HopeTas

Ramadan is a time that Muslilms fast during the day while they work, and then will eat at night gathered with family. They do this to identify with the hunger of the poor to have compassion for others. It is a central notion in Islam, Judaism and Christianity that we should care for the poor and have compassion for them. Jesus went to the desert for 40 days to gather clarity for his ministry. Part of that clarity was fasting to be in touch with what the poor experience.

Ramadan is a time in which Muslims seek to identify with the poor and hungry of this world by fasting during the day, and eating only at night. They seek to feel the hunger much of the world feels to remind them to reach out and help and to be compassionate for others. It is a very honorable ritual of connection. Jesus went to the desert for forty days and nights. There is a connection in this fasting to cleanse the spirit of things and to get priorities straight with God.

I would add that I would like us to think about the word "bash." I wish we could rise to a new way of talking with one another. How about: "Go ahead and criticize what i said." "Feel free to take a different position from mine." "Please correct me if I am wrong." Bash represents more violence and it is the last thing we need. As we contemplate having increased wealth, we need to be thinking about how to pull people together into positive conversations and positive interventions in this hurting world. It could start here and now.

It might be fun to know what countries are represented on this site. So, just for fun, let us know by answering on the topic site. I am from the America.

I am sorry for your daughter and son-in-law's loss and your loss. It is so hard because the world does not celebrate a loss like this with any ritual, but it is a death to those who knew this baby was coming. I lost two through miscarriage. I know the pain of that emptiness. The way I came to say it to myself is this. One in every ten pregnancies end in miscarriage as the body knows the healthy ones from those that are not. I also say that I would not have the three children I have if I had those other two. That is a harder one to say for her as they do not yet know that will come. It most likely will. For now, let her grieve. God bless you and yours in your loss. I hope there are happier days ahead for you all.

Regarding dividing Jerusalem and establishing a Palestinian state, I urge you to read Anna Baltzer's book, Witness in Palestine, and also Dr. Mark Braverman's book, Fatal Embrace. These are two amazing Jewish witnesses for peace who have opened their eyes to the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers backed by the US. The Palestinians need a safe place and sovereign nation where they can determine their own destiny. The 1967 United Nations borders will make somewhat of a fair division with swapping out some land that sits directly in the West Bank controlled by settlers. I urge you all to go and see rather than judging from reports in the media. The media is so pro-Israel. I am pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinian peacemakers and believe me, this is what they want on both sides of the wall. They need peace based on justice or there will be no peace. Jesus said that the new Jerusalem is in our hearts. It is not about place. Jesus knew what the future would bring if the Jews believed this land was their land, instead of believing what true Judaism believes as central tenants: hospitality to the stranger, feed the orphan and widow, share the land, compassion for those who are hurting.

I think it would be smart to make xeroxed copies of the dinar in black and white. My bank says they are going to send them off to the foreign exchange department of that bank to verify them. I will ask for the banker to sign and date my copies of the dinar. That way I have a record that the bank received them. They can't send back somebody else's dinar that way. if they claim suddenly that mine are counterfeit and have switched something on me, I have proof that these are not the same dinar. I sure would much rather have that delarue machine on site and stand right there to see them verified and put in my account.

This person's report from Iraq is exactly what the Army Medic who lives near me reports. He, too, is invested but does not expect an rv for 3-5 years. He says we have to wait for a calm, settled Iraq and we will see it. That said, I look often to see if it has happened hoping he is wrong. We don't know when. I can't see them waiting that long, but who knows? It depends on so many factors.

It sure would be wonderful if this comes through tomorrow. Thanks one and all for all the comments that we have shared and learned from. I guess the site would go down if this hits, so I thank you in advance with the hope that we will see each other at the bank! If it does not hit tomorrow, see you right here to continue the ride. May we each hold onto the plans that will make a difference in this hurting world. We are being given that opportunity. All the best to each of you.

I was in this same spot. I wrote Dinar Trade, after they had chosen not to sell currency anymore, and asked for receipts. They e-mailed me my receipts. Good luck. I hope it works for you as well.

Sweet! Time for an international party!

My son and daughter studied in Scotland, one in Glasgow, and one in Aberdeen. Sure would be fun to visit and celebrate. How about Thursday!?!

So ... 1 million dinars becomes 1,000 dinars x the rv rate, if they rv....say x 3.25 = $3,250 less expenses from purchase = profit.

Thanks for sharing your conversation with this man and being brave enough to do so. We all need hope on this and you give me hope. You sound like the real deal to me. If you hear more, please let us know. When you can share truth, go for it folks! Sure does seem like this next few days might just be it!

These are metaphors for the use and misuse of power. The point is this. Go back to the prayer given us by Jesus. We are to make "earth as it is in heaven." When we get all tied up in future predictions we lose sight of the task at hand: making a just, loving, peaceful, compassionate, fair, inclusive world right here. That is what we want to present to our Lord on any last day that will occur for us individually or collectively. Focus here and now on making it the world God makes possible in the example we have in Christ.

The Beast was Caesar. 666 is Caesar. Revelations is all code used to hide meaning from Rome if the early Christian materials were picked up. Rome is the empire trying to take over the world. Revelations is saying don't align yourself with a dominant power that abuses others by trying to take over and kills others. In the long run it will go down. Align yourself with the Prince of Peace. The Tree of Life spoken of in the last chapter of the Bible stretches across the beautiful river in the new Jerusalem. The leaves are for the healing of the nations. This is the vision of God's kingdom. We are all to be loving to one another and live in peace.

If you want to know what God wants and thinks, learn about Jesus. Jesus is the true lens to understanding the heart of God. Great books to read: Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, by Marcus Borg (Chapter 3 is my favorite) and Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink (Chapter 9 is my favorite). Believe me, you will walk away with a new understanding of the heart of God and a path to follow. Understanding Jesus might give us all direction in terms of how to use the dinar when it revalues.

The concept of justice that Americans fight for is the right to have as many possessions as possible and to do what we want regardless of how it effects others. The Abrahamic faith systems I was referencing: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, all speak of justice in terms of care of the poor, the outcast, the stranger, the sick, and not dragging the nation into war. I do not know if you are Christian, Jaxinjersey, but here is something to contemplate and learn from: You have heard the expression, "Give them the shirt off your back." This is a watered down misunderstanding of what Jesus was about. Jesus said that "if you are called into debtors court and asked to give your coat, give your cloak also." If you are asked to give your coat in court it means all that is left you is your coat, an outer garment, and your cloak, an inner garment. The "system" has already taken land and all other possessions through taxation and you are able only to wrap up in a coat on the street at night. So...in court they ask you to "give your coat, give your cloak also". If you give your inner cloak it means you are standing before the judge and the one you owe the debt to naked! In biblical understanding this means your nakedness puts the shame on the one who has asked too much! Nakedness was a prophetic intervention used in Old Testament times to confront the rich and powerful elite who were hurting the poor by asking too much. Jesus is teaching the poor how to unbalance the rich abusive people by using a nonviolent confrontation. It puts the shame on the rich so they will have to stop and think how they are behaving and consider a way to be fair and just. Justice would be not asking too much of another.This action is to open space in the heart of the wealthy to have compassion and to see what they are doing. Relate that to our times. If we are truly Christian and walking in Jesus' footsteps we, too, confront the rich, unbalance them, and invite fairness that does not leave the poor without resources and support. We work to make the system fair to those who are more vulnerable. It is when there is a caste in society that is very poor then violence is bred. There is more if you want to learn more. Just tell me.

It is unsettling to read such a negative piece on our president and to have it repeatedly passed on. It is upsetting to have this person use our president's middle name as some kind of slur against him. He was a baby given that name! That is not his choice any more than it was your choice to be named what you are named. I heard President Obama speak at the national gathering of Christian clergy and laity of a large denomination before he was elected. He spoke of his own Christian values. Those values fit clearly in the bounds of Christianity. Now, if you look at early church behavior as Christians, they shared possessions and no one had to go hungry. That is a Christian position. Obama believes in working toward that kind of country. If you look at Judaism, the early Jews in what is now Israel divided the land and money equally as they started out there. Every fifty years they had the Year of Jubilee in which, even though some families had done well during that amount of time and moved ahead with land holdings and money, all of it was divided up equally again. That is Judaism. In Islam they celebrate Ramadan for weeks in which Muslims do not eat during the day in order to feel the pain of the poor who do not eat. Our three faiths come from the same root, Abraham and Sarah, and have much in common. Each of these faiths share the goal of caring for the community in a way that is fair. You call it socialism. I call it justice and it flows from these three faiths. You will never have peace that we all long for without justice. The God that has created all of us wants us to treat each other with fairness, respect, compassion, and to live in peace. Each of these faiths show us that way. Please stop passing along this fear mongering and hatred of a man who is trying to bring a fair society.

It is at times like these that we need to have all worldwide military free to go into action to help instead of embroiled in war. Prayers for the people in the way of this earthquake and the tsunamis that are hitting.

Has anyone been able to get a rate at this site for the dinar? www.cbiraq.org I have checked it repeatedly as it is supposed to be the Central Bank of Iraq site, but I never see a rate there. Do you have another web site that is the accurate one for the Central Bank of Iraq? Thanks.

It seems to me that we need to be careful bashing the Iraqi people with our words on this site. After all, we did manage to kill thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of their brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, grandparents and children. Yes, we helped to free them from a dictator, but they also did the work in that fight. The disrespect shown them here is rather remarkable. They are trying to pull their country together after going through major terror and destruction. A respectful attitude toward them on these sites that talk about their work to reform is a better way to think and talk about them. As we receive this gift from their money, hopefully we will not use it to bash, demean, or dominate others with our words or actions. Those of us who are Christian need to be practicing what we say we believe which is that we are to "love our neighbor as ourselves." Would any of us want to be called idiots coming out of the kind of trauma these people have lived through? I wonder if this site is monitored by them in any way. Just wondering what they might think of us receiving the increase in our finances when some speak of them so badly. It is just a thought....It is time to think bigger, bolder, more outside the box regarding what this all means. If this money does come in then we are going to be in a position to do some major creating and giving back in a pretty broken world. It begins with seeing the "other" as another spark of the Great Creator of us all. That "other" is every one we see everywhere.

I had the experience at a Bank of America that the manager encouraged me not to get a cashier's check to buy dinar. She read a memo to me that had recently come from "Corporate" of Bank of America. It stated that the sale of dinars is a scam that has recently resurfaced. It had been happening around 2006. It stated that it is one of the biggest scams on the internet. She said that Bank of America will not be cashing in dinar. The memo says that there is a good chance it will go down in value due to the instability in the Middle East. She said I should do what I think best, but should know the position of the bank nationally. "Bank of America will not be cashing in Iraqi dinars ever." Now, that leaves us with other options, but is discouraging regarding BOA. I think this is a memo that has been passed around for a long, long time even though much has changed in Iraq. Sorry for the downer, but I thought I should pass this on. Hopefully, when the currency goes international that position will change.