The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible is not a well read book.... This book opens the readers' eyes to the reality that "All is vanity. What do people gain from all the labor at which they toil under the sun?"
In this contemporary climate of global mass job layoffs, home foreclosures and the ultimate destruction of global institutions the question remains open to "what do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?" In other words what I am implying to you dear reader is this: All the hardship and toil you have done to be successful has perhaps blown up in your face or that career you have tried to be successful at has not brought you to the place of contentment; it has probably brought you to a low grade level of disappointment. Whatever the circumstance life is alive and very unpredictable.
Perhaps the times are teaching us to look at our beliefs and what we hold to be true. I think that a social re-imagining has to take place and the older modes of thinking such as sexism, racism, gender preferences has to be destroyed; just to name a few..... The Book of Ecclesiastes addresses these questions and gives some thought provoking commentary that the reader must assess for themselves.
Before I depart let me leave you with Ecclesiastes 3: 9-15. I hope this will allow some reflection on your part to start!
What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.
THAT WHICH IS, ALREADY HAS BEEN; THAT WHICH IS TO BE, ALREADY IS; AND GOD SEEKS OUT WHAT HAS GONE BY.....
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, July 4, 2008
The meaning of Baptism
I am a recent graduate of Divinity School. When I consider the education I received, I wonder if I was educated or brainwashed? I studied the Old/New Testaments with the same diligence that a businessperson would study the WallStreet Journal; it has occurred to me that in reading the Old/New Testaments there is less emphasis on spiritual truths and more emphasis on social, economic, and political re-imagining than anything else..... In this blog I want a very enlightened conversation where persons will share their subjective facts in a wholesome way. I want to learn and hear diverse perspectives.... I will take verses from the Old/New Testaments and write about the meaning of Baptism in a social, economic, and political re-imagined way. It is my sincere hope that you the reading public will enjoy.Matthew 28:19: " Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost....."This verse is known as the "Great Commission" in which the resurrected Jesus has come back to his disciple. The disciples are astonished as it can imagined. They never experienced this situation before. The disciples never imagined that this man would not only come back to life from a harsh experience but come back and give orders for the disciples to follow. Sure, they viewed Jesus as a prophet: a person who takes on the persona of "God's mouthpiece" only to be killed, mutilated, and banished from the community's consciousness. Sure, they viewed Jesus as a priest: a person who is well versed in the rituals and ceremonies of the people. Many including the disciples respected Jesus but they did not believe in the rituals and ceremonies. This was not a failure on Jesus' part, but the failure fell at the feet of the religious parties at that time: the Right Wing Sadducees, the Left Wing Pharisees, and the Radical Left Wing Zealots to name a few. Their interpretation of the Mosaic Law was originally written to free the Jews who were incapacitated into bodies of dead hopes, aspirations, and dreams of re-imagined lives.... Sure, they viewed Jesus as a king: a political power that helped give the Jewish people an image of political power centered within the Mosaic Law in which the "old world of Pharaoh" would never raise its' bleak head again in their restructured and re-imagined world.This was the world of Jesus and the disciples... This was the world of which the Jews lived. But life is not linear; life is alive and dynamic!!! The New Testament opens with the birth of John the Baptist. His sole purpose was to start the re-imagined process of the ancient Jewish world's psyche. John reminded them of Moses; of Elijah; and the place where he started his ministry was the place where Yahweh God met the Jews: In the wilderness....The wilderness is essential for the baptism process to occur. Baptism is a process by which two entities come together and form a meaningful relationship that over time combines them together to form a single entity. Marriage and Baptism has the same forte and meaning. So here's my question: Why is it hard to make disciples of Jesus Christ in a presumed "Christian Nation?" I think the power of re-imagining is dead in the American Christian Protestant/Catholic Church. When Jesus gave the great commission I don't think Jesus wanted his disciples to conquer others for economic gains known as economic development or to decimate populations of people categorized as "other" because their gods were different from the Jews. Jesus gave the great commission to his disciples to inform peoples in the future about another story; an alternative story when the current social orders would turn their systematic backs towards them. This was the great commission...What do you think...
Posted by Friend of the People at 5:27 PM 0 comments
The meaning of Baptism
I am a recent graduate of Divinity School. When I consider the education I received, I wonder if I was educated or brainwashed? I studied the Old/New Testaments with the same diligence that a businessperson would study the WallStreet Journal; it has occurred to me that in reading the Old/New Testaments there is less emphasis on spiritual truths and more emphasis on social, economic, and political re-imagining than anything else..... In this blog I want a very enlightened conversation where persons will share their subjective facts in a wholesome way. I want to learn and hear diverse perspectives.... I will take verses from the Old/New Testaments and write about the meaning of Baptism in a social, economic, and political re-imagined way. It is my sincere hope that you the reading public will enjoy.Matthew 28:19: " Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost....."This verse is known as the "Great Commission" in which the resurrected Jesus has come back to his disciple. The disciples are astonished as it can imagined. They never experienced this situation before. The disciples never imagined that this man would not only come back to life from a harsh experience but come back and give orders for the disciples to follow. Sure, they viewed Jesus as a prophet: a person who takes on the persona of "God's mouthpiece" only to be killed, mutilated, and banished from the community's consciousness. Sure, they viewed Jesus as a priest: a person who is well versed in the rituals and ceremonies of the people. Many including the disciples respected Jesus but they did not believe in the rituals and ceremonies. This was not a failure on Jesus' part, but the failure fell at the feet of the religious parties at that time: the Right Wing Sadducees, the Left Wing Pharisees, and the Radical Left Wing Zealots to name a few. Their interpretation of the Mosaic Law was originally written to free the Jews who were incapacitated into bodies of dead hopes, aspirations, and dreams of re-imagined lives.... Sure, they viewed Jesus as a king: a political power that helped give the Jewish people an image of political power centered within the Mosaic Law in which the "old world of Pharaoh" would never raise its' bleak head again in their restructured and re-imagined world.This was the world of Jesus and the disciples... This was the world of which the Jews lived. But life is not linear; life is alive and dynamic!!! The New Testament opens with the birth of John the Baptist. His sole purpose was to start the re-imagined process of the ancient Jewish world's psyche. John reminded them of Moses; of Elijah; and the place where he started his ministry was the place where Yahweh God met the Jews: In the wilderness....The wilderness is essential for the baptism process to occur. Baptism is a process by which two entities come together and form a meaningful relationship that over time combines them together to form a single entity. Marriage and Baptism has the same forte and meaning. So here's my question: Why is it hard to make disciples of Jesus Christ in a presumed "Christian Nation?" I think the power of re-imagining is dead in the American Christian Protestant/Catholic Church. When Jesus gave the great commission I don't think Jesus wanted his disciples to conquer others for economic gains known as economic development or to decimate populations of people categorized as "other" because their gods were different from the Jews. Jesus gave the great commission to his disciples to inform peoples in the future about another story; an alternative story when the current social orders would turn their systematic backs towards them. This was the great commission...What do you think...
Posted by Friend of the People at 5:27 PM 0 comments
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