reference to a religious institution that has 2000+ weekly attendees. The largest megachurch in the United States is Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas with a weekly attendance of roughly 44,000 people. The largest megachurch in the world is Yoido Full Gospel Church with over 830,000 in attendance.  Despite the increasing number of megachurches, the Association of Religion Data Archives reports that the majority of North American churchgoers still attend small churches of fewer than 200 members.
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LEAPS OF FAITH
Life, by its nature, is a chaotic and uncertain thing. We are forever encountering situations that surprise us, that challenge us, that sometimes even break us. It's not easy; the people I know who claim to have had easy lives are either lying (sometimes even to themselves) or haven't really lived. The world is an amazing place, but it's also completely unpredictable. Some people win the lottery; others lose their homes to foreclosure. Some are blessed with excellent health and long, long lives; others' lives are tragically cut short by heart attack, cancer, AIDS, or a thousand other possible afflictions. And as much as we try to impose order on our lives - to control the events and outcomes that we experience - the truth is that no one really knows what tomorrow holds. It might be a day just like any other day, or it might be a day that changes the entire course of your life.
Sooner or later, we all encounter an event or situation in our lives that requires a leap of faith. We simply can't be one hundred percent certain about every single choice and decision we make throughout our lives. And this isn't relegated merely to matters of religion; faith is required in almost all areas of our life. While faith is required to believe in a higher power and have conviction about what happens after you die, it requires just as much faith to believe that the doctors caught all the cancer with chemotherapy and that it won't come back. Or that the dollar you gave to the homeless person outside the supermarket will be spent on food rather than wasted on booze. Or that when you exchange vows and say "I do" at your wedding, you really will stay together "through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, 'til death do you part." You have to have faith that you're doing the right thing because the truth is there are no guarantees in life. You can't check every remaining cell in a person's body to make sure there are zero cancer cells remaining. You can't follow that homeless person around and make sure he spends that money on necessities. And you can't foresee every possible challenge and tribulation in your marriage and say for sure that your relationship will endure. In order for each of us to move on with our lives and continue to function, some things require us to make a leap of faith and say, "Even without absolute proof or certainty, I choose to believe that this is the right thing to do, that my pain and my problem will get better if I do this."
One of the things I struggle with about my faith is actually putting my trust in something I can't see or hear or even necessarily feel. Others around me, even close friends and family, are blessed in the fact that many of them can interpret the presence of the divine. God (in whichever of his forms they choose believe) reveals himself to them and they can look at a situation and say, "This person found a job after being unemployed for a year. That's God's will." Or, "That person and his wife have been trying for years to have a baby and they finally had a baby girl last week! That's God's good work." Or even, "Look at this gorgeous day and all the beauty God has designed." I don't feel those things, and as a result, I grew up a little more skeptical, believing that there's a rational, scientific explanation for everything. The job that person found was a result of hard work and long months of job searching finally paying off. The couple who had that baby were just lucky that this time a viable sperm found a viable egg and the pregnancy took. The day sure is beautiful, but it's because the sun in shining, the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming because it's Spring, etc. etc. etc. That's not to say I didn't believe in the presence of the divine, but that I put far, far more stock in plausible and logical causes and effects. If you get sick, you get medicine, and the medicine makes you better. It's a matter of science.
But even I have to admit that, in certain things, it's a matter of faith. Not everything can be explained in concrete facts and absolute certainties. Sometimes I'll look back at the things in my life and just have to believe that there was some greater reason for things happening the way they did. When my wife and I first moved down to Los Angeles, we really struggled financially. Thankfully, one of us always had a job... even though layoffs and career changes and bad jobs, when one of us was down and out, the other one was working full time and able to pay the bills. When I got laid off, she was working. When she had to quit working full time to go back to school, I was working. And while it took a long time for us to do anything more than scrape by on a single income, we also didn't lose our apartment, have our power shut off, need to move back home, etc. It's hard to justify years of provision as merely a coincidence. And now that my wife lost her job can't find another teaching position for this coming school year, we're back to just one income after only eight months of moving into a nicer (and more expensive) apartment. This requires us to make another leap of faith, that somehow we'll be able to make ends meet, pay the rent, and keep the lights on.
It can be downright scary to make decisions and act on faith when facts and absolute certainties can't be known. Like Indiana Jones stepping out onto the invisible bridge in The Last Crusade, those first steps into the unknown can be downright terrifying, especially when we don't have a safety net and aren't operating on assurances that everything will work out. But if you never take a leap of faith about anything in your life, you're going to spend your entire life waiting for certainty that may never come. At some point, we all have to decide whether we're willing to believe in something enough to accept it as true, even if we don't have the evidence or proof we'd like. I'm going to have to decide if I can believe in a God I can't see or hear or feel. A divorcee will have to decide if he or she can believe in the possibility of finding a soul mate in a second (or third or fourth) spouse. When writers compose a manuscript on spec, they have to believe that publishers will want to publish it and readers will want to read it. Without taking those leaps of faith - no matter how big or small - we're condemning ourselves to a life of never really reaching out for anything.
Leaps of faith aren't easy... but how many truly worthwhile and satisfying things are?
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following spiritual items:
Happiness isn't the absence of suffering but the realization that we don't suffer alone which makes the answer to suffering a personal issue requiring a personal response. God isn't the answer to Why but how we are not overcome by these. God comforts us, bandaging our wounds, and allowing us to heal from adversity. If a loving God doesn't exist, I cannot explain the return of my hubby. The act of sending Bryon is both an act of mercy and an act of faith. There is this line in a star trek movie: I need my pain. It states pain itself is part of our identity and true healing isn't the absence of pain but how we react to it or our response to having suffered in the first place.
I prayed half-heartedly,
but I read His word faithfully.
Came across a verse and
thought surely “I have faith,
What’s so hard to have faith
the size of a mustard seed?”
Why then, do I not get
what I want and need?
The character of a man being true and accurate over a thing can be regarded as faithfulness. It is one of the virtues that make a man to be termed as being righteous. However, it is very rare to see a man who is consistently faithful in all his ways, especially in this end time. Although it should not be, particularly among the children of God, we can say many changes in circumstances make men to waver between truthfulness and unfaithfulness.
Sometimes all you have is your belief. The trials of life can knock you down and all you see is a blurred world through tear stained eyes. This is the time when holding on is the last thing you want to do. Trying to take another breath or step is as hard as trying to climb the highest mountain on earth barefooted. You bow down on your knees in muck of human existence with pains of hurt, humiliation and loss sitting on your shoulders like vultures waiting to devour your soul. Nevertheless, you crawl out of the bowels of contention and fix your tear stained suffering eyes on that one cloud that looks like the eye of God is watching you or you see the innocent smile of a child and somehow you just know that something is waiting for you. You don’t know what it is or where it will come from you just know that it is there.
Whatever be our state, level or experience in true spiritual practice, one must always have faith in the Master. He is a giver and we are mere seekers. He is our savior. It is our faith in the Master which provides us with the energy (that can take the form of willpower, purusharth, strength to sustain meditation for long periods, experience of vibrations, performance of service or seva, staying on the right path in life, transformation and progress in the spiritual journey). Thus for a spiritual seeker, the most important factors are faith and devoted service at the holy feet of Sadguru lord.
Now this love I feel burns me like a fire
As the call of Christ lifts me higher and higher
And this love I give, `cause it cannot wait,
In the midst of fear, takes a leap of faith
Take a chance, be released from the fears that bind
Make a change, what you’ve longed for is what you’ll find
My faith is with me that I know
It’s time to reap what I sow
Sins forgiven I’m on my way
A chance to be with God today
“Well, right,” said Tom, “That’s the point. Our individual ethics and philosophies are drawn from our varied experiences. Many people draw from religion but that’s just part of their experience. And it’s now that we come to one of the great ‘what ifs’ of the world. What if there was no God. What if there was no Satan? What if this abstract idea of ‘absolute good’ didn’t exist? What if there was no ‘absolute good’ that everyone’s been futilely trying to achieve for thousands of years? And, similarly, what if there were no ‘absolute evil?’ Then you know what happens? Everyone continues to do what he or she thinks is right and avoids doing what he or she thinks is wrong, except that now he does not judge her based on his set of ethics, and she does not judge him based on hers. Both accept the other as right based on his or her experiences.”
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Feedback from my last newsletter on religion and politics:
TigerRose  says, "I could probably write an entire article of my own regarding this issue, but I shall do my best to keep it short.
I agree that religious groups making political statements does put people off, but there are things that are definitely right and definitely wrong and saying nothing about things that are definitely wrong is exactly the same as claiming those things as right.
The basis of my argument is this: "All it takes for evil men to prevail is for enough good men to do nothing." Therefore even if people have different views, it's important to still stand for what is definitely right. Also it should be known that anyone who is remembered as a 'hero' for any religious belief did what most people around them disagreed with, which could include making political statements about their beliefs. This wasn't intended as an attack. I actually very much respect you for tackling a subject like this. This has become longer than anticipated but I hope I expressed myself clearly."
Thank you for the thoughtful response! I agree that people should always stand up for what they believe in. Of course, the question then becomes what's "definitely right." I think the really sticky part of this whole debate is when someone is absolutely convinced that their beliefs are "definitely right" and try to impose those beliefs on others. It's a fine line, especially when it comes to hot-button issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. 
Christopher P. Kohls says, "A balanced article. I'm not sure that this kind of political split will ever end in America, or the world for that matter. There will always be those who prioritize morality over liberty and want to exist in a dignified culture without vice. And there will always be those who don't feel they fit into the traditional culture in which they were raised, and who will rebel or try to find an alternative path, almost always offending the first party. A more effective attempt at fitting everyone into their social niche would help eliminate this dichotomy, but we tend to ignore or even push away those on the fringes, and we probably always will."
Great comment! I think there will always be a counterculture to conflict with the cultured, and for everybody on one side of an issue, there's likely to be somebody on the other. On the one hand, I greatly respect people who stand up for their beliefs and fight for them. On the other hand, I think there's a big difference between people who are content in their own beliefs and those who try to impose them on others.
embe says, "In a moment in time
reading this newsletter
so informative by SoCalScribe,
I try not to argue about religion
and political views that confuse me.
Rather the quite place in my mind
praying to my Savior Jesus or God
three in one with the holy ghost,
now I know who to believe in;
embe writing about my faith."
Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
hebxii says, "Dear SoCalScribe,
I just subscribed to this newsletter today and what a surprise! Thank you for recommending my poem to your readers.
With regard to your topic, I believe that the more the church focuses on specific social and political topics, the more we lose sight of our primary purpose and what should be our passion, to reach out to and share with those who need the hope and peace we have in Jesus.
Thanks again,
Elaine \o/"
You're very welcome! Thank you for the insightful feedback! 
Joy  says, "Amen!
Thanks for addressing one of my pet peeves. How did we come to this place where we insist on a mine-is-better-than-yours dogma?
Also thanks for attaching this thought to writing. I resent picking up a book thinking it is literary or general fiction and then finding out it is preaching scripture. They could at least say the work has religious content at the jacket of the book.
I am neither a non-believer nor connected to any one strictly structured belief system, but I respect others' thoughts and beliefs, and resent getting shortchanged by a political party or a publisher. "
Thanks for writing in and sharing your thoughts! 
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Spiritual: September 05, 2012 Issue [#5239]
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