Robbed…
as in, I have just been.
Online thievery through my paypal acct to my debit card.
The trail, at this point is sketchy…a police report has been filed…
and from what paypal gave me regarding their investigation here is the story so far.
It begins with an (apparently legit) real estate licensing company CMFAS that has both Singapore and Texas addresses and a Singapore telephone number…
then there’s a company called s p r a n k e d d o t c o m that allows you to send fake text messages through anonymous SMS servers. The robbers used my debit card to purchase the “Gold” package there.
Then they moved on to Abercrombie and fitch for five hundred and five, or so.
I had 21.00 in my acct when this happened, so needless to say…
PWD’s, Misidentification, and Race
Discussed in a thought provoking article here…
As if these parents don’t have enough to contend with…
One part of the Easter story that has always fascinated…
both when I was agnostic and during my believing times…
I realize this question makes no difference to those who are certain there was no historical Jesus, please, do skip this. Don’t mean to bother you with it.
But, ok…assuming for the moment he did exist. And assuming that there were a group of students of Jesus. The religious fundamentalists, the Pharisees took him to religious court and charged him…and then they hand him off to the Romans, the most powerful military/political force of the time.
If I was a non Roman, of any sort. I’d be scared right out of my sandals if the Romans were after me. If there is any truth to the first three Gospel accounts at all, while they were deciding what to do with Jesus, they were questioning folks about his followers…who and where they were, etc.
And they scattered. Headed for the hills. A very human, very understandable response.
My question has always been…particularly at the times in my life that I have been sensibly skeptical of this idea of resurrection…
There was this little corner in my head.
“What brought them back, anyway?” It runs counter to every response to persecution and pursuit, that they would, soon after the crucifixion, turn right around and walk back into Roman jurisdiction, and begin preaching.
Playing Devils advocate for a moment…stating the antithetical position:
Perhaps, if they existed…they *did* hide. For as much as a year, say…
But couldn’t bear the thought that they were skulking around in caves after their teacher had been taken.
And while in hiding, created an oral history that cast themselves back in as heroes…given power to teach and heal that mirrored Jesus’ own that’s a very human response too…selective memory about past events….a history that, in conjunction with Saul, the converted Pharisee, the Christian hunter…became Paul the writer of the Epistles Paul’s letters…became the reason that by the time Nero fiddled, approximately 63 years later, there were Greek Christians, scribes all over the Roman Empire…
I just don’t think it was Paul’s zeal alone that made it a movement and then a religion and eventually the dominan+t European faith. I’m not prepared, from a human perspective to say what it was…
Being as I’m presently a believer…(and I’m only stating my experience of it, not anyone else’s) It is at this celebration that Christ answers…”I came back. I came back for you,” (the collective, not the singular, you) It is the extreme version of a stranger laying down their life for peoples they will never know. That is so powerful.
Paul’s question could be very right. Believers could all be dupes. (I’ve certainly seen Christian dupes and those who dupe them in my time. Also plenty who give themselves the name ‘Christian’ and aren’t. Grrr. Sometimes I wish Jesus would get here on *my* timetable and do the “I never knew you, get away from me,” thing. Certain American denominations or political figures would be quite surprised.)
And sometimes I wonder if American Christians realize:
Jesus was Jewish…
He hung with prostitutes, and other marginalized people.
He cared for the sick.
Early Christians often lived collectively (ooooo socialism, collectivism)
If the moneychanger story is true he didn’t think much of raking in money in a religious sanctuary – – megachurches take note.
Jesus was not affiliated with *any* political party anywhere in the world, then, or now.
Some seem to ‘worship’ Paul by making his letters the foundation of their faith experience. If that’s what they want to do…they can, but why call it Christianity if the Gospels appear missing?
So did he exist? and if he did, why did his students fllee and then return, and eventually write an account that has had a grip on the human psyche for millenia?
I was trained in history, and had a rookie theologian for a husband, so these arguments interest me.
But all of that aside, for those who celebrate, have a blessed Easter time.
I’m going to relive not only Christ’s story, but the moment of my own conversion experiences…and then spend time with family on Sunday itself.
Peace
To the ones that left…
I’m an intense person. Volatile sometimes, and difficult.
There are two people I miss terribly that were very close friends once and are no longer. One left my sphere because the things going on at the time in my life were things they didn’t wish to get that close to.
I’d like to have that person back in my life, but…I don’t see that as a possible. Makes me sad. They were a joy and a gift in my life while they were part of it. I will always appreciate them and wish them well.
The second person…it’s my fault. I said some things I thought were good advice, that they thought were completely insulting to their family and life choices…so they didn’t just leave my life they dropped out suddenly and angrily without telling me why until much later. It’s been made quite explicitly clear to me that they consider me toxic and want nothing to do with me…so that is even less likely, but I honor their decision. I just have to put it out there that I get how what I said came off as insulting, but that I never intended insult.
I hope they both have good friends and good lives.
Midlife And Treachery 
