Astronomy Lesson About Salvation

*NOTE TO THE READER* I know that my thoughts on life and religion are controversial but I do not write my words so as to cause dissension within the church or cause my fellow believers to stumble. I write to spur people to think critically about their beliefs and make them feel uncomfortable with where they are because that produces true beliefs instead of believing in tradition. I have never claimed to be right, nor do I think that I know everything about these topics, however I am willing to challenge what I have been taught in the past and am being taught in the present. That being said, I know that some people will disagree with me and I welcome different opinions and open dialogue; so there are only a few options for people that disagree with me. 1) You can choose not to read what I write or if you choose to read what I write 2) you can write a comment and I'll respond (this is good but much gets lost in translation because we can not "read" each others nonverbal cues) or 3) we can meet in person and discuss the different opinions. If you have gotten through this disclaimer and would still like to read on, please do, if not I encourage us to continue in our friendship and I hope that I have not caused to much distress. Now on the meat of my thoughts...

Today was the last day of the twelve days of Christmas which I do not know a lot about except for the five gold rings some geese laying, pipers piping, etc. Something interesting happens right in the middle of all of these Christmas days, we move into a new year and for many people they make resolutions that will most likely be broken within the first week. Generally people make resolutions to better themselves, "I resolve to be healthier" "I resolve to loose thirty pounds" "I resolve to be more studious" etc. It is funny that we are so egotistical in a time when we are spending so much time with others. This of coarse is counter-intuitive to what society, that is western society, tells us to be. This then translates into how we see the world and how we view our salvation, both within Christianity and other religious views.

We have a view of life in which we think of ourselves as more important than others and push our achievements into the lime light yet the Bible says to consider others better than our self. I wonder why we can read this and still think that our "salvation" is more important than that of another person's. Perhaps our view of "salvation" is seen more through tradition than through what it really means. Perhaps we are limiting YHWH by saying that he only "saves" the Christians and everyone else is screwed. Here comes the astronomy lesson: It is not God that revolves around us and our life, but rather we all revolve around God. We forget that we are not at the center of the cosmos, just as the Earth is not the center of the universe. It is hard for us to fathom the thought of the Earth being the center of the universe where the sun goes around us because we know that is not true, but it never used to be like that. The same is true about our salvation, and even about how we view YHWH, his purpose, our purpose and more.

I know that there will be people who read this and come away angry; I apologize for this as it is not my intention to anger anyone. There will be some that immediately look to find verses in their bible that goes against what I have said; this does not help in our discussion because those people already think that I am wrong and will no longer entertain any more ideas from me on the subject. Then there will be some that go away and ponder what I have said and will begin to think that perhaps there is more to know about what they "know"; I hope that this is the option that you take.

May you be humble enough to understand that you plural are just as important as you singular. I look forward to our dialogue!