Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Birth of Forgiveness

One way to look at the Birth of Jesus is to think about what he represented to the world. If I could think of only two things they would be Forgiveness and Christian Brotherhood. If you have been to parts of the world where Christian Brotherhood mostly doesn't exist you can really feel the difference some places.

However, in the Middle East where the Code of "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" still exists today, Jesus and his forgiveness was a complete revelation for those who practiced it. The thing with forgiveness is it heals the person doing the forgiving often so that person doesn't self destruct from hatred over time.

So, what Jesus actually did was give people permission not to hate. By giving people permission not to hate some gave up their 100s of years vendettas of revenge against other nations and families and could live their lives without feeling they had to kill certain people or families ongoing.

As Christianity moved into Europe this made quite a difference in how people acted who actually practiced forgiveness and Christian Brotherhood.  For example, the Red Cross is one of the historical manifestations of Christian Brotherhood now around the world. Different groups of people practice their Christian Brotherhood and their forgiveness in different ways. But, all those ways first started with the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago now and are still Celebrated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day around the world today.

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