I'm not told way I
should be named Peter or Paul, having been born on June 29. I know some days
have names to be chosen if a child is born certain days: Joseph if I
born on May 1st or Vincent if it
were on Jan 22th.
More than tradition,
beneath this, there is a psychological reason. Jesus named Simon Peter and
John and his brother received a nickname. Why? Was it a familiar caprice?
Sure Paul
changed his name from Saul. Why? Just to walk free within goyim people?
If I change my name from Antonio to Tony (or
Anthony)
will a be believed, heard, sought or loved?
I can do that legally,
paying a high price, even in my own country. Will I be the same? Do I have
something to change, from the inside out?
Saul Paul wrote, several
times, spuring people: “You are a new creature...” and Jesus asked
Nicodemus to be born anew (John 3:3, 5). Can I say baptism as the water my
mother had within her by those days she was pregnant?
The spirit of a new ID
is not in my new name, but in my new way to living. I have seen some Jewish
people like to change their names (after conversion or circumcision) and this
is a part of their religious tradition. The law asked fathers 1) to circumcise
their males, 2) to present children after the 40 days of cleaning, and
3) to redeem the 1st born, after a month (correct me if I'm wrong. I'm
not Jew, but I like them).
Part of the law dealt
with the economy of the temple's people. Priests depend and depended on silver
or gold to live, buying the stuff we buy for a living; so I see the law
ruled that too. Society, as well, was engaged with the religious
belief of Israel, so a new born needed a name to be introduced into
Jewish society, same way we need a name to get an ID card
or a green card.
God said new born were
His. Parents were to redeem their 1st born paying “money”, same way I should
pay to be circumcised, because my father is dead and my grandfather never
appeared on my 8th day (he was from Spain).
Today, messianic people
like to change their names. These are parts of their religious background, but there is much more than
changing their names, but learning a new language, imitating an old fashioned
culture, for the sake of God (that's not bad!).
I don't need a talit
and I don't plan to wear a tefilin. Allow me to confess I will be willing to
circumcise, with my own hands, to fulfill some mitsvots like Moshén... but I'm
not my Dad and my mother tongue is very far from Jewish culture.
In the process of a new
being or being born, we learn any culture and, by changing the way way
thought, we change the way we feel and think (this is important).
Just imagine immersing
in a new culture, knowing nothing about their language, their many signs and
meanings. Won't you feel like being born?
Read some of these: DARJEY NOAM or sidur
bircat shelomo
and get lost... He! He! I do.
A new ID means learning
but, being born is more than what I need. Do we need to speak one language? Is
God seeking us to find it? Is His truth concealed in that culture?
The OT tells us He will
be exposed. Jesus told He seeks true worshipers (John
4:23; 12:28).
Does this truth come from the Scripture or from living it out, everyday, by personal
experience?
The OT teaches He (God)
would teach us. Jesus said God would bring us to Him, and Jesus Himself told
those who did not believed Moses would not believe in His words (John 5:46). So
we infer here the importance of the OT united to the NT.
Do I need to get rid of
the NT? What would be then, my new name
and ID?
I will not read written
prayers as repeating. I would read THINKING, feeling and changing. I will
change when praying, analyzing my deeds, canalizing my faults, each time I
repent to be new, to correct all those things I can mend.
Call me “Joseph”, give
me any name; but I new to be born, a total change, to please Him who
gave me life, to socially live.
Judeazing is the same
as Christianizing. I don't need Latin or Greek to understand, but the core
language of my heart. I wish I knew exactly what God inspired and had written,
and His messages are not for one source, language or culture solely. Let's
say Satan is not mute but God gave everyone a tongue and, more than that,
probably I need an angelic tongue to achieve more than I'm actually achieving
when praying: Just to reach Heavens and avoid Satan's hindrances but, is God
handicapped? Has He lost any power?
It is me who needs to
reach Him who loves me more than I am. It is I who longs to understand, and
religion could bring me its berit milá (circumcision) and more
traditions, but God is not praying Hide and Seek. Is He?
Moshén was with God 40
days... Jesus appeared with him and Elijah. Whose voice was that Peter, John
and James heard? Wasn't it God's? “Listen
to Him”, He said.
I guess His voice could
be heard. Scripture exists, but the source is His, not human traditions.
Today we are paganized.
Their world influences our more than our changes them. Am I correct? Just count
and see numbers, and I acknowledged my flirting, just to grab what I think I
miss or need from them: Money or a woman to live with.
I new name won't give
me this, but a complete change. Only God can bring me to where I belong, since
I know I don't like the world where I lived and certainly I dislike most of its
ways: I confessed my frustration to change or relocate, along with the
disappointment to get it fast.
Immersing into a new
culture helps you to be transcultural. Perhaps it will change some of
your customs but, unless you really notice you are dreaming (or daydreaming)
with that new language and their stuff, the new mind has not yet come.
Notice how Peter saw a
scrolled-down message from God on Acts...
Do we have enough of Him for
today, each day?
A new ID, a new name is
like being abroad, where no one knows about you and they don't need a stone to
criticize you.
Your human register is
clean, holy, same way some need to know they now are: No guilt, no fault to be
reminded. We are forgiven! (not to sin anymore).
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