Rebecca Easton

2011-06-18T07:27:00.001-07:00

There's a moment in life when you realize that everything you do doesn't make a damn bit of difference to anyone but yourself.

2011-04-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/Hxd4m

2011-03-04T11:04:00.001-08:00

http://ping.fm/36vin it's a blog.

2011-03-02T12:08:00.001-08:00

updated my website...check it out! www.rebeccaeaston.com

2011-02-28T10:56:00.001-08:00

Let go and Let God...
http://ping.fm/1KfQX

2011-02-26T11:16:00.001-08:00

My first novel was not accepted into the genre that the publisher wanted. Onward and upward to a better product and publishing company. Perserverence is the key! www.rebeccaeaston.com

2011-02-23T12:26:00.001-08:00

I have so much to do and here I am typin on FB and other social networks cuz I am too dang tired to do anything else. What a sad end to a beautiful day. Ugh...I HATE FB today!!!

2011-02-17T13:29:00.001-08:00

Just stopped by cuz I've been so busy. I miss chating with my FB friends but sunny 75 degree skies beckon a baby blue convertible and me in it! Check ya'll later but only if it rains....!!!

A Story of 5 Amazing Women for New Novel!!!

2011-02-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

Give My Tiara Back is about 5 amazing women. It's time that you met them so that you can help me form their character into something that is enjoyable for every woman on this planet to read. I thank you for spending time reading my work.

Faith is an elegant woman who is extraordinarily feminine. She is a beautiful statue of a woman later in her years with soft white milky skin, and hourglass figure, and plump lips. She touts grace and wisdom but there's an underlying humanistic nature dying to be the bad girl. Ultimately her outward persona is due to her inward self loathing. Her horrendous past bubbles to the surface causing her to abandon her graceful actions and behave more as the woman she really is. Faith keeps the peace in the five woman's group. She's the driving force behind the consistent peace.

Alexandria is a woman capable of anything. She’s tall and elegant and sleek with darker skin and light hair. She's formidable, secretive, worldly and courageous. She's outspoken because her limited education gives her pause for her social interaction skills. She gossips. She drinks heavily because she feels more deeply than most and tries to hind that behind a false confidence. She's the best friend you wish all your life that you had, but if you compromise her confidence she will abandon you.

Kristin is highly educated and remarkably well spoken in speech and confrontation. She is patient and kind and ultimately forgiving. She's neutral, and soft spoken, but her liberal views take a back seat to no one. She is firm in her beliefs and black and white minded about anything that goes beyond them.

Angel is passionate about love. She found it, and she continues to find it in everyone she meets. She's exquisite in beauty and formidable in traveling the world. She's not from America and neither is her husband. The couple brings a European element to the thoughts and actions of this small group of women. Angel is promiscuous, she's selfish, she's childish, and she's outspoken at the worst of times. She lacks the ability to time-manage well and her chaos makes her friends crazy because they feel she does not care about them. She acts shocking and asks all the wrong questions which is tantamount to the problem of having too little boundaries. She's a cheater, and she lies to get out of trouble. She's the example of an extraordinary woman with numerous talents and gifts wasting it chasing ghosts from her past.

Hope is a woman whose sole goal is to suppress everyone enough to elevate herself. She navigates through her control freak approach to life with the utmost of cunning and ability. She aligns herself with women who make her feel superior. She eliminates women who make her feel inferior. She is driven for a better life of riches and wealth and stays married to a man she hardly has tremendous passion for to represent herself in the luxury she feels should be afforded her. She’s quick to confront and determined to raise her children with extraordinary manners. She controls every aspect of her life, kids, spouse and friends with ease. Every once in a while, though, a fun and uncontrolled adult emerges. She feels the only safe way to let that woman exist is to be near confidants who will not betray her. The stunning and immediate dismissal of her controlling self leaves a happy go lucky model like beauty that is like a fresh breath of air to be around. She engages you with the charm and wit of a natural and soon you find yourself one of her treasured friends.

I hope that you have enjoyed meeting the ladies. This novel is 1st person narrative by Beverly White (my main character) as she engages in life with these women. The stories she is going to tell you will appear unbelievable and shocking, but each one of these women will steal your heart in the end. I hope you enjoy hearing about the new novel in the coming months as I create it. Take care.

Rebecca Easton

2011-02-08T11:11:00.001-08:00

Time is wasted by being bored. Find someone to share the love with today. It will propell your tomorrow!

2010-12-09T23:40:00.001-08:00

These Holidays make me envision a world void of the selfishness and self centeredness that is rampant in our world today. God bless all!

2010-11-05T09:47:00.001-07:00

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody."
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2010-09-09T07:31:00.001-07:00

Easton launches 2nd novel worldwide on Sept 13! Amazon booksellers cataloging novel now! To purchase go to http://ping.fm/aMCjY

EASTON'S NOVEL SURRENDER LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE

2010-09-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Easton’s novel Surrender reveals the truth behind the false beliefs and fantasies of her main character. This story is of one woman's struggle to overcome her torturous past and begin to believe beyond anything she was capable of imagining. Our main character, Beverly, is a young newly married woman in desperate search of the love she had never received. Easton introduces Luke as Beverly’s husband. Luke is a charismatic gentleman who wins Beverly’s affections easily. Soon after marriage however, Beverly learns that her unwillingness to trust him implicitly, leaves him enraged and confused. A tumultuous relationship ensues. Love triangle innuendos and accusations fly until Beverly’s friend gives them a gift that will forever change the course of their relationship. The reality is that in marriage, sometimes love is not enough. Easton explores the possibility that true happiness comes through forgiveness. Surrender is a brilliant novel that is something every young woman who believes in happily ever after should read.

Easton created an intensely optimistic viewpoint of a realistic, yet dramatic story with twists and intense sub-plots sure to keep the reader engrossed!

Rebecca Easton comments:

“I fell hook, line and sinker for the illusion that men would ‘take care of me,’” confesses Easton. “I wrote this novel as a process to uncover a simple truth that all young girls must face—you must believe in something greater than yourself. You must have solid values in which to build your life. If you allow someone to have control over your life, that someone will make your choices for you, and probably not in your best interest. When I blindly searched for my fantasized love and nothing else, I fell into the arms of unscrupulous men. They came to my rescue, but always for their own gain.”

Ms. Easton tours the US attending seminars for women of all ages to inspire and encourage women to have a positive approach to their own happiness. Easton believes strongly that if given encouragement and hope any woman can find that inner peace. It's in that inner peace where women come to forgiveness. "It's in forgiveness where we learn to share the love with others." Says Easton and then she quoted Country POP Star Martina McBride, "After all, love is the only house big enough for all the pain in the world."

Easton is affiliated with the National Mentoring Program. To learn more about locations and if Ms. Easton will be in your town soon, please contact her through the contact page. Thank you.

2010-08-13T06:50:00.001-07:00

When you have a conflict with someone you have to see every day how do you handle it and does the way you handle it reflect who you are as a person or who you are at work? Do you change who you are for the people around you

2010-08-10T06:49:00.001-07:00

The intellectual decision of determining our present and our future is held in only one hand. Yours! ~Rebecca Easton

Caption from "Surrender" a Novel by Rebecca Easton

2010-05-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

……..
I heard shouting like I’d never known before. Not even in the blood curdling screams of my maternal parent just before she’d inflict her blow when I was a young girl. My ears pounded with the frightening tone that bellowed through our house. I did not recognize the noise as coming from any adult I knew, but I suspected it was from my husband. I searched the house feverishly trying to find out what had happened.

I saw him standing there in a small secondary bedroom. His face was turned away from me. He looked out of a window that seemed so bright with sunshine that my eyes hurt. I stood there in the doorway watching for a moment wondering what had taken place. I whispered, “Are you alright?”

He spun so furiously that his arms knocked against the blinds covering the window and all of the sudden the room had partial shade. I could barely see his eyes but I knew they met mine when he stopped, because his whole body went taunt and rigid. I’d seen this maneuver before. It usually meant that whomever the human was in front of me, I was about to sustain their unleashed fury. I stepped back.

To my amazement he didn’t move. He whispered, “I cannot do this anymore.” His head didn’t lower. His body did not shift. He remained a cold lifeless statue.

We stood our ground for what seemed a lifetime, but in mere seconds his arms raised with fists clenched tightly up into the air. “Why!” He screamed. “I cannot do this anymore!” The words did not seem to have any calming effect whatsoever, nor was the burst of the scream attached to them.

He lowered his hands as he stared at the fists he made. His head rose to look in my direction. His fists dropped to the side of his body and he came at me with the most brisk of walk crossing the gap between us in an instant. I hadn’t any time to step backwards. I held my breath and closed my eyes as I felt a powerful surge of air past by me. When I opened them back up he wasn’t anywhere within the vicinity.

Cautiously I walked around corners and through all my other secondary bedrooms in search of him. I went to the den, and the dining room and then into the kitchen. There he was with his arms stretched out and both his hands firmly gripping the kitchen counter tops as he stood beside them. I didn’t say anything. I just stood there partially behind the wall looking at him. My presence seemed to give him the authority to engage further in the fury that was obviously brewing deep inside. This time, however, he did not look in my direction nor did he validate my presence. In a moment of time he’d slammed both his fists into the granite counter tops. Again the next moment repeated over and over until the soft skin that covered the knuckles began to bleed.

He began to shout but the blood rage had taken over and between his rage and my fear I couldn’t understand what could have happened that was so bad? I knew my children to be sleeping soundly in their beds. It was late in the afternoon and I hadn’t heard of any tragedy when he arrived home early from work. Even though I was fearful of whatever this pain was doing to him I was confused as to what had brought it upon us that evening. I wanted desperately to help him stop hurting his hands, but I knew that if I walked one step in the midst of all that pounding, I would end up the body bleeding. So I watched.

He became weary with his furious punching and within minutes his legs gave way allowing him to kneel on the tiles of the kitchen floor. His enraged fury seemed to be calming more into anger. My lips pursed as I wondered what my next move should be. Still I did not move.

His bloody arms and fists wrapped around his stomach as though the pain of his torment lie deep within the depths of his body. Then he looked at me with wide frightened eyes. Our eyes locked and his filled with tears. In an instant the tears had blocked his site and flowed uncontrollably down his cheek. Upon doing so they broke our stare. He looked up at the bloody counter and hit the cabinets below because the blood had drizzled down staining them too. He got up, walked in the den and sat down on the floor in a calm quiet fashion. Almost too surreal to know that moments ago he possessed a rage so powerful that he’d hurt his livelihood.

Again, I peered around the corner after following him to watch and make sure he was calm enough to approach. When he looked up at me from the floor his calmness was not reassuring. I’d seen the coldness of that stare before. I had not given him the release he so desperately craved by keeping my distance, and I knew deep in the pit of my soul that I was the reason. Yet I had no idea what I had done that could have been so profoundly wounding. I said “What is it. What have I done?”

He whispered through tightly controlled lips, “What? You don’t know?”

My eyes blinked confused, my mind raced for anything that could explain his rage, but none of my actions could remotely be accused of this cause. I answered softly, “No. I have no idea.”

He fell backwards furiously and then tossed side to side like a demon had possessed his body. He was crying so loudly that I could barely hear the faint calls of my daughter. Terrified for her safety and well being my maternal instincts kicked in. I shouted to him, “You’ve woken her! Stop this and I mean now!”

He stopped. He calmed and he looked up at me. In the blink of one of his tear stained eyes, he was on his feet. The gap between us was crossed and he was standing over me with a fury I’d only ever seen in my mother’s eyes. I should have been afraid. I should have been warned, but all I felt was the rage of my own welling up inside me. “You need to stop.” I firmly stated.

“Stop what? You did this? How do you like me now? Is this what you wanted?” He said while waving his bloody hands everywhere.

“You’re getting your blood everywhere. Come on, sit down and let’s talk about it.” I insisted. I walked to the couch and sat down as a measure of good faith to calm him further.

It worked exactly the opposite. His rage exploded and before I knew it I was up off the couch and we were nose to nose again. In that instant I knew that if I did not say something to him to get him to realize his blood rage had completely taken over him I knew I wouldn’t be able to. I knew that my life was about to change in an instant and I understood deep in the pit of my despair that I would kill him if he struck me. I screamed, “You want a piece of me? You think you’re tough? You son of a bitch, men who are bigger than you have stuck me. You’d better make damn sure that if you pull that trigger, I better be unconscious because you have to sleep sometime. And the authorities will never find your body!” I looked dead into his ice cold eyes and I whispered, “I mean it.”

He shook. His eyes jolted from mine. He stepped back. He backed up. He composed what was left of his mind and his eyes softened. He blinked over and over and then said, “Whoa, calm down.”

I shook my head dazed and confused. I tried desperately to calm my own rage as he seemed to be getting a handle on his own. He paced around the coffee table while I stood shaking uncontrollably. Then he walked over to me and put his hands firmly on my face. “I’m sorry.” He whispered.

My eyes were wild with fear and shock from what had just happened. I pushed his hands away, and walked to the hallway where I needed to check on my crying daughter. I kept one eye over my shoulder out for him, because that night I learned he couldn’t be trusted.
……..

2010-05-01T07:47:00.001-07:00

Live life today with the knowledge that you are so very welcomed to everlasting love and joy. Choose it. He gave that right to you! http://ping.fm/PwtDR

Jesus referes to God as "His Father."

2010-04-29T09:34:00.001-07:00

Matthew 23:9
"Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven."

Matthew 3:9
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Psalm 2:7
The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.

Acts 13:32-33
32 And we declare unto you, that the promise which was made to our fathers,
33 This same God hath fulfilled to our children, raising up Jesus, as in the second psalm also is written: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Psalm 89:26-28
27 He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.
28 And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.

Isaiah 9:6
For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 64:8
8 And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.

Jeremiah 3:4
Therefore at least at this time call to me: Thou art my father, the guide of my virginity:

Jeremiah 3:19
But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt cease to walk after me.

Matthew 5:16
So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:45
That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.

Matthew 5:48
Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 6:1
Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:4
That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee

Matthew 6:6
But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

Matthew 6:8
Be not you therefore like to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him.

Matthew 6:9
Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Matthew 6:14
For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your
offences.

Matthew 6:15
But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.

Matthew 6:18
That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.

Matthew 6:26
Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?

Matthew 6:32
For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

Matthew 7:11
If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 10:20
For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.

Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father.

Matthew 10:32
Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:33
But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.

Matthew 11:26
Yea, Father; for so hath it seemed good in thy sight.

Matthew 11:27
All things are delivered to me by my Father. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him.

Matthew 12:50
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Matthew 13:43
Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 15:13
But he answering them, said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

Matthew 16:17
And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:10
See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:14
Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18:19
Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:35
So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.

Matthew 20:23
He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.

Matthew 23:9
And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.

Matthew 24:36
But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone.

Matthew 25:34
Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 26:39
And going a little further, he fell upon his face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Matthew 26:42
Again the second time, he went and prayed, saying: My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, thy will be done.

Matthew 26:53
Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 28:19
Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Mark 8:38
For he that shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation: the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Mark 11:25
And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have aught against any man; that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins.

Mark 13:32
But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.

Mark 14:36
And he saith: Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chalice from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Luke 6:36
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Luke 9:26
For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels.

Luke 10:21
In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.

Luke 10:22
All things are delivered to me by my Father; and no one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and to whom the Son will reveal him.

Luke 11:2
And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.

Luke 11:13
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

Luke 12:30
For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.

Luke 15:18
I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:

Luke 22:29
And I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom;

Luke 22:42
Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.

Luke 23:34
And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But they, dividing his garments, cast lots.

Luke 23:46
And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.

Luke 24:49
And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high.

John 3:35
The Father loveth the Son: and he hath given all things into his hand.

John 4:21
Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe me, that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, not in Jerusalem, adore the Father.

John 4:23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him.

John 5:17
But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work.

John 5:18
Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God.

John 5:19
Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner.

John 5:20
For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.

John 5:21
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will.

John 5:22
For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son.

John 5:23
That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him.

John 5:26
For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given the Son also to have life in himself:

John 5:36
But I have a greater testimony than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to perfect; the works themselves, which I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me.

John 5:37
And the Father himself who hath sent me, hath given testimony of me: neither have you heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

John 5:45
Think not that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust.

John 6:27
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you. For him hath God, the Father, sealed.

John 6:32
Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

John 6:37
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out.
John 6:40
And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day.

John 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day.

John 6:45
It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.

John 6:46
Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father.

John 6:57 DR58
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.

John 6:65 DR66
And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.

John 8:16
And if I do judge, my judgment is true: because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

John 8:18
I am one that give testimony of myself: and the Father that sent me giveth testimony of me.

John 8:19
They said therefore to him: Where is thy Father? Jesus answered: Neither me do you know, nor my Father: if you did know me, perhaps you would know my Father also.

John 8:27
And they understood not, that he called God his Father.

John 8:28
Jesus therefore said to them: When you shall have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know, that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father hath taught me, these things I
speak:

John 8:42
Jesus therefore said to them: If God were your Father, you would indeed love me. For from God I proceeded, and came; for I came not of myself, but he sent me:

John 8:49
Jesus answered: I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me.

John 8:54
Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God.

John 10:15
As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep.

John 10:17
Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

John 10:18
No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 10:29
That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father.

John 10:30
I and the Father are one.

John 10:32
Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me?

John 10:36
Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?

John 10:37
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

John 10:38
But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

John 11:41
They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me.

John 12:26
If any man minister to me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my minister be. If any man minister to me, him will my Father honour.

John 12:28
Father, glorify thy name. A voice therefore came from heaven: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

John 12:49
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak.

John 12:50
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. The things therefore that I speak, even as the Father said unto me, so do I speak.

John 13:1
Before the festival day of the pasch, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

John 13:3
Knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and goeth to God;

John 14:6
Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.

John 14:7
If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him.

John 14:8
Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.

John 14:9
Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?

John 14:10
Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works.

John 14:11
Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?

John 14:12
Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do.

John 14:13
Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:16
And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you
for ever.

John 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:23
Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.

John 14:24
He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father's who sent me.

John 14:26
But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.

John 14:28
You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.

John 14:31
But that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father hath given me
commandment, so do I: Arise, let us go hence.

John 15:1
I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman.

John 15:8
In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples.

John 15:9
As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.

John 15:15
I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

John 15:16
You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

John 15:23
He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.

John 15:24
If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.

John 15:26
But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me.

John 16:3
And these things will they do to you; because they have not known the Father, nor me.

John 16:10
And of justice: because I go to the Father; and you shall see me no longer.

John 16:15
All things whatsoever the Father hath, are mine. Therefore I said, that he shall receive of mine, and shew it to you.

John 16:23
And in that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.

John 16:25
These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will shew you plainly of the Father.

John 16:26
In that day you shall ask in my name; and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you:

John 16:27
For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

John 16:28
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father.

John 16:32
Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

John 17:1
These things Jesus spoke, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee.

John 17:5
And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with thee.

John 17:11
And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are.

John 17:21
That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

John 17:24
Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me; that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world.

John 17:25
Just Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee: and these have known that thou hast sent me.

John 18:11
Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

John 20:17
Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.

John 20:21
He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.

Acts 1:4
And eating together with them, he commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard (saith he) by my mouth.

Acts 1:7
But he said to them: It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in his own power:

Acts 2:33
Being exalted therefore by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this which you see and hear.

Romans 1:7
To all that are at Rome, the beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:4
For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.

Romans 8:15
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father).

Romans 15:6
That with one mind, and with one mouth, you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:3
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 8:6
Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1 Corinthians 15:24
Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue.

2 Corinthians 1:2
Grace unto you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

2 Corinthians 11:31
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not.

Galatians 1:1
Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead,

Galatians 1:3
Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 1:4
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father:

Galatians 4:6
And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba,
Father.

Ephesians 1:2
Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ:

Ephesians 1:17
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him:

Ephesians 2:18
For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 3:14
For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father:

Ephesians 6:23
Peace be to the brethren and charity with faith, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2
Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:11
And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 4:20
Now to God and our Father be glory world without end. Amen.

Colossians 1:2 DR3
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, who are at Colossa.
3 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

Colossians 1:12
Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light:

Colossians 3:17
All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

1 Thessalonians 1:1
Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy: to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:3
Being mindful of the work of your faith, and labour, and charity, and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father:

1 Thessalonians 3:11
Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.

1 Thessalonians 3:13
To confirm your hearts without blame, in holiness, before God and our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 1:1
Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:2
Grace unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians DR 2:15-16
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hathloved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope in grace,

1 Timothy 1:2
To Timothy, his beloved son in faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:2
To Timothy my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

Titus 1:4
To Titus my beloved son, according to the common faith, grace and peace from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Savior.

Philemon 3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:5
For to which of the angels hath he said at any time, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee?

And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Hebrews 2:11
For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one [Father]. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying:

Hebrews 12:9
Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh, for instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live?

James 1:17
Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration.

James 1:27
Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.

James 3:9
By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

1 Peter 1:2
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, unto the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:17
And if you invoke as Father him who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every one's work: converse in fear during the time of your sojourning here.

2 Peter 1:17
For he received from God the Father, honour and glory: this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

1 John 1:2
For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us:

1 John 1:3
That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:1
My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just:

1 John 2:14
I write unto you, babes, because you have known the Father. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

1 John 2:15
Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:22
Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father, and the Son.

1 John 2:23
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also.

1 John 2:24
As for you, let that which you have heard from the beginning, abide in you. If that abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning, you also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.

1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth not us, because it knew not him.

1 John 4:14
And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.

2 John 3
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus the Son of the Father; in truth and charity.

2 John 4
I was exceeding glad, that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a
commandment from the Father.

2 John 9
Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that
continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son.

Jude 1
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James: to them that are beloved in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.

Apocalypse 1:6
And hath made us a kingdom, and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

Apocalypse 2:28
As I also have received of my Father: and I will give him the morning star.

Apocalypse 3:5
He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Apocalypse 3:21
To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

2010-04-29T06:39:00.001-07:00

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How Did the Trinity Doctrine Develop?

2010-04-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

“If the Trinity is not a Biblical teaching, how did it become a doctrine of Christendom?' Many think that it was formulated at the Council of Nicaea.

That is not totally correct, however. The Council of Nicaea did assert that Christ was of the same substance as God, which laid the groundwork for later Trinitarian theology. But it did not establish the Trinity, for at that council there was no mention of the holy spirit as the third person of a triune Godhead.

Constantine's Role at Nicaea
FOR many years, there had been much opposition on Biblical grounds to the developing idea that Jesus was God. To try to solve the dispute, Roman emperor Constantine summoned all bishops to Nicaea. About 300, a fraction of the total, actually attended.

Constantine was not a Christian. Supposedly, he converted later in life, but he was not baptized until he lay dying. Regarding him, Henry Chadwick says in The Early Church: "Constantine, like his father, worshipped the Unconquered Sun; . . . his conversion should not be interpreted as an inward experience of grace . . . It was a military matter. His comprehension of Christian doctrine was never very clear, but he was sure that victory in battle lay in the gift of the God of the Christians."

What role did this unbaptized emperor play at the Council of Nicaea? The Encyclopædia Britannica relates: "Constantine himself presided, actively guiding the discussions, and personally proposed . . . the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ to God in the creed issued by the council, 'of one substance with the Father' . . . Overawed by the emperor, the bishops, with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them much against their inclination."

Hence, Constantine's role was crucial. After two months of furious religious debate, this pagan politician intervened and decided in favor of those who said that Jesus was God. But why? Certainly not because of any Biblical conviction. "Constantine had basically no understanding whatsoever of the questions that were being asked in Greek theology," says A Short History of Christian Doctrine. What he did understand was that religious division was a threat to his empire, and he wanted to solidify his domain.

None of the bishops at Nicaea promoted a Trinity, however. They decided only the nature of Jesus but not the role of the holy spirit. If a Trinity had been a clear Bible truth, should they not have proposed it at that time?

Further Development
AFTER Nicaea, debates on the subject continued for decades. Those who believed that Jesus was not equal to God even came back into favor for a time. But later Emperor Theodosius decided against them. He established the creed of the Council of Nicaea as the standard for his realm and convened the Council of Constantinople in 381 C.E. to clarify the formula.

That council agreed to place the holy spirit on the same level as God and Christ. For the first time, Christendom's Trinity began to come into focus.

Yet, even after the Council of Constantinople, the Trinity did not become a widely accepted creed. Many opposed it and thus brought on themselves violent persecution. It was only in later centuries that the Trinity was formulated into set creeds. The Encyclopedia Americana notes: "The full development of Trinitarianism took place in the West, in the Scholasticism of the Middle Ages, when an explanation was undertaken in terms of philosophy and psychology."

The Athanasian Creed
The Trinity was defined more fully in the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius was a clergyman who supported Constantine at Nicaea. The creed that bears his name declares: "We worship one God in Trinity . . . The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are not three gods, but one God."

Well-informed scholars agree, however, that Athanasius did not compose this creed. The New Encyclopædia Britannica comments: "The creed was unknown to the Eastern Church until the 12th century. Since the 17th century, scholars have generally agreed that the Athanasian Creed was not written by Athanasius (died 373) but was probably composed in southern France during the 5th century. . . . The creed's influence seems to have been primarily in southern France and Spain in the 6th and 7th centuries. It was used in the liturgy of the church in Germany in the 9th century and somewhat later in Rome."

So it took centuries from the time of Christ for the Trinity to become widely accepted in Christendom. And in all of this, what guided the decisions? Was it the Word of God, or was it clerical and political considerations? In Origin and Evolution of Religion, E. W. Hopkins answers: "The final orthodox definition of the trinity was largely a matter of church politics."

Apostasy Foretold
THIS disreputable history of the Trinity fits in with what Jesus and his apostles foretold would follow their time. They said that there would be an apostasy, a deviation, a falling away from true worship until Christ's return, when true worship would be restored before God's day of destruction of this system of things.

Regarding that "day," the apostle Paul said: "It will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed." (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7) Later, he foretold: "When I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them." (Acts 20:29, 30, JB) Other disciples of Jesus also wrote of this apostasy with its 'lawless' clergy class.—See, for example, 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude 3, 4.

Paul also wrote: "The time is sure to come when, far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths."—2 Timothy 4:3, 4, JB.

Jesus himself explained what was behind this falling away from true worship. He said that he had sowed good seeds but that the enemy, Satan, would oversow the field with weeds. So along with the first blades of wheat, the weeds appeared also. Thus, a deviation from pure Christianity was to be expected until the harvest, when Christ would set matters right. (Matthew 13:24-43) The Encyclopedia Americana comments: "Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching." Where, then, did this deviation originate?—1 Timothy 1:6.

What Influenced It
THROUGHOUT the ancient world, as far back as Babylonia, the worship of pagan gods grouped in threes, or triads, was common. That influence was also prevalent in Egypt, Greece, and Rome in the centuries before, during, and after Christ. And after the death of the apostles, such pagan beliefs began to invade Christianity.

Historian Will Durant observed: "Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity." And in the book Egyptian Religion, Siegfried Morenz notes: "The trinity was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologians. Three gods are combined and treated as a single being, addressed in the singular. In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with Christian theology."

Thus, in Alexandria, Egypt, churchmen of the late third and early fourth centuries, such as Athanasius, reflected this influence as they formulated ideas that led to the Trinity. Their own influence spread, so that Morenz considers "Alexandrian theology as the intermediary between the Egyptian religious heritage and Christianity."

In the preface to Edward Gibbon's History of Christianity, we read: "If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism of the first Christians was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief."

A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge notes that many say that the Trinity "is a corruption borrowed from the heathen religions, and ingrafted on the Christian faith." And The Paganism in Our Christianity declares: "The origin of the [Trinity] is entirely pagan."

That is why, in the Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings wrote: "In Indian religion, e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahma, Siva, and Visnu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Nor is it only in historical religions that we find God viewed as a Trinity. One recalls in particular the Neo-Platonic view of the Supreme or Ultimate Reality," which is "triadically represented." What does the Greek philosopher Plato have to do with the Trinity?

Platonism
PLATO, it is thought, lived from 428 to 347 before Christ. While he did not teach the Trinity in its present form, his philosophies paved the way for it. Later, philosophical movements that included triadic beliefs sprang up, and these were influenced by Plato's ideas of God and nature.
The French Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel (New Universal Dictionary) says of Plato's influence: "The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. This Greek philosopher's conception of the divine trinity can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions."

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge shows the influence of this Greek philosophy: "The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy. That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied."

The Church of the First Three Centuries says: "The doctrine of the Trinity was of gradual and comparatively late formation; it had its origin in a source entirely foreign from that of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; it grew up, and was ingrafted on Christianity, through the hands of the Platonizing Fathers."

By the end of the third century C.E., "Christianity" and the new Platonic philosophies became inseparably united. As Adolf Harnack states in Outlines of the History of Dogma, church doctrine became "firmly rooted in the soil of Hellenism [pagan Greek thought]. Thereby it became a mystery to the great majority of Christians."

The church claimed that its new doctrines were based on the Bible. But Harnack says: "In reality it legitimized in its midst the Hellenic speculation, the superstitious views and customs of pagan mystery-worship."

In the book A Statement of Reasons, Andrews Norton says of the Trinity: "We can trace the history of this doctrine, and discover its source, not in the Christian revelation, but in the Platonic philosophy . . . The Trinity is not a doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but a fiction of the school of the later Platonists."

Thus, in the fourth century C.E., the apostasy foretold by Jesus and the apostles came into full bloom. Development of the Trinity was just one evidence of this. The apostate churches also began embracing other pagan ideas, such as hellfire, immortality of the soul, and idolatry. Spiritually speaking, Christendom had entered its foretold dark ages, dominated by a growing "man of lawlessness" clergy class.—2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7.

WHY, for thousands of years, did none of God's prophets teach his people about the Trinity? At the latest, would Jesus not use his ability as the Great Teacher to make the Trinity clear to his followers? Would God inspire hundreds of pages of Scripture and yet not use any of this instruction to teach the Trinity if it were the "central doctrine" of faith?

Are Christians to believe that centuries after Christ and after having inspired the writing of the Bible, God would back the formulation of a doctrine that was unknown to his servants for thousands of years, one that is an "inscrutable mystery" "beyond the grasp of human reason," one that admittedly had a pagan background and was "largely a matter of church politics"?

The testimony of history is clear: The Trinity teaching is a deviation from the truth, an apostatizing from it.”

This lesson is copied in part off the Christian sites that I refer to for my information on subjects. To get the full content of the information please visit: http://www.biblemaster.com/bible/search.asp or http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_04.htm

2010-04-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

A man reminded me today that I have several separate pictures on the web and that those pictures were not all similar. His announcement was followed with the statement that he “didn’t know who I was because I looked unique in each of the photos.” I sat back and wondered what he could have possibly concluded the rebuttal to be, “I feel deceived.”

I perused the photos on celebrity gossip pages to see if their photos too, appeared different, sure enough each starlet or actor had multiple photos and although they all sort of looked like them, they had real photos, silly photos, bad hair day photos and such. I began to laugh out loud.

I wonder why on earth a man would expect me to look the same in each photo? On the beach, as in my “personal Rebecca page” for family and friends who cannot stomach the religious quotes I put on my Easton page; I am at a beach. Clearly I will not wear makeup if I intend to swim. Yes, I conclude that I look different. And I am glad that without makeup I do.

On my writing page “Rebecca Easton” I have a public profile which houses one photo I took in a long red dress. I love that photo because it is exactly me if I could wake every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It’s who I inspire to be. It’s furious, passionate, sexy, and all the things captured in a moment in time that have to do with my physical beauty. One day the outer appearance will betray what is inside so yes, that picture is a formal taken of me and I love it.

The “Matheis-Easton” page was originally designated as my writing page, but as I had to make a living with mortgages, and Real Estate, I concluded somewhere at 500+ friends that I required a fan page designated only for my novels. On this page however, I could write about how I felt. I could include scripture and I could include sentiment, and all that about the novel as well. It became one big huge encumber some page that houses the most incredible responses, and day-to-day encouragement. I am so passionate about it that it shows in the numbers as they increase into the 3000+ range. I am impressed and yes, my picture is different. It was taken the exact same day I took the picture in my red dress. So while I am in a different outfit, my makeup and hair are exactly the same. Just with a different angle.

Many of you know that I find men confusing. I find people in general confusing. Why on earth would someone go to such lengths to post on their FB page about me, that I am deceiving because I have three separate photos with which two are almost identical in face and structure? Why on earth does it bother me so much to think I have offended someone without malice?

Is having three pages to separate my life into my circles of influence so wrong? I wish so much that my family would enjoy my reading, or my scripture or even my deepest thoughts, but they don’t. And I am abandoned if I do not create a separate page for my personal photos. One that I am not allowed to actually posting on unless it is positive and warm for them. The criticism is fraught from expectations that one in real life could not possibly possess. I created that page, I suggested it to my family, they joined and I rarely visit it.

The other two pages are exactly what FB wants us to do. One is of me and how real my life, love, work, kids are while the other, is solely for my writing. I am clear on each of them what I want to accomplish and how I feel. None of that to me, is deceiving. But heck you tell me.

J.J.

2010-04-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

He’s happy and grateful all the time. He’s concrete and serious, yet whimsical and funny. He’s “can you wash this or iron that, Mom.” He’s a softly whispered hello early in the morning. He’s “don’t wake me up” and “I can do it myself.” He’s a young man my teen.

He asks me to let him do it, and to show me how. The desire to care for me, even when he hasn’t learned how. He’s stepped up to the plate and smiled along the way. He’s forgiving in nature as he has had to so often. He’s “I love you” and “I need you” but not “I’m scared for afraid.” He is “when I grow up” and I love that about him.

He saves the world, and cries for the hungry. His intellect is evident and he carries the weight of all those underdogs who comes before him. He’s “I can do it,” and “watch me Mom.” He jumps in when the frustration peeks, he’s the protector for mild and weak.

My amazing man who I sang to as a babe, about how the world it’d love him one day. I was wrong don’t you see, for it is God who loves him as much as me. He’s protected and cherished without condition, it’s fraught with love and admiration.

He’s defiant and vigorous, he’s accepting and pleasing, he’s witty and charming, and he’s passionate and powerful. Inspired by modern day Hero’s he copies and emulates.

My teen young man is more like me than I want to admit. He’s the “I don’t need for myself but please care for others.” He’s the I am okay and the it’ll be fine. He’s what I love and breath to see each and every single day. I anticipate him coming home, just to hear the latest, and realize how much I think my son the greatest.

I wonder often if he could ever really see, how much so many of the things he accomplishes so pleases me. I worry that life has taken its toll when he learns of those who are evil and wrong. A man carries so much worry on his back, and my son too shall follow that pact.

He’s “don’t put words in my mouth” and “mean what you say.” He’s righteous and strong as he claims the duties of the day. He’s fresh as sunshine, and mellow as rain. He’s all these things swelled up in the love that I know he owns wrapped over a heart as big as the sky. He’s questions and concern and for that I am grateful, when I watch this teen man become so capable.

For him I give my all, I pray that never may he fall on the despair of the world, but keep his inner peace and charm to give it to his own born. I love without end, without condition nor fear, for a little while I have his childhood to bear. I am reminded how quickly and soon that will end and that someday my young man will be grown.

Beth

2010-04-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

She wakes up happy and smiles as she asks me to zip her dress. The one she borrowed from my closet. The one she added her special touches to, and the very one that I am not supposed to notice is mine nor am I supposed to say anything about the fact that once a long time ago, I almost looked as good as she does standing there in front of me. She twirls in front of the mirror adoring the image she sees. I am reminded that I too once felt that awe inspiring self admiration for my physical appearance, and then just as fleeting as that memory is, it’s gone when I realize it’s her time to shine now.

I smile knowingly, wondering if she’ll ever feel as old as I feel when I look at her perfectly moist and clear skin, her hourglass figure, and her shiny long mane of brown hair. Will she ever ache when she stands or look down at the brown spots on her hands and regret that she hadn’t taken her youth for granted?

There’s no love imaginable more than that of a mother’s love for her child. With a simple giggle, and spin she turns to leave. She picks up her keys, and announces how much she loves me more, as she gather’s her brother hurriedly and heads out the door. I miss her the moment she’s gone.

There are those rare and precious moments when her grittiness softens even her brother’s heart. For he is aware of her easily navigation through relationships as he suffers the inability to understand other’s intentions. Even he can be so pleased by her dancing about as she excitedly tells him her latest conquest, and I wonder if she knows how much she is actually teaching him about his future wife?

Her wisdom surpasses her youth, as she is able to be genuine to all those she knows. She’s forthright and courageous in a world void of boundaries and respect. It matters not what other’s do as she is fraught with the understanding that her life as this teen is temporary and will not nor could not begin until she is actually adult. She’s confidence in motion wrapped in beauty and elegance.

My teenage daughter is as necessary as the breath I take each morning. She’s emotionally convicted to do the absolute best, and for that she is admirable. She’s the hug I wish I had each morning, the tug at my heart each evening. She tells me about her day as I watch her explain the world through her eyes. Innocent and completely adoring I listen to her speak. I recall a distance memory of those similar thoughts of my own. I wonder if she’ll ever remember how important it is to keep her childlike innocence?

I give unto her everything I possess. All that I can without condition until the end of time and I suppose I always will. The love I have is not earned from her it is freely given to secure her sense of self. Its my gift so that she will always conceive that someone in the world will love her no matter her choices, nor her mistakes, or no matters of the heart that might not be righteous.

I rejoice in the splendor of all the good that she is. I am constantly reminded that each morning breaks a new beginning. Her hope, her tenacity, her attitude is more than admirable; it is paramount that I take notice of it as I beg for it to be my own. She dances through life so effortlessly that it is awfully inspiring to watch. I am reminded that I am powerfully grateful to be given a gift such as her in return.

wierd that I have to do this

2010-04-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

Follow this blog

2010-04-20T20:29:00.001-07:00

"Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything."-- Mary Hemingway

2010-04-06T13:21:00.001-07:00

Changing the expectations from "unbelievable" to "incredible" because I care...and I LOVE what I do. Assisting other's to make their financial goals a reality?! It's what life is all about...doin for someone else! Truly Blessed. http://ping.fm/o1LUU

2010-04-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

I suppose that I should be writing journal entries instead of being up so late on a pc.

I've felt joy in the last weeks. Absolute without a doubt joy and for the first time in many months. Maybe even longer than that if I were honest with myself. I found this joy by a renewed focus on the promise of God. Knowing what is going to happen to me when this short life is over seems peaceful to me. Understanding the trinity and all that it implies is somewhat freeing. The confusion stopped. The world began to make sense and I felt that I had in fact achieved a small molecule of hope. My hope this past decade was to be, no it was to feel love.

Why do I follow the Lord? I thought about this question all day, and I cannot really tell you more than I already have in this entry. God is the truth. The answer, the clarity and for me, at least, an awe inspiring spirit of love that I cannot dream of conceiving. A perfect being who loved me enough to create me, enough to coach me, enough to protect me, enough to give me what I want despite I do not and will never appreciate it and loved me enough to forgive me for not understanding the incredible gift that life in of its own is miraculous! The thought of eternal life is exquisite. It’s unbelievably hard to imagine that a spirit or a man or a God could have that much unconditional love for …me.

I am reminded that people can be cruel and disappointing. Today that lesson is ringing in my ears so loud I know it is the deceiver and I am powerless to do anything about it, because as you see, my “trigger” to my emotional destruction is rejection. Yes, I had a over-critical, boundryless upbringing with the crucial projection of violence on a regular basis making it impossible for me to trust anyone let alone trust the core, the reason, the problem which was …me.

I am grown. I can tell myself that to feel such things is idiotic. To listen to the whispers is a test. It’s my subconscious trying to rule my conscious. I can turn. I can negotiate a settlement with myself that truly outlines my best interest. I can think in my head all day long about how completely insane it is to concentrate on the fact that people continue to disappoint me and frankly I just need to do so.

But as a human in this world, living in it, searching through it, enduring the tremendous pain from all the worldly lessons, it is my greatest belief that we as humans seek no more than pure and unconditional “acceptance” and that is not something we will obtain from our Lord nor will we from the humans of this worldly place we call home. I am bound to forever crave what it feels like to actually receive love. In that craving I find small tiny pieces of truth that I am worth more than the dialog that I have been given and the same that continues to plague my subconscious without my expressed permission, slowly begin to repair the damaged soul inside.

But today, here, now, in the pit of my own rejection I wonder if I will ever truly be whole again. Will I ever really have the courage to define my life with conviction or will this curse of confusion follow me until I have made a decision so drastic that it will ultimately be my undoing?

2010-03-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Live life today with all the joy and abundance that God gives us. Be mindful of the great gifts bestowed upon you. http://ping.fm/E2BbW

2010-03-26T10:32:00.001-07:00

TGIF For sure! Tests coming up, kids that are sick, company that needs my time, packing that needs accomplished, worries about the US, stresses of my friends. I just need a break! http://ping.fm/fUKBx

2010-03-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

Job 5:12 - He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. I have been approached so many times for such horrible schemes to render me penniless while someone with no conscious runs off with my hard earned money and the old saying still holds true today! "If it sounds TOO GOOD to be TRUE it usually is!" http://ping.fm/xnBm2

2010-03-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

A whole week and have writer's block. Too much to fit into the timeframe and kids to get done. What to do? http://ping.fm/lCupv ??

2010-03-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

Before you are tempted to criticize or oppose something that looks different from your past experience, ask God for wisdom and discernment. Examine why you might be tempted to oppose it. The Lord cannot be put in a box. He delights in doing things in ways that may not fit our former paradigms. Nehemiah 6:14

2010-03-16T16:37:00.001-07:00

FAV Author! Check me out! www.rebeccaeaston.com

2010-03-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

Has God given you a vision that is yet unfulfilled? If that vision is born of God, He will raise it up in His own way. Do not try to raise the vision in your own strength. Like Moses, who tried to fulfill the vision of freeing the Hebrews by killing the Egyptian, it will only fail. But wait on your heavenly Father to fulfill the vision. Then you will know that it was His vision when He fulfills it in the way only He can do. http://ping.fm/Kyw6w

2010-03-15T15:42:00.001-07:00

I am so thankful to be in such an awesome up and coming company who works as team. There is no "I" here and I love that! www.envoymortgage.com/lewisville. Check us out!

2010-03-12T09:55:00.001-08:00

"If you put all your strength and faith and vigor into a job and try to do the best you can, the money will come." -- Lawrence Welk http://ping.fm/RWnVq

2010-03-11T07:54:00.001-08:00

"Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others."
-- Audrey Hepburn http://ping.fm/W9hMq

2010-03-10T07:09:00.001-08:00

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year."-- John Foster Dulles http://ping.fm/9Hcy6?ref=search&sid=1389254371.2154381459..1

2010-03-08T14:28:00.001-08:00

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:12-13 - NIV

2010-03-08T05:28:00.001-08:00

Just because one does not engage in upfront notification when they know the outcome is explosive, does not mean that they are not grown; actually it means the opposite...they are too mature to engage in your adolescent tantrums.

2010-03-05T07:05:00.001-08:00

"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." -- Sir Winston Churchill http://ping.fm/lDRzn

2010-03-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

REQUEST FOR REALTOR/PROPERTY MANAGE IN OKLAHOMA...Need to refer business to Tulsa so please if you are a property manager there contact me immediately. I will be online searching for lead in the next hours so contact me immediatly if you're interested in making some quick cash!

2010-03-02T07:42:00.001-08:00

Okay I need help. Duh huh. Okay stop laughing! Seriously....geesh. Okay, my daughter is turning sweet 16 in 9 days and I have NO IDEA what to do to make this a memorable occassion. I cannot afford much now and I am stumped on ideas. So do you have any idea what we could do? Please provide those ideas? Please??? Thank you.

2010-03-01T07:37:00.001-08:00

Blessings....Beautiful weekend, walked dogs, cleaned house, worked a few mortgage deals, went out with gal pal, and shared with friends!

2010-02-27T07:40:00.001-08:00

"The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." -- Allan K. Chalmers
http://ping.fm/FqnqI

2010-02-26T12:28:00.001-08:00

"Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime."
-- W.E.B. Du Bois

2010-02-26T07:49:00.001-08:00

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow" -- writer and artist Mary Anne Radmacher

2010-02-25T09:56:00.001-08:00

Calling ALL Realtors on the Northshore by New Orleans. Have Referral! http://ping.fm/R6uxs

2010-02-25T07:39:00.001-08:00

It is important to understand that a pre-qualification letter is just an estimate of what you are eligible to borrow, not a commitment to lend. Get PRE-APPROVED with us today within 24 hours you will have your answer. Because we're a bank, we keep our promises and give you non-brokered wholesale rates.

2010-02-24T20:18:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to be using a PINGFM to post to all my FB, Twitter, Pages and Blog accounts. This is just so cool! Want info...contact me!

2010-01-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

In my twenty-seventh year, I was standing in front of my third major fork in my road. The crossroads became a familiar trail that I just hadn’t quite been able to avoid. I’d been living a life void of responsibility. In my youth, I felt I controlled my own life. I lived each and every day on my own terms. I never succumbed to the ways of traditionalism. I didn’t attend college. I hadn’t had a traditional family upbringing. I hadn’t known any sense of social rules in my whole life. I loved, lived and laughed outside of what I thought everyone on the planet considers normal American behavior.

My name is Beverly. Most of my intimate friends call me Bev. I am an extraordinarily introspective woman who has spent her whole life watching the world move in an entwined frivolity that I often feel like I just missed out on. Many times, I feel as though there are two completely different women living inside me. One of those personalities has so much confidence and tenacity that it appears to others as remarkably courageous. The other less-strong personality is pensive and remote; almost shy. Depending on any given situation, these two personalities, which have been formed due to my life experiences conflict, and usually without my consent.

Living my whole life with this inner turmoil has driven me to write journal entries about what I feel, what I see, touch, and taste. These scribbling are from what I have seen happen on a daily basis. Many have stated that my life is chaos in motion.

These are my stories. They're real, they're life and they're honest.

Love Languages

2009-12-30T12:50:00.001-08:00

I often find myself confused about people around me. For the record and foremost I must divulge the information that I am somewhat of a cynical relationship guru. Although most of my ego makeup swears that hope and love as the world has come to know it actually exists in humans, the intellectual part of me and the experience I've had simply regard this information as false. So I ponder often the implications of my own inner voice that is in direct conflict with the confusion that I am filled with from the actions of those who profess to love me and the very people that I spend the majority of my time with.

So in an effort to self analyze, I realize that I must take action to pursue the truth in how I receive love. I checked out that study "Love Languages," on the basis of fact from several of my Christian friends who believe it to be a viable source of information. What I found startled me. I thought I was a "Giver" and in giving and receiving found love but in all actuality I found that to be not so true.

My Love Language is Words of Affirmation. That surprised me. I'd known that Mark Twain once said “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Verbal appreciation speaks powerfully to persons whose primary Love Language is “Words of Affirmation.” Simple statements, such as, “You look great in that suit,” or “You must be the best baker in ...the world! I love your oatmeal cookies,” are sometimes all a person needs to hear to feel loved.

What does your heaven look like?

2009-12-07T14:45:00.001-08:00

Do you ever wonder what heaven will be like? According to Revelations (and I must admit for me it remains an un-read very scary book) I learned that in book 12 we will have a new earth. All of us on the earth as God has intended for us to have it. Us, without sin. All of us without the confusion. Can you just imagine what that would be like?

When I think about it and I have to admit I think about this subject probably a whole lot more than I should, I realize that I know so very little about that world. Then I have a thousand questions beginning with the one that started it all, “What so shall we do?” If it were us as Adam and Eve with a bountiful of blessings including food, security, comfort, and all that we require in the new world, in heaven if you will, then what will that look like? Will each of us have our own jobs?

I think about comparing it to the ants. Each of us having our own simple job and no one really ever knowing that there is supposed to be a leader. Each of us equal to the next. I kind of feel like that in my new job. I go in, I show up and I sit at my little cubicle all day doing exactly what I am told without a whole lot of thought to it at all. There’s no pass nor no fail. It’s just busy work and I’m good at it. I don’t talk to anyone and they certainly do not talk to me. We just bustle around each other looking and not judging, caring but not too much, and just being together until the clock strikes exactly 5:00 and then at 5:05 it’s a ghost town. I imagine heaven to be a benign existence of some sorts. Not knowing what we’re missing and each of us just doing our necessary jobs so one file can pass through to the next department before they throw it in the trash. It all just seems so …benign.

This is certainly not the most thought provoking blog that I’ve written about in a long time, but the fact that clearly I have an extra 15 minutes before my alarm at five sounds, I thought I’d sit down and jot a few lines about what heaven might be like?

I have heard people say that its milk and honey and everything you wanted. And that there will be great gifts and blessings for those who were kind. I think about that and I wonder if they know that they too are also human and with sin. After all, isn’t everyone kind at some point in their life? If the blessings run amuck for everyone that aren’t we all in some grandiose design of having our richest rewards? Is that what this life is all about? Somehow I don’t think so.

I’m curious how long it will take me to finish the book of revelations. After all, I never really gave it much thought until it became paramount that there is a heaven because never seeing my beloved children again is just not an option. It scares me. In fact it frightens me to no end. I’ve heard that just taking a class is about as benign as it can get because everyone keeps you pretty grounded, but I can tell you that some of the classes I’ve taken don’t necessarily mean the bible instructor really understands the bible. So do I read it myself? Interpret what I believe God himself wants me to know? I’d like to hear your thoughts on the simple rant of what heaven would be like and why? What have you learned that I have not been so blessed to obtain? I’m curious….what’s your heaven like?

2009-12-04T12:40:00.001-08:00

Keeping it “personal” and “passionate” this year! That’s my resolution to myself. Its okay to feel what I feel whether it be angry, fear, depression, grief or happiness and joy. Whatever emotion that comes to me I am allowed to let myself feel it and in that I need to embrace that I have the right to do so.

Easier said than done for people like me. I have a deep seeded need to kick myself especially when I’m down and subconsciously point out all the little imperfections that I seem to have to myself over and over until I just make myself sick about it. I am my own worst best friend and I know it.

My great gal pal said to me one day, “you have a right to feel angry. You just don’t have a right to be cruel.” That was all it took. A slap in the face just so swift and so directional that it made me pause because when I get angry I get downright mean about it. It’s not fair and when she said that the clear understanding that she was indeed right again. (It happens often) She pressed upon my heart because deep down I struggle with being the truly graceful person that I see myself as “in the making.”

With all that said, when I moved this past year to a town I’d loved in my past my expectations were so elevated that it surprised me to no end when all the plans that I’d made and all the preparation couldn’t have prepared me for the pathway of destruction that was lay in waiting ahead of me.

Maybe I am somewhat of child to have faith strong enough to understand that in the end things do just truly work out, because I was convinced that this move would “save my life.” I said so many times. The depression and loneliness from living a life that I forgot to engage in had my head swirling with injustice and victimization. Something I can only look back upon now with a bittersweet revelation that my perception or what I thought was reality was completely and utterly misconceived.

You get the point I am sure. What I thought would happen just didn’t happen and then I found myself without a tool like church or community events or something catastrophic that would happen to bring me closer to the people here because I work all the time. I find myself being alone a lot and thinking. That’s never a good thing. For me anyway.

What I’ve learned is that my mother, for all intensive purposes has become my best friend again. I can tell her anything. Everything and then some. How nice it is for me to be at work and see an IM waiting there for me as if just to say, “You’re in my thoughts girl.” Even my husband doesn’t do that on a daily basis.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate being loved enough that someone takes a moment out of there day and reaches out to me. Just little old me who is sometimes cruel, sometimes angry, always verbal and a little on what my family calls the “weird side” of people.
I just want to say thanks Mom. I’m blessed to have you.

Should life just be an attitude?

2009-12-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

The last thing I want is for people to think that I am a negative person. I'm honestly not, but I am real. Down to earth real and passionate about things I believe. Even about things I don't understand. I ask the questions, I push the envelope, I challenge the person who made me stop and pause. That's just who I am. With all that said I ask a LOT of questions.

Is it better to be "positive" rather than share what's really going on?

What I mean is that life right now is hard for a group of Americans who were not lucky enough to protect themselves from the economy downshift. I say the phrase downshift because very much like life stopping all together it doesn't actually stop! Life alters but it doesn't kill you. It keeps you wrapped in the pain of it while it carries you upon the back of its rapids hurdling down the imaginary waterways of your future. Without your consent and sometimes without your knowledge you can become a victim of circumstances way beyond your control and for no other reason whatsoever is that's "just life."

While it's difficult for some, it's not so for others. They sit on their perches thinking that the rest of us just don't get it. If only we could shape our attitudes. If only we could be positive and if only just goes on and on. Judgement is what I'd call the evidence, but then again this rebel without a warranted need just sometimes feels that way. The analysis is that we who have been hurt just need to pull it together long enough to let time fix whatever was broken so we can all just be "happy."

To that end I can only raise one eyebrow with utter and complete confusion. Maybe I can put this in simpler terms. Maybe relating it to some alter parts of life that might make sense to those who would just dismiss real every day pain as "dwelling it in," rather than just "changing your attitude."

If a teen gets pregnant does she not understand what a gift a baby is? If an accident happens and someone is uninsured but no one gets hurt shouldn't they just be happy about the health and not that they might lose their job due to no working vehicle? If you could afford everything you ever wanted and spent a great deal of that money feeding the hungry and the poor only to have those very people you helped ask you what happened, shouldn't you be grateful that you can just feed yourself?

The point is that life is whatever someone is dealing with right now. It's in the moment and why all the social network sites work. Because status changes. Each day and each moment these sites offer a way to communication what you're feeling in a world void of any emotional connection altogether. More and more people that I come to know are more worried about how I make them feel than how I am feeling. Rather than talk or support these new found friends would rather sigh heavily as if they alone possess the only secret to happiness that the rest of us just doesn't get.

What would it take for someone to say, "I'm here when you need to vent." Women need that kind of board to talk to no matter what. Men need a common bond to be able to share their weaknesses. We all need to feel valuable and loved and needed. Each of us needing to impart the very things that we are passionate about onto each other so that others can feel the things we do. So is it then that the reason for all this call for attitude adjustment is because they don't like feeling the way that we do? It's just too painful and a whole lot easier to say, "look on the bright side."

There's a process to overcoming tragedy. Denial, anger, resolution and forgiveness. That's my process. I have this process for all I've lost, I'd just like for the people who care about me the most to understand that my process is just as long as it takes. For however long that it is as necessary as it should be to suffer threw it either self inflicted or by circumstances beyond our control. We all handle life's journey's in our own way and each of us passionate about our own.

The next time you want to say, "have a better attitude." Maybe you should find out what's the pain beneath that attitude and let that person you care so deeply for know that they are not alone. That you'll be there to listen and that when they need it, you'll also be there to celebrate the recovery!