SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024, RADICAL MERCY

 SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024, RADICAL

What do Cat Stevens, Casius Clay, and Lou Alcinder have in common?

They all converted to Islam.

Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, a singer in the 1960s, publicly converted to Islam in 1977

Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius  Clay, professional boxer, converted to Islam after 1961.

Kareen Abdu-Jabbar - formerly known as Lou Alcindor, basketball star, converted to Islam while at UCLA in 1971.

… and that’s okay 

*****

George Harrison - Beatles 

John Lennon - Beatles

George sang, “My Sweet Lord.” Harrison wrote "My Sweet Lord" in praise of the Hindu god Krishna, while intending the lyrics as a call to abandon religious sectarianism through his blending of the Hebrew word Hallelujah with chants of "Hare Krishna" and Vedic prayer.

John said the Beatles were: "More popular than Jesus" in a March 1966 interview in which he argued that the public were more infatuated with the band than with Jesus, and that Christianity was declining.

He also sang “Imagine”

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

…and that’s okay 

*****

Mahatma Gandhi, ““I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

*****

(Ouch)

I grew up as a Christian - and I still am - may be now as a “RADICAL CHRISTIAN”.  (with LOVE WINS). I judged the above as “terrible people” because of their lives.  I was wrong - or I think I was wrong.  I never knew any of these people - other than what was in the press. 

I sense they were looking for God - like I am.  

Jeremiah 29:13: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” 

Psalm 40:16: “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!”

I think we all (openly or maybe not as openly) are seeking more- more life, more love.  I want to understand what I cannot know in this life - the infinite nature of God. There has to be something so far above me that can create 8 trillion galaxies. 

Isaiah 55:8: ” My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.“

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬ 

Yes, I am still seeking.  And I’m trying not to judge anyone.  They are “marching to the beat of a different drummer.”  Even Hitler, Stalin, and mass murderers were driven in ways I can’t understand - and I can’t really judge them. 

LOVE WINS

JUDGING IS NOT LOVING

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, April 7, 2024