Faith should not hurt others.

I guess what I want to say today is that people seem to be frightened of faith, either of faith in others or of trying to have faith themselves. But faith is supposed to change a person and improve their character. It is not to be feared.
When people with strong belief do wrong i.e; terrorists and dictators who oppress weaker people, we should not blame their religion. It is their strong drive to control, their belief in themselves above all else that is the problem, not their faith.
People like that often use their religion as an excuse to do wrong. That is evil. People do not like the word 'evil' or the word 'sin'. But those things are just words people have used in the past to sum up 'bad things/deeds'. We do not have to be afraid of words, but rather try to understand the real meaning behind them and not just get annoyed because they are over-used. Words that are over-used become meaningless. I dislike the word 'religion' because of what it carries. I also dislike the word 'crusade' because of the horror of the Crusades. However if you ignore all of the history attached to these two words, then they become merely words again. They do not have to invoke horror or anger.
I want to become a genuinely better person. My faith is helping me to do that.
I think that most humans have the drive to improve somehow and in some way. That is why we try to work to get money and buy things, or we try to learn and study, or we get married. We want to become better or find meaning. Some people find meaning in their job or their role in their family. Some find meaning in food. Some in study or achievement. I want to find my meaning mostly in my faith because if I allow my faith to seep into all aspects of my life, then it will hold me together. If my faith changes me, then I will work better, treat people better, love my family without selfishness or favouring one person, and I will enjoy what I read, what I eat, what I watch on tv. I will get more out of my life that way. If I were going to try to tell someone about my faith, that is what I would like to say. I think that is important. A full life. Anyway, I was just thinking about this because it is the time of day when my mind starts to think about these types of things.
Well, I might go and have a cup of tea.
Speaking of tea, and unrelated to faith at present...
I have been reading the Indigo Teashop mystery series by Laura Childs. So interesting! I love tea. I actually like her recipes and descriptions of tea slightly more than the murder mysteries. But she blends both well enough to be palatable (haha puns). So far my favourite book is 'The Jasmine Moon Murder'.
Well gtg. Have a great day, y'all!

Taijin Kyofusho

Taijin kyofusho - A phobia native to Japanese culture. The fear of being repulsive/irritating/distressing to others for (imagined) reasons of body odour, social behaviour, facial expression etc.
I have this! Argh! Does that make me Japanese?
Probably not. Just paranoid.
Although if you got called weird and were often ostracized when you were younger,
then you would probably have this fear too.
Having said that, I'm getting over this fear slowly.

Betrayal Duck!

By the way, that oddly anthropomorphic duck at the bottom of my blog somehow makes me think of a Bill Bailey lovesong... and Hoisin sauce, for some reason...