Has it occurred to any one that most of the problems in this world have nothing to do with G-D? Instead it has to do with mans warped view of G-D and what He wants?
I have been mulling over this thought for a while now, as I try to come to terms with many of the misconceptions concerning G-D that we have all been taught over the years. By mis conceptions I am talking about doctrines and beliefs that we have all been taught were true and never really took the time to question or to study for ourselves , just kind of assuming that our religious leaders were all ways telling us the truth and never taking the time to dig out the facts for ourselves.
This of course, has caused me a whole lot of problems as I have challenged just about everything that I have ever heard or been taught. Yet at the same time it has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done , because I find that I have a much better understanding of G-D and what He wants, while also being able to publicly say that there is so much that I don't know or understand! This my friends is probably the the source of the greatest relief that I have ever known; the simple idea that I don't have to know everything in order to enjoy a relationship with G-D. I don't have to go after others beliefs about G-D because G-D has never asked us to do that. He has two very simple requirements of all people, Love G-D and Love your fellow man, engage in serving Him through worship and by acts of kindness. As the Reform Jews put it We must engage in "Social Justice" and that ,in part, is a part of worshiping G-D.
Some of what has brought me comfort as well, is things like the Talmud and other writing that the Jewish sages of old have written, because it shows me that even these great learned men didn't know everything about G-D and while they certainly tried to clarify things in the law, they didn't always know or agree with each other, but at least they took the time to study it out for themselves and come to a general consensus, then as time has passed and other things came to light, more debate took place and things changed.
So how does this fit with my opening statement? I am becoming quite weary of all those who seem to think that they have a monopoly on G-D and His ways, when the truth to the matter is that G-D is G-D and we are mere mortals who are striving to learn His ways, but will never be able to fully comprehend Him. Just because we have a particular belief or pet doctrine, does not mean that we can fully understand His ways. Think about this, how many millions of people have been killed over the centuries because someone thought that they had the right ideas about G-D and everyone else was wrong? How many wars have and still are going on all over the world based on that same notion? Now consider this, what would happen if everyone came to the understanding that we can't possibly know everything that there is to know about G-D and came to acknowledge that we might just be wrong in spots? Most of the wars would end and quite possibly a massive amount of loving would result. Pipe dream? I think not.
Both Christian tradition and Jewish belief tells of a time at the end of all things when a universal knowledge of G-D and of peace will come about through Him and His anointed one, but that can't happen until a time comes when all of us acknowledge that we were wrong and we seek the truth, getting away from all the man made dogmas,bringing an end to all wars, eliminating poverty and greed and removing our biases and prejudice. When that day comes and we are all "singing the same song of freedom" blaming G-D for our own stupidity and mistakes will come to an end as He promises to place His ways on our hearts. This brings me joy and this is what brings me peace in a chaotic world, I don't have to know everything now, nor is it my job, or anyone else's for that matter, to force my belief upon you, instead we strive to learn and we rejoice in what we can know and we can wait patiently because that day will come when we will know the truth about G-D because G-D will put it in our hearts!
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Memorial Day Thought
The first official weekend of the summer season is about to start this weekend with the coming of Memorial Day weekend. Many of us will be enjoying the weekend with BBQ with parades and camping over all a very enjoyable weekend.
I remember ,as a child, how excited I used to get on Memorial . I would be going crazy eating breakfast as fast as I could so that I could get up to the corner where the parade was going to come by and stop at the town memorial. I remember more then once coming out the door and hearing the distant sounds of the drums as they got ready to start and straining to get the first glance of the parade in the distance.
Likely by New York or Boston standards this was small time indeed but it was huge to me. Seemed like every group and club was represented as well as the high school band, but my favorite part was the fire trucks! They would turn on their sirens making a lot of noise above and beyond what was already going on and they would have many players from the little league baseball riding on them as well.
Of course the most somber part of the whole parade was when they would lay a wreath at the memorial say a prayer and play taps while firing off the 21 gun salutes. I didn't understand all of it at that time. I understood there had been a big war, WW2 and that some place called Vietnam was coming to an end, but the whole idea of war and the loss of friends and comrades was something I didn't grasp then. I do now.
So this weekend, as you enjoy your weekend, keep in mind those that gave their lives so that you CAN enjoy your BBQ and the camping. Perhaps take a moment to lay a wreath at a memorial or quietly listen to the mournful sounds of taps as it is played for the fallen, but most of all never forget.
Ignacio
I remember ,as a child, how excited I used to get on Memorial . I would be going crazy eating breakfast as fast as I could so that I could get up to the corner where the parade was going to come by and stop at the town memorial. I remember more then once coming out the door and hearing the distant sounds of the drums as they got ready to start and straining to get the first glance of the parade in the distance.
Likely by New York or Boston standards this was small time indeed but it was huge to me. Seemed like every group and club was represented as well as the high school band, but my favorite part was the fire trucks! They would turn on their sirens making a lot of noise above and beyond what was already going on and they would have many players from the little league baseball riding on them as well.
Of course the most somber part of the whole parade was when they would lay a wreath at the memorial say a prayer and play taps while firing off the 21 gun salutes. I didn't understand all of it at that time. I understood there had been a big war, WW2 and that some place called Vietnam was coming to an end, but the whole idea of war and the loss of friends and comrades was something I didn't grasp then. I do now.
So this weekend, as you enjoy your weekend, keep in mind those that gave their lives so that you CAN enjoy your BBQ and the camping. Perhaps take a moment to lay a wreath at a memorial or quietly listen to the mournful sounds of taps as it is played for the fallen, but most of all never forget.
Ignacio
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Personal Responsibility
The man said " the woman that you ( G-D ) gave me" the woman said " the serpent told me...." the serpent said I was possessed...... " actually the snake said nothing but you get the point. Gen.3 Uncle Iggies version....
The argument usually goes something like this, "it wasn't my fault" it was my husband,wife, children or neighbors fault, the devil made me do it or , at least in one case , it was the snakes fault so why should I have to pay the price for my mistake, forgetting of course that you had to make a conscious decision to do something in the first place. It's never our faults for anything, it's society or our up bringing or our neighborhood or government. Sometimes ,admittedly, that's not far from the truth, however not everything can be blamed for our mistakes, at some point you have to take a hard look in the mirror and understand that you play a large role in this as well.
Of course passing the blame to others can become real easy to do when your world starts to collapse around you and things that you thought were fairly secure come apart at the seams. It becomes real easy to point the finger at anyone or anything other then yourself for the problems and the mistakes in our lives, much easier to have a talk show mentality and blame every thing on your mothers uncles second cousins brother in laws pet fish rather then taking the responsibility, after all this is generally what we in our great society teach.
Society says that it's not our fault for....pick your thing, instead it's the fault of our parents, our schools, our religion or even the a fore mentioned fish, but never is the blame affixed where it truly belongs; on ourselves. A Fine example; if I choose to smoke is it the tobaccos companies fault? Certainly they have done lots of advertising to get my attention but when it boils right down to it, I am the one who is responsible for putting the cigarette in my mouth and smoking it. They may have provided the material but I did the action. If I choose to live a promiscuous life style and sleep around who bears the responsibility of an unwanted STD or pregnancy? Is it society? Or should we again blame it on the parenting or the proverbial fish? Or is it my fault?
Our mainstream religions are at fault for this as well. We are taught the idea of "original sin" through Adam and Eve, and tell us that we can't help but be sinful because we are born with that tendency, leaving out the idea of freewill. So what that boils down to is that we are little more then robots with no real choices in life other then to do evil continuously. I reject that notion. While the Bible certainly speaks of the sin of Adam and Eve and all that has happened since then, it has never suggested that they are the ones responsible for our sinful and or foolish acts. In fact the Bible makes it quite clear that we don't die for someone else sins, we die for our own. Adam and Eve aren't the problem and neither are your parents or your neighborhood,or that fish, you are. And you are the one who has to decide how your going to handle things. You can continue to blame others for your life problems or you can suck it up, take responsibility for yourself and then do something about it.
Let me give you an example and I will use myself. I bought a van that has lead to us leaving Arkansas. Some things were good about that and other things were bad. Technically speaking I could put the blame elsewhere and some would argue that I would be justified in that, however even while blindly going into this thing, I made a choice and that choice had consequences, unseen and unknown at the time,but still there were consequences and the responsibility is mine to deal with, not someone else. It's not my mothers fault, nor the neighborhoods fault because it couldn't see what was coming and it's not the fishes fault either. The choice was made by me so therefore the responsibility of my actions also reside with me.
None of this is new, just look at Genesis and the proverbial fall of man, and you can see that everyone is passing the buck as to who is to blame, when the truth is is that they are both to blame for their own mistakes.
The point of this is that we need to get beyond this and start taking the responsibility for our own actions and teach our children the same. We need to stop blaming others for our problems based on nothing more then their religion, color or sexual orientation.We need to put an end to this blame others for everything mentality that has invaded our society and get back to personal responsibility. We should be responsible for ourselves and we should only ever have to hold ourselves accountable to G-D, because in a society where we accept our own responsibility for our mistakes , that is all that will be needed.
Shalom,
Ignacio
The argument usually goes something like this, "it wasn't my fault" it was my husband,wife, children or neighbors fault, the devil made me do it or , at least in one case , it was the snakes fault so why should I have to pay the price for my mistake, forgetting of course that you had to make a conscious decision to do something in the first place. It's never our faults for anything, it's society or our up bringing or our neighborhood or government. Sometimes ,admittedly, that's not far from the truth, however not everything can be blamed for our mistakes, at some point you have to take a hard look in the mirror and understand that you play a large role in this as well.
Of course passing the blame to others can become real easy to do when your world starts to collapse around you and things that you thought were fairly secure come apart at the seams. It becomes real easy to point the finger at anyone or anything other then yourself for the problems and the mistakes in our lives, much easier to have a talk show mentality and blame every thing on your mothers uncles second cousins brother in laws pet fish rather then taking the responsibility, after all this is generally what we in our great society teach.
Society says that it's not our fault for....pick your thing, instead it's the fault of our parents, our schools, our religion or even the a fore mentioned fish, but never is the blame affixed where it truly belongs; on ourselves. A Fine example; if I choose to smoke is it the tobaccos companies fault? Certainly they have done lots of advertising to get my attention but when it boils right down to it, I am the one who is responsible for putting the cigarette in my mouth and smoking it. They may have provided the material but I did the action. If I choose to live a promiscuous life style and sleep around who bears the responsibility of an unwanted STD or pregnancy? Is it society? Or should we again blame it on the parenting or the proverbial fish? Or is it my fault?
Our mainstream religions are at fault for this as well. We are taught the idea of "original sin" through Adam and Eve, and tell us that we can't help but be sinful because we are born with that tendency, leaving out the idea of freewill. So what that boils down to is that we are little more then robots with no real choices in life other then to do evil continuously. I reject that notion. While the Bible certainly speaks of the sin of Adam and Eve and all that has happened since then, it has never suggested that they are the ones responsible for our sinful and or foolish acts. In fact the Bible makes it quite clear that we don't die for someone else sins, we die for our own. Adam and Eve aren't the problem and neither are your parents or your neighborhood,or that fish, you are. And you are the one who has to decide how your going to handle things. You can continue to blame others for your life problems or you can suck it up, take responsibility for yourself and then do something about it.
Let me give you an example and I will use myself. I bought a van that has lead to us leaving Arkansas. Some things were good about that and other things were bad. Technically speaking I could put the blame elsewhere and some would argue that I would be justified in that, however even while blindly going into this thing, I made a choice and that choice had consequences, unseen and unknown at the time,but still there were consequences and the responsibility is mine to deal with, not someone else. It's not my mothers fault, nor the neighborhoods fault because it couldn't see what was coming and it's not the fishes fault either. The choice was made by me so therefore the responsibility of my actions also reside with me.
None of this is new, just look at Genesis and the proverbial fall of man, and you can see that everyone is passing the buck as to who is to blame, when the truth is is that they are both to blame for their own mistakes.
The point of this is that we need to get beyond this and start taking the responsibility for our own actions and teach our children the same. We need to stop blaming others for our problems based on nothing more then their religion, color or sexual orientation.We need to put an end to this blame others for everything mentality that has invaded our society and get back to personal responsibility. We should be responsible for ourselves and we should only ever have to hold ourselves accountable to G-D, because in a society where we accept our own responsibility for our mistakes , that is all that will be needed.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tolerance and Acceptance
Tolerance and acceptance, two words that I have never been terribly happy with. Their base meanings are good but in the last 20 years or so they seemed to have changed into something political which went something to this effect; I will tolerate what you believe to be true and accept you but you, on the other hand, don't have to accept or tolerate me if my views are not politically correct or doesn't meet with your accepted point of view.
In the past , and even still today, I could really care less if I am politically correct but I would like to think that I have become at least a bit more tolerant of opposing views and beliefs and have accepted many things that years ago I wouldn't even have dreamed of. The thing that is actually troubling to me are those who would claim that they are tolerant and accepting of people and opinions and yet what they say or do differs from reality. Let me give you an example.
My wife and I along with our children have recently moved back to New England after a rather troubling and intolerant time in the south west, living amongst people who would not accept us because we were Yankees and because we did not follow Christianity and I had publicly said so. Worse were those that had once called us friends, abandoning us even while claiming the love of their "god" for us.
Fast forward to our time here. Since our arrival here we have been reunited with many of our old friends including those who are of a Christian persuasion and I can tell you it has been wonderful. No one has been floored by our beliefs in Judaism and if any one has been critical it certainly hasn't been said to our faces and it has been a breath of fresh air.In fact even while discussing the things that we saw differently, we were doing it while eating burgers and our kids were playing together. There was no condemnation it was a simple matter of we see things differently and that's OK. This is what I call tolerance and acceptance.
While I have been very critical of Christianity and it's views, I have also come to discover that not all I have been told about Judaism is entirely accurate either.
Most of my contact with the Jewish community has been via the internet and usually with those of the Orthodox community, so imagine my surprise to find out that not all of what I have been told is entirely accurate. I had been told in the past that the only people who would ever be considered Jewish were either those born Jewish or who converted via an Orthodox conversion, that if you ever wanted to live in Israel that this was the only way that you would be accepted. I have puzzled over this for a long time, why would it be that they only way to be considered a real Jew was to convert to the Orthodox? There are Christians that are Israeli citizens as well as Arabs and Palestinians. There are those that are considered secular Jews as well as those from other Jewish communities,it made me quite confused and as a result my wife and I really wasn't sure just where we fit. It kind of reminded me of the Southern Baptists because unless you were one of them they really didn't consider you to be a christian and the only difference I could find between them and my baptist denomination was little more then wording. So while I was interested in conversion to Judaism we were concerned about what really seemed like an intolerant point of view.
Then this past Monday things changed.
Monday my wife and I met with Rabbi Robin at Temple Beth Jacob and it was a blessing. We walked in being nervous ( we have been blasted by Orthodox and Christians prior to this ) not really knowing what to expect and she immediately put us at ease.We were made to feel welcome and we had about an hour and a half of questions and answers. Turns out that they are a Reform Synagogue and that all the things that I had been told via the "friends" I had were from the ultra orthodox point of view and it was only their group who would not accept your conversion, if you so chose , and that many things were open for discussion that I had been told were not and that at least here in New England the various Jewish congregations all get along! Imagine my surprise. We left the meeting with Rabbi Robin feeling like we had finally found a place to be and to learn. Today we went to our first Torah study and again we were welcomed by all even though we are not Jewish as of yet,it was enough that we were there. Now that's tolerance and acceptance.
To all of our friends here in New England, no matter what it is that you believe, thank you for welcoming us back, and to Rabbi Robin thank you for welcoming us into the Synagogue, showing what true tolerance and acceptance is.
Shalom,
Ignacio
In the past , and even still today, I could really care less if I am politically correct but I would like to think that I have become at least a bit more tolerant of opposing views and beliefs and have accepted many things that years ago I wouldn't even have dreamed of. The thing that is actually troubling to me are those who would claim that they are tolerant and accepting of people and opinions and yet what they say or do differs from reality. Let me give you an example.
My wife and I along with our children have recently moved back to New England after a rather troubling and intolerant time in the south west, living amongst people who would not accept us because we were Yankees and because we did not follow Christianity and I had publicly said so. Worse were those that had once called us friends, abandoning us even while claiming the love of their "god" for us.
Fast forward to our time here. Since our arrival here we have been reunited with many of our old friends including those who are of a Christian persuasion and I can tell you it has been wonderful. No one has been floored by our beliefs in Judaism and if any one has been critical it certainly hasn't been said to our faces and it has been a breath of fresh air.In fact even while discussing the things that we saw differently, we were doing it while eating burgers and our kids were playing together. There was no condemnation it was a simple matter of we see things differently and that's OK. This is what I call tolerance and acceptance.
While I have been very critical of Christianity and it's views, I have also come to discover that not all I have been told about Judaism is entirely accurate either.
Most of my contact with the Jewish community has been via the internet and usually with those of the Orthodox community, so imagine my surprise to find out that not all of what I have been told is entirely accurate. I had been told in the past that the only people who would ever be considered Jewish were either those born Jewish or who converted via an Orthodox conversion, that if you ever wanted to live in Israel that this was the only way that you would be accepted. I have puzzled over this for a long time, why would it be that they only way to be considered a real Jew was to convert to the Orthodox? There are Christians that are Israeli citizens as well as Arabs and Palestinians. There are those that are considered secular Jews as well as those from other Jewish communities,it made me quite confused and as a result my wife and I really wasn't sure just where we fit. It kind of reminded me of the Southern Baptists because unless you were one of them they really didn't consider you to be a christian and the only difference I could find between them and my baptist denomination was little more then wording. So while I was interested in conversion to Judaism we were concerned about what really seemed like an intolerant point of view.
Then this past Monday things changed.
Monday my wife and I met with Rabbi Robin at Temple Beth Jacob and it was a blessing. We walked in being nervous ( we have been blasted by Orthodox and Christians prior to this ) not really knowing what to expect and she immediately put us at ease.We were made to feel welcome and we had about an hour and a half of questions and answers. Turns out that they are a Reform Synagogue and that all the things that I had been told via the "friends" I had were from the ultra orthodox point of view and it was only their group who would not accept your conversion, if you so chose , and that many things were open for discussion that I had been told were not and that at least here in New England the various Jewish congregations all get along! Imagine my surprise. We left the meeting with Rabbi Robin feeling like we had finally found a place to be and to learn. Today we went to our first Torah study and again we were welcomed by all even though we are not Jewish as of yet,it was enough that we were there. Now that's tolerance and acceptance.
To all of our friends here in New England, no matter what it is that you believe, thank you for welcoming us back, and to Rabbi Robin thank you for welcoming us into the Synagogue, showing what true tolerance and acceptance is.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Surplus Population
I am not known for my "liberal"thinking. In fact most anybody who knows me would , perhaps, label me as conservative. That , Of course, is no more accurate then the liberal label, but still I think most would at least consider me to be somewhat to the right when it comes to politics and religion. I am a firm believer in the constitution and our G-D given rights as expressed by the founders and I am a firm believer in the Jewish bible and of G-D. I think however that this is just about where my conservative side ends.
Lately I have been listening to a growing sound coming out of a lot of prominent conservatives on both the radio and through various news sources and all of them seem to be blaming the woes of the economy on all the "entitlement programs" and those of us who are poor enough to, at times,have to use them, and I find this trend to be a bit troubling.
I agree that there are many people who take advantage of the situation and just leech off the state even though they are physically able to actually work,but I have also witnessed those who desperately needed the help get turned down because , at least in one case,they had $7 too much in the bank. I personally know of the struggles that come from living on such a low income. I receive nothing more then VA benefits and while the cost of everything has gone up, my pay has not in 3 years. This really isn't about me though, nor is it about those who receive various assistance programs, it's about those who make an incredible amount of money being critical of those who don't and, quite frankly, looking at the wrong place to put the blame.
Now let me state for the record, that I have no problem with people making decent money on their skills and talents. If you can make big bucks doing what you do, I am happy for you. If you can enjoy the finer things in life because of your skills ,great, but I would also say to you that you should take the time to get to know some of these people that you are so critical of.
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", is one of my all time favorite movies and I think that there are many parts of it that are very relevant for today. When the ghost of Marley arrives, in the course of the conversation, Scrooge tells Marley that he had always been a good man of business and Marley's reply is perhaps the most condemning of our world today," Business! Business?! Mankind should have been my business!" He goes on to explain to Scrooge that because he never did anything to help anyone in the world that he was now condemned to walk the earth for eternity and see all the misery and be able to do nothing about it. The Ghost of Christmas Past has ignorance and want hidden under his cloak in the form of children and tells Scrooge that these belong to all men and to be ware of them both because if things stay as they are they spell the doom of all of mankind. Bob Cratchet was a hard working man by all accounts, yet he had a very sick son and he would die if nothing changed.The point being that you should get to know who "the surplus population" is before you condemn them to conditions that you wouldn't willingly live in.
So who or what is really to blame for this mess? Is it the wealthy guys on the airwaves? Nope.Though I think they are looking in the wrong direction. Is it the military? Not really, at least not at the troop level. I do believe however that we could save a huge chunk of money by ending all of our wars and overseas bases and bringing everyone home but the average grunt is not the problem. How about the politicians? I would have to say at least partially, why only partially? Because the only power that they have comes from us, what we allow them to do, so that leads to my answer which is; you and me. Yes, we are the one's to blame.
Every two years "we the people" have an opportunity to vote out those who are corrupt and power hungry, those that refuse to do ,as we the people, tell them to but we don't. As a matter of fact if you ask the average American what is actually going on in politics and how it effects them they won't have an answer and yet when it comes time to vote they will vote simply on name recognition. Some politicians have become so powerful that no one even bothers to run against them. Is this the way that things are supposed to be in a Republic? No!What needs to happen is that everyone should educate them selves as to what is going on in their government and then vote them all out of office and then if that doesn't work , you recall them,which most states have the power to do, and fire them until you get people in office who are accountable to us and not to powerful lobbies.
Lest any of you think that I believe that government is the answer, let me end that in a hurry. We need a whole lot less government intruding in our lives and coming up with more and more insane laws and regulations and ways to spend our money. The paragraph before was simply to illustrate that if we do not fire the whole lot of them , and I do mean all from all parties, we will not get this monster under any kind of control. It will simply get worse.
The other half of this though is our own fault. We have become an instant gratification, social networking, isolationist types. By isolationist I mean that we don't really interact with people anymore. We "speak" to each other via various social networking sights and occasionally might run into someone we haven't seen in a long time at Wal-Mart but we really don't interact with each other the way that our parents and grandparents did.
I remember a day when you didn't have to lock your doors and your neighbors were practically your parents, because if they didn't whoop on your backside, they would make sure that your parents knew what you had done long before you got home and , at least on a few occasions getting it from all sides! The good part of all that though was that people knew each other and they knew who was poor and struggling and,as a community, whether it was a church or just a bunch of neighbors, they would gather up what ever was necessary to help. There was no need for all the government programs because people took care of each other as was intended by G-D.
Something has changed though over the years and now most people don't bother to even know their neighbors, never mind if they are hurting in any way, and because we are taught that we are supposed to be able to "keep up with the Jones" many of us hide the fact that we are struggling. The government, of course, not wanting to let a good opportunity for control go by, fills in the gap where the churches,synagogues and neighbors once stood. We have, as a society, essentially relinquished control of our lives to those who's joy of spending our money knows no end and shows no sign of stopping.
My solution to this is really simple and rather old fashioned. We need to get off the computer, put down our massively entertaining cell phones, shut off the TV and go out and get to know each other again as we once did. You want to see an end to ridiculous spending in DC? Help each other out and there will be little need for all the government programs, get back into your churches and synagogues and start programs to help the needy. Take food to the local food bank or shelters, almost anything that you can think of will help. The government won't ever give up it's programs but perhaps we can all share the burden and lessen the need for them. Help people get on their feet rather then leaving them dependent on anyone and you will have accomplished that which the government cannot.
End the wars and bring everyone home. You want to see a major savings? Just do that one thing and you will have accomplished your goal.
Of course the government itself could take a pay cut as well,seems to me that if there is so little money that seniors and veterans can't get a raise that they should have a major cut in pay until that issue is resolved.
So there you have it, just a few simple solutions that would make a world of difference, I realise that it's just a pipe dream, but when that's all you have left...dream away.
Shalom
Ignacio
Lately I have been listening to a growing sound coming out of a lot of prominent conservatives on both the radio and through various news sources and all of them seem to be blaming the woes of the economy on all the "entitlement programs" and those of us who are poor enough to, at times,have to use them, and I find this trend to be a bit troubling.
I agree that there are many people who take advantage of the situation and just leech off the state even though they are physically able to actually work,but I have also witnessed those who desperately needed the help get turned down because , at least in one case,they had $7 too much in the bank. I personally know of the struggles that come from living on such a low income. I receive nothing more then VA benefits and while the cost of everything has gone up, my pay has not in 3 years. This really isn't about me though, nor is it about those who receive various assistance programs, it's about those who make an incredible amount of money being critical of those who don't and, quite frankly, looking at the wrong place to put the blame.
Now let me state for the record, that I have no problem with people making decent money on their skills and talents. If you can make big bucks doing what you do, I am happy for you. If you can enjoy the finer things in life because of your skills ,great, but I would also say to you that you should take the time to get to know some of these people that you are so critical of.
Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", is one of my all time favorite movies and I think that there are many parts of it that are very relevant for today. When the ghost of Marley arrives, in the course of the conversation, Scrooge tells Marley that he had always been a good man of business and Marley's reply is perhaps the most condemning of our world today," Business! Business?! Mankind should have been my business!" He goes on to explain to Scrooge that because he never did anything to help anyone in the world that he was now condemned to walk the earth for eternity and see all the misery and be able to do nothing about it. The Ghost of Christmas Past has ignorance and want hidden under his cloak in the form of children and tells Scrooge that these belong to all men and to be ware of them both because if things stay as they are they spell the doom of all of mankind. Bob Cratchet was a hard working man by all accounts, yet he had a very sick son and he would die if nothing changed.The point being that you should get to know who "the surplus population" is before you condemn them to conditions that you wouldn't willingly live in.
So who or what is really to blame for this mess? Is it the wealthy guys on the airwaves? Nope.Though I think they are looking in the wrong direction. Is it the military? Not really, at least not at the troop level. I do believe however that we could save a huge chunk of money by ending all of our wars and overseas bases and bringing everyone home but the average grunt is not the problem. How about the politicians? I would have to say at least partially, why only partially? Because the only power that they have comes from us, what we allow them to do, so that leads to my answer which is; you and me. Yes, we are the one's to blame.
Every two years "we the people" have an opportunity to vote out those who are corrupt and power hungry, those that refuse to do ,as we the people, tell them to but we don't. As a matter of fact if you ask the average American what is actually going on in politics and how it effects them they won't have an answer and yet when it comes time to vote they will vote simply on name recognition. Some politicians have become so powerful that no one even bothers to run against them. Is this the way that things are supposed to be in a Republic? No!What needs to happen is that everyone should educate them selves as to what is going on in their government and then vote them all out of office and then if that doesn't work , you recall them,which most states have the power to do, and fire them until you get people in office who are accountable to us and not to powerful lobbies.
Lest any of you think that I believe that government is the answer, let me end that in a hurry. We need a whole lot less government intruding in our lives and coming up with more and more insane laws and regulations and ways to spend our money. The paragraph before was simply to illustrate that if we do not fire the whole lot of them , and I do mean all from all parties, we will not get this monster under any kind of control. It will simply get worse.
The other half of this though is our own fault. We have become an instant gratification, social networking, isolationist types. By isolationist I mean that we don't really interact with people anymore. We "speak" to each other via various social networking sights and occasionally might run into someone we haven't seen in a long time at Wal-Mart but we really don't interact with each other the way that our parents and grandparents did.
I remember a day when you didn't have to lock your doors and your neighbors were practically your parents, because if they didn't whoop on your backside, they would make sure that your parents knew what you had done long before you got home and , at least on a few occasions getting it from all sides! The good part of all that though was that people knew each other and they knew who was poor and struggling and,as a community, whether it was a church or just a bunch of neighbors, they would gather up what ever was necessary to help. There was no need for all the government programs because people took care of each other as was intended by G-D.
Something has changed though over the years and now most people don't bother to even know their neighbors, never mind if they are hurting in any way, and because we are taught that we are supposed to be able to "keep up with the Jones" many of us hide the fact that we are struggling. The government, of course, not wanting to let a good opportunity for control go by, fills in the gap where the churches,synagogues and neighbors once stood. We have, as a society, essentially relinquished control of our lives to those who's joy of spending our money knows no end and shows no sign of stopping.
My solution to this is really simple and rather old fashioned. We need to get off the computer, put down our massively entertaining cell phones, shut off the TV and go out and get to know each other again as we once did. You want to see an end to ridiculous spending in DC? Help each other out and there will be little need for all the government programs, get back into your churches and synagogues and start programs to help the needy. Take food to the local food bank or shelters, almost anything that you can think of will help. The government won't ever give up it's programs but perhaps we can all share the burden and lessen the need for them. Help people get on their feet rather then leaving them dependent on anyone and you will have accomplished that which the government cannot.
End the wars and bring everyone home. You want to see a major savings? Just do that one thing and you will have accomplished your goal.
Of course the government itself could take a pay cut as well,seems to me that if there is so little money that seniors and veterans can't get a raise that they should have a major cut in pay until that issue is resolved.
So there you have it, just a few simple solutions that would make a world of difference, I realise that it's just a pipe dream, but when that's all you have left...dream away.
Shalom
Ignacio
Friday, May 6, 2011
OBL And Mother Teresa
What a week it has been. Sunday night we were informed that OBL had finally been killed in a rather nasty 40 min fire fight with Navy SEALS and that ultimately he was killed in the course of that fight. Americans who heard this, I was sleeping when the president told the nation, went out into the streets to celebrate the death of this man and to basically flag wave and rejoice.
Then the story started falling apart. In fact the only thing that seems to be true in this whole story is that he is dead and even then they won't show the evidence to prove it, so many don't believe it's true. Personally I think it's true that he's dead, I just believe that it happened long before now and that his death has been put on hold for political reasons. I also believe that I don't really care. If him and his cave dwelling buddies were really the ones responsible for 9/11 then great, he's dead, and can we now move on to more important things? Such as calling it a win and bringing the troops home?
OBL can serve as an object lesson though to all of us. Here was a man that was, by all accounts, a very wealthy man, from a very powerful family in Saudi Arabia. He likely had every toy and whistle that any man could want. He was working for the US government in Afghanistan and so was likely receiving a goodly chunk of change from us as well. Something changed though.
He went from being our man, fighting the Soviets, to public enemy #1 all in a matter of moments.
We can debate as to whether or not he was actually involved or just a convinient target to point a finger at and we can debate the how why and when of his death but the one thing that can't be denied was that he went from rich and powerful to being quite dead.
Mother Teresa was just the opposite. She had nothing. No money. No power, no wealth to command and yet she took what little she had and she did some real good for the poor of India. She fed those that she could, clothed whom she could and took care of the sick. Yet in the end, humbly and just as poor as when she started her mission, she died.
Sadly, most people will remember OBL long after Mother Teresa has been forgotten because of all the evil he allegedly did and yet Mother Teresa is the one who deserves the remeberance more. His life was filled with violence and death and hers with healing and hope.
OBL dead? Good, lets move on to really note worthy people now and let him fade away into the dust of obscurity where he belongs.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Then the story started falling apart. In fact the only thing that seems to be true in this whole story is that he is dead and even then they won't show the evidence to prove it, so many don't believe it's true. Personally I think it's true that he's dead, I just believe that it happened long before now and that his death has been put on hold for political reasons. I also believe that I don't really care. If him and his cave dwelling buddies were really the ones responsible for 9/11 then great, he's dead, and can we now move on to more important things? Such as calling it a win and bringing the troops home?
OBL can serve as an object lesson though to all of us. Here was a man that was, by all accounts, a very wealthy man, from a very powerful family in Saudi Arabia. He likely had every toy and whistle that any man could want. He was working for the US government in Afghanistan and so was likely receiving a goodly chunk of change from us as well. Something changed though.
He went from being our man, fighting the Soviets, to public enemy #1 all in a matter of moments.
We can debate as to whether or not he was actually involved or just a convinient target to point a finger at and we can debate the how why and when of his death but the one thing that can't be denied was that he went from rich and powerful to being quite dead.
Mother Teresa was just the opposite. She had nothing. No money. No power, no wealth to command and yet she took what little she had and she did some real good for the poor of India. She fed those that she could, clothed whom she could and took care of the sick. Yet in the end, humbly and just as poor as when she started her mission, she died.
Sadly, most people will remember OBL long after Mother Teresa has been forgotten because of all the evil he allegedly did and yet Mother Teresa is the one who deserves the remeberance more. His life was filled with violence and death and hers with healing and hope.
OBL dead? Good, lets move on to really note worthy people now and let him fade away into the dust of obscurity where he belongs.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Why I left Christanity
Today I am going to be writing about how I came to leave Christianity and embrace Judaism and the one true G-D of Israel and the creator of the world.
One thing I should mention here I am not interested in “converting “you to what I believe. You may find that hard to believe because of what you are taught in Christianity about converting the world, but in Judaism they don’t believe that you need to be converted (I have not converted by the way) but only that you live as a righteous Gentile following the laws that G-D gave to Adam and to Noah, which are known as the Noachide laws, a subject for another day, and in keeping those you will have a place in the kingdom to come.
Another thought that came to me is that some of you seem very shocked that I have left Christianity. A few have suggested, rather strongly, that I am ‘godless’ or that I am following the father of lies. It finally hit me as to why. As Christians you are taught that if a person does not believe in the deity of Jesus then they are automatically placed in the camp of Satan by default, so my guess is that you couldn’t imagine that I would be anything else, other than a Christian, when I am acting and living my life in a G-Dly manner, quoting scripture and singing the praises of G-D. I think that it is very hard for you to compute and therefore the shock comes in.
So as I set out to write this, here is my challenge to you; be open minded. If you are reading this for the purpose of trying to find my mistakes or to try and convince me that you are right, then you miss the purpose of this writing. Some of you have asked and now I am answering.
You also must keep in mind two very important facts; the first being that I was a pastor and that I have been involved in Christianity, in various forms, most of my life. The second is that I never set out to disprove Christianity, in fact I was determined that I was going to prove that Christianity was right so I could present this to a few Jewish people that I had met. Obviously, my studies did just the opposite and as a result I have left Christianity in all its forms.
What started me on this road was a simple question that had come after a rather severe berating I had received from a Jewish man on my interpretation of something that Jesus had said, I don’t even remember what the issue was, but what I do remember is that I couldn’t understand why it was that they couldn’t seem to grasp that Jesus was the messiah and that he was their future king. This led me to ask the one simple question; why don’t the Jews believe in Jesus? This was my starting point. It made no sense to me that such a wonderful and intelligent people couldn’t grasp something as basic as that and so I started out to show them , if I could, just who he was and that they were wrong. I couldn’t accept the idea, as most Christians are taught, that the Jews were blinded to the truth because I had listened to too many Jewish Rabbis and people who knew the NT very well so it was not a matter of ignorance, there had to be another reason.
To set the stage for you, I had already left my position as a young adult pastor and camp director, not because I didn’t believe in Jesus, but because I had started to learn about messianic Judaism and I believed that this was the route that we should pursue. In all fairness it was probably, up until that time, one of the best things I ever did. The group that we belonged too did not believe in trying to convert people, especially the Jewish people, because they believed that the Jewish people already had the Torah (the law) and G-D. Our Rabbi was Jewish and through his teaching we embraced a combination of Jesus and Jewish ways, I wore the Kippah, Tzit Tzit, and the Tallit, by all external measure I had become Jewish but still with just that touch of Christianity. The reason that I believe that it was one of the best things to ever happen to me and my family ,was because it introduced us to Judaism and it started me on a study and love of the” Old Testament” and more of a love for the G-D of Israel as a result.
The first thing that I did was peruse the internet. There are many articles and excerpts from writings and books that were both for and against Jesus as being the messiah. I looked at some of the writers of the Jewish Talmud as well as some of the early church fathers and the one thing that I came to realize was that all of them had some sort of an agenda or, perhaps better put, a bias in one direction or the other and it was really hard to find someone who was neutral on the subject. Those that were neutral usually turned out to be atheists or serious skeptics of G-D or religion in general. So I decided on a completely different approach.
The first thing I did was decide how I would approach someone in the time of Jesus to convince them that Jesus was the messiah that they were looking for. I wouldn’t be able to use the NT because that was written well after the events so that left me with the option of just using the OT to prove the point. It makes perfect sense to do it this way when you consider that Jesus and his followers as well as John the Baptist would have only been able to base their views or opinions on their knowledge of the OT prophecies. So I used several different versions of the Bible, including KJV, NKJV, and NIV amongst others. I also used the Strongs/Vineyard concordance as well as a program that could show the words as they would have been written in the OT Hebrew and, with pens and lots of paper, I began to search.
The first thing that I started with was the word Messiah. Messiah is the English translation of the Greek word Christ which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Mashiyach which simply means “anointed one“. The word is used 98 times through the Bible with 86 of them appearing in the OT. Of those 37 apply to people such as kings and priests and one refers to a person in particular, that being Cyrus who eventually let the captives go back to Israel and rebuild the temple. Please see Strongs/ Vineyards #4899. Nowhere though is there any reference to the Messiah, or anointed one, as being anything more than human. A servant of G-D? Yes. A king yes, but nothing about him being G-D in any form.
I still wasn’t too rattled though because I figured that somewhere in the scriptures I would find something that would explain the idea of the messiah being G-D, I just had to dig a bit deeper. So dig I did. I started out by reading every scripture that I had ever heard even had the remotest reference to what the messiah was supposed to do or be. I read all the “suffering servant” passages, checked out words and entire phrases as they would have been written in Hebrew/Aramaic and came to the rather startling conclusion that there were no scriptures what so ever that even hinted that the messiah was going to be anything more than human, with the exceptions of the ones that clearly pointed to Israel doing the suffering, but there again we are not talking about Israel being G-D, just His servant. Well needless to say I was floored. I had always just kind of assumed that it was there hidden in the passages but it wasn’t. I even did the whole 300 proof texts thing only to discover that the vast majority of them could have applied to anything or anyone and the few that were left were either badly misquoted or were taken out of context and still none of them proved that the messiah was to be G-D. It simply was not there.
Let me remind you at this point that there was nothing more I would have liked any better than to have found some sort of solid proof the messiah was to be G-D. This discovery threw me for such a loop that for almost a year I did nothing more than mull over it and re read biblical passages just to make sure. I honestly couldn’t decide if what I had found, or in this case not found, was really all that important. It seemed to me that Christianity had done a lot of good for the world and if getting people to know G-D was through someone who everyone believed was G-D then who was I to say.
I decided at that point that what I would do then was find out what the scriptures did have to say about the messiah, because I thought that surely Jesus could at least have that role even if he wasn’t G-D. I started from the beginning again and came to realize that even in this manner he couldn’t have fulfilled the role as the messiah, because one of the things about the messiah is that he is to bring about an end to war and bring both a universal peace and knowledge of G-D and His laws, none of which Jesus accomplished. In fact Jesus himself said that he hadn’t come to bring peace but a sword, that alone would disqualify him and since his time there have been literally millions killed in his name, many of them Jews, who simply refused to convert. Israel is not the nation it once was and yet the messianic prophecies say that when he comes the nations of the world will come to Israel to seek forgiveness and for the knowledge of G-D and as of this writing this has not happened. In fact it is quite the opposite; the nations of the world are ganging up on Israel to do her more harm. Now I know that some of you are thinking to yourselves well he is going to accomplish all that during his second coming. The problem here is that there is no mention at all of any second coming nor is it even implied. Again a commonly held belief in the Christian world that’s not there.
This is usually about the time someone will say to me, well what about the blood sacrifices don’t they point to Jesus? If the sacrificial system was done away with and the temple destroyed how is it that they can have forgiveness without the shedding of blood?
First of all if you go back and do a careful reading of the sacrifices you will discover two things. One is that a blood sacrifice wasn’t always needed, especially for those that were poor. They had flour offerings as well as meal offerings, no blood necessary, and then the second thing is that when they did have an offering of animals, depending on the situation it could be a Dove, or a male or female sheep and or goats or a bull.
So what about the temple then, how does one receive forgiveness without the sacrifices and the temple?
Prayer. Simple answer isn’t it? G-D, through Solomon and Moses, foretold of a time when the temple would be gone, that they would not be able to do the sacrifices and that they would be in captivity because they turned from Him and went to other “gods”. What they told the people was simply this; when you go into captivity and you finally realize that you have sinned turn your heart back to me and seek my forgiveness. Solomon goes so far as to say that their prayers will be as the sacrifices of bulls. All through the prophets you have this theme emphasized that when they turn their hearts back to Him that He will forgive them and save them. It’s not through the sacrifices it’s through having a willing heart to turn back to Him. In one place it even says that He will bring them back to the land, then forgive them, then remove their Idols and place His laws back in their hearts where it will never be removed. Not because they deserve it but because He is their G-D and He loves them. In fact if you take the time to look at the OT prophets , you will find that it’s not just about the “wrath” of G-D but rather that there is much to be found as to His redeeming His people and bringing them back to Israel. I should also point out that it also is very clear that it will be all who worship G-D will be amongst those that G-D gathers not just the children of Israel. But here is a real shocker for you, in the end the third temple will be build according to the description given to Ezekiel and the sacrifices will resume. It also says that the nations of the world will keep at least some of the holy days of the Jews such as Sabbath, New Moon and the Feast of Tabernacles, it even goes so far as to tell you that the nation that doesn’t keep the Feast of Tabernacles will not receive any rain.
So the more I studied the more surprised I became because I was seeing things that I had never seen before and suddenly realized that it was I that was blind, not the Jews.
Other things kept showing up ,like G-D saying over and over again that He alone is G-D and besides Him there are no others, that He will not share His glory with another or the all-important, you shall have no other gods before me. Probably this one alone was the one that pushed me into a realization that worshipping anyone else other than G-D is Idolatry. The first commandment that He gave to the children of Israel was that they were to not have any other G-Ds before Him, in fact the reason that they were scattered into captivity and exile was because they broke that law over and over again.
There can only be one G-D and He has made that very clear.
Now at this point you have probably noticed that I haven’t given you much as far as biblical text goes. It’s not because they don’t exist, they do, and it’s that I want you to do the research for yourselves. Secondly though I could give you a good chunk of them but I would be wasting my time if you aren’t really interested in the truth of it all, and it has come to my attention, especially while I was a pastor, that most aren’t interested in the truth they just want it handed to them in a sermon. So if you are truly interested you will look for yourself and, I might add, I have only scratched the surface of what is to be discovered if you actually look.
I will however leave you with two texts to consider and my own prayer that you will look for yourself.
Jeremiah 16: 19-20 O LORD, my strength and my fortress My refuge in the day of affliction The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, “ Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things.” 20 Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods?
Zechariah 8:22-23 22 And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to entreat him.”
23 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”From here I don’t know what else I could say to you that would convince you of anything, and as I said in the beginning I’m not trying to convert you to my way of thinking or believing and, quite frankly, if believing that Jesus is somehow god will at least point you to the true G-D of Israel then who am I to stand in the way of what He is doing in your life.
The challenge I do give though is to read it and research it for yourself and then draw your own conclusions, with a heart for G-D and not the doctrines of man.
Shalom,
Ignacio
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