Time Changes Everything . . . .

On a discussion today in my World Religions class, my teacher was talking about the Muslim Jihad. He said that this term, in opposition to common beliefs to being "Holy War" is a term that means something else. The point that struck me is that it doesn't matter what is actually means. Time and actions change the meaning of symbols or words. So I want to talk about some symbols that have been changed overtime.

The most commonly known is the symbol of the swastika. After World War I when the Nazi party took power in Germany, Hitler who became Chancellor of Germany used the Swastika as the symbol for his Nazi Germany. So when someone hears the word swastika, they think of Hitler, Racism, Hate, Genocide, World War II. But in reality the symbol of the swastika is one of the most ancient religious symbols of life and good luck. Because of Hitler's actions, the swastika has turned into a symbol that symbolizes the exact opposite.

Another symbol that really hasn't changed in meaning, but has developed a meaning in ignorance is the Battle Flag of the Confederate States of America.

The Battle Flag of the Confederacy was the standard that was used while the Confederate Army was running to battle. It symbolized Southern Pride, Southern Aggression, and beliefs and ideals that the South was fighting for: an agrarian society dominated by the trade of black slaves.

This symbol is significant in modern times because it has become a symbol much like the swastika: a symbol of undying hate and atrocity. This Flag was adopted by peoples such as the Ku Klux Klan and other racist, hate groups. Southern Americans of the United States display this symbol of hate right next to the US Flag, they have it tattooed on their bodies, they wear it on shirts, display it on their trucks. But the whole time all they think it represents is southern pride. They forget to realize that it is a symbol of the hate that was displayed towards the Black citizens of the country, they fail to realize that if not for "The War of Northern Aggression" that Black Americans would still be enslaved in states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas today. This symbol is exactly the same as the swastika.

Another symbol that has changed it's meaning over time is the cross. Early civilizations and religions held the cross as a symbol of life, or the life elements: fire, water, earth, and air. As time passed, the cross became a mechanism of torture and death, as the Roman Empire used the cross to crucify as a form of execution. This fear inspired by the cross was only heightened by the execution of Jesus Christ. But, when the Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, the Cross became a symbol of hope and life again, hope of life through Jesus Christ. This symbol of the cross began as a more paganistic, and death symbol, but has had a positive change. Yes the cross was mistakenly represented in the crusades and became a symbol to be feared. But through the upward living of modern Christians, the cross has become a symbol of love, hope, life, and salvation.

I don't care that the meaning of jihad is really a struggle or to strive to overcome boundaries between the self and God. I refuse to acknowledge it as such. The main reason being, that since Islam was founded until now, the word "jihad" has been used as term for Holy War, for hate and intolerance of other religious beliefs, and as a method of throwing your problems on someone else.

Terrorists have used the word jihad to represent their reasoning for flying planes into buildings, for strapping bombs to the bodies of 4 year old children, for riding bicycles into roving army caravans. All so that they can claim to have eternal life for fighting a war for God. I don't buy it, and it gives a negative connotation to the whole religion of Islam. Jihad means Holy War, War against Non-Believers, Hate of White Christians, Intolerance of the Freedom of Belief held by everyman. Jihad to me, means Not-God.

Hinduism v. Christianity: Evolving or Set in Stone? Part III

Krishna or Jesus?

I want to begin by telling all I know of Krishna, the human carnation of the god Vishnu.

Krishna came about because the people that worshipped Vishnu needed help. So Vishnu changed into Krishna. This seems like no big deal, I mean, God did it right? Well, the thing with Krishna is that while Krishna was on earth, Vishnu ceased to exist as a God; there was no Vishnu while their was Krishna. And even though Vishnu had changed into Krishna, Krishna did not know he was the god Vishnu.

The reason why this is important is because it shows that Vishnu as a god was boxed in, his power had a definite limit, and he was not all knowing or eternal.

But Krishna did save people. He saved villages from marauding bands of evil men, from monsters, from natural disasters, and brought them peace. He married, had a wife, but also fought quite a bit. He was both peaceful and warlike. But the fact is that he did not know he was a Hindu god, and he did die. Although when he died he just turned back into Vishnu. Therefore, Krishna ceased to exist and Vishnu came back into existence.

Now I want to explain Jesus and his differences from Krishna.

Jesus came into existence because God had promised a way of redemption and salvation to our broken world. We are sinful creatures who strive to get as far away from God as we can through our sin. We are destined for Hell, and we deserve every bit of it. But God loves us, and birthed himself as a human in the form of Jesus the Christ.

Now this seems very much like the Vishnu/Krishna story, except for a few things. God never ceased to exist, he continually rules in heaven, so it was the case that he was two persons at the same time: God and Jesus. Jesus also knew that he was the Son of God, and the Son of Man, but also that he was one with God and God was one with him and that they were whole in one person through the Holy Spirit. God's power in this is what His power is continually, limitless. God is eternal, never stops existing, and is all-knowing and always present.

God is not boxed in, and we cannot box him in. He is the creator of all, and in Jesus Christ was tortured, died, went to hell, and was rebirthed from the grave all for our sake. He saved us from the grave and is forever and eternally our only door to heaven. He doesn't force us to acknowledge him as our savior and king, he gives us the choice. He loves us and is ever knocking at the doors of our heart. Three iron pegs held him aloft on the cross, as his blood washed down to the earth. God in three forms - God, Jesus, Holy Spirit - are waiting to enter our hearts and wash our sins away. All we have to do is allow Jesus into our hearts and admit we have sinned in the eyes of God and ask for his forgiveness and Holy Spirit to reign inside of us.

The different between Krishna and Jesus: Krishna is just a story.

Hinduism v. Christianity: Evolving or Set in Stone? Part II

I believe that there is so much involved in Hinduism that it is impossible to full comprehend, even for those practicing the religion. A Hindu Professor on a religious panel discussion here at Longwood in Fall of 2007 said, "Hinduism has so much in it. We have something for everyone, if you have it, and we don't, we will add it in just for you." To me that seems very wrong, how can you just decide to add something into your religion, without concern of doctrine and theology? But it seems like that is a common practice with Hinduism.

When talking to the honors student that is instructing my mythology class through the Hindu Myth portion, she herself being a Hindu practitioner, I found out that it is a common practice to mold Hinduism to suit your needs. There is a base for all Hindu beliefs. That base is Brahma (Ultimate Incarnation of the Most High God) then on top of him, is Krisha, Shiv, and Brahma (In a Lower Incarnation). Those gods, really just all originating from Ultimate Brahma, are the basis of all Hindu beliefs. After that you take whatever it is you need and throw it on top. So if you don't like something in the religion, you don't need to worry about it, it doesn't have to be a part of it for you.

But there is a problem with her theology that I found. We were discussion how new gods are popping up all over the place continuously. They come and go like fall leaves, she said. I asked her how this can be, how someone can just create a god, spur of the moment type thing. She replied saying that those of lower classes, without much education of the actual gods, just create their own gods to suit their needs. So if you have a plumbing problem, they would sort of create, let's say: "Pumbeoya - Goddess of the Waterways in our Sink." And then begin to pray to this "new god".

So the problem in her theology of the religion having a base and then build on top of it what you need is highly flawed. Because as she later put it, those of lower classes without education will not know about the base, so their creation of their own god or goddess is pagan worship, at least in my opinion. It seems like a lot of this could be seen as two priests sitting in a small dark room with a pencil and paper coming up with random names and little stories and feeding it to the people who will believe it. Of course I am sure that a lot of other faiths would view Christianity in much the same light.

All of this Hindu theology really doesn't make any sense at all for me. I get the point that it can be viewed as a very open, less controlling religion. That is very attractive to many people. But it is a religion without any consequences or punishments for those that break rules. The only thing that they have is karma. With karma, though, if you make a bad mistake, to fix it you just go and give money to the poor, or help your neighbor fix his roof. You can get out of trouble. There is nothing that will truly keep a practitioner accountable for what they do in life.

With Christianity, yes there is a book of laws, stories, lessons, wisdom literature, and revelations of the apocalypse that was written a few hundred years ago. But it is a living word, it is continuously changing. It is the Word of God given so his people may interpret his will. I will read a passage in Romans, and for whatever circumstance I am in it will shed light on what God may intend for me to do. Two weeks later, different situation, same passage, different intention for me from God. It is a living, changing word. Christianity is very much a relationship of love, faith, and trust in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood, had his body broken, so that we may join him in paradise for eternity, not come back to this hell hole as a beetle or a rat if we were bad.

That relationship that we have with Jesus is continuously changing. If we do wrong in Gods eyes, we have to repent or he will punish us much the same way a father will punish his son, or a mother her daughter. We will lose favor with him, not love, just his favor and his blessings. So we repent of our wrong doings to create a right relationship with our Father in Heaven. We are continuously tempted to do evil, to do wrong and become sinful in his eyes. That temptation and ability to repent for our wrongdoings it was defines our relationship, changing it in the different trials and tribulations that we as Christians go through in life. Non-Christians are broken, and it shows in their daily lives, they are broken and have holes in their lives that no matter what they try they are unable to fix. As Christians we are very much broken humans, but we are also made whole through the actions of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The differences between Hinduism and Christianity become more apparent. Hinduism is a religion based upon the whims of the practitioner, and Christianity is a religion that is a relationship built on the trust and faith of the salvation and grace granted to us by the sacrifice of God's only son, Jesus Christ.

One thing I find very interesting, is that many religions or mythologies have a Jesus figure. How are Jesus Christ and Krishna the same? I will address what I believe on that issue in my next post.

In Christ's Love,

Eric

Hinduism v. Christianity: Evolving or Set in Stone? Part I

So let's get started with then endeavour shall we? I would like to start by first addressing the issue of the Crusade; I feel like the Crusade is a major issue that non-Christians look at and view as something that Christians should have never done.

The First Crusade in 1095 AD began as a call from Emperor Alexius I Comnenus of the Byzantine Empire for Western Christians to rally and fight the invading Seljuk Turks, who were Muslims. Pope Urban II answered this call by having loyal Barons and Knights from France and Germany march out with their armies to help their Eastern Christian allies from being invaded. This is a just cause in Christianity, the protection of your neighbor and those weaker then you.

What happened then was not an act condoned by God at all. Like all humans, Christians are broken, and they quickly turned into their hate and greed, slaughtering Jews and Muslims alike for land and power. Not all of the Christians did this, many kept the sole purpose of alleviating the suffering and domination put on by the Seljuk Turks. In this regard, it is important for all people, Christians and Non-Christians a like to focus on the fact that we are all humans and we all make mistakes and give into our own selfish desires.

So the reason for the Crusade was to save fellow Christians from Muslim invaders and to save the Holy Land. When the Seljuk Turks captured the Holy Land they stopped Jewish and Christian travelers from going to their Holy Places and from partaking of the market of Jerusalem. So not only were the Muslims conquering and converting, but they were not allowing people to go to pray at the places they kept as Holy. When the Christians occupied Jerusalem, all holy places were left open and religious tolerance abounded in the Holy Land. That is one thing to keep in mind. Christians did good things, far more good things then bad things.

But you're wondering what is the deal with talking about the Crusades when I said I was going to talk about the differences between Christianity and Hinduism and whether or not Christianity has remained too static for it's own good. Well, my point here is to not only eliminate some basic ideas of Christian treachery, but to also prove that Christianity is by far not static. It is an ever developing religion, maybe not in terms of doctrine, but in terms of the relationship each and every Christian shares with God and Christ Jesus.

I myself find my religion continuously changing in my own life and in my heart. As I grow closer to God, my life changes and I have to adapt to the changes or face being lost. I have to rely on my God ever more fully, and in that reliance I find the evolution in my religion. Christianity is not just a religion, it really is a relationship. Each relationship that is held by the believer creates a different Christianity then the next you will find. So what I am trying to say is that Christianity is not set in stone, just the ideal to which we hope to achieve, a loving and lasting relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I will write again soon, next to begin the discovery of how truly different Hinduism and Christianity are.

In Christ's Love,

Eric

Hinduism v. Christianity: Evolving or Set in Stone? Introduction

I am in a English class at Longwood called Genre Studies Mythology. For the main part of fall semester we have studied Greek Myth, since Greek myth seems to be the basis of most mythology, or can at the very least show general rules of mythology. But the later part of the semester has been devoted to studying mythology of a different culture, this semesters class is devoting a month to studying Hindu Mythology.

What I find though, is that the mythology of India is the basis of their Hindu religion. The myths are the religious stories and epics. So there are generally a few things I've been fighting to understand. One is separating my religious feelings from my scholarly ones.

What made that really hard today was when a guy in my class pointedly said "It seems like Hinduism is a religion of present day expectations. It is continuously evolving and suits the needs of the modern religious advocates. It is very different and in my opinion more profitable to be apart of then Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. Those religions are more set in stone because there is a book that sets all the rules and tells you who to worship. It's like worshipping a dead religion, or speaking a dead language. Hinduism seems like a fun alternative to that."

As you could probably tell if you've read any of my other posts, I love my relationship with Christ, so I was a little miffed at this guy calling my chosen faith a dead faith. Then I remembered that I am blessed because I do know the truth, Jesus Christ is my truth and my life. I quickly calmed the emotions that were about to erupt out of my mouth and quietly thanked him for his opinion. Not that I thanked him out loud, but by quietly I meant in my heart. Because he gave me his opinion, I was able to learn to center myself and rely on God to help me control myself . . . which if you ask anyone that knows me is rare for me to do. I almost always open my mouth without restraint.

So I am going to dedicate my next few posts to studying the differences between Christianity and Hinduism; I am going to dive straight in and show more for my own self, how Hinduism is a false religion and that Christianity is an ever evolving religion. I guess I just needed to pour myself onto my blog before I started this. It's always better do studies with a level head and a calm mind.

I hope you are looking forward to joining me.

Christian Persecution

A girl in my World Religions class today, while the teacher was talking about the Jewish persecutions and how it has defined them as a nation, asked about the Christian persecution by the Romans. The teacher shrugged off the question by saying that he was talking about Modern Day Jewish persecution. I would like to address her question, though I know she'll never read this.

The first Christian to be persecuted by John the Baptist. Even though Christianity did not really take off until about 50 years after the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, John the Baptist led the first early Christian movement. For his "disobedience" to the Roman Caesar's rule and his alternative teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducee's, he was imprisoned and then executed.

The next in line for persecution was Jesus Christ. For his alternate teachings from the Pharisees he was imprisoned, beaten almost to death, and then crucified.

The years following his Resurrection hundreds upon hundreds of Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire. A Christian's first obligation is to God and the Savior. The Romans did not like that, so they began to ban Christianity, and torture, enslave, and execute Christians. A few of the many ways they did this was through flogging, crucifixion, gladiatorial combat, and lion chow. One of my personal favorites to bring to peoples attention is that Emperor Nero would take a Christian, cover them in pitch, put them in cages, and light them on fire to be lights at his parties. Pretty disturbing.

Now on to a more present day outlook at Christianity. In China, with their more rigid governance of religion, school rooms of children have been gunned down for being at Sunday school, men and women have been executed for their unregulated and underground practice of Christianity. In Saudi Arabia, every religion but Islam is banned. Underground churches have been discovered, and every person taken captive, tortured, beaten, and gunned down because they were Christians. Christian missionaries have been shot on site in Saudi Arabia. Much like this has taken place in India, Africa, and other nations around the world.

So to shrug off a student's question by saying he was talking about modern day Jewish persecution, well I think it was wrong because there are Christians being persecuted even as I am writing this.

Prayer

Prayer is so important in life. I fear that I do not pray enough, so I am thinking that I may take up a prayer position with r4cu this next semester. I think that charging myself with praying and helping others pray will ultimately lead me to a more successful and healthier prayer life.

"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer"- 1 Timothy 2:8

Prayer is our hope, it is the gift God gave us so that we may have hope, and faith, and a way to talk to him. I don't think that most of us use our opportunity to pray like we should. I pray, that I may start to pray.

Where Your Heart Belongs

I recently was listening to my iTunes play list and I came upon the song "Where Your Heart Belongs" by Mainstay. It really stuck with me and through some searching for pictures, I made a slideshowe for the song that I think is fitting.

Reach-Thrive-Unify

REACH

• Matthew 14:30-31 Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

• Psalm 18:16-17 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

• Acts 17: 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.The Lord God has reached out to us when we were falling. When we cried out for help, he reached down from on high to save us. He did all of this so that we may reach out to him, and so that we may reach out to others like he has reached out for us.

THRIVE

• Jeremiah 29:4-7 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

• Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.The Lord God has set us apart from the others nations of the world. As we were not made for this world, God would still have us live here, spread his word, and thrive in this world through him. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, died on a cross so that we may thrive in this world in the promise of living on in the next. The Lord has done all of this so that we may show others how to thrive in this world and receive the promise of everlasting life in heaven.

UNIFY

• Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!"

• John 17:23 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

• Ephesians 4:3-4 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.The Lord God has made us brothers and sisters so that together we can announce to the world the greatness and magnificence that is our Lord and Savior. Christ died so that we may all be united together as his church, and so that all of us together could receive his inheritance.

GOD has given us a mission through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. Our mission is to REACH out to him and seek his face and his salvation, and to THRIVE in his Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross so that we may have our sins washed away and UNIFY as the Body of Christ and his church and bring him glory throughout all the earth.