As people prepare to close out 2011, they scurry around to buy a present for someone or a few loved ones, while others are wondering if they will be able to afford even one tiny gift for their child(ren). The question I ask though is what is the actual celebration of the holiday, Christmas?
Before I continue, I must reiterate the fact that there are two sets of Christians, man’s perspective and God’s. It was a stroke of commercial genius for whoever started the tradition of buying gifts for family, friends, and others on the day allegedly marked as the birth of Jesus Christ, however, there is no mention in the New Testament of this practice. Just stop and ask yourselves, what is the purpose of buying gifts for those you are close to on one particular day when you have 364 other days in which to buy them a gift? If one was truly to follow the lead of Jesus Christ, should one not do something for the least of these our brothers, as He did? Does it prove you are faithful to the celebration of His birth because you buy those gifts? The three magi brought those gifts as signs of reverence for what God had shared with them and do note that none of them where of the house of Israel. Those notified of Christ’s birth were at the bottom of the economic status, they were shepherds. At no time did God see fit to inform the wealthy, the learned, the political and religious leaders, no He sent angels to deliver the glad tidings of hope, love, and peace, to those who were of meager existence.
Man’s Christians see this celebration of a means of letting God know how much they love His Son, however, they forget the very purpose of Christ’s birth. He is also the Lamb of God, born into this world to be a sacrifice for our very souls yet we cannot sacrifice for those who are least of these our brothers. Within the Gospels of the Bible, Jesus never mentioned or tells us to celebrate His birth neither is such a thing mentioned in the rest of the New Testament. Please remember that the New Testament means a new order of the spiritual and as He walked this earth, Jesus Christ gave of Himself to anyone who needed Him, as He gave Himself to pay for our sins on the day He was crucified. As spiritual believers, we are to be thankful for not only His death and what that means to us and for us; we are to be thankful for His birth and the hope it brought. Now, it is time for us to bring hope to those who have none, not to be selfish in how we share the blessings of our lives, as Jesus Christ was not selfish. At the end of the day, we have to know that we have done what is right in the sight of God, not man. When these questions are asked - when I was hungry, did you feed me; when I was thirsty, did you give me drink; when I was homeless, did you give me shelter; how will you answer? In the commercial activity in which we partake on the premise of celebrating Christ’s birth, we besmirch the purpose of His birth, His life on earth, and His death. The celebration of Christ, His birth, life, and sacrifice; is to be there for those who are the least of these our brothers; to do less is a futile attempt to appease God.
Sandra M. Corder
6 December 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Erroneous Perspectives
As I watched the final installment of Harry Potter, which I thoroughly enjoy (I am still a kid at heart), I think of all the missed opportunities for so many children who were forbidden to watch because of judgmental mis-guided parents of the Christian religion. So focused where these adults on the magical spells, they denied themselves the opportunity to teach their children of the realities of life – that one always has choices to do what is right in times of darkness or how taking the easy path to avoid adversity only causes one to go through life with no real direction and most importantly, not having inner strength and moral fortitude to fight for what is right; to have something worth fighting for. Now most of these adults would say to me that denying same sex marriage, denying a woman and her doctor from making decisions for her life; and attempting to force their way of being upon everyone is fighting for what is right. Oh, so wrong are they. What they do is no more than bullying and to address the religious aspect, “do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God” [Romans 14:22]. I would wager that at least half of the bullies within our society, children and adults, would claim a religion that does not support their stance, on any level, which makes it all the more pitiful that they missed a teachable movie series.
The diamond in the rough is seeing the good qualities of a person’s heart, their spirit; this is the epitome of the Harry Potter series. While the Twilight series may rival Harry Potter in box office earnings and popularity, it falls short; it pales in comparison in quality and substance. If one takes away the dressing of magic, one is left with a very gritty story of hardships; choosing to do what is right despite the adversity and sacrifices; it is about loyalty, the character and the unbreakable bond of friendship in the midst of adversity. This creation came from the angst of a single mother, her life’s journey, and what she has seen in the human condition. After the murder of his parents, Harry is dropped off at the home of his mother’s sister, her husband, and son, only to be treated like a slave. Upon entering Hogwarts [school], he has the opportunity to befriend another student from a wealthy, privileged family but Harry recognized the arrogance and haughtiness and chose others to be his friends. The unfortunate aspect is that in watching the bullies within this movie, those pompous religious bullies may have recognized themselves; may have glimpsed the ugliness that reside within them and their children and hopefully, would make positive changes.
Harry Potter is more than a movie about magic, it is a teaching movie on what makes one noble; it’s about honor, qualities sorely missing within our society from politics to individual lives. There is no age limit to learning that true virtues are. The erroneous judgment of every religious snob who rejected this movie extrapolates on “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Sandra M. Corder
The diamond in the rough is seeing the good qualities of a person’s heart, their spirit; this is the epitome of the Harry Potter series. While the Twilight series may rival Harry Potter in box office earnings and popularity, it falls short; it pales in comparison in quality and substance. If one takes away the dressing of magic, one is left with a very gritty story of hardships; choosing to do what is right despite the adversity and sacrifices; it is about loyalty, the character and the unbreakable bond of friendship in the midst of adversity. This creation came from the angst of a single mother, her life’s journey, and what she has seen in the human condition. After the murder of his parents, Harry is dropped off at the home of his mother’s sister, her husband, and son, only to be treated like a slave. Upon entering Hogwarts [school], he has the opportunity to befriend another student from a wealthy, privileged family but Harry recognized the arrogance and haughtiness and chose others to be his friends. The unfortunate aspect is that in watching the bullies within this movie, those pompous religious bullies may have recognized themselves; may have glimpsed the ugliness that reside within them and their children and hopefully, would make positive changes.
Harry Potter is more than a movie about magic, it is a teaching movie on what makes one noble; it’s about honor, qualities sorely missing within our society from politics to individual lives. There is no age limit to learning that true virtues are. The erroneous judgment of every religious snob who rejected this movie extrapolates on “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Sandra M. Corder
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sacrifices
On Sunday, 24 April 2011, innumerous citizens crowd churches celebrating the Christian religious holiday known as Easter. For those of you who do not have knowledge of this religion or the purpose of this holiday; it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Who allowed Himself to be sacrificed to save mankind from the spiritual darkness one may find themselves in. One of Jesus’ titles is “Lamb of God” as during the days of the Old Testament, lambs were used in sacrifices.
Now that that has been clarified, let us look at that word “sacrifice”. “Sacrifice” means the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. I am quite sure that many of the Republican/Tea Party denizens partook of this religious holiday without really understanding the significance this day represents. The faith they allegedly prescribe to does not support their stance of supporting the wealthy on the backs of the poor, fatherless children, and the elderly. If our Creator, whether you call Him God, Allah, or Yahweh, loved mankind (not just Americans) enough to willingly send His Son to be sacrificed; if His Son willingly, out of love and compassion, allowed Himself to be that sacrificial lamb, then why cannot these allegedly patriotic denizens do their part to ensure the stability of this nation? There is Donald Trump, like an irritating pest that will not go away, denouncing President Obama just about every time he parts those lips that looked like he just sucked on some lemon. With all the gas he is emitting, especially on his prowess as a businessman, I have yet to hear him say that he would be willing to have his income tax raised for the benefit of this nation. One cannot say they love this nation, yet shirk their responsibility to do their part. Sarah Palin does not have a leg to stand on either, instead of being responsible as the elected governor of Alaska, to sacrifice her desire for a national podium and the money; she turned her back on her “great state of Alaska” and the constituents who voted her in. Hypocrites would be too nice of a word for these characters whose only real goal is to bring President Obama down, not caring that they are contributing to the slowly creeping decline of this nation. So focused are they in destroying this man, who has done them no harm, that they are willing to sacrifice the economic stability of this nation. As they decry the government spending, they purposely forget that it was one of their own who put this in motion; they purposely forget that Republican presidents ALWAYS put this country in an economical cesspool. They forget that when Bill Clinton, a Democrat, entered that Oval Office, this country was bleeding like an unstoppable geyser and it is the same now and then some.
Some of us indeed act like spoiled little brats, wanting what we want, when we want it. GROW UP, for goodness sake. It is not the president doing harm to this nation; it is you, Republican/Tea Party. The majority of you are Caucasian, so please remember the sacrifices of your great grandparents and grandparents during the two World Wars and the Korean War. For those of you mis-guided minorities, please remember the undignified way your great grandparents and grandparents were treated. They endured years of humiliation and being treated worse than animals by those of the very gene pool you associate yourselves with. They sacrificed to make sure their children and grandchildren would not have to endure what they did and you repay them this way? Vince Lombardi said, “Football is like life-it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” Republican/Tea Party, you exhibit none of these, even those of you who may not agree with your party. In those of you who do not agree with your party, in refusing to show backbone and honor, you follow in the way of Edmund Burke’s quote of, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” and this is you, doing nothing. In the refusal of the Republican/Tea Party to do what is right in the sight of God for “the least of these”, you desecrate the very sacrifice of He you allegedly follow. Wayne Greeson wrote, “Too many Christians and too many churches do nothing” and while he is correct to a point, far too many Christians and too many churches are voting for the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees because of “moral values”. Where, pray tell, in the New Testament did Jesus socialize with or supported any of the political and religious leaders of His day? How many times did He chastise them? How does your behavior or actions mirror anything that Jesus did? Did He not associate with the very people you do not care about, “the least of these”? Sacrifice? It sounds good but you do not seem to know anything about it as you fiddle away while our country slowly disintegrates. Hey, any relations to Nero?
Wayne Greeson – http://www.padfield.com/1997/goodmen.html
Now that that has been clarified, let us look at that word “sacrifice”. “Sacrifice” means the destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. I am quite sure that many of the Republican/Tea Party denizens partook of this religious holiday without really understanding the significance this day represents. The faith they allegedly prescribe to does not support their stance of supporting the wealthy on the backs of the poor, fatherless children, and the elderly. If our Creator, whether you call Him God, Allah, or Yahweh, loved mankind (not just Americans) enough to willingly send His Son to be sacrificed; if His Son willingly, out of love and compassion, allowed Himself to be that sacrificial lamb, then why cannot these allegedly patriotic denizens do their part to ensure the stability of this nation? There is Donald Trump, like an irritating pest that will not go away, denouncing President Obama just about every time he parts those lips that looked like he just sucked on some lemon. With all the gas he is emitting, especially on his prowess as a businessman, I have yet to hear him say that he would be willing to have his income tax raised for the benefit of this nation. One cannot say they love this nation, yet shirk their responsibility to do their part. Sarah Palin does not have a leg to stand on either, instead of being responsible as the elected governor of Alaska, to sacrifice her desire for a national podium and the money; she turned her back on her “great state of Alaska” and the constituents who voted her in. Hypocrites would be too nice of a word for these characters whose only real goal is to bring President Obama down, not caring that they are contributing to the slowly creeping decline of this nation. So focused are they in destroying this man, who has done them no harm, that they are willing to sacrifice the economic stability of this nation. As they decry the government spending, they purposely forget that it was one of their own who put this in motion; they purposely forget that Republican presidents ALWAYS put this country in an economical cesspool. They forget that when Bill Clinton, a Democrat, entered that Oval Office, this country was bleeding like an unstoppable geyser and it is the same now and then some.
Some of us indeed act like spoiled little brats, wanting what we want, when we want it. GROW UP, for goodness sake. It is not the president doing harm to this nation; it is you, Republican/Tea Party. The majority of you are Caucasian, so please remember the sacrifices of your great grandparents and grandparents during the two World Wars and the Korean War. For those of you mis-guided minorities, please remember the undignified way your great grandparents and grandparents were treated. They endured years of humiliation and being treated worse than animals by those of the very gene pool you associate yourselves with. They sacrificed to make sure their children and grandchildren would not have to endure what they did and you repay them this way? Vince Lombardi said, “Football is like life-it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” Republican/Tea Party, you exhibit none of these, even those of you who may not agree with your party. In those of you who do not agree with your party, in refusing to show backbone and honor, you follow in the way of Edmund Burke’s quote of, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” and this is you, doing nothing. In the refusal of the Republican/Tea Party to do what is right in the sight of God for “the least of these”, you desecrate the very sacrifice of He you allegedly follow. Wayne Greeson wrote, “Too many Christians and too many churches do nothing” and while he is correct to a point, far too many Christians and too many churches are voting for the modern day Pharisees and Sadducees because of “moral values”. Where, pray tell, in the New Testament did Jesus socialize with or supported any of the political and religious leaders of His day? How many times did He chastise them? How does your behavior or actions mirror anything that Jesus did? Did He not associate with the very people you do not care about, “the least of these”? Sacrifice? It sounds good but you do not seem to know anything about it as you fiddle away while our country slowly disintegrates. Hey, any relations to Nero?
Wayne Greeson – http://www.padfield.com/1997/goodmen.html
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