Lately I have been reading a lot on other cultural beliefs of other religions.(Muslims/Jews for instance) I am very interested in what others believe. Right now I am reading books on Orthodox Jews and customs. My friend Holly gave me a book and I haven't been able to put it down. It is called "The Kingdom & The Crown" Series. Although fictional, it has some facts about the bible and customs of the day. There is a part that talks about Solomons Temple, how it was destroyed and rebuilt. This was our bible study I had with my neighbor - "Psalms of Ascent" where the captive Jews were freed to rebuild their temple, the songs sung as they were delivered, and customs of Passover. I check facts to make sure what I am learning is accurate and so far it has been when it comes to the Courts of the Temple. For instance there was a court for all to enter- then stairs leading to the "court of women" (meaning anyone of the faith could go there, but women couldn't go further up) Then the "Court of priests"up more steps until finally to the "Holy of Holies" room where one man once a year would enter. The temple had many workers, including Shepard's that would watch the animals to be sacrificed in the temple. It was these Shepard's that the angels appeared to when Christ was born. Think of the symbolism of that. Watching lambs that would one day be sacrificed. And so on. We learned about the passover and the Three feasts and customs of the Jewish people. There is so much symbolism in the Feast of Unleavened Bread that just jumped off the page once I truly understood it. ( Anything that gets me to read my scriptures is a good thing.. I really had no idea of the symbolism, time frame and history until I dived in two months ago )In this book it talks about the Zealot movement , Pharisees, Sadducee's and how they were all waiting for this mighty strong messiah to come deliver them from the bondage they were in . Little did they know that it would be humble, quiet and right under their noses that the Messiah would come. I thought about this, and how hard it would be to be waiting for someone to come free us physically and mentally from the pain of the day. However, if this is what the messiah was to do, what about their grandchildren and so forth? The Messiah would've come but what happens when the next problems arise? "God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son"- Not to free one person from the pain of their generation, but to free all mankind from the bondage of Satan's grasp. How grateful I am for this. I am not perfect, I am far from it. I have felt the love and power so strongly that God loves me and while this life may be hard, and not full of all the "Wishes" and free of trials and pain, one day there will be a day of rest for all. I think of the stories of Jesus, and the people who are talked about so little in the bible and read their history and the things they have given up for him back in the day. I am enjoying learning so much about the customs, even the religions of today, and while different, how so much alike they as the ones that were when Christ was on the Earth. I think of the things Christ did that could have gotten him killed, yet he and those that followed him still had the courage to stand and die for truth.

I know that I am a WWII and 9/11 history fanatic, but never in a million years did I ever think that learning about other cultures/customs of Eastern countries or thousands of years before I was here, would ever enter into my life. While some customs may be disturbing to me, I realize that it is normalcy to others. I am now addicted to learning about it.