Punishment Paid in Full

PUN’ISHMENT, n. Any pain or suffering inflicted on a person for a crime or offense, by the authority to which the offender is subject, either by the constitution of God or of civil society. The punishment of the faults and offenses of children by the parent, is by … Webster 1828 Dictionary of American English

The New Race of Man . . .

Born of God – I am fully human with a divine nature. I know the will of God. I am the will of God. My identity does not come from sexual transmission, but from God’s seed which is incorruptible.

The Last Reformation . . .

Watch, learn, & do. . .

 

Of Primary Importance . . .

We rank the importance of things relative to our own place in life. Where we are, what we’re doing, who we’re with, etc., all impact how we rank things in order of their perceived importance.

At the intersection of Lennon, Henley, etc.

This past week I went through an amazing experience of learning for myself how I make a big deal out of everything. If I feel like I have a lot of things to do, my usual response is giving even the smallest things too much energy. I stress over the dumbest stuff. My mind just doesn’t shut down and take a break from what it’s doing which is thinking, processing, scheming, hiding and having these mental crashes of unrelated thoughts at the intersection of any place and any time. I mean what do you do when John Lennon meets Don Henley and memories of lost opportunities to reconcile a relationship? You create your own version of Imagine, There’s no Hotel California.

You know, not everything can be that important and yet my psyche wants to treat even the smallest issue as though it has the status of nuclear science. At 65 I’m learning how to re-evaluate my mental landscape. What I valued at one time no longer holds it draw on me. Things I once thought irrelevant now seem valuable. It seems like I am constantly having to challenge one thing after the other in determining what is and what is not a big deal.

Except for one thing.

There are times when I can compare the speed of thoughts crashing into each other like driving on the German Autobahn. The traffic is relentless with its claims of importance, and yet most of them if not, on some days, all of them, are no big deal.

Except for one thing.

The apostle Paul said there is one thing of primary importance. He said, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” -1 Corinthians 15:3

At the Intersection of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, & Islam

Relax, this is not a thesis. I want to make a simple point.

Jesus is a lead character in every one of the major world religions. In Islam, he is a prophet on par with Moses and Abraham. The Buddhist regard him as a mystical teacher who reached a level of superior consciousness like the modern gurus. Judaism regards Jesus as someone who may have played a role in God’s plan to usher in a Messianic Age, but nothing more.  Christianity clings to Jesus as Savior of mankind, the second person of the Trinity. He is the God/Man who lived, was crucified, buried and raised from the dead.

The photo above of the Arab Bus Station with the view of Golgotha in the background above is a perfect illustration of how Jesus is at the intersect of these main religions. The station is across the street from Damascus Gate on Jerusalem’s north side. Golgotha or Calvary, the scene of the crucifixion of Jesus is right there along one of the area’s main roads.

With the exception of Buddhism, all the other three monotheistic religions intersect at this place. “So what”, you may ask. What’s significant here, is that all three have some claim to the man Jesus bar Joseph, the Christ of God. Teacher, prophet, Savior, guru, God.

At the end of the day, nothing really matters except for how it ended. At the end of my life, nothing will really matter, except for how it ended. If at the end of all things, we do not walk in sobriety and fervent love for one another, then nothing matters at all.

Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae saying they were reconciled to God by  Christ’s physical body. The very physical body of this man, Jesus, reconciled us to God. His death, burial and resurrection took place in 30 AD in the very neighborhood of this bus station along a main thoroughfare through Israel.

A perfect example of how the very one thing of primary importance is hidden right in front of our eyes. Only Jesus lived, died and was raised from the dead to create a new race of people.

What will you do with that?

What will I do with that?.