The Bible

The Greatest Story is not just a story it's who we are and what makes us so.

So I was all excited to settle down tonight with a hot cup of Dunkin' Donut's (decaf of course) and a few Pekingese to snuggle up with and watch History Channel's "The Bible" by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.  Now, I know it's the second week of the 5-part series, and yes I did watch last week.  That's why I was so excited to get to watch it this week.  In case you haven't tuned in, which I can't imagine why you wouldn't, this is a really neat and one of a kind production.  Instead of a full length film about one character from the Bible we are getting to see and meet the main characters throughout the entire Bible.  It's actually pretty cool to see it like this.

Now, because I 'love' Roma Downey from Touched By an Angel and I used to watch that show whenever I could, I am not surprised she is a Christian and would want to produce this project.  What I did not know is that Mark Burnett was a Christian and would also be involved in making this project.  So for that, I say Kudos! That's Greek for "two-thumbs up" in case you didn't know.  What is even more interesting was that after reading about the production aspect of the mini-series, I learned the crew insisted on having prayer-circles and really dedicating the production to the guidance of God's hand in making it come to life.  One other thing I didn't know but find interesting is that when they produced it they wanted it to be engaging from the perspective of both those who are of the faith and for those who may not know the Bible story and therefore find it interesting.  So instead of making it over-dramatic with an overtly religious tone they insisted on it being made as a tool to minister to those who would possibly come to know Jesus and God through the Bible mini-series.

But then during the commercial break I made a mistake.  I opened my facebook to read my thread only to be completely disappointed.  If any of you know anything about me you would know how much it upsets me that our society is going down the drain with all the Beyonce, Housewife of Whatevertown, Lady Gaga and the idolized overpaid criminal gangster athletes leading the way.  So like I was saying, all I see in my newsfeed is a bunch of Christians complaining about how bad The Bible mini-series is and how it's so inaccurate. Some people were saying how they should be ashamed and that they can't watch it because it was blasphemous or whatever.

Let's just say, this kind of attitude really irked Greek Girl.  I was a bit perturbed to say the least.  Here I am thinking, "Isn't this great, we have a Hollywood Powerhouse couple making an effort to impact society through producing Godly Christian content in the mainstream arena and it falls in line with my ideals.  Meanwhile a whole bunch of miserable Christians are bashing it as if it were Beyonce flashing the Illuminati sign while half-naked during the Super Bowl.  Ironically, most people didn't even complain nearly as much about that as they did about The Bible mini-series.

So, I just have to ask, "What in the heck in the world is wrong with some people?"  Seriously, if we have any desire to change the way people act and behave in society and the direction of where we are taking, we have to start somewhere.  I tip my hat off to Burnett and Downey for taking a risk and trying to connect with both believers and no-believers alike while trying to honor the message and story of God and Jesus at the same time.  Here's my Greek Girl suggestion, instead of "bashing" what others are doing about spreading God's message of love and faith why not embrace it and promote it for what it is and encourage more content like it to be produced.  By doing so, we just might actually start to see this country begin to slowly turn around and just maybe we can start seeing morals and values come back "into fashion"...  Just a thought.

Blessings, Love & Music~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

I Pledge

"I pledge Allegiance to the FLAG of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation under GOD, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all."

Now I know what you must be thinking... (especially people who have been reading my blog for any amount of time) "Oh no here she goes again."  You had to know I was going to have something to say about this whole debacle, didn't you?

Have you ever stopped and actually read the words of this simple yet profound pledge?  Most people don't.  Most people just rattle it off without really taking the time to connect with the true meaning of what this pledge actually means.

Let's look at it.  When someone says these words they are saying they will never serve another country and will always stand by it's people.  We acknowledge it is a nation under God - the creator of all of us and provider of our unalienable rights as human beings.  As well, it implies we cannot be divided and all of us have the same liberty and justice.  Yet, for some reason we can't say it in school anymore.  We almost never say it.  Now our country is more divided than ever and our schools have more crime and evil than ever and our courts are more corrupt.  Why?  What is happening?  Where did we go wrong?

In 1942 The US Congress enacted that this would be the official pledge of Allegiance for America and our flag.  It is intended to be a reminder of how important it is and how valuable being an American Citizen really is.

According to the US Flag Code, the Pledge "should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present and not in uniform may render the military salute. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute."

However this pledge and the flag of our country has been under attack for many years for a number of reasons.  Most recently I was disgusted and completely appalled to see what has been happening during this election season.  Not only have there been brain-dead celebrities who like drones are making public "pledges" not to their country but to President Barack Obama.  Jessica Alba and many others are literally asking voters to "pledge to Obama"

Jessica Alba Asks voters to Pledge to Obama

I wonder if she supports equal pay on all her films including her own pay? Just wonderin'

Now, check me if I am wrong, but didn't they do the same thing with Hitler back in the 30's??? Look how well that turned out.  Now, I am not saying Obama is Hitler or will ever do what he did.  However from a social standpoint it is just not right that anyone would ever pledge such a thing to any "person".  Yet he doesn't condemn it because I think in his narcissistic noggin he enjoys it.

I guess he must've just forgot.

What bothers me most about this is that not only do these celebrities who go along with the masses of others in order to be seen as "cool, hip or trendy" because Heaven forbid if in Hollywood you are a conservative or even worse a republican and you can never be a Christian because that would be just unthinkable.  Libertarians were probably birthed out of this very need to not be a total lib and somewhat still be seen as "cool" by those who would otherwise blacklist them from ever working again, joking... Greek girl knows the definition.  I guess what they don't understand is that they can't see past their ego and pride to realize they are causing such divisive behavior and being seen by youth as so-called role models and acting in such a moronic manner.  To say it is disturbing to me hardly even begins to cover it.

timing is always key – especially when you set out not to offend people.
I wonder where the apology is for this?

Now, let's not forget.  Last week Obama and his campaign found it was a good idea to create a new flag for his campaign.  Now, even though I am a blonde I am not dumb enough to not realize this is no "official" flag replacement but really??? Not only does this flag look erily similar to bloody finger drags along a wall - a - hem like seen in a most recent attack in Libya, but what's worse is that it includes his campaign logo.

So now you have all of Hollyweird pledging allegiance to their president and oohing and ahhhing over his idiotic and insensitive flag.

Okay, I know what you are going to say "what about freedom of speech"?  Yes, you would be right to ask this.  However, when we have thousands of soldiers on the front lines (not allowed to use Real Ammo I might add) who have sworn to protect and uphold this country and our constitution and to serve under a specific flag, our official flag and our Commander in Chief finds it appropriate to arbitrarily create a substitute flag that suggests a pledge to him?!?! I just gotta ask, what in the hell was he thinking?!?

Back to the celebrities.  Don't they realize what they are doing?  Don't they see how their very industry is under complete attack?  The freedom of speech that they hold so dear is on the verge of being stripped from them.  Because meanwhile as they are worried about free choice, fairness, free birth control and equal this and that, there is a stupid 20-minute film on Youtube called, "Innocence of Muslims" being used as a scape-goat for a worldwide uprising of Muslim extremists who have killed and injured many Americans while attacking and destroying our embassies abroad.   It is so bad of a film and was loaded months before these attacks that coincidently happened on 9/11...  Really?  All the uproar is supposedly due to the offensive nature of this film.  If Obama has his way with his recent apology tour our soldiers will be pledging allegiance to him and not our flag and our Hollywood elite will be completely censored.  That is of course, unless it offends Christians - because that's always okay in their book and by their standards.

I bet Obama would not apologize if this were his campaign flag.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this is just another sign of how much out of touch Obama and his swoon of Hollywood elites really are.  It is never cool to change the United States Flag, and the American people do not pledge allegiance to anything but our Country!  So on November 6, let's make sure we tell them just what we think.  Because in my humble Greek opinion... it's a bunch of Muckery!

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :)
www.avaaston.com

Karma Apples

Yummo!

 I think perhaps the first example of Karma at work was with Adam and Eve. Ok, I know it never said the tree was an apple tree, but that's what they told this Greek girl in bible school, so that how's I'm rolling.According to the NIV version of the bible,  Genesis 3:6 "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." This is why I called today's blog, Karma Apples.

It doesn't matter if it involved apples, oranges, figs, kumquats or anything else, Karma is sometimes referred to as the "moral law of cause and effect." We have all heard someone say when they were wronged by another person that revenge is not necessary because Karma will get them. At least, that is how I feel sometimes.

Karma is both an encouragement to do good and to avoid evil, because man, it sucks to be on the receiving end of bad Karma - receiving good Karma, that's another story. So either way, Karma is sometimes an explanation for whatever good or evil befalls a person.

In Buddhist teaching, the law of karma, says only this: "for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful."

However, I do not personally believe what the Buddhist believe that Karma has its hand in every situation. Sometimes it is just way too easy for us to place the blame of a negative situation on Karma. For example, is it really Karma that my manager Mr. Bricks has a lazy eye or did he just sit way too close to the TV and read his Dr. Seuss books in the dark when he was little? I'm sure his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Bricks warned him about the danger of them both. I know my parents warned me about them and might I add, in a very Greek flamboyant fashion.

So as actress when I audition for a role and don't get it, I don't assume that it's Karma coming back and slapping my Greek little butt for something I did wrong. What I do assume is that the casting director had another idea in mind of what they wanted for that particular role. Likewise, when I audition for and get a role, (like the national TV commercial that I currently have running right now - you know the one that everyone emails me 100x a day that they "just saw me on TV") I do not assume that I got the role because of good Karma. I got the role because they liked my Greek Blonde look, what is in my coconut and what I brought to the role. I do believe there is a difference between Karma and God's grace.

We can not do enough to earn God's grace. It is just something he graciously gives us.

Have a blessed day -

Ava

xox