Jesus, Jews & Islam

This past Sunday was Easter, probably the most significant holy day/celebration for Christians. The Thursday before that was Passover, a significant holy day for Jews, though not as important to them as Easter is to Christians. About this time every year, I often find myself thinking about two things:

(1) I wish the Christian church would pay a little more attention to Passover. After all, that’s what the Last Supper was – the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover Supper. While Passover is technically about the Israelites (Jews) escaping slavery in Egypt, the Christian church ought to be able to do something with the related themes of freedom, freedom from slavery, freedom from tyranny. Granted, most Christians (certainly the American ones) know the “Ten Commandments” story. But rarely is the connection ever made overtly between the night that the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews when the Angel took all the firstborns, and Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. It bothers me sometimes that so many Christians ignore the fact that while Christ was on Earth as a mortal man, Jesus of Nazareth, he was Jewish; or that a lot of Christians don’t even know that the Last Supper was a Passover celebration. You would think that at least the modern Christian church would embrace or cherish Judaism a little more, for that was how Jesus lived (and doesn’t the Church often say he was setting an example for how to live?).

(2) Though I don’t hear it much anymore, there have been plenty of times in the past when I’ve heard or read about people blaming Jews for Jesus’ death, and saying they hate Jews because Jews are responsible Jesus’ death. Hello?!?? Sometimes I want to reach up and slap these people up-side their heads. Excuse me, but that was the whole point – Jesus of Nazareth had to die in order to be Resurrected. If He didn’t die, how could He sacrifice Himself for our sins? If Jesus of Nazareth had lived a normal life, and died of accident or natural causes when older, there wouldn’t be a Christian religion. He may not have even been remembered at all, though he may have made enough of an impression to still be in holy books (see (3) below). If you think about it, Christians ought to celebrate/thank those who were responsible for Jesus’ death, not castigate them, because for Christians they were acting in accordance to God’s will. And, oh by the way, it was the Romans who imprisoned and executed Jesus – but they don’t make a convenient scapegoat since they aren’t around anymore.

(3) And before you go tar-papering Islam and Muslims, take a good look at the Koran, their version of the Bible. If you haven’t read it, you’d be amazed at what it says about Jesus of Nazareth – large portions of the sections about Jesus would be familiar to any Christian and sound like the Bible. What many Christians don’t realize is that within the Koran, Jesus of Nazareth is revered – as a prophet, not the Son of God or the Messiah or the Christ, but still, revered.

Am I bashing Christians a bit today? Yeah; I think the official/formal Christian church, created by man, not God, is flawed, biased, predjudicial, close-minded, mean-spirited in some respects, inflammatory, power-mongering, etc., etc. Which is not to say that I don’t think the Christian church has some wonderful aspects (charity, for one), too, especially in the modern era.

Recorder, please

I need a mind recorder. Not a voice recorder, but a mind recorder. During my daily commutes I often spend a lot of time just thinking and musing about various things that would make great blog entries, but when I get home or into work I get involved or distracted by things and never get around to writing up the blogs. I also spend a lot of time writing stories in my head, or thinking about a fantasy world I’ve created for the background of some of my stories. But again, I never seem to find the time once I get home to actually “put pen to paper”, as the saying used to go (what is the equivalent in today’s world – “fingers on the keyboard”?).

Now usually I’m doing all this musing and “writing” silently in my head. Every once in a while, I’ll think about getting some sort of digital voice recorder, and I’ll try “writing” out loud. But that doesn’t work – speaking it out loud seems too slow, takes up too much of my thought process, lessens my creativity. When I “write” in my head, I’m usually thinking of more than one thing at once, or quickly jumping back and forth between tangents and the main story. But when I try speaking out loud, I can pretty much work on only one topic at a time. Is this making any sense? I’m not sure if I’m describing the situation well. And I’m sure the “distraction” of driving isn’t helping.

It is actually an established scientific fact that your brain can process someone speaking (hear it and comprehend it) faster than the speed of normal conversation. That’s what makes it so easy to fall asleep during lectures, speeches, etc – too much time for your mind to wander between words and sentences. And why in some commercials you can understand people even when it sounds liketheyaretalkinglikethis. Anyway, I think my feeling that “writing” out loud when I’m driving seems too slow, cumbersome and limiting is related to this brain functioning phenomenon. So, I need a mind recorder to keep up with and capture my thoughts.