Easter beliefs

As I have said before, Easter was always a big letdown for me growing up.  The day never lived up to the hype that surrounded it. Aside for a few songs like "Up From The Grave He Arose" that were only sung that time of year, nothing else was really different about the day from any other Sunday.

Over the past few years, that has started to change.  Not that I plan to go to any special services, because I don't.  What has changed is my viewpoint of Easter itself.  This different viewpoint is one that stays with me throughout the year.  This viewpoint is what Easter is all about.  

My beliefs about what happened that day has not changed, but my thoughts about why has.  You see, I no longer believe in a angry God who is looking to strike everyone down and used Good Friday just to take it out on His only begotten Son, who let Himself get tortured to death so we would not have too. 

The why of Easter is that God so loved us that He caused these events to happened so that we could be cured from our sin problem that has separated us from God since the Garden, and has kept us separated just as a deadly disease will separate us from our love ones here on Earth.  Not that our "sin" problem would affect God, but that His holiness would destroy us.  

The physical healing's that Jesus performed were a picture of what his death and resurrection would/will accomplish.  His death & resurrection heals all of the past scares and deformities caused by "sin" and transform us into new creatures as His Spirit would unite with our spirit/soul.  

Since God is love, then His Spirit will fill us with a love like we have never known before.  As His love fills us, it will flow out of us to others.  As it flows out from us, people will know that we are followers of God by the way that we love.

To me, this is the Good news.  God loved us and we can now have that same relationship with God The Father that Jesus had while He lived as a human among us.  And when death comes to us,we will find ourselves with a God who seeks to comfort us like we would a hurt child or other loved one, but even more so.

Mercy over Sacrifice

What does the quote, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ really mean?  This is what Jesus told the religious leaders of his day and followed that by saying that they needed to learn what this meant.  This verse is a quote from Hosea 6:6.

Jesus uses this quote twice and it is found in Matthew  9:13 and He repeats it again in Matthew 12:7.  Here are the verses in context:

9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth.“Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and hisdisciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does yourteacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

And:  

12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them. 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.” 12:3 He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and hiscompanions were hungry – 12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacredbread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?12:5 Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath andyet are not guilty? 12:6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 12:7 If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 12:8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

As I see it, this really points out the difference between religion and relationships.  Religion places a priority on rules, & customs . People need to make sacrifice to make themselves worthy before a relationship can be established. Relationships makes people the priority and mercy is freely given so relationships can be established.  Mercy is unmerited favor toward those who have done wrong without them having to atone for their failures.  Sacrifice is people having to make amends for their failures before the relationship is restored.

So, where do we place our priorities?  Where do we place our highest priorities?  Are our rules and customs, our highest priority; or do we want friendships with all people?

A difference in philosophy

During my lifetime, I have noticed two different philosophies competing for the way that we do things here in the USA.  I do not know what the official designations are for these points of view.  I simply describe them as Childproofing vs Responsibility training.

I first noticed these different philosophies as a kid and later as a parent.  If you store dangerous chemicals under your sink, then Responsibility training will try to teach your child not to go there. This is done by constantly monitoring them and punishing them if they should go there.  Punishment usually was a spanking.  The purpose here was to teach them that bad things will happen if they handle those chemicals  in a way that will not cause permanent damage to them.  Childproofing says that you can't monitor them as you should, so you need to put locks on the doors to prevent them from going there.

You can see a difference between the two philosophies later as the kids grow and start playing in the street.  Responsibility training will teach them to watch for cars and it is their responsibility to get out of the way of traffic.  Childproofing will say that it is the responsibility of the oncoming traffic to avoid the kids.

Also you can see this in schools.  Responsibility training says that it is the students responsibility to learn.  Childproofing places to total responsibility on the teachers.

Again, when someone goes berserk and starts killing others.  Responsibility training says the cure is to see that the criminal is made accountable for their actions.  Childproofing says we need gun control.

It is this last example that I have a problem with both philosophies.  My problem with them here is that neither of them will prevent these tragedies from happening.  History shows us this.  There has been many of a criminal in our history who has been taught responsibility in their actions but still went on and  did terrible things.  History has also shown us that tragedies can and will happen without guns (i.e. Ireland, Oklahoma City, September 11).

I believe that the only thing that will prevent these things from happening is love.  When this world was created, love ruled.  People rebelled against that love and that is why bad things happen now.  However, we now live in a time where it is possible to know that love and to experience that love.  As we experience that love, it will flow through us and will change the way we interact with each other.  As that love changes us, we naturally start loving others with that type of love.  I believe that the only answer that will stop the violence within America is that love.

Here's to living loved and loving others.

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