Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Slowly, Silently Spreading Seeds

While I do believe that all the mistakes and good things of previous generations continue to affect the succeeding  "five generations" (and more), I believe that Jesus was sent to show The Way of following The Word to those who did not know. I do NOT believe that babies are conceived with original sin. They are conceived with pure souls that can be nurtured or destroyed by conditions surrounding them, even while in the womb.

I believe that parents cannot pass the salvation of creation on to their children; they can only pass on their beliefs about the path to salvation. I believe that baptism, like circumcision, was meant as an outward sign of a person's commitment to The Way of The Word. The dedication of the parents and their community to bring the child up in The Way of The Word is a different issue. I believe that parents cannot dedicate their children to being people of The Way; they can only dedicate themselves to setting the example, and enter community that they know to be true to following The Way.

I believe that many religions have co-opted the pagan belief that there are "shamans" or "priests" who have the power (that, according to these religious beliefs, we each lack) to intercede for us between ourselves and The Divine. Rituals performed by priests and other church leaders are not the same as religion, even though they are a bonding experience for the faithful. I believe that parents are the bridge to The Divine and have a Divine responsibility to bring children up in The Way they should go. The child, upon reaching the age of reason (which is different for each person), can decide whether he or she is willing to commit to following The Way.

I know that Peter was an apostle chosen by Jesus to be a leader in The Way of The Word, but we have only the word of Paul and the Roman Church that what Paul said was from God. I know that Peter was a bit of a verbal bumbler, and that Paul was an eloquent marketer for whatever he was promoting. I know that the leadership of Christianity was argued over by Paul and Peter. I know that Peter's way was the following of the core of Jewish law, as well as Jesus' example, and that Paul promoted a path without the Jewish laws governing peace with our neighbors. Peter was appointed by Jesus to head the Christian church, but Paul was a better politician and poet, whose way prevailed.

I know that the Christian Church was not only spread in Rome, but in many sees. I know that, in the fourth century,  the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church "sold" the soul of Christianity to Constantine by agreeing to let Constantine "convert" "pagans" by threatening them with death if they did not swear allegiance to the church. I know that most western "Christian" churches are based on these corruptions of the Roman Catholic (Christian) Church.I believe it is time to take the church back to its beginnings before Paul proclaimed himself an apostle.

I believe that Jesus, by his example, showed us The True Light in The Holy Spirit, and that this Light, while hidden for many years under the terrible weight of the political system that is Christendom, has been once more found by those who spread The Light through their examples of love and compassion, as well as obedience to the laws that have been handed down from generation to generation on how to love The Almighty BY loving others (even when that means sacrificing of oneself in life and, if necessary, in death).

I do NOT believe that there was a God-given demand that anyone die for our sins. I believe that we are all asked to die to sin and the we have a messiah to show us how to live The Word, even unto death. I know that often death is demanded in order to punctuate how much a messiah cares. I believe that the emphasis on the suffering of Jesus' last days on earth instead of what it must have been like to the very human (while he walked the earth) Jesus to live without sin, on this same earth that so tempts us, is a bow to the pagan portrayal of gods having sacrificial blood-lust.

Political systems promote their beliefs with rhetoric and sensationalism that woos the masses; true Judeo-Christianity spreads The Way through slowly, silently sprouting seeds, one soul to another.

This is my belief; I could be wrong.