Harmless Controversy
At the start of his ministry in the year 30 CE, Jesus explained that he wasn’t opposing the monotheistic God of the Jewish faith, but rather he was fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament; that a Messiah whose ancestry could be traced back thousands of years would be sent as a messenger of God to be a positive influence on humanity.
From the core belief in a loving, forgiving God, the numerous and varied denominations of Christianity were formed.
The gospels of the New Testament relate that Jesus taught using down-to-earth language and parables that had practical implications in the day-to-day lives of his followers.
His most well-known homily was the Sermon on the Mount. Thousands gathered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee as Jesus explained that the blessings of God are rewarded to the merciful, the peacemakers, and to the spiritually humble.
Most importantly, Jesus believed that humans communicate directly with God through prayer, and he recited the “Lord’s Prayer” to demonstrate man’s relationship with God.
Jesus stirred up controversy as he began to preach about a loving and forgiving God, an idea that contrasted sharply with the demanding and often punishing God of the ancient prophets, as well as the polytheistic religion of the Romans
The story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is one of the most familiar in the world.
When Mary was about to give birth to Jesus, she and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem to take part in a census. When they sought shelter at the inn they were turned away, and Jesus was born in a nearby manger. Three wise men arrived to honor the newborn because they’d received a premonition that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would one day be king.
Jesus was raised in Nazareth and trained by Joseph to be a carpenter. As a boy, Jesus often questioned the Rabbis about the laws and traditions of their Jewish faith. Eventually, he began to talk about his own beliefs, that the true relationship between God and man wasn’t about adherence to strict laws but was instead centered on love, humility, and forgiveness, ideas that sometimes contradicted the laws of the Torah.
These new ideas took hold and became the start of the ministry of Jesus. Crowds gathered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee to listen to him preach. As he walked through towns and villages in the modern-day region of northern Israel, he inspired twelve disciples to follow him and witness his healing miracles.
As Jesus’ influence grew, the Roman authorities ruling Galilee began to consider him a threat, and eventually, Jesus’ closest followers feared for their own safety. In about the year 33 CE, Jesus and his apostles gathered for the Passover meal and he told them that he would soon be put to death and that one of them would betray him.
After the Last Supper, Jesus was walking and praying alone when Judas Iscariot identified him to Roman soldiers. Jesus was arrested, beaten, and brought before Pontius Pilate who reluctantly condemned him to die.
As Jesus was dying a painful death on the cross, he expressed forgiveness for his torturers and for the crowds who had turned against him. His body was placed in a tomb carved into a nearby hillside, with a large stone placed at its entrance. On the third day, Mary Magdalene asked that the stone be removed, and within it she found only the shroud Jesus had been buried in. According to Christian tradition, Jesus himself appeared to the Apostles numerous times after his death, and forty days later his soul ascended to heaven.
Sagittarius: Nov 22 - Dec 21
A look at the astrology and astronomy of Sagittarius …
Sagittarius is one of the oldest Zodiac constellations. Within it’s boundaries are bright stars and colorful nebulae that can be viewed easily in the night sky.
Roman astronomers envisioned that it’s collection of stars represented a “Centaur,” a skilled huntsman with the head and torso of a man and the legs of a horse.
The brightest star, Gamma Sagittarii, is the tip of the hunter’s arrow that points directly west at the star Antares, the maroon “heart” of the scorpion in Scorpius.
Nebulae: Bright Clouds of Dust and Newly Forming Stars
At the core of the Red Spider Nebula is a small neutron star generating stellar winds
The Trifid Nebula appears divided into thirds by thread-like streams of dust. It’s one of the youngest known emission nebula and one of the closest star fields to earth
Sagittarius A*
Within the boundaries of Sagittarius is the galactic center of the Milky Way galaxy, the super-massive black hole known as “Sagittarius A.”
Most spiral galaxies are orbiting black holes that are created as a dying star implodes into a point of darkness so massively heavy that not even a photon of light could escape.
Resiliently Healthy
Protect yourself? You already do … it’s effortless!
The immune system is our body’s way of protecting itself from dangers that exist naturally in the environment – dangerous pathogens found in the air we breathe, in the food and water we consume, and from the people we come in contact with.
Our bodies are continually on guard, adapting to an ever-changing environment and developing clever and innovative ways to keep us healthy.
Working closely with the skeletal, lymphatic, and circulatory systems, the immune system confronts dangerous pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, that could invade the cells of the body and cause infection or disease.
Before a pathogen can invade healthy body cells, it first has to find a way into the bloodstream … and that’s not an easy task. We have strong defenses that protect vulnerable parts of our body such as our eyes, nose, throat, and reproductive tract from infection.
- The sneezing and coughing reflex ejects harmful germs that are in the air we breathe
- Tears clear away dust while protecting the eyes with antibacterial enzymes
- The respiratory, digestive, and reproductive tract are lined with epithelial cells that secrete a protective layer of anti-microbial mucosa that traps and kills off any dangerous “bugs” that enter the body
- The most effective first line of defense, though, is the epidermis, composed of skin cells that defend against dangers in the environment and UV radiation from the sun
Born To Be Alive
The innate immune system is the immunity we’re born with. White blood cells known as leukocytes are produced in the red marrow of our bones and then differentiate into a variety of components that each have different abilities and functions.
Strengthening Immunity
When the cells of the innate immune system are overpowered by the numerous strains of bacteria and virus we come in contact with – over the course of our entire lifespan – then the adaptive immune system is activated.
Adaptive immunity continually changes and strengthens to protect our bodies, especially during middle age.
B-cells and T-cells start to proliferate and have a much more specialized strategy; when they encounter a disease-causing microbe, they can modify their function to eliminate that specific pathogen, and then stay on-task in the bloodstream for years.
An antigen is a substance that prompts the body to produce the antibodies that fight disease. Antibodies are a type of protein manufactured by white blood cells to either kill a specific type of pathogen or “tag” it for destruction by other parts of the immune system
Other parts of the body that play a support role in immunity are the tonsils, which trap contaminants from the air we breathe, the thymus gland where T-cells grow and mature, and the spleen that clears away destroyed pathogens from the bloodstream.