Category Archives: Minute Faith

Everything you need to know about the Rastafari Movement

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The Faith of Rastafari is more than just a religion, but a way of life, a social movement, as well as a mindset, without the structure that most religions are used to. The movement began in Jamaica in the 1930’s amongst working-class black people following a prophecy made by Marcus Garvey, a black political leader, about the unification of black people with Africa, their land of origin. It began in part as a social stand against the oppression from white people and other middle-class people. At the heart of it, they believed that by being taken to the Caribbean by slave traders they had been robbed of their African heritage, which they sought to recapture, and celebrate.

The prophecy was rapidly followed by the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia. The Rastafarians saw this as a fulfilment of Garvey’s prophecy, and Haile Selassie was regarded as the Messiah, Jah Rastafari, a figure of salvation who would redeem black people from white suppressors, and reunite them with their homeland. It was Leonard Howell, often called the “First Rasta”, who set up the first Rastafarian commune of 5000 people at Pinnacle, St Catherine, Jamaica.

Rastas express their identity through the livity, a concept of righteous, ever-living living. It’s essence is the realization that an energy or life force, conferred by the Almighty Jah, God, exists within, and flows through, all people and all things. This way of being emphasises a life of naturalness. From the very beginning, Rastafarianism was based around communal living. Hair is most commonly worn as dreadlocks, diet is vegetarian, and herbal medicine is favored; in particular, Cannabis, known as Ganja, was believed to be sanctioned by the Bible, clean the body and mind, and bring the soul closer to God. Rastas have an important concept which is “I and I”, which is said instead of “You and I”. It emphasizes the oneness between humanity and God, and the equality of all humans.

Rastafari is based on the Abrahamic faiths, and the Bible, complemented by other texts, were interpreted in the light of the racial struggle: so just as the ancient empire of Babylon had oppressing the Jews, so modern white people were “Babylon” oppressing the black chosen people, and Ethiopia was Zion. Rastas seek to resist, and even chant down babylon, which are represented by the white power structures of Europe and the Americas. A version of the bible called the Holy Piby was also created, which removed deliberate distortions from the Bible which were believed to be made by white leaders during its translation into English.

In 1974 Haile Selassie was deposed from office by a Marxist revolution, and died mysteriously the next year. To many Rastas, belief spread that he would come again, and to others, his figure has become less central to the Faith. The idea of the return to Africa is today, often understood symbolically in terms of self-expression within white-major societies. Personal liberation, rather than black supremacy is stressed, and now there are white rastafarians also.

Through Rastafari, Reggae music experienced its root development. The work of Bob Marley, one of the most important figures of Rastafari, took the magic of the culture to a worldwide audience, for his lyrics encapsulated the spirit of the movement thoroughly. Today, there are more than a million Rastafarians around the world, many live in communes, which often double as the external reflection of their holy temples, the temple itself being the body.

This Mormonism Video made a lot of people Angry!

If you’ve been following Minute Faith so far, you might have noticed that it is an incredibly open hearted series about the nature of belief from religion to religion. This isn’t a series about the dogma and why each religion is bad, this is a series about what that particular group of followers believe.

Interestingly enough, I actually received quite a lot of requests from people for Mormonism! I was surprised, yet it was of interest to me and I put it in the cue to make. After a few weeks, here it is!

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Now, what’s very interesting about this article in particular is that it received some of the most widest array of comments that I have ever seen! Some people praised the video for the simple and kind way of describing the religion, and others damned it to hell, expressing that they would then go and tell all of their friends to stop following Spirit Science immediately and we were all evil for even making a video about Mormonism!

Isn’t that simply remarkable?

Yes, I’ll admit… the music that was chosen makes it EXCEPTIONALLY light hearted. Perhaps the one flaw of the video from that regard. I could have put in some dark evil music and I’ll bet the reactions would have been quite different…

Anyways, if you want to see the comments, you can read them here on Youtube as well as here on Facebook. I particularly like the Muslim guy who is open to talking about the nature of it all! That’s awesome!!

Nevertheless, thanks again for watching!

With love,
Jordan

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ps. Thank you to Kirsten Renee for her help on editing the script for this episode of Minute Faith!

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The Tao ~ An Ancient Religion for our Modern Science

Scientists of the world, we’ve got wonderful news for you! The Eastern Spiritual Philosophies are relatable to modern science, and not only that, can help Science and Spirit connect in ways we never thought possible. Allow me to introduce you to one of the oldest Eastern Spiritualities, based around the concept of the Tao. Of course, we cannot possibly describe the True Tao, because the eternal Tao is undefinable. The Tao, as its described to this Faith, is the infinite “force” that flows through and around all things. It is what many other faiths may describe as “God”. Have a look! [shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”5111567″]

Taoism isn’t even a religion, so much as it is a way of life. Through spiritual cultivation and coming to know ones self, you can learn mastery over your body and the physical reality, and become one with the Tao, in your own personal way! For those who don’t believe that this could possibly be scientific, lets look to the words of Max Planck, the one who famously discovered what physicists use all over the world called – The Planck Scale. He writes:

“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”

This force that he is describing is none other than the infamous Tao, of course, the Tao is only a label, just as the word Force is. By combining our modern understandings of these words, and recognizing the inherent connection and pattern between the ideologies and belief systems, we can come to a much more unified understanding of life! How delightful! :D Thanks for reading! With love, Jordan

Falun Gong ~ The Mysterious Faith That Nobody is Talking About

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a faith that emerged within China only in the last 20 years, and is a faith that has experienced more persecution than any other faith in the world.

Now, where do I get that statistic?

I get it from the number that at one point, there were HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of people practicing Falun Dafa in China on a regular basis, in public, together. Today, nobody practices in public, because the Chinese government began persecuting it so hardcore that they actually began locking them up, and killing them on demand for Organ Harvesting.

Woah woah woah… Slow down, back up.

What even is it?

Falun Gong translates to “Dharma Wheel Practice”, and is essentially one of the most peaceful and tranquil forms of Meditation on the Planet. Falun Gong literally, in practice, looks like a bunch of people sitting and standing together, slowly moving to a QiGong practice, cultivating energy within and without their body.

Through this practice, they strive to release their Karma, and to evolve their consciousness so that in death, (and much like Buddhism and Taoism), they transcend the cycle of reincarnation and leave this earth to return to the higher frequencies of the cosmos.

Here’s the “nutshell” version:

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The Persecution of Falun Gong:

This is the part that REALLY gets my blood boiling… The hate that is poured into this faith, in an attempt to suppress and destroy something as peaceful and pure and holy as this practice must only come from extreme ignorance and fear of a changing world for the better.

Just… Have a look, and take a deep breath, because it will likely make you angry too:

I suppose the one positive that has come from all of this, besides the faith itself, is that it has had some success in spreading the idea around the world outside of China, particularly in the United States!

You can do Falun Gong and its as easy as learning a few basic poses and getting started. There’s plenty of material, but Meditation itself only requires that you want to Meditate, and borrowing techniques from ALL faiths can be incredibly useful.

Heres a video and example of this.

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If you liked Minute Faith, and want to see more, please subscribe to our new Youtube channel, where we are covering ALL of the worlds faith on a regular basis!

Everything you need to know about the Hare Krishna’s

Have you ever been walking around in public, only to see a large group of men and women clad in bright, flowing yellow dancing in the street and singing words that you didn’t quite comprehend?

They’re called Hare Krishna’s, and theres a lot more to them than meets the eye!

In fact, we put together a short video explaining it!

The Hare Krishna movement is another name for the organization called “The International Society for Krishna Consciousness”, or ISKCON for short. They believe that the Hindu deity Krishna represents the supreme manifestation of God, and that he has been incarnated at various times in history, including the Rama and the Buddha. Most recently, he came as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who taught salvation through devotion.

If you liked Minute Faith, and want to see more, please subscribe to our new Youtube channel, where we are covering ALL of the worlds faith on a regular basis!

What is the Story Behind Baptist Christianity?

One of the largest, and most diverse group of Christians, Baptists take their name from the practice of adult baptism. Unlike most Christians, who baptize infants or young children into the fellowship of the community of Christians (known as “infant baptism, or pedobaptism”), baptists insist that individual believers freely and publicly commit themselves to their christian faith in a ceremony of adult baptism, often known as “believers baptism or credobaptism”.

[shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”5111567″] Often these baptisms are full immersions, in which the believer is lowered completely beneath the surface of the water, emerging in the eyes of the Church as “born again” in Christ. This is both an outwardly, and inwardly sign of repentance of sin and confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

Baptist churches emerged in the early 17th century within various protestant denominations, and, while today there are still no central Baptist authority, two prominent confederations are the Baptist World Alliance, and the Southern Baptist Convention. The former being a more liberal branch, and the latter being a more conservative branch.

Generally evangelical, Baptists require that the new testament be the explicit authority for their beliefs and practices. While not always taking the Bible literally, Baptists insist that the Christian beliefs and practices are commanded or commended by example within the Bible.

Baptists believe that religious faith is a matter of personal relation between God and the individual. This support for “religious freedom” entails that individuals may practice any religion, or none. Historically, they have been ardent supporters of the principle of the separation of Church and State, particularly in the United States. Of course, Baptists have the evangelical hope that individuals will confess a Christian faith, but insist that this must be a free decision.

Because of the lack of a central authority, a wide range of beliefs can be seen between one baptist church and another. However, there are many main central beliefs, such as: There is one God who is eternal, infinite in power, wisdom, holiness and love. God is an essential being and revealed to mankind as the father, son and holy spirit.

Jesus is the second person of the Godhead and is eternally one with God the Father. To become human he was conceived of the holy spirit and born as a human.

The scriptures, consisting of the old and new testaments, are infallible word of God. And People were made in the image of God and for fellowship with God, however we fell from fellowship with God and as a concequence, all of mankind are spiritually dead under satans dominion and control. In order to atone, one must accept Jesus as their lord and savior, and become baptised in his name and thus, born again.

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If you liked Minute Faith, and want to see more, please subscribe to our new Youtube channel, where we are covering ALL of the worlds faith on a regular basis!