As children - most of us were raised in the religious belief system of our parents and that belief system has usually been our default mode as an adult. Even if you were raised without a particular religion, you still had a belief system. After all, being atheist is a belief. Don't worry - the purpose of this article is not to bash anyone's belief system. I wouldn't do that. It is my belief that there are many ways to the Devine and the path each of us chooses is perfect.
I was raised in the Deep South as a Baptist and for those of you who know very little about this denomination I'll just say Easter is a very big deal being central to the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the only deity in the Baptist faith and he is the doorway used to get to God.
As a child my guardian gave me the opportunity to explore other religions and decide which one was right for me. This was a precious gift, because rarely does this happen with children. I was allowed to visit as many faiths as I wanted, which I did. Of course, my options in the south were limited - but I did attend other Christian faiths. As a 12 year old, I thought Methodists, Protestants, Jehovah Witness's and Church of God were all different religions. It never dawned on me that they were denominations inside Christianity. This fact makes me smile. That said, because of the freedom afforded me, as an adult I am very open to other religions. I've even adopted another religion as my chosen path to self awareness.
Over the years during this time of year I still have given thanks to Lord Jesus for his teachings and his sacrifice. He showed us a path to enlightenment out of his undying devotion to the Ultimate Truth and his unconditional love for humanity. I'm not sure any one of us would have wanted to be in his shoes. Choosing to die for the salvation of humanity takes more than courage.
Jesus had one simple message and that message is still valid today and will be valid until the end of time - Love. Love is all there is. In my opinion, this is the meaning of Easter. Yes, I know Easter was adopted from the pagan celebration of spring after Constantine converted to Christianity. You've got to give it to Constantine; he knew how to get the Non Christian masses to celebrate a Christian holiday. I'm not saying he was correct - I'm just saying he knew how to market his adopted religion before the word 'marketing' was created.
The Love that Jesus was showing us was Unconditional Love. He demonstrated this in his every action. This type of love sees all as one. Yes, we can differentiate ourselves by color, sex, size, religion etc. - but where Unconditional Ultimate love is concerned, there is no racism, sexism, exclusion of any religion, nor any label that would symbolize any form of separation. We know the stories of Jesus therefore there is no need to repeat them here. The point is the central theme of all the messages he delivered is "LOVE".
Our Universe is LOVE, We came from LOVE and we will go back to LOVE. Jesus and all the other Enlightened ONES know this and are doing their best, even today - to spread this message to all of humanity. We are all ONE BIG FAMILY OF "ONE".
In this season of Easter it is up to each of us to meditate on its true meaning and what this means for our lives. How can we make changes in our lives to integrate Unconditional Love into our heart? Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us and we don't want that sacrifice to be for nothing. And it doesn't matter whether or not you are a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, or any of the multitudes of belief systems on the planet. There is no such thing as separation; therefore, his sacrifice was for all. ALL THERE IS - IS LOVE
Happy Easter!!!
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