Easter: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

[Phatscotty]

Many of us grew up celebrating Easter as the holiday where a cute little bunny rabbit brought chocolate and other delicious treats for everyone to eat. All we had to do was look diligently for the eggs hidden around the house and eventually it would lead us to the only thing we cared about: that giant basket of goodies.

Many are still celebrating Easter in a similar fashion. It’s become tradition – it’s just what we do. This year I have a radical suggestion: start a new tradition. Something that goes much, much deeper than a furry rabbit & candy.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’d be lying if I told you there was no chocolate involved in my Easter weekend. I’d also be lying if I told you there were no Peeps or other marshmallow-y related food products. Or jelly beans. Or Twizzlers. There’s nothing wrong with having a little egg hunt & candy at Easter – it’s fun. But there is something wrong when Easter becomes all about the bunnies and the eggs and the chocolate.

Easter is actually the greatest love story ever told – yet mankind has managed to water it down to an opportunity to devour a few extra M&M’s and are actually ‘offended’ when they hear it. How could that be? What’s offensive about this: The very first Easter weekend – three days that changed the world forever – took place over 2,000 years ago. Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so. He didn’t have to – but He did. That is why we celebrate.

And that is why we need to start a new tradition this Easter – whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, still thinking about it (come on already!), etc – because the holiday has nothing to do with chocolate. It’s about showing love. Instead of just pounding some creme eggs & jelly beans – reach out to a friend or neighbor or total stranger. Get to know them – and look for ways you can help them. Donate your time. Donate some food. Whatever it is, just find a way to help someone in need.

America’s woes are easily solvable with that one, powerful, incredible word: love. That is why we are gathering this summer for Restoring Love – to remind people of our greater purpose and stir us to action. It’s also why I have great hope – because I know the American people & what we are capable of when we put our minds, and more importantly our hearts, to something.

I look forward to hearing about your new Easter tradition – one that I believe will save the country.

[luns101]

Thanks Scotty, I enjoyed reading that.

[Haggis_McMutton]

[army of nobunaga]

Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so.

disagree.. Easter has occurred because of a wondering reverend that had a huge following was betrayed and killed. Christians then became the "cool" "hidden" cult. Some Roman leaders were converted. 300 years after his death the council of Naccine (sp) decided to make one book.

That book has lead to more deaths than all other books created combined... peace, love... tell that to the indigenous populations around the world historically as "civilized" "christians" systematically annihilated and subverted each culture.

Peace , love and chocolate... awesome for you, just do not expect the average intelligent person to buy into your crap.

[Phatscotty]

Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so.

disagree.. Easter has occurred because of a wondering reverend that had a huge following was betrayed and killed. Christians then became the "cool" "hidden" cult. Some Roman leaders were converted. 300 years after his death the council of Naccine (sp) decided to make one book.

That book has lead to more deaths than all other books created combined... peace, love... tell that to the indigenous populations around the world historically as "civilized" "christians" systematically annihilated and subverted each culture.

Peace , love and chocolate... awesome for you, just do not expect the average intelligent person to buy into your crap.

or, maybe you can and will just ignore what you don't like, but decide that helping people is a good thing anyways?

[army of nobunaga]

Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so.

disagree.. Easter has occurred because of a wondering reverend that had a huge following was betrayed and killed. Christians then became the "cool" "hidden" cult. Some Roman leaders were converted. 300 years after his death the council of Naccine (sp) decided to make one book.

That book has lead to more deaths than all other books created combined... peace, love... tell that to the indigenous populations around the world historically as "civilized" "christians" systematically annihilated and subverted each culture.

Peace , love and chocolate... awesome for you, just do not expect the average intelligent person to buy into your crap.

or, maybe you can and will just ignore what you don't like, but decide that helping people is a good thing anyways?

Helping people is a great thing... It was just the "Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so." crock of crap I felt a need to comment on. Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today. The Catholic church set mankind back that many years.

[Phatscotty]

do you think there are some good things that The Church helped progress for mankind as well? Or can it only be looked at one way?

[saxitoxin]

Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so.

disagree.. Easter has occurred because of a wondering reverend that had a huge following was betrayed and killed. Christians then became the "cool" "hidden" cult. Some Roman leaders were converted. 300 years after his death the council of Naccine (sp) decided to make one book.

That book has lead to more deaths than all other books created combined... peace, love... tell that to the indigenous populations around the world historically as "civilized" "christians" systematically annihilated and subverted each culture.

Peace , love and chocolate... awesome for you, just do not expect the average intelligent person to buy into your crap.

or, maybe you can and will just ignore what you don't like, but decide that helping people is a good thing anyways?

Helping people is a great thing... It was just the "Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so." crock of crap I felt a need to comment on. Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today. The Catholic church set mankind back that many years.

"For all things that have causes, the Tathagatha has set forth the causes. He has also set forth the method of their cessation."

[Night Strike]

Helping people is a great thing... It was just the "Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so." crock of crap I felt a need to comment on. Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today. The Catholic church set mankind back that many years.

And the myriad of problems with Catholicism is what led to Protestantism, which led to massive gains in both individual freedom and scientific discoveries throughout the Enlightenment period. It's sad that all non-Christians try to equate everything about Christians to Catholics when that is clearly not reality. There are a lot of problems with the Catholic church system, which is why Protestantism was founded as Martin Luther realized that people did not have to go through a hierarchy to be in communion with God.

[Haggis_McMutton]

[army of nobunaga]

Helping people is a great thing... It was just the "Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so." crock of crap I felt a need to comment on. Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today. The Catholic church set mankind back that many years.

And the myriad of problems with Catholicism is what led to Protestantism, which led to massive gains in both individual freedom and scientific discoveries throughout the Enlightenment period. It's sad that all non-Christians try to equate everything about Christians to Catholics when that is clearly not reality. There are a lot of problems with the Catholic church system, which is why Protestantism was founded as Martin Luther realized that people did not have to go through a hierarchy to be in communion with God.

from 400ad to what 1500ad (martin luther and that stuff) and no I am not googling that is why my dates and spelling are off. so yeah nightstrike.. catholics rulled the world for 1100 of the last 1600 years... and geuss what--- what did we get from Jesus and his church from 400-1500ad? nadda... nothing. We got church rule and repression.

I am not going to debate this with you guys, nothing I have stated anywhere in this thread is really an opinion.. It is all fact.

I hope there is a Jesus in Heaven with your god for all of you when you die. I mean I really do. I hope you are all right.

I am just not spending my life living a faith based on words in a book that have been edited 10k times.

As far as easter, I think it is a great holiday and we should all get out and be happy and love what we have. And of course help people.


adios gang.

[john9blue]

Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today.

more likely, we would have either killed ourselves off already, or come so close to doing so that technology and education would be set back even further

[Army of GOD]

If we're talking about fictional love stories, personally I believe the love story between Paris and Helen was greater.

[saxitoxin]

If we're talking about fictional love stories, personally I believe the love story between Paris and Helen was greater.

they were a hot couple

[The Bison King]

Uhh... wasn't Easter originally a Pagan holiday?

Like for real, it was a holiday that celebrated fertility and the coming of Spring. Then the Christians chose it for the day Jesus rose from the dead and adopted a bunch of the meaningless rituals as a way of converting Pagan's without upsetting them.

I mean I don't want to be "that guy" but if we're going to bitch and moan about holidays being bastardized over time you might as well start at the real beginning.

[Night Strike]

Uhh... wasn't Easter originally a Pagan holiday?

Like for real, it was a holiday that celebrated fertility and the coming of Spring. Then the Christians chose it for the day Jesus rose from the dead and adopted a bunch of the meaningless rituals as a way of converting Pagan's without upsetting them.

I mean I don't want to be "that guy" but if we're going to bitch and moan about holidays being bastardized over time you might as well start at the real beginning.

It doesn't matter if pagans celebrated an Easter-type holiday in the spring. Passover was a Jewish holiday way before any of those pagan holidays came around, and Passover was the time that the crucifixion and resurrection took place.

[bedub1]

Helping people is a great thing... It was just the "Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so." crock of crap I felt a need to comment on. Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today. The Catholic church set mankind back that many years.

And the myriad of problems with Catholicism is what led to Protestantism, which led to massive gains in both individual freedom and scientific discoveries throughout the Enlightenment period. It's sad that all non-Christians try to equate everything about Christians to Catholics when that is clearly not reality. There are a lot of problems with the Catholic church system, which is why Protestantism was founded as Martin Luther realized that people did not have to go through a hierarchy to be in communion with God.

Really? I was born and raised Roman Catholic; attended a Roman Catholic Grade-school and a Jesuit high-school. Those Jesuits sure know how to debate. And think, and reason, and that's why now I'm not longer a member of the Roman Catholic faith. Damn education!

Also, I love today. They killed Jesus today! Yay! At least the Jews were good for something. I'm eating a steak tonight. It's going to be delicious. You should realize that God doesn't care what you eat. If he exists, he's got bigger shit to deal with. I mean the dudes Omnipotent.*

*It's related to Impotent but a little different.

Also:

Many of us grew up celebrating Easter as the holiday where a cute little bunny rabbit brought chocolate and other delicious treats for everyone to eat. All we had to do was look diligently for the eggs hidden around the house and eventually it would lead us to the only thing we cared about: that giant basket of goodies.

Many are still celebrating Easter in a similar fashion. It’s become tradition – it’s just what we do. This year I have a radical suggestion: start a new tradition. Something that goes much, much deeper than a furry rabbit & candy.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’d be lying if I told you there was no chocolate involved in my Easter weekend. I’d also be lying if I told you there were no Peeps or other marshmallow-y related food products. Or jelly beans. Or Twizzlers. There’s nothing wrong with having a little egg hunt & candy at Easter – it’s fun. But there is something wrong when Easter becomes all about the bunnies and the eggs and the chocolate.

Easter is about showing love. Instead of just pounding some creme eggs & jelly beans – reach out to a friend or neighbor or total stranger. Get to know them – and look for ways you can help them. Donate your time. Donate some food. Whatever it is, just find a way to help someone in need.

America’s woes are easily solvable with that one, powerful, incredible word: love. That is why we are gathering this summer for Restoring Love – to remind people of our greater purpose and stir us to action. It’s also why I have great hope – because I know the American people & what we are capable of when we put our minds, and more importantly our hearts, to something.

I look forward to hearing about your new Easter tradition – one that I believe will save the country.

FTFY

[Gavino07]

Mankind was lost, floundering – headed for destruction. But because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him will never die & have eternal life. And like the good Shepherd, Jesus laid down His life for the flock – and suffered greatly in doing so.

disagree.. Easter has occurred because of a wondering reverend that had a huge following was betrayed and killed. Christians then became the "cool" "hidden" cult. Some Roman leaders were converted. 300 years after his death the council of Naccine (sp) decided to make one book.

That book has lead to more deaths than all other books created combined... peace, love... tell that to the indigenous populations around the world historically as "civilized" "christians" systematically annihilated and subverted each culture.

Peace , love and chocolate... awesome for you, just do not expect the average intelligent person to buy into your crap.

Wow! Thanks for calling Christianity a cool hidden cult. I feel cool now. Granted, it is similar to the mystery religions of the time, yet it is still unique and universal. Reasearch for yourself, you seem to be intellectual.

[Gavino07]

Also, there was no discussion of the Canon of the bible at the council. Therefore the church already had a canonized bible before. The church simply simply changed from an underground cult to a state religion at the council.

[chang50]

Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today.

more likely, we would have either killed ourselves off already, or come so close to doing so that technology and education would be set back even further

Far more likely it would have made little difference as people would have made up something else to follow,or latched onto a pre-existing myth..

[patches70]

Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today.

more likely, we would have either killed ourselves off already, or come so close to doing so that technology and education would be set back even further

Far more likely it would have made little difference as people would have made up something else to follow,or latched onto a pre-existing myth..

Or we could have just adopted the Roman way. Death before dishonor, Roman civilization is the greatest and all the rest mere barbarians. What of those "pre-existing" myths that people would have latched onto instead?

Without Christianity human beings and society would be even more fractured and sectarian. Before Jesus the prevailing thought of individuals was that of loyalty to the tribe and at best distrust of others. Certainly far less tolerance of other cultures and societies. Not saying the early Christian Church was very thoughtful or understanding of that concept either but it was Jesus who planted the seed that changed the world. Without him, this world would be even worse off.

Forget not that it was the Romans who burnt the Great Library of Alexandria down (right around the time Jesus was born). Scholars agree that had it not been burnt we human beings could well have been landing on the moon instead of just discovering the new world in Columbus' day. So was the thinking and arrogance of the Roman Empire that no matter how inventive another culture may be, if it wasn't Roman it was worthless.

The Romans were inventive and clever, true enough. But their thoughts on compassion and tolerance would be quite abhorrent to us today. Jesus' message to treat each other with love and kindness, even to our enemies, seems easy enough to accept to us today. But to the people of the time, it was a novel and alien concept. The world would be greatly different had not that idea been offered and only by the very limited acceptance today of that very concept is the world even remotely better than it was back in those days. In so far as how we treat each other (which is still like crap but miles above how we once were).

There are still a great many people in the world who are as selfish, cruel and self absorbed with themselves as the Romans were. Token platitudes from mouth, black evil in heart. Atheistic Utopian promises while pissing on the very seed of compassion planted by Jesus. Those promises won't amount to much so long as they keep trying to kill the sprout of kindness.

[chang50]

Without Jesus we would probably have a colony on the moon and MArs today.

more likely, we would have either killed ourselves off already, or come so close to doing so that technology and education would be set back even further

Far more likely it would have made little difference as people would have made up something else to follow,or latched onto a pre-existing myth..

Or we could have just adopted the Roman way. Death before dishonor, Roman civilization is the greatest and all the rest mere barbarians. What of those "pre-existing" myths that people would have latched onto instead?

Without Christianity human beings and society would be even more fractured and sectarian. Before Jesus the prevailing thought of individuals was that of loyalty to the tribe and at best distrust of others. Certainly far less tolerance of other cultures and societies. Not saying the early Christian Church was very thoughtful or understanding of that concept either but it was Jesus who planted the seed that changed the world. Without him, this world would be even worse off.

Forget not that it was the Romans who burnt the Great Library of Alexandria down (right around the time Jesus was born). Scholars agree that had it not been burnt we human beings could well have been landing on the moon instead of just discovering the new world in Columbus' day. So was the thinking and arrogance of the Roman Empire that no matter how inventive another culture may be, if it wasn't Roman it was worthless.

The Romans were inventive and clever, true enough. But their thoughts on compassion and tolerance would be quite abhorrent to us today. Jesus' message to treat each other with love and kindness, even to our enemies, seems easy enough to accept to us today. But to the people of the time, it was a novel and alien concept. The world would be greatly different had not that idea been offered and only by the very limited acceptance today of that very concept is the world even remotely better than it was back in those days. In so far as how we treat each other (which is still like crap but miles above how we once were).

There are still a great many people in the world who are as selfish, cruel and self absorbed with themselves as the Romans were. Token platitudes from mouth, black evil in heart. Atheistic Utopian promises while pissing on the very seed of compassion planted by Jesus. Those promises won't amount to much so long as they keep trying to kill the sprout of kindness.

Your point would have more force if Christians had behaved a little bit more like they were supposed to over the last 2000 years.

[patches70]

It's the seed that matters. The early Christian Church was as far removed from God and Jesus as the Romans were. But Jesus' message still rang out and spread. In those days and even too often in these days, the individual counts for less. The Early Christian Theocracy put the Church ahead of the individual. The Roman State was ahead of the Roman individual.

It was Jesus who said to individuals that you matter, you are important. A State, a Church, they come and go. But it is the individual who counts. That each and every one of us has a gift, a talent, importance and not a Church or a Priest or a State can take that away from you.

It is that thought we should nurture and remember. Even the Atheist preaches the same things Jesus did, except for that one, very important, thing. And it's why the Atheist will never achieve his Utopian Society. Because that Atheist lacks that one important foundation upon which his Utopian society would be built.

The individual does not need the Priest to act as a go between between individuals and God as it is in Theocracies.
The individual does not need the State to tell him who has been chosen by God above all others to lead.

It comes down to the individual in the end, something Theocracies, States and Atheistic Utopian ideals cannot get past. They treat people as groups instead of individuals. Dehumanizing people, lumping unique individuals into vast groups and fool distinctions. By attempting to do what the Theocracy, State and Atheistic intolerance, injustice abounds for great numbers of individuals while allowing but a few individuals to gain power over all the rest. Tow the line or get out/die/forced to accept your lot in life.

[patches70]

Your point would have more force if Christians had behaved a little bit more like they were supposed to over the last 2000 years.

And can you not see how you are projecting what Theocracies, States and the injustices individuals did in those times to blaming individuals of today who have never committed such atrocities?

Your obvious hatred of Christianity clouds you perception so that you assume Christians of today are like those of 2000 years ago.
You blame the mistakes of those in the past on those who live today.

It is very short sighted and bigoted if you think about it honestly....

[john9blue]

but but but... it's irrational!