A Spiritual Piggybank

Many people pray, and they find that their prayer gets them nowhere. This does not surprise me, nor does it negate my religion. I won’t say that prayer is important, but I will say that prayer is not a complete perspective. I suggest doing something in addition to prayer.

When we do something for someone else out of charity, while it might be something directly related to the thing you want, it may also be something almost completely unrelated. Showing an interest in others and their doings may be just what we need in order to unlock the gate to the pathway towards Eden. The places we visit on this journey may seem obscure or irregular, but journey onward to the places that Torah takes us on.

Consider this; your good deeds may not pay off immediately. Thus, I suggest thinking of your doings in this world, as is the idea of a spiritual piggy bank. It may take a lot of saving. What if you have a rare disease or a rare problem? With your hard spiritual work, you may have to save up enough spiritual capital to put a doctor through medical school, such that he can help you out of your illness.

G;d gives each of us a mission in this world. This mission becomes clearer as we study. When we study, it is the equivalent of fulfilling all the good deeds of the Torah. In my instance, in my spiritual piggy bank, I had some knowledge of science, but that needed to be unlocked. It was sealed up, until I took the time to study Torah. Once I studied Torah, someone else, my mom, just happened to come across a doctor that could cure me so that my science knowledge need not remain locked up. So, I reached out to G(d and he reached out to me in return, blazing a pathway for my mother to find a cure for me. And, I do admit that it wasn’t a perfect cure, as a still have some problems. However, instead of my problems being to my detriment, they have actually been a blessing for me. This is the way Hashem is able to work his magic in this world.

A spiritual piggybank may have some money in it. But, it must also have good deeds. This is why a Jewish king must not be wealthy. His wealth must come from his spiritual piggy bank that is not of this world in a radical type of way, similar to that of a priest, or a Levite. In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon relates a story about a person who is wealthy, but Gd has forbidden them from enjoying it. This is entirely relative to the idea of a spiritual piggybank, and a proof of it if you believe Tanach is the words of G-d. Money by itself is empty if one can’t enjoy it. This is also the idea of karma, in that there is something spiritual about this world that if we do good things to others, then good things will be done to us in return. Likewise, Leviticus 26 and other parts of Torah relate the blessings of living a righteous life, but that if we don’t do what G&d asks of us then good things happen.

So pay it forward~!~ We all have something to give and a reason for being, or G^d would not permit us to be. G*d is aware of everything in the universe, such that everything in reality is not without purpose. If your spiritual piggy bank seems empty, you may be wrong! Just keep doing good deeds and I believe that if you are able to actually toil in Torah, reading it, even if you are blind and have to learn brail, and observing the ways of the righteous, though things may get worse initially, eventually things will get better for you. Through doing good deeds we must have hope.

A Case for a Less Materialistic Christmas: Christmas, Jesus, Materialism, Forgiveness and the Day of Judgment

I do not believe Jesus is G-d, nor am I a Christian. I do not even believe Jesus was or is a savior. I do not believe in the Trinity. I do not believe Jesus was the Messiah or the Christ. If you are a Christian, please put those negative sentiments toward my belief aside. I have read the New Testament. I am not ignorant of it. Casting aside my own opinion of Jesus, as a whole, I will focus on Jesus’ good aspects in this essay.

To Jesus’ credit, like all those who love knowledge, philosophers, Jesus was not a materialist. Thus, I will use the teachings of Jesus to drive my message home. Jesus would be shouting to his many of his modern followers every Christmas, “You liars! You hypocrites! You are in danger of the fires of Hell!”

Who was Jesus?

My view of Jesus is very negative, but I am not beyond using positive things he said to drive home a message. Let’s consider the identity of Jesus. Jesus was a homeless person (Matthew 8:20). The prophet Mohammed concurs and believes Jesus to have been the least materialistic prophet. I have no doubt that Jesus was very clever, such that he was probably homeless by choice, probably because having a home would have given him a locus, and that would have hindered his ability to preach his message. Jesus was most likely homeless because he felt he needed mobility. Jesus thought his message was more important than materialism. By choice, Jesus would not be someone who would even had a place to put a present. Jesus would have preferred repentance to presents. There is no evidence of Jesus accepting birthday presents. He would have no use for them, as he was not a materialist. If you are his follower consider this: The New Testament calls us to be imitators of Jesus the Christ (Ephesians 5:1). In fact, as evidence of this I suggest that Jesus deemed a homeless beggar whose sores had been licked by dogs to be a sign of his kingdom (Luke 16). He never praises riches. The evidence all suggests that Jesus outright rejected materialism.

Turning Jesus’ birthday into a day of presents, and making Christmas into a season of materialism, is blasphemy of his message. To such things, there was who asked, “How many times should I forgive my brother?” Jesus’ reply seems close to infinite forgiveness, but it is not. Indeed, the forgiveness of Jesus is limited to 70 times 7, or 77 times (Matthew 18). Such limited forgiveness suggests that by the time someone had reached middle age and was still participating in the blasphemy of the birth of Jesus, that if you meet Jesus on the day of judgment, he would say “Away from me evil doer.” In Jesus philosophy, your place would be hell if you are a slave to the materialism of Christmas, going into debt just to buy more presents.

Though Christmas is an invented holiday, and all attempts to determine the date of Jesus’ birth are mere speculation. The best evidence shows Jesus was born in 4 CE during the summer. I am not one who believes Jesus was very concerned about the date of his birth. Celebrating Christmas would probably be just fine by Jesus. I am not one who believes completely doing away with Christmas, despite its lack of historical accuracy is unimportant in this case. To radically change anything except the materialism of Christmas is really unnecessary and inconsequential. The inaccurate yearly celebration of the birth of Jesus should be considered an outright harmless event. However, do not call yourself a Christian if you celebrate Christmas materialistically, then Jesus would not allow you in his kingdom.

Note: The inspiration for this blog is Bill McKibben's book Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for A More Joyful Christmas.