Believing makes a difference: theinteriorjournal.com

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Believing makes a difference
Howard Coop
October 28, 2009

By Howard Coop

An individual, prominent in community affairs, changed affiliation from one group to another. Since there was a vast difference in the belief systems of the groups involved, the change was a radical one. Therefore, if the change was more than superficial, there had to be a major change in the belief system of the individual making that radical change.

To justify the change his friend made, one person said, “Well, after all, it doesn’t make any difference what one believes as long as one believes something.”

Do you think for one moment that what one believes is not important? Believing can, and does, mean a lot. Consider the case of Omar Hammami. In 1984, Hammami was born in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in Daphne, Alabama. A bright student, he was raised a Baptist and attended Daphne High School but gave up his senior year in high school to continue his education at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.

Shellie Brooks, a classmate of Hammami at Daphne High School, remembers him as a student who “would take time out from classes throughout the day to pray.” Abandoning the Baptist faith of his youth, he converted to Islam and went to Somalia.

Now, Hammami is 25 years old and lives in Somalia. There he is known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki (the American), and he is leading al-Shabaab, a Somalia terrorist group with connections to Al-Qaeda. In his homeland, he has been charged with participating in terrorist activities.

So, believing does make a difference, and the difference is significant. That which one believes is of utmost importance, for it is a determining factor in life that can, and does, change the direction of life. Nathaniel Olsen has been quoted as saying, “What you believe is what you are,” and that belief becomes a driving force in life. So, an anonymous writer said, “Tell me what you believe, and I’ll tell you what you’ll achieve.”

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