About
Raffaela
About 40 years ago I had a dream in which God gave me a new name:Raffaela – that translates as "God heals".
Since then, I've seen this name as my spiritual name and use it as a synonym in this publication.
The search for meaning with the help of religion is my greatest passion.
For a long time I have been on a quest, brought forth by untimely deaths around me and also due to a Christian upbringing. Question after question formed.
I wasn't satisfied with easy or superficial answers, so I delved into the depth and found some treasures. But I'm far from stopping searching and looking.
More than 40 years ago I completed theological studies to become a religion teacher. I had the privilige to be taught by some very good professors at a very open time in the Catholic church. I am still grateful to this day for them sharing their enlightening and amazing knowledge with me/us. I stand on their shoulders and look into the vastness of a Judeo-Christian endowment of meaning.
Having lived in North America for a period of time, I was able to attend services at a Messianic Jewish congregation for a while. There the plant of theological education continued to be watered and grew.
This time brought many of my questions with many answers together. Finally a lot of biblical stories, parables and biblical surroundings made sense! Looking at the Jewish context of Jesus many "Christian fogs" cleared up and unclarities vanished and still do up to this day.
I've also had numerous pupils over the years peppering me with questions, leading me to dig deeper into more subjects than I might otherwise have done. Pupils do not easily settle for cheap answers. They sense whether the answers make sense or not. Therefore, further meaningful answers and questions found another.
It was also possible for me to experience one or the other self-inflicted stupidity as well as some non-sense that was not my fault, which in turn led to some frutiful insights.
So, eventually the question came to mind: Can even nonsense serve a deeper purpose?
Now I'm at the point in my life to follow what I believe to be my calling: to bringing Jewish context and meaning together with Christianity. To get to the roots - not back, but forward. To learning from our Jewish brethren and sisters to better understand the old scriptures and their surroundings. I'm particularly thankful to the Israel Bible Institute and their meaningful teaching which is a guiding star on the journey of my quest.
Jewish roots and Christian tradition
I am currently delving deeper into the question of meaning by looking at Jewish roots and Christian traditions.
As already mentioned: when linked to the Jewish roots, Christianity really makes sense. It's like digging for a treasure - there is always a new gem or treasure of meaningful synopsis found, a new understanding, a new insight or a new clarity on traditional wisdom and given answers.
And as always, more questions are raised, which in turn call for logical and meaningful answers.
Sometimes people ask me why I don't join a Christian congregation in my search for meaning.
Personally, I find some of the churches and assemblies very uplifting. I learned from them as I will continue to learn much from them in the future.
However, I feel the corsets that some of the church communities of any faith put on their members
no longer suitable for free and upright adult Christians. At the moment I do not want to belong or actively partake in any church community. But I belong to God (YHWH - jud he vav he) and Jesus Christ: For now, that's enough.
Amen.