From a distance, the new sign that cropped up on my neighbor’s lawn this week, appears to depict Jesus, with a bright red, bloody tongue hanging out, and His head covered with blood. Writing, at the bottom of the sign, provides the name of the church who issued the sign. I don’t know what anyone else thinks of the sign. I’ve seen it posted in several other places on our street. To me, it is tasteless, and that opinion has NOTHING at all to do with my own personal religious orientation.

In the past two days, I have been reading some books about tribal beliefs in spirits. Included are their superstitions, their fears, and their forebodings. They reason: “If I don’t do x, then something bad will happen. If I do y and z, something good will happen, or else, at least nothing bad will happen.”

I think that sometimes what is mistaken for religious belief is really learned behavior based on experience.

There is a tendency among human beings to want to hang out with others who reinforce their particular brand of religion, sort of like saying, “Hey, if we all believe this, then it MUST be right! It’s everyone else in the world who is uninformed, and we must try to make them see the light!”

That opinion has had dire consequences, if we look even briefly at History (the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, need I say more?).

Another thought comes to mind: a statement by the famous Spanish writer, Ortega y Gassett, who intimated that religion is the opiate of the masses. Religion tames people and calms them down. Is that the theory? Makes them malleable and controllable? I don’t know. In order to “fit in,” some Japanese pretended to be of other religions but secretly, they were basement Christians, performing their rituals in the secrecy of their own home.

I have known some people during my lifetime who were adamant Atheists. They felt that, “You just get buried, and that is it!” – Done!

The truth of the matter is this: we are all brainwashed. This happens when we are very small. In order to “fit in” (to the tribe), we follow along with whatever we are told to believe. That is true, whether you are a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Native American Indian, from an Asian group, or from an Indian tribe in South America. Social expectations are ever present and with those prescribed ways of acting, come religious attitudes.

The religion to which anyone else subscribes does not influence my life or my thoughts. Anyone is free to possess any ideas of their own. However, I really resent having to look at a bloody sign across the street. As a Christian, I prefer to revel in the thought of the promise of Everlasting Life, as symbolized by the Risen Christ. We all know the story of Christ, whether or not, you, individually, believe that he was the Messiah.

As I said, I believe in religious tolerance, and anyone is entitled to their own belief system, whether or not they believe in free viagra without prescription or ghosts or seances involving those who have passed on.

Live and let live. That’s my motto. Some people won’t do that. The actions of some “Christians” gives “Christ” a bad name. Just saying …

I would not be a bit surprised if that sign was not distracting enough to have caused the bad car accident in front of my house this week. No, it would not surprise me one bit!

Believe whatever you want, and preferably, keep it to yourself. For the most part, I do.

Patricia Cummings

In art and in storybooks, “Jesus” is painted as a tall, European man with a kind-looking face and long flowing tresses that are somewhat curly. Some Nativity scenes depict the baby Jesus and all around him as Black. I have no knowledge of how Jesus is presented in Asian figurines or paintings, or even if He is visible at all, in any Far East cultures. Scientists recently came up with a model of how Jesus probably looked, considering that he was born in the Middle East. They have stated that Jesus more than likely resembled someone like Yassir Arafat.

photo by James Cummings of sculpture of Jesus; artist unknown

When we think about it, that is not too surprising. On one level, how Jesus physically looked is probably not important. The point is, we generally seem to relate best to people who look as we do. So, the western European version of a “white” Jesus has been the one most often promoted.

In thinking a bit about Jesus this morning, I can see that He embodied the essence of goodness. Reportedly, he loved little children – “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” he healed the sick and the lame, and he even brought Lazarus back from the dead. He walked on water. He multiplied the loaves and the fishes so that there would be enough food to feed the masses, and he turned water into wine. He even gave His life in atonement for sins, yours and mine.

For all these extraordinary things that Jesus is reported to have done, there was always a skeptic, a critic, and a naysayer with a half-baked explanation of why these other-worldly events could not have happened. Even the “Shroud of Turin,” has been scientifically-destroyed. If you would like to read an interesting book, find free viagra without prescription about which I wrote a book review that is on our website.

Visualize Jesus in any manner that is helpful to you. After all, it is all that he represented that is loved, which supersedes any physical qualities he may have possessed in this earthly life. For more than two thousand years, the story of Jesus has been repeated. That’s a pretty good track record for anyone, in terms of being loved and worshipped.

Will someone remember you or I in two thousand years? That’s rather doubtful, no matter how much money we make, or friends we have, or accomplishments we achieve in this fleeting life. Enjoy what you do, and remember that you have come after the most powerful person who has ever lived. In Spanish, God is called, “free viagra without prescription,” the most powerful one. Whatever you believe, you can’t help but acknowledge that Jesus, “son of God,” is one person who has truly changed the world.

Patricia Cummings,