Some seven years ago just days after the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said they killed hundreds of Syrians, dozens of Iraqi Christian families had to flee the ISIS-controlled city of Mosul, hoping to avoid a similar fate.
The 18th of July 2014, the al Qaeda splinter group issued an ultimatum to Iraqi Christians living in Mosul – by Saturday they had to be converted to Islam, pay a fine or face “death by the sword.” A total of 52 Christian families left the city of Mosul early Saturday morning, with an armed group prohibiting some of them from taking anything but the clothes on their backs.
“They told us, ‘You to leave all of your money, gold, jewelry and go out with only the clothes on you,'”
Wadie Salim told CNN at that time.
Images obtained exclusively by CNN show that the phrase “property of ISIS” scrawled in black paint on a number of the homes that were abandoned.
There and then those Christians could still find a place to go to. Some of the families headed for Irbil – which was then controlled by Kurdish forces – and others toward the Dohuk province. The majority went to Dohuk, which is 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Mosul.
Like at that time people now in Afghanistan do not know how to act. Many wonder
“Are we going to get killed?”
We saw in 2014 ISIS to be able to take over large swaths of land due to the lack of centralized authority in both Iraq and war-torn Syria. We also saw how the Sunni militants hoped to establish an Islamic state throughout the region and how much bloodshed came over the land.
Today the Taliban again repeated soothing words that people in Afhanistan should not have to worry. But the past reactions when they conquered land did not prove they were very friendly to people who thought differently than they.
Most of the countries that have their Jewish population dropped below the 25,000 level over the past 70 years were in Arab and Muslim countries including Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Iran, as those countries effectively expunged the Jewish populations due to anger over the founding of Israel. The total population from all of those Arab and Muslim countries now stands at 27,000, just north of the 25k mark (15k in Turkey, 5,800 in Iran, 2,000 in Morocco and Tunisia 1,000).
On Thursday, after a two-month trial in the Belgian capital, 12 jurors found the 33-year-old guilty of the four anti-Semitic murders during a shooting spree at Belgium’s Jewish Museum in Brussels on May 24, 2014. It was not the first incident against Jews in that country, but it may be considered as the first terrorist attack by IS and the turning point for many Jews to feel not safe any-more in Belgium, because the country from then onwards started also showing an evolution to the far-right and anti-Semitic groups.
Kölner Karnaval Nazi-propaganda against Jews – Germans making fun of Jews in the 1930s
We can question of the depiction of Jews in the carnival of Aalst would be of similar intent to what could be seen in Germany in the 1930ies. The stereotypes and images found in Nazi propaganda were not new, but were already familiar to their intended audience. You can not ignore that it reminds us of the Nazi-propaganda during the rise of Nazism. If that carnival group wanted to have a sabbath year, why did they spend so much money on such puppets? Such depictions are just provoking and are adding to the trouble atmosphere which is growing in Belgium.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization headquartered in the US, believes that Aalst Carnaval defiles the reputation of Belgium as the host country of the European institutions.This is stated in an open letter to Federal Minister of the Interior Pieter De Crem (CD & V).The federal government must, according to the director of international relations Shimon Samuels, patronize the Aalst carnival group publicly.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an NGO that collects it worldwide for the interests of Jews.
‘We are disgusted by the images of the parade during the carnival on 3 March in Aalst’,
is the letter to Minister De Crem.
‘With stereotyping and hateful images of Jews with bags full of money and hook-noses that are reminiscent of Nazi collaborating Belgium.’
Also the Jewish community was very chocked with those images, which reminded of the years before the 2nd World War.
parade float at the Aalst Carnaval in Belgium features caricatures of Orthodox Jews atop money bags, March 3, 2019 Aalst Carnaval
B’nai B’rith International termed it “disgusting.” Both umbrella groups of Belgian Jews filed a federal complaint for incitement against the group, called Vismooil’n, saying the float looked like Nazi propaganda.
Even the European Commission slammed the display, with a spokesperson saying
“It is unthinkable that such imagery is being paraded on European streets 70 years after the Holocaust.”
Why do those people from that group Vismooil give the impression that Jews are the cause of the rising prizes?
Joel Rubinfeld, the president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, or LBCA.
“Prices are rising, so who do they blame? The fat, greedy Jew,” he said.
Not only on a Facebook page of carnival enthusiasts, we could see lots of “anti-Semitic humour”.
One blamed
“the sad Jews, closed off from the rest of society in Antwerp, who have no sense of humour.”
Another referred to Jews as “dick cutters,” adding they are
“whiners with sausages for ears and woolly curls on their heads.”
Commenting on Jewish anger over the float, another wrote:
“Later you wonder why Jew hatred is growing …”
For Rubinfeld it is
“What’s happening in recent years at the carnival is a symptom of a wider problem, which the return of 1930s anti-Semitism, alongside the upgraded version that we’ve become used to, that targets Israel as a substitute for Jews and visa versa.”
At the moment there is an American petition concerning the Aalst Carnival on the Unesco-heritage-list to remove its status as an intangible heritage. What the carnival group the Vismooil Sunday has shown, with the Jewish decorated float, in any case does not fit with the norms and values that Unesco stands for.
We must take the “view on the Jews” seriously. We may not ignore a serious peril of a growing negative stance against Jews and Muslims. In europe there is a growing tendency to have bad jokes about Jews and to point the finger as if they would be part of the present problems.
Vile comments made by elected officials (including in the US, UK and Iran) attacking Jews and basic Jewish human rights in those two remaining outposts – and defended by senior politicians – rises to the level of attempted genocide of the Jewish people. {FirstOneThrough}
We cannot stay silent and should speak up. We also should show non-Jews that there are different Jewish communities with different lifestyles. But also Jews could come to see that in Christendom and in Islam there are very different groups with totally different ideas. Not all those different groups have a grudge against the other. There are enough religious and non-religious groups who are willing to live together in symbioses. Best way not to make people so afraid they find it better to leave the country is making sure they all feel welcome and can trust each other.
It is up to the governement to make sure that those people who are a danger for democracy are disciplined.
In Belgium the politicians and the police should also show they are taking certain matters seriously and should further protect all of the Jewish community. But also in the Jewish community Jews should make work of it to communicate better with each other and to accept the different sorts of Jews in this country.
Also let us think about why there are now 17 countries with over 25,000 Jews which is half of the total that existed when Israel was founded in 1948.
A Catholic bishop granting plenary indulgences for the public during times of calamity. Note the almsgiving in the background. Wall Fresco by Italian Artist Lorenzo Lotto, Suardi, Italy, circa 1524.
The Pope not pleased with those lay preachers who could undermine his establishment got enough clergy interested to battle those who had other thoughts than they. He established the “Holy Inquisition Against Depraved Heresy” to deal with breakaway ‘Christian sects’. At first it was a judicial procedure set to be able to judge all sorts of people who did not want to go with the Roman Catholic Church. But later an institution was established by the papacy and, sometimes, by secular governments to combat heresy and to act like we now see Al Qaeda, ISIS/ISIL or Daesh, Boko Haram and other fundamentalistIslamic groups to press what they believe would be the only true faith everybody had to have.
First being relatively powerless, as secular rulers, suspicious of Papal meddling in their own internal affairs, did not allow it access to their countries, in a period of more than 200 years, very few heretics were burned at the stake. In 1481, at the peak of the Ottoman power, however, after extracting a promise from the Pope that the Inquisition would remain under the Crown’s control, thus ensuring that confiscated assets of heretics would revert to the throne, Ferdinand and Isabella established the Inquisition in Seville (Reconquista). While it is commonly assumed that the Inquisition was brought to Spain out of a concern that Jews were trying to influence conversos to leave the Christian fold, one prominent historian is of the opinion that by 1481 Jewish consciousness was virtually nonexistent among the conversos, and that Jews did not attempt any such outreach. Rather, he believes, the Inquisition was an outgrowth of the attitudes of Spain’s Old Christian population. In the words of one Spanish historian,
“The Inquisition was a genuine expression of the soul of the Spanish people.”
When we hear about the Inquisition we most often do not think of the Jews, with good reason, because most damage was done to sincere godly people who had taken Jesus as the son of God and their saviour and not as their god. Though the horrible action taken by the Roman Catholics, undertaken in the twelfth century and following centuries to find “Christian heretics” who would be punished or killed, had her eyes also set on the Jewish community. Eventually, Jews too were open to such charges of heresy, simply for being Jewish; and torture was routinely used to extract “confessions.”
These coming weeks we also remember how this coming up time to Pesach was a very dangerous time for Jews, because they could be caught cleaning their houses and linen and buying vegetables before Pesach, blessing children without making the sign of the cross, fasting on Yom Kippur, and refraining from work on the Sabbath.
Interestingly enough, Jews who never converted to Christianity were not under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, and could practice their religion freely and openly. It was only conversos who were considered heretics for forsaking the Christian creed and practising Judaism. Worse for the Catholic Church was that some of those converts did not become a Catholic but accepted rabbi Jeshua as the Messiah, the son of God but not a god son, like the Roman Catholics did. Those having gone in the water to become a Baptist, became with that group a target for prosecution, according to the Roman Catholics being a dangerous ‘cult’ and with other protestants to be removed from this earth.
Marranos: Secret Seder in Spain during the times of inquisition, an 1892 painting by Moshe Maimon
Mainly because of persecution, Muslims and Jews in Spain at that time found it socially, politically, and economically expedient to convert to Catholicism, but where not really practising that faith and at home kept their ow practice of faith. In 1481 the Inquisition began to function in Spain to expose the secret Jews, known as the Anusim (who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will) or Marranos, who converted to the Christian faith to escape persecution but who continued to practice Judaism secretly, but over the years spread to many countries. The Spanish Inquisition was anti-Jewish more than in any previous countries. The first public sentencing and burning alive of six marrano men and one woman by the Spanish Inquisition was held on this date in Sevilla in Southern Spain.
All sorts of torture where good for the unsparing cruel fanatics, of which many also set their eyes on the Jews and certain Christian groups or monasteries their assets.
Differently with the present day inquisition groups of Islam the Roman Catholic Church did not want to spill blood, but only “save souls”. For not having their clergy to become accused for having blood on their hands they made use of civilians and secular authorities for the many executions, whereby they found it was best to use bloodless deaths, such as strangling and burning alive.
For ISIS the colour today is orange, but at that time the condemned people wore yellow sanbenitos, cloaks, with red crosses and the letter X painted on them. Those given the death penalty wore tunics with paintings of flames and devils. The procession marched through the town to the burning area where the judges sat. The cases involving lesser penalties were judged first, then those receiving strangulation before burning, and finally those condemned to be burned alive.
The first auto-de-fe was held in 1481, and the last in 1731, an old woman who was accused of
“being influenced by the Devil, after which she laid eggs with prophecies written on them.”
Tomás de Torquemada (Thomas of Torquemada) Castilian Dominican friar, and the first Grand Inquisitor in Spain’s movement to homogenize religious practices with those of the Catholic Church in the late 15th century, otherwise known as “The Spanish Inquisition.” (Wikipedia)
In 1483, Queen Isabella’s personal confessor, the Dominican priest Tomas de Torquemada, was appointed head of the Inquisition. Of converso origin, Torquemada was a fanatic Jew-hater who was wholly incorruptible. He was convinced that only the total expulsion of the Jews from Spain could end Jewish influence in the national life.
Torquemada did not cut the grass from under the Jews’ feet and quickly began taking steps to weaken the unconverted Jewish community and eventually expel it from Spain. In 1485, he forced all rabbis, under pain of death, to report conversos who were practising Judaism, and to pronounce a rabbinic curse on any Jew who failed to notify the Inquisition of such behaviour. This cruel edict badly split the Jews of Spain. Alarmed by the greatly increasing power of the Inquisition, that year a group of conversos plotted to kill the inquisitor of Saragossa, Pedro de Arbues, hoping to begin a popular uprising against the Inquisition. However, the assassination had the opposite effect. The townspeople were enraged, rampaging through the streets, killing many conversos. All the conspirators were caught and executed, and the Inquisition grew even stronger.
Purity of faith became the national policy of the Catholic sovereigns, and thus came about the final tragedy, the edict of expulsion of all the Jews from Spain on March 31, 1492. Portugal promulgated an edict of expulsion in 1497 and Navarre in 1498. It was under de Torquemada his guidance that the Inquisition became such a terrifying institution, amassing enormous assets confiscated from its victims, much of it used to finance the war to conquer the last Muslim stronghold of Granada.
In 1680, the most spectacular of all autos-de-fe was held to celebrate the wedding of King Carlos and his bride. At that time, the Inquisition spread to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New and Old Worlds, with victims burned in Havana, Cuba; Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Goa, India. After 350 years, the Inquisition was finally abolished in 1834, the year the Liberal Wars ended in Portugal and pro-republic uprising fails in Piedmont. In all, more than 400,000 people were accused of heresy, with 30,000 of those put to death.
Each day million articles are published, looking to find a reading eye. Every day thousands of new articles appear on WordPress. In 2016 one hundred seventeen billion nine hundred thirteen million one hundred forty-eight thousand three hundred fifty seven words got published on WordPress. {Automattic WordPress year-in-review-2016}
2016 in view
The year that David Bowie and Prince passed away, like several very well known figures of the arts world, it looked like some people who made it in their life did not want to stay here any longer. It was also the year of lots of terrorism and political correctness, where those who are different than the mainstream (disabled, transgender, refugees, extreme religious and non religious groups, jihad fighters,) got lots of attention.
In the United States of AmericaObama Care which at last had become a reality came back under threat. North America saw in Boston in November, the Disability Policy Consortium accepted proposals and held a Disability Intersectionality Summit. Presentations included topics on the intersections of being undocumented, being LGBTQ+, being a person of colour, having mental health disabilities, on #DisabilityTooWhite – the hashtag and movement around the the disability community’s failure to represent racially diverse voices – and more. Lots of things came on the American roller-coaster, having Michiganbanned non-emergency restraint and seclusion for disabled students and Georgia’s governor speaking in favour of Employment First policies for disabled people in Georgia.
Route of the attacker from west to east at the Promenade des Anglais, Nice
With the 15th anniversary of 9/11 the jihadi‘s made sure they would not be forgotten; ISIS/ISIL and BokoHaram being the new strongholders. In Europe the fear took so many people that politicians saw the opportunity to fuel the extreme right and come with absurd laws, like banning burkini‘s. All the fearmongering having fueled by the March 22 suicide bombings at Brussel’s Zaventemairport and Maelbeekmetro station, leaving around 35 victims dead and 360 seriously injured, ISIS claiming responsibility.
America also got its portion of ISIS-madness with a gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State opens fire at gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49, injuring 53 – one of the bigger mass shootings in the U.S.A.. September 17 a terror bomb in Chelsea, New York injured 29 people. Lots of Americans got so frightened of Muslim people, looking at them if they all would be terrorist, though they under their own white Christian population had more victims by weapon violence this year than by terrorism. Several times the world could see how racism is still a big problem in the States and how police can not keep themselves in control when arresting black people. (African AmericanAlton Sterling shot by Louisiana police in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile shot by police in St Paul Black on July 6; American Keith Lamont Scott September 20)
The Islamic militants for sure where very active all over the world. Some events called for more attention worldwide, having foreigners also under the victims or by being considered the country’s worse terror attack for the year, like at a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where a fighter killed 20 hostages and 2 police on July 1. The next day (July 2) a large lorry bomb in Baghdad killing at least 125 people and wounding 150, Islamic State claiming once more responsibility. On December 11 a bombing at a chapel in Cairo, Egypt, killed 25 and wounded 45. December 19 again a truck was used to kill many people, like in Nice on the 14th of July now the target was a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12, injuring 48.
Aftermath of the 2016 Berlin attack
In the States of America on January 17 the Fourth Democratic presidential candidates debate showed how Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over healthcare and gun control in Charleston, South Carolina, and gave us an idea that though perhaps the best candidate of all Bernie Sanders would not going to make it to president elect. Two days later Sarah Palin officially endorsed Donald Trump‘s presidential bid at a Trump rally in Ames, Iowa. What nobody thought possible occurred when this man made it to the preselections, then to the selection to finally become what nobody would ever dreamed possible, him becoming president elect. November 8 Republican Donald Trump became elected President of The United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton despite Clinton winning 2.9 million more votes. Europe fell on its back for the second time, the first one having been the vote for the Brexit (June 23), who nobody had thought would come through. These two unexpected events show clearly how careful we must be when we think it not necessary to spend time on such personalities and situations.
Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
For that reason we should much more react on what is going on on ecological level. The ParisAgreement on climate change signed in New York (on April 22) binding 195 nations to an increase in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C is only the beginning of a long road to run. Global warming is not only blamed the cause of many people having to flee for the rising water-level. On August 1 there was an anthrax outbreak in the Russian districtYamalo-Nenets, Siberia killing one and infecting 8 others, also killing 2,300 reindeer. Indian government declared levels of air pollution in Delhi an emergency situation, closing schools and construction sites on November 6.
Though 2016 seemed to be the year that people where more concerned about the whereabouts and the look of their friends on Facebook and Twitter. Social media being the major interest gainer of the year. Most people more concerned about their outfit, fashion, style and strangely enough books and films again.
Astronaut Scott Kelly
Lots of people running with their heads in the skies did not notice that US astronauts Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to earth, on March the 2nd, after nearly a year (340 days), setting an ISS record. For the earthly matters it became time that the U.S.A. did something positive to restore the relations between them and Cuba. March 20Barack Obama became the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a 2 day tour.
The ‘Big Joke of the year’ (in April) was to see how many politicians who said something had to be done against fraud and how people had to pay honestly their taxes, their names could be found on the 11.5 million confidential documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca , the Panama Papers exposing widespread illegal activities including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion and the violation of international sanctions by the world’s elite in the world’s largest ever data leak.
On April 11 UN-backed ceasefire came into effect in Yemen conflict between Iranian-backed Houthis rebels and government forces.
June 7 with a car bomb attack on a police bus in central Istanbul killing 11 was just a beginning of a whole series of bombings in Turkey of which there is no clarity if they are orchestrated by some political forces to have Erdogan in an even stronger dictatorial position. June 28 presented again a suicide bombings and gun attacks, at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport killing 42 and wounding more than 200. We have no idea if the coup d’etat was something set up by Erdogan himself. It gave him way to hold a big clean up and to get rid of all those who stood in his way.
In Colombia more than 50 years of conflict came in its last stadium, the governement and Farc rebels signing a ceasefire agreement on June the 23rd, followed by many talks to have the rebels not being sued.
Of the 595,795,035 posts written on WordPresswe only presented a mere 358 articles, hoping our humble little site could catch some interest by the many people who are scanning the worldwide internet for something interesting to read. From our tiny country not having any funds, not having serious backing and not able to afford much money on writers, designers or even having our own publishing space, just using the private limited funds of the editor and responsible publisher Mr. Marcus Ampe, we sincerely try to find some interesting literature on the net and present it to our readers and visitors. Because not having much GBites we are limited in re-blogging because pictorial content eats our internet data space, but when a must read is found with lots of photos we still do hope to be able to discuss it or to present it in one of our articles.
Stats on Cross-ideological Blogging (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We must confess that we did not catch many readers for the many work-hours we invest searching for additional and further reading material. Luckily this was the first year we did not very angry letters of people being onerous that we included their article in the listing. In 2016 for the first time we even got a letter thanking us for having brought 1000 readers to someone’s site. Though we put a lot of work in creating all the links in the articles and in the accompanying list of interesting articles, to our sense or liking not enough people make use of those links and referential titles. For that reason from now on we shall perhaps start putting less url-backgroundlinks to words or tags, but still shall continue to try to offer you a list of noteworthy article by other bloggers.
It is a pity we only could find 7 782 views of only 4 827 visitors coming along.
Officially opened to the public on 2014/03/2 we got 1 847 visitors the first year and 2 764 visitors in 2015, so we may be satisfied it is a line going upwards. Though published from Belgium in the European Union, our ‘home-country’ only delivered 269 views. The United States being at the top with giving us 3745 views, followed by the United Kingdom delivering 852 views and our northern neighbours the Netherlands offering us 532 views may encourage us to continue.
The home page caught 2 118 views, followed by 349 for the About page. Of the articles “Religious celebrations in May 2016” got the most views (only 103) and got only 4 likes.
U.S. advertisement for the 11th edition from the May 1913 issue of National Geographic Magazine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The most used search terms were ‘hoopvolle slogans’ and ‘bezinningsteksten zelfkritiek’ with each 3 hits.
We ourselves brought 110 readers to our other site “Our World” and for for other sources Wikipedia got 56 readers from us, whilst the Collins dictionary got 21 and the very good Encyclopaedia Britannica only 18 views. Abortion and crime rates by wordlifeandlight managed to get 6 views from us and Lizaborstlap received also 6 visitors, as far as we can see from our statistics.
This last person who has always been a person with a to-do list is also one of the people who wanted to share some writing on this platform. But there were many days when she became a slave to her lists and she had to face that things don’t always happen as planned and that she would feel like a failure if she wasn’t able to cross out all the tasks that she allocated to a specific day.{a goal should scare you a little and excite you a Lot!}
She may perhaps had to become, like us, more specific and to be realistic in what she can (and can’t) achieve in one day; but we did want to reach so much and sometimes got frustrated not seeing our accomplishment for the day.
We are still looking for authors who would not mind to write about lifestyle, interior design, fashion, cooking, family life, gardening, nature and ecological matters and some persons who would not mind tackling the history and people who would love to write about education and health. There are so many subjects not covered yet by people who can tell more about it than we can.
From the end of 2016 onwards we added two viewpoints, namely two comparators, on one site the Muslim world and on the other site the Judaic world and traditions.
We do know that certain subjects are not tackled here. Marcus Ampe would love to find some one talking about family matters, family life being one of the cornerstones of our society. To his regret he must also establish that in 2016 not enough regard was given to ecological matters. Man having to live in surroundings which are too polluted and which are filled with buildings and cars, but not given the freedom to have enough green to bring enlightenment and fresh air to people. It is really getting time that more people warn others about us, man, to take care of mother earth, before it is too late.
Whilst on WordPress in general 112 million posts were liked, we did not have many likes. 8 billion e-mails were send on WordPress, but in those there are not counted the very many e-mails we got in our own e-mail box, instead of reacting on the blog articles themselves. This is a pity, because other readers can not read the reactions and oh so often we have to reply to very similar questions, which is more time consuming than having a reply which can be read by thousands on the internet.
For 2017 may we hope that if there are even more articles written on the internet than the 595,795,035 posted on WordPress in 2016 and the huge amount of comments, making it up to 457,596,906 comments on WordPress, you shall be able to find some very interesting articles and comments here too.
Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 2016 we saw that it is possible that those with the biggest mouth and do not mind trampling over many can get their cause. 2016 may have been a disastrous year on several issues and lots of important issues where not even mentioned or got not the right attention. For this new year we love to repeat our call to get more people daring to come out for the poor and the maltreated. We also once more want to ask people to wake up the majority of the population who still keeps their eyes closed for what is really going on in this world. There is a need of more people who are willing to stand up to preserve and encourage the progress of humanity while resisting the forces that threaten to turn it backwards.
We have to be very cautious for what certain people try to do with their nation but also with the world. As citizen we should be aware that politicians are nothing without their people and that folks if they really want can be much stronger than those politicians, who dare to look away from the citizen who needs help and encouragement. Those who call themselves Christian should be there to give a hand to all that need help, not forgetting nature, plants and animals who do not have a voice. therefore we do hope to find more blogs tackling their problem, and would love to have an author on ecology writing for us from this year onwards.
Without you reader we are nothing and can do nothing. We thank you for being here with us and for the followers we are grateful and do hope we can please you with a varied menu.
Marcus Ampe when looking over the happenings of 2016 told his public that when we should have to choose a colour for 2016 it probably would be ‘black’. Even the darkest black colour you might find.
Certainly here in Belgium and neighbouring countries we have seen many black moments caused by people living very close to us. Hundreds of people who lived in cities like Brussels (Molenbeek district), Verviers, Charleroi, Mons, just to name some of the most mentioned living quarters of those who killed many in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and further away many cities in Syria. A so called liberation of human race was on their lips by causing so much agony in name for their sort of Islam which has nothing to do with real Islam, a religion which has ‘salam‘ or ‘peace‘ in its name.
2016 may have been the year where Bad came over Good and brought with it Hate over Love. Though many still may believe in
When we look around us it seems just the opposite. Those who do not mind to swindle and do whatever they can to make themself rich without taking care of others, seem to win. Marcus Ampe warns us for the political scene which is changing drastically almost everywhere in the world, not for the good. He warns for the populism which is going over Europe and the United States as a virus. As a Christadelphian he likes to look at what is prophesied in the Bible and by looking at that sacred book is not at all surprised of what is going on. In his eyes we can follow the notated signs of those old writings and see that we are heading to a third World War, though it may still many years before us. He likes to compare the last few years with the 1920ies and showed us also how the present days are very much related to the 1930ies, which should sincerely worry us.
He does not speak of an apocalyptic change like certain Christians may do, but likes to warn us to prepare ourselves and our kids for the coming period where very right wing politicians may gain lots of votes and even come into power.
it is happening in every corner of this world. People around the world are bringing this change by their votes, by their say, and by their actions. Be it Brexit or current US election, or stimulated political environment in my home country India. This change is too much. Too much for us to handle and accept, and to adapt to. {When it looks like hate is winning}
Is that not the danger we shall have to face in the coming months?
Are not many politicians going to make use of and are going to instigate people against others and nourish the fear many already have?
For Mrs. Chauhan Singh the present President elect in the States was
not elected against a virtuous leader. It was not the fight between good vs evil. It was just bad and worse fighting with each other. You guess which is worse and which is bad. But, it was never a winning situation for USA, no matter who would have won. {When it looks like hate is winning}
speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I do not know why Clinton would have been so bad, because honestly her stupidity about the e-mails was not really a criminal act, like so many Americans would like us to believe. If they consider such stupidity already a crime or sin than the many frauds and bankruptcies of Donald Trump which many Americans never seemed to have remembered or noticed, would be “cardinal sins and death penalty crimes”
We also may notice that many people seem to have some nostalgia to some times they had it better, though at those times they ware hoping for better times and for having more material richness. But as we could know beforehand all those modern gadgets they can have today are not making them more happy. The opposite today lots of people are more lonely and feeling poverty more harsh than years ago, though we may see less poverty stricken people. Less tramps on the streets.
With a smiling or is it a sarcastic face Mr. Ampe may tell us that many people would love to go back to a time they are imaging there was, but which has never been so. Mrs. Chauhan Singh alsy pointing to the same fact
With this election, Americans have spoken very clearly that they want to bring back ‘good old days’. Doesn’t matter if those good old days are going to be good for rest of us or not. They want to go back. They want someone with traditional values, traditional promises. Although seeing the lifestyle of elect president I hardly think he is an epitome of traditionalism. {When it looks like hate is winning}
Mr Ampe analysed some body language of Mr. Trump and showed us how clever that man must be playing with his public. This cleverness should make us even be more alert. He also compare certain tactics with the way how Erdogan managed to come in his dictatorial position today. How he was patient enough to go from mayor of Istanbul, even having spent some years in prison after his mayorship to come stronger and more radicalised out of it, imposing the traditional Muslim values and going in against the civil state of the old creator of a dream state Turkey.
We shall have to wait and see to know how Donald Trump is going to use his power and how Marine Le Pen is going to drive her wedge through France which seem to be the under the spell ofMuslim extremism and Islam fear.
Mr Ampe, like Mrs. Chauhan Singh seems to do also says we may not loose hope and contrary to how lots of people are concentrating on their own self, we should look more to others and try to come up for the weaker ones.
Mrs. Chauhan Singh writes
Losing hope is never an option. If we are given this result, we must be hopeful that there must be something good coming out of it. Give him a chance. He has already shocked all of us; he may surprise us too. Do not lose hope. Instead hope for him to change his ways, his words, and his actions, for the betterment of this country. {When it looks like hate is winning}
One of Mr. Ampe his main teachings, also as a retired teacher of ballet history, is that we should learn from history and that we should make others aware of possible traps lots of people in the past did not notice but became victim of. According to him by knowing the past we can avoid the same mistakes, which have been repeated so many times, because people did not know their history.
We always shall look at things and would love to see things changed. Man is not easy satisfied.
One also can wonder when our world evolves if/ when and how many people would be ready for such changes, and if they are for the better or for the worse. In most cases lots of people are just not ready for the changes taking place.
One might also ask whether we shall be able to find enough people who shall be really wanting to pursue peace. To find enough people who really want to “raise awareness that peace in itself,” and willing to take steps with which to motivate others to go that track of peace making is something we should go for. Too many may be very confused and may not be sure which dreams might be the best for them. Though according to Mr. Ampe we should come to work together towards mutual peace and to the broadcasting of hope and positive thoughts, trying to take away the confusion there is today and putting right the wrong ideas about some people, religions and ways of life. He believes the change must come from each of us and that we are responsible for the evolution of the day. According to him, we ourselves are to convey the message and have even to adopt a certain attitude and should form a shining example. According to him, there also should be peace as a base in our own daily lives.
This peace will also make the connection with the other and this will be like a snowball effect to be implemented on this world.
Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks Belgian authorities knew as early as 2012 that terrorists linked to the bloodshed in Paris were plotting attacks in the West. But little was done to disrupt the build-up of a network that subsequently became a cornerstone …
ISIS Launches Coordinated Attacks in Brussels Airport and Subway Early reports from Brussels are that two coordinated attacks have taken place with the first being at the Brussels Airport Departure Terminal and the second within the Brussels Subway system.
J’accuse ! L’attentat que les services craignaient Avec colère suite aux événements de ce matin, j’accuse la Belgique d’avoir été attentiste depuis des années et de n’avoir jamais donné les moyens aux services de Renseignement de faire leur travail professionnellement pour tenter de prévenir ce genre d’attaques.
… Outraged about the events of this morning in Brussels, I accuse Belgium of having endorsed a “wait-and-see” policy for years and having never giving to the intelligence services the means to do their job professionally to try and avoid this kind of attack. …
Terror attacks in Brussels kill at least 34, story developing Terrorist bombings at a subway station in Maalbeek and at Zaventem Airport have killed at least 34 people and injured another 170. Two bombs, at least one of which is believed to have been a suicide bombing, struck the …
Bombing in Brussels! Today, once again, Islamic terrorists have attacked the west. This morning, Brussels became the latest city to come under attack with a bomb detonating on a metro train …
Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan
Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan …
Het raadsel, Salah Abdeslam Op 13 november vorig jaar reed hij zijn vrienden naar de Parijse plekken om toe te slaan. Dood en verderf te zaaien, angst aan te jagen, het leven te vernietigen dat hij met hart en ziel haatte.
The Religion of Peace Strikes Again This morning we awoke to the news of a deadly terrorist attack in Brussels. Isis claimed responsibility for the bombings at the airport and the Metro station.
Why Belgium? ISIS has claimed responsibility for separate explosions in Brussel’s Zaventem airport and a central metro station that killed 34 and wounded over 200.
Links for 16/12/16 Black-White Earnings Gap Remains at 1950s Levels for Median Worker Donald Trump Should Know: This Is What Climate Change Costs Us How data maps are transforming the fight against malaria in Zambia South
What is Populism? Populism. It is everywhere in the news right now and it is one of those words that have so many vague meanings and yet describes itself so well. Populism is simply the revolt of the people against the political
Times of Uncertainty: The Rise of Far-Right Populism Uncertain times lie ahead. People have had their fill of neoliberalism and they’re looking for alternatives. So far, they’ve found dreadful ones. Trump was elected president of the US, Marine Le Pen
What is anti-establishment according to Donald Trump? People from Goldman Sachs, billionaires, top donors, Secretary of State from Exxon. It seems this is how the huge part of Trump’s administration will be established. What does it tell us about how Trump wanna
Policy corruption, vote buying and double standards The Constitution Drafting Committee has been hard at work hamstringing political parties to prevent them from ever “ruling.” Apart from simply being anti-Thaksin Shinawatra, the law is based on beliefs …
Why Did Trump’s Anticorruption Rhetoric Resonate? Three Hypotheses OK, I know I said in last week’s post that I would eventually get back to blogging about topics other than Trump, but not yet. After all, Trump’s election—a political and moral crisis on so many dimensions—
The SNP is not like horror-show euro-populism. Mercifully. THE liberal Left hasn’t had much to celebrate recently, what with Brexit, Donald Trump and the rise of the alt-right. So there was understandable jubilation over the defeat of the far-right candidate …
On Populism It was Lord Acton who said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But as citizens of a country and a nation, we have civic duties such as addressing corruption in government and empowering
Are France Next to Join the Nationalist Narrative? Last week saw Italy become part of the nationalist narrative in Europe after changes to their constitution were rejected. As a result the country’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi,
They Are All Populists ”Populism” is a loaded word and it is a rather strange one. It is used to express disapproval of certain forms of political activity, but unlike other such negative terms its basic reference would seem quite positive.
In the world lovers of the Only OneTrue God also could say As-Salam-u-Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (“Peace be unto you and so may the mercy of Allah and his blessings”).
Though we find angry people who say the are true lovers of Allah, and followers of the prophet Muhammad, they do not mind to go in against the ideas of that prophet and the prescriptions of the holy book he presented to mankind.
The world should recognise the difference of those terrorists who even do not mind to bomb sacred places, burn Qurans, rape and kill children and young women.
Though they often shout “La il laha il Allah, Muhammad a rasool Allah.” (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) they often take on an attitude that they are the (new) messengers of God to whom the whole world has to listen.
They themselves may say with conviction “Bismika Allahumma amutu wa ahyaa” (oh Allah in your name I live and die) and enjoy taking the lives of others, they clearly have forgotten that it only belongs to Allah ta ala (Allah The most high), the Most High God of gods, to give and take life. Human beings should leave it to God to judge others and to decide over their life.
Already too many faithful Muslims lost their lives by the aggressive terrorist acts of those criminals, of whom many spend more time in the battlefields, prison, or ungodly places than in the mosque or reading the Quran.
Best the Muslim community shows the world where those terrorist go wrong and why they are not real faithful Muslims. Only by coming out showing the world what a real Muslim has to believe and to do and what he or she may not do, other religious and non-religious can come to see this Daesh or ISIS matter has nothing to do with religion, but all with power and expansion drift.
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Ramadan coming to an end the British Nazrin Miah, who is proud of her South Asian pillars, looks at all lives that matter. She has full faith in her God.
My faith has allowed me to believe that whatever is willed for me is already written, and there is very little I can do about it. If I didn’t get what I wanted from one experience then there is a better plan for me. I am convinced that I will be taken on a journey that is more rewarding than the experiences I missed out on. {Are Second Chances Worth It?}
Though “Change evokes fear” for her and makes her feel vulnerable, she will notice that she shall have to conquer change though they make her feel lost.
The sense of having no control over a situation due to its change puts me at great unease. I like knowing what is going to happen, I like predicting the end of a circumstance, and most of the time being right about it. But change isn’t just black and white, its grey. There never is a right or wrong time for change to happen, it doesn’t wait for my invitation as I’d like it to. It’s evitable, and the more I want to take the reins of my life into my hands, I’m faced with more change. {I hate change}
Our world needs lots of changes and weary citizens shall have to help to bring those changes to a good end.
Dear readers, for those who are new, we like to repeat our aims and about the idea behind our sharing.
Sharing Writings and linking
This website wants to bring an overview of interesting articles which were published on the worldwide internet and present some additional views on how we could come to a better world. Up until now we also wanted to bring additional literature in sight of our readers. For that reason we have, up until a few days ago, included several links into the articles, which opened automatically in a new window. But somehow WordPress changed the way to include url links and made it more difficult or time consuming, not allowing the enclosure feature to remember the previous used url codes and having each link to be separately indicated to open in a new window, instead of remembering it for all links on that page. This means we always have to look again for certain links and have to do much more work to include them. This makes writing our articles even more time consuming. For that reason we regret from a few days ago we did not include so many links any more and from today onwards you shall have to chose how to open the link. Until we do not find a solution to keep the fill in for the links remembering what we filled in previously, we shall have to limit such linking to tags and other articles than those of the particular website (in this instance From Guestwriter).
Secondly, we also received regularly complaints from people that we linked to their website or article and had to undo such links or write a letter first explaining why we included that link and asking what they wanted we did with it. Though most agreed then to have the link staying on the article, we had lost lots of energy writing back and controlling everything.
For that reason we are going to refer less to outside articles, but still use Zemanta for presenting some articles, but this time we are going to choose more those sites we do know and for other sites we are not always going to read them all, before placing the Zemanta link, and will withdraw them directly when a complaint or request for “why linking” is presented to us. (Simple as that.)
Now you know also why one or an other site shall be linked to more than others. Those who would also liked to be linked to, can always ask us to examine their website and to follow their writings, so that we can may have a choice out of their articles as well.
Authors sharing their writings
Concerning the writers on this platform, we still wait for more writers willing to share their ideas. Many who we have contacted wanted money to write or to help this site evolve.
We are very limited in funds and as such can not pay our staff. We also believe not everything has to be arranged by money. A money-free future is perhaps not possible, but lots of things could and should be done without money in the back of the head.
We still can do with people writing about the history of way of living, to show us how our lifestyle changed by the years of technological evolution. We also would love to find an author who want to talk about nature and show the world the beauty of it and/or can let our readers now what is important to look at at a certain moment in the year. (Parks to visit, special exhibitions, etc.)
A political and economical analyst is also welcome.
Because of our interest how human beings should try to make the best out of living with each other, we also could use some more writers who talk about keeping the family healthy, spiritually and health wise. Talks about marriage, brining up children are more than welcome.
Not everything for money
All That Money Wants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We are convinced there are many benefits for not having everything in return for money. Most reasonable people will have no trouble accepting a money-free where people want to share with each other out of brotherly love. That will give better quality of life for all, less inequality, poverty, crime, greed, corruption, pollution and waste; greater health, education, trust, respect, awareness, sustainability, community values, technological advances, etc. Most people want these things, but are they convinced of the feasibility. How is a moneyless society possible?
I am convinced that there is a misconception about the need of money.
Imagining a world without money usually raises the following objections immediately, each of which is linked to a particular lifelong held belief (in brackets):
1. You need to have exchange (You can’t get something for nothing) 2. No-one would do anything (money motivates people) 3. People would take advantage (greed is human nature) 4. I will lose everything I have (fear of loss, ownership) 5. Chaos and violence would ensue (society requires control) 6. Society would stagnate or regress (markets fuel progress)
The good news is that all of these objections can be overturned quite easily using just plain common sense and basic observations.
Something for something or nothing for something
I do agree that most people want something for something else. For generations we people are brought up with that idea. Even worse, often people consider somebody not right in his head when he just wants to do something, not requiring anything in the place. Naturally we all need something to eat and we need a roof above our head, whilst we can not all have the same skill. Not everybody has enough competence to do the things he need. So we often are for many things dependent on others.
I am a believer in the Divine Creator and I am convinced He created all beings in His image and with the idea that all creatures are there for some good reason and to complement each other. Rabbi Jeshua, better known today as Jesus, reminded his listeners to look at the birds who have no money but manage to have their food and everything they need to live.
The master teacher and the prophets of God asked the people to look at nature where we can see what man came to call “symbiosys“. Everywhere in the creation of the Most High where man did not interfere there is balance. We can see that in nature two species benefit each other (the bee taking nectar while helping the plant to pollinate is the most obvious example), but there is no intentional transaction taking place. Both species are ignorant of the desires of the other. Some look at it as purely an accident of evolution that has caused both species to survive and flourish. In nature we can find many plants or animals which make use of each other, but not really demanding a return as such, and most of all not being repaid by something we can compare with money. We invented that idea of intentional exchanges as an essential ingredient to life or to community, to cope with scarcity in more primitive times, and with more complex needs.
Motivation by money not the best motivation
Serious Money (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The money / value system that we humans operate in has its origins in more primitive times, but which has now made us hell-bent on keeping score and accounting for everything in a numerical sense, and at the expense of common sense and sustainability. It is true that people are motivated by money, and that the communist system failed because of people being too egocentric and not willing to work together for a communal idea, building up a society where everybody could live on the same terms and being considered of equal value. We love to have a hierarchical system and I do agree somebody who is just lazy and does not want to co-operate in the system can not have the same advantages as somebody who works hard.
But like in nature those animals not having money, we as humans also do not nervelessly need a currency to provide payment, which proved not always to bring that luck hoped for.
We all have look at “Money” as a handy tool or a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. In industrialized nations, portion of the national money supply, consisting of bank notes and government-issued paper money and coins, provides a value or currency. Everybody expects everything to be “prized” and expresses the value of things in currencies or in money. In the so called “third world” or among less developed societies, we can see that currency encompasses a wide diversity of items (e.g., livestock, stone carvings, tobacco) used as exchange media as well as signs of value or wealth.
Human motivators Better values
We should come to see and understand that there are much better values than money. Think about the many other human motivators:
the desire to love and be loved, to meet people, to have children, to help others, to improve ourselves and our surroundings, to look good, to feel good, to learn, to challenge ourselves, to express ourselves, to innovate, to demonstrate our skills, etc.
Every person alive is motivated by these desires to some degree. Because, after survival, these desires are what give our lives value and meaning.
Nature doesn’t keep score and why should we put everything in figures and balance it out to get even? Do you find it normal that people would seek exchange in their families or in their circles of friends? So why do we seek exchange in others? Among our loved ones, loving people shall tend to help each other out when they can and no-one will keep score.
Permitting exchanges between people having prices
Trying to get everything for yourself is not a natural instinct but a created attitude which can be transformed back to the innocent position we have a s a toddler. At the beginning of life the human being only asks and takes what it needs. Greed is not a basic element of human nature – it is even a deformed desire to stockpile something what the person may consider scarce and which he need to live, or a wrong attitude having come into the personality by the envy looking at others and comparing to others.
Like a squirrel collecting nuts, some may find greed makes good sense – because we don’t know what the future will bring. In a monetary world, the greatest scarcity is money itself, so it makes sense to accumulate it, and, since there is no upper limit to the money and property you can have, there’s no reason to stop accumulating it.
Map of the global distribution of economic and physical water scarcity as of 2006
Price systems may be considered the result of scarcity but for the first time in history, we have the technology to eradicate scarcity (or paucity) and to create an abundance of necessities for all humans on Earth with minimal physical effort. Primarily by coordinating the decisions of consumers, producers, and owners of productive resources people have taken refuge with their monetary system. Prices have become an acceptable expression of the consensus on the values of different things, and every society that permits exchanges between people has prices. Because prices are expressed in terms of a widely acceptable commodity, they permit a ready comparison of the comparative values of various commodities.
Machines to do the work of man
Normally we have enough technology to make work light for man. For lots of jobs the machines could do the work for man. What is going wrong today is that certain people, who do not do much work, can earn more than 300% than those who do the dirty work. And that is too much inequality. Such a difference should not exist. This way not having people being rightly paid according to what they do or which responsibility they take at a reasonable reward, prevents a nice way of living for everybody, as it intrinsically requires scarcity to perpetuate itself.
Ownership
Throughout history mankind has tried out several systems which all failed in a certain way. I as a Christian am convinced no human system can bring the right solution, but until the return of the Messiah we have to find ways to make life as smooth as possible and to have the creation in balance, not demanding too much of nature and not destroying so many things around us, which we have in loan and do not own. And there is the difficulty of it all, too many people think they “Own” and want to possess more. It is their fear of loosing what they “own” which makes them behave this way and often makes them blind for the way others (other humans, animals and plants) have to live.
The whole notion of ownership should be revised altogether.
We all need privacy and a certain amount of exclusivity, right?
Who wants to share their toothbrush, or have strangers walking around their home, for example?
Our normalised belief tells us that we define who uses what through something called ‘ownership’. Our laws define and protect ownership, with the threat of punishment to those who disobey (ie. stealing).
But where does this concept of ownership came from in the first place? Did we own nothing before someone wrote the law?
Given in loan
We think we own something and that the earth is ours. Believers in God do know that it is a gift from the Divine Creator and that we have received this earth in loan. It is not ours, it is God’s.
Growing up we make things our own. We create our personality. Growing up we collect certain things we consider our own. But we should know that once we die, the breath of life goes out of us, and we shall be nothing any-more with those treasures we collected. We can’t take those treasures with us in our grave, to an other life. It shall be of no purpose in our death. We shall just decay and become dust like many of those goods also shall become dust.
The point is that most things in the community belonged to no-one. Whatever items within the community that were not morally or logically entitled to anyone were used and shared by all.
So without ownership, what stops people from stealing? What actually stops people from stealing from each other is that it is anti-social, disrespectful and invasive, and people who do so are liable to become deeply unpopular. This social incentive for certain behaviour is far stronger than any rule could ever be, as it is dictated by how we feel about ourselves and our position in society. Yet we commonly mistake the rule of law as being the only thing that governs this behaviour.
Crimes, violence and Respect, privacy and exclusivity
Value for Money (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If we understand that respect, privacy and exclusivity are, in fact, already hard-wired into our social psyche – not dictated by external controlling forces – then we can begin to move beyond the traditional inefficient limits of ownership and with it, any fear of loss.
Throughout history we can see that it was the desire of power and the greed of certain people that brought misery to others. The last few moths I encountered many who said religion is the base of violence. When they would look closer at what really happened in history they would see that most criminal acts where done by non-religious people for political reasons and on second place or by people who used a religion as an excuse for their war of conquest. Today we see this by ISIS who present a similar war as the crusaders and do the same atrocities as the inquisitors a few centuries ago. Their killing had a duration of more than one century, whilst ISIS is only busy for a few years. Their terror is as abominable as the terror other terrorists bring. They bring fear and terror in the hope increasing their power. But most crime and violence is driven by desperation through lack of basic requirements for living, ie. theft, armed robbery, burglary, etc. and by having a low moral. Almost all other crimes can be seen as the secondary effects of poor upbringing. ie. where parents are poor, over-worked, unemployed, frustrated, depressed or disillusioned, etc. – all factors that can contribute to an unstable and unloving environment for children, who may later turn to crime as a result of low self esteem or maladjustment.
No incentive for crime
When you succeed into taking away the inequality and create a world where everyone will have free access to good food, housing, education and technology, it still won’t be perfect or eliminate all crime, but if everyone has a good quality of life and free access, then crime will have little or no incentive.
Driven by passion
In our commercialised society we are so used that everything is valued by a currency and money. The economists or entrepreneurs look at the system we are used to and cite economic incentive and competition as good for progress. Have you ever wondered with what they compared their luxurious system? Might it not be that because they start of with a false key that they come to false conclusions?
Are we really to believe that all innovators, inventors and artists will down tools the moment someone calls time on money? Obviously not, since we all know so many creative people that never achieve financial success, it shows us that they are not driven by money, but rather by their passions and desire to innovate.
Sharing people
I would love to call onto people to come to think about sharing more.
Often I do meet people who are very much afraid of a sharing system and think we can not do without money, though they themself use lots of tools without paying for them. We can find lots of people who are using Open Source Applications, which they take it for granted they can use them because everybody is using them. Often they do not see other large scale innovative projects which are becoming the optimum means of production without a monetary incentive.
Lots of people behind the screens try to invent things which can be used by others, and use themselves things others created. Lots of people do forget that many computer programs like Linux, Chrome and Android have been developed freely by enthusiasts in their spare time,. It ware those people who were willing to spend their precious free time to create something for the good of the whole community and not just for themselves or to gain lots of money. The computer industry has led the way on this, but of course, there is no reason why ‘open source thinking’ cannot be applied in agriculture, crafts, construction or education, etc.
Difficult to get people to share something which they consider of their own
The big problem we are facing today is that there has been created a generation of people who mainly think about themselves. Their ego comes on the first place and they look for gaining as much as they can for their own, often at the cost of others.
In the past the economical factor, being of wealthy parents of a having a privileged background was the creating facility for equanimity or for daring taking risks. Comfortable upbringing, access to good food and education, often provided the luxury of time – not labouring for their keep – but spending it on developing their ideas and skills instead. But we also find lots of creative minds who had no financial security, though created masterpieces.
Having money does not mean being smarter. If society can work better without money, then all potential young Einsteins and Mozarts will have the optimal opportunity to exercise and advance their talents.
If we create a society where talents are recognised and stimulated and people can receive equal opportunities, so much more can come off the ground.
Why not believing in a a moneyless future?
You can see that money does not bring that happiness many people hoped for. It is not a bad tool to be used in exchange for things, but we should not put all our hopes on it.
We should go back to the natives. We best dare to look at those living in the Amazon or other not yet by capitalism spoiled places. We too can learn from populations where money is not the key factor to order their way of living.
We should also come to understand that in our society we do have so many things we do not need or do not need any-more. Why not giving that stuff away that is filling your cupboards? If you have certain talents, why not sharing them with others and letting them also enjoy them?
In case a moneyless future seems something interesting to think about or when you like the idea, why not join “a movement of believers”?
Please have a look at the underneath brief introduction to the charter for a truly free world.
In this world, this system of things is coming closer to its end. We can see that by what is coming from the East and is entering our life.
Throughout history there always have been interesting people and human beings who wanted to be more powerful than others, even prepared to kill others to strengthen their power. We have many great men in this world and can see the governors whose laws and policies determine the welfare of millions; the would-be world-rulers, the dictators and empire-builders, who have it in their power to plunge the globe into war.
Sennacherib during his Babylonian war, relief from his palace in Nineveh
Do you suppose that it is really these men who determine which way the world shall go?
Think again; for God is greater than the world’s great men. {J.I. Packer, in his classic book entitled Knowing God}
He
“brings the princes to nothing; He makes the rulers of the earth as vanity” (Isaiah 40:23).
Pictured here is former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong announcing the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1 1949. Italiano: Immagine di Mao Tse-tung che proclama la nascita della Repubblica Popolare Cinese l’1 ottobre 1949 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We should be well aware that at the end-times the religions shall go against each other, but that those who belong to the body of Christ, the believers in one God know that the ruler of this world shall go to fight hard against those who worship the only oneTrue God, in the knowledge that their end will be near.
They may want to blind others and bring others to do lots of things which are against God’s wish. Therefore we should be very careful not to step in the booby trap, becoming overmanned by grief and hatred, taking on an attitude unworthy a follower of Christ.
These days the west came to understand how seriously Islamic State group wants to launch “enormous and spectacular attacks,” as jihadis broaden their focus to target Western lifestyles.
The heart of Europe was severely hurt on the 22nd of March with up to 35 deaths and 396 wounded (as registered on the 31st of March).
The Paris and Brussels attacks have rightly caused outrage across the globe. However, while millions in the West took to social media to share their grief, there are numerous attacks across the world that go largely unreported in the mainstream media are which are forgotten or not remembered by lots of Westerners.
The “black flag of jihad” as used by jihadist militants since around the late 1990s
On 21 March, the Kurds celebrated the biggest cultural event of their year, Newroz or New Year, but once again they too were under attack by Turkey but also by groups of their own, namely the PKK.
Pro-Assad media hails recapture of ancient city as ‘strategic victory’ but others allege collusion between Damascus and retreating militants
A Syrian soldier looks at graffiti in Palmyra reading: “The Islamic State is staying’ (AFP)
The ruins of Palmyra in 2010
The dramatic recapture of the ancient city of Palmyra by the Syrian army and its allies on Sunday prompted some commentators in the Arabic-language media to declare the beginning of the end for the Islamic State (IS) group, while others predicted a long and drawn out battle to come with regional and global consequences. {- See more at: Middle East eye}
Four days after the Brussels attacks the terrorists showed they were not at all only focussing on fakir Christians. At least 41 people were killed and 105 wounded when a teenage ISISsuicide bomber blew himself up at a small soccer stadium in the Iraqi city of Iskanderiyah, less than 30 miles south of Baghdad. The attack targeted the crowd watching an amateur soccer match on Friday evening in the mixed Sunni and Shiite town, and the city’s mayor, who was presenting awards to the soccer players at the time of the bombing, was among those killed. The BBC also reports that 17 of the dead were boys between the ages of 10 and 16. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack using its social media channels, according to the Site extremist monitoring group.
On Sunday the 27th of March Pakistan got its share also with a bombing that killed 72 people and injured more than 350 at a crowded park on Easter Sunday. Though the violent Pakistani Taliban offshoot known as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar — which boasted that it targeted Christians in a crowded park in Lahore — once publicly declared support for ISIS, but has hit more Muslims and Hindy people than Christians.
Now it’s the subject of an intensive crackdown in the world’s second-most populous and only nuclear-armed Muslim nation. On dealing with the threat of Islamic State, Obama said he had invited participating nations to work on improving intelligence-sharing to prevent terrorist attacks.
“At our session on ISIL this afternoon there was widespread agreement that defeating terrorist groups like ISIL requires more information sharing,”
Obama said on Friday April 1, using an acronym for the militant group.
Pakistan, a country long considered an al Qaeda stronghold, feels more and more also the negative pressure of that group and similar related groups which want to govern lots of people, telling them what they can or not can do.
Those “cowardly” suicide attacks shall continue. And with them we can see the Biblical prophesies of having the religions coming up against religions, after the period when the people living in the land of Euphrates and Tigris would have fought against each other (Iran & Iraq).
Whilst US President Barack Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons yesterday after arriving in France for a Nato summit, where he won French endorsement of his new Afghanistan strategy, we should be fully aware that the war on terror continues and shall bring forth some other serious attacks form underground people or different cells which sprout up like ulcers.
It are those rebels who misuse the name of God and try to get religious people against each other. Believers in God should be very careful not to fall in the trap and going to one or another religious group. In Belgium, Holland, France and some other Western countries we can see movements from right as wall as extreme left wing organisations defiling the Muslim community.
Flag of Taliban (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For sure the Western states do have to get a grip on rising violence by al Qaeda and Taliban militants driven from power in 2001 but never completely defeated. But Christians should be careful not to be carried away by hatred and should abstain from any violent action. They also should show their love for those who are different than them and who have an other faith than them, but who also sincerely believe in the Divine Creator.
We always should remember that those who rape and sell children, kill innocent people, burn Koran‘s, mosques and bring terror on so many places are all doing things which are against Koran teaching and as such against real Muslim faith.
They are not only misusing and defiling the Name of God, but they are bringing discredit to all those believers who belong to the Islam.
***
Attacks targeting civilians linked to or inspired by ISIS Since January 2015, outside Iraq and Syria.
Circles represent number of deaths of confirmed ISIS-related attacks.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for several explosions causing many deaths and severely wounded, creating lots of horror and pain
members in ISIS + other terrorist groups =/= Orthodox Muslim
verse 5:32 in the Quran.من اجل ذلك كتبنا على بني اسرائيل انه من قتل نفسا بغير نفس او فساد في الارض فكانما قتل الناس جميعا ومن احياها فكانما احيا الناس جميعا ولقد جاءتهم رسلنا بالبينات ثم ان كثيرا منهم بعد ذلك في الارض لمسرفون
> direct translation of this is as follows:
Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.
=> if a Muslim murdered one person = murdered all of humanity => no longer seen as a believer in Allah’s eyes
save a life = saved all of humanity
ISIS has killed over 10,000 Muslims+ > predominately targeting Muslims <= How can Muslims be killing other Muslims?
354 mass shootings in the United States in 2015 = year isn’t even over + we have more shootings than days in the year = how many of these shootings done by people who affiliated themselves with Islam? = One = 1 = Chatanooga shooting on July 16, 2015.
not generalizing
all Christians based on actions of Klu Klux Klan + Christian extremist detonated bomb in Oklahoma City
not generalizing all males based on male shooters
all Buddhist based on monks who killed more than 100,000 Muslims in Burma or in Myanmar
=> do no generalize all Muslims based on actions of a few psychotics that call themselves Muslims = merely disgusting extremist.
In today’s world, it is important for us to understand that terrorism has no religion. Earlier today, at around 6 a.m., I got into an argument on Twitter over this. People were posting untruthful things about the Quran and me being me, could not help calling them out for it. They told me that 93% of terrorist attacks were done by Muslims, and when I asked them for their source, they told me it was from Wikipedia. And while Wikipedia isn’t too bad for quick answers, it still allows random people to change information without actually having a credible source.
First off, Islam derives from the Arabic word salam, meaning peace. Islam literally means submission to God through peace. That is why there is no such thing as, “Islamic Terrorism.” It is like saying, “Peace Violence,” a total paradox. Terrorism is a completely secular mindset and should be recognized…
Lifestyle and Readers Digest Magazine founded by Marcus Ampe on the 26th of March 2014
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This site does not want to be a specific religious site, though now and then religious articles may be presented. The main interest on this site is about worldly matters, social affairs and the behaviour of human beings in this universe.
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Recent Posts on the other Lifestyle Magazine: Stepping Toes
What do you think of this? “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) This verse is so familiar to us that we may not really think about it very much any more. But let’s take a minute and actually think. Is […]
Na zijn ophanging aan het stuk hout en opstanding is de Nazarener meesterverteller Jezus Christus naar zijn Vader, in de hemel gegaan. Dit was een vervulling van profetieën in het Oude Testament en van de heer Jezus zelf: “Aldus luidt het woord van de HERE tot mijn Here: Zet u aan mijn rechterhand, totdat Ik […]
This century may go into the history books by its aim to overcorrect. Today we are not any more allowed to use lots of words which were quiet normal and not offensive in the previous century. Today one has to be very careful how one wants to express oneself. Today several youngsters consider it transphobic […]
From Bible in the news Honest Reporting recently rounded off an examination of instances of YouTube banning content by saying: “To paraphrase a quote wrongly attributed to Orwell but which resonates strongly today as we seemingly edge towards the dystopian society that he predicted: ‘In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a […]
Aanvullend op de twee voorgaande berichten wensen wij graag u te verwijzen naar een artikel van “Baars”, die zich (zoals vele anderen) dingen afvraagt. In “Het vroegere Judea” haalt hij aan hoe de Romeinen er in sloegen de Joden uit Palestina te verdrijven. In het jaar 135 doopte keizer Hadrianus Judea (Ioudaía – Yəhuda) om […]
De laatste weken heeft het er weer eens gestoven in het land waar eigenlijk vrede zou moeten overheersen. Eigenlijk is de miserie begonnen door provoserende moslims. Het uitdagen van de Israëlische soldaten leidde dan weer tot wat eigenlijk in geen enkel land zou mogen gebeuren, namelijk de bestorming van een gebedshuis. Het is totaal ongehoord […]
Uit de Oude doos: 2008 Er was een tijd dat Israël zich moeiteloos staande kon houden tegenover de omringende Arabische wereld. De oorlogen die het moest voeren om te overleven in 1948, 1967 en 1973 werden betrekkelijk gemakkelijk gewonnen, ondanks de numerieke overmacht van hun vijanden. Dat werd in de daarop volgende conflicten geleidelijk moeilijker, […]
Gelooft u het getuigenis van God, zijn Zoon en zijn dienaren? God openbaart Zich als de Heilige, die de zonden niet kan verdragen en deze veroordeelt. De meeste mensen vrezen God echter niet. Hun denken en doen is gericht op het voldoen aan hun begeerten. Door deze aardse, vleselijke gezindheid is de mens onheilig en […]
According to Catholic Catechism, the Catholic Church professes to be the “sole Church of Christ,” and that all duly consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the twelve Apostles. In particular, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), is considered the successor to the Apostle Peter, from whom the Pope (so called) derives his supremacy over […]
Connaissez-vous déjà les maisons de transition ? Une Maison de Transition est un petit établissement résidentiel où une quinzaine de détenus passent les derniers mois de leur détention à travailler à leur réinsertion dans la société. Les maisons de transition sont le fruit d’une collaboration entre différentes parties. La Maison de Transition s’articule autour de […]
Thoughts by and a Look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Marcus Ampe's Space
Originally posted on Understanding Society: Tony Judt was especially astute when it came to linking history and intellectuals. One strand of thought in his collection of essays,?Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, is a critical engagement with several twentieth-century thinkers associated with Marxism (and sometimes anti-Marxism), including Althusser, Kołakowski, E.P. Thompson (briefly), Raymond Aron…
Originally posted on Understanding Society: What features of a political regime contribute to political loyalty and commitment on the part of its citizens? Can a fascist dictatorship inspire political loyalty and commitment from the mass of society? And what about liberal democracy; can a liberal democratic regime maintain mass support? We have the makings of…
Originally posted on Ryan Buesnel: Presentation: Café of Dangerous Ideas, February 27th, 2021 Ryan Buesnel rbuesnel@csu.edu.au In his 2018 book How Fascism Works, Jason Stanley offers an assessment of the state of American politics under the leadership of Donald Trump and suggests that there are troubling signs that fascism is on the rise in the…
Originally posted on Maliha Khanam: Source: Canva “Always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always oppose privileged classes and public, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether…
The energy crunch that started in Europe has going around the world like a domino game. The news channels on several stations showed how people went in search of wood-burning stoves. It should not be overlooked that even pellet stoves are more polluting than natural gas central heating. It is a clear sign of how […]
Originally posted on Notayesmanseconomics's Blog: 2021 was not supposed to be like this. The narrative for 2021 was that the Chinese economy would pick up strongly after the Covid-19 pandemic and be a leading indicator for the rest of the world. But the reality as we have been observing for a while now is…
West European energy provision In Western Europe, no one will be able to deny that they are not satisfied with the development of gas and electricity prices. In recent days, it has been commonplace to express dissatisfaction with the rapidly rising prices of utilities. Voices were heard from all quarters that this could not continue. […]
An other look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Some View on the World
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has clashed with the European Commission president and MEPs after accusing EU institutions of seeking to turn the country into a province, in an escalation of the battle between Warsaw and Brussels over the rule of law. The clash in the European Parliament follows a top Polish court ruling that […]
Bulgaria launched on Tuesday its COVID-19 “Green Certificate” as a mandatory requirement for access to restaurants, theatres, cinemas, concert halls, gyms, clubs and shopping malls as the country faces a surge in coronavirus infections. Also in Bulgaria the number of infected people and the number of deaths are increasing, which forces this country to take […]
During the week from 9 to 15 October an average of 3,010 new cases of coronavirus were recorded each day. This is a rise of 46% on the previous week. For the first time in more than 5 months the average number of confirmed new infections currently exceeds 3,000.
During the week from 12 to 18 October an average of 73 people with COVID-19 were admitted to Belgian hospitals each day. This is up 29% on the previous week. There are currently 914 COVID-19 patients in Belgian hospitals, a rise of 23% on a week ago. Of those hospitalised 229 are on ICUs, a rise of 16% compared with this time last week.
The number of people with COVID-19 that are dying is up too. During the week from 9 to 15 October an average of 11 people with COVID-19 died in Belgium each day. This is up 29% on the previous week. Since the onset of the pandemic 25,780 people with COVID-19 have died in Belgium.
Gay rights have become a flashpoint issue in Poland in recent years under the governing right-wing Prawo i Sprawiedliwość or Law and Justice (PiS) party, which campaigns against what it calls “LGBT ideology”, likening the promotion of gay rights to a form of communism. In October 2021, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, with support from Hungary, […]
Brother Andy Walton in his Weekly World Watch looks at the European Union (EU) which consists of 27 member states, and comments on the breach of contract by the Chinese with France and their stepping into the boat with England and America. Normally the member states have agreed by treaties to share their own sovereignty […]
The coming weeks are decisive for the future of the nuclear deal with Iran, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday the 10th of October, adding that every day that passes without Tehran responding to U.S. overtures will result in Iran enriching more uranium. Speaking during a visit to Israel, the outgoing chancellor said that […]
This morning we looked at those who are in Christ Jesus who will not be judged as sinners but are taken on by God as His children. (Romans 1 & 8) We thought of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has made us free from the law of sin and […]
This year’s Special Issue of the Christadelphian Tidings is ready for you to download and share with your family and friends. This year’s Special Issue was written almost exclusively by and about Young People and their struggles in Coming of Age in Christ. We are sure that you will enjoy it and ask that you […]
After twenty years of conflict, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has brought the curtain down on Nato’s military mission there. BBC News reported: “Under a deal with the militant group, the US and its Nato allies agreed to withdraw all troops in return for a commitment by the Taliban not to allow al-Qaeda or any […]
The landlocked multiethnic country located in the heart of south-central Asia that got in the news every day for twenty years, got special attention when America decided to leave that region of a continuous endless war. For millennia great armies have attempted to subdue Afghanistan, officially Islamic State of Afghanistan. Its significant mineral resources remain largely […]
Recent Posts by the Brethren in Christ: Broeders in Christus
October 12, 2021 Iran’s army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have launched a joint military exercise with a focus on air defence that they say will encompass half the country’s airspace. The two-day drill, launched in Iran’s central desert area in the early hours of Tuesday, was led by the Khatam al-Anbia Air […]
“The story of Esther is familiar to us. You have quite likely heard more than one talk about her, sat in more that one class exploring the book named for her. If it’s been a while, you might want to reread it, maybe in a translation other than your usual. Read it as a movie […]
Over visuilen, aalscholvers, kamelen of dromedarissen Jaren geleden spraken heel wat christenen over God en gebod met woorden die naar de buitenwereld een duidelijk beeld gaven tot welke kerkgemeenschap of denominatie zij behoorden. Katholieken en Protestanten kon men zo heel makkelijk uit elkaar houden. In de Noordelijke gebieden van de Nederlanden werd heel lang aan […]
THE TIDINGS is pleased to introduce “Coming of Age in Christ.” This special issue for 2021 is dedicated to briefly examining several issues young people face. The Special Issue is largely authored by young writers for other young adults. They share their experiences and advice on how to implement spiritual principles in modern days—how to […]
The things that cause people to speak well of someone include many traits that we are exhorted, even commanded, to display. In Paul’s blog questions: Why would it bring woe to be spoken well of? “It ought to hit us like a slap. “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,” Jesus says. (Luke 6:26) […]
Om de wereld met haar vele problemen aan te kunnen zijn wij best ons te laten vormen door de Allerhoogste God. dit vergt openheid, vertrouwen en goodwill om ons door Hem te laten verbeteren en te leiden.
De Allergrootste Bron van Licht heeft een bron van licht aan de wereld geschonken dat men moet kunnen opmerken om zo de verlichte paden aar God te kunnen vinden en zien naar waar dat licht de mens kan heenbrengen om een eindeloos vredig licht te kunnen aantreffen.
Iedereen krijgt in het leven zaken te verwerken en wordt op allerlei gebieden gelokt om bepaalde dingen te doen of niet te doen, te geloven of niet te geloven. De vele verleidingen kunnen ons verstikken en daarvoor moeten wij ten zeerste opletten om al hetgeen rondom ons door een juiste filter te laten gaan.
Sinds dat Jezus na zijn verrijzenis de wereld heeft verlaten totdat hij weer zal komen, hebben zijn volgelingen geprobeerd anderen tot het geloof in Christus te brengen. Wij denken dat ij mogen stellen dat wanneer Jezus terug zal komen hij geloof zal vinden op aarde. “Ik zeg jullie dat hij hun spoedig recht zal verschaffen. […]
Bible prophecies do not deal only with the ancient past. They also accurately foretell events that are taking place in our day. But at the moment we focus at numerous prophecies preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) which long before the man was born told about events which would happen in his time and around him, his betrayal, humiliation, torture, execution, death, and burial. From those writings of the Old and New Testament nobody should have doubts who that man is who is called Immanuel, the son of man and Messiah, born out of the root of Jess in the tribe of king David.
In Scripture, all things are directed towards a man who was a servant of servants, in whom people should come to have faith. First we saw the connection with Eve and her seed, and in this article you may see the connection with Abraham.
Already in the Old Testament we find the focus on a son of man who is called the son of God, who shall be the most pure set apart (holy) servant of God who was been told about in the Garden of Eden, to be the one bruised.
Many Old Testament writers wrote about the prophet to come, about whom is spoke in the book of Moses and who shall be the special “Seed of a woman” given by God and who will bruise Satan’s head whilst his heel would be bruised with nails on the wooden stake.
Jewish and Christian literature since the time of Yeshua or Jeshua have pointed to Genesis 3:15 as the first reference to the Messiah in the Torah. Genesis 3:15 NHEBJE I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his […]
Recent Posts: Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
Review Questions on Chapter Eight What miracle did Jesus duplicate? What warning did Jesus give regarding the Pharisees? Who did Jesus heal in Bethsaida? What was the reaction of Peter to Jesus’ words about his death? What rebuke did Jesus give Peter? What does it mean cw Jesus? + Preceding Mark 8 – The Nazarene’s […]
Mark 8:34-38 – Disown Self and Follow Constantly || Matthew 16:24-28;[1] Luke 9:23-27 MK8:34 Now after he assembled the crowd, as well as his disciples, he said to them all: “Whoever wants to follow me must first renounce self,[2] and then shouldering a stake,[3] follow me. MK8:35 For whoever tries to preserve the soul will […]
“27 Now Jesus left with his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And along the way he asked his disciples: “Who are people saying I am?” 28 They answered: “John the Baptist.” But others said, “Elijah.” Still others: “One of the prophets.” 29 Then Jesus asked them: “But, who do you say I am?” […]
Mark 8:27-33 – Death Foretold in Caesarea || Matthew 16:13-20;[1] Luke 9:18-21 MK8:27 Now Jesus left with his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And along the way he asked his disciples: “Who are people saying I am?” MK8:28 They answered: “John the Baptist.” But others said, “Elijah.” [Malachi 4:1] Still others: “One of […]
Mark 8:22-26 – A Blind Man in Bethsaida MK8:22 Then Jesus arrived at Bethsaida and the people brought to him a blind man,[1] and they begged Jesus to touch him. MK8:23 So Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town, and after he had spit on his eyes and […]
Recent Posts by bible Scholars: Bijbelvorser = Bible Researcher
Al zijn het niet bepaald tijden waar er veel aandacht aan God en Zijn Woord wordt geschonken blijkt uit de aankoop van de Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling in de voorgaande jaren er toch een bepaalde interesse te bestaan die de uitgevers niet ontgaan is. Vooral omdat naast de hoge verkoopcijfers er nog eens vele opmerkingen bij de […]
Temples have been found throughout the ancient Near East. Mostly we do not have a very good idea of what and how things went on at these sites. Along with reconstructing architectural remains, we can wonder if scholars can piece together ancient worship practices. Over the years, many ancient temples have been discovered and laid […]
The Book of Judith — considered canonical by Roman Catholics, Apocrypha Literature by Protestants, and non-canon by Jews, included in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) —tells the story of the ignominious defeat of the Assyrians, an army bent on world domination, by the hand of a beautiful Jewish widow named Judith who […]
Van de Horens van Hittim – een top op de weg van Nazareth naar Tiberias – voert een pad bergafwaarts in de richting van het meer van Genesareth of Galilea. Van dit pad heeft Jezus mogelijk gebruik gemaakt, wanneer hij op weg was naar Kapernaüm, over de oude verbindingsroute van Damascus naar Egypte. Zoals bekend […]
First of all to come to a good relationship with some one, one has to talk with that person and has to listen to what that person has to tell. God talks to the people by the way of His Word, presented to mankind by the many Bible translations, so that most people can read […]
The One Who created everything and Who gave His Word, did all He did with a purpose and out of love. The Bible teaches us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Everything God does is motivated by love. Out of love created man in His image also with the intention to have a good relationship […]
In the previous writings we saw that the Divine Creator gave His Word to the world so that people could come to know Him. The Bible is a gift from God. It gives us information that we can’t find anywhere else. For example, it tells us that God created the heavens, the earth, and the […]
Originally posted on Ohr Rishon: Sukkot 5782 “In that day I will raise up David’s fallen sukkah.” Amos 9:11, Tree of Life Version “‘Have you heard when Bar Nafle [the son who is fallen] will come?’ ‘Who is Bar Nafle?’ he asked. ‘Messiah,’ he answered, ‘Do you call Messiah Bar Nafle?’ ‘Even so,’ he rejoined,…
Originally posted on Ohr Rishon: Torah portion: Leviticus 22:26 – 23:44; Numbers 29:12-16 Although the Torah reading for the second day of Sukkot is the same as the first day, the haftorah is different. The haftorah for the first day of Sukkot (Zechariah 14:1-21) concerns the events leading up to the Final Redemption of Israel,…
Originally posted on the Hebrew Gypsy: Today is the 14th day of the (revised) Hebrew calendar and the day I set up the sukkah for the Feast of Tabernacles/ Sukkot here in Tennessee. I say “revised” because, a few days ago I realized (finally) that we have been a month late all year, even missing…
The fall Feast of Tabernacles is an “ingathering,” a celebration of harvest, and of thanksgiving for the provision God has given. In Israel, families will spend the week of celebration living in, or at least gathering in, temporary dwellings, rejoicing together while remembering the days of old.
The shock passes and the synagogue erupts in noisy conversation, all talking at once. Everyone is amazed! What to make of it all! New teaching they’ve never heard before — and with such authority! With a command he can heal a man they all thought was beyond hope…
Geschreven Woord: Gebruik en verklaring van een sleutelwoord in de grondtekst: lossing Het woord in het Hebreeuws en het Grieks Het Hebreeuwse woord voor ‘lossen’ is ga’al. De Griekse vertaling van het OT vertaalt het op verschillende manieren, maar het meest gebruikt worden de woorden lutroō (loskopen), met enkele afgeleiden daarvan, of als ruomai (behoeden […]
According to Mishnaic teaching, the New Year festival ushers in the Days of Judgment for all of mankind. Despite its solemnity, the festive character of Rosh Hashana is in no way diminished. In Scripture it is called “a day when the horn is sounded”; in the liturgy “a day of remembrance.” Again this year there […]
De aoristus (Grieks: ἀόριστος, vertaling: onbepaald, vaag) is een tempus die voorkomt in verschillende talen, zoals het Oudgrieks, het Sanskriet, het Oudkerkslavisch en het Georgisch. In het Nederlands is er geen formeel equivalent van de aoristus, maar wel zijn er werkwoordsvormen die dezelfde betekenis kunnen uitdrukken. In het Latijn wordt dezelfde betekenis uitgedrukt door het perfectum.
Met Rosj Hasjana denken wij aan de wondere scheppingsdaad van de Allerhoogste. Spijtig genoeg moeten wij toegeven dat de mensheid van die schepping een janboel heeft gemaakt.
Door de eeuwen heen zijn er steeds mensen geweest die inzagen hoe alles rondom hen mogelijk was en hoe er geloof kon gesteld worden in Die Maker van alle dingen en hoe ze Hem als het ware als een schild en toevluchtsoord konden gebruiken.
In en met hun geloof durfden zij te spreken over hun geloof en wat de wereld mocht verwachten in toekomende tijden.
Telkens als er een dag voor je ligt moet je deze nemen alsof het de laatste dag van je leven is. En daar moet je dan van genieten en sterk maken dat je Leeft!
Meer dan een jaar zijn wij beperkt geworden in onze mogelijkheden en vrije beleving met anderen. Nu er versoepelingen aan komen mogen wij niet over het hoofd zien wat ons in die penarie heeft gebracht en hoe wij dit voor de toekomst moeten vermijden.
When having many questions an interesting blog to look at: their old and more recent Posts: Questiontime - Vragenuurtje
Does one need proof to come to a certain belief? We can look at the signs in nature and find out what happened to certain people in the past, such as Noah and Paul. With the Book of Books, Allah has provided the world with His Interpretative Word.
Heeft men bewijzen nodig om tot een bepaald geloof te komen? Wij kunnen naar de tekenen in de natuur kijken en nagaan wat er in het verleden met bepaalde mensen, zoals Noach en Paulus is gebeurd. Met het Boek der boeken heeft Allah de wereld van Zijn Alzeggend Woord voorzien.
When we speak about “Faith” (iman) we look at acceptance of the Belief in the existence and oneness of God (Allah).and the existence of the Book of books of which God is the author, existing of five main parts, the Torah (revealed to Moses),,the Psalms (revealed to David).and the Writings of Kings and prophets as well as the Gospel (revealed to Jesus) with the writings of his apostles,
Wanneer wij over “Geloof” (iman) spreken, zien wij op de aanvaarding van het Geloof in het bestaan en de eenheid van God (Allah) en het bestaan van het Boek der boeken waarvan God de auteur is, bestaande uit vijf hoofdstukken, de Torah (geopenbaard aan Mozes), de Psalmen (geopenbaard aan David) en de Geschriften van Koningen en Profeten, alsmede het Evangelie (geopenbaard aan Jezus) met de geschriften van zijn apostelen,
One may wonder in which or what kind of god people want to believe. It is striking that many people like to have a certain form of mystery around their deity and therefore do not choose the God Who pours clear wine and sends very reliable Words to earth.
Recent Posts: Unmasking anti Jehovah sites and people
When we scroll onto the net about Jesus and God we often encounter lots of name-Christians who use verses to reply to others with questions about the divinity of Jesus which not at all say that Jesus is God, but they either do not understand what those verses are saying. Or they deliberately bring a […]
At the beginning of our contemporary age a son of man was hailed, by some triumphantly praised as a king entering Jerusalem, by others regarded as a dangerous person undermining their power. About 2 000 years later it are still religious leaders who do not want people to come to know that Nazarene man or to accept him as the son of God and future King of this world.
Jesus told his disciples that he will return only once and that when he does, after a time of great tribulation, it will be visible to everyone and be followed by immediate and dire consequences for those unprepared and for those who were adversaries of God.
The disciples expected that Christ would “come” as King, with a royal presence, and to remove the Romans and thrown down the corrupt temple, all at the same time and soon! It was a disappointment for them it turned not out that way, but they came to understand we could have an even much better future because of what Jesus had done. Though they also became convinced of the necessity to be prepared for the time that Jesus would return and that each believer could add by his effort of preaching, to bring the time closer.
Ek het ‘n prentjie, sê ek vir hom. Ek kan nie onthou wanneer ek dit die eerste keer gesien het nie. Ek klim die berg (never-ending) en dit duur my hele lewe lank. Uiteindelik (ek het nooit verwag dit sal in my leeftyd gebeur nie), kom ek bo-op die berg. Daar wag ‘n baie ou, […]
Dit was ‘n besluit. Iets wat ek my voorgeneem het om te doen nadat ek my nier geskenk het. it is finished… ‘n Tattoo op my voorarm om my te herhinner dat ek niks meer het om te gee behalwe liefde, tyd en aandag nie. Verlede week vertrek ek oudergewoonte na ‘n stil plek om […]
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Biblestudents – Bijbelstudenten
A Google Site presenting the Biblestudents with articles in English and Dutch – Voorstelling van de Bijbelstudenten met artikelen in het Nederlands en Engels
Christen Focus
Vanuit de Bijbelonderzoekers oogpunt kijkend waarop de mens hoorrt te focussen
Getuigen voor Christus
Tegenover de Getuigen van Jehovah zijn er ook de Getuigen voor Christus die Getuigenis afleggen voor Christus en zijn God Jehovah.
Relating to God wordPress Blog
Proving there is Only One True God which should be honoured and followed and how we can come in a better relationship with Him by following His only begotten son Jesus Christ as the Way to God.
Unmasking anti-Jehovah people
Debunking all the false sayings of those who fight against non-trinitarian groups and people
Blogroll
Hoop tot leven
Platform van Marcus Ampe voor hulpverlening en hoop geving
Christadelphian
Belgian Christadelphians
Google site with articles in English from the Belgian Brothers in Christ or Christadelphians
C4All
Christ For All – Presenting ways to find Christ in your life
C4U – Christ for you & Christadelphians for you
Site of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, who love the Creator and His creations and want people to show who is the way to Him and to His Kingdom where there shall be peace for ever.
Our World
News and thoughts about what is happening in the world, brought by the Free Christian Marcus Ampe. – Een kijk op het wereldgebeuren vanuit het standpunt van de Vrije Christen Marcus Ampe
Relating to God wordPress Blog
Proving there is Only One True God which should be honoured and followed and how we can come in a better relationship with Him by following His only begotten son Jesus Christ as the Way to God.
Immanuel Verbondskind
A site where issues of Judaism, Christianity, Islamism, their search for continued authenticity and relevance for today are discussed and looked at the position of the Jeshuaist community wrestling with the non- or anti-religious world
Jeshuaisme
Het Jeshuaisme brengt volgers van de Nazareense rebbe Jeshua (door velen beter gekend als Jezus Christus) te samen en verenigd Jehudiem (Jehoediem) of Joden zowel als goyim of niet-Joden en doet een oproep naar alle soort gelovigen en niet-gelovigen om Je
Jeshuaist
Personal pages of a Flemish Jeshua-ist – Persoonlijke paginas van een Vlaamse Jeshuaist
Jeshuaist communities
A community of real followers of Christ, assembling for sharing the Good News of the works of the Moshiach Jeshua and his heavenly Father the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.
Jeshuaist Focus
Uiteenzetting hoe eenieder tot het Volk kan behoren dat het Koninkrijk van god zal mogen binnentreden
Jeshuaisten – Jeshuaists
Een plaats van en voor liefhebbers van de Joodse Nazarener rabbi Jeshua om het bijbelkennis te versterken. – A site of and for lovers of the Nazarene Jewish rabbi Jeshua to strengthen their knowledge of the Scriptures.
Jeshuaists (or Yeshuaists)
Jeshuaists (or Yeshuaists) are followers of the Nazarene rebbe Jeshua who presented himself as a sent one from the Adonai Most High Elohim, Hashem Jehovah.
Jeshuaists for Jehovah
Followers of the Nazarene rebbe Jeshua witnessing for him and his God, the Only True God of Isrrael, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.
Our World
News and thoughts about what is happening in the world, brought by the Free Christian Marcus Ampe. – Een kijk op het wereldgebeuren vanuit het standpunt van de Vrije Christen Marcus Ampe
Some View on the world
Marcus Ampe presenting general and religious newsitems. – Wereldse en religieuze nieuwsfeiten bekeken onder de loep van Marcus Ampe.
Stepping Toes
A Lifestyle magazine which can be for some a provocative site created by Marcus Ampe
This last person who has always been a person with a to-do list is also one of the people who wanted to share some writing on this platform. But there were many days when she became a slave to her lists and she had to face that things don’t always happen as planned and that she would feel like a failure if she wasn’t able to cross out all the tasks that she allocated to a specific day.{
On Sunday the 27th of March Pakistan got its share also with a bombing that killed 
alsowritten
Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
belgischebroedersinchristus
Bijbelvorsers
Christadelphians
Guestspeaker
Immanuel Verbondskind
jeshuaist
Vragensteller - Inquirer
lizaborstlap
Marcus Ampe
Success Inspirers' World
Fan of Pequeña Sudamérica
Relating to God
