Scripture: Qur’an, tadalafil Surah 2:195
You shall spend your life in the cause of GOD; do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction. You shall be charitable; GOD loves the charitable.

Thought for the Day: When I was growing up in the heart of Southern Baptist America, capsule I often heard people talking about how anyone who wasn’t a Christian (and specifically a Baptist) was condemned to a horrible life here and now, and eternal torture after death. Their ignorance of other cultures, people, and religions was just astounding. More worrisome is that I still hear this ridiculous rhetoric today, and it’s made it’s way out of the deep south and started to pervade people’s thoughts all over the world.

Here’s the truth: God doesn’t pick and choose. We are all God’s creations, and we are all loved equally. Even more importantly, we are all called into relationship with God, whether we call ourselves Baptists, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists, Hindus, etc. Internally and eternally, there is no difference between anything ever created. Everything is built from God in order to exemplify the love of God.

It’s a pretty simple message. We don’t need to do anything special, we don’t need to confess, we don’t need to repent, we especially don’t need to convert others to our religion. Be who you are, because who you are is a perfect being of God. You can’t help it; it’s how you were made! Now, realize that, and go out and help others realize that too. It’s a much better way to live than condemning people who seem different. Because, again, the truth is that we are not different, we are one.

Prayer: Knock some sense into us, Holy God. Help we, the many, the diverse, understand that we are simply imaginings of You, the One, the Eternal. In that understanding, help us create a different world, free of war and fear, full of love and hope. Amen.