by Wissam—

Ramadan Mubarek.  This month of fasting is an especially good time to think about the reasons for true and genuine faith. True faith is not something you're just born into.  It's something you have to choose.  That’s my belief and my own story. 

When I was in high school in Baghdad I yearned for beauty.  Back then I read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies, searching for anything that can have the genuine beauty that I craved but which my religious community has never known. Eventually I got a Bible and read it, and in its pages I found true beauty.  I also learned that much of the good literature I had been reading was influenced by the Bible. I realized that this book was the source of all the beauty I had been longing for. This was the beauty of goodness, a goodness that includes many virtues such as self-discipline, self-sacrifice, peace, integrity and kindness. The Bible is not only beautiful and good, it's actually true.