I hope you will take time to read this: 

http://www.uupetaluma.org/sermons/sermonstonerolledaway.html

Trust me, it is not what you expect.  Read it and you will understand.

Kristi

That was awesome and uplifting.  It is so nice to know that not all Christian groups hate us for being us: Gay, Lesbian, Bi or Trans.  And it goes to show that God doesn't hate us, ether.

Janet

About 3 weeks ago I returned to attending Sunday morning services at the UU church here in San Mateo. Every service, at the start of the announcements, it is declared that the congregation is open to all regardless of age, sex/ual orientation, race, religious background, etc. But, I noticed they had added another quality sometime during my absence:

Gender Identity.

I like the UU's.

Interesting. While I think the way in which the writer was able to find acceptance and forgiveness within herself is beautiful, the premise she exerts about theology is completely wrong.


She says:
      "For the early Christian church, the identity of Jesus as the Messiah and his redemptive power were established by his sacrifice on the cross. There was no inherent need for a resurrection to establish or even validate the early Church's understanding of who Jesus was and what he came to do.

       It's true that in other places in the Bible the resurrection was used as evidence to prove the concept of eternal life, and the apostle Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth makes quite a big deal of it, but that element is all but missing from the accounts of the gospel writers. And you've got to cut Paul a little slack. I mean, when your followers are being thrown to lions and such, you'd like to offer them a little something in return, wouldn't you?"



Of course there was a need for a physical resurrection. That's the whole point of Christianity. Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead in body and spirit. There would be no point in following Him otherwise as there would have been nothing remarkable about Him.

As for the Gospels lacking the part about the Resurrection, um, what Gospels is she reading? All of them mention the Resurrection in some way. Perhaps Paul expounds upon it much more, but that's because the Gospels are telling the story of Jesus' life and not getting into theology.

The Resurrection is the foundation of Christianity. Without it He was just a prophet at best or crazy at worst. As I said elsewhere here, I don't like organized religion and don't subscribe to any particular dogma, but it's the miracle of the Resurrection that's at the heart of it for me. It might defy logic, but that's why it's called faith.

Just my two cents anyway.

Quote from: Starr on April 08, 2009, 11:49:40 AM
That's the whole point of Christianity.

I was raised Catholic, and it always seemed to me that the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule were what described the whole point. But, I might not had learned it properly.

Starr,

I completely agree with you about the resurrection being the central defining event in Christianity. 

I do, however, love the story she tells and her relating it to the stone being rolled away from the tomb.  That is powerful to me, and why I posted it.

Kristi

Quote from: Shades O'Grey on April 08, 2009, 12:03:47 PM
I was raised Catholic, and it always seemed to me that the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule were what described the whole point. But, I might not had learned it properly.

Those are important as guidelines by which we are supposed to live. They are not theological tenets though. They are something Jesus said to live by--teachings--not something on which faith is based.

Quote from: Kristi on April 08, 2009, 12:11:07 PM
Starr,

I completely agree with you about the resurrection being the central defining event in Christianity. 

I do, however, love the story she tells and her relating it to the stone being rolled away from the tomb.  That is powerful to me, and why I posted it.

Kristi

You're so right. It is a beautiful story and very meaningful. I didn't mean to sound like I was discounting that part. It's just been a long time since I've discussed a point of theology. I miss doing that, so I guess I jumped on that first. 

Before I could enfold Barry into my heart, I had to forgive him for all the darkness he carried, and the terrible things he contemplated and did.

Then I had to forgive myself for hating him.

For me, being accepted by those who knew Barry was in some part being forgiven for having lied to them.

I never truly understood Easter as forgiveness until now.

And I am sitting at my desk at work biting back the tears.

-Sandy

Not to split hairs, but I am on both sides of some of this, Easter and the Easter Mass are both historically a celebration of Christ's ressurection and coming into a new life after death.  This does not matter what is or is not in the Bible.  The date and the fact of the celebration are indeed man made.  The symbolism used by this writer is what I personally believe Easter should be about.  One of the symbols that I have been part of in my own faith's Easter celebration is a fire lit by flint and steel, one is rock that sparks, and the other iron which has never had life, but both cause a spark to drop on, and kindle a pile of tinder which is poetically, "the skeletal remains of once living plants" and the flame that comes is a symbol of life and light beginning anew.  I can and do know how to actually light a fire with flint and steel, and have done this for about 18 years at my church.

I too this year have found my transgendered nature to be a sort of ressurection in the way the writer of this artlcle has written it.  I lost a part of my fear this year, and opened a doorway that let me go out to the cemetary where several of my relative are buried as my female self.  It felt wonderful, and I did not feel ashamed of being in public as Vicky, I also went to a seashore area where my youngest sister's ashes were spread and felt a happy smile in wind and wave.  She was the only family member who knew "my horrible secret" for many years and had told me that I would become happy with being her sister and not a brother.  She had insisted that I be with her as Vicky on the night she actually died, and it seemed that she waited until I got ready as Vicky to make her final crossing with peace.

Whatever our differences, if we can see life, death, and even transness as having beauty, we really are not too far apart.