Hi, Ari here. Thanks for visiting us today. I've opened this small section on the Library to express one or two ideas regarding my business partner. If you don't know about him, visit our section The Man for some info. Periodically I will post a few thoughts which might or might not be of any use to you, but here they are.
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Thoughts
on The Man
Defining My Religion
by Ari Salgueiro
I was raised in a traditional family. Religion, as it was taught to me, as I perceived it, was mostly about the many things I could not do. If someone was to ask me back then what was my religion all about, my answer was usually something along the lines of: we do not eat pork; we do not smoke; we do not dance; we do not drink; we do not wear jewelry; we do not… do not… do not…
Now, I’m not saying that there anything wrong with
living a healthy life and maintaining a simple, humble appearance. But
should these things be the defining parameters of my Christianity? It’s
been a while and I have learned a thing or two, I would hope. I still
don’t smoke or drink, and I could never wear jewelry because I’m
a wimp and I refuse to drill holes into my skin, but if you were to ask
me today what is being a Christian all about, my answer would not include
any of those things I don’t do. It would be a short answer. I am
Christian, because I believe in a man named Christ who paid the ultimate
price for my life on a cross. Simple. Short. No negatives.
Should I elaborate? Sure. There was this guy, once, a long time ago, who
refused to give up on me, even though by anyone else’s opinion,
I was doomed, lost and hopeless. This guy, who had absolutely everything
that can be had; who possessed power, and honor, and glory and riches
and the absolute love of countless creatures around him, put it all aside
one day to take a walk on the filthiest, darkest, most insignificant piece
of rock on the universe for no other reason than because this was the
place where I was.
Not happy with just coming down here, leaving the heights of supremacy
for the mud of humiliation, this man decided that my life was so absolutely
precious and valuable, that it was worth giving everything for it, including
his own life. Well, I had no saying in this, but had he asked me, I would
have told him that he was out of his mind. Hey, I’ve seen what I
am. I’m not all that. I have seen what he is. He is all that and
a whole factory of chips. Not a good trade, I would have said. But he
did it. He got beaten, whipped, slapped, humiliated and finally killed.
For me.
So you want to know what my religion is about. It is not about what I
do or don’t do. It is not about me at all. I’m a Christian,
and it is all about him and what he did not do. He didn’t give up.