Judaism
I kept my secret for eight years. For eight years I suffered in silence through the horrors of my own personal Hell. I endured close to a decade of rage, tears and ultimately self-destruction. The memories are nauseating, the shame unparalleled. The trauma didn't stop when my abuse did.
Wouldn't you assume that the newly established Church would want its devotees to immerse themselves in the sanctioned New Testament, especially since the Church went to great lengths to eliminate competing Gospels?
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Prompted by this question, I returned to the perspectives of the ancient Jewish commentators on the Passover story. I wanted to know: Were they bothered by the death of so many Egyptians?
Hearing the horror of the planned genocide, the light went on: Esther connected with her inner self and understood why she had been made queen. Esther had been made queen to save her people.
We might not always agree on the meaning of Jesus' participation in Jewish festivals, but we can agree that Jesus honored these traditions of his people. For Christians, this model should invite an appreciation for Jewish tradition.
Were Bruno Mars to go on a world tour for the release of Unorthodox Jukebox, there would likely be unsuspecting cousins in the audiences in Madrid, New York, Kiev, San Juan, Manila and Budapest. So tell me: Which box do you think Bruno Mars ticked on the 2010 census?
On June 19, the state of Ohio declared that I had a voluntary abortion. My rabbi and my doctors disagreed. I simply wanted to be pregnant.