White Privilege Conference (WPC) wanting to keep the press out for obvious reasons

Posted on 2016/04/20 by Marcus Ampe

WPC organizers reacted very poorly to the discovery that this year’s conference was being reported on from inside. This is unsurprising, since WPC has attempted to totally ban reporters from covering its proceedings and has actively kept them out in the past.

It must not surprise you why it was kept secretly for the press the previous years. When you look at the debates it is clear we should seriously pose several questions by the speakers invited and by the set up of that conference.

Today there is a renewed attack (in the Western world) on anything to do with believing there is a God, a Creator of any kind!

There are even people who hold conferences to make it clear to others that almost every dysfunction in society, from racism and sexism to global warming and a weak economy, is united by the ideology of ‘Christian hegemony.’ That is at least what a lecturer at the 2016 White Privilege Conference (WPC) claimed.

Believers are again open to ridicule. Academics, who are confident they have the answer (or at least acceptable opinions) to everything about how the world began, compete among themselves for the “glory” they can receive from each other and from the public with their notions. Some also want others to believe that all more active believers would be creationists and do not seem to get the difference of believing that there has been a Most High Supreme being ordering everything and being responsible for the creation.

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Certain people, like Paul Kivel, think Christians “colonize our mind.”
Paul Kivel, is a social justice educator, activist, and writer, who to our mind looks not so social at all but is perhaps an atheist socialist against religion and willing to attack it. Though he claims to be an innovative leader in violence prevention for 35 years, it either looks like he has changed gear or has always loved to set up non-believers against believing people .

He defines Christian hegemony as the

everyday, pervasive, and systematic set of Christian values and beliefs, individuals and institutions that dominate all aspects of our society through the social, political, economic, and cultural power they wield. Nothing is unaffected by Christian hegemony (whether we are Christian or not) including our personal beliefs and values, our relationships to other people and to the natural environment, and our economic, political, education, health care, criminal/legal, housing, and other social systems. {Christian hegemony}

For him

All people who are not Christian, as well as most people who are, experience social, political, and economic exploitation, violence, cultural appropriation, marginalization, alienation and constant vulnerability from the dominance of Christian power and values in our society. {Christian hegemony}

It looks like Christendom and/or Christianity (though he constantly refers to Christianity) is/are the badness of this world.

The internalization of dominant western Christian beliefs and values by individuals in our society seems to bring all badness into the world and being the cause of the present problems we have with fundamental Muslims. but it seems also to be in participial white Christian men who are dominating this world and causing inequality and injustice.

He writes

Another level of Christian dominance is within the power elite, the network of 7-10,000 predominantly white Christian men who control the largest and most powerful social, political, economic, and cultural institutions in the country. And finally there is the level which provides the foundation for all the others – the long and deep legacy of Christian ideas, values, practices, policies, icons, and texts that have been produced within dominant western Christianity over the centuries. That legacy continues to shape our language, culture, beliefs, and values and to frame public and foreign policy decisions. {Christian hegemony}

He even wants us tot believe, that we believers are blind. It is true that we cannot go without all those companies and organisations which have their say in our communities and that economical as well as political parties want to have everything in their hands. But we think it over the top, him saying

Christian dominance has become so invisible that its manifestations appear to be secular, i.e. not religious. In this context, the phrase “secular Christian dominance” might be most appropriate, Christian hegemony under the guise of secularism. Of course, there are many forms of Christian fundamentalism which are anything but secular. Often fundamentalists want to create some kind of theocratic state. But the more mainstream, everyday way that dominant Christian values and institutions influence our lives and communities is less evident, although no less significant and certainly not limited to fundamentalists. {Christian hegemony}

According to him Christian leaders have established an annual holiday cycle that extols US militarism/ triumphalism, the nuclear family, consumerism and whiteness. Perhaps he is so much focussed on the U.S.A. that he does not see the holidays of other countries and mistakenly takes many heathen holidays as Christian holidays, though it mostly are also the heathen people who celebrate those and try to lure Christians to celebrate with them.

The holiday cycle which he presents on his website present many secular holidays which he presents as so called holidays of Christianity though Christianity argues a lot against the celebration of those feasts. But we do agree in Christendom we see many people with the name Christian celebrating those heathen festivals as so called Christian holidays.

Painting of Christopher Columbus. The painting Virgen de los Navegantes (in the Sala de los Almirantes, Royal Alcazar, Seville). A painting by Alejo Fernández between 1505 and 1536. It is the only state sponsored portrait of the First Admiral of the Indias called Don Cristoval Colon known today as Christopher Columbus in English. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For him those holidays downplays the violence in our history, holding up a few white Christian men, such as Christopher Columbus and his American presidents,

for uncritical praise and emphasizes faith, family and country.

he writes and continues:

For many in the US, this cycle has come to seem traditional, even though it is constantly recreated and most of the holidays originated within the last 150 years. For some, these holidays have come to feel familiar, unifying and just plain American even though for millions of others they can be painful and alienating. Most of our national holidays are seen as secular, even though their underpinnings are deeply Christian. Even Christmas and Easter are viewed as secular by many. (I have been told that the phrase Merry Christmas in bold letters on the public buses in my
city is not religious but merely a general holiday greeting.)

It looks like he does not know that Jesus was not at all born on the 25th of December and that all the traditions people flirt with have nothing to do at all with the birth of Christ nor with God, and are an abomination in the eyes of God, of which a real Christian should abstain.

That New Year’s day for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mayans and many Native peoples happens at other times of the annual cycle, has nothing to do with Christianity not with Christendom but with choosing an other calendar system.

The fact that western countries imposed this calendar worldwide, even though those in the West are a minority in the world, is never acknowledged.

he writes, but we do think that is a matter of choosing a time indication where the West has chosen to keep to that Gregorian calendar, even after some countries tried the Napoleonic calendar for some time, but whatever calendar they would choose always there would be people able to complain about the system chosen.

We do not see any reason at all why not to say “Happy Chinese New Year” or “Happy Jewish New Year”, like we do in the West of Europe? He should know that these other calendars are also culturally specific and that everybody is free to follow one or the other and that nobody would mind you saying “Happy New Year” when it is a new year for that person.
For us this article is written on the 12th of Nisan, 5776 but in the West most people would not know about which day we are talking therefore we also use the common general practised calendar indicating that it is today April the 20th of the year 2016 of the common Era (CE). For us on 22 April (Taanit Bechorot) Friday night we are looking at the 14th of Nisan, 5776 going to celebrate the Passover, the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” Erev Pesach and on the 23rd the 15th of Nisan, 5776 we look at the holiday yomtov, being part of the “Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread”or “Pesach I”, having on Sunday the 1st day of the Omer (or Pesach II) the period between Passover and Shavuʿot, the 16th of Nisan of the year 5776. {The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, is an annual week long festival commemorating the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and slavery. Before the main festival begins for the Jews, the Christians remember the night that Jesus came together with his apostles for the Last Supper and announcement of the installation of the New Covenant. for us this 14 th of Nisan is the most important day of the year and precedes the Pesach festival which begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar month of Nisan — which derives its name from the passing over of the homes of the Israelite slaves during the tenth plague. It is that liberation and the liberation by Christ that we should remember for ever.} Next year the Passover shall be on Monday, April 10 and in 2018 on Friday, March 30.
But this is all about arrangements and agreements and depending on which calendar you want to base your daily activities.

For economical and practical reasons an agreement has to be made to use what calendar and what to consider the first day of the week: Thursday (certain Hindus), Friday (like Muslims), Friday night – Saturday night or Sabbath (like the Jews), or the week beginning on Sunday or Monday, as such beginning the day at 00.00 hours or when the sun gets down. Here you may find calendars beginning the week with Sunday and others ending with the weekend (which I personally find more practical).
It is true that

holidays can be destructive when they celebrate war or colonialism, are promoted aggressively or when corporations use them to promote values hostile to our environment and us. {The Christian Holiday Cycle}

For sure we need to think seriously about what we celebrate and why, who is included or excluded in the celebration and what values are implicitly or explicitly communicated. But we never should condemn certain groups of people if they want to celebrate certain days, though it is our duty to point out to Christians what they are celebrating and which festivals are alright to take part in and which not.

For Kivel the choice of calendar use and the days celebrated shows the dominance of a certain group and the normalization of such a group.

It is said that WPC takes tremendous pains to protect everybody’s feelings, but this year many toes were stepped on. To ensure a gender non-conforming person isn’t labeled with a wayward “he,” attendees are asked to always introduce themselves with their name and their pronoun set. Presenters routinely ask for anybody to pipe up if they’re triggered by a presentation, and will apologize if such a complaint arises. Almost half the conference revolves around microaggressions and how to avoid them or defuse them.

A major part of WPC are the daily caucuses, where attendees segregate themselves by race and talk through their feelings on white privilege. They were assembled collectively beforehand and assigned to a specific smaller room ‘because of the large number of white people in attendance’. Organizers warned they could start physically exerting their white privilege by walking too aggressively and not paying heed to their surroundings. If attendees weren’t careful, they said, they risked getting in the way of non-white attendees who would have no choice but to shy away and debase themselves before these barreling vectors of overwhelming privilege.

Disaffected participants in the 2016 White Privilege Conference (WPC) have taken to Twitter to complain that the conference was, ironically, too white and was actually filled to the brim with white supremacy. Adopting the hashtag #WPCSoWhite, inspired by the recent #OscarsSoWhite campaign, Twitter users claimed the conference that was supposed to battle white privilege instead served to entrench it. The tag appears to have been started and pushed with particular vigour by Aeriel Ashlee, an education consultant who attended WPC and objected to several parts of a keynote address delivered by (white) historian James Loewen. Some of his comments where even described as “deeply offensive and traumatizing.”

I’m not ok with using oppressive & racist language by a white man in the “service” of learning @JamesWLoewen #WPCsowhite

— Heather Heater (@heaterMPH) April 16, 2016

We talk about taking action to dismantle white supremacy yet not much response on Loewen’s use of the N-word #WPCSoWhite #PHLWPC17

— TastefulIntuition (@TheeKWard) April 16, 2016

N-word NEVER acceptable from #whitefolks lips! Deeply offensive & traumatizing. @JamesWLoewen #WPCSoWhite #PHLWPC17 https://t.co/oLP9M9GwUs

— Jill Poklemba (@jillmarette99) April 16, 2016

Frederick Gooding, Jr., who styles himself as “The Race Doctor” gave a half-comedic, half-serious lecture intended to point out various moments of subtle white supremacy and white privilege throughout the past year. Near the end of his address, Gooding went after Hollywood for the recently-released film “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which features three Caucasian heroes in the form of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

“I have a quota where it’s just a little too much whiteness, I gotta tap out,”

the Doctor said to a laughing audience.

“One white hero at a time, I can kinda take that, but you have two of them … but then, the White Man said, we gonna show you something. And they throw in a white woman!”

For people discussing other folks it may not be easy today how to call them. All sorts of new terms have to be looked for to talk about people with an other skin colour or with an other faith. In this time of many fleeing from the Middle East and from Africa for discussing different terms are looked for, and one term which could be right at one time a few weeks later may be considered totally wrong to be used. Undocumented immigrants may still be called “illegals” despite the fact that this also could be a highly inaccurate and pejorative term. Whether intentional or accidental, the use of such terms has shaped public opinion on immigration policy. Of course, not everyone who uses these terms intends to colour undocumented immigrants with the stigma that these terms carry with them. Today the phrase “illegal immigrant” is by many considered

decidedly not okay

During a workshop titled “Nativism 101,” on the topic of immigration and the groups opposed to it, one attendee objected to another’s use of the term “undocumented immigrant.”

Instead of illegal or undocumented, the woman proposed that such immigrants be labeled

“unauthorized immigrants.”

Unauthorised where those who brought out photographs and texts from this conference where very high income prizes where charged, as if the poor people and immigrants ever would be able to pay such fees.

Dividing the people in categories for the debates Kivel finds it are the Christians who divide people and put them in hierarchical order. For him it is in-acceptable that there would be a

“God over people, men over women, parents over children, white people over people of colour,”

inevitably creating systems that justify and even glorify oppression, but was he and the organisers not doing just that?

Please do read also:

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Can a scientist believe in God

Posted on 2015/03/20 by Guestspeaker

Once again some debates about science, beginning of the universe, evolution and who can believe in what, is being going on in several heated debates.

A composed satellite photograph of North America in orthographic projection. The observer is centered at (40° N, 95° W), at Moon distance above the Earth. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of North Americans seem to have a lot of difficulties with the way people want to look at the creation. For many of them it seems impossible to take the creation as having taken part in different phases others than a day of 24 hours. They seem to forget that God has a total different measuring than our present time system.

In the United States of America many science professors say they do not think it is possible that a scientist believes in God. In other countries we can find scientist who were atheist but by their scientific findings and getting to see what was written in the Bible did come to the Christian Faith.

Billy Graham, American religious figure. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Billy Graham in care of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association wrote about this question:

Over the years I’ve met many outstanding scientists who not only believed in God, but were also dedicated followers of Christ. Many, in fact, told me that they’d first become believers because of their scientific studies.

Why was this? One reason, they said, was because they came to see that it was more logical to believe in God than not believe in Him. No matter where you look — through the most powerful telescope or the strongest microscope — the complexity and the beauty of the universe point to an all-powerful Creator. In other words, believing that the universe “just happened” takes far more faith than believing in God! The Bible says,

“Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20).

But my scientist friends also realized that science has its limits. Science can describe what the world is like, but it can’t answer the questions of why we’re here or where we’re going when we die. Only God can give us the answer to these spiritual questions, and He has answered them through Jesus Christ.

Don’t be put off by the unbelief of others. Instead, turn to Jesus Christ and open your heart and mind to His truth as it is revealed in the Bible.

…. Only in Christ, the Bible says,

“are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Additional literature:

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David Platt: Church Planting Is Key to Spreading the Gospel “In This Nation and to All Nations” (blackchristiannews.com)
With over 80 percent of people on our continent now living in metropolitan areas, the need for more biblically faithful churches in key urban centers is critical.Over the last year, I have had the privilege of visiting and preaching in many of the “Send” cities designated by the North American Mission Board. As I have interacted with church planting and revitalization teams, I have been deeply encouraged to see and hear about all the avenues God is blessing for the spread of the Gospel in North America.The rapidly shifting moral landscape of our culture, combined with the sobering reality that many of the most influential cities in North America are filled with lost people — yet are home to very few churches — beckons us to do more together to reach these cities.

God’s primary instrument for the spread of the Gospel here and around the world is the local church. We know from the New Testament that Christ is building His church and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning (basedheisenberg.tumblr.com)
The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.
How we read the Bible (standupforthetruth.com)
Sanctification is a long process, and sometimes we can lose patience with one another. What is the biblical way to contend for the faith?
Abraham Kuyper: God Crowns Creation With Humanity (stream.org)
Read the article “Abraham Kuyper: God Crowns Creation With Humanity” here: http://blog.acton.org/archives/76377-kuyper-god-crowns-creation-with-humanity.html
Being a creationist conservative in Canada ‘gives your opponents a tremendous amount of ammunition’ (themoderatevoice.com)
Alberta premier Jim Prentice’s hand-picked education minister Gordon Dirks told forum attendees last weekend that he was an “Old Earth guy” – a reference to a doctrine of Creationism that generally rejects biological evolution.Mr. Dirks has declined to clarify his views. He’s also declined to comment on whether or not he accepts the scientifically accepted understanding of evolution when asked directly by the Post.
Subcrustal ocean roof found? – National creationism | Examiner.com (servehiminthewaiting.com)
This team could have found the roof of a now-drained subcrustal ocean. That same ocean, he says, broke confinement about fifty-three hundred years ago. We know that break-out as the Global Flood.
Gallup: U.S. Population Highly Militaristic (stateofglobe.com)
“Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?” the overwhelming winner had been the United States of America.
Old Earth creationists and other conservative Christians denying any evolution (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
conservative Christians gained terrain and could blown up the whole evolution thing in a ridiculous way. A big problem with the creationists is that they all undermine the normal Christian thinking and Christian concept of creation and the relationship of man versus the creation.

An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2)—Creation and what follows

Posted on 2015/02/22 by Marcus Ampe

Whilst there may certainly be nothing sacred or “God-ordained” about the modern nation-state, lots of people do claim the connection of their state with the God of their Christian faith. Lots of those claiming to be Christian do not notice they themselves made themselves an own faith which in many cases has gone far away from the leader Christ Jesus his teachings. Even worse many of the conservative Christians and extreme right people have twisted so much the biblical teachings they do not see straight any more.

Lots of people in the so called democratic countries would like to build up their country to what they call to be a free nation, though they want to put a lot of limitations to whom may enter and to what others may believe.
A very good example of such deformation of the mind is the United States of America where there are some citizens who are totally convinced that it is their own home country, not recognising they themselves came from immigrants, thinking their laws should be build on their restricted view of the Bible, ignoring in a certain way the idea of freedom of the Pilgrims who founded their country.

Americans, convinced that the only state they have does not belong to the original locals, redskins or Indians, neither that it belongs to the Divine Creator, are convinced only they can work, according to their measures, to make ‘their state’ the most just and life-enhancing state it can be.
They are also convinced they should also work against their state as strongly as possible when it is unjust and undermines life. Though they often forget which measures or rules they would consider to be the just, righteous and most right to choose for.

Perhaps they can use an anarchist critique of the state and an anarchist affirmation of the human capacity for self-organizing to help to resist the undermining and, even more, to help them as they seek to construct a well-functioning society.

But most of all I would advice those who call themselves Christian to take up again the Bible and to go through it thoroughly.
All people interested in building up a community which can leave together in peace,is better to take up the manual given by the Supreme Writer and Divine Creator of all.

We can approach the Bible as a storybook and see it as providing a loosely coherent message, amidst a great deal of diversity, but than we shall miss out a lot of wisdom provide in it and would not be able so much to see our own stupidities and the stupidities of our governments who do not want to learn from the past, having the past repeating over and over again.

When we look at the Bereshith, the book of the Beginnings brings us the evolution of all things. Lots of conservative Christians do want to take its writing as a literal presentation from day to day, but it was never intended to be so. Moses neither the Client to write, wanted to present humanity with a factual historical scientist into depth account of what happened throughout the years of this universe.
The very beginning of the Bible provides much important information about the Bible as a whole, about the cosmology of the whole, about the character of the God seen to be central to the entire story, and about the relationships between humankind and this God.

Those people taking up the Bible, the infallible Word of God, should remember that the tale told in that Book of books, is to bring us knowledge about our own beings, our own self, how and why we are and how humanity develops.

In this Best-seller of all times, the One giving His Voice, the One Who asked to have His Words written down, This Creator God speaks of His Creation, which includes not only the human beings (male and female) being created in His own image, but also all the things He gave under dominion of those human beings (plants and animals). Though man could make use of it and could give it names, it has made a mess of it, and has done dishonour to the Creator of it. Too many have forgotten that humanity is commissioned to care for the rest of creation as God’s stewards. This is one of the good reasons lots of people should again or for the first time start reading the Bible to find out what their position on this planet is and what they have as task to do to come to a nice good peaceable world.

The Bible tells us what went wrong in the past and how the relationship between God and man became troubled. We do have to find ways to restore that relationship between God and humanity which is not one of domination, command-and-obedience. Yes it is rather a relationship of like with like. God has given several man of God to lead us and to show us the right way to develop. The prophet and master rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) is the most important one to follow. after so much time that the people still did not come to understand the Torah, Jesus came to clarify it once again and to show the Way to God. though Jesus is the Way, he did not want to do his own will nor wants us to do only his will, neither to make him God or to worship him. He wants us to worship and to pray to the same God he prayed to, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Who is also the God of him (Jesus) and his disciples.

We are told to put on the armour of Christ and to become like Jesus, and to put on the armour of God becoming one with God like Jesus is one with God. Though God is the Most High and even Jesus could not do anything without his heavenly Father, we also shall never be able to do anything without God allowing it to happen. But we are given the words of Christ and the words of the other prophets to help us to find the right way, trying to transform ourselves by the teachings of the master teacher and by the words of the very different books brought together in the Canonical Bible.

We as humans created in the image of God are also by that Creator asked to be like God. And, perhaps even more importantly, the picture here is that all humanity shares in this divine image — kingly, perhaps, but in a strongly egalitarian sense. As well, human beings are given power and responsibility.

The biggest problem is we all are responsible for our own choice and for our own actions. There is nobody else to blame for what we ourselves decide to follow.
It is up to us to take up the Book of books, to believe in it and to follow up freely its advice and wisdom.

*

To remember:

to avoid the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (2:17) = restriction > arbitrary rule from a dominating God intended to prevent human enlightenment? => Such an interpretation contradict much of the surrounding story + much of what follows in the Bible.

restriction = symbolizing innate human limitations.

human beings seek to know + use that knowledge to dominate creation => will devolve into power struggles and develop hierarchies

To avoid such a dynamic => to step back from desiring too much “knowledge,” to accept limits, and recognize to live in trust.

Adam and Eve (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“temptation” to violate restriction = too strong => Adam and Eve break the close connection between themselves and God.

coming from human side — after they eat the forbidden fruit, God still seeks to hang around with them in the Garden

humans hide from God (3:8) = they become ashamed of their nakedness.

consequences of this turn toward disharmony = establishment of “enmity” between Adam and Eve (3:15) and of Adam as “ruler” over Eve (3:16).

Not God’s will

new tensions and struggles = characterize human life.

rest of story = God’s work among humanity to overcome this “enmity” and proclivity toward “rulership.”

“fall”= affirmation of fundamental character of human peaceableness and responsiveness to God = complicated by human freedom.

God gives humanity potential to turn away as a key part of basic loving nature of the relationships +> turning away has consequences.

fatalistic interpretation has underwritten power politics over the centuries — the “fallenness” of humanity used as an excuse for a politics of centralized, coercive power.

human proclivity to exercise power in dominating ways = target in story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. = inclination to centralize human power and to create a “oneness” that serves centralized power.

“scattering” Babel-dwellers (3:4, 8, 9), God seeks to create the conditions for a different kind of oneness — human unity respecting diversity, decentralizing power, based on mutual respect.

rest of the Bible’s story describes long, tenuous process of such a oneness being established.

human beings being gifted through God’s Spirit to connect despite their differences in languages, points to the type of oneness God endorses.

God’s healing strategy

genealogy that will connect Noah with the founding of God’s chosen people, we meet the human founders of the Hebrew peoplehood.

God creates something new out of barreness + promises descendants, beyond counting, and the agents of blessing for “all the families of the earth” (12:3).

important intervention of God = vocation God gives Abram, Sarai, and their descendants = God’s response to what happened in Eden, the story of the Flood, and the Tower of Babel => God will bring healing, but it will be patient, non-coercive, based on love and not on domination.

Founding ancestor of God’s chosen people = far from being a king or powerful ruler.

God’s work to bring healing to creation = not linked with territoriality => no geographical kingdom and no human king.

The method for doing God’s work in the world is “blessing” and this work is intended to encompass “all the families of the earth.”

We will have to follow the rest of the story to understand better the political implications of this starting point. But we should notice right away the combination of a lack of state-centeredness and the optimism about the possibilities of this “blessing” spreading widely without domination.

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Additional readings:

What is life?

Leaving the Old World to find better pastures

Men of faith

Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform

Right to be in the surroundings

Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness

Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell

God wants to be gracious to you

The giving and protecting God

Testify of the things heard

I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late !

A secret to be revealed

Humility and the Fear of the Lord

No fear in love

If you want to go far in life

Being of good courage running the race

Wisdom lies deep

God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies

God should be your hope

Your New Job Description — Bless!

Count your blessings

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”

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Thinking Pacifism

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And I will be reading the Bible in fairly naïve and straightforward ways. I approach the Bible as a storybook and see it as providing a loosely coherent message, amidst a great deal of diversity. I will focus more on the loose coherence than the diversity—largely due to a desire to find usable guidance in the Bible. At the same time, in reading the Bible more as…

View original post 1,411 more words

Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path

Posted on 2014/10/08 by Marcus Ampe

Saint Gabriel archangel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In our first article in the series on the Quran reading Muslims got to believe Allah revealed this prayer to Muhammad early in his career as a prophet (which began in the year 610 AD, when he received his first revelation from Allah through the angel Gabriel – a revelation that is now contained in the Qur’an’s 96th chapter) so that the Muslims would know how to pray.

In the 96 chapter verses 1-5 we are asked to “Proclaim!” or “read!” in the name of the Lord and Cherisher, Who created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood (hence the name Adam: the red blood), but also from the “black mud”, and Who is the is Most Bountiful, He Who taught (the use of) the pen (4), taught man that which he knew not.

In the Bible are the human beings created in God’s image. According to the Islam the Quran/Koran rejects such a similarity of the image between God and man explicitly.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26 ASV)

“And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7 ASV)

“And also the {1} Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent. {1) Or [Victory]; Or [Glory]}” (1 Samuel 15:29 ASV)

“وقال الله نعمل الانسان على صورتنا كشبهنا.فيتسلطون على سمك البحر وعلى طير السماء وعلى البهائم وعلى كل الارض وعلى جميع الدبابات التي تدب على الارض.” (تكوين 1:26 Arabic)

“وجبل الرب الاله آدم ترابا من الارض.ونفخ في انفه نسمة حياة.فصار آدم نفسا حيّة.” (تكوين 2:7 Arabic)

“وايضا نصيح اسرائيل لا يكذب ولا يندم لانه ليس انسانا ليندم.” (1 صموئيل 15:29 Arabic)

Musa (Moses), the prophet who wrote down the Word of God over the beginning of time (Genesis) and proclaimed God’s Word – in a Persian miniature from the 15th century

Allah is presented as the Most Gracious, Most Merciful Who brought His Message to humankind. According to Muslim tradition it was revealed in a chain of messages starting to the Archangel Gabriel (Jibreel). Soon in the text we remarked that the Islamic community went into the same fault as many Christian denominations taking more attention to traditional human thoughts instead of keeping to the words of their Holy Scripture itself. As such we noticed that by “the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds” several Muslims created their worlds of demons and djinns or Gjinn-people, and like several Christians started to believe in a place of damnation being called “hell“. But from the Quran and the Bible we can only find two worlds: namely the world of the human beings (earth and waters) and the world of the celestial beings (heaven).

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ ۖ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein.(50:16)

الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَأَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَنْدَادًا وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

Who made the earth a resting place for you and the heaven a canopy and (Who) sends down rain from the cloud, then brings forth with it subsistence for you of the fruits; therefore do not set up rivals to Allah while you know.(2:22)

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth, and He directed Himself to the heaven, so He made them complete seven heavens, and He knows all things.(2:29)

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَالْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِمَا يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ وَمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ

Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that run in the sea with that which profits men, and the water that Allah sends down from the cloud, then gives life with it to the earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people who understand.(2:164)

وَعِنْدَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لَا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ ۚ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا وَلَا حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الْأَرْضِ وَلَا رَطْبٍ وَلَا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ

And with Him are the keys of the unseen treasures– none knows them but He; and He knows what is in the land and the sea, and there falls not a leaf but He knows it, nor a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything green nor dry but (it is all) in a clear book.(6:59)

اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَأَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْفُلْكَ لِتَجْرِيَ فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِ ۖ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْهَارَ

Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and sent down water from the clouds, then brought forth with it fruits as a sustenance for you, and He has made the ships subservient to you, that they might run their course in the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers subservient to you.(14:32)

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي خَالِقٌ بَشَرًا مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ مِنْ حَمَإٍ مَسْنُونٍ

And when your Lord said to the angels: Surely I am going to create a mortal of the essence of black mud fashioned in shape.(15:28)

The opening of the Quran, starting with the prayer:

1 Fatiha, or the Opening Chapter. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
2 Praise be to Allah, The Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds;
3 Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
4 Master of the Day of Judgment.
5 Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
6 Show us the straight way,
7 The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose portion is not wrath, and who go not astray.

In certain translations is indicated that it is only to Him (Thee alone) to give worship and (Thee alone) to ask for help.

Shakir translates:

5 Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help.
6 Keep us on the right path.
7 The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not the path of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.

Ysufufali and other translaters give:

5 Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
6 Show us the straight way,
7 The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose portion is not wrath, and who go not astray.

It is clear that to the Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgement the Muslims do want to give praise. It is Him Who they do worship and Whose aid they seek. Normally, like they pray, to worship Him alone, and no imams or khomeinis they also say in their prayer they only ask Allah for help (for each and everything) (5).

001.006 اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
001.006 Show us the straight way,/ Guide us to the Straight Way

001.007 صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا الضَّالِّينَ
001.007 The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

In verse 7 the Muslims often add themselves:

The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).

We also hear Muslims speaking about Ṣirāṭ, Siraat, Serat, As-Sirāt

اهدنا الصراط المستقيم

Guide us to the straight path: — Abdel Haleem

Guide us along the straight way— — Ahmad Zaki

Guide us on the straight path, — Ali Quli Qarai

In the previous article we saw the opening prayer, in which one wants to give his gratitude to the Supreme Creator of heaven and earth. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful they call onto Him and say that He (Allah), the Lord of the Worlds, belongs all praise (2), which means that world also does not belong to imams or Khomeinis, who one really should not support, too, because the Muslims pray and claim that they only beg for help unto the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. (4-5).
Judgement belongs to the fifth pillar of iman (Imaan) [of the six pillars of Iman (faith)] in addition to the belief in the existence of Angels. The Muslim believes that Judgement Day will come at the time provided for. On this day Allah will judge between people and reward everybody for what he has done.
The Five Pillars of Islam and six pillars of Iman are the foundation of Islam.

It is up to Allah/God that they ask to be lead to the straight path. The path which according to them, that way what God would have them presented by whom He has bestowed favours – not that of those who earn His anger nor went astray.

The Maker and Sustainer of the world, the Creator of and Provider for man, the Active Force and Effective Power in nature are all one and the same, and that is known to be Allah or God. This is the Secret of all secrets and the Most Supreme of all beings. The Holy Qur’an claims to be the True Book of God, in which He says:

It is God Who has made the night for you, that you may rest therein, and the day to see. Verily God is full of Grace and Bounty to men. Yet most men give no thanks. Such is God, your Lord, the Creator of all things. There is no god but He; why then do you turn away from Him. Thus are turned away those who deny the Signs of God. It is God Who has made for you the earth as a resting place and the sky as a shelter, and has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful, and has provided for you sustenance of things good and pure; such is God your Lord. So glory to God, the Lord of the worlds! He is the Living (One); There is no god but He: Call upon Him, giving Him sincere devotion. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. (Qur’an, 40:61-65).

In the Bible we are warned we do have to seek the Most High and be ready before His Day of Judgement will come.

“Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3 ASV)

“And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:11 ASV)

“The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.” (Zephaniah 1:14 ASV)

“to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand;” (2 Thessalonians 2:2 ASV)

“Ask of me, and I will give [thee] the nations for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Psalms 2:8 ASV)

“And as for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.” (Daniel 11:27 ASV)

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22 ASV)

“And {1} this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole {2} world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. {1) Or [these good tidings] 2) Gr [inhabited earth]}” (Matthew 24:14 ASV)

“Now these things happened unto them {1} by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. {1) Gr [by way of figure]}” (1 Corinthians 10:11 ASV)

“but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been {1} stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. {1) Or [stored with fire]}” (2 Peter 3:7 ASV)

“But them that are without God judgeth. Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.” (1 Corinthians 5:13 ASV)

“[Let] marriage [be] had in honor among all, and [let] the bed [be] undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4 ASV)

“And the nations were wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and [the time] to give their reward to thy {1} servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth. {1) Gr [bondservants]}” (Revelation 11:18 ASV)

“But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Mark 13:32 ASV)

“inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge {1} the world in righteousness {2} by {3} the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. {1) Gr [the inhabited earth] 2) Gr [in] 3) Or [a man]}” (Acts 17:31 ASV)

“اطلبوا الرب يا جميع بائسي الارض الذين فعلوا حكمه.اطلبوا البرّ .اطلبوا التواضع.لعلكم تسترون في يوم سخط الرب” (صفنيا 2:3 Arabic)

“والرب يعطي صوته امام جيشه.ان عسكره كثير جدا.فان صانع قوله قوي لان يوم الرب عظيم ومخوف جدا فمن يطيقه” (يوئيل 2:11 Arabic)

“قريب يوم الرب العظيم قريب وسريع جدا.صوت يوم الرب.يصرخ حينئذ الجبار مرّا.” (صفنيا 1:14 Arabic)

“ان لا تتزعزعوا سريعا عن ذهنكم ولا ترتاعوا لا بروح ولا بكلمة ولا برسالة كانها منا اي ان يوم المسيح قد حضر.” (2 تسالونيكي 2:2 Arabic)

“(2:9) ‎تحطمهم بقضيب من حديد.مثل اناء خزّاف تكسّرهم” (مزامير 2:8 Arabic)

“وهذان الملكان قلبهما لفعل الشر ويتكلمان بالكذب على مائدة واحدة ولا ينجح لان الانتهاء بعد الى ميعاد.” (دانيال 11:27 Arabic)

“وتكونون مبغضين من الجميع من اجل اسمي.ولكن الذي يصبر الى المنتهى فهذا يخلص.” (متى 10:22 Arabic)

“ويكرز ببشارة الملكوت هذه في كل المسكونة شهادة لجميع الامم.ثم يأتي المنتهى” (متى 24:14 Arabic)

“فهذه الامور جميعها اصابتهم مثالا وكتبت لإنذارنا نحن الذين انتهت الينا اواخر الدهور.” (1 كورنثوس 10:11 Arabic)

“واما السموات والارض الكائنة الآن فهي مخزونة بتلك الكلمة عينها محفوظة للنار الى يوم الدين وهلاك الناس الفجار” (2 بطرس 3:7 Arabic)

“اما الذين من خارج فالله يدينهم.فاعزلوا الخبيث من بينكم” (1 كورنثوس 5:13 Arabic)

“ليكن الزواج مكرما عند كل واحد والمضجع غير نجس.واما العاهرون والزناة فسيدينهم الله.” (عبرانيين 13:4 Arabic)

“وغضبت الامم فأتى غضبك وزمان الاموات ليدانوا ولتعطى الاجرة لعبيدك الانبياء والقديسين والخائفين اسمك الصغار والكبار وليهلك الذين كانوا يهلكون الارض.” (رؤيا 11:18 Arabic)

“واما ذلك اليوم وتلك الساعة فلا يعلم بهما احد ولا الملائكة الذين في السماء ولا الابن الا الآب.” (مرقس 13:32 Arabic)

“(17:32) ولما سمعوا بالقيامة من الاموات كان البعض يستهزئون والبعض يقولون سنسمع منك عن هذا ايضا‎ .” (اعمال 17:31 Arabic)

Preparing for the Day of Judgement can be managed by seeking Him and by making sure you can find Him and by keeping His commandments. God has given His word to man as a guidebook and help. In the Bible we can find the answers to our questions and we can find sufficient data to ensure that we will be ready when the day of Jehovah comes. For this we have to find the right direction where to go to and have to take the right path on the (high)way to God’s Kingdom.

وَآتَيْنَاهُمَا الْكِتَابَ الْمُسْتَبِينَ

And We gave them both the Book that made (things) clear.(37:117)

وَهَدَيْنَاهُمَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ

And We guided them both on the right way.(37:118)

وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ قَالُوا مَا هَٰذَا إِلَّا رَجُلٌ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَصُدَّكُمْ عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُكُمْ وَقَالُوا مَا هَٰذَا إِلَّا إِفْكٌ مُفْتَرًى ۚ وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ

And when Our clear communications are recited to them, they say: This is naught but a man who desires to turn you away from that which your fathers worshipped. And they say: This is naught but a lie that is forged. And those who disbelieve say of the truth when it comes to them: This is only clear enchantment.(34:43)

وَمَا آتَيْنَاهُمْ مِنْ كُتُبٍ يَدْرُسُونَهَا ۖ وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ قَبْلَكَ مِنْ نَذِيرٍ

And We have not given them any books which they read, nor did We send to them before you a warner.(34:44)

“Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, For his wrath {1} will soon be kindled. {2} Blessed are all they that take refuge in him. {1) Or [may] 2) Or [Happy]}” (Psalms 2:12 ASV)

“Thou wilt show me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalms 16:11 ASV)

“NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path.” (Psalms 119:105 ASV)

“But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18 ASV)

“And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth {1} the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. {1) Or [instruction]}” (Isaiah 2:3 ASV)

“and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not {1} turned out of the way, but rather be healed. {1) Or [put out of joint]}” (Hebrews 12:13 ASV)

“The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4 ASV)

“Show me thy ways, O Jehovah; Teach me thy paths.” (Psalms 25:4 ASV)

“Good and upright is Jehovah: Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.” (Psalms 25:8 ASV)

“For {1} the commandment is a lamp; And {2} the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life: {1) Or, their [commandment] 2) Or, their [teaching]}” (Proverbs 6:23 ASV)

“There is a way which {1} seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death. {1) Or [is straight before]}” (Proverbs 16:25 ASV)

“Train up a child {1} in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it. {1) Heb [according to his way]}” (Proverbs 22:6 ASV)

“And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth {1} the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. {1) Or [instruction]}” (Isaiah 2:3 ASV)

“and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21 ASV)

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.” (Isaiah 55:8 ASV)

“{1} For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. {1) Many ancient authorities read [How narrow is the gate, etc]}” (Matthew 7:14 ASV)

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but {1} by me. {1) Or [through]}” (John 14:6 ASV)

“And they sing the song of Moses the {1} servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the {2} ages. {1) Gr [bondservant] 2) Many ancient authorities read [nations]; Jer 10:7}” (Revelation 15:3 ASV)

“(3:1) مزمور لداود حينما هرب من وجه ابشالوم ابنه‎ .‎يا رب ما اكثر مضايقي.كثيرون قائمون عليّ‎ .” (مزامير 2:12 Arabic)

“(17:1) صلاة لداود‎ .‎اسمع يا رب للحق.انصت الى صراخي اصغ الى صلاتي من شفتين بلا غش‎ .” (مزامير 16:11 Arabic)

“(119:106) ‎حلفت فأبره ان احفظ احكام برك‎ .” (مزامير 119:105 Arabic)

“اما سبيل الصديقين فكنور مشرق يتزايد وينير الى النهار الكامل.” (امثال 4:18 Arabic)

“وتسير شعوب كثيرة ويقولون هلم نصعد الى جبل الرب الى بيت اله يعقوب فيعلّمنا من طرقه ونسلك في سبله لانه من صهيون تخرج الشريعة ومن اورشليم كلمة الرب.” (اشعياء 2:3 Arabic)

“واصنعوا لارجلكم مسالك مستقيمة لكي لا يعتسف الاعرج بل بالحري يشفى.” (عبرانيين 12:13 Arabic)

“هو الصخر الكامل صنيعه.ان جميع سبله عدل.اله امانة لا جور فيه صديق وعادل هو” (تثنية 32:4 Arabic)

“(25:5) ‎دربني في حقك وعلمني.لانك انت اله خلاصي.اياك انتظرت اليوم كله‎ .” (مزامير 25:4 Arabic)

“(25:9) ‎يدرب الودعاء في الحق ويعلم الودعاء طرقه‎ .” (مزامير 25:8 Arabic)

“لان الوصية مصباح والشريعة نور وتوبيخات الادب طريق الحياة.” (امثال 6:23 Arabic)

“توجد طريق تظهر للانسان مستقيمة وعاقبتها طرق الموت.” (امثال 16:25 Arabic)

“ربّ الولد في طريقه فمتى شاخ ايضا لا يحيد عنه.” (امثال 22:6 Arabic)

“وتسير شعوب كثيرة ويقولون هلم نصعد الى جبل الرب الى بيت اله يعقوب فيعلّمنا من طرقه ونسلك في سبله لانه من صهيون تخرج الشريعة ومن اورشليم كلمة الرب.” (اشعياء 2:3 Arabic)

“واذناك تسمعان كلمة خلفك قائلة هذه هي الطريق اسلكوا فيها حينما تميلون الى اليمين وحينما تميلون الى اليسار.” (اشعياء 30:21 Arabic)

“لان افكاري ليست افكاركم ولا طرقكم طرقي يقول الرب.” (اشعياء 55:8 Arabic)

“ما اضيق الباب وأكرب الطريق الذي يؤدي الى الحياة.وقليلون هم الذين يجدونه” (متى 7:14 Arabic)

“قال له يسوع انا هو الطريق والحق والحياة.ليس احد يأتي الى الآب الا بي.” (يوحنا 14:6 Arabic)

“وهم يرتلون ترنيمة موسى عبد الله وترنيمة الخروف قائلين عظيمة وعجيبة هي اعمالك ايها الرب الاله القادر على كل شيء عادلة وحق هي طرقك يا ملك القديسين.” (رؤيا 15:3 Arabic)

Free choice to follow the Holy Scriptures or not; from Smithsonian :Folio from a Koran :9th-10th century :Abbasid dynasty :Ink and color on parchment; Egypt :Purchase, F1929.71 The verses are from sura (chapter) 22, entitled al-Hadj (Pilgrimage) and include a discussion of the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hadj is one of the five principal duties of every Muslim. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Each of us has to make their own choice, and have to do everything to stay on the right track. As human beings we are weak and it can and probably shall happen that we sometimes go wrong. Each time we shall have to adjust and should take care to come back on the right way aiming for the best what is laid in front of us. All people should know they are able to get salvation, and we should look forward to that time that the Word of God is preached all over the world, because than we know that the time is ripe to find the Kingdom of God, close to us.

“and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens.” (Ezra 9:6 ASV)

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalms 51:5 ASV)

“If thou, {1} Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? {1) Heb [Jah]}” (Psalms 130:3 ASV)

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5 ASV)

“And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me.” (Jeremiah 33:8 ASV)

“{1} let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. {1) Some ancient authorities read [know ye]}” (James 5:20 ASV)

“For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;” (2 Peter 2:18 ASV)

“This also shall be my salvation, That a godless man shall not come before him.” (Job 13:16 ASV)

“Upright men shall be astonished at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.” (Job 17:8 ASV)

“For what is the hope of the godless, {1} though he get him gain, When God taketh away his soul? {1) Or [when God cutteth him off, When he taketh etc]}” (Job 27:8 ASV)

“{1} Like the profane mockers in feasts, They gnashed upon me with their teeth. {1) Or [Among]}” (Psalms 35:16 ASV)

“With his mouth the godless man destroyeth his neighbor; But through knowledge shall the righteous be delivered.” (Proverbs 11:9 ASV)

“Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” (Isaiah 9:17 ASV)

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isaiah 33:14 ASV)

“For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid [my face] and was wroth; and he went on {1} backsliding in the way of his heart. {1) Heb [turning away]}” (Isaiah 57:17 ASV)

“وقلت.اللهم اني اخجل واخزى من ان ارفع يا الهي وجهي نحوك لان ذنوبنا قد كثرت فوق رؤوسنا وآثامنا تعاظمت الى السماء.” (عزرا 9:6 Arabic)

“(51:6) ها قد سررت بالحق في الباطن ففي السريرة تعرّفني حكمة‎ .” (مزامير 51:5 Arabic)

“(130:4) ‎لان عندك المغفرة لكي يخاف منك‎ .” (مزامير 130:3 Arabic)

“وهو مجروح لاجل معاصينا مسحوق لاجل آثامنا تاديب سلامنا عليه وبحبره شفينا.” (اشعياء 53:5 Arabic)

“واطهرهم من كل اثمهم الذي اخطأوا به اليّ واغفر كل ذنوبهم التي اخطأوا بها اليّ والتي عصوا بها عليّ .” (ارميا 33:8 Arabic)

“فليعلم ان من رد خاطئا عن ضلال طريقه يخلّص نفسا من الموت ويستر كثرة من الخطاياٍ” (يعقوب 5:20 Arabic)

“لانهم اذ ينطقون بعظائم البطل يخدعون بشهوات الجسد في الدعارة من هرب قليلا من الذين يسيرون في الضلال” (2 بطرس 2:18 Arabic)

“فهذا يعود الى خلاصي ان الفاجر لا يأتي قدامه.” (ايوب 13:16 Arabic)

“يتعجب المستقيمون من هذا والبريء ينتهض على الفاجر.” (ايوب 17:8 Arabic)

“لانه ما هو رجاء الفاجر عندما يقطعه عندما يسلب الله نفسه.” (ايوب 27:8 Arabic)

“(35:17) يا رب الى متى تنظر.استرد نفسي من تهلكاتهم وحيدتي من الاشبال‎ .” (مزامير 35:16 Arabic)

“بالفم يخرب المنافق صاحبه وبالمعرفة ينجو الصدّيقون.” (امثال 11:9 Arabic)

“لاجل ذلك لا يفرح السيد بفتيانه ولا يرحم يتاماه وارامله لان كل واحد منهم منافق وفاعل شر.وكل فم متكلم بالحماقة.مع كل هذا لم يرتد غضبه بل يده ممدودة بعد” (اشعياء 9:17 Arabic)

“ارتعب في صهيون الخطاة.اخذت الرعدة المنافقين.من منا يسكن في نار آكلة.من منا يسكن في وقائد ابدية.” (اشعياء 33:14 Arabic)

“من اجل اثم مكسبه غضبت وضربته.استترت وغضبت فذهب عاصيا في طريق قلبه.” (اشعياء 57:17 Arabic)

Those upon whom God’s wrath rests are those who do not want to know Him and do not want to keep His commandments, those who reject the Truth or want to hide it. The ‘erring’ are those who have been misled and who are inconsiderate or choosing human traditions above the Laws of God.

Let us all look for the Most High God and pray:

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا الضَّالِّينَ

Dear God,
Show us or Guide us to the straight way
The way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

Preceding article: Al-Fatiha [The Opening/De Opening] Süra 1:1-3 In the name of Allah the Merciful Lord Of The Creation

Find the introduction to this series:

Public not informed enough about Jihad terrorism in Belgium

Quran versus older Holy Writings of Divine Creator

Notes:

* Five Pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām أركان الإسلام; also arkān al-dīn أركان الدين “pillars of the religion“) are five basic acts in Islam, considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life:

Shahadah: declaring there is no god except God, and Muhammad is God’s Messenger
Salat: ritual prayer five times a day
Zakat: giving 2.5% of one’s savings to the poor and needy
Sawm: fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime^[5]^[6] if one is able

** Belief in the six articles of faith, known as arkān al-īmān: Iman (Arabic: الإيمان‎) in Islamic theology denotes a believer’s faith in the metaphysical aspects of Islam.

Additional reading:

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Benefits of Fasting in Ramadan (islambestreligion.wordpress.com)
Fasting has been made obligatory (Fardh) By Allah in Ramadan and every Muslim needs to observe entire month’s fasts. Allah, the All Powerful and Creator of Universe say in Holy Quran
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knowing the benefits of good deeds will increase our Imaan and actually it is part of the Imaan, as we will get to know what Allah is going give us on this particular deed in this world and hereafter. This helps us in performing the good deeds steadfastly and consistently.
Concept of Revivalist [Mujaddid] in Islam (madinasharif.wordpress.com)
Commenting on the authenticity of the above Hadith Shareef, Allama Imam Isma’eel Haqqee records in his marginal notes of Siraj al-Muneer Sharh Jame’h al-Sagheer:

“My Shaykh said that there is a consensus of the Hadith Masters that this Hadith is Sahih.”

Amongst the later Hadith Masters that verified this Hadith Shareef as Sahih are Imam Allama Abul-Fadl Iraqee and Imam Allama ibn Hajr and amongst the predecessor Masters, Imam Hakim author of Sahih al-Mustadrak and Imam Bayhaqee author of al-Mudkhal.
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when there comes a period in which there is a shortage of knowledge and a deterioration in following of the Sunnah; when there is an increase in false innovations and ignorance; then Almighty Allah will send a person at the beginning or end of every century who will show the difference between Sunnah and Bid’at. He will refute and destroy false innovations and will fear none but Almighty Allah. He will very bravely and sincerely hoist the flag of Deen-e-Muhammadi (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam). Such a person is known as a “Mujaddid” (Reviver) of Deen.

Allah loves (1) the kind good doers (safaafromcaeg.wordpress.com)
“That which is lawful is clear and
That which is unlawful is clear, and
Between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know.
Thus,
• He who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but
• He who falls into doubtful matters [eventually] falls into that which is unlawful,
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The best Quotes (127) Niyyah = free will“Actions are (judged) by motives (Niyyah, which is the intended and predetermined free will),
Therefore, each man will have what he intended.
Hajj Round The Ka’bah Craft (greenbirdbooks.com)
Hajj is the great pilgrimage made by Muslims which includes walking around the special house named the Ka’bah. Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam and all Muslims if they are able to make this great journey once in a lifetime. This pillar is observed during the month of Thul-Hijjah
Lessons of festival of ram sacrifice (vanguardngr.com)
Yesterday specifically, pilgrims observing the core of the worship of Hajj gathered at the plains of Mount of ‘Arafah, outside Makkah where they spent their time totally in worship and proceeded from Arafah to Muzdalifah to offer prayers and cast seven stones at the symbols of Satan and other devotional course.
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it shows the spiritual committment to the covenant with Allah and absolute submission to His will at all times, in times of pain and joy. Although, the solemn pronouncement of Allah’s name over the sacrifice is an essential part of the rite, Allah does not take delight in flesh and blood, rather, it is a symbol of thanksgiving to Allah by sharing meat with fellow humans.

The Feast of Sacrifice: What is Eid Al-Adha? (tnnegypt.com)
‘Eid’ is an Arabic word referring to a celebration that is repeated annually.There are two great ‘Eid’ festivals in Islam, ‘Eid Al-Adha’ – Festival of Sacrifice, which occurs on the tenth day of the last month of the Muslim year ‘Thul Hijjah’ and coincides with the last day of the Hajj pilgrimage.‘Eid Al-Fitr’ – Festival of Breaking the Fast occurs on the first day of the month of ‘Shawwal’ following the month of ‘Ramadan’.

However, the Festival of Sacrifice is also regarded as the ‘Eid Al-Kabeer’ – the Great Festival, while the other is known as ‘Eid Al-Sagheer’ – the Small Festival.
Humbleness in Prayer (jamkarani.wordpress.com)
20ـ رسولُ اللهِ‏ِ (صَلَّيَ اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَ آلِهِ): لا صَلاةَ لِمَن لا يَتَخَشَّعُ في صلاتِهِ.

20- The Prophet (S) said; ‘The prayer of one who does not humble himself in his prayer does not count.’[al-Firdaws, v. 5, p. 195, no. 7935]

21ـ رسولُ اللهِ (صَلَّيَ اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَ آلِهِ) ـ لَمّا سُئلَ عنِ الخُشوعِ ـ: التَّواضُعُ في الصَّلاةِ، وأن‏ يُقبِلَ العَبدُ بقَلبِهِ كُلِّهِ على رَبِّهِ.

21- The Prophet (S), when he was asked about humbleness in prayer, said; ‘It is to abase oneself in the prayer, and for the servant to come to his Lord wholeheartedly.’[Da`aim al-Islam, v. 1, p. 158]
The Excellence of Du’a [The Essence of Worship] (madinasharif.wordpress.com)
Du‘a is the most powerful weapon of a believer. It can change fate, while no action of ours ever do. It is the essence of ‘Ibadah or worship. With it we can never fail; without it we can never succeed. With all the suffering and disasters Muslims are facing in various parts of the world, the question of Du‘a can be directed to all of us today.
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Sayyiduna Rasoolullah SallAllaho Alaihi wa Sallam states that Almighty Allah says:

أنا عندَ ظنِّ عبدي بي

I am with the supposition of My servant. [Recorded in Bukhari (Hadith 7239), Muslim, Tirmidi, Nisa’i and Ibn Maja on the authority of Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah]

This means that as a servant imagines or has an opinion concerning Allah, the Merciful Lord accordingly reacts with him. Knowledge and Qudrat is with everything but there is a special proximity of mercy with those who make Du’a to Him. What bigger mercy can a servant ask for than being blessed with the Divine Proximity of the Sublime Lord? Thousands of acceptances and millions of desires and intentions may be sacrificed on such Divine Proximity!
The Prayer (jamkarani.wordpress.com)
ـ الإمامُ عليٌّ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ): الصَّلاةُ تَستَنزِلُ الرَّحمَةَ .

3- Imam Ali (A) said; ‘Prayer elicits the descent of divine mercy.’[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 2214]

4ـ الإمامُ عليٌّ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ): كانَ رسولُ اللّه‏ِ (صَلَّيَ اللهُ عَلَيهِ وَ آلِهِ) لا يُؤثِرُ على الصَّلاةِ عَشاءً ولا غَيرَهُ، وكانَ إذا دَخَلَ وَقتُها كأنّهُ لا يَعرِفُ أهلاً ولا حَمِيماً.

4- Imam Ali (A) narrated; ‘The Prophet (S) never put anything before his prayer, neither his dinner nor anything else. When the time for prayer would set in, it was as if he knew neither family nor close friend.’[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 2, p. 87]
With what do you direct the student and the beginning seeker of knowledge with? – By: Shaykh Saalih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan (salaf-us-saalih.com)
I say, and with Allāh is the success, without doubt seeking knowledge is an important affair. Allāh جل وعلا says: “Know! That none has the right to be worshipped except Allāh, and ask for forgiveness of your sins and for the male and female believers” (47:19)Imām al-Bukhārī (May Allāh have mercy on him) said in his chapter “Knowledge proceeds speech and action” then he mentioned this verse.This is because if actions are not based upon knowledge, founded upon knowledge, then it is misguidance and tiring without benefit.Because the affair is like this it’s an obligation upon the Muslim to seek knowledge.

Why think that (4) … God would reveal himself in words

Posted on 2014/08/18 by taanathshiloh

Have you ever wondered why God created the universe? What his purpose is? We’ve already explored some reasons for thinking that God cares about us but does that actually mean? What purpose did God have in creating us? And what part do we have in God’s plan? One big clue is our ability to form relationships, not only with other people but also, in principle, with God. So if God intended there to be creatures like us, capable of forming relationships with him, then it seems a fair bet that this was his purpose in creating us (or at least part of it).

But relationships don’t just happen. They require communication. Imagine trying to form a relationship with someone without any communication. How would you know what they like or dislike? How would you know which things make them happy and which things really get on their nerves? How would you get to know them and share things with them without some form of communication? And the same is true of a relationship with God. If God wants us to have a relationship with him then he needs to reveal information about himself. He needs to tell us what he is like and what his expectations are and what sort of relationship he is interested in. Without this information it is simply not going to happen.

So God needs to reveal information about himself. How’s he going to do it? One possibility would be to reveal himself directly to everyone. Now perhaps the sheer immensity of his glory prevents mortals perceiving God directly, perhaps mortal minds would simply go kaput if faced with the true reality of God. But there are other ways God could have revealed himself, say, sending an angel to visit everyone personally and explaining that God exists, explaining that God wants a relationship and performing whatever miracles that would be needed to convince each person. That, we must presume, is something God could do but it is obvious that he hasn’t.

Here’s the problem: if the existence of God is obvious then it would severely limit our free choice as to whether to enter into a relationship with him or not. If we were faced with an angel who proved to us irrefutably that there was a God of unlimited and unquestionable power it is likely that we would feel compelled by fear to serve God. And that won’t do. Because what God wants is a loving relationship, for people to choose freely whether to enter into that relationship or not. And therefore God needs to be subtle so that people have a real choice: to trust in God, if they choose, or to deny God and go their own way, if they prefer. So we would expect God to reveal himself to mankind, so they can form relationships with him, but we would not necessarily expect to reveal himself directly to each person individually.

So whilst we might reasonably expect God to reveal information about himself, we should not expect God to do this in a coercive way. More likely God would reveal himself through an intermediary – someone or something that could speak on God’s behalf without forcing people to enter into a relationship with God. One option would be a spokesperson – like a prophet or religious teacher – but their impact is going to be limited. They can only speak to a limited number of people at one time and once they died the message would be gone. A better alternative would be a written message. Something that could be copied multiple times and sent to different parts of the world, and something that would outlive any one individual. It could contain enough information to form the basis of a relationship but would not be intimating or imposing; it would only be influential over those who accepted it. In the ancient world (when there was no radio, television or internet) a written text is the only form of mass communication.

From the 1933 edition of the Bible in the Southern Min language (specifically in a Taiwanese dialect influenced by the Amoy (Xiamen) dialect of the time), written in the Latin script. The text itself is in the public domain. This photo is of a recent reprinted edition and is released into the public domain by A-giâu 09:19, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC). The pages shown are of the Book of Proverbs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are limitations to any piece of writing. In a world of many languages, any book would need to be translated and interpreted to make it accessible throughout the world. Any book, if it was to be accessible to its initial readers, would be written with the cultural assumptions of that society. As societies change over time, newer generations might find the cultural assumptions made the book to be unfamiliar or even peculiar. But none of these limitations would be insurmountable as long as readers we focused on the purpose of the book: to build a relationship with God.

The book I have been describing is, of course, the Bible. The point is that it is not unexpected that God should use a book like the Bible to reveal himself. The reasonable next question is whether there is any evidence that the Bible is a revelation from God.

Preceding articles:

Why think that (1) … Jesus existed?

Wy think that (2) … Jesus claimed to be something special

Why think that (3) … Jesus rose from the dead

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Your Purpose For Your Life Vs. GOD’s Purpose of Your Life (foodforthespiritualsoul.wordpress.com)
If there is anything that I have learned about my own life is that whatever I may have thought was the path for my life, was not necessarily the path that God has meant for my life. In other’s words, God has been constantly teaching me about My Will vs. God’s Will. And this is a constant struggle of the flesh, in every way to understand. Not to mention, a true test of your surrendering to the Will of God, the Father of Creation. It requires for one to take paths, that are illogical to the human mind. It requires you to uphold God’s Words, to the point of where there will be moments where you may be “alone” in this world. I put “alone” in quotes because you see, when we truly have come to understand the Unconditional Love that Jesus Christ demonstrated on the Cross, at Calvary, we will truly feel within the deepest parts of our inner selves, the presence of the Omnipresent God.
The Theory of Gods Creation in His Own Image (lajbut.wordpress.com)
God deliberately created mankind to rule the earth and to accomplish this purpose, He created mankind as His own image- He made man His co-regent/representative rules. The image of God therefore refers to our unique status as human beings rulers in Gods stead, according to His will. We are created as his image to function as He would , were he administrating his own affairs directly.
The Purpose of Life (thelifeofastrangercalledme.wordpress.com)
Reluctant Progressions. (aldavina.wordpress.com)
Those that talk about our treatment of other people, the holiness of God and how we are to hold that to the highest reverence, but most importantly, the law in which all laws are firmly rooted upon- the law of love.
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To trusting that God has our best interests in mind when He gave His final word. To the beauty of progression.
The Bible & You (924jeremiah.wordpress.com)
The Holy Spirit is God Almighty—He’s not some collection of verses. The Holy Spirit wants to say plenty of original thoughts to you that you aren’t going to find spelled out verbatim in the Book.
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We greatly value having access to the collection of historical documents which Christians call “the Living Word.” But we are not going to pretend that the Book is perfect, because that’s just deception. We are not going to teach you to put your faith in a Book because this is idolatry. God is extremely jealous for our devotion. He commands us to love Him with all that we are, to worship Him alone, and to put nothing else above Him. Many Christians are living in total violation of all these things. They are far more devoted to their own interpretations of the Bible than they are to the teachings of the Holy Spirit. They worship pastors, theologians, and other teachers who claim to be experts on Scripture. They shamelessly exalt the Bible above God by promoting it as some binding contract which He is incapable of breaking. All of these are things which you need to stay far away from if you are going to honor God with your life.
Today’s Sabbath Message / “The Holy Bible Versus The Holy Spirit” – Has the Bible Become Our god? (owprince.wordpress.com)
The Apostles of Christ would refer to The Holy Scriptures (The Torah / Pentateuch) at times to confirm, affirm and proclaim the fulfillment of the promises of God in Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior. Christ himself often proclaimed that the Holy Scriptures were fulfilled in Him and that The Holy Spirit would reveal all divinely hidden Knowledge and Truth.
What About Free Will? (Part 3) (mscottc.wordpress.com)
According to libertarians, only if we are free to accept or reject God can we have a meaningful relationship with Him. If our love for God is determined it must mean it is either mechanistically programmed or coerced against our will. If either notion is true then love would be stripped of its value. Greg Boyd says, “If love is the goal” of God’s creation of us then love “must be freely chosen. It cannot be coerced. Agents must possess the capacity and opportunity to reject love if they are to possess the genuine capacity and ability to engage in love.”
Praying the open view: partnering with God (anopenorthodoxy.wordpress.com)
most Christians believe that whether God directly intervenes in our world depends at times on whether we petition God to do so. “We have not because we ask not” in the sense that “certain states of affairs that God can and wishes to bring about do not occur because we have chosen not to request that he intervene.” (italics mine) For open theists, how we understand this “because” is what sets an open worldview and its approach to prayer apart from other views. Sanders will emphasize the important of this “because” as well.
You are a unique Gospel that God wants to write: Life or lie message? (onedaringjew.wordpress.com)
Obviously, being a Christian involves having a personal relationship with Jesus but there is content to that relationship. When you lose the Gospel you lose Christ.
Which is the True Religion of God? (wifeezat.wordpress.com)
Each person is born in a circumstance which is not of his own choosing. The religion of his family or the ideology of the state is thrust upon him from the very beginning of his existence in this world. By the time he reaches his teens, he is usually fully brain-washed into believing that the beliefs of his particular society are the correct beliefs that everyone should have. However, when some people mature and are exposed to other belief-systems, they begin to question the validity of their own beliefs.

Running away from the past

Posted on 2014/04/01 by Bijbelvorsers

Being born, growing up. Days which start and days which finish. Days and nights, working hours, moments of rest and relaxation. From baby, encountering lots of difficulties in our will to try to find out and to try to do things. when times come before our eyes and we see them go past, we can only see that somehow we keep carrying them with us for the rest of our life. We sometimes we think we forget them, but suddenly they reappear. Sometimes we can not let the past for something what is gone. It may have been fortunate or may have been awful.

English: Students look at a section of the exp...

Students look at a section of the exposed Wasatch Fault, a classic normal fault located in North Salt Lake, Utah. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How many people do we not know who are trying to run away from their past? Sometimes we meet people who do not want to be remembered of their past. Several people do everything they can to get all remembrances of their past out of their way. Others only want to keep certain pictures going around to show the better part of their passed moments. As such they can get the less nice moments into oblivion.

Nobody wants to remind those painful moments of their life. We all want to dream of better moments and of miraculous and magical life. If things happened in our lives which we did not like, we prefer to put the fault to something or some one else. Mostly we do not want to see the fault by ourselves, and when we see that we ourselves where at fault often we do not want to admit it. Most of us do not want to have the pain to be remembered at those bad things that happened in our lives.

We would love to see that no bad things would happen to us. As soon as everything seems to go so smoothly, then with a finger snatch everything seems to go wrong. Moods change so easily.

Many of us do not like it when things go wrong or when we are brought in a bad mood. Most of us do not want to be angry or in a bad mood, but the anger and bad mood come again and again.

What can we do against it?

One moment everything looks to go enormously well, the other moment everything turns out to go terrible. The world has seen times were people had peace with each other and at other moments they seemed not to be able to cope with each-other. At times people had difficulty to survive and had to face thirst and hunger. Sometimes even the same people could find more than enough of it all. Often the might have found abundance, but really did not appreciate it or did not know they had so much, until they had lost it.

All of us probably have seen times of joy but also times of sorrow.

We are just a ball in the game of life, rolling from one side to the other.

How often we do like it to be rolled from one place to the other in case it could bring us something better (we think)? But how often did we not make the wrong choice, did we choose for the wrong party? How many times did we want to blame ourselves when it did not turn out like we had hoped?

In certain religions, people created somebody they could blame for what went wrong. Some like to think on their left shoulder is sitting a bad ‘ghost‘ or ‘devil‘ which lures them in the bad situations. It is that devil which makes them to have bad choices, doing things wrong, having bad or making them cross with others. Is that not easy to blame such a devil?

Like the pendulum of the always ticking clock we are pulled form the right to the left, from the good to the wrong or to the bad, and than there are others who want us to choose. Is that not difficult?

Why do so many people want to make it so complicated whilst life can be less complicated?

When something happened, why do we want to forget it and leave it in the past like it never happened. Why do we not want to take the opportunity to learn from it and to keep it in our mind to remember ourselves how we next time should not do it that way or should not let it turn out like it did previously?

It is impossible to turn back the time. What happened happened. How many times did we give the excuse we needed more time?

Did we ever think that if we would have accepted our own strength and would have shared it more with the other we could have reached much more? How many times did we want to hear the other for the good of us growing and did we want to work together to make everything better without having ourselves in the picture as the one who could make everything better? So often people do not want to hear the voice of an other in their mind, telling them to do what they should do. But when they did something others do not like, they are the first one to tell tit was somebody else his idea, or somebody else’s fault something went wrong.

Lots of people do enjoy it to look at others their mistakes or failings. How many do not like to listen to gossip and rumours and evil insinuations? when we hear people talking around us talking about others, how many do not derive pleasure from the shortcomings of others, especially those who have previously appeared to be models of uprightness or have been in the footlights?

Have you tried to hear the voice which comes over all the din of the market, the buzz of social gossip, the stamping and mirth of the pleasure spots?

How often we feel that wrong is done to us and do we want to have revenge? How many of us when we long to retaliate for wrongs done to us, hear again that calming voice penetrates our hurt and our angry frustration?

We should come to know that vengeance only belongs to the Supreme Being. It is not up to us to take the law into our own hands, for God has allowed the justice system and He will repay. (see Romans 12:19). Anger is a great bungler, and it has well been said that we get at odds when we try to get even.

It Ain’t My Fault (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can all remember moments in our life where we were angry, with or without reason. Many times in our life we had moments we could not pretend that nothing was happening that we did not like. More than once we got to the point we had to do something to make it better or to change the situations so that we could find a better way to handle or to deal with the situation or person in a non-attached way. We had moments in our life where we had to take care of what needed to be done, responding with patience and understanding, and moving on.

In our life we should come to a point realising we do have to move on. Than we should try to break the habit of a lifetime and should want to try and reinforce a new approach to how we view ourself. How we look at our self and what happened in the past is something we only ourself can change. With time we can slowly try and retrain our thinking to no longer be so hard on ourself.

We have to stop giving others but also ourselves the fault. We have to stop thinking the others are bad but also have to stop thinking we are bad. At times we might have taught we were the reason we were hurt and that it was our fault. When we were ridiculed at school or did fail to get top marks (sometimes finding 9/10 in a test wasn’t good enough and anything less than an A+ was a fail in our parents eyes). How many people are not surrounded in their youth with negativity, blame and ridicule just kept heaping one on top of the other and that made them feel absolutely worthless.

But in the creation of the Most High nobody is worthless. Nobody is guilty for his total life. A person may have stolen bullied, not having told the truth, having sexual and other escapades, it might even be someone may have brought damage to somebody else or even murdered some one, there is hope for that person.

There has been a man in history who made arrangement than any evil person can be pardoned for the atrocities he or she might have done. Every person on this planet has his past, which can be seen as the past that has been but is also gone. We do not have to carry the past with us as a burden or like a ball of plumb hanging at our legs, like by the prisoners in the old times. All chains are broken today by one person to whom we may look up.

Today there are still lots of people who say it is impossible that there could exist a man of flesh and blood who would be willing to swipe over the faults of other people, forgive what they have done, and would not mind taking them in a reign where everybody is considered equal and live together in peace for ever.

But a barrister is provided who works pro-deo. At no cost for us that advocate will take counsel for anybody of the world who is willing to accept him to be his solicitor. He does not charge anything. The only thing he demands is that we recognise his Father and his position and that we would like to try to do the Will of his Father like he only wanted to do the Will of his Father and not his will.

When you are willing to accept that man in your life and understand what he has done for mankind, than you may forget all your previous life and start all over again. With a new slate you may start afresh. Is that not great? Would that not give any hope?

Yes you may forget your past in such circumstance, but you shall have to run away from your past also. That solicitor will require from you that you really want to turn over the page and start anew. He will be a mediator between you and his Father, who he wants that you shall accept also as your Father in heaven. Turning over the page shall require that you run away from your past, let it be what it was, but not without forgetting to learn your lessons from it.

All people should come to see that they are fortunate and that they are saved, valued, loved and accepted for whom they are and for what they have done but even more for what they shall try to do. They all should try to see and find the good persons around them, their family who love them and care for them, and their good friends who support them, and those who are willing to accompany them to better pastures.

Let this be your time also to value yourself and to challenge and change the habit of a lifetime.

Find to read:

Please do find also to read:

Who’s fault is it anyway? (wenonachad.wordpress.com)
He can be dramatic and take offense at little things if he’s in the right mood. He goes from one mood to the other very quickly sometimes and he has a very anxious personality at times. Lily is the only girl. She is artistic and crafty. She is also the most spiritually minded. She has been asking questions and talking about Jesus pretty much since she learned to talk. We already feel like she had a ministry calling on her life. But she is also bossy sometimes and demanding. She likes things done her way and she will tell you that! I absolutely love my kids and daily they teach me some kind of lesson.
My Fault (shruti14.wordpress.com)
Cant forget those black days you gave to me / those stains aren’t easy to wash off / Which keep me reminding of our dusk / Never can I forget that bitter words which pierced my heart
it is his fault (wonderlandbytatu.wordpress.com)
One of the glorious aspects of being pregnant (again) is that I can literally blame Eeverything on the little guy inside.
“Its Not My Fault” (emankawas.wordpress.com)
I have noticed a dramatic change in myself: energy is low, ambition is limited, and motivation is dissolved. It was painful to wake up to reality that “I have changed”. Now it started to become clear to me why, it’s because I have been in the defense mode for so long that I started to put it on the top my priorities and let other important things go, like (motivation, ambition, drive, humility and passion).
Letter to my mother (notdazedorconfused.wordpress.com)
With no conditions. I was your baby. Then suddenly I was stupid, ugly, useless. I was nothing. Then you kept apologizing. Your temper, your mood wasn’t helping. Yelling was how you talked. I had to tolerate that. I had to hear you yelling. And believe you when you said it wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t bad in any way. I was healthy and capable. But I was also abused. Abused by the people I trusted the most. Cause I was a child. Your child. And your world. It was also mine. I can feel my heart aching as I am writing these words. So much yelling. So much pain. So much confusion. And it wasn’t my fault. As you said you were unwell. Unwell and sick.
Does the Truth Help or Hurt Relationships? (robertjrgraham.com)
I really thought that if I let people know the ugly thoughts, not only would they be hurt – but they would probably become angry and disown me – betray me, talk shit behind my back. I would be the outcast.

So I beat them to the punch! Hah! I’d banish myself to my own room (or apartment, as I got older). I’d banish myself to silence.

You can either have a N.I.C.E. (Not Interested in Connecting Emotionally) relationship… where you hide what is true out of fear. Or you can have an alive, real relationship with intimacy, compassion and understanding.
S for Sorry (saikounikkou.wordpress.com)
I’m sorry for being too selfish / sorry for always blaming / and forgot where I stand and where you stay

People Seeking for God 6 Strategy

Posted on 2014/03/08 by Christadelphians

Seeking the Most High Creator, our God is a process that is pivotal in our daily lives. When we look for God we should know that it is not a one day occasion. It will take more time to find God. Seeking God must not be seasonal fling. It also can not just be based on a mood of the day or a one time feeling.

Many times in history the Divine Creator had been all but forgotten like a distant memory fading into obscurity. We also can see this in our society, people do not know of the Power, the grace and the majesty of the Elohim, Jehovah our God. Not only the younger ones but also the more settles ones are interested in the temporary things of this world, not so much in the beautiful things of nature, but more the electronic gadgets. The material things they look for are like the flowers of the field, charming for a time, but eventually wither and fade away. Yet hope remained for the people of Israel and hope remains for us too.

Jhva Elohim Meth… The Revival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes people start looking for a god or church because of peer pressure, but those intentions are mostly not serious and integer enough. Determined by circumstances a person also can come into a stadium where he or she wants seriously to receive more answers. Whatever triggers the search for God, the quest had to be undertaken seriously.

When it is only to have eternal life our reason of seeking God is not the right one and probably would not encounter so easily the expected answers.

We should aim to come into the presence of God. Some would say “it is the crucible where we learn to see eye to eye with God, feel His pulse and get primed to move by His Spirit“.

There should be various things you do to affirm your seeker-of-God status (praying, reading the bible, fasting, listening to truth messages), as you pursue the goal of being changed from glory to glory as you behold the Son of God.

The word ‘seek’ (in the Hebrew ‘dârash’) means to ‘tread’ or ‘frequent’ and this builds the image of seeking or treading a path to the Most High Elohim. It is the willingness to undertake the trip on a path which can lead to the Higher Being. Like Josiah in the past that one looking for God should begin to tread out a path to the Supreme Being, to understand and know how to seek Him.

בית ביסוד המעלה (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are so many things around to distract our attention, although there are nevertheless good things to look at. The beauties of God’s creation are wonderful sights for us to look at. The marvellous designs of the flowers; the birds we see flying around; the busy lives led by the insects; snow-capped mountains or a beautiful sunset. To come to look for God we should first be willing to see the things around us. We should come to see the incredible structures of all those things. Looking at nature, seeing its beauty, this will help to come to see the Maker of all that.

If we seek or tread a path to God frequently, the path will become clear and visible to us.

We read in Psalm 123:2

“(2) See, as the eyes of servants Are toward the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a female servant Are toward the hand of her mistress, So are our eyes toward יהוה {Jehovah} our Elohim, Until He shows favour to us.” (Psalm 123:2 The Scriptures 1998+)

The person willing to find God does have to take on the right attitude, willing to have his eyes waiting on Jehovah our God. In the psalm we may find the loyal slave’s attitude of watchfulness toward his/her master (Proverbs 27:18). Laziness or inattentiveness are not the right requisites to look for God. We do have to open our mind and be willing to read and think about the Word of God, as given in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible.

Excerpts from Raymond Martin’s (Lat. Raymundus Martini, appointed by the Pope to dig up the passages of the Jewish Talmud objectionable to Roman Catholics) Pugio Fidei adversus Mauros et Judaeos of 1270 CE (page 559). The Latin form “Jehova” of the Tetragrammaton is seen. This edition is published in Leipzig, 1687, now is found in the New York City Public Library. Also, see online at Google books here. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those words we can find in that Book of books we do have to consider and take them at heart. It should be as reading a love letter, from our most beloved. The Bible should give you that fire to come into a close relationship with the Writer. That Speaker wanted to give his Voice to the whole world. His Voice is calling everybody to come into a good relationship with Him, His son and His beloved children who are willing to follow Him. We too can develop a close and personal relationship with our heavenly Father; however, it requires a diligent and zealous mind set on our part. But what a magnificent reward there is! To be able to worship and serve the Creator of everything around us, the one who has provided a great hope of salvation, so that unlike the temporary things of this life we can look beyond to a time of peace and equity, where

‘there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain’.

It is not a bad strategy to look also at Jeshua, the Nazarene Jew and son of Joseph and Miriam (Mary). This man had learned from his parents who God is and what He had done for them. Already at a young age Jesus was more concerned of looking for God than for what his parents would say or feel. Jesus as he actively sought out his Father, when he was twelve years old, remained in the temple for three days. After three days looking for their son, they found Jesus in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them.When Mary and Joseph voiced their concerns about the location of Jesus, we see his sense of duty towards the Only One God. When his mother asked him why he had done so to them, who became greatly distressed, he
said to them:

(49) … “Why were you seeking Me? Did you not know that I had to be in the matters of My Father?” (50) But they did not understand the word which He spoke to them. (51) And He went down with them and came to Natsareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these matters in her heart. (52) And יהושע {Jeshua} increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with Elohim and men. (Luke 2:49-52 The Scriptures 1998+)

revealed in verse 49

‘I must be about my Father’s business.’

Even at the tender age of twelve Jesus provides us with a poignant example, seeking out the Most High LORD was absolutely essential for Jesus, despite the fact that he had to leave the comfort of his family in what was a very busy city. Towards the end of the chapter we see the result of Jesus’ actions, as we read in verse 52,

‘And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’

This verse provides us with a wonderful motivation by seeking out the LORD of Lord of lords, Who is the Divine Creator God, we can increase our Godly wisdom, so we can learn how to worship and serve this LORD, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. Instead of seeking out the God in the temple in Jerusalem we must seek out the ‘LORD’, Allah, God, by reading His Word and praying for His Guidance in our lives. Although both Josiah and the Lord Jesus provide us with a two wonderful examples of seeking the LORD from an early age, however, this is a process that both of them continued throughout their lives. We must also spend our time and energy throughout our lives in seeking the LORD of Lord of lords, the Almighty God.

Do our eyes wait upon the Lord our God? Or do our eyes feast on other things? For what proportion of the day do our eyes look on the word of God or writings in connection with the Scriptures?

“Jehovah” at Exodus 6:3 (1611 King James Version) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So in times of happiness or distress on our walk throughout life we can follow the path and easily seek the God of gods. However, this must be an active process, just as it was with Josiah; we must keep this path clear of the debris that life can bring upon us. To seek or frequent the LORD does not mean just to want to know more about God, it requires us to do something about it. This seeking of the LORD is an active process involving prayerful reading of God’s word. By looking for God we also should come to get Him so well that we also get His Name right. We have the wonderful consequence of seeking the Divine Creator laid out for us in Matthew 7:7, that if we do seek the LORD, we ‘shall find’ Him. God is waiting for us to actively seek Him out so that we can develop our relationship with Him as dutiful servants. when we read the Holy Scriptures and take the words for what they are we shall see the difference between the people and shall not have to speak about a lord, a Lord or The LORD, but shall come to know whom the lord Jesus is and Who is Father is. We shall also get their names right and shall recognise Jeshua (Jesus Christ) as the son of God, being the long awaited Messiah. We also shall come to see and understand why the creator had so much patience and wants the whole world to get to know His Name, Jehovah. It is up to us to come to know our heavenly Father and to get others to know Him, Who should be our Only One God.

Preceding articles:

Finding God amid all the religious externals

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations

People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions

People Seeking for God 4 Biblical terms

People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life

Find also:

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Additional reading:

Treasure Hunters
Imagine that you were just handed a treasure map that leads to Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure. Now take that map, put it in a frame, and hang it on the wall for all to see. Makes sense right? Of course not! You would take that map, follow it exactly step by step. No questions asked because you knew that this map would lead to Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure. Just like any quest , along the way you may encounter obstacles, people may call you names for following the map, and you might even want to give because it is just to hard. But instead of giving up, you continue with the treasure hunt and find it, and knowing all the trials and hardships you had to endure just makes finding the treasure even sweeter. Sounds like the plot to a movie right, but it’s not. It’s the the story of our lives.
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The Bible was written by man but inspired by God to teach us and instruct us in our everyday lives ( 2 Timothy 3:16) but if we just sit it on a shelf and let it collect dust, how are we suppose to know what it is God whats us to do? If we don’t use God’s map and seek Him out, it is us that is missing out. God’s love is our treasure and just like any other treasure that is buried, it hasn’t moved. It is in the same place it has been for years but we must seek it in order to have that treasure and just like any other treasure, it is meant to be shared with everybody, so they can inherit God’s kingdom and feel this unending love of God. Lets start using our maps and seek God not just when we are going through struggles and storms, but in our everyday life.

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Seven, looking past the just a number (faithgracetorah.net)
Our heavenly Father hides the deep wisdom like treasure hidden in a field. We are to guard our hearts. When we find wisdom, our hearts have joy. With wisdom, insight, understanding, knowledge and a pure love for YHWH apart from our own wicked selfish desires will keep our path straight.
Ahnsahnghong’s teachings – Elohim of plural form means God’s Omnipotence and Majesty? [WMSCOG] (ahnsahnghongtruthorfalse.wordpress.com)
World Mission Society Church of God believes in God of the Elohim (plural form of God), and the existence of God the Mother/Heavenly Mother.However, the opposers do not agree at all.

They claim that in Hebrew, the masculine suffix is “-im” and the feminine suffix is “-oth”.

That is why the word “Elohim” is the plural masculine form of “El” or “Eloah.”

They also claim that the plural elohim is used to show omnipotence and majesty of God’s character.
The Genesis 1:1-4 and John 1:1-5 Connection (thejewishinstitute.wordpress.com)
The question that seems to always get raised within the Christian faith is, “How does John 1:1-5 connect or have any relation to Genesis 1:1-4?” I will answer this question not from a Christian point of view but from a Jewish one. We must first understand what Genesis 1:1-4, Bereshit in Hebrew, has to say regarding the Messiah. If there is relation between Genesis 1:1-4 and the Messiah then John 1:1-5 would make more sense from a Hebrew perspective and not a Greek one. Let us begin by reading Genesis 1:1-4 and see what it has to say and what the ancient sages understood about it.
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“Jehovah, Elohaynu, Jehovah. There are three steps to accept the mystery from above. In the beginning God created. In the beginning is the first mystery from where all else spreads…The name takes three forms and from there the name is interpreted in several ways… Rabbi Bechai explained: Elohim is El Haym. These are gods. Remember your creators (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The wise will understand.” (The Jerusalem Edition of the Zohar)
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“Elohim is composed of two words, El and Haym. These are God. That Elohim is plural, though there is only one God, is truth. Eliezer sat before his father. We have learned that to him is justice. How is it that wherever we meet Adonai Elohim [yod, hay, vav, hay, the letters of Jehovah’s name], it means mercy? (the Zohar)
Praise the Lord With Me and Oriki Song (thepraisesofgod.wordpress.com)
How extra-ordinary must your beauty be O God? / It definitely is beyond and above all range of normal human imagination / I see you high and lifted up far beyond the starry sky / Above principalities and powers / Above rulers of darkness of this world / Above spiritual wickedness in high places / Above powers and dominions / Above everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
The God to Whom I Pray (prayerfromtheheart.net)
God, you are the great I AM. You are all knowing, all sufficient, ever-present and above all perfect love.
God when I think of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, I know you are my caring shepherd, my Jehovah-rahh.
Lord when I am anxious and worried you are Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who provides.
When I am, overcome with anxiety, worries and cares, when the challenges of this life are too great for me to bear, I know you as Jehovah-shalom, the Lord of peace.
When my body and emotions are weak or sick I come to you as Jehovah-rophe, the Lord who heals me.
Was The Name Jesus Christ Given To The Saviour By Heaven Or By Mankind? (spyghana.com)
For many salvation seekers of Christian persuasion, the question posed in this caption may seem unimportant since almost all of them will readily give “yes” as answer to the first part and “no” to the second.
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The original writers of the Hebrew version of the Holy Scriptures were inspired by the Most High One, and were under His direct supervision, as they wrote these scriptures on scrolls of parchment long ago (Second Timothy 3:16 and Second Peter 1:21). These writers could, therefore, never have made even the minutest of errors in their writings in this language since one could say they wrote with the finger of the Most High One.
In the article The Names of God (shareaverse.wordpress.com) is given the proof how many mix the names of people and do not see the difference between titles and names. the writer also goes astray by naming a description of an action as a name and as such takes the sign god gave to the virgin as a name of god whilst it is the name of the son of God, who is not god the son but the son of Mary and Joseph from the tribe of king David. By doing this he want to give direction to people getting them to believe that the Immanuel or God with us means that Jesus is God.
To the God I pray, & Intercessions for all men (twiyesudowo.wordpress.com)
I know You as Jehovah-Shammah, The Lord is Present.
Why I Keep the Seventh Day Sabbath (christinachronicles.com)
For those who are believers in His Son? He came to do the Father’s will…

“{Yeshua} יהושע said to them, “My food is to do the desire {will} of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” ~ John 4:34

20 Best Gratitude Quotes

Posted on 2014/02/21 by Marcus Ampe

Purplerays brought this writing of Monterey Bay under our attention.

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In the difficult times I with the Belgian Christadelphian community encountered this came as a sprinkle of hope. We can and will stay grateful because we have found the one lord who has brought the Good News for everybody who wants to hear. We also hope we shall be able to bring those good words to others and spread the news we have something magnificent to look out for.

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For all the small things we can enjoy and all those great wonders in nature we be witness of, we can see the Hand of the Master and be assured whatever man did to destroy it, he never succeed in it. God His creation shall ever exist. Men will die and will be long forgotten, but every day a new child shall become a witness of the wonders of nature.

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Therefore led us build up our memory of a heart full of love and remembering the nice things of life, the good friends and people we would love to have around us.
Yes we shall concentrate on the better things of life, and look forward to a better future, whatever bad may happen, we shall focus on the light in the darkness.

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Additional reading:

If your difficulties are longstanding, try kneeling

Frank risks taking

Where is the edge

Your struggles develop your strengths

Even in tough times remembering the blessings

Joy: Foundation for a Positive Life

Life in gratitude opens glory of God

Looking forward to God’s faithfulness

By counting our blessings we not only feel good, but we multiply our good

Thanksgiving wisdom: Why gratitude is good for your health

Wednesday Talk: Favorite Scripture: Rejoice always

Remember there’s a light in the next day

The soul has no rainbow if the eyes have no tears

Preaching to an unbelieving world

Making church

A Living Faith #4 Effort

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Related articles

To Live Gratitude (misifusa.wordpress.com)
remembering to be thankful, saying thank you to the person who waits an extra moment to hold the door open for me and to, in turn, do the same for someone else. Growing up, saying thank you was simply called good manners and was ingrained in our brains from early on. Doing a kindness for someone else, was also a lesson we were taught as children. But to live in gratitude has been a lesson that I have learned as an adult

Gratitude. (lightsmedia.wordpress.com)
Are you occasionally grateful? Are you a seasonal worshipper? Do you praise God only when things are rosy and the going is good? What do you do when things look their worst?
God is faithful! God is always good. From everlasting to everlasting, he is forever good! If you’ve been seasonal worshipper who praises God only when things are good, you must pray to the Lord to forgive you for being inconsistent in gratitude.

Gratitude (pxynuckle.wordpress.com)
Even when I did not have all I wanted / I had all I needed / And for this I am grateful / And I give thanks for the blessings

Gratitude (livelifeharmony.wordpress.com)
Gratitude is a consistent practice that flows in the wisdom teachings of the world. In regard to living your purpose and being guided by your vision, it is a powerful practice to give thanks in advance for the fulfillment of your vision. In spite of the appearances, give thanks. When you expected something that did not materialize, trust that you are being guided to open to something greater than you have imagined and give thanks anyway. Gratitude is a creative energy that creates more from which to be grateful.

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough” – Melodie Beattie in Let Your Words Flow: Inspiration for Your Blogging & Writing (juliejordanscott.typepad.com)
List five to ten things you are grateful for in your life right now
List five to ten concrete rather than abstract things you are grateful for right now? For example – your living room chair that you sit in by the fireplace rather than “home” or “Hugs from my spouse” rather than being grateful for love.

Gratitude Quotes # 2 (purplerays.wordpress.com)
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

Daily Gratitude – Day 415 (brianjudegratitude.wordpress.com)
Sure there are dangers to watching too much TV, but I think there’s an equal danger to not spending enough time watching TV, or doing something else relaxing and enjoyable.It’s all about Balance…

How to Succeed for the Rest of Your Life (robertjrgraham.com)
What do you really want the most right now? Write down what will be thrilling about your future. See and feel your goals as if you had already obtained them. Let your desire for new accomplishments build and burn passionately within your heart. Welcome new desires with open arms.
Ask Yourself Meaningful Questions

Ask questions that will intrigue you and lead to self-discovery. For example, what, more than anything, determines the quality of your life? What are the most important things your past has taught you? What would bring you permanent success and satisfaction?

These revealing questions will bring insights and focus your mind to take action. A life-long curiosity about yourself will move you toward the fulfillment of your desires.

Monterey Bay Holistic Alliance

Grateful thoughts to you, our friends!

It’s not happiness that brings us gratitude, it’s gratitude that brings us happiness.

What is gratitude? How do we stay grateful when times are difficult?

Gratitude can shift a negative moment into a positive in an instant but it’s not always easy to find something to be grateful for when times are challenging…..or is it?

Even in the darkest times, those who are considered saints, martyrs, great philosophers and spiritual teachers have mastered the art of a “gratitude attitude.” Can you? Here are 20 gratitude quotes to brighten your day and open your heart to the blessings in life.

20 BEST GRATITUDE QUOTES

Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear
Praise the bridge that carried you over. ~George Colman
If you count all your assets, you always show…

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People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions

Posted on 2014/01/24 by Christadelphians

As Byron ‘FLi’ Walker writes in Why We Need God most people looking for answers in their life find no deep or lasting fulfilment in their commitment to their leisure time to nature, art, music, and so on. He reminds us that humans have an inborn spiritual yearning which comes as no surprise to Bible readers. Those who regularly read the Bible have encountered enough places in those Scriptures where signs are given why and how we are to find ourselves in this world. In the Book of books, the Bible or Holy Scriptures it is written how Jehovah God, the Creator of heaven and earth, although His creation turned against Him, still wants to have a good relationship with them.

From the moment we do come on this earth we do feel the need to be connected with someone else and to have communication with those around us. also with the first humans there was already a communication going on with their Maker. God spoke with them regularly, allowing them to establish a spiritual relationship with Him. (Genesis 3:8-10) Children do have the need to speak with their parents. We do have our earthly parents but also an heavenly Father. As Creator of the universe, giving us life, placing us in His creation, He did not design us to live independently of Him. Made in the image of God, we also do have feelings but also needs. Like the Creator wanted to communicate with His creation we also do have a need to communicate with our Maker. The Bible refers to this need frequently.

Bible Study 2 (Photo credit: DrGBB)

We who want to live ‘godly lives’ can actually be deceiving ourselves into thinking that we are doing all the right things. Those who have found God already also may think they love God and may think that they are serving Him. But when they love Him, do they have a good relation with Him and do they communicate often with Him? Lots of people may think because they go to mass every Sunday they have done their bit of religiousness. They should know there is more to it than just attending all the functions on Sundays and midweek. What we love is revealed by what we find time to do in our daily life. By our very actions we tell God how much we love Him. We may be fooling ourselves. How much time do we spend thinking about God, reading His Word, caring for others and doing things just to please Him? When we have free time, what do we do with it? Do we turn to Bible reading and study, or do we turn to diversions such as computer activities, entertainment, or hobbies? When we say we do love God, Who do we want to take as our God? Those who are looking for some Special Being behind everything around us, are they willing to open their mind to the different ideas? Are they and we, willing to take in more research and knowledge, to have us spiritually growing? And in which we do we want to be connected to whom? When we look at the Old Testament we can find the importance placed on One Supreme Being but also on the hope for two things, one a man who is going to bring salvation and secondly a reign which shall be governed at first by that man. He will become at first the messenger of God bringing the Good News. He would suffer and find his life come to an end but than he would be taken out of the dead by God and made a mediator between God and man, restoring the broken relationship with the Creator. Therefore when we look for God we also should look for that one man who is called the restorer of faith and has taken in the place at the right hand of God to be the mediator between man and God. Clearly, that means it is somebody else than God. Meaning we have to find that person also to be able to speak with him or to ask things in his name to the One Who is called the Most High. The promised Saviour is Jeshua from the tribe of King David, better know today as Jesus Christ. When we do find him or get to know him, he can lead us to his Father, Who is the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah, the God of gods and all things. When we are prepared to become a disciple of Christ we can listen to his teachings and take them at heart. He made so many things clear, that we have made it so much easier to understand when we listen to his teachings. Jesus also told his followers to continually seek to increase in knowledge and understanding. From him we got to know that this search in his Father’s Words is essential to get to know his Father fully well. Without taking the Words of Jesus his Father at heart it shall be impossible to find God. God’s Truth invites … indeed, it welcomes … investigation, we said already in the previous chapter. So when encountering a different view, we should seize the opportunity at least to understand the evidence provided. We can always learn something, and if we’re wise, we may need to adjust our own views accordingly.

On August 25, 325, the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical debate held by the early Christian church, concluded with the establishment of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Convened by Roman Emperor Constantine I in May, the council also deemed the Arian belief of Christ as inferior to God as heretical, thus resolving an early church crisis. From that time onwards the church went astray and even more different teachings saw light, confusing lots of people. This event early in Christendom brought darkness in the eyes of the people. It made them going further away from God. It took also the people away from seeing the truth of the man of flesh and bones, who said to his disciples he was not a spirit. Those disciples knew very well that God is Spirit and can not be seen by man or they would die. They knew they had seen Jesus. Some even had seen a dove and heard the voice from above, in heaven, saying that this man was His (God’s) beloved son.

In the 4th century men tried to get people far away form that idea of a man being able to follow God, not doing his own will but only the Will of God. They wanted and still want to have people believe that it is impossible for any human being to love God so much that they would like to do only His will and not theirs. Hearing of such impossibility that also has taken lots of people of their hope to become like Christ and to do the Will of God. We only can say the Roman emperor succeeded partly in what he wanted to get, having people adhering to the world more than to the Law of God.

The Arians and all those who preferred to believe in the One True and Only One God Who is One, were persecuted for their belief that Jesus is not coequal with his Father. All Christians were forced to believe that Jesus is not inferior to God or be considered heretics. Many found their life being ended at the stake or tortured until they stopped breathing and lost their life. Even in our age of tolerance today, those who reject the divinity of Christ are considered to be non-Christians by mainstream Christendom. Though in Christianity, through the times there have always been serious lovers of God who kept studying the Torah, the Old and the New Testament books of what is considered to be the canonic Bible today.

From the 4th century onwards a fog-curtain was pulled down by which a person who said “I am” was considered to be God. Those who were called “Jesus,” “Joshua,” “Chesu, “Jezus“, “Yashua” had to be God, this meaning that in the time when Jeshua te Nazarene was preaching, the other Jesus who was taught of to be the Messiah because he revolted against the Romans, there were and there are still many gods walking on this earth who should also be the God. This is naturally impossible and is no good way to look for The True God. In case people do want to find the True One and Only One God they should take away such false teachings or prescriptions. They should have to take the Words of the Bible, like they are written, black on white, without any dogmatic background teachings.

As long as people keep continue to hold fast on those dogmatic teachings of the many churches which came into existence after the Roman Catholic Church every time expelled those who did not agree with their power, it would be not easy to see through the fog. To find clarity we do have to believe God wants us to find Him and that He does not make it especially difficult, so that only theologians could find him. The Divine Creator took care that every body = all human beings, could come to know Him Who is responsible for their being. He is the Most High Elohim, the most powerful Authority, who has given mankind the most reliable set of unchanging guidelines, the Book of instructions, wisdom and answer to life’s question. The World shall not be able to find any book more reliable than this Book of books, which is the infallible Holy Word of God – The Bible! In the Bible humankind receives all the guidelines, the directions and laws they need at the time given. Certain things changed because the time and the people had changed. When we look at all the prophecies we also can notice some did not come into accomplishment. But we may be sure that like the previous prophecies became reality, the ones still to come, like World War III or Armageddon, the End-times, another thousand years after the Big Battle, shall happen when God considers it time to happen. Whatever shall happen, God did not want His people to stand in the cold and He assured them of a better time to come.

Those who are willing to believe in the One God and look forward to the return of His son, may find peace in the hope God has given the world. In the mean time people will have to come to know Who God is, what His Will is, what His Laws are and why we better keep to the Law of God, instead of trying to make better laws than Him. When we are willing to follow His directions and to listen to His Voice we shall get to know Him better. By keeping to His Law we also shall be able to make a safer life and a better way to live for our selves and for those around us.

Michelle Yee and many others know they can be a beloved daughter or son of the Most High King, when she writes:

It may not always be easy reading, understanding and interpreting it, but if you are diligent enough to read it than pray for wisdom to understand it, the revelation would come to you sooner or later. Either God will reveal it to you personally in spirit, or he will teach you through life experience, or perhaps God will reveal it to you through your pastor or someone else…. If you desire to seek God, you shall find him, if you seek him with all your heart… Seek him in prayer and seek in His word, eventually you’ll find Him… {Jeremiah 29:12}”

(11) ‘For I know the plans I am planning for you,’ declares יהוה {Jehovah}, ‘plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and an expectancy. (12) ‘Then you shall call on Me, and shall come and pray to Me, and I shall listen to you. (13) ‘And you shall seek Me, and shall find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart1. Footnote: 1Dt. 4:29, Joel 2:12. (14) ‘And I shall be found by you,’ declares יהוה {Jehovah}, ‘and I shall turn back your captivity, and shall gather you from all the gentiles and from all the places where I have driven you, declares יהוה {Jehovah}. And I shall bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.’” (Jeremiah 29:11-14 The Scriptures 1998+)

From here we should go out and seek the Most High, Creator of all things, who we want to have as our Only One God. We do not need pictures or statues, special buildings or constructions to remind us of Him or to find Him. Those who are willing to look for Him, God shall be willing to let Him be found by them. We do have to look for Him. We do have to search after Him, with all our heart and with all our soul (= our whole being). We should not let us be frightened by those who mock at us or by those who laugh with us. When others who joke with us bring us in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days we shall be able to come in front of our God, and listen to His Voice. Looking for God may be like looking for a treasure. And the treasure hunt map God has provided in the Bible.

Today we may already be sure that He is a merciful God Who does us want to know Him and not want to fail us, neither destroy us, nor forget the covenant of our forefathers which He swore to them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?

” (29) “But from there you shall seek יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim, and shall find, when you search for Him with all your heart1 and with all your being. Footnote: 1Jer. 29:13. (30) “In your distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the latter days, then you shall return to יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim and shall obey His voice. (31) “For יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim is a compassionate ?l, He does not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31 The Scriptures 1998+)

Preceding articles:

Finding God amid all the religious externals

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations

To be continued:

People Seeking for God 4 Biblical terms

People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life

People Seeking for God 6 Strategy

Please find also to read:

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Additional reading:

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Friday Devotional: Check Your Spirit (divinefaithfulness.wordpress.com)
Living in complacency is not where God has called us to live. I sure have camped out there more times than I care to admit, though. Thinking that I didn’t need to go to church because I simply didn’t need to, saying that I loved God was good enough. Thinking that I didn’t need friends who loved God, that my old friends were just fine because they weren’t going to challenge me to live differently. Living in sin because, God will just forgive me anyway. Like it was all just no big deal. Ever been there, too?
A Sermon: Reading the Bible Together (davidswanson.wordpress.com)
As a church we say that, “We desire to listen and submit to the Scripture, God’s revealed Word for His beloved children.” There are at least two important assumptions within this statement. The first is that God reveals himself through the Bible. God, being God, is so different from us that anything we know about God must be revealed by God. And though we don’t believe God has showed us everything about himself, as Christians we believe he has revealed enough for us to know him and experience his love and salvation. He has done this most importantly through his son.
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It’s one thing to acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s role in the Bible’s writing and even our understanding. But when it comes to applying – to submitting – we act as though this is up to us, on our shoulders. But it’s not and this is why even a hard word – submit – a word few of us like, is a good word. For it is God who gives us the wisdom, strength, and stamina to live new and better lives in response to the Bible.
Real Truth never changes….. (wepresson.wordpress.com)
In a world that seeks change there are some things that never change and
it’s a good thing they don’t. Yes, there are absolute truths we can count on. The key is
that they can only come from a Source that cannot be in error. Did you catch that?
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And God promises to protect it down through the ages so that everyone has a chance to hear His truths and trust in His Son, our Savior, Jesus.
Advice from someone who knows. (commutewithchrist.com)
We usually seek advice from people who have been in a similar situation or have knowledge of something that we don’t. But how often so we seek it from God? He’s written an entire book on how to live our lives. The Bible. It’s quite incredible that not many people seek it out given that in some shape or form it can give us direction and advice on everything we face in this life. It may not be the advice or guidance we want to hear but it’s in there. Work, relationships and money. These are the topics in our lives that we spend the most time thinking and worrying about.
The Word of God is perfect! (jooch1986.wordpress.com)
all men have no excuse for not knowing Him or seeking Him.
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Many people see the Scriptures as burdensome and full of rules. Of course it will appear this way to those who do not know God and do not understand that His “yoke is easy and [His] burden is light (Matt. 11:30). But really, the Word of God, or just decrees or whatever you want to call them are “more to be desired…than…even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey” (v. 10). These are the words that show us the Way to eternal life with the perfect Creator of the universe who is all good, and in whom “there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Intellectual Discipleship? Faithful Thinking for Faithful Living (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
The biblical master narrative serves as a framework for the cognitive principles that allow the formation of an authentically Christian worldview. Many Christians rush to develop what they will call a “Christian worldview” by arranging isolated Christian truths, doctrines, and convictions in order to create formulas for Christian thinking.
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A God-centered worldview brings every issue, question, and cultural concern into submission to all that the Bible reveals, and it frames all understanding within the ultimate purpose of bringing greater glory to God. This task of bringing every thought captive to Christ requires more than episodic Christian thinking and is to be understood as the task of the church, and not merely the concern of individual believers. The recovery of the Christian mind and the development of a comprehensive Christian worldview will require the deepest theological reflection, the most consecrated application of scholarship, the most sensitive commitment to compassion, and the courage to face all questions without fear.
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Christian faithfulness requires the conscious development of a worldview that begins and ends with God at its center. We are only able to think as Christians because we belong to Christ; and the Christian worldview is, in the end, nothing more than seeking to think as Christ would have us to think, in order to be who Christ would call us to be.
Communication with our Father (eviej13.wordpress.com)
The ability to communicate is often taken for granted and we just expect people to know what we want from them. Although God Does know what we want from Him, there is still nothing more important than our communication with Him.
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Reading the Bible can help us sort through all the craziness to see what’s really important. It can bring about peace in our lives rather than allowing us to wallow in our confusion.
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Nothing should become more important than getting into the Word and the Word into us. We will suffer the spiritual consequences of not feeding on the Word of God as we would suffer the physical consequences of not having a regular meal.
Psalm 78 as a Microcosm of the Bible (blogforthelordjesuschristianleaders.wordpress.com)
Psalm 78 is a microcosm of the entire Bible in that it was written in ancient times, chronicling the works of the Lord in the face of the faithlessness of man, that all succeeding generations might learn from this written record that God is good and that there reward in obeying Him.
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A Nonchurchgoer’s Guide to Jesus and His Kingdom.
What is the Bible and what are we supposed to do with it? (theway21stcentury.wordpress.com)
Christians often use terms like inerrant, infallible, authoritative and inspired, but not all of these are Biblical terms, and not all of them represent clear Biblical concepts. We should be willing to modify or deepen our understanding based on the best in information we have.
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Most christians belief that Jesus was (and is) God incarnate (i.e. in a human body), and that he was at once fully God and fully human. Enns suggests we perhaps should also consider the Bible as both a human and divine document, in that it is fully grounded in the language, culture and thought forms of its day, yet it is also God’s means of revealing himself to the world.But instead of presuming we know how ‘God’s word’ ought to be, we should study and learn how it actually is …. and so learn more about God’s character.
The Greatest Gift: A Defense (triggermanblog.wordpress.com)
Probably the greatest gift that I have ever received, from anyone, was the first Bible I was old enough to read.
Oh, I was given story bibles with those smiling pictures and happy tales of when God did great things for those men, and women, of old. But I always knew that I wasn’t getting the whole picture, it was like I was getting spoon-fed some rhetoric, choice tales about God being my “buddy”if I would just put on a smile and believe. So, when I finally got my first “real” Bible, I was excited to be able to get to the real story, not the smiling faces and happy tales that were glossy and inspiring to me as a happy child, I wanted something more to understand the psychology of this God who was recorded as doing these great things.

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

Posted on 2014/01/21 by Christadelphians

Nearly 2 000 years ago

Nearly two thousand years ago a man preaching in the desert saw his cousin coming near. John the Baptist, perhaps not knowing so much about his cousin, understood how he came unto earth and what his position was.

English: John the Baptist baptizing Christ

John the Baptist baptizing Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John seeing Jesus coming toward him yelled out

“Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the one who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’

(Jesus was born or came into existence after John the Baptist, but had his function already planned by God long before John the Baptist, Isaiah, Isaac and Abraham.) John the Baptist knew that his task was been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer.

” (29) On the next day Yoḥanan saw יהושע {Jehsua} coming toward him, and said, “See, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world!{1} {Footnote: 1Mt. 1:21, Titus 2:14, 1 John 3:5 & 8.} (30) “This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has become before me, for He was before me.’ {1 Footnote: 1See v. 15.} (31) “And I did not know Him, but that He might be revealed to Yisra’ĕl, therefore I came immersing in water.” ” (John 1:29-31 The Scriptures 1998+)

Jesus was placed by God in the womb of Miriam (Mary/Maria) to come on earth as the fulfilment of the Word of God spoken in the garden of Eden, providing Adam and Eve a solution for what they had done.

Baptism with water and spirit

At that time in the river Jordan God Himself led His Voice be heard to all who stood around John the Baptist baptising Jesus. And the Voice made known that it was the son of God who stood there in the water. Still two thousand years later many do not want to accept that it was the “son of God” who stood there to start his official adult life of witnessing for God.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, John the Baptist preaching (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John had come to baptise with water, giving the people a good bath and scrubbing sins from their life so they could get a fresh start with God. John clinched his witness that he watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him, and that The One who authorized him to baptise with water told him, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ As many prophets before him, Jesus was a man who was willing to give himself in the hands of the Creator God, who had told mankind that he was His son.

” (16) And having been immersed, יהושע {Jehsua} went up immediately from the water, and see, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of Elohim descending like a dove and coming upon Him, (17) and see, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did delight.”” (Matthew 3:16-17 The Scriptures 1998+)

God’s Passover Lamb to be seen

The people could see the one who John the Baptist called “God’s Passover Lamb.” There were two disciples of John who heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher“), “where are you staying?” He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.” They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day but also got to see what Jesus could mean for them. They believed they had found the “Messiah” (that is, “Christ“). (John 1:29-42) From that day onwards they kept their eyes on Jesus, and got to know more on the relation of Jesus and his Father the Only One True. they also came to understand that this rabbi could be the send one of God by whom they, and we, can come closer to God, the author and finisher of our faith. In Jesus they could find and can we find peace, forgiveness, rest, grace. They where willing to see what had happened and were going to see more incomprehensible thing the three years afterwards.

Second Adam also of flesh and blood

There may be many gods in the world, but there is only One True God Divine Creator, and That God is not comparable to any human being except to His son. God is Spirit (John 4:24) but His sons are human beings. His first son and daughter where the first Adam and Eve. But those first creations turned against their Creator. At that time, in the beginning of Creation, the Creator took care that a solution for their sin was given to the world. God was prepared to make a second Adam, who would bring salvation and as such would be called the “Christ” or “Messiah“. In him people could once again see that all people are created in the image of God. Though all children which came after the first Adam received the deficiencies from their forefathers. Being created straight ahead from the Source of Life, Jehovah God, the second Adam, would receive the opportunity to prove human kind that a human being could follow the Will of the Most High, and could stay pure and un-blamed.

Not able to be seen

God can not be seen by man or he would die, but Jesus could be seen by many. Jesus like any other man could be tempted, though God can not be tempted nor sin. Jesus could sin but did not.

” (20) But He said, “You are unable to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.”” (Exodus 33:20 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (18) No one has ever seen Elohim.1 The only brought-forth Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He did declare.2 Footnotes: 1See 5:37, 6:46, 1 John 4:12. 2The pre-existent Son declared, and was the One who appeared to men.” (John 1:18 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (24) “Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him need to worship in spirit and truth.”” (John 4:24 The Scriptures 1998+)

Revelation to be seen

What we can see is what God reveals to the world and let us to be seen. Jesus declared his Father and made Him clear for all to understand what He want from us and How He thinks and works. Jesus was prepared to listen to the Voice of his Father, his God and the God of Abraham, making this voice know all over the world.

” (24) and said, ‘See, יהוה {Jehovah} our Elohim has shown us His esteem and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that Elohim speaks with man – and he lives!” (Deuteronomy 5:24 The Scriptures 1998+)

Flesh blood and bones, human and ghost or spirit

At the river Jordan people could see that God was in their midst and declared Jesus to be His son. Ghost has no flesh, blood nor bones, but Jesus had this all. That Jesus was no spirit, even not after he had died he proved to his disciples when he came under their midst and showed his wounds.

” (30) And it came to be, when He sat at the table with them, having taken the bread, He blessed, and having broken, He was giving it to them. (31) And their eyes were opened and they recognised Him. And He disappeared from their sight. (32) And they said to each other, “Was not our heart burning within us as He was speaking to us on the way, and as He was opening the Scriptures to us?” (33) And rising up that same hour they returned to Yerushalayim, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, (34) saying, “The Master was truly raised, and has appeared to Shim?on!” (35) And they related what took place on the way, and how He was recognised by them in the breaking of the bread. (36) And as they were saying this, יהושע {Jehsua} Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” (37) And being startled and frightened, they thought they had seen a spirit. (38) And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” (40) And saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (41) And while they were still not believing for joy, and marvelling, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” (42) And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. (43) And taking it He ate in their presence. (44) And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all have to be filled that were written in the Torah of Mosheh and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” (45) Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (46) and said to them, “Thus it has been written, and so it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day, (47) and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning at Yerushalayim. (48) “And you are witnesses of these matters. (49) “And see, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you, but you are to remain in the city of Yerushalayim until you are clothed with power from on high.” (50) And He led them out as far as Bĕyth Anyah, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. (51) And it came to be, while He was blessing them, that He was parted from them and was taken up into the heaven. (52) And they, having bowed down to Him, returned to Yerushalayim with great joy, (53) and were continually in the Set-apart Place praising and blessing Elohim. Amĕn.” (Luke 24:30-53 The Scriptures 1998+)

Those who have not seen the son of the Non-seen

After Jesus had died the apostles had seen him again. We never have seen him but we should believe those who have seen him and those who like us can not see God but did see the son of God, יהושע {Jehsua} Jesus, the one who is the Immanuel and Messiah. We also can get the Ghost God being part of us like it was being part of Christ. By letting Him enter ourselves we shall become transformed, but we shall never become God, like Jesus also was not God. We do have to become like Christ like Jesus was like God united one in spirit. Putting on the armour of Christ and the armour of God did not make the people in the old times God nor shall it make us to become Christ nor God.

After and of the flesh and dwelling within

In the world we can see many people who are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh. We who believe in Christ Jesus, to be the Saviour should be after the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit. Jesus did also things of the Spirit like we should do. He also told us to become worthy children of God, having God enter our hearts and to put away our carnally mind because that is death. We are assured that to be spiritually minded is life and peace; because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, because it cannot be. Jesus learned his followers that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. He also told many parables so people could easily understand what it mean to be in Christ or to be in God, to be with God, to be for God and to do the Will of God. Those who want to do like Christ, not his or their own will, but the Will of God, can receive the Holy Spirit and as such be not in the flesh, but in the spirit if the Spirit of God truly dwells within you. Jesus had the Spirit of God dwelling in him. We should have the Spirit of God dwelling in us likewise. This dwelling of the Spirit though shall not make us, like it did not with Christ, make us the God eternal. We shall stay man of flesh and blood like Jesus was a man of flesh and blood. We also shall not escape the penalty of the garden of Eden. Jesus also did not escape that death spoken out by His Father. Jesus really died whilst God can not die. It is only by accepting that Jesus was really a man of flesh and blood who really died,that we can give respectful notice to what Jesus really did; he gave his life for the sins of many, as a ransom. Those who take Jesus to God, who can not die, make a farce of his suffering and his death.

Having spirit of Christ

Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And if Christ is within you, the body is dead because of sin: but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead dwells within you, so He Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells within us. But therefore we do have to accept Jesus his anointment and offer as Lamb of God. We clearly have to see and understand the relationship between the Father and son, who now sits at the right hand of his Father to be a mediator between God and man.

Living in spirit

Those who have faith in the actions Jesus undertook and believe he was a messenger of the Most High are not indebted to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if we live after the flesh, we will die in flesh and totality: but if we, through the Spirit, subdue the deeds of the body, we shall live this life in spirit. It does not mean we shall not feel any pain, or we shall not have to face difficulties and temptations. Like Jesus encountered many difficulties and temptations, we also shall have to face them and the natural death. But allowing the Spirit to enter in our hearts we may count on it that He shall enable us to endure whatever we need to endure. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God, for they have not received the spirit of bondage, to be in fear again; but they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they can cry onto God like Christ called on his Father: “Abba“, “Avon”, “Father“, “our Father“. And this Spirit bears witness to our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; so that if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.

” (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the matters of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the matters of the Spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. (7) Because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself1 to the Torah of Elohim2, neither indeed is it able, Footnotes: 1Or does not obey. 2John 15:5, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18. (8) and those who are in the flesh are unable to please Elohim. (9) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His. (10) And if Messiah is in you, the body is truly dead on account of sin, but the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. (11) And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע {Jehsua} from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you. (12) So then, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of Elohim, these are sons of Elohim. (15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of Elohim, (17) and if children, also heirs – truly heirs of Elohim, and co-heirs with Messiah, if indeed we suffer with Him, in order that we also be exalted together.” (Romans 8:5-17 The Scriptures 1998+)

Presenting our body to allow God to enter in us, doing His Will

By the mercies of God we should present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, by means of reasonable service. Though we can not see Christ nor God, we should put faith in him who gave his soul (=his full being) to his Father who is also our Father to Whom we should pray. Jesus lived in this world but was not of this world, so we also should not imitate the way of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, becoming as brothers and sisters in Christ, that you may discern what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God. As Christ also did not want to do his will, we also should only want to do God His Will.

” (10) let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (41) And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and falling on His knees He was praying, (42) saying, “Father, if it be Your counsel, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My desire, but let Yours be done.”” (Luke 22:41-42 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (34) יהושע {Jehsua} said to them, “My food is to do the desire of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (30) “Of Myself I am unable to do any matter. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own desire, but the desire of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (38) “Because I have come down out of the heaven, not to do My own desire, but the desire of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (7) “Then I said, ‘See, I come – in the roll of the book it has been written concerning Me – to do Your desire, O Elohim.’ ” (8) Saying above, “Slaughter and meal offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor delighted in,” which are offered according to the Torah, (9) then He said, “See, I come to do Your desire, O Elohim.” He takes away the first to establish the second. (10) By that desire we have been set apart through the offering of the body of יהושע {Jehsua} Messiah once for all.” (Heb 10:7-10 The Scriptures 1998+)

To see and understand the sending of the son of God

We should see and understand the sending of the son of God, Jesus Christ, because we can see what is written about him in the Book of books. We should see the desire this man had and we should see the desires of his Father the Divine Creator God Who does not like to have pleasure in, sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin’ (offerings regularly made under the Law). That God, whom Jesus considered to be his Father and our Father was willing to take the offering of this Nazarene Jew as the token of reconciliation. Because Jesus wanted and succeeded into doing the will of his Father the former sacrifices were set aside to be replaced by the latter, the offer of the son Jeshua, Jesus the Christ or Messiah. And it is in the fulfilment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.

See things and scrutinize everything

We should see all things and search them. We should come to see what is given to the apostles and followers of Jesus Christ, to all of us who are willing to follow the teachings of the rabbi Jesus, not to think of ourselves beyond what we ought to think; but to think soberly, every man according to the measure of faith which God has distributed to him. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same function, So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Being in the body of Christ shall not make us Christ nor god or God. but being in the body of Christ we will be entrusted with many special gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us; some have the gift of prophecy, according to the measure of faith, some have the gift of ministration, in his ministry; and some of teaching, in his teaching.

” (1) I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim. (3) For I say, through the favour which has been given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he should think, but to think soberly, as Elohim has given to each a measure of belief. (4) For as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function, (5) so we, the many, are one body in Messiah, and members each one of one another. (6) Now having different gifts, according to the favour which was given to us, let us use them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of belief; (7) if serving, in the serving; or he who is teaching, in the teaching; (8) or he who encourages, in the encouragement; or he who is sharing, in sincerity; he who is leading, in diligence; he who shows compassion, joyously.” (Romans 12:1-8 The Scriptures 1998+)

A body with blood and a spirit without blood

We should come to learn to see that Body of Christ so that we can see the preparedness of others also willing to see the gift of God, His Grace and acceptance of the offer of His son Jesus Christ.

” (16) to be a servant of יהושע {Jehsua} Messiah to the gentiles, with the priestly duty of bringing the Good News of Elohim, so that the offering of the gentiles becomes acceptable, set apart by the Set-apart Spirit.” (Romans 15:16 The Scriptures 1998+)

The world should get to see those who are willing to see the Most High in their minds, according to the Spirit or Force of God. By willing to open our mind to God’s Force, the Holy Spirit shall be willing to enter in our soul (=our being) and will strengthen us in our faith in Christ, the son of God, making us partakers of his offering, being cleansed by his blood (the Blood of Christ).

Knowing that a Spirit has no blood, we are aware that it was really a man of blood and flesh and bones, who did not have his bones broken, but had his blood flown out of his body.

” (28) After this, יהושע {Jehsua}, knowing that all had been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be accomplished, said, “I thirst!” (29) A bowl of sour wine stood there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and held it to His mouth. (30) So when יהושע {Jehsua} took the sour wine He said, “It has been accomplished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (31) Therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the stake on the Sabbath – for that Sabbath was a high one – the Yehuḏim asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that they be taken away. (32) Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was impaled with Him, (33) but when they came to יהושע {Jehsua} and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. (34) But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and instantly blood and water came out. (35) And he who has seen has witnessed, and his witness is true. And he knows that he is speaking the truth, in order that you might believe. (36) For this took place in order for the Scripture to be filled: “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” (37) And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”” (John 19:28-37 The Scriptures 1998+)

Acceptance step in the good direction

Let us look on him whom they pierced and believe who he was and what he did. By accepting Christ we are one step in the good direction to find God. Once we want to accept Jesus as the son of God who offered himself for our sins, we can continue on that path he prepared for us. Listening to the parables he told we can come to understand the way his Father thinks and handles.

God had poured out on the house of David the fulfilment of His Word that His Word could become reality and could come into the flesh (figuratively and in the person of His son Jesus Christ), and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication so that those who are willing to see and believe will look at him whom other humans have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10, John 1:1)

To be able to find God we first have to open our mind and to be prepared to allow God His Spirit to enter in us. It is God Who calls, but we should allow Him to call us and be prepared to hear His Voice.

Preceding article: Finding God amid all the religious externals

Next: People Seeking for God

Please also do find to read:

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Additional reading:

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Preparing the Way (graceofourlord.com)
God, he tells them, can raise up children of Abraham from the stones present around them. In other words, it is not enough – God is not so impressed with their pedigree.
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Although baptism in some form did exist before John the Baptist received his calling from God, it was not a baptism of repentance, nor was it for the forgiveness of sins. There was no real forgiveness of sins under the Law of Moses because, as Paul said, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). There was washing for purification, as first implemented with Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29:4, Leviticus 16:23-24), and for remedy of defilement (Numbers 19). And at some point (though not Biblically required), baptism (immersion in water) was added to circumcision as a requirement for Gentile proselytes to be converted to Judaism.
He may be made known to Israel (twocatholicfriends.wordpress.com)
Each of the prophets who came before Christ came to fulfill a particular mission, they pointed to the coming of the messiah. Isaiah’s prophecy of the restoration of israel and salvation reaching the end of the earth links his time and that of John the baptist’s by its fulfillment because it was John the baptist who showed this light of God which would reach the end of the earth to the world. First, with his disciples, whom he fashioned their waiting for the messiah. He did not know who the messiah was, but God revealed it to him by the outpouring of the Holy spirit by the baptism of our Lord which we celebrated last sunday; this he used to testify to the crowd of the sonship of Jesus.
Jesus and John the Baptist (larrycourson.wordpress.com)
In Matthew 13 and 14 Jesus is rejected by the people of Nazareth where he grew up as no one special. They said he was just one of them.
John 1:29-42 – 19th January 2014 (rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com)
John the Baptist expected his listeners to recall pictures from the Old Testament; the lamb provided by God for Abraham to slaughter, the lamb of Isaiah 53, led to the slaughter for the sins of God’s people; the Passover Lamb from Exodus. The word “lamb,” for John’s listeners connected strongly with words like “sin” or “atonement” – the way in which we can be reconciled with God despite our wrongdoing.
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Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah – John, the Gospel writer’s names for Jesus. John wants us to carry these names with us as we read his Gospel. It is as though he says to us, “You will only understand my message fully if you realise that this is what I want to show you. Here is the one who by his life and death fulfils these roles and in doing so brings hope.” As we read the Gospels let’s use these names to inform our reading and to help us understand for ourselves just who Jesus is: Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah.
Engaging the Gospel – John 1:29-34 (ubiquelucet.wordpress.com)
By proclaiming Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” St. John the Baptist identifies him as the fulfillment of Scripture.

He “reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant [prophesied by Isaiah] who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first Passover” (Catechism paragraph 608).

Moreover, the Spirit’s coming upon Jesus is an explicit mark of the Messiah.
God Demands a Response to Jesus (barrierbreakingenterprises.com)
The fact of the matter is some of us are just too cautious about changing when clearly the time for change has come. We procrastinate just because procrastination is what we do. But when you meet Jesus, Jesus calls for action, immediate, swift, decisive action. Either you love him or you don’t but you can’t just sit around and think about it. This morning Jesus is looking for radical disciples, those who will throw caution to the wind and follow him with their whole hearts.
The Passover Lamb (james1948.wordpress.com)
When it was time for God to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, He established a way for the people to always memorialize their deliverance by instituting the Lord’s Passover. Each household was to shed the blood of a lamb that was without blemish and paint the blood on the doorposts of the home. Then, the lamb was to be roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs by everyone in the home, as they stood, ready to evacuate Egypt. That night, God preserved the firstborn of every home who had observed the Passover and delivered the Israelites from bondage.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. He became what the Passover represented, God’s salvation through the shed blood of an innocent Lamb.
The Truth Through John Part 2 (soulfulcuriosity.wordpress.com)
God is very detailed…everything has a purpose…more than we will ever know this side of heaven.

Does studying God’s word bring you Joy? I sure hope it does.
Sunday Devotional: John 1:6-8 (journeythereandbackagain.wordpress.com)
Here we see John (the disciple) talk about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a forerunner to Jesus. He was one who was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus’ earthly ministry. That was his calling. He was to be a witness. He was to point others to the light (Jesus).
Pastor Karl’s Challenge (brentwoodbiblechurch.wordpress.com)
We must not think of Jesus, however, as the offspring of God the Father. Because according to Galatians 4:4, when the Father sent Jesus into the world, He already was the Son of God. The Father sent forth His Son! If He already was the Son of God, then He did not become the Son of God through conception and birth. Rather, the Son of God became a true human being in the conception.

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Nearly 2 000 years ago

Baptism with water and spirit

God’s Passover Lamb to be seen

Second Adam also of flesh and blood

Not able to be seen

Revelation to be seen

Flesh blood and bones, human and ghost or spirit

Those who have not seen the son of the Non-seen

After and of the flesh and dwelling within

Having spirit of Christ

Living in spirit

Presenting our body to allow God to enter in us, doing His Will

To see and understand the sending of the son of God

See things and scrutinize everything

A body with blood and a spirit without blood

Acceptance step in the good direction

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