Belief – Be pragmatic not dogmatic

One of the big advantages, which America possesses in comparison to Europe is its great common sense and developed pragmatism. While Europeans struggle with others and themselves about theoretical solutions, Americans have enough courage to take the risk of the unknown and discover new avenues. Europeans want to know everything beforehand and only want to start acting after having made up a “perfect” plan, which gives them a feeling of security, a feeling of having everything under control. America on the other hand always was more courageous and bold in doing what must be done than losing itself in fruitless discussions and philosophical considerations. And as experience shows, America is much more successful than Europe, which can blow up a question of minor importance to a question of heaven or hell, very easily. So what do I mean by the title of this post, when considering the issue of belief?

Europe very easily sticks to non-working systems although every rational mind must see, that it is not working. Europeans fall in love with their own ideas and concepts and try to force the world into them, no matter how much reality lets them run against a concrete wall. Best examples to mention are socialist, communist, atheistic and nihilistic thinking and the worldviews which were given birth by them. Once an American friend told me: “You Europeans never get it right! You are too afraid of the reality to act freely and accept the possibility of failure. Look, when it comes to religion and belief I have a very practical way of thinking. If I die and I did not believe in Jesus and his teachings, I got a big problem – and it cannot be solved any more. But on the other hand, if the bible is not true, I have nothing lost, for living according to the Scripture is not a bad life. So you have nothing to lose but everything to win! Who would not agree? Such a guy must be a moron!”. This kind of thinking is convincing for many atheist. But not so in Europe. Such arguments are seldomly heard here. For I think it would be an interesting approach towards the people unsaved. Most people are pragmatists deep inside their heart. But they where forced for many decades by ideologists to not consider the benefits, the advantages and the disadvantages of systems and ideas. For what ideologists hate most is to be confronted with a reality which does not confirm their mindset. As long as everything is in the mind and other people are infected by the same mindset you can feel comfortable. But facing the hard reality can make life hell for people who always want to be right, which is a typical characteristic of an ideologist.

So, what about believing, lets say believing into the bible for example? What does living a life according to the bible mean? People have a clear set of values, a tool for making decisions, a moral code in behaviour and the reassurance of a life in heaven (the last one is very important, but for a solely pragmatic person, it is of lesser importance, at least living in the here and now). The big questions of live like “Where do I come from?”, “Where do I go to?” and “What is the sense of my life?” become answered. I am sure, that living a live according to the bible burns away every neurosis, every personality disorder and every psychosis. The first question is: “What happens to a person, who is living according to the scripture?” In the beginning it is thinking, it is theory. Than you can observe the reality of living such a lifestyle in the life of other people who already live this way. But do not be too critical, for the bible leads to happiness and a good live in Christ for sure, but many people struggle and fail. God is not condemning failure, that is what the world does. The best of all ways to get insight is of course is personal experience! Once you change your life, and start living the new way, you will notice how the quality of your live is increasing. Such is true and you can see evidence in a two thousand year old history of Christianity and if you add the Hebrew culture you come up with more than three thousands years (Abraham – the first Hebrew - approximately live about 1750 – 1800 before Christ). If you asked me for an example of a man in the bible who had such a good live I would pick out king David, the great Leader of Israel. His life was blessed, he was successful in whatever he did, was rich, wise and beloved by the people. I think most people would like to have a life like king David. But, and that is the good news, David and the other great personalities of the bible where human beings, they where no super humans, angels or the like, but man and women who made mistakes, who had ups and downs, but a heart full of god. We can identify with them and we see the great love god has for all his children.

One thing I want to mention here: Belief and religion are not the same and there is a lot of confusion about the difference in some people. Belief means to honestly await things you do not see and very often your mind cannot imagine how they will happen. Religion on the other hand is a system, an institution made up by human beings. As important as a human church, a religious community is, there is always the danger to stick to traditions and convert them into a dogma of belief. We shall not worship anything or anybody but god! How do we see, what we are worshipping? That is very easy: Just look at the content of your heart. Whatever your heart is full of, that is what you are worshipping. How do you spend your time? What are you thinking most of? Where are your concerns? For example, if you are worrying and full of sorrows, that is what you are worshipping. You are worshipping your sorrows, not the Lord, not god father.

In the end do not be afraid of your own belief, if you see what you are doing and what you are thinking. Just stay in the word of god and if you fail, don’t do it again. That is all: See what you did wrong, make a clear decision, be determined and don’t repeat the wrong action. Not every question is about life or death, about heaven or hell! Live, what I would call “serious easiness in belief”. If belief is for you like a heavy load, instead of making you free, you are not in the true belief. Get rid of your load and pass it over to the Lord, for that is what he wants you to do. Be free, be happy and most of all, be fulfilled!

Ferdinand III. of Castile and Léon (1199 – 1252)

One of the biggest heroes of Christianity, the Western World and especially Spain, was the famous third king with the name Ferdinand. He was born in August 1199 as the oldest son of king Alphonso IX. of Léon and Berengaria of Castile. He became king of Castile in 1217 following his uncle Henry I. and by the death of his father in 1230; he also became king of Léon and united the two kingdoms under his strong and wise reign. At that time, big parts of middle and southern Spain were occupied by the Moors and the north was split up into several kingdoms. The “reconquista”, the liberation of Spain from den Moors, went hand in hand with uniting and forming the kingdom of Spain which came to a successful end by the marriage of king Ferdinand II. “The Catholic”, king of Aragon with Isabella of Castile in 1474. From the reign of Ferdinand III. onwards, Léon and Castile were permanently united. Ferdinand III. is also know as “the Saint”, for he was canonized by the Pope in the 17th Century.

Under king Ferdinand III. the reconquista reached a new pinnacle and vast territories were liberated from the Moors. In 711 the Moors came to Spain and conquered the majority of its land. It took many centuries to regain the lost territories by the Christian Spanish nobility. One of the biggest steps in this big project was fulfilled by Ferdinand. Beside of Castile and Léon, Asturia and Galicia became part of the greater kingdom and by this the base of Castile’s glory and power was led. Ferdinand expanded the power of his state to the southern sea (Spain’s Atlantic coast to the south, next to Portugal). Glorious triumphs he made by defeating the Moors at Cordoba (a very symbolic act) in 1236, Jaén in 1246, Seville in 1248 and Cadiz in 1250. By this the majority of the Iberian Peninsula came under his reign. The Moorish kingdom of Granada stayed independent but became dominated by Castile until the final end of Moorish influence in Spain by conquering Granada and its symbol of power, the castle of the Alhambra (“the red one”).

In 1239 he founded the famous University of Salamanca. The legal system was improved by the king and a royal court of appeal was established, before which everybody could appeal. A code of behaviour as a strict rule, for all the clerks of the king was passed and became a guiding line for centuries of Spanish administration. Ferdinand was as strong believer and defender of the Christian believe. For he was not a brutal man and always united wisdom, belief and moderation but stayed strong and invincible about questions of belief. Being king and living a Christian life was always very difficult for occidental rulers. Ferdinand succeeded admirably, like other Christian Saints who were kings like Louis IX. of France or king Olaf II. of Norway. Ferdinand fought strongly against heretics and was eager to secure the purity of Christian belief. Many dioceses were founded by him. One well known building, he let built, was the cathedral of Toledo (another city which was reconquered by one of Ferdinand’s ancestors). Before the king could follow his plans to invade Africa to free the Christians in the Moorish land, he became very sick. Ferdinand’s main interest was not power, but promote the glory of Jesus Christ and bringing back people to the Christianity. Part of this plan of course was to win against the enemy with whom there was no compromise possible: Islam. None the less, he showed a great heart, by treating the unbelievers rightly and let them sell there goods and let them return to the African continent. Also he was enormously successful, he never became arrogant, stayed humble before god and devoted everything to the Lord’s greater honour. As an outer sign of this, he built the cathedral of Burgos.

Ferdinand became famous as “the protector and defender” of the church. There are very beautiful paintings which show the Saint, which are seated in the Prado-Museum in Madrid and the Louvre in Paris. The Cathedral of Burgos owns a painting on which the king can be seen with the devil in the body of a dog, which is lying under the feet of Ferdinand. The royal family had a lot of offspring. As the result of the first marriage of Ferdinand with Beatrix of Swabia (the daughter of the German emperor Philipp of Swabia) arose seven sons and three daughters. His daughter Eleonor (1241 – 1290) became the wife of king Edward I. of England.

Ferdinand died on May 30th in 1252. In 1671 be became canonized by Pope Clement X. His day to remember is May 30th, the day of death.