THE TRUTHS OF EASTER: An Antidote to Those Who Hate or Abuse Christiainity

Within the last decade, I had gone on a few work-related trips that were several months in length; two of those trips encompassed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Regardless of the time of year, it felt as though time had stood still between the date of my departure, and the date of my return, resulting in what is best described as time lag.

For example, if I had left two weeks before Thanksgiving and returned in March, my internal clock would make me feel as if the holidays that I had missed were still in the future. Upon my return in March, I would feel as if Thanksgiving were two weeks away, my own buildup toward Christmas would start shortly after that “new Thanksgiving” in March, and April then became my own personal December.

As for Saint Patrick’s Day – a holiday that I’m surprised the politically-correct types haven’t tried to give a more “acceptable/generically-nauseating” name, such as “Luck O’ the Irish Day”, I’d have an urge to wear green in mid-July. As a side note, I spent one Saint Patrick’s Day in Romania; talk about disappointing Saint Paddy’s Day festivities.
I have to admit that these instances of misplaced holidays are a blessing, since I could feel the sincere anticipation of an upcoming holiday, especially Christmas, without the background distractions of premature decorations, and the uninspired marketing campaigns that department store chains utilize in order to try to tell us how we are “supposed” to feel before and during one of the most sacred days in Christianity.

And then there’s Easter, the unashamedly Christian holiday that the Fraternal Order of the Perpetually Offended, selectively-tolerant, and quite possibly megachurch showmen find uncomfortable.

Not only did the Easter buildup happen when it was supposed to, despite the welcomed chaos of my temporary internal calendar, but I had the privilege of an Easter encore four months later. Of course, the anti-Easter types would probably do their darndest to find a cure for that, whether I wanted one or not.

There is no possible way to give Easter a secular makeover. Yes, some local park districts have tried to give their counterfeit Easter bunnies such names as the “Sun Bunny,” or “Mister Rabbit,” and school districts have renamed Easter vacation and then separated it from Easter Weekend, yet the nature and purpose of Easter is a stubborn entity.

When people take offense toward a religion, that offense has two parts: the offending religion(s) tend to have a benign, forgiving nature, and the reason for their intolerance of that religion is based upon hypothetical scenarios of hatred and intolerance.

Perhaps it is the quality of forgiveness that the selectively-tolerant find so unnerving.

When individuals are insecure in their beliefs, they look for external reinforcements, such as like-minded people or sympathy. If there are insufficient reinforcements, the next step is to force others to offer support, and there are plenty of self-appointed leaders on the left side of the political spectrum who are more than willing to strong-arm sympathy out of principled conservatives. In the minds of these folks, the act of disagreeing with a practice or philosophy that even the instigator is unsure of qualifies as reason enough for anger-fueled retaliation.

Forgiveness seems as though administering it is almost an art, since it involves the release of anger, bitterness and pain. To those who thrive on such detriments, such as the intellectually-insecure leftist militants who wear the label of voluntary victimhood as though self-destructive behavior is an honor, the pseudo-qualities of anger, bitterness, and pain are the motivators for their attacks on those who hold differing opinions. To forgive is to negate the need to attack and punish those whose only crime is to not agree with beliefs that are sanctioned by self-appointed leaders on the left.

Depending on the nature of the offense, forgiveness is difficult. How is it possible to forgive an individual whose pre-conceived opinion of you and your religion is so entrenched in ignorance and assumptions that their contempt for you borders on hatred and violence? How is it possible to reason with someone who is so closed-minded, bitter, and irrational, that it seems the only way to reach them on what you believe is their intellectual level is with what a Chicago cop circa 1968 may call a “tune-up?”
Nobody is born useless. While some people may choose uselessness as their defining quality, others are raised to believe that they are just that – useless.

Everyone deserves a chance to be reached, since there are many who have been told what to believe and how to think, even if those thoughts are the polar opposite of their true nature. To automatically discredit someone who disagrees with you is a very leftist course of action.

As for the megachurch showmen who try to simplify Christianity to the point of rendering a “religious mass” into little more than a motivational seminar, the complexity and purpose of the events before, during, and after the Crucifixion; the act of forgiveness in the face of degradation, humiliation, and pure evil, plus the early leaders of Christianity being appointed into their necessary positions must make smoke billow from the ears of self-proclaimed preachers who make themselves appear larger-than-life in the presence of their followers, with the help of a Jumbotron.

Easter is a negating tool against the threats aimed at Christianity.

The acts of forgiveness and compassion are actual parts of Christianity, not two of the many empty words that are used by devoted leftists to manipulate vulnerable, misinformed followers.

The complexity of the deliberate series of events surrounding the Crucifixion prove that Christianity is not the simple, feel-good afterthought that megachurch showmen portray it as in order to manipulate their vulnerable, misinformed followers.

The reasons why Christians celebrate Easter are the same qualities that leftists ignore when they talk about their contempt for Christianity and Christians. And it is those qualities that make Easter a day worth revisiting several times throughout the year, even if it is as a personal holiday.

Image: http://vivificar.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html