I Love Jesus

A shot of a stained glass window in an Anglican church, in Merricksville, Ontario, Canada, taken on the  1st of September 2006 with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P93 5.1MP

Since I am from a religious diverse background, you may wonder why I don’t really mind Jesus. The main reason is that the message of Jesus is good. Most religions are in themselves good moral values that every human should normally follow. I got married in a church and my wife is an Anglican. What does that say about me?


Personally, hymns make me uncomfortable. I was born in Germany and lived in France before coming over to live in Quebec, Canada. Most of my life, I have been surrounded by catholicism. I went to a secondary school (grades 7 to 11)that was run by an order of catholic brothers, the capucins.

I read the bible. I think I have a lot more of the bible that you would expect from an Indian living amoung Frenchies. It has always been a burden thrust upon myself that I have been a visible minority. Different in skin tone, language, background and thrust into a monochromatic society that didn’t really know what to make of me.

My childhood in Quebec was a lot harder than in France or Germany. Quebec is a lot more homogenous and therefore more racist towards minorities than Strasbourg or Heidelberg. It is funny that a province that never really embraced me, I completely embraced. I find that I consider myself a Quebecer first. Or am I? I speak three languages fluently, read all three. Know a fourth and fifth partially and I am working on my hardest one diligently every day. Most Quebecers speak only one language, French and have great trouble with English.

I would never raise my children in a small town like Quebec City like my parents did. In the later part of my twenties, I moved with my wife to Montreal. I like to say that Montreal is a bitch. After four years in the city, I knew just a handful of people. In my almost three months in Taiwan, I have more friends and acquaintances than I ever had in my four years in Montreal. Montreal is a great city. Culturally diverse and renowned for its nightlife and architecture. I have rarely felt racism in Montreal. But, in hindsight, I never really enjoyed living there.

I know a lot of people in Quebec. Some of them are my dear friends. But with some of them, I had a falling out this year. To me, this falling out is irreparable. I will probably never see these people again. Good riddance. But since this post is about Jesus, I guess I should think about forgiveness. Though I do miss Yves, DSG and Yohan as well as my family, I find that I needed the space and the experience of living abroad. I do not think I will ever go back to Quebec. The province has been a bitch to me. I might return to Canada at some point in my life, but I need some distance in miles or kms as well as in time.

Love each other, just like I have loved you. My paraphrase from the following words of Jesus.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” — Jesus (ca. 5 BCE—33 CE) in the Gospels, Luke 6:31; Luke 10:27 (affirming of Moses)— Matthew 7:12

Jesus, The Savior of the Christian faith.

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A crowd shot with my friend in the middle, taken during the dj set of The Hacker @ Dagobert, on the 22nd of June 2006 in Quebec City, Canada, with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P93 5.1MP 

There is this very religious little girl in our school. She loves Jesus. She had managed to make the other kids love Jesus too, buy praying before eating. Once, a teacher had forgotten his key to the classroom. Before he had time to leave and get it, the girl and her “converted” friends tried opening the door by praying.

I asked her if she loved Jesus. She said yes. I said I loved Jesus too. And she was very happy about this, especially when she understood that I was actually married.

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4 responses to “I Love Jesus”

  1. melissachickie Avatar
    melissachickie

    I think you miss the entire point of why you should be attracted to Jesus. He died for your sins, so that you can and do have His eternal blessings. I am not trying to be offensive at all, but how can anyone who doesn’t accept the Great News truly appreciate the coldness of winter, the smile upon a child’s face or the expectations of growing older. God’s presence is in everything. I chose to see this in all around me by accepting the Good News. I feel that through my acceptance I have been given a way to appreciate all God has made on this earth and beyond. Like that little girl who you say converted all her little friends, I beg to differ and say it was the Holy Spirit inside of this little girl which was evident through her persistent faith–even at the thought of the impossible of praying to open a locked door. With God, all things are possible!

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  2. range Avatar
    range

    Hi, and Welcome To The Memoirs.
    Actually, no. I think you missed the point of this post. It was written as a follow-up post on the Michael Richards aka Kramergate post, on how people who say that they have Jesus in their hearts can still say and feel such despicable things.
    Your view of the world might be great for yourself, but some people might consider it monochromatic.
    To rephrase, the little girl didn’t convert her friends. She was able to influence them so that they changed some of their behavior. I would have to study them a lot further to actually know if they had been converted to the Christian faith.
    I was trying to point out the viral nature of her love of Jesus, not that loving Jesus is viral, but the other children did the things that they did because of her. If she wouldn’t have been there, there would not have been a catalyst.

    “but how can anyone who doesn’t accept the Great News truly appreciate the coldness of winter, the smile upon a child’s face or the expectations of growing older.”

    I find your quote a bit biased and ignorant of the ways of life of others, since I am sure that a lot of people who don’t love Jesus and who aren’t Christian appreciate their daily lives as much as you do. The world is made of of billions of people and each person has their own reality.
    I do understand that in your view, you find it hard to accept or realize what has been said. And if I offended you, please accept my apologies.

    Reply
  3. melissachickie Avatar
    melissachickie

    No offense meant nor taken. I come from a background where my mother is Buddhist, my father Roman Catholic, and my husband is agnostic. I do understand others’ points-of-views. Since I only came to read this one post, I didn’t know the history behind any of it, but I thank you for clarifying this to me so I now understand where the context of it comes from and is at. Yes, my opinion of how a person might further appreciate life through knowing God is biased, but I do know that even I appreciated life for what it was before I come to know God as my Savior. I think I, personally, attribute everything I have as coming from God, so this is where my appreciate is given up to Him more than when I was not a Christian. Its a choice others might not want to take, and I am not seeking to force them too because it is a choice that is freely given once it is made. In all due respect, thanks for your welcoming to your blog.

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  4. range Avatar
    range

    Hi Melissa and thanks for responding!
    Well it looks like both of us should reexamine what we said. Like I said I meant no disrespect and yes, I don’t mind Jesus at all and I welcome your point of view.
    As always, I enjoy lively discussions. Naturally, after your comment I had put you in a certain category of people and that was my own mistake. I see now that you are aware of other points of view and I see from where your opinions comes.
    Cheers

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