In one of my first attempts at writing , I talked about perspectives, how different people in similar situations can view things in very different ways. The more that I write and the more that I study, the more true this has become for me.
I am neither Christian nor Jew. I have been in both the Christian world and the Messianic Jewish world. I have been an Ordained minster. I now follow a form of Judaism that is known, at least in the Jewish world, as being a Noachide. I have been an Agnostic and I have studied the teachings of some of the Pagan religions. So as you can imagine I have a somewhat different perspective of life and religion then many people do. But when is all said and done, my loyalty lies with G-D and his love for us and His commandments. I love the Jewish people and I have a great respect for Christians and really all people who would help their fellowman.
I give this short back ground to you so that you will understand the rest of the message and take to heart that I hold no bias or hatred for anyone, though at times, while writing, from my own perspective, it may seem that way.
I think what has happened is that the message has been lost. Not just my message, but all of ours.
We ,as religious people, have been caught up into the very dangerous and destructive world of politics. Back in the day, you didn't mix religion and politics and you certainly didn't hear it from the pulpit, but times have apparently changed.
Have you ever wondered why it is that the world hates Jews and Christians so much? More so the Jews, but now more and more Christians are being hammered as well, have you ever asked the question as to why?
I have a thought for you. It's probably going to differ with what you believe but I'm going to run it by you anyway. It's our hypocrisy and our hatred. Does that shock you? Does that make you angry? Or do you think I'm wrong?
One of the things that both the Jews and Christians share is that G-D is a G-D of compassion and mercy and yet as a general whole we don't tend to show it. We have committees and boards that will spend time and money to protest Gay marriage and Abortion but balk at the idea of supporting some outreach program that might actually help someone. I saw it happen. I almost broke out in tears one day, when the first questions that was asked, ( we were considering a program to help out some poor families in the area) was "how much is this going to cost". Nothing came of it and since that time that church has had a lot of trouble. The human cost is high.
My experience since leaving various Christian denominations and Christianity as a whole has been somewhat condemning and if not outright hostile. I have been told that I am G-D - less because I don't follow Christianities version of G-D and we have been left quite literally alone. Is ostracizing people a part of the Christian religion? On the flip side of that I have been blasted by some certain Jewish people for asking too many questions or appearing to consider myself smarter then the sages of old.I don't consider myself smarter, they were just questions. Where is the compassion in this, where is the Love of G-D?
When HIV and Aids became front page news back in the 70's the religious world had a chance to reach out in compassion to these people. Instead all that we heard was that Aids was G-D's punishment on the Gay community and people quoting scripture. We ostracized people instead of showing compassion. Now, 30 years later, I know people who will never darken the doorways of a church or Synagogue except for a funeral or wedding, all because the "religious" didn't show any of the compassion that they were supposed to have had in their hearts. You want to quote scripture? Go ahead, but you will get no where, most of the Gay people I have known, know those scriptures by heart. You are only re-enforcing their idea that you hate them and their is no compassion to be found.
We are quick to condemn and slow to compassion. That is just the opposite of what scripture teaches.
There are many examples that could be used here. There are many fingers that I could point with but then I'd have to point some at my self because I have done the same. I am not in a position to judge people nor did G-D put me here to do so. I also know that this is not true of everyone or all groups but the sad truth is that the world sees us as having no compassion because our main focus seems to be on politics rather then mercy. If all anyone ever knows about religion is that there is crazy guy on TV telling him or her that they are going to go to hell for anything and everything under the sun and they are shown no real mercy or compassion, who do you think is going to be held responsible for that?
Do you really think that G-D is going to be interested in how big your church was if you ignore the homeless, the widow, those that are sick with Aids? Do you honestly think that having a large congregation is a substitute for helping out a drunk or a prostitute or someone who is just down on their luck?
G-D makes two commands very clear, and from these the rest follow. Love G-D with all you are and with all you have and love your neighbors as you would wish to be loved.
I'll end with a more positive note. There was a group that I saw , not to long ago, that consisted of about 70 people ,from various denominations, bringing food and clothing and blankets to various street people. They set up tables and did everything from serving them a hot meal to cutting their hair and washing their feet.
The only complaint that I heard was from one of the ladies who was washing the feet of someone when she said that she wished that they didn't have to wear gloves to do this. She didn't care if the person was dirty and homeless, she knew what human touch and real compassion was all about. Just as a side note they were not there trying to convert people either, they were there to SHOW them the Love of G-D.
That, my friends, is the message that has been lost, compassion, mercy, love.
Pray that we find it soon.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Train Up A Child....
"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
Are your children cool? Are they the trend setters, the ones that everyone looks to for the latest fashions and styles? Do they watch all the hip shows and do they own all the newest and latest gadgets? Do they have their own computers in their rooms and their own high tech cell phone? Have they driven you crazy with their requests for things that are unreasonably priced, but they put the pressure on because it's the new cool thing and everyone has one?
If the answer to any of this is yes, then let me state for the record you are being targeted. Actually it's your kids that are being targeted but the side effect is that it targets you as well, you have more money then the kids but you are actually only the secondary target.
This weekend I was sent a couple of links that showed just how corporations and big business have been teaming up to target your kids and, secondarily, you into buying whatever product it is that they are trying to sell at the time.None of this is terribly surprising to me and I suspect that it wouldn't be for most of you as well, but I guess what did shock me, somewhat, was just how far they would go to do so.
For the most part they would start out by interviewing teenagers and young adults out on the streets asking them all sorts of questions on their likes and dislikes, they would in some cases pay the kids for their time and take pictures of everything from their clothes to their tattoos and get just as personal with the kids as they could be. They then take this info and share it ( for a price ) with the major corporations and develop strategies as to how to market various products based on this info.
I am not against business making money on a product that everyone needs or wants, I am, however, against the methods of how they sell it to our kids.
I will give you one of the ways that they sell both a product and a band/way of life to our kids and most of the time it is subtle enough to slip under the radar while other parts of it are down right shocking.
I will not use names here because I don't need the hassle, but the scenario is real and it did happen.
A corporation owned 3 businesses that were having some problems and they were looking for a way to bring in more revenue based on those products and they came up with a brilliant idea. They would host a televised party that would feature the beverage as the sponsor, a music television show as the host and they would bring in some well known bands to play. They then proceeded to pay kids to come and dance and be "cool". The beverage that they were trying to feature was predominately displayed and the popular band was seen with the product name all over them and they introduced a new band in the process. The end result was that this beverage became the most popular beverage, the new band became world famous, and the music television show became top dog once again. Their target audience was the teenagers and young adults and it worked. From a pure business point of view it was brilliant, from a profit point they made a killing and they didn't have to spend a lot to do it.
Another method that has become popular has been through the movies and television shows. TV having advertisements is nothing new, but now you find it in every form of entertainment there is. There was a Disney movie recently that featured this princess coming up from out of the sewers right into the middle of Times Square in New York,as she pops up all you can see around her is billboard after billboard displaying corporate logos everywhere, it is a brilliant marketing move on their part, but again it was aimed at the kids and indirectly at you.
What became apparent as this went on, was just how easy it was to influence the kids.
I am not going to give you a blow by blow of all the sexually graphic ways that they present their products, via shows on spring break or on supposedly teenage shows where all the characters are sexually starved and promiscuous. What was interesting about that part was that the man who was doing the documentary on this subject came to the realization that it was the influence of these shows and marketing schemes that was turning these kids into sex crazed kids and NOT that the shows were a reflection of the culture but that they have caused the culture.
Again I realize that for most of you, this comes as no surprise and we can only sit here and wish that they had paid us to tell them would should have been blatantly obvious.
While none of what I saw was really all that shocking, it occurred to me that the one factor that was missing in all this was the parents. Where were the parents? Where was their influence in all of this? Not once was parental influence even mentioned, yet they featured kids at Daytona beach during spring break, both high school and college age and not a parent to be seen. The only conclusion that I could come to was that there is either a whole lot of orphans or the parents were not involved or perhaps, even worse,didn't care.
I quoted from Proverbs in the beginning for a reason. To ask you a simple question.
Are you raising your kids in the way that they should go? Or are you letting the influence of this world and advertisers shape your kids?
In my house we don't have cable hooked up to the TV, our children do not have their own computers hidden out in their rooms not to mention cell phones. You can say to me that I am depriving my kids of the wonders of modern technology until you are blue in the face and I will simply say to you that G-D gave my wife and I children to raise in His ways, not the ways of the world. I can't protect them from everything but I don't have to allow trash into my house when it is in my power as the adult/parent to prevent it. They still get to use the computer but we regulate their time and where it is that they go, they still watch movies and shows that we can find on line, but not without us and not without our approval.We have cell phones but again they are under parental control.
Why am I so wound about this? According to the statistics our children, with all forms of media, are hit with 3,000 advertisements a day! They are being influenced by everything from adds on the cell phones to product placements in movies and shows.
Do you want them to be the ones to influence your kids or do you wish to be the one?
G-D has given us a responsibility as parents to raise our kids. Here is what He says in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
If your kids are spending 90 percent of their time being influenced by the mass media, where is the time for you to teach your kids about G-D's ways?
I know that many of you reading this have raised G-dly kids and that they have become men and women that are serving G-D with all their hearts and you should rejoice in that, but it would seem that too many others are not.
So only you can decide. Am I going to raise my children"in the way that they should go" or are you going to get a shock one day as you see something on spring break and you see your half naked child on a television show proudly displaying themselves and whatever the current product of the day is. Your the parent only you can decide to act like one.
Are your children cool? Are they the trend setters, the ones that everyone looks to for the latest fashions and styles? Do they watch all the hip shows and do they own all the newest and latest gadgets? Do they have their own computers in their rooms and their own high tech cell phone? Have they driven you crazy with their requests for things that are unreasonably priced, but they put the pressure on because it's the new cool thing and everyone has one?
If the answer to any of this is yes, then let me state for the record you are being targeted. Actually it's your kids that are being targeted but the side effect is that it targets you as well, you have more money then the kids but you are actually only the secondary target.
This weekend I was sent a couple of links that showed just how corporations and big business have been teaming up to target your kids and, secondarily, you into buying whatever product it is that they are trying to sell at the time.None of this is terribly surprising to me and I suspect that it wouldn't be for most of you as well, but I guess what did shock me, somewhat, was just how far they would go to do so.
For the most part they would start out by interviewing teenagers and young adults out on the streets asking them all sorts of questions on their likes and dislikes, they would in some cases pay the kids for their time and take pictures of everything from their clothes to their tattoos and get just as personal with the kids as they could be. They then take this info and share it ( for a price ) with the major corporations and develop strategies as to how to market various products based on this info.
I am not against business making money on a product that everyone needs or wants, I am, however, against the methods of how they sell it to our kids.
I will give you one of the ways that they sell both a product and a band/way of life to our kids and most of the time it is subtle enough to slip under the radar while other parts of it are down right shocking.
I will not use names here because I don't need the hassle, but the scenario is real and it did happen.
A corporation owned 3 businesses that were having some problems and they were looking for a way to bring in more revenue based on those products and they came up with a brilliant idea. They would host a televised party that would feature the beverage as the sponsor, a music television show as the host and they would bring in some well known bands to play. They then proceeded to pay kids to come and dance and be "cool". The beverage that they were trying to feature was predominately displayed and the popular band was seen with the product name all over them and they introduced a new band in the process. The end result was that this beverage became the most popular beverage, the new band became world famous, and the music television show became top dog once again. Their target audience was the teenagers and young adults and it worked. From a pure business point of view it was brilliant, from a profit point they made a killing and they didn't have to spend a lot to do it.
Another method that has become popular has been through the movies and television shows. TV having advertisements is nothing new, but now you find it in every form of entertainment there is. There was a Disney movie recently that featured this princess coming up from out of the sewers right into the middle of Times Square in New York,as she pops up all you can see around her is billboard after billboard displaying corporate logos everywhere, it is a brilliant marketing move on their part, but again it was aimed at the kids and indirectly at you.
What became apparent as this went on, was just how easy it was to influence the kids.
I am not going to give you a blow by blow of all the sexually graphic ways that they present their products, via shows on spring break or on supposedly teenage shows where all the characters are sexually starved and promiscuous. What was interesting about that part was that the man who was doing the documentary on this subject came to the realization that it was the influence of these shows and marketing schemes that was turning these kids into sex crazed kids and NOT that the shows were a reflection of the culture but that they have caused the culture.
Again I realize that for most of you, this comes as no surprise and we can only sit here and wish that they had paid us to tell them would should have been blatantly obvious.
While none of what I saw was really all that shocking, it occurred to me that the one factor that was missing in all this was the parents. Where were the parents? Where was their influence in all of this? Not once was parental influence even mentioned, yet they featured kids at Daytona beach during spring break, both high school and college age and not a parent to be seen. The only conclusion that I could come to was that there is either a whole lot of orphans or the parents were not involved or perhaps, even worse,didn't care.
I quoted from Proverbs in the beginning for a reason. To ask you a simple question.
Are you raising your kids in the way that they should go? Or are you letting the influence of this world and advertisers shape your kids?
In my house we don't have cable hooked up to the TV, our children do not have their own computers hidden out in their rooms not to mention cell phones. You can say to me that I am depriving my kids of the wonders of modern technology until you are blue in the face and I will simply say to you that G-D gave my wife and I children to raise in His ways, not the ways of the world. I can't protect them from everything but I don't have to allow trash into my house when it is in my power as the adult/parent to prevent it. They still get to use the computer but we regulate their time and where it is that they go, they still watch movies and shows that we can find on line, but not without us and not without our approval.We have cell phones but again they are under parental control.
Why am I so wound about this? According to the statistics our children, with all forms of media, are hit with 3,000 advertisements a day! They are being influenced by everything from adds on the cell phones to product placements in movies and shows.
Do you want them to be the ones to influence your kids or do you wish to be the one?
G-D has given us a responsibility as parents to raise our kids. Here is what He says in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
If your kids are spending 90 percent of their time being influenced by the mass media, where is the time for you to teach your kids about G-D's ways?
I know that many of you reading this have raised G-dly kids and that they have become men and women that are serving G-D with all their hearts and you should rejoice in that, but it would seem that too many others are not.
So only you can decide. Am I going to raise my children"in the way that they should go" or are you going to get a shock one day as you see something on spring break and you see your half naked child on a television show proudly displaying themselves and whatever the current product of the day is. Your the parent only you can decide to act like one.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
G-D Commands Us To Rejoice!
You know everything we do in this life always boils down to choices. Some of those choices are really simple, such as do I turn left or right to get where I am going while other choices aren't always that simple, which Doctor do I go to, which bill can I skip, and with our choices there always come consequences. If I turn left instead of right I get stuck in a traffic jam, fail to pay the mortgage on time and you lose you house. Choices. There are some scientists out there in the world of Quantum physics that would even suggest that not making a choice in a particular way sets off parallel universes where any and all possibilities intersect with each other. A bit over my head but fascinating.Usually though when all is said and done everything that we do boils down to small choices and usually the results thereof are fairly clear.
In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 G-D gives His people a choice; Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
Moses has been busy giving his farewell speech to the children of Israel and he had been going over many of both the good and the bad things that have been happening with them since they left Egypt. But here I think he hits a very important point (of course this is G-D speaking through him )he is basically telling them you have 2 choices that you can make, you can choose to follow G-D and keep His commands and Ordinances or you can seek after the gods of the nations,. Seeking G-D and keeping His commands and Ordinances brings about blessings but going after strange "gods" brings about a curse.
He then proceeds to re instruct them in His decrees and ordinances and says an amazing thing to them right in the beginning.
Deut 12:7 "and there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall REJOICE in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you."
He tells them to rejoice! That has surprised me to say the least for it. He doesn't just say it once he says it several times in the course of the next couple of chapters.
It was as simple as this; When they brought their offerings and their sacrifices before G-D, they were to eat and drink and celebrate, rejoicing before G-D ,them and all who were with them. See Deut. 12:12,18, 14:24-26, 16:11,14... it just keeps going.
Why do I find this so exciting and fascinating?
G-D expects His people to REJOICE while celebrating His holy days. This is a much different picture then what I had ever heard as a child. Everything was always a somber ,sober, event with much pomp and circumstance but little too no rejoicing.
Whenever I would hear the stories of the Jewish holy days it was always in that vein of being a somber right that had no real meaning and yet, according to what I have read in the Torah, that turns out to be a huge lie!
G-D essentially commanded His people to rejoice when ever they brought their offerings and sacrifices to Him, you were to remember His blessings and if you are doing that then how can you do anything else But celebrate and rejoice.
So they were given two choices, as we are, you can Rejoice in G-D and all that He has done for you and has provided, or you can follow the gods of the nations and sacrifice your kids and be nailed with curses.
So for this simple minded guy it comes down to this; I can chase after the gods of this world and sacrifice my kids and the life G-D has given me or I can Rejoice in G-D celebrate His holy days with great rejoicing loving Him and keeping His commandments.
I think I'll take the rejoicing....
In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 G-D gives His people a choice; Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
Moses has been busy giving his farewell speech to the children of Israel and he had been going over many of both the good and the bad things that have been happening with them since they left Egypt. But here I think he hits a very important point (of course this is G-D speaking through him )he is basically telling them you have 2 choices that you can make, you can choose to follow G-D and keep His commands and Ordinances or you can seek after the gods of the nations,. Seeking G-D and keeping His commands and Ordinances brings about blessings but going after strange "gods" brings about a curse.
He then proceeds to re instruct them in His decrees and ordinances and says an amazing thing to them right in the beginning.
Deut 12:7 "and there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall REJOICE in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you."
He tells them to rejoice! That has surprised me to say the least for it. He doesn't just say it once he says it several times in the course of the next couple of chapters.
It was as simple as this; When they brought their offerings and their sacrifices before G-D, they were to eat and drink and celebrate, rejoicing before G-D ,them and all who were with them. See Deut. 12:12,18, 14:24-26, 16:11,14... it just keeps going.
Why do I find this so exciting and fascinating?
G-D expects His people to REJOICE while celebrating His holy days. This is a much different picture then what I had ever heard as a child. Everything was always a somber ,sober, event with much pomp and circumstance but little too no rejoicing.
Whenever I would hear the stories of the Jewish holy days it was always in that vein of being a somber right that had no real meaning and yet, according to what I have read in the Torah, that turns out to be a huge lie!
G-D essentially commanded His people to rejoice when ever they brought their offerings and sacrifices to Him, you were to remember His blessings and if you are doing that then how can you do anything else But celebrate and rejoice.
So they were given two choices, as we are, you can Rejoice in G-D and all that He has done for you and has provided, or you can follow the gods of the nations and sacrifice your kids and be nailed with curses.
So for this simple minded guy it comes down to this; I can chase after the gods of this world and sacrifice my kids and the life G-D has given me or I can Rejoice in G-D celebrate His holy days with great rejoicing loving Him and keeping His commandments.
I think I'll take the rejoicing....
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