To me, Easter is about death and re-birth: the death of the old mundane and egocentric self followed by the birth of a new, divine and all-embracing self.

I agree, Easter is about the promise of resurrection. And not just the resurrection of the Christ but the potential for the Christ consciousness in all of us to resurrect.
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There's a deliberate reason why Easter day is always found during the time of year when the Sun is transiting the first sign of the Zodiac. Spring represents hope and rebirth.

Neo,

should those in teh Southern Hemisphere not celebrate Easter for 6 months then?

One of the things that happens when traditions start in one part of the world and then are transponsed to andother without careful thought is that the symbolism sometimes gets all screwed up.  Easter linking to SPring for example or Christmas to the coldest darkest time fo year.  May Pilgrims Progress could share what they do with this imagery in her neck of the woods where Easter is in the fall and Christmas in mid-summer.

I would celebrate Easter at both equinoxes: at the Northern Spring Equinox and the Southern Spring Equinox. And I would celebrate Christmas at both solstices. Four universal spiritual holidays, each of them celebrating death and re-birth, death and resurrection, or spiritual birth or re-birth.

Easter celebrates not only the resurrection of Christ, but similar to what Neo said, a reawakening and resurrection of life, of humanity. Easter Sunday is the symbolic day Christians have chosen to mark it,  but we should keep the hope and the sentiment alive all year long, and always strive  to nurture signs of life and hope.  Christ is here, his spirit is within us and around us.

I've thought the same thing Gord. As you say, Christmas is another case where the date was to coincide with the pagan holiday which marks the longest day of year. The 25th of December marks the rising of the Sun after 3 days in its lowest point. For our southern friends it would mark the 3 days after its highest point. Hmmmm... I guess the Christian holidays are not always geographically correct everywhere in the world.
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Another celebration, however, that doesn't mark the seasons is the Catholic event known as "The Assumption", which is recognized around mid August every year. At this time the Roman Catholic Churches teaches that the virgin Mary, having completed "the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory". This can easily be seen as the time of year when the constellation Virgo, the Virgin, appears to move into the glory of the Sun. This would be seen by both northern and southern view points.

Easter is about spring and spring equinox for me, hence why I celebrate it on March 20/21st. The rebirth of nature, and the horray and awakening that stirs in me. O! And muscle stiffness! Did some mighty raking and trail walking yesterday! Like coming out of hibernation!

If I lived in Australia, I would poo poo Easter in April, and celebrate it in September, when it is spring. LIkewise I would shift xmas/Yule to June, woe be to my parents and family!

Clearly, Easter is about neither.

Easter is about resurrection.  Life from death.

Grace and peace ot you.

John

Chocolate. Easter is about chocolate. And spring. But mostly chocolate.

Resurrection, rebirth, renewal. Themes ancient that resonate through Easter and its sister festivals of the season.

Mendalla

To be epistemologically meaningful, religions need to be verifiable in some way, that is, atl least in principle falsifiable.  If Jesus never kept His promise to rise from the dead, then He was just another deluded messianic pretender.  Paul himself experienced a life-changing resurrection appearance.  But he insists that if he and the other apostles are deluded and Christ did not literally rise from the dead, then the Christian faith is a falsified waste of time and Jesus provides no remedy whatsoever for our sin problem (1 Corinthians 15:17).   A fragment of a  very early pre-Pauline Aramaic liturgical creed is cited in Romans 1:3-4.  This creedal fragments implies that until the Resurrecion, the jory was out as to whether Jesus was truly "the Son of God."   ..Its key phrase: "...who through the Spirit of holiness in power was determioned to be (Greek: "horizo") the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (1:4)." 

Something else I thought about Easter--Easter is also the faith and hope in the end of brutality and the revival of empathy and compassion in people's hearts.

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

---------------------------------------

What scriptures is Paul refering to?

enjoy your weekend Kimmio.

---------------


7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
(John 16:7-15)

20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
(John 16: 20-33)

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
(John 17:1-5)



4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
(John 18:4-6)

Yes, Easter is about Life from death, but the symbolism of this event is clearly tied to the spring vernal equinox. Why else then would the council of Nicaea have made it a "movable feast", e.g. the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring?

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.(Matthew 26:28)
======================

1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a]
(Hebrews 8:1-5)

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:11-14)


16 In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
(Hebrews 9:16-28)

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these posts are some of what 'Easter is about'

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17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-28)

-----------------------------
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
(John 8:56-59)


--------------------------

Hmm.... I thought that post was about "cut and paste".

it can be, if thats all you let it be for yourself.,
i think we can find much of what 'Eatsre is about' by way of the teachings of Christ and the Apostles.
i think many feel the same.

stephenBoothoot -- please refrain from lost posts which are just texts.  

Easter is about rebirth. ....alone it is not much....for it is the journey to Easter, the Maundy Thursday, the Good Friday darkness....which takes us through that promise and joy.

For me, I missed the journey this year....first one in a long time that not following along, and well, it won't be the same tomorrow.  Yes, it will be filled with light & joy, and yes, I do need that.....and will love it...but, that surprise, that gift of new life won't be the safe.

now....having said that, there are a number of new babies in our family/friends....some born, some ready to be born..and so...that is an additional joy for us this year

Hi Neo,

Which is, if memory serves, not about chocolate, eggs and bunnies either.

I'm gathering that is because the Hebrew Calendar, which determines the date of the feast of Passover is based upon a Lunar Calendar.  The date of the vernal equinox is independant of the lunar cycle as it is dependant upon the earth's tipping back and forth upon its polar axis.

Which is why the vernal equinox is always March 20 and Easter can be as early as March 23 and as late as April 25.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Ha, ha. I guess I misunderstood what you meant by "either".

Cheers RevJohn,
Happy Easter.

From a European settlement prospective, Australia is relatively "young".

When I was a child a lot of us had at least one grandparent born in the Northern Hemisphere -so we tended to just carry on with celebrating in the European way.

I vividly remember sitting down to a traditional Christmas dinner -sweltering in 30+ degrees heat.

But, with the passing of time there have been changes that are more appropriate to the climate.

We now sit down to a cold Christmas dinner with turkey and ham -served with a variety of salads. (Some prefer seafood).

The traditional hot Christmas pudding has been replaced with either trifle or pavlova - so we are starting our own "tradition".

The last remnant of confusion seems to be seen in Christmas cards. I still get the odd Christmas card covered in snow.

To me, it's an indicator that the sender doesn't value me too highly - as the "snow scene" cards are usually the cheapest. 

What does Easter mean to me?

Many, many, things......

Lent is a time of reflection, a time of assessing my faith.

Good Friday is not good, from my perspective.

I don't attend Good Friday services.

To me, Jesus was assassinated - a political murder.

To attend such a service is akin to watching a death sentence being carried out by lethal injection.  Crucifixion is barbarous - and has nothing to do with Jesus's faith -which centred on love.

I just don't accept that Jesus did this for me. Atonement to me means what it says -at-one-ment. I just don't see unity depending on the death of another.........

Thus, Good Friday is a day of suffering. It is firstly the suffering -and initial guilt through fear for their own lives - of the disciples and followers of Jesus who loved him.

In a sense Good Friday is something akin to what we all feel when a loved one dies. We suffer a great sense of loss and pain.......

Easter Sunday is about resurrection.

Resurrection not of the body, but of the spirit.

This is seen in the disciples. The love they experienced in Jesus isn't lost - but is now seen in them. They, who onced fear their own death, are willing to die, as Jesus did, for their faith in the name of love.

I believe we all have some experience of this process.

When a loved one dies there is suffering, grief.

Then God attemps to lure us onto life, -  through, at first, the gift of hope.

If we can accept this gift of hope there will come a time when renewal, rebirth, being "born again" - whatever you choose to call it - will come to us through God's grace.

It is only when we are capable of experiencing the beauty of at-one-ment can we understand the message of Jesus - love God and love our neighbour.

Perhaps it's not always an easy task, but we who profess a faith, should view the resurrection as the resurrection of love  - the power that surpasses all other, IMO.

Pilgrim, I especially liked this: 

Then God attemps to lure us onto life, -  through, at first, the gift of hope.

Lent is especially significant to me.  Searching ourselves to give something up that is hurting us...fear is generally a good one!  And then taking up our cross...helping another we know,  with their burden.  I am not much into ritual, but this one is meaningful to me.

Easter is hope for humanity, to me.

This is only what the event appears like on the surface Pilgrims, but I'm sure you know that the symbology in what lies beneath the crucifixion story is much deeper and the most important part of it all. If there was a reason why human beings needed an external symbol, e.g. the 'assassination on the cross', then who are we to question why events happen as they do.

To me, the Crucifixion of the Christ is akin to The Great Renunciation of the Buddha. It was one those events in nature that finishes one cycle and begins another. It's no coincident that the cross has four arms as do the four seasons of a year. This is the reason, I believe, that lies behind the reason why Easter Day is chosen each year as it is.

The Sun and the Moon dance in the sky like our Father and Mother. Father spirit and mother matter are met together in the form of a human flower. Our daily life is for us, the self-conscious being with the mortal skins. While our solar year is but a day for the soul, the group-conscious Being with the body of light.

On the day of the Crucifixion the Christ renounced everything. All wordly possession, family, reputation and even his life were lain on the alter of self-sacrafice. On that day Christ become the Cosmic Christ, God Aware and One with the same.

Yes, Good Friday is a day suffering, like no other actually. But only because we still (dispoportionately) associate and relate too much to the personality, i.e. the physical, emotional and mental form aspects of our beings. This constant focus on this "daily life" aspect our being creates suffering. Maybe one day the world will become more attuned to the spiritual aspect of our being and days like Good Friday will become footnotes in history.

Unity comes from the at-one-ment of the personality and the soul, though the personality is the one that has to give and a-tune to the soul energy, anything else creates continued suffering.

One of the prophesies regarding the Reappearance of Christ is that more and more ordinary people will begin to talk and act like the great Teachers of the past. I see this everyday now.

I read once that the Christ energy in the world today acts like rain upon a parched land, both the good and the bad are stimulated by the energies of the Christ. I see this everyday too.

Yes, I see that too, Neo.

If Jesus  "renounced everything" on the cross then he renounced all his teacings. 

You remember the fairy stories that end… "and they all lived happily ever after"? 

Of course, that was only "true" in the sense that the values the story attempted to teach we believed to serve people well.  I used to wonder about the afterwards stories. 

The Jesus story ends differently… unless you cop out with the atonement nonsence… which sort of indicates that Jesus died so you get a free pass to heaven if you're silly enough to find eternal life attractive,

The Jesus story ends with "the end" NOT being "the end" at all… the tomb is empty.

There is NOTHING there except the cloths they wrapped him with. Instead, the empty tomb points directly back to Jesus' teachings.

And that reading is emphasised by the stories of the disciples' experiences afterwards… the breakfast on the beach and "feed my sheep" is a beautiful story… it points back to stuff like "love", "forgive", "judge not", "don't be afraid", the "kingdom' is within you", "the 'kingdom' is at hand!"… it is about sharing food and company and TIME… 

We don't "live happily ever after" and the world is burning with injustice because we don't get off our butts and LIVE outside the tomb.

If we do things out of fear of judgement or of not making the cut to spend eternity twanging a harp, we are off the Easter trolley: there is NOTHING in the tomb.

There is NOTHING on this Earth to be feared… not empires, not death, nor need: there is NOTHING to stop us loving or forgiving or "feeding god's sheep"… we have no impediment to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner or healing the sick… there is no need for us to judge and there is no reason for us to refrain from forgiving. The empty tomb set us free 2,000 years ago and too few of us seem to have done enough about it.  We've been told Jesus died to expunge our "sins"… but, hang on, we're forgiven … if we act out of love, we're not held to account in the first place. We should know, from experience not merely Jesus' teachings, that greed and mortal power and self-centredness don't fix anything or make anyone truly happy. If we had half the smarts we think we do, that would be well-established "life skills 101"  stuff. "Happy ever after" is ours only if we get on with the call to shaping the "kingdom" in our hearts.

Instead we keep Jesus on the cross and out of our faces — look at Dali's "Ascension": Jesus on a cross hurtling into space? (where did he get THAT idea?) — WHY is the cross THE symbol of Christianity? Are we still scared? Do we worship agonising death? Or are just idol-junkies.

I don't think we do or should worship the cross, and if that was ever in Jesus' teaching (rather than his incessant going on about LIFE), it's not stuff I have come to find in the Gospels.  The cross symbolises Rome — empire, oppression, violence, human judgement, materialism, consumerist "me first"-ism. It's all ephemeral junk. It has no true authority. Jesus offered a real dawn to end the nightmares we fill our head swith. 

LEAVE THE TOMB!

GET OVER IT!  

STOP the TOMB TALK!

LIVE THE DAWN! Get on with loving and with LIFE!

Maybe I'm terribly wrong. But that's how I have come to understand Jesus.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Found this quote tonight:

Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal.  It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown.  ~Author unknown, as quoted in the Lewiston Tribune

Just back from our Easter Sunday service - (time difference!) and noticed we had the reading from Mark........

As this is the first written gospel it happens to be the one I prefer. It ends with the women fleeing from the empty tomb in amazement and fear.

My NRS version of the Bible then has both a "The Shorter Ending Of Mark" - followed by "The Longer Ending of Mark".

 It's almost as if, at a later date, these other versions were added in keeping with the subsequent gospels.

But, what's wrong with leaving the disappearance of Jesus's body the mystery it surely was?

With this thought uppermost in my mind - we then went on to celebrate the eucharist - The Last Supper.

As I took the bread and the wine it seemed to me that Jesus was talking to his disciples in a symbolic way.

He didn't mean to take his body and his blood within them - but rather what he stood for.

Jesus stood for the love of God, love of neighbour -and the bringing about of God's Kingdom.

It is a simple request for us to continue his work - and by accepting this symbolic act we are agreeing to do so -aided by the strength within which comes to us (as it did Jesus). from God...........

Happy Easter, my Canuck friends!

Happy Easter, Oz! (How was it already?)

Mike...thank you for your Easter post...beautifully done.  Is there a chance you'll post it to Facebook so I can share?

MikePatterson, I think it would be relatively safe to say that Jesus "renounced everything" of the three lower worlds only, e.g. the physical, astral and lower mental worlds. His teachings represented the realms above our worlds of appearances.
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The Gospel story of Jesus was definitely not a fairy tale. The hero of the tale doesn't usually end up on cross with a sword stuck into his side. And the cross is a very old symbol, depicted in ancient India and ancient Egyption religions. It was not unique to Christianity and one could only hope that religions would not reach a point where they would ever "worship" such a graven image.
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The empty tomb is one of most intriguing parts of the whole story, suggesting that his renouncement of the three worlds culminated in his total transformation and resurrection of the three worlds. This part of the story suggests that the physical atoms of his body were literally replaced with finer sub-atomic matter of pure light. Could this "body of light" represent our overall goal in life here on earth, e.g. to spiritualize matter? to reflect heaven on earth? to manifest His Will on earth as it is in Heaven?
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I don't think you are wrong in believing the we need to "LEAVE THE TOMB". Life trumphs death. We need to go beyond just believing this and start living this. The belief in a new Kingdom manifesting on earth where there is "no more death" suggests to me that wo/mankind will reach a point of awareness where we come to see that death is not the end but rather just another state of awareness that we experience. We will physically still die, but since our focus would be on the eternal aspect of our being then it would be as if there is "no more death"

Oestre is aboot digging into my culture and other cultures, digging deep into the blood and filth of history, down to the loamy deeps, before Christianity was even born, back, back into the stone age...

there are treasures buried beneath, wonderful worthwhile treasures, despite what the various authorities have tried to keep you from exploring have said and done ("it's occultish", "witchery", "meaningless myths", "irrational", "impractible", "male dominated", "feminist"...and and and etc etc etc)

and there's no bottom...just more and more myth and story, story and myth, where you stop is up to you, the tools you use determine what you find and how you find it...

animals

the dawn

fertility

life

magick

King Jesus has died.

King Jesus is risen.

King Jesus will come again.

actually they are not 'just texts' so the answer to your question is no.

please refrain from trying to control what i include in my posts., if a few passages are fitting, i am free to do so. as are others, using , videos, songs, commentaries, poems, pictures.

if you dont understand how it relates to the OP or convo, thats you.

i will also mention the posts arent that long.  , if you dont want ot read them, dont.

thanks, i will appreciate if i dont have to discuss this issue with you again.

bye.

----------------------

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^[c] in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”(John 14:15-21)

Actually, StephenBooth, a link to the scripture passage is easily done.  I remember you in your previous incarnation, and, yes, that history carries with you.  Adding commentary or explaining why th scripture is relevant to you is what is requested, rather than just copying text of scripture.  Crap, we can all copy / paste.

i do wonder if i was alive hundreds of years agoi, how many times over i would have been beheaded or 'ran out of town', by such who speak much of 'love'.

so copy and paste, if i want to share in some passages i will, some like to also share in videos, commetaries, pictures, poems .

i think the words are expressed well and commentary by me is not necessary.

please, i dont want to have to discuss this again.

simply skip my posts if it is so bothersome to you.

i will be making a thread on such issues (it may not be as you might expect) as this soon, you will be able to knock yourself out then, until then, please, stop addressing me regarding posting some scripture, just skip my posts.

sometimes its easier just to post it all, somethimes, such ius doing the 'leg work' for others, or simply it is convienient , i know i dont read scriputres when i have to open a new window or link to them , i appreciate them being posted directly, those who are interested might read, those who are not may not.

lets let freedom ring in the hills of wc and let us decide for ourselves wether we appreciate scripture posted or not, i know some do, if you dont, please be considerate of others, just skip my posts if you find that necessary.

it seems people can posts nonsense or creative whatever in length or copy and paste commentaries.

later.

next time you comment to me regarding, im just going to let you know to leave me be. im a free man in a free country, if i want to post scriputre\, i will, there is nothing you or anyone can do about it as i do it in a considerate fashion, please strive to be considerate yourself, your opinion is not everyone elses, some people can benefit from   hearing the Gospels, if such pastes of the word can relate to  seeds, i hope some land on good ground.

maybe such would something that may take years to develop in someone , who knows? you?

the fact is before, i posted much less scriputre, mostly verses, now its mostly pssages, but as some at wc insisted the posting of scriputre is not the issue at all, well, i guess some will stick by that.

the big difference between then and now, imo, i strive to not carry on in arguements of circular nonsense resulting in many posts in many threads. Im now more accustomed to some of the shocking things that are done within some Christian communities, im not new to it.

bye pinga, dont feel you need to comment to me again on this issue. seriously, let people post in a way they enjoy.

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³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the LORD^[a];
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.^[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
   and all people will see it together.
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

 ⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”
   And I said, “What shall I cry?”

   “All people are like grass,
   and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
   Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:3-8)

Easter is about hope, rebirth, light, and all that is good.

It is about humans having a 2nd chance.

as I reflect on the exchange with StephenBooth, I would like to offer him my apologies, for I denied him that right, and also, was intolerant.

peace this Easter Sunday

no problem pinga, im aware of the 'scripture issues' at wc and i have some ideas of what is at the core issue, it seems to me that scriputre has been portrayed negatively here and it has been come sort of a rejected thing with some??, i think as well, part  of the issue is it also quickly and with ease takes away from some notions of theology that is in opposition to scriptures??, so, with some, it takes away from 'fun' maybe??, i think with some scripture interferes in what they would like Christianity to be, but isnt, as some try to force their will into it???

so in some ways, i inherited the issue and much grievance i think?

You totally misunderstand StephenBooth.   Your post shows that as you go to solution, before listening to the questions, or thinking / dialoguing.

apology accpeted.

your still getting a hug.

ps i dont consider conforming to your personal will as relating to any kind of '2nd chance'. pretty much the way i post now, is how i will always post. interestingly,  i have been on many sites, the only other site it was a issue on to my recollection is gretta vospers site, no surprise there. but i will say, i get a harder time about it here it seems.

you wrote:

"

Your post shows that as you go to solution, before listening to the questions, or thinking / dialoguing."

can you explain that please or did you just 'throw it out there?'

Easter is the most important season in the Christian year.  I love Easter.  For me it starts on Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras - the celebratory meal before Lent.  Then from Ash Wednesday through lent, I try to do something that is different from my usual routine.  This year I joined in a lenten study at my church.  I also got, quite unintentionally involved in an exercise here on the Cafe that now seems to involve re-reading much of the Bible - that will stretch much beyond lent - maybe til next lent.

Then Palm Sunday - I like it kept as Palm Sunday - a celebration, almost a forrunner to Easter - when people celebrated Jesus as king, waving and cheering - while Jesus symbolically rode a donkey to show his humility, to show that he came as a servant rather than a ruler.  

Maundy Thursday - I've already talked about that on another thread - sharing a meal with fellow believers, reinacting the final meal Jesus shared with his friends. 

Then Good Friday.  Pilgrim, unlike you I go to church on Good Friday.  But I don't go as a spectator watching an execution.  I go as a mourner, seeking to be in the company of others who also mourn the painful, senseless death of someone who was so filled with the love of God that the Spirit shone through him.  I feel the powers of darkness closing in.  I feel the defeat of goodness - the light going out as we symbolically snuff the candles.  I like that this is one of the few services we hold that doesn't involve fellowship, chatter, and refreshments before we leave.  Instead we leave in silence, with a nod or a squeeze of the hand to those closest to us. 

And that darkest hour makes the light shining over the hills on the opposite side of the river at sunrise, and the joy of Easter real and meaningful to me.   Death has not had the victory.  The Spirit lives.  Life has been affirmed.  Hope springs up among us.  We share the communion and remember that the risen Christ was made known in the breaking of bread.  Hallelujah!   And the music swells as the choir outdoes itself in joy and celebration.  

And we know once again, and again, and again in our darkest hours - we are not alone - the Risen Christ is with us - the Spirit dwells among us - and joy fills our hearts.  

That's what Easter means to me.   Hallelujah!  

In a previous life, you would have been a street preacher, shouting scripture and condemning everyone walking past to hell.  You're not a person we take seriously today, and in a different era, you would not have been important or influential enough to be jailed or assasinated.  I could, however, see you being laughed out of town.

If you doubt me, consider for a moment how many people have "converted" because of your rants.  You know that's an incredibly short list, if there is anyone on it at all.  You'll get agreement from AC33 and unsafe and others who have already gone off the Christian deep end, but you're no leader or influential figure.  The biggest impact you're making, is people are wearing out scroll wheels on their mice, trying to get past the reams of scripture you post.  Logitech thanks you.

cut - wrong thread

cut - wrong thread.

Stephen, I moved the scripture discussion to this thread: http://www.wondercafe.ca/discussion/relationships/seek-first-understand-then-be-understood

*chuckle* yeah, the worst thing that can happen to you in Canada is that you'll get strange looks

as opposed to some other places on Earth where, if you don't have the proper religion or even worship with in the exact right way, you can get maimed and killed

we've come a long way, bay-bee

i like the phil colins cover of 'Land of Confusion' the best :3

Let's get back to explaining what Easter is really about, shall we?

So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.(John 8:28)

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[a] 15} that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”^[b](John 3:14-15)

[ ⁶ Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

 ⁸ The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. Numbers 21:6-9) ]

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.(John 12:33)

Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.(John 18:32)

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⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”(Luke 24:44)