Easter people or Christmas people?

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I have enough concerns about Christianity. I don't want to join a whole new religion. I have faith but I am losing my religion ( kind of like the song by that name). I guess I have developed my own ever-changing theology over time. I've never embraced any theology as presented by a minister of any church that I've been to or been aware of, 100% - but I feel my faith still Christ centred.
 
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A proper religion will involve endogeneity ... the mystery "X" about where the "Y"s went in err! With the psyche nature of it ... it would definitely not be acceptable here with all the psyche complexes that expound themselves; not innately but with extraneous nature ... being a dark as the relations expressed between X and Y ... like XY=0 ... or even Y=1/X to allow the reciprocal on the the other side of reality for cloudy reflections.

These sometimes can be abstracted in the clouds ... that realists have trouble conceiving as part of virtual evaporation/condensation functions ... or even sublimation! It baffles the tyrants ... they tyrannize with forte alone ... not very benevolently either!

Expect certain levels and layers of fixation and institutional flat out zones ... we cannot drift beyond that ... that would be projectionism!
 
A proper religion will involve endogeneity ... the mystery "X" about where the "Y"s went in err! With the psyche nature of it ... it would definitely not be acceptable here with all the psyche complexes that expound themselves; not innately but with extraneous nature ... being a dark as the relations expressed between X and Y ... like XY=0 ... or even Y=1/X to allow the reciprocal on the the other side of reality for cloudy reflections.

These sometimes can be abstracted in the clouds ... that realists have trouble conceiving as part of virtual evaporation/condensation functions ... or even sublimation! It baffles the tyrants ... they tyrannize with forte alone ... not very benevolently either!

Expect certain levels and layers of fixation and institutional flat out zones ... we cannot drift beyond that ... that would be projectionism!
Didn’t Einstein also realize, and state that we can’t solve problems using the same thinking we used when we created them? It’s a problem with organized religion. It becomes a negative feedback loop. Easter is kind like of that.
 
Yes, Jesus conquered death. Why can't we, then, as Christians, be a "Christmas People"? Why harp on the violence and bloodshed story repeatedly? Why do people go to church to hear about that over and over again? Maybe that has had a negative impact on the ethos of the world over time. If it can always be Easter why can't it always be Christmas?

This presumes that it can only be either/or and not both/and.

While it is very common to hear Christians describe themselves as Easter People (emphasis on resurrection/reconciliation more than violence--that would be more of a Good Friday People thing). They are also Christmas people since Christianity puts a lot of stock in the doctrine of the Incarnation. And yes, we are a Good Friday and Pentecost people as well as Lenten people.

As one who has grown up listening to and now leading the people through the Holy Week experience that encompasses Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday the story is ultimately a love story and the proper focus is on God's action for the people of God.

The emphasis behind Easter people is that death does not have the last word and the authorities/powers that rely on death to force compliance are the grand losers of history.
 
Easter people .... those who pop up at a future time without a clue of learning from the past ... like easter bloomings!

Few see the deteriorative effects of the past on future goings on ... thus terminal conditions! At the end of the line a crossing point that fits like a T, or even a ┴ ... apolitical upset?

In short animation/life is crazy! This from the fixed position of an attribute on the pageboy!
 
This presumes that it can only be either/or and not both/and.

While it is very common to hear Christians describe themselves as Easter People (emphasis on resurrection/reconciliation more than violence--that would be more of a Good Friday People thing). They are also Christmas people since Christianity puts a lot of stock in the doctrine of the Incarnation. And yes, we are a Good Friday and Pentecost people as well as Lenten people.

As one who has grown up listening to and now leading the people through the Holy Week experience that encompasses Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday the story is ultimately a love story and the proper focus is on God's action for the people of God.

The emphasis behind Easter people is that death does not have the last word and the authorities/powers that rely on death to force compliance are the grand losers of history.
It just keeps happening over and over, like a bad cycle we never break out of.
 
Why not just the core message, the Golden Rule? Why the same stories over and over? Why do they need to be repeated over and over and over?

At any time while we acknowledge any Christian "traditions" real people are being killed unjustly. Lots of Fridays and every other days, even Christmas and Easter days, are not so good for too many on Earth.

People, Christians, have always chosen what they will focus on, in various sects at various times, on various councils. I'm just suggesting a different focal point might help. Easter and Christmas were at one time equally focused on. Currently, we have the Revelation people with outsized influence, choosing to place their focus on that part of the Bible - who are hell-bent on hurrying toward the end of this world, literally. There are people who are happy to see destruction because it means Jesus is returning - neglecting to admit to the human will factor in the destroying. Human will is involved in the direction we move as a human race. Why not counter it with a kinder focus, one of goodwill toward all - every Sunday?
 
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It just keeps happening over and over, like a bad cycle we never break out of.

Nor will we until we find another way.

The Kingdom of Heaven/God is lifted up as that other way.

The Christian Year is intentionally set up to have us revisit the teachings over and over again until they become integrated into who and what we are.

So far the success rate for that kind of integration is not 100%
 
Separating the core message from the core context changes the message.

Like the post driven into the round icon ... to define emotional context of one type in a whole spectrum of phi ... Φ. Could be nothing or something to describe nothing that my grandfather believed to be love (the absence of intellect)? In essence a ghost cloud ...

Some traditions describe it as Hidalgo ...
 
In my meta-understanding God is still God and the message is to love others and through doing so we love God. That's what's required of us in any context we find ourselves in, in the world. We don't need repetitive liturgy for that. We need to be free to go ahead and do it. As long as we're bound up in a world that does not allow the conditions for it, we can't do much, so we have to create the conditions for it. Prepare the ground, so to speak. And we do that with real world actions.
 
The message is a response. Without the context it is like listening to one half of a telephone conversation.

Sure you pick up a nugget or two, you have to guess at the application.
I think the message is the message. One doesn't even have to have a religion to get it. They just have to understand cause and consequence.

The problem I have is that it wasn't okay for Jesus to die in the manner he did, for the reasons he did. It should be a lesson in anti-violence. But it didn't take. In fact, at lots of points in time Christians have been extremely violent. The Revelation people have a violent vision as a pretext for a new world. But violence never gets us to a better place. It just brings death. I can't envision violence being the gateway to a better world.
 
I think the message is the message. One doesn't even have to have a religion to get it. They just have to understand cause and consequence.

The problem I have is that it wasn't okay for Jesus to die in the manner he did, for the reasons he did. It should be a lesson in anti-violence. But it didn't take. In fact, at lots of points in time Christians have been extremely violent. The Revelation people have a violent vision as a pretext for a new world. But violence never gets us to a better place. It just brings death. I can't envision violence being the gateway to a better world.
Was Jesus violent?
 
Was Jesus violent?
No. But those who killed him - are us. As long as we’re complicit in the types of systems that keep allowing violence we keep repeating Good Friday in order to get to Easter - it’s not just about our individual salvation, either. The whole world keeps going through Good Friday hoping for Easter. I feel that way about the church as an institution - it has never totally repented from its complicity. That includes but is not limited to colonialism. So, I wonder often if I really want to be part of the institution, or to just be me, exist as a Christian outside of organized religion, and be free of the trappings that come with it.

When Jesus died, nobody was necessarily hoping for Easter. Those who knew Jesus were in mourning. It came as a surprise. Since then, we were supposed to prevent more violence, by loving our neighbours and enemies. We haven’t done that in over 2000 years. And that’s where Christmas comes in. Practicing good will toward others, encouraging generosity, helps create a less violent world.
 
When I was a kid, just learning about Christianity, having not been raised in church by my parents. I was concerned because some of my friends went to church. My grandma said, “That’s okay. God just wants you to be a good to people.” Ultimately, she was correct, I believe. And, speaking of repetitiveness, I believe Christmas puts us into the habit of being good to people better than Easter does.
 
I think both have their merits.

Christmas celebrates light breaking through into the world and sacredness of birth..

Easter celebrates sacrifice for others (assuming you go for atonement theology) and overcoming evil and death.

Both, I think, worthy of celebration taken appropriately. Both images can, of course, be misappropriated and misused.
 
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