[tickledpink]

My belief is that being religious goes hand in hand with your beliefs in God. Therefore, a religious person can also be spiritual. However, a spiritual person is not necessarily a religious one. There are some people that proclaim to be very spiritual, however, they may be into spiritualism, and not religion as it relates to God.

I consider myself to be religious and spritual. I am God-fearing and believe that I am in tune with His spirit. His is the only spirit that I want to be in tune with, if that will help some see the difference.

This situation hasn't changed my relationship/view with God. I think I was already close to Him, although, each day, I yearn to be closer. It , & I might add, Aaliyah's death, served as a chilling word of confirmation that we really need to get our houses in order because you never know whether or not today may be the last day of your life.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason. As you stated that your pastor said (those words really stuck, girl) God already knew that this would happen. You know, there are emails out there talking about Nostradamus' predictions. I know the part of the emails that quote the prediction are a hoax. However, the ones that details how the numbers work out ~ I don't think they are. I've always been taught that God is very mathematical. So, no, I don't think some terrorist sat down and worked out the equation, but God had His own.

As far as when bad things happen, I firmly believe that God allows some things to come into our lives to serve a greater good. Look at Job. The devil thought he was hurting him. However, he couldn't do anything that God had not given him the permission to do. And in the end, Job had more than he'd had before. In reference to the attacks, I don't know God's plans, but because of my faith in Him, I believe that it will all work out for the good of them that love Him.