May God now bless us all with His peace which transcends understanding......
"Call upon Me in the day of
trouble;
I will deliver you, and you
shall glorify Me."
(Psalms 50:15)
The Quiet 2 (Sept. 12,
2001)
by Brian QTN
Approached by the furthest uneven yesterday, where
tumult and cataclysm
erode from a mountainous sky, we looked up to
see a smouldering meteor the
size of 42 houses come crashing to the earth,
throwing up dust and
evaporating rocks for miles around. The ground
quaked and heaved and
trembled a frightened gasping hush.
And then there was The Quiet.
Nothing would dare move. No one could call out.
Even at the heat of the
day, cosmic dust trails filled the off-green
sky blocking heat and light.
Between people who were closest, word became
thought. Stunned into present
time, alert and aware, there were no "what
ifs" or even "what nows".
Routine was forever changed again. Everything
became significant.
Distracted from commerce, numbers and logic,
life itself took on new
meanings, calling with a wild new sensuousness.
Nerves were raw, imploded,
frayed and exposed, yet also strangely soothed.
Everything that was only a
short while ago deemed impossible now seemed
likely. Every anxiety and
inevitability seemed distant, now nearly imaginary.
Awakened by the highest molecular call, something
juicy began again
flowing
and flooding, streaming and surging in that moment
when collective vision
gasps and pauses in stupefied horror, breathes
deeply in and waits, and
begins again on the outbreath, mechanism reset;
conscious and altogether
aware in some sort of celestial unison never
to be less vigilant again.
********
©September 12, 2001 Brian
Cutean (QTN)
Redbird Café Poetry
Parlor/Whistling Pig Music
All rights reserved. Unauthorized
use prohibited by law.
You may write Brian a note HERE!
dear friends, family and co-workers
--
by Larry Looney
On this day, just a little
more than 24 hours after
the tragedies in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania, I'm sure that many of us are still
in
varying states of shock that such an awful deed
could
have been perpetrated on our fellow human beings.
It
is a time when each of us must look within ourselves,
to the pillars of faith that we have constructed
over
the course of our lifetimes, and trust that we
may
lean on them -- for it is hard to stand under
the
weight of such suffering and sorrow as we have
beheld.
It crushes out hearts.
The government -- and many others
-- seem to be
coming to the conclusion that these horrors were
enacted by the organization led by Osama bin
Laden.
This may or may not prove to be true -- but there
are
things we mush bear clearly in mind as we face
the
trials of the time just ahead of us, of our nation,
of
the world.
If this is indeed the work of so-called
'Islamic
fundamentalist' terrorists, we must, as thinking,
feeling citizens of this planet, remember --
and help
others remember -- that nothing in the Koran,
Islam's
holy text, teaches such cruelty and disregard
for
human life as we have witnessed. Those
who kill in
the name of God -- whatever name they give Him
-- are
not truly spiritual people, and are in no way
representative of those who sincerely practice
their
faith. Prejudice is prejudice, no matter
its source
or target -- and it is an evil thing.
Right-thinking Muslims all over the
world have
expressed horror and outrage at the events that
took
place yesterday. There have, thankfully,
only been a
few scattered incidents of retribution against
persons
of Middle-Eastern heritage -- but even one is
too
many, and acts such as this sully our nation's
sense
of right. It was for religious freedom,
after all,
that many of our forefathers came to America.
Letting
our grief and anger vent itself upon any and
all
Muslims is just as wrong as the terrorists striking
out against any and all Americans for what they
perceive to be the wrongs committed by our government.
Sri Ramakrishna, a great Indian saint
of the late
19th century, said 'All religions, when practiced
sincerely, are true. All paths lead to
the same
goal'. We must remember that 'Allah akbar!'
means
'God is great' -- those who choose to use it
as a
battle cry have sadly lost the thread of their
faith,
twisting it into something it was never meant
to be.
If we hear someone speaking with
prejudice against
Muslims or Middle-easterners, it is our duty
both
spiritually and as Americans to gently remind
them
that this is a thorny path to walk. We
must love our
fellow humans enough to do this -- for all of
our
sakes.
A couple of days before this tragedy
occurred, a
quotation from Jesus came into my thoughts --
it now
seems so appropriate:
'As you did this to the least of
these, my
brethren, you did it to me.' -- Matthew
25:40.
salaam
shalom
pax
peace
--Larry
©September 12, 2001 L. Looney
Redbird Café Poetry
Parlor/Whistling Pig Music
All rights reserved. Unauthorized
use prohibited by law.
You may write Larry HERE!
Very Temporary Blues
by Nancy Fierstien
Tenderness stems
from a broken
crystal vase.
Red roses carry thorns
to my splendid garden's
heart.
***********
©September 13, 2001 Nancy
Fierstien/ Poetry in Motion
Redbird Café Poetry
Parlor/Whistling Pig Music
All rights reserved. Unauthorized
use prohibited by law.
You may write Nancy HERE!
Dear Friends and fans,
In the past three years I have found to my sorrow that there are many among us who profess theologies who have not actually read their accompanying instruction manuals. I am always astonished at the number of professing Christians for whom this is true. I am Christian. So many of us have never read our Bibles. Instead we trust others to inform us about God; we trust our own hearts to guide us regarding who God truly is and what He wants for us.
Hearsay, however, is not reliable. We do not commit this faux pas regarding any other book. Having mere peripheral knowledge on a subject does not qualify one to be an authority. Glancing at pictures in Playboy does not qualify one to perform an appendectomy. But sadly, many of us believe and speak as if we are truly authorities on God.
But God says in His manual, "The heart is deceitful above all things; who can know it?"
As humans beings we seem to prefer Him to be a manageable deity -- one of of our own design -- rather than seek to learn about who He truly claims to be. We want a quiet genie in a bottle -- a beneficent, benign entity we can understand and are not intimidated by---one we can call on in times of distress, helpful, but not too demanding, and certainly not sovereign above all things.
But His book says He is sovereign.
Perhaps that is why few deign to actually read His book. Perhaps it irritates our egos to think that God might be a God who doesn't need our help in order that He do anything. Perhaps it is far more flattering to think God is powerless, just sitting out there in heaven somewhere, entirely detached from us, awaiting our decision about a relationship with Him -- impotent to intervene, wishful perhaps, only occasionally "knocking" on the doors of our hearts......ever desirous that we would but let Him in, ever holding His own door open, hoping against hope that we will make it "home" one day, our good deeds having outweighed our bad. We want God available, but not interfering. When suffering, however, we insist He be powerful, not wimpy and detached. Basically, we want Him however we need Him-- ever-changing, flexible, at our disposal, on call 24-7. We just don't want Him interfering with our wants.
But this is not how He describes Himself in His book.
It is so surpising, however, that people will risk eternal error, concerning Him.
In the past three years, and certainly in the past week, I have also noticed that there are many devout individuals who, while proclaiming or disclaiming a different particular brand of theology to my own, have not read those particular instruction manuals, either. Therefore, now, at least for the purpose of preventing further hypocrisy on all our parts, I would like to caution us all against speaking out as authorities, even in an earnest desire for unity at this horrible, sad time -- concerning our respective theologies, if we haven't read our manuals. And we should, perhaps, refrain from speaking about others' theologies, as, at the least we may become guilty of hypocrisy; at worst, become misguided unto death.
Having said that, as regards Islam's being a 'religion of peace,' I offer the following exerpts:
From the Glorious Qur'an (Koran):
surah ii/ 190. "Fight
in the way of Allah against those who fight against you...
191. And
slay them wherever ye find them,
and drive them out of the places where they drove
you out,
for persecution is worse than slaughter.
And fight not with them at the invoiable place
of worship until they first attack you there,
but if they attack you there then slay them.
Such is the reward of disbelievers.
And fight them until persection is no more, and
religion is for Allah.
193. But
if they desisit, then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers.
And one who attacketh you, attack him in like
manner as he attacked you.
Observe your duty to Allah, and know that Allah
is with those who ward off evil."
surah iv/ 74."Let
those who fight in the way of Allah
sell the life of this world for the other.
Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah,
be he slain or victorious, on him We shall bestow
a vast reward."
91.
Ye will find others who desire that they should have security from you,
and security form their own folk.
So often as they are returned to hostility they
are plunged therin.
If they keep not aloof from you nor offer you
peace nor hold their hands,
then take them and kill them wherever ye find
them.
Against such we have given ye clear warrant."
104.Relent
not in the pursuit of the enemy.
If ye are suffering, lo! they suffer even as
ye are suffering
and ye hope from Allah that for which they cannot
hope."
surah ix/ 30."And
the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah,
and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son
of Allah.
That is their saying with their mouths.
They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved
of old.
Allah himself fighteth against them. How perverse
are they!
34. O
ye who believe! Lo! many of the Jewish rabbis and Christian monks devour
the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar men
from the way of Allah.
They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it
not in the way of Allah,
unto them give tidings of a painful doom.
123. O
ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near you,
and let them find harshness in you, and know
that
Allah is with those who keep their duty unto
him."
5."The Prophet said, "The
person who participates in (Jihad, Holy battles) Allah's cause
and nothing compels
him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be
recompensed by
Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be
admitted to Paradise
(if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). Had I not found it
difficult for
my followers, then I would not remain behind any sariya going for Jihad
and I would have
loved to be martyred in Allah's cause and then made alive, and
then martyred
and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause."Volume
1, Book 2, Number
35, Narrated Abu Huraira
6."Allah's Apostle said,
"A pious slave gets a double reward." Abu Huraira added: By
Him in Whose Hands
my soul is but for Jihad (i.e. holy battles), Hajj, and my duty
to serve my mother,
I would have loved to die as a slave. Volume 3, Book 46,
Number 724: Narrated
Abu Huraira
7."Allah's Apostle said,
"Allah guarantees (the person who carries out Jihad in His
Cause and nothing
compelled him to go out but Jihad in His Cause and the belief in
His Word) that
He will either admit him into Paradise (Martyrdom) or return him
with reward or
booty he has earned to his residence from where he went out."
Volume 9, Book
93, Number 555: Narrated Abu Huraira.
These are but a few excerpts from the first 150 pages of the entire Koran, and less of the Hadith. One may purchase a copies, fyi, at any large bookstore; we got our copies in 1999 at Half-Price Books on Lamar Boulevard.
Indeed it would be wiser to be truly and honestly knowledgeable of what we ourselves proffer as truth. Believing in a deity of our own hearts' creation, is about as efficacious as counting on the tooth fairy for financial security. Trusting what we think we know as truth, however, may even prove deadly.
Let's all do our homework.
The instruction manual I have tells me that my God is sovereign above all things and all persons. He answers to no one. He alone knows our hearts; He counts every tear that falls, He knows when a sparrow dies; He knows our needs before we pray; He does not author evil, but permits it so that in the end His purposes and He may be glorified. He works all things together for good. He insists that His greatest commandment is that we love Him---the second; that we love one another as HE loved us. He insists that we not repay evil for evil, but instead bless those who persecute us, and mourn with those who mourn. Now, at this most unbelievable time in our nation's history, it is my heartfelt prayer that His will be done among us. (I am happy to submit to anyone who wants it, chapters and verses from His 'instruction manual' to support my above claims. Simply write me here.)
Thanks for listening.
--Betty Elders