Things that we believe

When I was a kid, there were certain names that I heard in my world that seemed to all blur together. A classic example was the big copper thing that stands in a harbor on our east coast called the statueofliberty. It wasn't until I was probably in Jr. High that I realized the statueofliberty was a statue that some other country gave us, and that it stood for liberty. I know, hard to believe that I could be that ignorant. What do you expect when your mom and dad were related before they got married?

Another one that took even longer to decipher was the famous actor with a glass eye named sammydavisjunior. I remember being in high school before I realized 'Junior' wasn't his last name. We always said the name in a quick repetition, as if it were the guy's last name. It always seemed strange to me that someone would have the last name 'junior.'

But I realized an even deeper truth the other day. It was the revelation that I wasn't as inbred as I thought (or maybe it is that my kids are as well). We were talking with the boys about not having school today (Monday), and if they knew why. They said it was because it was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Being the eternal smart @*#$^ that I am, I asked them what Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dad's name was. Without thinking, one of the boys say "Martin Luther King Junior Senior. I busted a gut.

All this to bring me to a point (I know, hard to believe I actually have one.) I wonder how many of the things we believe are really true. I used to have an aunt and uncle that had one name. They were Margeandjim till I was in college. I wonder what foolish beliefs we hang onto, not realizing their foolishness.

I received an email today - it was spam from somebody I didn't know. It had a really cool picture of Jesus with intricate detail in His face of a crucifixion scene and the three crosses. And at the bottom it said that everybody who had passed the picture on had gotten very blessed - one had won the lottery, another got a promotion. And everybody who deleted it got a curse. One lost her job, another had his family get killed in a car accident. It made me wonder if there were really people out there who believed this crap. I mean, COME ON! There is stupid, and then there is a couple steps past stupid. This one walked off the cliff.

But even the normal people in the world have their ridiculous beliefs. 'I need to pray more or God won't do what I want Him to do'. Really? Are you that powerful that it is up to you? All you have to do is more of something to manipulate God? COME ON!

There are a bunch of them we swallow without chewing. 'Trust more, be more obedient, God is disappointed with you if you don't read your Bible every day, you are going to hell if you don't go to church, etc.' COME ON! He is God because we can't be, but we sure try. The Bible gets pretty clear - God is love. End of sentence. Why is that so hard to digest?

So I deleted the Jesus picture email. It was stupid thinking. And now I have this rash.....