3 days and 3 nights

It was probably 10 years ago when I was plagued with a question that I asked everyone I saw (including pastors and theologians). The questions was this, "If Jesus died on a Friday how can you reconcile the fact that Jesus said 'Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so must the Son of Man be in the heart of the Earth.'" No one that I asked at that time had a satisfactory answer for me. The responses were either that Jesus was speaking figuratively, or else you had to do some fancy way of counting partial days and forget about the nights.

A year or so after I first had the question, someone pointed out to me that in John it is noted that Jesus died the day before a "Special Sabbath" and not on the 6th day of the week. Now, there was some hope for me to be able to reconcile this seeming inconsistency. Naturally, my next question was, "Why does the church so dogmatically say that He died on a Friday then?"

It wasn't until I started attending a Messianic congregation that I was finally able to see how the Christendom has made a lot of things fit the stories that it wants to tell. Well-meaning believers swallow the stories without checking out the facts. The Scriptures never say that "Palm Sunday" happened on the first day of the week. The "Last Supper" was not eaten as depicted in the paintings and did not happen on a Thursday. Jesus death could not have been on a Friday if we take His words literally. The time of the resurrection was during Passover, not set according to the vernal equinox (as is the case with Easter). Yet, if someone who is just reading the Bible points out these inconsistencies, he/she is labeled as a trouble-maker or as someone who is trying to stomp on tradition. I think tradition is fine if it does not contradict with Scripture.

It seems to me that remembering Jesus death and resurrection at the time of Passover is a logical thing to do. Why not actually be reminded that Jesus is the Passover Lamb? Why not eat the Passover meal? Why not use the Biblical calendar rather than a pagan calendar to remember His death and resurrection? Instead, the church has decided to remember a day based on the cycle of the sun rather than the moon , serve up an Easter ham rather than lamb, and promote a fictitious bunny who brings children candy in eggs that represent the goddess of fertility...I am confused.

Bumper Sticker Inspiration

My neighbor's car has a bumper sticker that says, "The meaning of life is to live it." This has made me think. Usually bumper sticker messages are read and then forgotten, but this is a simplistically profound statement. Sometimes we over-think our existence. Don't get me wrong, I believe God has designed us with purpose and each person has tremendous value. I just think that we are sometimes putting too much focus on doing something grand or accomplishing the "one thing" you have been placed on the Earth to do. We forget that our value is not in "doing," rather our value is intrinsic to who we are as human beings. A flower is not any more beautiful because it was in the White House. It is beautiful because it is beautiful. We are not made more valuable by what we do. The Scriptures say that those who have been redeemed by Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) are children of God. By faith we can know that by living our lives to the glory of God, even in the little things, our purpose is being fulfilled.

Experience or Watch

Here is the question of the day: "Do you live life or observe life?" I must admit that my tendency is to observe rather than to be "living in the moment." The funny thing is that I have now observed myself observing. It seems safer. If we watch, we don't have to take as many risks. The problem is that observing is not as rewarding as engaging. Sometimes we can "seemingly engage," but just be going through the motions. I want to live life to the fullest and experience full joy. What about you?

Daylight Saving Time

For some reason I have been especially impacted by the change to DST this year. It could have something to do with the fact that I stayed up way too late on Saturday night/Sunday morning, but nevertheless, I feel the loss of that hour. I still don't understand why we change our time. Does it have something to do with the fact that we wish we could be like God and make time stand still? Probably not. The true reason is probably as ridiculous. People taut it as energy savings, but in today's world our schedules do not hinge that much upon daylight hours (well, maybe a little bit). Manufacturing and shopping happens around the clock. People work and play 24 hours a day. Back before working to a clock, people adjusted their day according to the position of the sun. Ok, maybe it is a silly thing to get worked up about, but the whole concept seems rather silly to me.
If we don't like the fact that it is dark at 10pm, then maybe we should just move our clocks 5 hours ahead and it would be light at 10 pm all year long.

I just saw that a new study shows that implementing DST can actually affect health. Check it out