Month: August 2019

I’m beginning to dislike the word ‘religion.’  Whenever I see the word ‘religion’ in an article, I think of all those religions of the world; Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc., as a choice one makes to accept, to believe in, and to follow those ways and means. Is choosing a religion the same as the choice of a Chrysler over a Buick, a Ford, Chevy or Volkswagen? A cup of coffee in the morning instead of hot tea or milk. What basis do we use when choosing which to follow? Do we have to accept one or the other? Or, nothing. Atheism is considered a religious belief.

So let’s start by looking at how Webster defines ‘religion.’

“Religion is:

• a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
• a body of beliefs and practices regarding the supernatural and the worship of one or more deities.
• the service and worship of God or the supernatural
• commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.

We don’t and can’t see the law of gravity, but we see its effects when a coin falls out of our pocket. We don’t see, taste, smell, feel or hear the air we breathe, yet it’s there. We don’t see the waves of sound moving from the lips of another to our ears, yet it happens, and we don’t feel it either. We don’t see the aroma of a rose bud reaching our nose. These sensations are invisible, but yet, they are just as real as these fingers of mine pushing on the keyboard. Are these sensations we don’t see just a system of religious attitudes?

Jesus was a real physical human being in a body like ours: two legs, two arms, eyes, ears, a nose as part of the head with hair, two lips, all together connected by a neck to the shoulders, chest, hips connected by bones, arteries, muscles to the knees and the same to the ankles and toes. He breathed, ate bread, and smelled the roses just like we do.  His seed was planted inside a woman’s egg to make a human, which grew as you did within your mother’s womb. He was born and given that first breath of air. After some thirty years of physically moving here and there upon this planet, He was whipped and hung on a cross, where He gasped and exhaled that last breath of air. His life-less physical body was wrapped as the custom was then, laid to rest and secured in a tomb.

But then that unseen dimension, the spiritual element intervened, and the spiritual Jesus entered that same dead body. The stone rolled away, and He walked and talked again on this physical earth. There are eye-witnesses to it. We have their testimony. We can read about it, just like we read about Thomas Edison and the invention of a light bulb. It’s historical. It was real. His life changed the world and people like us for the last 2000 years.

 

Christianity is more real than a system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The newest novel is finished, but not yet published. Yee Gads, to get something published nowadays is like walking , thumbing one’s way through ten-feet high bales of hay.  But anyway, it’s still one day at a time, one key punch after another and then the end comes with a big shout followed by a deep breath of relaxation. Yes, the title is: “Just a Matter of Time.” Subtitled: “Until the end of Time.”

We all rise to a world of technology advancing faster than a Nascar Corvette. Where will it take us five, ten, twenty years down the road, or even just two years. How will this technology of iPhones doing more than a desk-top computer of three years ago affect our communications, our social network (which used to be just extended families), and our daily work lives.  Huh? Think about it. That’s what Just a Matter of Time delves into. The daily lives of a family of four over three months.