When it comes to bitterness, here are two things you need to keep in mind:
First, it is contagious. You are a part of the body of Christ. So what happens to you, and in you, affects those you are connected to, both positively and negatively. The Bible says, 'If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it' (1 Corinthians 12:26 NIV). A snake bite doesn't just affect the body part that gets bitten; the venom spreads through the entire system. 'See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many' (Hebrews 12:15 NIV). Don't get upset and leave the church God has placed you in. You need them and they need you. By overcoming bitterness you spread God's blessing to others.
Secondly, it can be overcome. Here's how: (a) Acknowledge and admit it. (b) Don't rehearse it in your mind or recite it to others. (c) Repent and renounce any attitude that's not Christ-like. (d) Ask God to give you self-control, then submit to His leadership. (e) Don't infect others and don't let them infect you. (f) Without waiting for admissions or apologies, verbalise to yourself, God and a trusted friend, your decision to forgive all wrongs against you. 'Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you' (Ephesians 4:32 NIV). This will set you free to enjoy your relationship with God, yourself, and others. (g) Look for practical ways to 'be kind...[and] tenderhearted' toward those who hurt you (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV).
I get the day off today. I dropped the girls at school and it was nice to see them so excited that it is their last day before their Easter break. Two whole weeks off school. I love the school holidays these days. It is nice to not have the early morning rush in my home. It is nice to not have to make sure there is lunch food in the cupboards for two weeks. It is nice to not have to make sure that i am in the area to pick them up at 3:30 every day. It is just nice to have a break from our normal routine - i guess.
For the first time ever though - i am having an issue with the celebration of Easter. The T's kids have not been raised as Christians. I think their mother is a Buddhist - or something like that. I am not entirely sure but i know that they do not believe in God. I know this because they have announced this to me many times. Last weekend T's youngest announced to me that she knows Jesus is not real because there are no photos of him. My response to that was to just continue washing the dishes while i smiled at her and told her that there were no cameras two thousand years ago.
Easter has become a big deal to me. I do not waste money on chocolate or Easter eggs. My kids get enough of that junk all the time - i am not about to pay 10 bucks for the same junk that they eat all the time just because it is in the shape of an egg or a bunny. Easter is a big deal to me though because it is a celebration of Jesus dying for all of our sins. Lord knows i have my fair share of sin - so i am very grateful to him.
My issue with Easter this year is this;
How hypocritical is it for people who are not Christians and who do not believe in God to be celebrating Easter with their chocolate eggs and bunnies? The same child that looked at me and told me that there was no God or Jesus the other day - is excited about Easter and will spend her day filling her gob with Easter Eggs and chocolate. Part of the reason this child will do this is because the parent / s have acknowledged that God does exist by encouraging them to take part in a celebration of a huge part of the Christian faith - all for the sake of commercialism and fancily wrapped and over priced chocolate - while at the same time telling that child that God does not exist.
No wonder children in this country grow up so confused about their own belief system.
If you are raising a child and you are imposing your belief that there is no God on them, then why encourage them to acknowledge a Christian holiday? If you are going to teach your kids to celebrate Christian holidays then at least teach them to have an open mind regarding the Christian faith - and at the very minimum - at least keep the atheist opinions that you have imposed on them to themselves while they celebrate it.
I. Don't. Get. It. And that has kind of annoyed me this Easter.
I get on really well with the mother of T's children. Our multi cultural version of The Brady Bunch has come together wonderfully. We don't have any "ex" issues from either side. She actually warned him not long ago to don't stuff it up with me because she and the children like me so much. So i have to wonder if it annoys her that i tell the children that Jesus is real - as much as it annoys me that she tells them he is not.
It's complicated to even think about.
Now that i have let that out on here - i can go have a nice Easter break - while i bite my tongue and remind myself of just how innocent and impressionable 8 year olds are.
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6 comments:
Have a Happy Easter.
My mates proclaim themselves as atheists but to me it seems they aren't sure of what they themselves believe (or not believe).
Whenever they open their gobs to express their opinions about Christianity, I simply ignore them. On the other if I open my mouth to express my views on the subject, they get quickly annoyed. They look down me, as if they are superior but it doesn't worry me at all.
Happy Easter back to you Mr.
I have taken to asking people who tell me there is no Jesus or God what year it is. When they answer i ask them why they are counting the years since Christ if they do not believe in him.
For an 8 year old though - the camera answer stopped her talking and got her thinking. ;)
The time we celebrate Easter is also the same time of a pagan festival celebrating fertility etc, hence Easter eggs and bunnies.
Christianity took over many of the old rituals and festivities in order to get more people to convert to Christianity
Two celebrations and two "religions" for want of a better explanation.
One could argue that any confusion has been caused by the early Christians taking over other peoples celebrations instead of creating their own. Thats life.
I do not believe in religion, or god.
I believe in evolution...but I am still eating my easter eggs lol.
What old rituals and festivities did Christianity take over?
If you believe in evolution then explain why apes still exist. If the theory of evolution was fact and i was an ape - i would be feeling pretty ripped off right about now.
Enjoy those eggs. :)
Easter is not pagan, it is Christian.
MandM have a post and link to a podcast exposing this myth http://www.mandm.org.nz/2012/04/jesus-hot-cross-buns-easter-eggs-ishtar-and-constantine-is-easter-pagan-tim-mcgrew-says-no.html
"The time we celebrate Easter is also the same time of a pagan festival celebrating fertility etc, hence Easter eggs and bunnies.
Christianity took over many of the old rituals and festivities in order to get more people to convert to Christianity"
This is false the pagan link between easter and the pagan festival of “Eostur” comes from the writing of Bede a sixth century theologian. Bede notes that, the Christian Passover was celebrated during the month, which according to the anglo saxon culture is called, Eostur, it was named this because in previous times a festival to the goddess, Eostur had been held during this month, however these festivals had died out and so only the Christian ones remained.
All this tells us is that the Christian Passover in anglo saxon culture occurred in the same month as a previous pagan one did and because of the similarity in dates acquired the same name. Just as today we still call the seventh day of the week saturday when it once was a day dedicated to the roman good saturn.
The problem with claiming Easter was a Christian takeover of the pagan festival of Eostur, is twofold:
First, is that we know for a fact the Christian festival predated these observations by Bede by several centuries, early church writiers in the seventh century Ad for example refer to Christians celebrating a Christian version of the jewish Passover centuries before this in these writings it is already considered an esthablished Christian practise. Moreover in the late second century there was debate over the exact dates to celebrate it. Wether to celebrate the feast co-extensively with the Jewish Passover or wether it should fall on the weekend after this passover. The jewish Passover is of course older still and is mentioned in the book of Exodus which was written at least as far back as 600 BC.
So in fact Christians were celebrating the festival at this time at least 500 years earlier and the jews ( Christianity began as a sect of Judaism) centuries before this.
Second, the Christian festival was celebrated by Christian communities all over the roman empire, in the east and west and its only called easter in anglo saxon countries. So the link between Eostur and Easter in Germanic countries in the west in the 6th century cannot explain the existence of a festival worldwide centuries earlier. In these other countries there was no link between the two practises. The anglo saxon naming of the festival easter is not a universal thing that occurs in other countries.
People need to get there knowledge of Christian history from the sources we have not books like the Da Vinci code.
Easter eggs by the way originate in the practise of lent, which goes back to very early Christian times, this is a practise of fasting prior to the “easter” festival. One result of this is that there was a surplus of eggs after the fast, people did not eat eggs during the fast and often hard boiled the eggs which were collected during that time for eating afterwards. Easter Sunday then was a day where a large number of eggs were consumed.
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