Bible Study 101
I go to bible study to various parishes in the area, trying to demystify the bible.
Although the spirit is the same, each parish is very different; One is wealthy elderly caucasian people.
Another is mostly black, Jamaican or other. Another seems lean and impoverished with working class.
So the experience is different each time, although the lessons are the same. It's like applying the
teachings to different worlds, like Paul talking to different ethnicities, in Roman and Greek regions.
Rich or poor, Christ made no distinction. People are people.
Today was a grassroots experience of strangers coming together for a guest speaker presentation of
the understanding of Christ's so called "suffering" and "sacrifice" and remission of "sins".
God is Great : ..God is good
Growing up Greek Catholic, we rarely read the bible, except for a passage during mass, either by the priest
or an elder from the parish, to which the priest responded proselytizing to the choir...
I've since realized that Greek Catholic is the blending of eastern and western catholicism, by way of
Byzantium from Constantinople, as the eastern Roman empire from the Vatican in Rome or western
Roman empire. Both were state religions, run by hierarchic popes and bishops in which the priests
became the intercessors between God and men, who were forced into confession and rewarded with holy
communion during ritual mass. It was reward and punishment. It seems more like the kingdom of the devil
than of God.
I've since learned the missing piece, and that is love, love of God, love of Christ, love thy neighbour
as thyself. Love beats the demon and the Pope smokes dope. Studying the bible helps me make sense of it all.
It's not what we are led to believe. Imagine coming to earth with a zillion stupid humans, who
behave like animals, and trying to teach them to care, be nice to one another, instead of the usual
pillage, killing and rape. Imagine you are one man trying to give the example of "You don't have
to live this way", you dumb animals. What would you do? What did Jesus do? And that is the whole point.
Jesus suffered the slings and arrows, like one of the least of his children, to show us we don't need
to cause so much suffering, if we only get our stupid heads out of our ass, and give up our willful egos.
"Do as thou wilt", as stated by a self-centered Aleister Crowley, is why we are in the mess we are today.
Lunatics and heretics were they, one and all, filled with self-entitlement in need of love of God.
.Let us thank Him for our food.
After sharing in the food of the spirit, the reveal was in the modest sharing of food and friendship with strangers.
And this in a rented classroom in a local highschool, like wandering sheep, grazing on greens.
Potluck parish, your reward is here on earth, a humbling experience..
dr. π (pi)
.
Although the spirit is the same, each parish is very different; One is wealthy elderly caucasian people.
Another is mostly black, Jamaican or other. Another seems lean and impoverished with working class.
So the experience is different each time, although the lessons are the same. It's like applying the
teachings to different worlds, like Paul talking to different ethnicities, in Roman and Greek regions.
Rich or poor, Christ made no distinction. People are people.
Today was a grassroots experience of strangers coming together for a guest speaker presentation of
the understanding of Christ's so called "suffering" and "sacrifice" and remission of "sins".
God is Great : ..God is good
Growing up Greek Catholic, we rarely read the bible, except for a passage during mass, either by the priest
or an elder from the parish, to which the priest responded proselytizing to the choir...
I've since realized that Greek Catholic is the blending of eastern and western catholicism, by way of
Byzantium from Constantinople, as the eastern Roman empire from the Vatican in Rome or western
Roman empire. Both were state religions, run by hierarchic popes and bishops in which the priests
became the intercessors between God and men, who were forced into confession and rewarded with holy
communion during ritual mass. It was reward and punishment. It seems more like the kingdom of the devil
than of God.
I've since learned the missing piece, and that is love, love of God, love of Christ, love thy neighbour
as thyself. Love beats the demon and the Pope smokes dope. Studying the bible helps me make sense of it all.
It's not what we are led to believe. Imagine coming to earth with a zillion stupid humans, who
behave like animals, and trying to teach them to care, be nice to one another, instead of the usual
pillage, killing and rape. Imagine you are one man trying to give the example of "You don't have
to live this way", you dumb animals. What would you do? What did Jesus do? And that is the whole point.
Jesus suffered the slings and arrows, like one of the least of his children, to show us we don't need
to cause so much suffering, if we only get our stupid heads out of our ass, and give up our willful egos.
"Do as thou wilt", as stated by a self-centered Aleister Crowley, is why we are in the mess we are today.
Lunatics and heretics were they, one and all, filled with self-entitlement in need of love of God.
.Let us thank Him for our food.
After sharing in the food of the spirit, the reveal was in the modest sharing of food and friendship with strangers.
And this in a rented classroom in a local highschool, like wandering sheep, grazing on greens.
Potluck parish, your reward is here on earth, a humbling experience..
dr. π (pi)
.