Tag Archives: Murder

Could it be that we are living in the Last Days

Bill Rudge believes you and him are living at the most exciting time in the history of the world. He writes:

Our generation will witness the fulfillment of what the prophets foretold thousands of years ago. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

We are well aware that throughout the times there have been many ‘prophets‘, ‘seers‘, ‘forecasters‘ or futurologists who claimed that people had to prepare themselves because the time of the end had come. Bill Rudge realises some of the signs we had to see or should be a warning for us to react, have occurred throughout history and many people wrongly concluded they were “the generation.” Though this time it could be totally different, we think as well.

Never before in history have we seen such an increase in both intensity and frequency of these indications. No other generation has had the potential, as our generation does, to witness the fulfillment of Revelation. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

For several centuries there has been talk of times that would come. The writers or forecasters spoke of unmissable signals or signs that we as humans could begin to observe. It has taken already ages before man could really be sure the time came at last.

We just have to listen to the news and watch what changed in the last few years, concerning natural events.
Nowadays we don’t have to look to other countries to encounter natural disasters They happen in our backyard, so to speak.

Throughout the world we are seeing bizarre, record-breaking weather conditions – some of history’s fiercest hurricanes, tornados, volcanoes, fires, floods and mudslides. Nature seems out of control and is getting more extreme. It is heading in the direction Revelation indicates will occur during the Tribulation period, testifying that cataclysmic global events are on the near horizon. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

But it is not only on the natural plane that we can observe a huge shift in recent years. At the political and economic level, as much is going wrong as at the ecological level.

There are earthquakes in diverse places, famines and wars and rumors of wars; increasing pollution of water, land and air; and widespread plagues and pestilence. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, and Afghanistan were just an impetus to other battles in Egypt, Syria in which certain superpowers played a bizarrely bad role (think America and Russia).
Therefore, after the US withdrew from Afghanistan, it still did not diminish in those regions. Russia, on the other hand, had been practicing in Syria for har larger battle to re-establish the old Russian Soviet Empire and march south as described in the Bible that the King of the north would go and do this, when the time came.

But not only between superpowers would battles erupt. People would also go up against each other during the final days. We see the different faith groups going against each other, even with gun violence. It didn’t even stay with the adults. All over the world, we see youth violence increasing. Not only are they attacking fellow youth, they are going against their parents and government leaders. In several cities, rebellious groups regularly fight against police forces. People do invent all kinds of reasons to justify violence, even God is brought in, in many cases.

In addition to all the mental, sexual and physical violence, we cannot ignore the fact that the morals and ethics of our society are at a very low ebb. People today even agree to kill someone else for a trifle.

Revelation indicates that people in the last days, during the Tribulation, won’t repent of four things:

1) Sorcery occultism and demonic phenomena will be very prominent;

2) Sexual Immorality – the world given over to lust and every sexual perversion imaginable;

3) Murders – that means we will be living in a very violent world – ethnic conflict, terrorism, hijackings, kidnappings, bombings, assassinations, homicides, serial killers, mass murders, abortion, robbery, assault and riots; and

4) Thefts/Liesdeceit and corruption will be widespread. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

People’s behaviour has not exactly improved. In recent years we see that behaviour is becoming more and more unreliable and corrupt, while people no longer even find it a shame to tell lies. Some even make it a sport to deceive and mislead others. There are even those who make a lot of money by making people believe in certain things that are not true. These influencers, as they are called, (or Internet celebrities) actually influence a lot of innocent victims.

Meanwhile, among the countries, many shifts, disconnections or amalgamations are again taking place, and we notice that things are very tense in the East.

Another “sign of the times” is Israel: for 2,500 years there was no independent nation of Israel. Yet the prophets foretold that events in the last days would focus in and around the tiny nation of Israel. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

It is not just a small group of believers who recognize the remarkable predicted characteristics.

Many of the world’s political and religious leaders are saying,

“We are not merely dealing with national crises, we are facing global catastrophes, unless we unite for the common good of the world!”

However, the expected golden era of peace, prosperity and unity will become the darkest hour earth will ever know. {Are We Living in the Last Days?}

If we look at how things are going in the world today, it does not bode well. For many, Russia may be the biggest bogeyman in the game. And they could be right yet again. For the current Russian leader is an unaccountable person, who can still find like-minded and helping souls here and there.

The current wars between Russia and Ukraine could easily grow into a Third World War and spill over even further into the predicted times of the end of this life system.

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Preceding

Time to sit still or to pass on

When will it stop

Coming together in dark days

Darkest just before dawn

Signs of the times – As the Day approaches

Overcoming The Terror Of War

Looking at a “Man from the North” endangering the world

Ukraine war is veering fast towards a big power conflict

Yulia Tymoshenko: We are in World War Three already

How to Find the Meaning of Life and Reach a State of Peace

You Matter

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Additional reading

  1. Is there a reason for you to experience a sense of brooding fear
  2. Fate, destiny, time and place
  3. Why are the End Times taking so long
  4. Prophecies over coming days
  5. Signs of the Last Days
  6. Sign of the Times and the Last Days #1 The Son of man revealing
  7. Sign of the Times and the Last Days #2 Wars, natural disasters, famine and false Messiahs
  8. Sign of the Times and the Last Days #3 Coming events revealed in the prophetic writings
  9. Today’s Thought “You haven’t heard, and you haven’t known; these things have not reached your ears before.” (June 23)
  10. Today’s Thought “A Race in the Last Days” (May 27)
  11. Today’s thought “I will bring distress …” (December 15)
  12. Today’s thought “Be strong and courageous, and do the work” (December 18)
  13. Matthew 16:1-4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Signs of the Times
  14. Matthew 24 about temples or Houses of God and the end of the age
  15. Partakers and sons of the Realm
  16. Hamas the modern Philistines
  17. New articles for October 2011
  18. The 17th annual White Privilege Conference a militantly Christophobic conference held in Philadelphia
  19. Iranian preacher creating more hatred between religious groups
  20. This fighting world, Zionism and Israel #1
  21. Matthew 24:4-8 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Answer: Part One – Beware Being Misled
  22. Matthew 24:29-35 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Answer Part Two – Sign 2: The Parousia. A Sign after the Great Oppression
  23. Separation of local judgment regarding 70 CE from the global ultimate-coming prophecies of the Second Coming and Final Judgment
  24. How do we know the coming of Jesus is very near?
  25. A watchman seeing the sword coming
  26. Honest-hearted people are losing faith in humanity and humanity losing faith in God
  27. Signs of the Times – War and anti-Semitism
  28. Televangelist Pat Robertson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” in his decision to invade Ukraine
  29. Signs of the Times – A boost for Israel
  30. Sings of the times – Difficult moments at the borders of Europe
  31. Israel – A look at the land and people of Israel
  32. The Developments for the first half of April
  33. Reason to look excited about the coming future
  34. Sings of the times giving direction in life
  35. Doomsday
  36. Evangelizing in the “Time of the End”
  37. The Conclusion of the System of Things (Our World) = The Conclusion of the System of Things (Some View on the World)
  38. What Jesus Did – Misleading around the Messiah and the final assessment
  39. Living in faith
  40. Zion, Flames, Terror, Signs and Games of Peace
  41. Palestine, Israel, God’s people and democracy
  42. 70 years later
  43. Overpopulation not the cause of overusing our earth
  44. Signs of the Times – On manoeuvres
  45. Running the battle
  46. Watch Crisis in Crimea & Ukraine – talk from 2014!
  47. Are we shambling into WWIII?
  48. The peoples must prevent the outbreak of war in Europe
  49. Indy briefing for the second week of March 2022
  50. Russian army wants to make Ukraine the Syria from Europe
  51. Weekly World Watch March 13 – 19, 2022
  52. Bioethics after Ukraine
  53. Has Ukraine become a Symbol of ‘Freedom’
  54. Has Russia already started World War Three?
  55. Europe sucked into a war against Russia
  56. Ukraine War: Those who fail to call for negotiations, fail to understand the dangerous predicament that faces the planet!
  57. Ukraine war is veering fast towards a big power conflict
  58. ‘Desperate’ Vladimir Putin may use tactical nuclear weapons, warns CIA chief
  59. Putin threatens nuclear strikes if West intervenes
  60. Putin puts Russia’s nuclear force on high alert
  61. A useless but very dangerous challenge game
  62. Ukrainian Who doenit
  63. God’s wrath and sanctification
  64. The Rapture Wars
  65. Great Tribulation and Armageddon
  66. Armageddon or the Great Tribulation
  67. Called ones escape
  68. Making the time ready for Jesus to return
  69. Nations being Prepared for Christ’s Appearance
  70. Jesus … will come in the same way as you saw him go

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Related

  1. Increasing Hatred
  2. Fear, Anxiety, and Worry
  3. War, rumors of war, sickness and famine
  4. 1 Major Sign that we are living in the Last Days!
  5. Signs of the times
  6. Church, Worship, and Worshipers
  7. Christians—Are We Nearing Armageddon?
  8. Why The Concept Of The Rapture May Not Be Entirely Accurate
  9. These last days – Hidden facts found in plain sight
  10. These last days – Facts hidden in plain sight – Part 2
  11. Changing Our Paradigm Regarding the Last Days – Part 1
  12. Changing Our Paradigm Regarding the Last Days – Part 2
  13. Changing Our Paradigm Regarding the Last Days – Part 3
  14. The Hour of His Judgement Is Come
  15. Rapture
  16. The Rapture Part 1
  17. Understanding The Mark Of Beast Bible Verse And It’s Significance
  18. June 30, 2023: End Times
  19. Looters are not ashamed in France due to absence of police
  20. July 12, 2023: Get Full Context
  21. Pray harder…we are in dark days.
  22. Materialism and lawlessness at peak. 😔
  23. August 24, 2023: False Prophets And Lawlessness
  24. The Shock and Awe of Paul in the book of Hebrews
  25. Their Way Shall Be…

4 Comments

Filed under Headlines - News, Questions asked, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Religious affairs, World affairs

It’s the Little Things that Matter

by: Alex Cervantes

It is so important to make time in our lives to feed our faith. Alex advocates how faith grows when it is exercised, when it is stretched and challenged. Much like how we grow physically and mentally through day-to-day work, our faith grows the same way. Whether it’s through reading our Bible and prayer, or how we interact with people we meet each day, our faith can grow by doing the little things.

 

Listen to Alex’s Faith Talk, and many more!
LISTEN NOW

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Preceding

Why are you afraid?

You don’t have to walk through the fire

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Find also to read

  1. Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
  2. Faith antithesis of rationality
  3. Faith Launch 2020
  4. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
  5. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
  6. The longer you wait
  7. Gaining deeper understanding
  8. Faith because of the questions
  9. Have faith in your faith…doubt your doubts
  10. A heart in the right place and brightly burning faith
  11. Improving the world by improving the Faith
  12. Coming of Age in Christ
  13. The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
  14. Faith, storms and actions to be taken
  15. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
  16. Through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe
  17. Background of Faith
  18. Ability (part 2)
  19. When having taken a new direction in life, having become a Christian
  20. Summer time to spend some more time at the growing process of your faith
  21. United people under Christ

3 Comments

Filed under Crimes & Atrocities, History, Lifestyle, Religious affairs, Social affairs, World affairs

Mishmash of a legal code but importance of mitzvah or commandments

Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild, working in England, writes

Interestingly while Judaism teaches that mitzvot are divinely ordained and therefore not to be questioned or even necessarily understood, it does at the same time try to explain them as a rational force, and many commentators suggest reasons for our doing them.

We are told: – “The essential reason for the commandments is to make the human heart upright” ( ibn Ezra on Deut 5:18); or “Each commandment adds holiness to the people of Israel.” (Issi ben Akavia,  Mechilta on Ex 22:30); or even that “The purpose of the mitzvot is…to promote compassion, loving kindness and peace in the world” (Maimonides, yad, Shabbat) {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

English: The Covenant Confirmed, by John Steep...

The Covenant Confirmed, by John Steeple Davis (1844-1917), as in Exodus 24 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those who believe in the God of Abraham, should know that this God of gods has given the many commandments to help man find his way in this universe and to live in a proper peaceful relation with God’s creation.

The world has been given Mishpatim, which we may consider judgements by ‘laws’ or ‘rulings’ and they will govern the community who agree to accept them. But not all humans will accept them, that’s a fact. Also in the previous times people of God did not have it easy at all times with those Mishpatim, though just after Moses has finished relating all the various laws to the Children of Israel, we can see in the Old Testament how often those People of God went astray.

English: Moses Showing the Ten Commandments, b...

Moses Showing the Ten Commandments, by Gustave Doré (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Real lovers of God should agree “to do all the things that God has spoken” (Exodus 24:3). They should cling to the Word of God as the only Perfect Rule Giver and should go for keeping “miẓwah”, the divinely instituted rule of conduct. As such, the divine commandments are divided into (1) mandatory laws known as , and (2) those of a prohibitory character, the . This terminology rests on the theological construction that God’s will is the source of and authority for every moral and religious duty. Many of the old laws were given to and concerned only special classes of people, such as kings or priesthood, Levites or Nazarites, or are conditioned by local or temporary circumstances of the Jewish nation, as, for instance, the agricultural, sacrificial, and Levitical laws.

For us today some rules may be curious, and that is why at a certain moment in time some changes were allowed. It was not God Who changed, but the people who changed and God came closer to them by adapting His rulings. As such we may now face other food laws and about sanitation than at the early beginning, plus about how to relate to others, because certain concepts changed, like the position of slaves.

Torah scroll and silver pointer (yad) used in reading

Torah scroll and silver pointer (yad) used in reading

Of the more than fifty mitzvot to be found in the sidra, we have some that deal with the treatment of slaves, with the crimes of murder and kidnap, with personal injury and with civil damages through neglect or theft. There are rules about witchcraft and idolatry, about oppression and unfair business practise, about applying legal codes in a prejudiced fashion and not giving false testimony; laws about not mistreating widows and orphans, and about care for animals. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

When we look at those laws and regulations we may not forget that many still keep going and should be fulfilled by a lover of God. It is not because we have Jesus as our Messiah who liberated us from the curse of Law that the Law has ended. No, not at all. The Law still counts. Even now we have received a New Covenant, should we keep to those law covered in that covenant.

Too many Christians commit a mistake by thinking they do not have to do any works any-more. We still have to keep the works of faith, keeping to God’s Commandments.

In parshat Mishpatim, the Israelites learn that accepting the commandments is a 24/7 job. {Parenting by the Parshah – Mishpatim}

We also must be fully aware of the most frequent mitzvah in Torah, given at least 37 different times in the text,which  is repeated in the Mishpatim too –

“you shall not wrong a stranger or oppress them, for you were strangers in the land of Israel.”

It is a mishmash of a legal code but what comes through loud and clear to the reader is the importance to the Jewish people of mitzvot, commandments.

From Torah we see that for the ancient people there were particular reasons for observing the mitzvot – firstly and most importantly because God tells us to. Secondly there was in the ancient understanding an idea that people who obeyed them would be rewarded, and people who disobeyed risked punishment. Then there were two different types of reason given in Torah – that the mitzvot were intrinsically imbued with divine wisdom, and that they would lead us to achieving holiness.  {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

Each person who wants to become a Child of God, or to belong to God’s People shall have to resign oneself to the Will of God. But none can belong to the children of God when they do not accept others to be their brethren and sisters, and loving them as their siblings. The agape love for the others is a indispensible necessary part of belonging to God’s family.

In Judaism as in Christianity too there might be a tension in their tradition

– do we do the commandments (mitzvot) simply because there is a Commander (metzaveh) who told us to do this and this should be enough, or do we search out a meaning behind each mitzvah? And if we do the latter, what happens if we cannot find a suitable reason and meaning? Do we abandon the mitzvah as unreasonable or pointless? Or do we continue to do it in the hope that meaning will emerge? After all, at Sinai the people famously answered “na’aseh ve’nishma, [first] we will do it and [subsequently] we will understand”. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

The tension and balancing between holding a religious belief and a rationalist position was as great in the ancient world as it is today. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

For those who love God ‘blind faith’ was never a prerequisite, neither of a Jewish life nor of a Christian life.

Judaism tends to the position of na’aseh ve’nishma – doing in order to understand, blending faith and reason and giving neither the upper hand, but instead knowing that if we behave “as if” we believe, if we follow the way of mitzvot, then further understanding may come. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

From Scriptures we should come to understand there is no way of doing “as if” because God sees the heart and He does knows each of us. We can not hide anything from Him.

1 Samuel 16:7 The Scriptures 1998+  (7)  But יהוה {Jehovah} said to Shemu’ĕl, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for not as man sees, for man looks at the eyes, but יהוה {Jehovah} looks at the heart.”

Jeremiah 17:10 The Scriptures 1998+  (10)  “I, יהוה {Jehovah}, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Moses with the Two New Tables of Stone (illust...

Moses with the Two New Tables of Stone (illustration from the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Our hearts may not be removed from God and by our way of living we should show to others how God is in our heart. Our heart, our feelings but also how we act should always be pure, full of love for God and His commandments. When we are willing to give ourselves into God’s Hands He will bring us where He wants us to be.

Proverbs 21:1-3 The Scriptures 1998+  (1)  The sovereign’s heart is as channels of water In the hand of יהוה {Jehovah}; He turns it wherever He wishes.  (2)  All a man’s ways are right in his own eyes, But יהוה {Jehovah} weighs the hearts.  (3)  To do righteousness and right-ruling Is more acceptable to יהוה {Jehovah} than a slaughtering.

Each day we have to work at ourself taking care we keep to the commandments of God.

Meanwhile we are impacting on ourselves and on our world in a positive way as we are directed to behaviour that may not be our first instinct – to support the poor and downtrodden, to value life, to respect the boundaries of others, to rein in our own power and desires so as not to trample over the lives of others. The list goes on. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

As tradition says again and again in different words, the same message:  “the commandments were given only to refine God’s creatures…”(Midrash Tanchuma). They change us, they cause us to think about what we are doing and not to act out of immediate self interest, they shape our behaviour and ultimately they may help us to bring holiness into our world. {Parashat Mishpatim. What is the purpose of mitzvot?}

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Preceding

When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation

A Royal Rule given to followers of Christ

First man’s task still counting today

Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion

He who knows himself, is kind to others

Luther’s misunderstanding

January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works

Our life depending on faith

Romans 4 and the Sacraments

Is Justification a process?

Letter to the Romans, chapter 3

Letter to the Romans, chapter 4

Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans

Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4

Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works

Which is worse–works without faith, or faith without works?

Christians remaining hidden not sharing the gospel

Witnessing because we love

Leading people astray!

Crisis man needed in this world

Preaching Christ Is Not Enough

Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news

Preaching by example

A Christian has to have eyes and ears and a tongue to use in good ways

Daring to speak in multicultural environment

Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach

What Should I Preach ?

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Additional reading

  1. Bible in the first place #1/3
  2. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
  3. Creator and Blogger God 4 Expounding voice
  4. Creator and Blogger God 6 For His people
  5. God-breathed prophetic words written torah and the mitzvot to teach us
  6. Words God speaks unto all and the Spirit that quickens
  7. The Bible is a today book
  8. Statutes given unto us
  9. Necessary to be known all over the earth
  10. God’s design in the creation of the world
  11. Time passing away
  12. Best intimate relation to look for
  13. Let us not forget it was God who chose us
  14. Daily Spiritual Food To prepare ourselves for the Kingdom of God
  15. Engaging the culture without losing the gospel
  16. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  17. Knowing where to go to
  18. I Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late !
  19. The inspiring divine spark
  20. A good idea to halt all activity for one hour some day
  21. Eternity depends upon this short time on earth
  22. Act as if everything you think, say and do determines your entire life
  23. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
  24. Foundation to go the distance
  25. Preferring to be a Christian
  26. Aim High: Examples of Godly Characters to follow
  27. Purify my heart
  28. United people under Christ
  29. Honesty beginning of holiness
  30. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
  31. How we think shows through in how we act
  32. Object of first woe
  33. Think hard before you act today

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Further reading

  1. The Kotel Decision: The Parties at the Table
  2. Mishpatim פרשת משפטים
  3. Mishpatim – Who’s Serving Whom?
  4. Shift and Consolidation: Thoughts on the Torah Portions Mishpatim and Terumah
  5. Commentary for Mishpatim
  6. Mishpatim – Its just a White Lie
  7. When the plumbers stop society’s moral leaks
  8. Parashat Mishpatim /
  9. Shabbat Parashat Mishpatim 5776–Shabbat Torah Study at Adat Shalom Synagogue–Don’t Make Him Tell on You
  10. Mishpatim – Wholly Love
  11. Parshat Hashavuah: Mishpatim by Alex Gage
  12. Scripture for 2.5.2016
  13. Stole My Heart – Parshat Mishpatim 5776
  14. Parsha Mishpatim
  15. Shabbat Shalom! – Mishpatim
  16. Dvar Torah Parshat Mishpatim 5776 2016
  17. Mishpatim 5774 – Visión y Detalles
  18. Double Cry – Mishpatim 5776
  19. Il monoteismo etico – Parashat Mishpatim
  20. Mishpatim: Where heaven and earth converge
  21. Parenting by the Parshah – Mishpatim
  22. Parashat Kedoshim – What is it doing here?

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19 Comments

Filed under Lifestyle, Religious affairs

The works we have to do according to James

 

“2  You must consider it the purest joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, 3 for you surely know that what is genuine in your faith produces the patient mind that endures; 4 but you must let your endurance come to its perfect product, so that you may be fully developed and perfectly equipped, without any defects.
5 But if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God who generously gives to everyone and never reproaches one with its lack, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without a doubt, for the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is whirled and swayed by the wind. 7 Such a man, indeed, 8 a person with two minds, unreliable in every step he takes, (1:7A) must not expect to get anything from the Lord.

9 Let the poor brother of lowly station rejoice in his exalted station as a Christian, 10 and the rich brother rejoice in his being on a level with the poor, because the rich will fade away like the flower of the grass.” (James 1:2-10 Williams)

“12 Blessed is the person who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

13  No one must say, when he is tempted to do evil, “I have a temptation from God to do evil,” for God cannot be tempted to do evil, and He never tempts anyone to do so. 14 But anyone is tempted to do evil when he is allured by his own evil desire and enticed by a bait. 15 Then evil desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is completed, it brings forth death.” (James 1:12-15 Williams)

“19  You must understand this, my dearly loved brothers. Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a man’s anger does not produce the uprightness that God requires.
21 So strip yourselves of everything impure and all the evils prevailing around you, and in humble spirit welcome the message which when rooted in your hearts is able to save your souls.

22 Keep on obeying this message; do not merely listen to it, and so deceive yourselves. 23 Because if anyone merely listens to the message without obeying it, he is like a man who looks in a mirror at his own face, 24 for he looks and then goes off and at once forgets how he looked. 25 But the man who looks at the flawless law that makes men free, and keeps on looking, proving himself to be, not a forgetful hearer but an actual doer of what it requires, will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives himself, his religious worship is worthless. 27 A religious worship that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the Father is this: To look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep one’s own self unstained by the world.” (James 1:19-27 Williams)

“1  My brothers, stop trying to maintain your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious presence of God on earth, along with acts of partiality to certain ones. 2 For if a man with a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, comes to your meeting, and at the same time a poor man clad in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the man who wears the fine clothes, and say to him, “Sit here in this fine place,” and say to the poor man, “Stand up, or sit there on the floor at my feet,” 4 do you not make improper distinctions among yourselves and prove to be critics with evil motives?” (James 2:1-4 Williams)

“8  But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, “You must love your neighbor as you do yourself,” you are doing right; 9 but if you show partiality, you are committing sin, because you are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
10 For whoever obeys the whole law, except to slip in a single instance, is guilty of breaking it all.

11 For He who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are just the same as a lawbreaker.

12 You must continue talking and acting like people who are to be judged by the law that treats them as free. 13 For merciless judgment will be the portion of the merciless man; yet mercy will triumph over judgment.

14  My brothers, what good is there in a man’s saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it?

15 If some brother or sister is thinly clad and has no food for the day, 16 and one of you says to him, “Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have a plenty,” without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do?

17 So faith by itself, if it has no deeds to back it up, is dead. 18 But someone may say, “You have faith, and I have good deeds. Show me your faith without any good deeds, but I will show you mine by my good deeds.”

19 Do you believe in one God? Very well; the demons, too, believe that, and shudder. 20 But, O senseless man, are you willing to learn that faith without good deeds is worthless?

21 Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be upright by his good deeds, namely, by offering Isaac his son upon the altar?

22 You see that faith co-operated with his good deeds, and by his good deeds faith was made complete; 23 and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him for uprightness, and he was called God’s friend.”

24 You see that a man is shown to be upright by his good deeds, and not merely by his faith.

25 Was not even Rahab the prostitute shown to be upright by her good deeds, namely, by entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road? 26 Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without good deeds is dead.” (James 2:8-26 Williams)

“13  Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him show by his noble living that his good deeds are done in humility, which wisdom prompts. 14 But if you cherish bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, stop being proud of it and stop being false to the standard of truth. 15 This is not the kind of wisdom that comes down from above; no, it is earthly, human, demoniacal. 16 For wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and all sorts of evil practices. 17 The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, free from doubts and insincerity. 18 The harvest of uprightness is grown from the seed of peace by those who are peacemakers.” (James 3:13-18 Williams)

“1  What causes wars and quarrels among you? Is it not your different desires which are ever at war within your bodies?
You desire things and cannot have them, and so you commit murder. 2 You covet things, but cannot acquire them, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not have them, because you do not ask for them. 3 You ask and fail to get them, because you ask with evil, selfish motives, to spend them on your pleasures.

4 You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God. 5 Or, do you think that the Scripture means nothing when it says, “He jealously yearns for the Spirit that He causes to dwell in your hearts”? 6 But He gives a greater spiritual blessing. He says, “God opposes haughty people but blesses humble people.”

7 So then, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Get your hands clean, you sinners. Get your hearts purified, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable, mourn, and weep aloud. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you high.

11  Stop talking against one another, brothers. Whoever is in the habit of talking against a brother or of criticizing his brother is criticizing and condemning the law. But if you are in the habit of criticizing the law, you are not a practicer but a critic of the law.
12 There is but one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who has the power to save and to destroy; then who are you that you presume to judge your brother?” (James 4:1-12 Williams)

“7 So be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer keeps on waiting and waiting for the precious crop from his land; how he keeps up his patience over it until he gets the early and the late rains.
8 You must be patient, too; you must put iron into your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is close it hand. 9 Stop muttering against one another, brothers, so as to keep from being judged yourselves.
Look! The Judge is standing at the very door. 10 As an example of ill-treatment and patience, brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:7-10 Williams)

“12  Above all, my brothers, stop swearing, either by heaven or by the earth, or by anything else. Let your “Yes” mean Yes, and your “No,” No, so as to keep from falling under condemnation.

13 Is any one of you suffering ill-treatment? He should keep on praying. Is anyone in a happy mood? He should keep on singing praise to God.

14 Is anyone sick among you? He should call in the elders of the church, and they should pray over him, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, 15 and the prayer that is offered in faith will save the sick man; the Lord will raise him to health, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16 So practice confessing your sins to one another, and praying for one another, that you may be cured. An upright man’s prayer, when it keeps at work, is very powerful.” (James 5:12-16 Williams)

“19 My brothers, if any one of you has wandered away from the truth, and someone brings him back, 20 you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man’s soul from death, and cover up a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 Williams)

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Part of Dutch version / Gedeelte van de Nederlandstalige versie: De aanduiding door Paulus en Jacobus van de werken die wij horen te doen

Preceding articles

  1. Leading people astray!
  2. Restitution
  3. Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
  4. Luther’s misunderstanding
  5. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  6. Our life depending on faith
  7. Romans 4 and the Sacraments
  8. Is Justification a process?
  9. Justification – salvation is by grace through faith – JI Packer
  10. Faith itself not the cause of justification – Louis Berkhof
  11. Letter to the Romans, chapter 3
  12. Letter to the Romans, chapter 4
  13. Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
  14. Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4
  15. Which is worse–works without faith, or faith without works?
  16. James 2:14-23 — Justified Dynamic Faith & works
  17. James 2:24 – You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
  18. James 2:25. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
  19. Paul giving notice of the works we have to do

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Read also other articles as:

  1. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  2. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
  3. The way of salvation
  4. A “seed” for the blessing of all mankind would come through the family of Abraham
  5. God works faith
  6. Faith is the belief that god will do what is right
  7. Christ’s ethical teaching
  8.  Being Justified by faith
  9. Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.
  10. Faith Requires a Basis
  11. Walking in love by faith, not by sight
  12. Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
  13. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
  14. A Living Faith #2 State of your faith
  15. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
  16. A Living Faith #4 Effort
  17. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
  18. A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
  19. Faith and works
  20. Sharing your faith
  21. Bearing fruit
  22. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
  23. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
  24. Be holy
  25. 1 Corinthians 15 Hope in action
  26. Chief means by which men are built up
  27. Not to play at Christianity
  28. To be established in the present truth
  29. She who sows thistles will reap prickles
  30. Love for each other attracting others
  31. Share your faith
  32. Outflow of foundational relationship based on acceptance of Jesus
  33. Faith, storms and actions to be taken
  34. The longer you wait

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27 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Lifestyle, Quotations from Holy Scriptures, Religious affairs

Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans

The Christadelphian Agora comments

Reading 3 – Rom 3:9,10

“What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one’ ” (Rom 3:9,10).

“Our guilt is great because our sins are exceedingly numerous. It is not merely outward acts of unkindness and dishonesty with which we are chargeable. Our habitual and characteristic state of mind is evil in the sight of God.

“Our pride and indifference to His will and to the welfare of others and our loving the creature more than the Creator are continuous violations of His holy law. We have never been or done what that law requires us to be and to do. We have never had delight in that fixed purpose to do the will and promote the glory of God. We are always sinners; we are at all times and under all circumstances in opposition to God.

“If we have never loved Him supremely, if we have never made it our purpose to do His will, if we have never made His glory the end of our actions, then our lives have been an unbroken series of transgressions. Our sins are not to be numbered by the conscious violations of duty; they are as numerous as the moments of our existence” (Charles Hodge).

Peter Forbes comments:

3:2  If the Jews had a benefit simply because the Word of God was committed to them how do we view that same word? Do we feel privileged simply because we can read Scripture freely in our own tongue?

3:3 Paul (2Tim 2:13) develops the principles of this verse for the benefit of Timothy. – We have noted before that David’s Psalm (32) is used by Paul to speak of the way in which God forgives. Reflecting on what David had done – committed adultery and murdered a man – we probably cannot think of two more evil crimes. But it is these two crimes which God forgave which forms the basis of Paul’s encouragement to us.

David and Bathsheba, by Henry Bone (died 1834)...

David and Bathsheba, by Henry Bone (died 1834). See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3:4 The quotation ‘that thou mightest be justified …‘ from Psalm 51:4 marks the beginning of an appeal to the repentance of David after his adultery with Bathsheba – see the title of the Psalm. This incident in David’s life, as terrible as it was, marks the magnitude of the Father’s forgiveness towards a repentant sinner. More notes on this in Romans 4.

3:4‘that thou … art judged’ is a quotation from Psa 51:4 That Psalm is a Psalm speaking specifically of David’s sin with Bathsheba. Paul highlights that the Psalm, though specifically speaking to David, actually has a general application to all.

3:5 This is the first of a number of occasions when Paul asks a question which he then answers himself. The others are Rom 4:1,  6:1, 7:7

Painting by Rembrandt of Paul, one of the most...

Painting by Rembrandt of Paul, one of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, who called himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” Paul, a Hellenistic Jew, was very influential on the shift of Christianity to Gentile dominated movement. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3:7-8   The “lie” that Paul is thinking about is the charge laid on him by others that he said “Let us do evil that good may come”.

3:8  The charge laid on Paul is similar to the hypothetical question he asks in Rom 6:1.

3:9     The teaching of Paul that we ‘are all under sin’ is quoted by Paul later – Gal 3:22–This is one of many times where Paul quotes elements of this letter to the Romans to other churches. Thus we see that Romans seems to be a letter that many of the other churches were aware of.

3:19 The phrase ‘every mouth may be stopped’ echoes the sentiments of Psa 107:42 thus demonstrating that the teaching that all men are sinners is not confined to the New Testament but is a clear Old Testament teaching.

3:23,24 These adjacent verses are at the opposite ends of the spectrum as far as the mind of man is concerned. One has to recognise the situation outlined in v 23 before one can be in the state described in v 24. Justification is only available to those who recognise their own personal need for salvation.

3:25-26        We should reflect carefully on the fact that God’s righteousness is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our God is not a vindictive cruel God. Rather, as shown by the way He responded to Jesus’ obedience, He is merciful – which we should appreciate anyway because of the way in which He describes Himself –Exo 34:6-7

3:31   To the Jew the idea that the Law of Moses was no longer the route to pleasing God (if it ever was) was a major problem. So they needed to know that ‘faith’ did not remove the need for obedience

Peter Cresswell comments

English: manuscript of the Epistle to the Roma...

manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans (fragment) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3:4 – Here we see a principle that we cannot ignore.  Let God be true is a clear instruction to us not to make God into what we think He should be – not to impose on Him what we feel are the qualities of a god, but instead to open our minds to let Him show us what he really is in truth.  We are still on the theme from the previous chapters which tell us how to avoid being like those whose worship is distorted.  Let us take heed, as through this we can be justified by faith, as we are being prepared to learn next.

3:20 tells us that the law can’t save because by it there is knowledge of sin.  This shows us that the law is inextricably tied up with the original curse – that we should know good and evil.  At the end this curse will be removed and we will know only good.  We do well to remember that this knowledge of good and evil is a curse, not a privilege.  One day, those who are saved, will leave it far behind.  One could argue that by God’s grace, we already have – 5:21, 6:7 – but in that day it will be actual.  Evil will no longer be remembered or contemplated or come into mind.  We must ask ourselves: Are we ready to leave behind the choice to do evil, without looking back, or do we still consider it a privilege?

Cliff York comments

Romans 3:9 – “for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin” – in chapters one and two. Paul painted a word picture, first of the Gentile world – Romans 1 – then the Jewish world, which was even worse, for they had access to God’s righteousness – Romans 2.

v12-18 – Paul describes the cadaver of sin. As Paul’s scalpel opens up the body of sin, first the throat, then the tongue, lips, mouth, feet, and eyes are laid bare and examined – Hebrews 4:12-13. And Paul’s conclusion is given in v23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  What does this tell us? We all need Jesus Christ. No-one will be in God’s Kingdom who has not entrusted his life and his salvation to the only name given among men whereby they might be saved – Acts 4:12.

John Wilson comments

Rom 3:25  “to declare his  righteousness.” Christ, the bearer of the sins of the people. Not that Christ might be punished for others, but that God’s righteousness might be declared for others to see that they might be forgiven.

David Simpson comments

Rom 3:9-20 has at least 7 quotations from the Psalms, and one from Isaiah. Then in Rom 4 we can find 7 times when Abraham’s name is written.  There is no doubt, is there, where the Gospel’s foundation is laid?

Valerie Mello comments

Rom 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

A reader writes: “even though our Lord did not commit one single sin – even of omission, he still Came Short of the glory of Yahweh – by his very mortality that he inherited by his birth of a mortal woman – meaning he had to make atonement by his death for his ‘falling short’ of the glory of Yahweh by reason of his birth by a mortal woman who, wonderful as she was, still possessed a sin-prone nature herself.”

My reply: In Rom 1, Paul pointed out mankind’s refusal to acknowledge God and God’s truth and how God gave mankind over to their lusts and the practice of sin. Then in Rom 2, Paul describes God’s judgment on both the Gentiles and the Jews. In Rom 3, Paul sums up his argument and makes it clear that all of mankind is under sin and that “every mouth will be silenced and the whole world will be held accountable to God.” With regard to God’s judgment there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, rich or poor, priest or beggar, businessmen or drunk, churchgoer and atheist, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It does not say or imply that Christ because of his human nature fell short of God’s glory!

In Rom 3:22, we read that the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ to “all” – that is, mankind in general, Jews and Gentiles, “unto all and upon all that believe: for there is no difference” (cf. vv. 21,23). To fall short of the glory of God is to be in need of righteousness, a righteousness imputed to us by God through Christ (2Cor 5:21).

In Matt 5:20, we are warned that our righteousness must exceed those of the Pharisees. What Jesus is telling us is that it is not enough to submit to mere outward conformity as characterized by the Pharisees, but that it must be of both inward and outward conformity. Obeying the Law was more than just abstaining from killing, or stealing, etc., it also dealt with our inward being. So it is with us under the Law of Christ, and we can only exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees if we submit to Christ. Our own righteousness will never be good enough no matter how hard we try (cf. Isa 64:6).

Jesus was the only one who could lead a perfect life to the law of God in thought, word, and deed. Jesus’ mission was not simply to die on the cross. He had to be the Lamb without blemish, without sin. He had to live a life of perfect obedience, which he did and became the righteousness of God and, thus, could not have fallen short of God’s glory. Irrespective of Christ’s human sin-prone nature, he did not fall short, but continued in all things that were written in the book of the law to do them, otherwise, how could his righteousness be imputed to us, irrespective of our human nature (cf. 1Pet 5:10)? Christ was the perfect sacrifice and we can be made perfect only in him. We are to be Christ-like (cf. 2Cor 3:18).

Christ’s passive obedience (Isa 53:7) pays our sin debt and his active obedience of a sinless life gives us the perfection required by God if we submit (cf. Matt 5:48). What is required of us is active and passive obedience to Christ. Jesus came to undo what Adam did in committing and omitting, by which his character was tarnished and sin entered the flesh and passed on to his descendants – his sin was imputed to us (Rom 5:17-19). This was man’s fall from glory and made him in need of glory.  Man was created in God’s image for God’s glory (1Cor 11:7; Isa 43:7). Christ came to restore for us what Adam lost. We must have Christ’s righteousness, active and passive, transforming us from sinners who fell short of the glory of God to saints of God who fulfill the glory of God in Christ, or God will not accept us.

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Preceding articles

Elul Observances

To find ways of Godly understanding

Luther’s misunderstanding

January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works

Our life depending on faith

Romans 4 and the Sacraments

Is Justification a process?

Letter to the Romans, chapter 3

Letter to the Romans, chapter 4

Continue reading: Additional comments to the 4th Letter to the Romans

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Additional reading

  1. Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50
  2. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4
  3. Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1
  4. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  5. Imprisonment and execution of Jesus Christ
  6. The seven last sayings of Christ discussed in the new edition of the Christadelphian
  7. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #15 Exposition before the Creator
  8. God’s wrath and sanctification
  9. Condemnation of the World and Illustration of Justification
  10. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  11. Atonement and the race been bought
  12. Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
  13. 138) Cheap Grace
  14. Christianity without the Trinity
  15. Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2
  16. A Living Faith #7 Prayer
  17. Growth in character
  18. Love is like playing the piano
  19. Forgiveness is a blessing for the one who forgives
  20. He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass
  21. Forgiveness always possible
  22. A man who cannot forgive others
  23. Answering a fool according to his folly
  24. Why we do not keep to a Sabbath or a Sunday or Lord’s Day #5 Not law binding
  25. When not seeing or not finding a biblically sound church
  26. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
  27. Breathing to teach

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Further readings

  1. The creation of Earth and Man, the fall of Man, the cursed Earth, the redemption of Man, the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of Man, the New Earth
  2. The Justification of Abraham
  3. Joseph and the justification of evil/sin
  4. Law and Grace
  5. Justification, Sanctification and Perseverance – By Grace through Faith
  6. Justification is by faith
  7. Why Justifying yourself is Destroying you!
  8. Are Good Works Necessary for Salvation?
  9. Faith itself not the cause of justification – Louis Berkhof
  10. Theories of Atonement: Recapitulation Theory
  11. Practical Theology
  12. Michael Horton Differentiates Law and Gospel
  13. Old and New Perspectives on Paul: A Third Way?
  14. Why the Law? Part 2
  15. The Justified Dead
  16. It’s not about you
  17. Reflective Paragraphs Week 4 – Romans 3
  18. Romans 3
  19. Daily Devotional – Romans 3:1-8
  20. Romans 3:9
  21. Daily Devotional – Romans 3:9-20
  22. Daily Devotional – Romans 3:21-31
  23. “And where does that leave our proud religious claim of having a corner on God? Canceled.” ~~Apostle Paul
  24. The Best Way to “Stand Up” For Jesus: Revisiting Romans
  25. What works was Paul talking about in Romans?
  26. Nullify the Torah?
  27. Under The Law
  28. Psalm 57 – As a Deaf Adder; A Sermon Preached at the Amarillo Primitive Baptist Church – Sunday, October 18, 2015
  29. Apart From The Law Of Righteousness
  30. Confessions of a Hypocrite
  31. You are without excuse
  32. Are we good?
  33. More Fashionable Fig Leaves
  34. Elihu – A Word for young leaders
  35. Salvation & Obedience
  36. Would Your Faith Save You?
  37. Let Go of the Ladder
  38. The Playing Field Is Level!
  39. My Utmost For His Highest: The Nature Of Reconciliation
  40. Obedience apart from Christ won’t justify
  41. That One Sin!
  42. The Only Martyr
  43. we’re all “heirs according to the promise” – but we all fall short
  44. Everybody needs Jesus
  45. Rub Your Eyes (Rondel Grande)
  46. Romans Devotional- Day 25
  47. The Anatomy Of God
  48. When Perfect Is Not A Good Thing – Part 1
  49. When Perfect Is Not A Good Thing – Part 2
  50. Is just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned the true meaning of justification?
  51. My Sinfulness
  52. If you love yourself….
  53. Good Behavior
  54. God is righteous and just (God is good 4)
  55. PT. 9 (The end) You are justified in Christ
  56. Day 11: I Declare My Righteousness Is In Christ Jesus
  57. Subjected For Our Sake.
  58. Guilt & Shame Misapplied
  59. God Glories in Making You Righteous
  60. Our Comforter is our Peace
  61. We Distinguish…(Part 5) — Active/Passive Obedience
  62. We Distinguish…(Part 6) — Moral/Ceremonial/Civil
  63. Those Who Practice Such Things Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God
  64. Do I seek approval?

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Filed under Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Lifestyle, Religious affairs

‘I try to keep my hate in check. If you can’t hate, you can’t love.’

The author of this article thinks religion has robbed us of freedom to think and listen to our inner selves, but true Christianity demands just that. The Divine Creator requests us to place ourselves in the whole universe and to go deeper in our inner being. God demands us to come to know our own “I” and to make it not a “selfish I” but to come to an acceptable relationship with those around us.

The author also ask us to imagine a life where equality existed and institutions crumbled, which “is what keeps him pushing along”.

Those who read and come to know the Bible shall not be “misguided souls who choose to work in prisons” but the opposite shall become liberated beings who are no slave any more of this world. For them they shall know that no human being can do them something very bad. Even when they would take the life or the person this would not be the worst thing, because once death all suffering shall be ended and life gone, the person having done the killing not having accomplished much more and not been liberated himself of the agonies which are bothering his mind. The opposite he (the murderer) shall have some extra worries or bad dreams “en plus”.

To the Inside-Outside Alliance group of people who claim to be trying to support the struggles of those inside (or formerly inside) Durham County jail, and their families and friends, we would advice to revise their idea about religion and ask them not to take away the dreams of a better life which really can come true when a person does find the right religion.

By pushing all religion into the corner and to consider it evil is taking away the right of the prisoner to have a hold or guidance to become a better person or for the one who is imprisoned unlawfully to see the good his imprisonment may bring to his other inmates. Because even imprisoned we can do good to others and should be doing good to others. Even when we may be literally chained we do not have to be spiritually chained and even when they would put us in an isolation cell we can be very free when we are willing to make ourselves strong enough so that the other his limitations on us do not obstruct our self-development and our own being.

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To remember

The theory of will power

cause of demoralization in prisons:  All transgressions of accepted moral standards = to lack of a strong will

majority of inmates of prisons = people who did not have sufficient strength to resist the temptations surrounding them or to control a passion which momentarily carried them away.

In prisons = monasteries = everything done to kill a man’s will => no choice between one of two acts ==> whole life regulated + ordered in advance => to swim with the current, to obey under pain of severe punishment.

will power disappears

prison = done everything to kill inner strength > make him docile tool in hands of those who control him

penal system based on the deprivation of individual liberty

 

sound of chains + steel banging all the time = enough to test the strongest will = will break you

all we can do = give advice to people +live a moral life.

Misguided hate can hurt

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Preceding articles

Remain lovingly = No path for softies

Crying is good for inner self!!

A little ray of sunshine.

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Additional reading

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Amplify Voices Inside

Kropotkin wrote a lot on the wrongs of prisons. These two paragraphs hit the nail on the head for me. Sadly I feel these effects.

The theory of will power

“There is another important cause of demoralization in prisons. All transgressions of accepted moral standards may be ascribed to lack of a strong will. the majority of inmates of prisons are people who did not have sufficient strength to resist the temptations surrounding them or to control a passion which momentarily carried them away. In prisons as in monasteries, everything is done to kill a man’s will.

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Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Juridical matters, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters

A Secular Mindset

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To remember

  • terrorism has no religion
  • People posting untruthful things about Quran
  • Islam = Arabic word salam = peace => Islam literally = submission to God through peace => =/= “Islamic Terrorism” = “Peace Violence” = total paradox
  • Terrorism = completely secular mindset
  • 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.

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Additional reading

  1. A world with or without religion
  2. Why is it that Christians don’t understand Muslims and Muslims do not understand Christians?
  3. Koran fragments found in UK library are among world’s oldest, says university
  4. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
  5. Abu Hamza is gone, but Britain is still a hotbed of radical hatred
  6. Forced marriage and Islam
  7. ISIS, Mosul Dam and threatening lives of those who want to live in freedom
  8. Not making any remarks based on the intellect or logic
  9. Do Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, ISIS and ISIL belong to true Islam
  10. Condemning QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi their extremist ideologies and to clarify the true teachings of Islam
  11. Obama’s Needless War Against The Islamic State Puts Americans At Risk: Washington Should Let ISIL’s Neighbors Defeat The Caliphate-Wannabe
  12. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
  13. ISIS is the Antithesis of Hajj, the Holy Pilgrimage
  14. Public not informed enough about Jihad terrorism in Belgium
  15. Declaring a Jihad Against ISIS
  16. Teaching permittion to kill infidels
  17. More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities
  18. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
  19. Quran can convert to Christianity
  20. Quran versus older Holy Writings of Divine Creator
  21. Al-Fatiha [The Opening/De Opening] Süra 1:1-3 In the name of Allah the Merciful Lord Of The Creation
  22. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path

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Triple Threat

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…

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Filed under Crimes & Atrocities, Political affairs, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Religious affairs, World affairs

Abortion — Not a Trouble-Free Solution

A tantamount to murder

Bill had grown up to believe that abortion was a serious sin, tantamount to murder. But his firm, decades-long stand softened in 1975 when this issue became personal. His girlfriend, Victoria, became pregnant, and Bill could not face the commitment of marriage and parenthood.

“I quickly opted for the convenient solution,”

admitted Bill,

“and told Victoria that she had to have an abortion.”

Pregnancy in the 26th week.

Pregnancy in the 26th week. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What Bill called a convenient solution to an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy is not uncommon. A 2007 global study reported that in 2003 there were an estimated 42 million induced abortions worldwide. Women who have abortions come from every race and nationality, from a variety of religious backgrounds, and from every level of income, education, and age between puberty and menopause. If you were facing an unwanted pregnancy, how would you react? Why do so many choose abortion?

‘All I Could See Was One Option’

“I had just gone through a scary pregnancy and a hard birth, and there was a mountain of monetary and family stress,”

explained a 35-year-old woman.

“Then six weeks after the birth, I was pregnant again. We decided for abortion. In my heart I felt it was wrong, but all I could see was this one option.”

Women seek abortions for a variety of reasons, ranging from financial problems to a failed, perhaps abusive, relationship that results in their not wanting any further ties with the man. Or the pregnancy may simply not fit into the plans of the woman or the couple.

At times, abortion is chosen to protect a reputation. Such was true of the case reported on by Dr. Susan Wicklund in her book This Common Secret—My Journey as an Abortion Doctor. A patient of hers who was seeking an abortion confessed:

“My parents are very religious. . . . If I have a baby out of wedlock, it would be a mark on them. It would say to all their friends that their daughter has sinned.”

Dr. Wicklund then asked:

“Okay, so you’ve sinned in their eyes, but how do they feel about abortion?”

The girl confided:

“Oh, abortion. That’s totally unforgivable. But it’s the lesser evil because it would be a secret. If I have an abortion, [my parents’] friends in church will never know.”

Regardless of the situation, usually the decision to terminate a pregnancy deliberately is not an easy one. It is often intensely painful. But is abortion a trouble-free solution?

Consider the Consequences

A 2004 research study of 331 Russian and 217 American women who had an induced abortion revealed that about half of both groups felt bad after the abortion. Nearly 50 percent of the Russians and almost 80 percent of the Americans felt “guilt” over the procedure. More than 60 percent of the American women were ‘unable to forgive themselves.’ Since guilt is such a pervasive problem — even among those who do not consider themselves religious — why do so many young women still have abortions?

They often come under intense pressure to have an abortion. Parents, a mate, or well-meaning friends may encourage abortion as a lesser of two evils. This can lead to a hasty, ill-informed decision.

“However, after the stressfulness of the decision and the procedure have ended,”

explained Dr. Priscilla Coleman, an expert on the mental-health risks of abortion,

“women’s cognitive abilities return to normal, often ushering in feelings of pronounced guilt, sadness, and regret.”

This regret often centers on the question: Did the abortion terminate a life that already existed?
A report by the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion concluded that many pregnant women considering an abortion

“were misled into thinking that nothing but ‘tissue’ was being removed, and relate that they would not have had an abortion if they were told the truth.”

After an evaluation of the “stunning and heart-wrenching testimony” of 1,940 women who had abortions, the study concluded:

“Many of these women are angered by grief at the loss of a child they were told never existed.”

It also stated that

“the psychological harm of knowing she killed her child is often devastating.”

But what is the truth? Does an abortion merely remove some tissue from a pregnant woman’s body? Is an unborn child actually a living person while in the womb?

GIVING BIRTH VERSUS HAVING AN ABORTION

A 2006 study reviewed the life history of scores of women who became pregnant as teenagers. Half of them gave birth, and the other half had abortions. The study concluded that

“childbirth was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving psychological counselling services, less frequent sleep problems, and a lower probability of smoking marijuana when compared to abortion.” — Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Another report provided

“the results of the four largest record based studies in the world.”

What did these studies reveal?

“Women with a known history of abortion experience higher rates of mental health problems of various forms when compared to women without a known abortion history.” — Report of the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion—2005.

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About this subject:

Should I Have An Abortion

My Choice (by Jezabel Jonson)

The Real ‘Choice’

“They Told Me What I Wanted To Hear” – Real Abortion Stories

The Things We Carry, by Penny

Not an easy decision to make

Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion

Stop Burning Rape Survivors at the Stake

How to heal after childhood sexual abuse

“Til It Happens To You” by Lady Gaga

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Additional reading:

  1. I can’t believe that … (4) God’s word would be so violent
  2. I Can’t Believe That … (2) God would allow children to suffer
  3. God does not change
  4. A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person
  5. About lions and babies
  6. Westboro Baptist Church and Catholic Truth against Nelson Mandela
  7. Always a choice

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Further reading:

  1. Things people say…. and don’t
  2. The Sexual Revolution hurts everyone, especially children
  3. On consent & choice; objectification & violence
  4. When Does Life Begin?
  5. New study: unborn babies are viable at 22 weeks
  6. Frozen Embryos, Parenthood, and Personal Property
  7. Abortion objectifies both women and children
  8. If the baby is part of the woman’s body…
  9. Mum whose unborn baby was cut out from womb shares ordeal …
  10. A Letter To My “Almost” Baby
  11. To My Children, That May Never Be,
  12. Diary Of An Unborn Child – Anon
  13. Letter to My Unborn Child – 7
  14. It’s your choice (Part 3)
  15. Why You Should Take Iodine In Pregnancy
  16. What is abortion?
  17. ABORTION: THE HARD AND SOFT OF IT
  18. Relentless War on Unborn Babies
  19. Abortion on Demand and Without Apology
  20. The Real Story of an Abortion
  21. Since Abortion Was Legalized in the U.S., Women’s Risk of Breast Cancer Has Quadrupled
  22. A generation lost
  23. The Risk Factors Associated with Abortions
  24. Feminism, Patriarchy and Misogyny
  25. Celebrities, Activists Read Misognynist Anti-Abortion Tweets from Trolls
  26. Scott Klusendorf defends the pro-life view on the Unbelievable radio show
  27. Planned Parenthood executive admits abortion victim is a baby in fourth video
  28. Governor Scott Walker signs ban on pain-capable abortions
  29. Clinton-appointed judge rules that pro-life license plates are “patently offensive”
  30. Apologetics, Diatoms and the Flood, patriarchy, and more!
  31. Barbara Kay: Tough questions on the health risks of abortion remain
  32. The Damning Middle Path of Abortion Stances
  33. Nauru refugee and rape victim sent home after not making ‘quick’ decision about abortion
  34. Planned Parenthood attacks are the pettiest of politics
  35. Looking the Other Way!
  36. Churches That Don’t Speak Against Abortion Are Like 19th Century Congregations That Stayed Silent on Slavery
  37. Clueless
  38. Kansas court speeds handling of lawsuit over abortion law
  39. Proposed Bill Would Restrict Abortion Clinic Doctors
  40. The Story behind The Keyhole- Part 1
  41. Grandma Palin Couldn’t be Prouder of Her Pro-Death Stance
  42. Choosing a cursed life
  43. Connecticut court case takes up issue of when fetuses become people
  44. How Should Christians Respond to Abortion?
  45. Another Consequence of a Liberal Victory
  46. “Empty the Uterus”
  47. Bodies that matter. Bodies that don’t.

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Filed under Being and Feeling, Health affairs, Lifestyle, Social affairs, Welfare matters