My Religious Views

Most of my life, I have heard it taught that God loves us and when His Spirit comes within us, He enables us to love and live rightly.  In order for us to live this lifestyle, we need to discipline ourselves and to force ourselves to learn to love and to live according to the laws that were written in the Old Testament.

 But that is not what I believe.

I believe that God loves us.  When He comes into our lives via His Spirit, we experience that love.  As we live within that love, we learn what love is.  His love invades our hearts, our souls, our very being and as His love spreads through us, we start loving.  We first learn to truly love ourselves, then that love spread to others.

As we start loving others, we start treating them rightly.  As we interact with others from love, we have no need of law, because we will naturally do the things that the law wants us to do.  So that even though we are not under the law, we fulfill the law.  That is why, I often say that it comes down to living loved and loving others.

As we experience this love and how it causes us to act rightly toward others, then we become less demanding of others living up to what we picture the law requiring.  We start treating everyone with this life changing love.

As I read the Bible, I see Jesus (Who is the direct representation of God The Father) interacting with others in this way.  It was said of Him, that He loved being with tax collectors and sinners.  When the religious leaders of Jesus' day (who demanded everyone to live according to the law and to traditions) approached Him, Jesus told them to learn what it meant that God prefers mercy to sacrifice and if they had known this then the religious leaders would not go around condemning the innocent.

This is how and what I believe at this time.

My thoughts on the aftermath of a massacre.

The massacre that happened at a school on Friday Dec. 14 was pure evil.  I don't care to know who the shooter was or why the shooter did those things.  The only stories that I care about hearing from that event are the ones about the heroes,  like Victoria Soto who laid down her life to save the lives of her kids.

I also do not care to hear all the bad rhetoric that has come out since the event.  It just sickens me when something bad happens and people try to find excuses to take the blame off of the wrongdoer.  Circumstances can play a part of evil events, but that should not mean that we do not hold the wrongdoer  accountable for those actions.

Evil massacres like this has occurred all through history.  The Christmas story as well as the story of Moses have  massacres of innocents within them.  This shows that it is evil and not the weapons that cause these events.  (note:  People within the US do not own automatic weapons, so we do not really have pure assault rifles.  What we have here amounts to semi automatic hunting rifles that are replicas  of assault rifles.  I call them replicas because they are missing the piece that makes them automatic.)

God has not ever depended on school curriculum, policies, or intercom announcements to be in a place.  God is everywhere.  His message is spread through the changed lives of the people He inhabits.

The way violence is portrayed within the US could very well be a contributing factor in these events, but that should not excuse the wrongdoer for his actions.  He did what he did because he chose to do those things.

See me, feel me, touch me, heal me!

There is a line from the song "Christmas" from the Rock Opera "Tommy" by "The Who" that contains the this line:  See me, feel me, touch me, heal me!  It is a haunting line and it is the one line from that song that has been stuck in my head for about 40 years.

As you may recall, the Rock Opera deals with the life of a boy who was born deaf, dumb, and blind.  This line that I quoted deals with his isolation.  It is his cry for help.

I have seen this same cry from help from numerous others who struggle with isolation placed upon them, not by deformities, but by the cold shoulders of others.  It is a life lived in "shame".  A belief that everyone looks down on you.  A longing for a friend, but in a midst of people cannot find anyone to share their intimate soul bearing thoughts with.  This is a condition that I have experienced myself.

People living in this condition need to experience the love of a neighbor who lets them know:  "I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you."

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/mrrogersneighborhoodlyrics.html

From what I have seen, the love from this neighbor can lead the person to a love of themselves.  I believe that the proper belief about one's self can help overcome the shame that forces people into this bad type of isolation.  Also in the process, the person can also find the love of their Creator who also will help them.  Once again, it comes back to "living loved and loving others".   The Who's "Christmas": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPmijD6jqHs My Neighbor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puJz_vVkcFg

My experiences 7 months into being a Parrot Head.

I have been a Parrothead for 7 months now.  During these 7 months, I have been able to attend and be a part of 9 gatherings.  I must say that during this time, my experiences with the group has been totally different from what most non-members would think.

Right off the bat, I must comment on their acceptance of me as a non-drinker.  Parrotheads have a big reputation for being heavy drinkers and for me this has been a big issue.  I came into the group explaining that I do not drink and have even explained why I have not ever started drinking and they have not only accepted me as a nondrinker, but have supported my decision not to drink.  

Another thing that I have noticed is the support and love that is shown for others.  I have seen people, while going through their own hardships, working hard to help others who are going through their own hardships.  This has just blown me away.  There are churches out there that would do good to learn of this type of love that I have seen here.

One thing that I have noticed is the love that I have seen between certain couples in the group for each other.  You can see that love in their eyes as they look upon each other.  I see the way that these people interact with each other and the group and I know that these people can teach me about love and marriage.

In short, my experience has shown me that there is love here, as people accept each other, support each other, enjoy the company of each other, enjoy the same music together and love each other.  It has been the type of experience that draws me in and causes me to want to me a part of the group for a much longer time