If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I just saw a snippet about Eastern Orthodox churches on the history channel. It stated that the Eastern churches tended to be more liberal in there theology. That there is no hell. After watching this snippet, it reminded me to write something on my blog. 
Side Note
Since I’ve been thinking about many different religions recently and different concepts and philosophical ideas, I just decided to bite the bullet and blog. I say ‘bite the bullet’ because writing on my personal blog is time consuming, at least mentally. Writing isn’t my favorite but I think it’s great and wise to do. I even tried to maintain a journal but that went no-where fast. So, I’ll be ~90% transparent on this website/blog. I’d be lying if I said I’m 100% transparent, nor is anyone 100% transparent online and if they are….they tend to be misunderstood too much and people easily lose the focus on being caring and nice. So, to avoid those issues and many more, I’m going to be ~90% transparent but you won’t notice any difference, even if you were a very close friend of mind, because I won’t lie about anything (at least not intentionally). I’ll just use this blog to share that ~90% of my life and keep that 10% for my future wife.
Back to topic, Is Christianity Man-Made Religion?:
When I decided to passionately pursue God, I looked at all the religions and Christianity made the most, out of them, logical sense to me. This was about 5 years ago. But, now I’m revisiting all religions and comparing them to Christianity again but thinking from even more concepts (atheistic).
Briefly read this. It basically states how Christianity’s message isn’t original (suppose-ably) and that there are at least 5 pre-Christ like figures. Krishna, dating back 3000BC. Horus 1200BC. Etc. Most rabbis and some preachers know that the Old Testament is extremely similar to Egyptian, Babylonian, and other non-jewish texts. When I say extremely similar, I think I read somewhere stating that Deuteronomy (5th book of the bible; in the Torah) is almost 80% similar to other texts within their culture.
Why is this a big deal to me? Well, simply because from an Atheist’ point of view, you could easily make a case for Man-Made Christianity. Easily, means Easily. Many well-known atheists don’t really take this shot because they tend to make a mockery of our faith. I’d say 80% of the atheists I’ve met, talked to, seen on T.V., watched on YouTube, read blogs of, etc, are all non trying to have a serious intellectual discussion. I can easily say, many Christians have been insensitive jerks, inconsiderate, and even mean on many occasions. So, they are equally to blame. But BOTH are guilty, not just the Jesus freaks.
Eastern Thought and Western Thought (in general)
Okay, with all that said. Eastern vs. Western thought is amazing. Westerns tend to try to make things black and white, where Eastern smears it all together. Easterns tend to be liberal. Westerns tend to be arrogant and branded as ‘know it all’s. For example: 2 thoughts, one event, one question. When does the bus get here? Westerns say ‘We expect it in 10 minutes’. Easterns say ‘When it gets here’. Is one right and one wrong? NO! Both are correct with different perspectives.
Many concepts in Scripture (OT and NT) are seen throughout Eastern religions but expressed differently. Does that make one correct and one not? ….I have no answer for this and the purpose of this post. To cause you to critically think.
If it’s all good and God is using different religions to reach different people. Why hell in Christianity? Why did Jesus die? Does that mean I can have my cake and eat it too? Why or why not?
THINK FRIENDS! That’s all….
If God is beyond our comprehension, or just even beyond our dimension, is there such a place where Truth and Error can blend? Can Good and Evil blend? Can opposites merge? I’m not saying Yin-Yang because they are fighting each other…..I’m saying Yin-Yang compliment each other in such a way, where it all smears and becomes gray….
What are your thoughts….please let me know ur current faith and then add your comment as well.
I’ve been very amused to the root history of America. Most Christians try to say we were founded by Christ and other Christians, I tend to hold the belief of a mix of beliefs/religions. Mix of protestant Christians, Jewish, Deists, Freemasons, and Atheists. Now, I can be completely wrong on this thesis but it seems to be the most balanced understanding of our Nation’s history. Christians try to lean toward the ‘christian’ foundations, Masons toward ‘freemasonry’ foundation, etc, every group seems to be tremendously biased in their findings, hinting at a collaboration of faiths/beliefs.
So, in this pursuit of to learning more about America/Masons/etc, I watched this amazing 21 part series and between 4:20-5:10 of this video it talks about the ‘Rosicrucian Order’ that is hinted at in the Library of Congress. Click Here, if the video doesn’t load
Picture of two vultures in the Library of Congress
This (below) is the picture/painting is on the ceiling of one of the walls in the Library of Congress. Those letters surrounding are in latin reciting scripture from the Psalms. Namely Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings“.
In the picture it has two vultures in the image, which is a total misunderstanding of the Scripture. At face value, we might say ‘Yea, it looks like an accurate depiction of Psalm 17:8‘ but if we lived during the time when this Psalm was written, we’d understand this scripture totally differently. Psalm 17 was written by King David. Specifically some believe it was when King Saul was chasing David, in hope of killing him (David). In Scripture, 1 Sam. 23:25-26, “David was hurrying to get away from Saul“.
So, David was running away, for his life, from King Saul and he cried out to God ”Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings“. What does ‘apple of the eye’ and ’shadow of Your wings’ mean? Of course, it’s a plea of some kind. A prayer for rescue and protection.
The Apple of the Eye
The ‘apple of the eye’ is the pupil in the eye. It’s known as an idiom for the soft-spot of the eye or the soft-spot of one’s being. Then Googling it, shows that the phrase ‘apple of the eye’ wasn’t first used till 885 A.D. by King Aelfred (the Great) of Wessex. So, this got me thinking, “What does the original Hebrew actually say; since ‘apple of the eye’ is the predominate phrase used in most of the translations of this passage?”
Now, looking at the actual hebrew, it causes more questions to arise. The deepest part=”me as the apple; 0380-strong’s dictionary #” and ”of the eye; 01323-strong’s dictionary #”=young daughter/women. Putting these two phrases together we get, “The deepest part of a young daughter/women”. Or could be “The deepest part of a village”. If it’s the deepest part of a women, that could connote one of two things (at least to my imagination): one, her heart, or two, her genitalia. If it’s the deepest part of a village, that could connote the capital or place that the village is surrounded by.
All three ideas have one common point that it conveys, that is, being centered around/purpose. Just like the Earth is centered around the Sun. If your married, your life is centered around your wife’s desires/heart. Our mandate after creation was to be ‘fruitful and multiply’. And the third idea is how all places work, the capital is the center of life for the area.
Shadow of Your Wings
Obviously by the painting, one might it’s simple to understand the meaning to ’shadow of Your wings’. Which would be assuming way too much.
The idea of shadow of Your wings comes from the original plans of God’s dwelling place with Moses. In Exodus Chapter 25, it lays out God’s idea for the Arc of the Testimony/Covenant. It states in Ex. 25:20 “The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat.” Cherubim are simply angels and their wings are pointing to each other.
It looks like this:
Arc of the Covenant
Now do you see why David said “Hide me in the shadow of Your wings”? The Arc of the Covenant is a symbol of God’s presence with the children of Israel. In Ex. 28:22 “There I [God] will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” So, what David is saying “Hide me in the midst of Your presence”.
Psalm 17:8 would read “[God] keep me in the center of Your heart’s desire; Hide me in the midst of Your presence.” This might sound like I’m stretching it but symbolism can’t easily be broken down into a systematic answer, unless one knows each and every aspect that the symbol could express. And I’m nothing close to a theologian nor do I know the vast depths of each symbol.
In Conclusion, I hope this debunks the simple myths people make up surrounding this Scripture but I hope this also causes you to dig deeper into the symbolism found in Scripture.
