The Concept of Gender Neutrality and You

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To remember

• saying mankind >be better to use humankind.
• Saying the chair better than saying chairman,
• Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral),= gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement > policies, language, + other social institutions (social structures, gender roles, or gender identity) should avoid distinguishing roles according to people’s sex or gender > in order to avoid discrimination arising from the impression that there are social roles one gender more suited than another.
• Gender neutrality =/= synonymous with androgyny or anything of the sort.
• Sexism =  prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender.
• Sexism = linked to stereotypes + gender roles, => belief one sex or gender intrinsically superior to another.
• Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, + other forms of sexual violence.
• Gender discrimination = encompass sexism = discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences => defined in terms of workplace inequality.
• different labels tacked to foreheads
• God created man in his own image > generic term =/= used to refer to both genders => to man > Book recognises  uniqueness of male & female
• gender roles and gender discrimination > programmed into us silently + cleverly + as soon as binary is clearly marked => discrimination sets in.
• steady erosion of gender roles + stereotypes in society
• basic point of feminism, of most gender movements = we are all the same

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Preceding

Gender, genderless, androgyny, bisexuality, cisgender and transgender

Study says highlighting gender leads to stereotypes

Do the concepts of male and female need to have a formal official definition

Trans extremism, trans ideology, genderless a.o. categories and TERFs

The dilemma of gender neutrality

She/Her – They/Them – Person

Ursy Rants

Someone posted in a WhatsApp group I’m in something he’d seen on Twitter. I could share it here but it is on my phone and I am a lazy human. Transferring is work. Anyway, the basic message of the text was to use gender neutral language in a bid to prevent gender bias. So, instead, for instance, of saying mankind, it would be better to use humankind. Saying thechair is better than saying chairman, etc. You get the idea.

It sparked a conversation. Technically, it wasn’t a conversation. It was one person hating the fact that such a post even existed. Gender neutrality had nothing to do with gender bias and on and on and on. This person didn’t see the need for gender neutrality and my brain didn’t see the need to stop yapping to me about it so it’s nearly two am and I’m…

View original post 1,839 more words

Do the concepts of male and female need to have a formal official definition

In a written reply to a question submitted to General Synod of the Church of England, a senior Bishop said that although the meaning of the word woman was previously “thought to be self-evident”, “additional care” was now needed.

In our world we may encounter more and more people who decided to change their nature. People want to see certain features by certain people, though them themselves prefer to have another identity. Their gender identities incorporate behaviours and traits traditionally associated with the opposite sex, which makes others to raise the eyebrows.

The church of England has to see or is confronted like other people, with transsexuals, transgenderists (in one usage of the term, persons who gender-identify with the opposite sex but who choose not to undergo sex-reassignment surgery or hormone treatments), and androgynes (biologically or psychologically androgynous persons), among other groups. Certainly that last bit, the condition in which characteristics of both sexes are clearly expressed in a single individual, for several ages, has been a very difficult issue.

In its broader sense, transgender is closely related to the more-recent term genderqueer, which is self-applied by persons who are either transgender or who have no gender, a third (neither male nor female) gender, or a fluctuating gender.

Gender-critical campaigners in the Church of England are saying that

“whether your starting point is biology or the Bible the answer to the question of what is a woman remains the same.”

In very conservative church circles, it is assumed that the woman is a secondary type who must be submissive to the man.

In his role as chairman of the Faith and Order Commission, Dr Robert Innes, the Bishop in Europe said:

“There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.”

“The LLF project however has begun to explore the marriage complexities associated with gender identity and points to the need for additional care and thought to be given in understanding our commonalities and differences as people made in the image of God.”

Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, who became the first woman to be ordained as a priest in England in 1994, and who has recently retired, told The Telegraph in response to the Bishop of Europe’s answer:

“I’m not totally happy with it. I mean, I do think certain things like men can’t have babies just to say the complete obvious thing.”

Naturally, we also may wonder how we are all in the image of God. When the man, as well as the woman, are in the image of God, has God then elements of a man as well as of a woman, or is He both man and woman?

Responding to a report by the Women and Equalities Committee, released in December 2021, which said that several steps required before a trans person can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should be removed; the British Government said it had already consulted on the controversial subject and

“the current provisions allow for those that wish to legally change their sex to do so, and we will not be changing the legislation”.

The recommendations of the committee to move toward a system of self-identification were made despite warnings from women’s rights campaigners and legal experts that they could jeopardise single-sex spaces, which are also protected under equality law.

Jayne Ozanne, synod member and founder of the Ozanne Foundation in 2017 – which works with religious organisations around the world to tackle prejudice and discrimination of LGBTQI people – finds that Mr Kendy’s question is sadly a prime example of a passive aggressive question that is designed to upset the LGBT+ community and particularly the trans members in their midst.

Not only the English Church has problems with people who feel differently than what the majority is used to seeing in gender roles. for many it is also impossible that a person would be “asexual,” “aromantic,” or “agender, but in today’s society we have to understand that not everything has to be so black and white and clearly stated.

“It’s time these anti-LGBT attacks stopped and that we learnt to acknowledge that life is not quite as black and white as some appear to think it should be.”

Dr Jane Hamlin, president of Beaumont Society charity, which supports trans people, added:

“I am puzzled why some people are so obsessed with defining ‘woman’. Why might this be an issue for the Church of England?

Are those male priests going to want to define sex partners extensively, like they now want to define women? One can also ask why it took so many years for the Church to realise that besides ‘the man’ and ‘the woman’ there are also people who have elements of both – ambivalence is still something that many do not want to know about -. Many also do not want to show understanding for those people who do not feel good at all in the skin they were given by birth for their appearance. Should these people slide through life like lonely snails all their lives in a wrong shell?

“Is it that women should be treated more favourably or less favourably?

Why does it matter to the Church of England whether someone is a woman or not a woman? Surely it only matters to the individual themselves.”

says Jayne Ozann.

Do those clergy, in the same way, question to what is a man?

For many years, the Church has been a bastion of men, repeatedly seeking to teach its members that men are the masters of women and that the latter must always be submissive and acquiesce to the desires of men.

For centuries the Church pointed with their finger to people who had another feeling to people of the same or other sex. They were all too quick to point out to those who felt differently the danger that they would land in hell, to be tortured by an eternal fire. In doing so, they turned the Divine Father into a hideous being who would take pleasure in seeing his creatures suffer eternally.

No one seemed to stop to think what a difficult dilemma those people had to go through to come to terms with their feelings.
For years, several people had to go through figurative hell and wrestle with their uniqueness, which they could not place well in their environment or where they could not get an audience for their feelings.

Several vulnerable people did not dare to begin with and asking themselves to focus inwards. For many it has been horrible to give themselves a place in a society where it was clearly indicated people like them were (or are) not welcome.

Addiction therapist, mental health advocate and author Gillian Bridge discusses the cause behind a whole range of societal problems in a new book.

“We’ve been living in a gross-out world of personal emotional self-indulgence and sentiment for decades now … decades which have seen the nation’s mental health worsening”

– is a succession of equally magnificent declarations.

She has pinpointed the cause of a whole range of societal problems, from mental distress and the determined fragility of the young to the woke chaos of universities and cancel culture. And in that changing culture it looks like the Church of England does not know how to place itself or to cope with the changing culture of accepting

the individuality of each individual.

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Please read: The Telegraph 2022 July 11 – July 17 > July 11 > Church of England comments provoke criticism on their remark: There is ‘no official definition’ of a woman

Where did we come from and who are we?

Having started a new year after one we probably all want to forget very quickly, we do hope soon to come out of the darkness.

At the beginning of all times there was also darkness and void. There was no form when everything came into being. In 2020 lots of things seemed to have lost form and meaning. Suddenly there seemed something wrong with the world. All over the globe people had become frightened by what one president smilingly called the Chinese disease. Many came to wonder:

What has gone wrong with the world? What can we do to fix it? How now shall we live?

2020 was a year that gave us enough time to think. Many were in isolation in their own home or were locked up in a care home. Lots of people suddenly got enough time for themselves and their own family. They got now some time to reflect on the response to the first and most foundational of these questions  –

where did we come from?

and

Where are we going to?

There are a limited number of answers at our disposal: We came about by chance (the naturalist contention), we don’t really exist (the Hindu response), or we were spoken into existence by God. Some believe mankind was placed here on earth by extraterrestrials.

For the Christian, the answer to

“Where did we come from and who are we?”

gives a foundation for thinking that no other answer gives. Because we were created, there is value in each person. There is meaning and purpose to every life. There is Someone above and outside our existence who stands over it as authority.

As human beings, all created in the image of God, somehow we all can carry something of God in us, even without knowing it or willing to know. Several people claim Jesus is God because there is written he was in the image of God. They forget that the first Adam was also created in God’s image like all the other human beings, but for sure they are not God, the same way as Jesus is not God.

Last month several Christians celebrated the birth of a man who changed the course of this world. They claim to be his followers though reject many of his words, his teachings and those values as a part of shaping our culture for the future. They look at a King, but forget that he came from the root of another king (King David).

Perhaps this world has gone “buzark” because people living in this materialist world have forgotten those important ethics and values. For centuries people were truthful to the teachings of Jesus, but they were always in the minority because their way of life was based on something not of this world that the world no longer recognizes.

After the darkness and isolation of the CoViD year there is some hope with the upcoming vaccines. Let us also hope more people would come to the realisation that we seriously have to do something to protect the animals and the nature around us. This so maniest coronavirus was a very serious one which had brought the economy and life to a standstill. It was a time to reflect and to think about the way we are treating mother nature.

With the opening of the “Newer Year” we do hope you and our other readers would find the way to make the best out of this life.

Stay healthy & All the best for 2021

That what dwells in man

Converting to Christianity to have all problems solved is not the solution, like some might hope or think.

Though a conversion may help to bring lots of solutions to many problems. In the knowledge that we have to live with our lusts of flesh we can imagine how sin dwells in us. we should know that in us (that is in our flesh) dwells no good thing; for to will is present with us; but how to perform that which is good, we might find not.

We may know what we should do but therefore we do not yet manage to do what we should do.

We may know the Law of God and the Law of man, but like with many governmental laws there are laws we do not take so serious or just put aside because they do not sooth us at that moment. Law of sin is in many people’s their members.

Then you should ask yourself who shall deliver you from this body of death.

“I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but, with the flesh, the law of sin.”

Let us not forget that we can help each other to walk in the Spirit, so that we shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that we cannot do the things that we would.

 

Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let us now look at the works of the flesh — this good flesh — for we are asked now to believe that the flesh is a good thing. This is one of the most abhorrent features of this heresy. Here are the works of this good flesh:

“Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (vs. 19-21).

It is only those who sow to the Spirit that shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Those who sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. The flesh is weak, unclean, and sinful.

Now, what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God has done, in sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Let us consider this. What about this likeness? Moses informs us (Gen. 5:3) that Adam begat a son in his own image and likeness. You would not say the word “likeness” means that Seth was, in any wise, different from Adam.

There is the word, “image.” Suppose the word “image” had been used in this remark of Paul’s: “sent His Son in the image of the earthy nature,” we should then have had this argument — “Ah, you see it is only the image; it is not the nature itself.” Whereas, what does Paul say concerning ourselves in 1 Corinthians 15:49: “We have borne the image of the earthy, and shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” Shall we say we have not borne the earthy? Do not we bear the earthy? Yes. Therefore in apostolic language “earthy” and “the image of the earthy” mean the same thing. Upon the same principle, sinful flesh and the likeness of sinful fiesh mean the same thing. And we shall find that the same they are.

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Preceding articles

Different kinds of “things not seen”

Glued to the flesh

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Related articles

• The Only Requirement…
• Daily Mass: Christ teaches us loving service. Catholic Inspiration
• ‘Jesus Christ’ Returns For a TED Talk to One-Up Pope Francis on Colbert
• Breakdown Of Family Values Responsible For Societal Ills – Clergy
• Church should lead crusade against corruption – Pastor Unoarumhi
• What Are We Waiting For?
• Born Perfect: the LGBT Movement vs. Reality
• God loves you like a mom
• People prefer serving to managing, human relationships to financial security, peace to power
• Akeredolu Urges Peace, Love At Easter

Broken, coming before God

Coming closer to Passover, the most important period of the year, we should look at ourselves and check if we are prepared enough to come before the Elohim.

Fallible we are, we should recognise our faults of the previous months. In a way, we should feel broken by our weaknesses which allowed the badness to come in and over us.

You also may ask why we should not remain broken. When broken it could be said that we can mend and come in a state where we can achieve the highest heights.

We have to know that we as ordinary being are just nothing But when coming before God, as a nobody, humble and willing to be under Him, it is possible to receive everything.

Like the Most High Elohim is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness [chesed / covenant loyalty] and truth and keeps loving-kindness [chesed] for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin (Exodus 34:6–7), we too should work on ourselves every day over and over again.

Always trying to become more like Christ bit by bit we shall start to change. The more we become conformed and transformed into the image and likeness of God, in whose image we have been created, the more we will demonstrate these wonderful qualities of His chesed love, mercy, grace, patience, long-suffering, goodness, and truth.

That way we will become less judgemental and more merciful; we will criticize less and intercede more.

Coming into covenant with God is not about just following the rules; it is about having a deep, abiding, intimate relationship with a loving God.

Because you are not made only to receive. You must also face the real world and challenge its chutzpah over and over. To do that, you need supreme wholeness, as though you were Adam in the Garden before his fall.

And if you should say,

“But it is impossible! It is beyond the capacity of a created being to be both something and nothing at once.”

You are right. It is impossible. That is precisely the advantage of the human being. That is why God created you:

To join heaven and earth, Nothingness and Being. To be part of His Plan. To make the impossible a reality.

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Preceding articles:

Making sure we express kedusha for 14-16 Nisan

Reciting the Aleinu as a warning against temptation of idolatry

More on Grace and Spiritual Fruit – Abide in Me, and I in you

 

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Additional articles

1. Are Christians prepared to Rejoice in the Lord
2. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
3. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
4. Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer
5. Counterfeit Gospels
6. Joining for a new year in the assurance to be bought with a price
7. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
8. People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life
9. Faith coming by hearing and sent preacher gift from God
10. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
11. Mental Enslavement and Sins Syndrome (MESS)
12. Preparing for 14 Nisan
13. Remember the day
14. Pesach and a lot of brokenness in the world
15. Cleanliness and worrying or not about purity
16. Good and bad things in this world
17. A Passover for unity in God’s community
18. Glory of God appearing in our character
19. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
20. Self-preservation is the highest law of nature
21. How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?
22. Christ entered our world to transform our lives
23. Rebirth and belonging to a church
24. Of the many books Only the Bible can transform
25. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships

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Further reading

1. Covenant with God/ Perjanjian dengan Allah
2. Gospel Teachings: Faith in Action, Covenant with God
3. more than thoughts and prayers
4. A story of love, lost
5. Greediness
6. You have two choices
7. The List . . .

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Related articles

• Expectations of the Christian Life
• Rebuilding the Bridge to Life
• ‘I Was Beaten, Tortured, And Humiliated Daily In Prison’ Christian Missionary Imprisoned For Over A Year In Sudanese Hell Hole Prison Tells His Story
• Developing immunities to Christ
• Most Importantly, the Gospels Themselves Are a Comedy:
• Trust and Striving
• Sunday reflection: Matthew 4:1-11

Paris Attack and Ranting

Quran, Mus’haf_Al_Tajweed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world may not forget that those who abuse the name of Allah, rape children and young women, murder innocent people of different faith groups including Muslims, burn Qurans (the most sacred book for any Muslim) destroy mosques (the holy place of prayer for Allah)

We, who are all created in the image of Allah, should know that it is man who became an adversary of Allah and by doing that also turned against his fellow-man.

When something happens close by it may shock us more than the events far from our bed. But we may not let us be blinded by hate or revenge for what touched us deeply and always look at everything in proportion.

Every decent person has to have respect for the other person around him or her and should not allow anti-social behaviour get them down or lower themselves to the same level as such criminals.

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not forgetting what’s happening in the world + what happened + what media didn’t cover

• Lebanon: 43 killed by Isis + over 200 injured
• Baghdad Isis killed 19 people
• 7 people got their bodies decapitated
• Gaza: Last year 2,104 Palestinians killed by Israel
•  Syria: every single day for the past 5 years = gone through inhumane, terrible things
• Isis killed more than 100,00 muslims in the past 2 years

Muslims getting a lot of hate for the Paris attacks > they condemn all these terrorist attacks

Allah swt says in the Quran ” … Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all of mankind” Quran 5:32

If ISIS were muslims => why kill their own people? >=> Islam doesn’t allow this.

refugees nothing to do with this > terrorists burned down their camps => running from

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un (إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ) ‘Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return

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Preceding: Don’t be Muslim

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Additional reading

1. Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy consumes the covetous one
2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
3. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
4. Paris attacks darkning the world
5. Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
6. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
7. Islamophobic hate crimes rise in UK following terror attacks
8. Europe and much-vaunted bastions of multiculturalism becoming No God Zones
9. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
10. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
11. The world Having to face a collective failure
12. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
13. Declaring a Jihad Against ISIS
14. Propaganda war and ISIS

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Further reading:

1. Politics: How Americans Are Using Microaggresive Terminology to Strip Refugees of Their Dignity
2. Refugees and the Ethics of Exclusion: Examining Ethics through Julie Bertagna’s Exodus
3. The disguise
4. Paris Attack Survivor’s Story Teaches A Powerful Lesson
5. Fear of the “Other” – Get Rid of It!
6. The song of Roland and the attack on Paris
7. Churches response to Radical Muslims
8. Some Thoughts on Prejudice in Wake of the Paris Attacks
9. Spike In Anti-Muslim Attacks Casts Spotlight On Government Policies
10. Emotional Muslim Survivor Recounts Shooting That Killed His Two Sisters In Paris Attack
11. Muslim Woman Called A ‘Murdering Muslim’ In Morrisons Supermarket
12. #IstandwithParis but also #IstandwithBeirut
13. Problematic Or Patriotic? Two Ways To Talk About Muslims
14. NaBloPoMo – Day 15 of an entire month of has the whole world gone crazy?
15. In regards to tragedy.
16. Every life is equal
17. A message to our students after the Paris Tragedy.
18. Don’t be Muslim
19. But they hate Americans
20. Applebee’s customer smashes Muslim woman in the face for speaking Swahili
21. Two Men Jailed For Assault In Exeter City Centre
22. Muslim Men And Kids In Double Digits

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Related articles

• Obama Regime Is Orchestrating Invasion Force of 200,000 Muslims
• Quran meet condemns IS
• Anti-terrorism officers nicked me in Sainsbury’s a day after my exams, medical student tells court
• Against Islam: Lying, Deceiving and Illogical Confusions
• Questions About Terror-linked CAIR’s Free Qur’ans
• Dallas Cair Director: “Muslims Are Above the Law of the Land.”
• Defense Minister visits army units in Daraa

Fahmida Aktar

RIP to all the people who got brutally murdered in Paris. My heart goes out to their families and communities of these individuals. What they went through was brutal and they did not deserve it.

BUT

that doesn’t mean everyone should forget what’s happening in the world.

Lets not whats happened in:

• Lebanon on saturday 43 were killed by Isis and over 200 injured. The media didn’t cover this?
• In Japan there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 which triggered a small tsunami
• In Baghdad Isis killed 19 people at a funeral! How disrespectful is that? Its at the point where they attack funerals?
• No one seemed to care when 7 people which included 4 men, 2 women and a 9 year old girl got thier bodys decapitated. How come the world isn’t going crazy over a child who got abducted and beheaded??
• Or how about Gaza? Last…

View original post 312 more words

Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities

Today we can find lots of people who are not at all interested in The God sole Creator of Heaven and Earth or in gods, though often they create themselves many gods and worship lots of idols, mainly from the little screen which has become a huge screen in these days (some have measures like the cinema screen of our childhood).

Driver in a Mitsubishi Galant using a hand held mobile phone violating New York State law. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 32 year old single girl who lives alone with three cats, in the process of trying online dating pagan, and likes to think about ‘big’ questions occasionally, currently trying to learn to read the tarot, writes:

Everywhere you turn within Pagan circles these days it seems like you are surrounded by people who have a direct connection to their Gods. They seem to be in possession of their very own ‘Godphone’ (to steal a term I have seen floating about) and are God-bothered on a seemingly constant basis. {G is for Gods}

She is not talking about that strong ‘godly communication‘ we talked about in our previous article. Though the mobile phone may be the new god of many, and lots of them do hope to find with that electronic tool with many gadgets or applications to find the real god app of their life.

Lots of the youngsters put all their aspirations in that mobile phone or their i-pad and are willing to cue all night just to have the latest i-phone or Apple McIntosh gadget. Several i.t.-meetings have taken the place of the old Eucharist celebrations and today we do find high-masses especially for electronic wizards.

After some time many get the feeling they are standing in a becoming colder breeze or getting a ice cold shower, putting them in the Hitchcock thriller were the blood runs in the gutter, taking all their so called (Facebook) friends with it. They do not start wondering if their godphone collection has gone wrong but think they must be at fault.
For sure they must be doing something wrong. The Gods must be ignoring them for a reason,

or you are just not open enough, or maybe you’re on the wrong path.  This is obviously the experience of ‘real’ pagans, so maybe you just aren’t pagan enough. {G is for Gods}

Perhaps there lies the fact: “being not pagan enough”. So this could perhaps give some hope for the many people who felt disillusioned after their internet experience. Perhaps this will give them enough reason to look for other and better values than those that internet can offer them.

The pagan lady writes she is not in possession of a Godphone,

I am not God-bothered, and I can’t think of a single time when I engaged in an actual two-way conversation with my deities. Sure I get a feeling about things sometimes, I know they appreciate the incense I offer her for example, but it exactly that… a feeling. This doesn’t mean I am not pagan enough and it is actually a perfectly normal experience for a large number of Pagans.

Those pagans we would offer a better solution. If their gods are not such listening gods and not so much answering gods, why would they not try to come to find the real Supreme God of gods? Why going second hand when each of us has the opportunity to go first hand 5-star quality?

Many of those not satisfied with what their mobile can bring, are looking for something more sacred or divine. Divination is something they are interested in.

I have spent some time looking at different types and trying to find one that works for me. I’ve tried runes, the pendulum, crystal gazing and even tea leaf reading but I am always drawn back to the Tarot. I am beginning to think it must be for the artwork, as I seem to have little to no skill in reading them! {D is for Divination}

Often we notice people are going to look for it so far away, when it is easy to grab for in front of their nose.

I have had all sorts of advice about reading cards, not just Tarot but oracle as well, but they tend to come back to either ‘learn by rote’ or ‘trust your intuition’. Having tried both, and continuing to flip between the two, I can see that I have problems with both. {D is for Divination}

Japanese mobile phone keyboard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We would say, it is not in those cards you shall find the right answers. You may find and see lots of symbols in it and find word-games made up by human beings, but when taking up a Book of books, written down in very old times, they would be surprised what it all has to tell, also about things happening today. In that Book of books, short “the Bible” they and we can find the answer on many of our daily questions. With that best-seller we get the best guide and best manual for life we ever can get.

When looking at it and giving it more of your time, you shall come to notice that it has not to be a one way road to seeing letters forming words, words forming phrases and phrases forming ideas. By reading all that old stuff we shall get ideas for our life and find out that it is not only our reading effort but also our taking down information out of the book that shall bring us to a two way system of communication.

When we are prepared to listen we shall find answers and we shall get replies.

Paganists looking at their own pagan books may find that when they have tried reading from intuition they went blank. The 32 year old lady writes:

I don’t trust myself enough to just open up and ‘say what I see’ as it were. I am so worried about getting it wrong that I just can’t allow myself to go with it.

Communication Centre, Kimbolton – geograph.org.uk – 1572042 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, that opening up is something which is necessary for everything, to see the good but also to see the bad. We are all created in the image of God and as such we also have the inner feeling of good and wrong. Since the fall of man, having eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil mankind, like the animals have their instinct, but they also received something more which is that inner feeling which gets deep down to them. Lots of people resist that inner feeling and that inner Voice. But as soon as a person wants to open him- or herself to that inner Voice he or she shall be able to come to hear the Voice of God. The Voice of the real God of gods, Who is a much better option than to go for all those other gods.

Go straight ahead to the Only True God of gods, the Most High Elohim, Hashem Jehovah!

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Preceding article: Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something

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Articles of interest:

1. Do you believe in One god
2. God of gods
3. Attributes to God
4. God is one
5. Does there have to be a Holy Trinity Mystery
6. The Trinity – the truth
7. Bible Word of God, inspired and infallible
8. Incomplete without the mind of God
9. God is positive
10. Let us not forget it was God who chose us
11. God Helper and Deliverer
12. Jehovah my strenght
13. Life with God (video)
14. Faith because of the questions

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• The Qumran Report – Skid Row and the Homeless Community

A last note concerning civil rights

Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Atheism in spe do not discriminate.

Human beings so much love the world to turn around themselves. The other human species which look different than them or act differently than them are often considered as a possible threat to their own individuality. They want to protect their own personality and consider another race as an infringement of their own being. All those who are not like the mainstream, showing other sexual feelings than the majority, are for lots of people elements which have to be avoided in their society.
They forget that all human beings are created in the image of God and that we should allow all creatures in existence to be here on earth because God allows them to be here.

Being different makes so many afraid. Not enough people are willing to know more, the why and how about certain matters, which makes that so many are excluded from our general society.

Much too often we hear that religion is the cause of the many problems and discrimination on this earth, but we should see that even when nobody would believe in a higher being, sexism, and all other forms of discrimination would still be social constructs born of fear and ignorance. Fundamental groups, when they would not be religious will still exist as has proven history where we can find enough examples of exclusions, torture and killing by others, not for religious but for political and for economical reason and most of all for getting the power, and that is it where it turns mostly around: Power.
It our those people who can reason who should be willing to use their brains and knowledge to open the eyes of others so that they would not in to the appeal of extremism.

Become a Peaceblogger – Click on the picture to know more 

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Find also to read:

1. Religion, fundamentalism and murder
2. Christian fundamentalism as dangerous as Muslim fundamentalism
3. Gender connections
4. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
5. Full text of Pope Francis’ Interview with ‘La Vanguardia’
6. Discrimination in Black Country
7. Consequences of Breivik’s mass murder
8. Idaho wedding chapel to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 in fines
9. Stand Up

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Related articles

• Unbelief in an angry god (futurehistoryx.wordpress.com)
  Sin-consciousness is false consciousness. It is a world of illusion separated far from truth.
• Here is the test (angryarab.blogspot.com)
  If Westerners insist on the right to mock Islam and its prophet, then they should tolerate Muslim mocking of Judaism and Christianity is they wish; similarly, if Muslims object to mocking of Islam and its prophet, they should then refrain from mocking Judaism and Jews–qua Jews.
• Very often we can find articles like Religion: Not the cause of violence (meta.ath0.com) where they want to believe their readers that the Christian Bible is full of exhortations to stoning, burning, slavery and slaughter. They do not see the whole picture what is going over the whole Book of books and do not listen to the words given in those books about the law, which makes them to consider that “most people you know would qualify for the death penalty” and come to say “The same can be said of the Quran. The same can be said of the Torah. Believers who claim that Islam or Christianity or Judaism is a religion of peace are speaking a half truth—and a naive falsehood. »
• Franklin Graham on the US: ‘Christians Are Being Pushed to the Back of the Room (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
  The Rev. Franklin Graham, head of Samaritan’s Purse and son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, feels that other religions are being brought to the forefront in the U.S. while Christianity is being pushed back. Graham appeared on WNCN News to discuss his recent comments on Duke University’s decision to end its policy on having an Islamic call to prayer at the campus’ Christian chapel.
• In one sense, Islam is Judaism, minus the sense of humor. But Charlie Hebdo alone can’t help them….. (thecatholicthing.org)
  The Christian faith does not hold that in a perfect world we would all be monks or nuns – such that marriage, business, and politics are a sad compromise with sin. Many clergymen have taught that over the centuries – and have been rightly mocked by raucous laymen. Let’s give John Henry Newman credit for understanding this. When he was asked by Bishop Ullathorne whether the Church needed the laity, he quipped: “the Church should look foolish without them.”
• Fundamentalism is Never Legitimate (bishopcraig.com)
  The recent terrorist attack in France adds yet another exclamation point to the truth that fundamentalism is never a legitimate expression of any of the great historic religious traditions. It is always a perversion of the original teachings, most often twisted in a desperate attempt to achieve some political end antithetical to the tradition itself.
• The Importance of Blasphemy By Daniel Greenfield (ruthfullyyours.com)
  As a deeply religious person, I don’t like blasphemy. My religion and its holybooksare sacred to me. And I understand perfectly well why a Muslim would not care for a cartoon of a naked Mohammed.But the debates over freedom of speech andthe sensitivity of religious feelings also miss the point.For non-Muslims, the right to blasphemy is also the right to believe. While we may think of blasphemy in terms of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, each religion is also mutually blasphemous.
• Isis releases about 250 Yazidis from captivity (kmov.com)
  Dozens of people who were being held captivebyIslamic militants in Iraq for months are now free.Officials in Iraq say Isis released about 250Yazidis without explanation.Many of them are children and elderly people.
• Town Hall Discussion on Islam: Is There a ‘Moderate’ Branch of Islam? (ambrosekane.com)
  Muslim activist, Anjem Choudary, addresses the question of whether muslims can be ‘moderate’ when it comes to Islam. Credit goes to him for pointing out that muslims are either being faithful to the Quran or they’re not. There’s no middle ground, and he does a good job of shaming Daisy Khan, a ‘moderate’ muslim woman who absurdly declared that “Islam is a religion of pluralism.”

The I Am to explore

When looking at the world man and animal can be seen moving around, sometimes men going about more than wild beasts.

In that universe where everybody in his worldly life is so busy with working and with earning money to be able to buy as many gadgets as they would like and to make their material dreams realised, lots of people consider those who have faith in a Supreme Being to be loosers or people who live in fantasy worlds. Lots of them do believe that when in faith you just have to accept everything blindly. For them and many faith is a mystery, where you need to ask any questions.

It is true that we mortals can not understand everything. We could even say that we should not even try to understand everything. Question is if you may look at faith on a rational way. Can you believe in a Higher Being Which or Who created everything. And do you have to approach all the saying about It/Him rationally?

Portrait of René Descartes, dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, after Frans Hals c. 1648 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last few years focus has been on the rationale. René Descartes with many followers could say “I think, therefore, I am”, and we can only agree because when you are not in existence you can not “be“. When born and not able to think the being of that person is also like as if without life and can not do anything. To be able to do something a creature (animal or man) has to think or to use its/his/her brains. Without the use of the brain, without letting the ‘electricity’ go through the nerves, creature shall not be able to do much. It has to receive something, analyse it, act and react to it. But before it can go into action and reaction it has to have knowledge of the self. It has to have a working ‘I am‘ and has to feel as an ‘I am‘.

Though man faces some problems.
First there is the “I am”, the “Self” which it has to come to face and has to try to understand.
Secondly it has to come to see that the “I am” is only part of a bigger part of “I Am”. When it comes to know that it can go searching for that Bigger “I Am” and hopefully shall come to recognise the “I Am Who Is” without nothing can exist.
Thirdly each little “I am” has to recognise that manifesting the “I am” demands interaction, but that such interaction is never ending. One word only points to another word and never to reality itself. Having brains thinking, receiving interpretations and having to make interpretations itself, it shall have to come to the conclusion that no one interpretation can ever be regarded as final.

As in interpretation, so in life: everything becomes undecidable.

Now there is a difference between all who want to understand and try to approach the many “I ams” in this world. Into this decidedly undecided world, there are people who have opened their eyes and have come to see what is behind the ordinary “I am”. They have found The Bigger “I Am.” They might have found it by listening to their inner voice or by coming to read, see and hear the Word of God. For them the curtains have gone open and the biblical message as reasonable thinking person has come to them with common sense. They have come to see and understand that Faith and logic are not really opposites.

Genesis 1 tells us that man was created in God’s image (Genesis 1: 26-27).

“26  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27 NAS)

Diagram from one of René Descartes’ works. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being created in the image of God, means also each person we see around us has something which might be found also in God. Each person we do encounter can carry something from God with him or her and can share it with others. The person who has come into the faith, believing there is a Creator Deity, and who has seen the Works of that God (Source of knowledge) shall also come to the understanding of the importance of sharing the knowledge of that “I am” with others. For the one with faith it is like being with child, incredible exiting and giving lots of energy. It is as an extra breath given to you.

In the past many man of all sorts of professions have already felt the special awareness and consequences for them of having faith in the Elohim, Divine Creator of heaven and earth. The “I Am Who Is” or the “I Am that I am” is the Most Almighty God of gods, Who overshadows any other god or “I am”. He is also One God Who demands recognition for His important Pole Position. He does not like to see that His creatures do love other gods more than Him. Believers, man of faith, should recognise that and take it into account, worshipping only that One and Only One True God.

To help us to understand that Bigger “I Am” and our own “I am” This Eternal Being has given His Words and let it hem be notated by the many faithful men. All those writings about the “I Am” are bundled in the Book of books, the Bible, the infallible Word of God.

In the several books of the Bible we can find a.o. the Book of Psalms in which we can find the answers:

1. God gave us the Psalms and other Books of the Bible
2. as a prayer book for our lives.
3. to show the friends of God.
4. to learn through poetry and song.
5. to experience the transcendence and the imminence of God at once
6. to affirm the mystery of life
7. to educate and to exhort ourselves
8. to show us our sins
9. to remind us of the brevity of life
10. to remind us of the necessity to live the right way
11. to show us the way to a better and easier life
12. to express our heartfelt longings
13. to discover God His Character
14. to discover God His Will for our lives
15. to learn to direct ourselves to the utmost important things in life
16. to learn how to behave
17. to learn to pray aright
18. to reveal His sovereign grace to us
19. to show us the Way to Salvation
20. to show us and give comfort in finding the Way to the Kingdom of God

Created in the image of God, the image of the Big “I Am” this is not just an outward likeness, for God is Spirit, and is only for our understanding presented in a description which is derived from that of a human. Upon further reading in the Book of books, the Bible, we can see that God’s Word reveals that humans, unlike animals, are provided with rational. Man can think and reason logically, but above all he is able to know God; and the latter goes. An animal has no sense of higher values, let alone God, a man does. But that is also exactly what sets him apart. A man who does not have these capabilities, or does not use them, is indeed no more than an animal:

“Man in [his] pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:20 NAS)

In fact, it is precisely this ability to abstract reasoning that,

according to the apostle Paul, makes the infidel shall not go unpunished because when he looks around himself he should be able to see the many things God provided. It might be true that the invisible things of God can not be seen, but even his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived since the creation of the world are working with the mind, so that they are without excuse.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20 NAS)

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Preceding articles:

There can only be hope when there is a will to be and say “I am”Find Inspiration and Follow Your Dreams

Believe in your greatness

Believe in yourself!

Be Kinder to Yourself

Be realistic, do not pretend

The world starts with yourself

Little i

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Additional readings:

1. What is life?
2. Looking at three “I am” s
3. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
4. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
5. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality
6. Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite
7. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
8. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
9. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
10. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
11. Being Religious and Spiritual 6 Romantici, utopists and transcendentalists
12. Improving the world by improving the Faith
13. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
14. Faith because of the questions
15. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
16. Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
17. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
18. Leaving behind the lives we have touched.
19. Only the contrite self, sick of its pretensions, can find salvation
20. God won’t ask
21. Pieces
22. There is no true and constant gentleness without humility
23. For those who make other choices
24. Do you believe in One god?
25. Revelation 1:8 – Who is Speaking?
26. Use of /Gebruik van Jehovah or/of Yahweh in Bible Translations/Bijbel vertalingen
27. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
28. Only worhsip Creator of all things
29. A great man does not lose his self-possession when he is afflicted

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Related articles

• Love: Reuniting the objective and subjective… (thosecatholicmen.com)
  The modern world has fallen into a dualism of body and soul in many ways. Descartes, a founding father of modern philosophy described the soul as a “ghost in a machine.” It is only too easy to focus on the body in an animalistic fashion, focused on pleasure and gratification. The opposite extreme is to fall into emotionalism or even a spiritualism that sees no compelling connection to the body.
• Descartes and the Begining of Modern Philosophy (joshpcb.wordpress.com)

  n the 17^th and 18^th century Western philosophy was in strife – split between British empiricism (figures such as Locke and Bacon) and continental rationalism (such proponents as Leibniz and Spinoza), both camps disagreed with one another on the topic of epistemology and metaphysics.

  Important to add to the context is that in this time, scholasticism was the most prestigious method of education; it entailed Aristotelian values with a significant religion input. Scholasticism used logical methodology to deduce and then resolve contradictions. It was also qualitative, looking at objects and people and how they worked behaved, i.e., their qualities, and it was this manner in which Descartes was educated

• Last lecture of the semester: Foucault and Derrida on Madness (foucaultnews.com)
  We need a history of that other trick that madness plays—that other trick through which men, in the gesture of sovereign reason that locks up their neighbor, communicate and recognize each other in the merciless language of non-madness; we need to identify this moment of that expulsion before it was definitely established in the reign of truth, before it was brought back to life by the lyricism of protestation. To try to recapture, in history, this degree zero of the history of madness, when it was undifferentiated experience, the still undivided experience of the division [of madness and reason] itself. To describe…[what] allows Reason and Madness to fall away, like things henceforth foreign to each other, deaf to any exchange, almost dead to each other. (my emphases)

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

Hope: expect and desire. Without a ‘Desire of fulfilment’ there is no soil for a seed of hope to grow.

When we do want to build up hope we do have to be willing to be, to stand strong.

Therefore we better considered the power of the statement “I am” which we use so many times a day. When we answer the phone or when we are asked if it our us entering the place or when we give others an idea of who we are or how we feel.

You might be surprised what is hidden in those two little words. They also can say a lot to the others, even making them cross, like it happened some two thousand years ago, when the Pharisees asked Jesus if he was that person been spoken of, and he confirmed that he was that man. (Too many Christians today still do not understand the answer nor the question posed that day, and take it because Jesus said “I am” that he is God.) All the people who continue to say “I am” are not all gods and mostly do not think to be a god nor the God. but they have good reason to keep saying “I Am”. Because without ‘to Be’ there is no being, no existence. Jesus existed and therefore he also could say “I am”. He also could confirm he was the person the Pharisees heard speaking about, the one man preaching fervently about his heavenly Father Who would be not only his god but also The God. That was what made the high priests so mad and shouting it was blasphemous. Jesus never did say to them he was God, nor did he say such a thing to the people. He always said he could not do the things he did without his Father in heaven, the God of Abraham, Whose will he wanted to do and not his own will.

First, we have to be, before we can have any hope. Without being there is no hope at all. Thanks to the Creator we can be. Without Him there is no life possible at all. Without the God of gods there is no being no way of saying “I am”.

To many people do forget how these two simple words will determine what kind of life a person lives.

We when we say ourselves “I am” or when we hear others saying “I am” generate an idea of feeling and being. A Christian should be best in being able to say:

“I am blessed.”

Because we are blessed, by the allowance to be in a living condition and by the Grace of God, having become accepted, washed clean by the ransom offer of Christ Jesus. It is in that Jewish man we have found “hope”. In him we should place our hope. He is the one who has presented the world with the most high hope, the possibility of the best possible life on earth, a never ending life in the Kingdom of God. that should be our real Hope.

Knowing that we can live by the Grace of God we should not fear man, but with the fear of God, should also be happy that Jesus reconciled ourselves by his heavenly Father, the Only One God “The I Am Who Is”. He is the Most High Being, the Supreme Being. It was the son of the Elohim who gave his life to the One and Only Who gives life. He is it who can make us weak or strong, slow or fast, stupid or wise. It is Him Who can make us say:

“I am strong”. “I am healthy.”

Or,

“I am slow”. “I am unattractive”. “I am stupid.”

The “I am’s” that are coming out of our mouth will bring either success or failure. Not enough people are aware how the thinking about themselves shall decide how they themselves shall be or become. Unconsciously and for some consciously, all through the day the power of “I am” is at work in our minds. And there is the problem of denial. The will not to see the “I am” in ourselves. Many people also place the “I am” in the wrong phrases or in the wrong context, making life for themselves more difficult.

Too many people are not aware how they themselves can use the “I am” for them selves but also against themselves. Mostly they have no idea how they use the power of “I am” against themselves and how it is affecting their future.

In the Bible the answers are given. It tells us clearly how we are to be ‘in-breath’ with the “I Am”, the most High God. all being created in the image of God, having received life from God “The I Am”, should be willing to have The Elohim living through their “I am”. According to the Holy Scriptures The “I Am Who Is” (The Elohim Hashem Jehovah) is always there for His Creation. He is always looking for us, and as such our “I am” is also always looking for us.

Each individual has given the breath of God, i.e. life, because otherwise he would not be living. This breath of life, i.e. the soul, is our being our possibility to say “I am”. Without life we shall not be able to say “I am”. When death, you also shall not be able any more to say “I was”. Others shall be able to say that ‘you were’, but once the light of life has gone out, it its finished with the being, the “I am” shall not sound any more.

Therefore, as written in the Holy Scriptures, it is in the “Now,” that we have to make it. It is when we live and can say “I am” that we can be and that we can do things. Jesus gave several parables as examples of what happens when we do not follow the good direction as the “I am” and do not make work of being the right “I am”.

The “I am” expresses a hope, or it should do. When you go through the day saying,

“I am blessed,”

blessings come looking for you. The same way when you say

“you are blessed”

you give the expression of the I am who wants to bring over the other blessings by your loving-kindness for that person.

In case you want to build up hope in your life you first have to believe in yourself and secondly have to believe in the Most High “I Am” to get you there where He wants you to be and to succeed. but you have to be willing to give yourself in the hands of the “I am” to get the feeling of growth in assurance you can do something. as such you, yourself have to believe in yourself and have to dare to say

“I can”

And continuing to think you shall be able to reach your goal and as such to be able to say:

“I am talented.”

Only when you are willing to go for the hope in succeeding you shall be able to succeed and to become talented.

Let blessings and talent come looking for you. Let health come to you and come to say

“I am feeling fine”, “I am healthy,” “I am strong.”

You might be surprised how much the “I am” can do wonders in yourself. How good feelings, good health and strength shall come on your way. Are you willing to surrender to your own self? To surrender to the “I am” in you?

Vicki Flaherty rightly writes:

Not to be ‘be good’ or ‘do better’ but to surrender to the amazing person I am and what I might create with a deep appreciation of all that is abundant in me. {Hope}

Your “I am” has to start tracking you down, by your invitation into your life.

Get up in the morning and invite good things into your life. Declare

“I am blessed. I am strong. I am talented. I am disciplined. I am focused. I am prosperous.”

And always make sure God’s truth follows “I am”!

Are you able to say:

I feel complete with who and where ‘I am’.

What is your answer when asked: Is it you, Pete, John, Mary, Sonia, Vicky, or ‘so and so’? “Are you him or her”?

….

What is your answer when asked: “Are you feeling all right?”

….

Are you believing in the power of perspective and positive outlook?

….

Are you willing to choose to live into today with hope in your heart?

…..

Are you able to honour all aspects of your being and let go of any judgement and attachment that might divide you or leave you feeling broken.

…..

Are you willing to be whole in all your imperfection and brilliance.

…..

What would be you you answer when asked “Are you a Christian”?

…..

Do the give your answer in big capitals, to this question:

Are you a believer in the Son of God, and willing to follow this Jewish man who gave hope for a better future? Are you a follower of Christ Jesus, the son of God, accepting he really did die for the sins of the whole world, and who now has been made higher than the angels, though he was lower before, in the knowledge that God is was and always shall be the Most High?

…..

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* Note: If you could not answer every-time with “I am”, than you have a problem and should reconsider your way of thinking and should go to examine your self and your believes. If you could answer  all questions with “I am” than we want to invite you to continue your way with us, helping others to find their “I am”.

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Find also to read:

1. I am that I am Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה
2. Hashem השם, Hebrew for “the Name”
3. Creator and Blogger God 7 A Blog of a Book 1 Believing the Blogger
4. Pluralis Majestatis in the Holy Scriptures
5. Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh
6. Accommodation of the Void
7. Does He exists?
8. Wishing to do the will of God
9. Looking for blessed hope
10. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
11. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures

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Additional reading in Dutch:

1. Ik ben die ben Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה
2. Heer, Yahuwah, Yeshua of Yahushua

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Find also on other websites:

1. Wholeness
2. Radiate
3. Hope ( by Vicki Flaherty)
4. Focus

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Related articles

• Self-Righteousness and Hypocrisy: Closing the Door to the Kingdom of God (theeyesoffaith.wordpress.com)
  Jesus begins to warn us of being like the scribes and Pharisees, who trusted in their religion instead of having faith in God.
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  The Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of the day, refused to recognize that their thoughts were evil and they were unrighteous.Like the religious folk of every generation, they failed to acknowledge that they were prideful. They failed to acknowledge the fact that they had evil attitudes towards one another and others.
  +Jesus came to establish His righteousness, and then to give us His righteousness in exchange for our sins at Calvary. He came to give us a new spirit, a new heart, a new attitude and will.

  “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:” (Eze. 11:19)

• Today’s Gospel Reading (luke 11:42-46) (prayers4reparation.wordpress.com)
  A lawyer then spoke up. “Master,” he said “when you speak like this you insult us too.” “Alas for you lawyers also,” he replied “because you load on men burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not move a finger to lift.
• Jesus and Christianity (theinternetpost.net)
  Jesus shared meals with outcasts, which annoyed the Pharisees, strong supporters of the laws and traditions of the Jewish people.
  Jesus said: “Be on your guard against the Doctors of the Law, who like to walk about in robes and be saluted in the streets… who devour the livelihood of widows…”
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  The Bible is like the curate’s egg – good in parts.

  The Bible, like the Koran, is a very human attempt to describe what life is all about.
• Why You Can’t Read Scripture Alone (christianitytoday.com)
  Some Christians, and not just new believers among them, take this “me and God” approach to reading Scripture. They have learned from Matthew 15 not to be like the Pharisees, whom Jesus said exalted human tradition over God’s Word. They also try to heed Paul’s warning not to succumb to “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition” (Col. 2:8, ESV used throughout). They have concluded, therefore, that Scripture teaches that church tradition—and all the perspectives and human-derived interpretations that it carries with it—should not color our reading of God’s Word.
• Being brave and smart to tackle danger (Part 2) (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)
  When in faced with danger, do not cower in fear. Be like Paul, who kept his eyes and mind open to use the situation to his advantage. He didn’t have to lie but took advantage of the truth. He tackled the high priest Ananias who illegally tried to get Paul slapped. Paul didn’t use foul words but used clear logic that the high priest was trying to judge as per the law and yet himself was going against the methods of the law. Only later when Paul was told that Ananias was the high priest that he didn’t go ahead with rebuking him any further.
• how to tell a sheep from a pig (thedaysman.com)
  Jesus himself called some people dogs and pigs, not the kind of judgment normally valued in our tolerant and indulgent age.But I don’t think he was just referring to the Pharisees. Or at least not all of them. In fact, he was not referring to any class of people; black or white, male or female, gay or straight—there is no categorical intention.
• Tuesday, 2 December 2014 : First Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections) (petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com)
  let us all strengthen our faith, devote ourselves wholly to the cause of God. Let us show love to our brethren in need around us, those who need our help and our love. Let us show our Lord, that we truly believe in Him and have faith in Him, so that when He comes again, we may be counted among those who are saved, and be found worthy to receive the inheritance promised by our God.

Looking for Answers

Made in the image of God, we all have been implanted with the gene of looking for God. He, though humankind does not want to know of Him and rebelled/rebels against His Power is till prepared to come closer to those who are willing to find answers to their many questions. God already provided lots of answers to human’s questions. But not many do want to find those answers in the very old books. God’s Voice is still resounding all over the earth and many people are trying to bring others to God, but each individual has to make the own choice to prepare himself to hear and to listen to That Supreme Voice.
Let us find that Voice of God in the Book of books, not as such in the writings of human beings, being it philosophical or so called theologian works. Let us go back to the Word of God He gave us with the Bible and take the words in it for what they are, not twisting them with human dogma‘s.

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To remember:

• “Everybody’s looking for answers!” = mantra in journey.
• Everybody’s looking for answers
• we’d like to understand more than we do = part of human nature.
• son of man = reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being
• God spoke in the past & God speaks now
• Son has delivered ultimate answer of our salvation

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• Listen…. (thelivingmessage.com)
  Many people don’t want to hear someone preaching from the Word because it is God’s Truth. Some don’t think that it is true or that it is God’s Word, they think that the Bible is just a book of stuff, stories made up by some bunch of old guys which tell a little about historical figures and some of them are good stories but that is it, nothing more. Have you ever really listened to it, really sat down and read it? The Bible is about much more than Jewish history and the kings which ruled Israel, it is a condensed history of the world itself, from the viewpoint of God’s chosen people.
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  God is all about relationships. His goal for us is to love Him.
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• What Does God Say About Your Spirit (yourgodmoments.wordpress.com)
  Christ Himself revealed both His Father’s true nature and how we must relate to that nature: God is a Spirit (a spiritual being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). Jn. 4:24 AMP
• Affirmation of God: The Holy Spirit uses what I have. (tomraines.wordpress.com)
  Let us all trust that the Spirit will take what we have and complete God’s purpose through us. He will provide us the words to say and them the ears to hear. He Will fall on those we are to help.
• There’s Nothing New Under The Son – Not Republican Nor Democrat (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
  There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.  And as most Christians understand, the lost not only refuse to see, but hate those offering sight. It’s always been so.
• Blog for Week of November 16, 2014 (oldgreenbrierbaptistchurch.typepad.com)
  Would humankind be restored? The question of restoration is left open. What next, we might ask? God must step in to provide a way for sin-tainted human beings to come back to him. He starts his plan of restoration by choosing a man, Abram, and his wife, Sarai, through whom he will build a family and ultimately a nation.
• In the Beginning… (herose4grace.wordpress.com)
  the Bible is Old.  It is an act of communication, written for us but not “to” us.  It is pre-science, pre Darwin, pre astro physics, pre, pretty much anything in our knowledge and perspective of the world today.  It is written for a culture that is thousands of years away from us in not only time, but culture.  Too often, we correspond the Bible to our way of thinking. Christians and atheists alike tend to their own world view or ego.  In order to truly grasp the words of this work, you have to step outside of our minds, our entire style and influence of thinking; discard science as we know it, culture as we know it, and meld into an ancient civilization that is overrun with beliefs and day to day encounters more foreign to us than stepping off of our planet and into a civilization of aliens on the other side of the universe.  In this time, the world was the product of a violent gnashing of gods; disorder and chaos at its core.  It was a world saturated in violent and destructive means.

bothfeetblog

One of my favorite movies in recent years is “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, and adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, set in rural depression era South. In fact, it’s led me to re-read “The Odyssey” and enter once again into this classic tale. The main character in the movie is one of three escaped convicts, who travel back to his home in search of treasure.

As in Homer’s epic, these characters have a host of lively encounters and danger filled adventures throughout their travels. The main character, (taking the role of Odysseus) says repeatedly throughout the quest, “Everybody’s looking for answers!” The phrase becomes quite the mantra in the journey.

Everybody’s looking for answers…in some way or fashion. The zaniness of this movie reminded me of that simple fact; we don’t know everything, and we’d like to understand more than we do. It is part of human nature.

“Long ago God…

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Just be yourself…

The problem with the present society is that most people do not want to be themselves, but try to be like the stars and media personalities present themselves.

Most people want to live in a ‘would be’ or ‘wish it were like this’ fantasy world, were they can enjoy all material luxury, but forget the spiritual values which are more important.

To be oneself is often not appreciated by contemporary society, which already prescribes tranquillisers to babies kids and puppies. Yes the beloved pets do not seem to escape the rage of defining Adhd, Asperger and other syndromes.

Many have forgotten that those who dare to wear their own clothing how they want it, use the gadgets they prefer, because they personally like them, do not run with all the others to follow the mainstream, are those who are the strongest.

They are the ones who may be the strangers in our society, but who are the real individuals with their own value to stand strong in the storms, not changing like the wind blows from one or the other site.

It is by just being yourself, not minding what all the rest may do, that you will be able to go through your life finding satisfaction and getting to the point where you want to be. Getting at the goal is by knowing what you want and what you can achieve, no matter how others may disappoint you or try to get you on other ideas.

Know what you want, where to go, and continue according to your own stubborn ideas, hoping to reach the goal worth aiming at.

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Do you want to face yourself being the one who dares to build up and to destroy the self? Are you willing to accept your independent soul, which may be stubborn and headstrong, trying to live with a self-governance? Are you willing not to loose the sense of self, not having to mirror your preferences instead?

Let yourself be inspired to guide yourself to grow, sometimes blindfolded to the edge of the cliff, where  many may be looking from high up, wanting to laugh with you.

Remind than one of Amy’s texts:

You stood at the edge and watched unaware,

amazed at the efficiency of your plunder of me.

Arms crossed, a smug look of satisfaction

crept prematurely across your face,

and the winds stirred and protested,

the earth shook and groaned,

and a deluge burst forth beneath your feet

and that false security was washed away.

When did the emptiness and despair

that dwelled within burn and crumble

and give way to hope,

a yearning to be free?

– from The Art of Diametrical Opposition

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I hope and think this girl has perhaps found strength in her real ‘me’ that was hidden under the surface. She might, like several other people, women and/or men, have their life been impacted by  insidious, cruel, and merciless terror regardless of their education, finances, ethnic and religious background, gender, age, and sexual orientation.

Whatever happens in our life, how much others would like to destroy us. From the Inner-power we have, all having been created in the image of God, we can find the cornerstone to build on and the Guide to help us through life. All of us in search for the self can find the own inner being and the Helper ready to give His Hand.

Even when other humans may get on your nerves sometimes and you can’t understand why they insist on doing the same stupid things, over and over again, then you shall not have to worry you went your own way willing to follow that inner voice. When you want to give an ear to the Strongest Voice in you, silence shall be broken and light will shine in the dark, a Securing Voice calling you. Then you shall not have to get tired of the repetitive stupidity of human behaviour. Better imagine what it must be like for God. He’s been watching this parade a lot longer than many have.

Thankfully He is infinitely patient and able to see our higher selves far better than we are. Sometimes  people manage to forget we even have higher selves. God never forgets and He is in it for the long haul. {insanitybytes22 in The World}

Be it a raging misogynist who is grateful but is convinced that some have utopian visions for a perfect society, let us always do hope that if we start in our own little surroundings and by making more strong personalities who keep believing in their self, we can come closer to a nicer world where we can become respected as our own personality, worth being here.

The ‘I Am‘ Jehovah God created us. In Him we should listen more to the ‘I Am’ in us.

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  I began to find that the more I embraced the I AMs I was given as a child, the more confusing it felt to display the opposite characteristics without often questioning their authenticity. One big one for me was discovering that I AM in fact, not thick-skinned, tough or head strong, as I had been told countless times in my youth.
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  Somehow one day, after a time of living the I AMs I thought I was, I woke up and realized that I felt compelled to try something different. I had a need to start listening to the genuine I AMs buried somewhere down in there. The ones I had been ignoring about myself in all those quiet moments with only my thoughts, when my guilt and shame and feelings of disconnect would rise up just a tiny bit and say, “Hey, you know you’re not really any of the things you claim to be by living out right?
• falling down the same hole (mobilisedbygod.wordpress.com)
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  When is this country going to be free from the caste discrimination! To say, we all are Indians but, there are different castes and religions residing here. We are free from Britishers but, when are we going to be free from this discrimination’s done where one Indian will kill another, in the name of a religion! Where has the humanity evaded. Many accused are still freely roaming outside and in search of their next prey, many victims are still awaiting their day of justice today!
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Beatriz Esmer

Are we ever going to fully know ourselves? Aren’t we always changing, always becoming someone new? I think when we start to search for categories to fit in and names to call ourselves is when we really get messed up. Why do we need to be anything at all? I don’t think we really find ourselves, I think we create ourselves. You are a collection of everything that you have ever heard, read, seen, felt, thought, touched… There is no finding, only becoming. Don’t grab at things for no reason hoping it will be something that can define you. Aren’t there things that pull at your soul? Anything at all. Go to those things. Try them and look into them and do whatever you want to do. You are becoming yourself all of the time. Accepting yourself is accepting change. It’s inevitable. You will never be one thing. You are…

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When feeling sad, not sure of there being a Divine Creator

Even when we are feeling sad, feel the darkness in us, we should come to see the light in our heart.

The endless knot of existence and who or what is behind it (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being created in the image of God, every one of us has the ability to feel that Love of God. Everybody has a sort of instinct we either can use or ignore. By ignoring it we shall  not find the solutions to heal ourselves or to make the best out of our life. We may find lots of people who claim that there does not exist a god let it be to exist a Creator God. Though strangely enough they do spend a lot of time to try to convince those who believe in the Divine Creator God, that that Spirit does not exist. Why do they bother so much? Why do the not let those ‘naive’ believers alone and let them have peace with their feeling?

Is it because they are so worried that they can not find that peace those people can find. Are they jealous that those believers in God may find fulfilment in their life and they not? What is the matter that they are so anxious to get the other to reject their God?

Is it because they have come to see that God lives in them? Is there something what irritates them, because they can see people who are lucky and do not worry so much as they have to do? Or is it because they have come to see that through the Holy Spirit the other person has been changed and has come out of reach of ordinary man?

For those who are not sure what to believe and which site to choose, the believers or unbelievers, we would advice to be spend some more time in community with the people God has placed in their life. They would be surprised to notice how a community of God loving people can change them. Each member of the community shall get to know God more as He has the potential to interact with you through their words and love.

It may go strange in a person his life. God has purposefully placed each of us in the lives of others for them to know Him better through our words and love. Whether you’re aware of it or not, God lives in you to be known through you.

When we encourage, serve, and love people, God is worshipped as he interacts with the people around us, through us. We should be glad we can be instruments in the Hands of God.

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Read also:

1. Be an encourager
2. Duty of encouragement
3. Does God exist?

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  Lord God, show me clearly what my role is in the battle for your purpose to be served and exalted.  I love you Lord. Your children love you. Give us grace. Give us peace. We ask and believe you for it. Amen
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  God is a consuming fire, but He is also a God of love. Paul told us in Romans that, through His love, God has provided a way for us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we can stand before a Holy God.
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  ‘God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth’, that is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, it feels mysterious and powerful, but what does it mean? I would love to have a nice simple answer, but I don’t. I have known that verse for many years now and I’m still puzzling away. I can’t give neat answers but I can invite you to join me in my puzzle.I know that the God who is Spirit, is everywhere, in everything and above all things. This God is ‘he’ and ‘she’ because he made all things including male and female. I call God ‘he’ simply because as a man I can relate to God better that way. Anyway, the point is I think that God is more than any special place. Holy places are only holy if the God who is Spirit can be encountered there more easily than in other places. Old churches can therefore be special places but only when they are places where the God who is Spirit can be felt. That said this Spirit God can be worshipped anywhere not just in a temple or church.

  God is in the trees, and streams, hills and level fields. God is in the city streets too. God is in all places if only we look hard enough. But as I said above, he is easier to recognise in some places. The understanding of God who is Spirit, seems to me to be more about experiencing God rather than about learning facts about him. A spirit can’t be touched or fixed in one place. God is Spirit and will blow where he wills.
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  Sometimes the God who is Spirit is felt so strongly it is overwhelming. They can be times of healing and prophecy where the love and wisdom of God breaks through into this physical world in power. Healing and prophecy happen. We call them miracles but they are just the natural consequence of the overwhelming presence of the Spirit.

  So God is Spirit and those who worship must worship in Spirit and in truth. And so I am sharing something of the Truth that I am puzzling over. I am trying to be honest as I share… as I try to be truthful and honest in my worship.

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A Single Seder, and Around the World

Every year we do come a little bit closer to the end-times, the moment when the Elohim thinks it is right to bring world-peace forever and have the Messiah rule on earth from Jerusalem. As long as we are not yet there, we all can try to come closer together and share the common love in the image of the Maker.

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In this story:

A chance to experience the Passover rituals

Passover story and the various and sundry customs of the holiday.

Passover story works perfectly with this ultimate hope and dream = most particular of our narratives, recalling the moment when God took us from slavery to freedom.

The Haggadah text reminds us:
on the night of Passover each person is obligated to see him or herself as if he or she had actually been a slave and personally redeemed by God.

It is the most universalistic of our stories. > doesn’t every person yearn to be free?  Isn’t freedom the most fundamental human right?  And doesn’t each person – regardless of faith, color, country, gender – deserve to be free, treated with dignity and respect, and seen as a creature created in the image of God?

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The Human Side of the Coin

Last night I had the privilege of conducting a ‘learning’ seder at St. Timothy’s School, a 182 year old local prep-boarding school for girls.  We’ve been doing this pre-Passover seder for many years now.  It gives the girls, many of whom are not Jewish, a chance to experience the Passover rituals.  Each table has a seder plate, complete with bitter herbs, haroset, a roasted bone (OK, they use a chicken wing bone!), an egg, and matzah.  We go through the ’30 minute Haggadah’ in about 20 minutes, and then the school serves the girls a fairly traditional Passover dinner, to included brisket and matzah stuffing.  The school does a fabulous job of promoting religious pluralism, and there is a genuine respect for different faith traditions and perspectives.

This was clearly evident just from the table I was sitting at.  I shared my meal with a Christian girl from Nebraska, a…

View original post 292 more words

Wisdom not hard to find nor hiding in remote places

In the world constantly we are bombarded by many words and ideas. We would love to be able to put them all in good order and to let them give us more wisdom. We also would love to believe that we have wisdom, but we do know it will never be enough wisdom.

A graphic personification of Wisdom QR-Code content : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wisdom isn’t hard to find nor is it hiding in remote places.

As chaptersone sbierwagen1 writes:

Proverbs 1:20-21 describes wisdom as “calling aloud in the street” and “raising it’s voice in public”. Proverbs 8:1-4 says it again. So why do we have such a hard time hearing wisdom? We’ve filled our ears with the noise of this foolish world. Books, movies, television programs, and friends who loudly entice us away from good advice and wisdom. Those who have wise, God-fearing parents must remember what their mothers and fathers taught and lived. (Proverbs 1:8-9) We must spend more and more time in God’s Word, hearing God’s Word in church, and spending time with friends who love and obey God. Then wisdom will be louder  in our ears and the world will fade away. {Proverbs 1}

Many hope to find wisdom here on earth and getting it from human beings. They forget that the most superior wisdom does not come from the world. The best way to attain wisdom, discipline, insight, prudence, rightness, justice, fairness, discretion, guidance, learning, and understanding is by listening to the Words of the Most High.

The UST Fountain of Wisdom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Bible we are told  that “knowledge” can come to us by having the right attitude. when we do have a healthy fear of the Divine Creator we can come to the beginning of knowledge or getting more wisdom. When we do have that right fear and are prepared or willing to listen to the Words given from high, the Words of God we can find in the Holy Scriptures or the Bible, we will be able to taste that wisdom and will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.

By listening to the Words given by God and by listening to human people who seem to have wisdom, and comparing how they speak and how they live or act we shall be able to store up knowledge. We also shall come to see that the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

We should work on our weaknesses by not just blindly following our own selfish desires nor just taking all words from others granted.

In Wisdom Unmeritted is mentioned that Adam; the first man, was not educated in man’s educational system.

His complete knowledge of God and all the creation, surpasses the intelligence of our modern sciences and that of the wisdom of the ages. He had a conscience that was so sharp and accurate. Guessed work was not a part of his DNA. Adam knew the very mind of God, effortlessly; naming of all the animals in the garden of Eden was executed with precision and with such grace, just as God would have named each one of them.

Adam being moulded by the Divine Creator was without fault or had no deficiencies. No defect could be found in him and as such he could only have a good application of knowledge or have full wisdom.

Adam did have a perfect knowledge and unusual ability to execute so well than any other creature, because he was created in the very image of God.{Wisdom Unmeritted}

Today we, after the sin of the “first Adam” we are full of minor and perhaps also big faults and do not have such knowledge any-more to get full insight. But we can find enough examples in the past to come to see that it is important who we have around us, to whom we listen and which words we want to follow up.  We should know that if we constantly walk with a wise man, we will literally be changed by his wisdom to act in his principles and values. When we know that the divine Creator is the Most High and Most Wise of all, we better make the right choice and choose to listen to His wise Words,which we can find in the Bible.

Words of Wisdom in the Torah inside of the former Glockengasse Synagogue in Cologne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When we read in the book of books we can see many examples where people could manage extraordinary things because an excellent Spirit was in them. We should allow such a Spirit to enter in ourselves as well.

Some may think “Wisdom” is “hidden from the eyes of all living, and knowledge of it is withheld from the birds of the heavens” like Desire by Design Ministries writes in Where does wisdom come from? she forgets that being created in the image of God we all do have in us implanted elements of God and the ability to think, build up knowledge and to get more wisdom.

It was Jehovah, the God Almighty, Who has all wisdom and understanding. He is the One Who also is for us the way to Wisdom and He knows the place of this Wisdom because full Wisdom is only by God alone. Unlike the writer of Where does wisdom come from? implies God did not have to look to the ends of the earth to search Wisdom out

[for His own use, and He alone possesses it]

because as she says it wisdom belongs already to God. Like the Rugby Christadelphians say:

Our minds should be filled with awe as to all that God must be!! It  is the beginning or foundation of wise thinking. The plea of Solomon is, “”Hear my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” [Proverbs of Solomon 1:8]  The acceptance and absorption into our minds of such teaching and instruction is like wearing “a graceful garland” – yet today how many parents are able and willing to teach true wisdom to their children?  If they are able and willing – their children are surrounded by counter influences – but the need for “wisdom and instruction” has never been greater. {“Fools Despise Wisdom And Instruction” Bible Reading Thoughts for March 23rd}

God does not need the Wisdom, He has it already all, but man has a great need, because he lost it nearly all. Lots of people have lost wisdom or did not get it because they or their parents did loose track of God. Those not with God did not receive further wisdom than the wisdom God considered it necessary for the task they had to fulfil in this world. Every person is here on this earth for some reason or with some purpose. We notice that a lack of wise counsel and accountability for actions has been the downfall of many world leaders, kings, and rulers.The Bible is full of stories by which we should come to learn how to live, behave, act and react.

The story of Solomon is in the Bible for a reason. We must learn from the mistakes of others and King Solomon made some real whoppers. The great can fall. The righteous can become unrighteous.  Sin has no prejudice and will latch on to anyone in sight. {A Fool}

Many Christians are mistaken and think once baptised they are saved for ever and have full knowledge of everything. “Oh such fools”. It is very good when people came to the decision to follow Jesus and to go for God, but they may not forget they have to continue to grow and work hard to keep their faith pure. They may consider themselves highly favoured in the sight of God, just as King Solomon once was, but this will not excuse them from judgement and discipline if they do ignore the commandments and instructions found in the Word of God. When they, after they were baptised, walk astray, they shall loose insight again.

Fools may read scripture but this doesn’t mean they apply the instruction to their lives or memorize and keep the words hidden in their heart. King Solomon stopped relying on God and trusted more and more in himself. He forgot the source of his wisdom, wealth, and power. {A Fool}

We always should remember that we do have to keep our faith going and feed ourselves with wisdom every day. The Bible advices us to continuously learn. When we are willing to have our eyes open and see what the world has to offer and what God has to offer, with the fear for the Right Person (the Elohim hashem Jehovah God) the Most High will inspire people to be faithful stewards of the time and talents that God has given.

All people who are on this world are there because God allows them to be there. All people can learn from those who walk around on this world. Each person is there to be used to  get ideas from and to learn from. Each their knowledge can be used to feed or nourish knowledge by others. As such each person in the world can make it that wisdom can be made productive and beneficial for others. Wisdom starts by birth and at home.

Wisdom is best taught and lived in the home—indeed, the success of the home demands wisdom—and that wisdom is balanced living (Allen Ross, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 1130).

Therefore parents do have a big responsibility for the wisdom their child shall retrieve. They also can look for the best educators and schools, choose the right books to read, take care of the children seeing the right images and meeting the right persons.

The Gutenberg Bible displayed by the United States Library of Congress, demonstrating printed pages as a storage medium. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They should know that the world is given a Book of books full of Wisdom.

The Bible is the greatest Wisdom Book ever written, and five specific books within the Bible are recognized as the Wisdom Books:Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. These books are special because they offer in-depth truths regarding the topic of wisdom. The poetic and lyrical styles make these books a delight to read. Whether it’s Job’s realization that suffering cannot be comprehended through human reasoning, or David’s dealings with personal sin, justice and judgment, or Solomon’s revelations about the lofty matters of life, these books are a must read for every believer who desires to grow in wisdom from above. {Wisdom From Above}

We can see that in this world many people are looking for spiritual guidance and wisdom. They count on other men and women and often turn to ancient or new age gurus for words of wisdom. We should know that wisdom of man and the wisdom of God are two very different things. One is incomplete and does not give fulfilment, whilst the other constructs a person to some one who shall be able to continue to live after all others will be gone.

There is a plethora of so-called wisdom literature out there that is seemingly helpful, however, may only offer half-truths. Many of the sources are based on a humanly perspective. Only a message that is rooted and grounded in the Word of God can possibly come from a godly perspective. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it divides the soul and spirit. With all due respect to the big thinkers with big thoughts, if they have not been transformed by the renewing power of God’s Spirit and His quickening word, they are lacking true wisdom. {Wisdom From Above}

Though that does not mean we should not listen or not take into account what others say or write. No, we should be aware of what is said or written. We always should be prepared to listen to others and to think about what they have to say. From them we also can learn and should learn.

Like Calvin said we should be learners to the end.

All writings that can come in front of our eyes can be worthwhile to learn from. those which are interesting or have something to offer, we could share with others, and that is what this and a site, like Stepping Toes, tries to do. As such, hopefully many writers their quotes or ideas can be presented here and shall get our readers to inspire to look further and continue reading and comparing what they have to say with what others and the Bible have to say.

In the Bible or the Book of books we can find many inspiring words.

God inspired Solomon to write many proverbs, by which he taught the people knowledge and set out acceptable words, even the words of truth (Eccl 12:9-11). Of a total of three thousand proverbs (I Kings 4:32), the best five hundred or so are here. What a collection! You will learn wisdom to cover most every area of your life. Success is right before you! {Secrets of Wisdom}

With the writer of Secrets of Wisdom I would also say:

Tremble before the Word of God and rejoice at the opportunity of finding great spoil from the mind of God and the observations of Solomon. Let your intent be learning and obedience only, without even a trace of mere academic interest or knowledge for the sake of pride. Let your ambition be to grow in wisdom to please God and men. {Secrets of Wisdom}

The ones that God “draws to Him” shall ‘all be taught by God’. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father shall be able to come to His son who liberated the world of its chains and brought salvation to humankind.  (John 6:44,45).

The only thing we do have to be willing to see and hear and to listen to the Right Words. Let us be taught – from God’s word.

As we read God’s word we must have a child-like attitude to “hear” and then “accept” (the) words” we read and then “we will have treasure in heaven” Jesus told a ruler, adding, “and come,follow me.” [v.18,22] The very last chapter in the Bible, the final message of Jesus, tells us that, when Jesus returns, this treasure will be revealed, for I will be “bringing my reward (or recompense)with me to repay everyone for what he has done” [Rev.22 v.12]So we start by hearing (through reading), then we “accept”  and then we “do” what God desires in the way we live using our individual abilities and opportunities to serve God and his Son, our Saviour every day – and then the wonder of the time to come – which is getting ever closer – the time of divine repayment with life in his kingdom on earth , for “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” [Matt. 5 v.5]  Will you be there?  You make the answer now! {“Hear … Accept My Words”}

You can’t make anyone wise, but you can provide the scaffolding and tools to give them the best chance of getting wisdom that is for everyone. {Wisdom for Everyone}

 

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Please find also to read:

1. Wisdom lies deep
2. Did the Inspirator exist
3. Only One God
4. God of gods
5. God is One
6. Give thanks to the One Who gave much
7. Who Wrote the Bible?
8. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #4 Words in Scripture
9. Why can’t Bible scholars agree on how to interpret the Bible?
10. Out of Context: How to Avoid Misinterpreting the Bible
11. American atheists most religiously literate Americans

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Additional reading:

1. Thursday Thoughts: Pattern of a Wise Woman
2. All ProWisdom Texts from Proverbs 8 (January 2012 – November 2013) by Aaron and Michael Diedrich
   Do you ever find yourself thinking if I only could do this or that, and it seems like a wise thing to do even though you know God’s Word says don’t do it? Listen to the wisdom of God’s Word and do not listen to the deceitfulness of your own understanding and own wisdom. Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, will never tell you to do wrong.
3. Wisdom for Everyone
   I like to think of wisdom as the ability to navigate life with discretion and sound judgment that shows an understanding of the workings of nature and people. Wisdom is responsive and considerate of the ripple effects of one’s actions, attitudes and words on the cosmic order. Moreover, wisdom is founded in an understanding of and reverence for God, the Creator.
4. The Wise Ask
   My children often fail to ask for wisdom, believing that it is just given, liberally. But My Word says to ask. I implore you to seek wisdom from above, for it is only through wisdom that the work should be done.
5. Lady Wisdom’s Unheeded Call
   I’ve been reading a bit lately about a subject I don’t hear much about these days–wisdom. My hunch is that we don’t like this idea of wisdom because it seems to suggest that there are ideas of how to live well that are already “out there”–that might have a certain “fixed” quality about them that aren’t subject to our own “make it up as we go” kind of life. It seems to me these days that our preferred method of gaining wisdom, if we care about this at all, is learning from our mistakes. And I have a hunch that many of us do learn this way (I have) and yet it seems that this way is fraught with lots of pain for not only ourselves, but that it leads to inflicting pain on those around us. And sometimes, we don’t live to profit from the lessons–we are merely an object lesson for others. Is there a better way?
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   Some fears are healthy. Proverbs says that the recognition that my life is lived for God is actually a healthy fear. I think how that works for me is that it leads me to cry for God’s help to live wisely before him in all the nooks, crannies, and crevices of my life. Everything matters, and God would spare us unneeded pain–there is plenty of pain without that which we bring on ourselves. If there is a choice between living well and making life hard–do I really want the latter? Better to listen for the voice of Lady Wisdom…
6. Decision, decisions
   You don’t have access to God’s sovereign knowledge (Will I lose my job?  Will interest rates go up or down?  Etc.).  You do have unrestricted access to his moral will via the Bible. Example: Is it immoral to pay off your mortgage early?  No, unless that means you won’t have enough money to feed your kids.  After moral considerations, look to the wisdom angle.  Ask God for wisdom, as He promises to deliver.  But as with Solomon, He doesn’t promise to decide everything for you.  Read the Proverbs (and more).  Seek the counsel of others.  Consider the pros and cons.  That’s how to make wise decisions.  Finally, provided the options are moral and wise, consider your personal preferences.  We have tremendous freedom in Christ to do many things with our time and money.  Will paying off your mortgage make you happy?  If so, then do it.
7. Secular wisdom and spiritual wisdom
   What exactly is wisdom? And why do we have to separate between secular and spiritual wisdom?
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   The requirement for being secularly wise is to make odd bets that will somehow, someday proven to be right.
8. Wisdom Anyone?
9. Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

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