Tag Archives: Pope Francis I

by Guestspeaker | 2023/08/26 · 6:30 pm

World Youth Day in Lisbon 2023

The estimated attendance at World Youth Day in Lisbon was as much as 50 percent higher than expected. While only about 350,000 pilgrims had registered, organisers expected a million for the vigil and the final Mass. Estimates suggest, though, that as many as 1.5 million youth were actually in attendance.

In these times when there is not exactly a lot of focus on the church scene and God, the attention that was awakened in the young people may be called incredible. In fact, there were 25,000 volunteers from 130 countries who kept the massive event running.

It was also astonishing to hear the young people talk enthusiastically about their mutual experiences at the meeting. So many young people showed to the world they are willing religious. All of them even do not seem to question all the heathen action presented by the pope and priests at the mass. According to the pope they are looking for a non-hostile, non-artificial, non-legalistic faith, an encounter with Jesus Christ.

And this is not easy. …

says Pope Francis I.

For many the 2 emotionally-charged weeks are an unforgettable experience. Many felt the flame in the others and found that the other youngsters gave them a lot of inspiration for their future life.

Along the steep and rocky avenues and streets of Lisbon, medical teams attended to a large number of young people suffering from heat exhaustion, sprains, and physical difficulties due to the long pilgrimage walk to the location where the final events were held.

A lot of young people didn’t mind the long hours of waiting and walking and were willing to put up with seeing “their pope” pass, even if only with a glimpse.

For those present it was a getting together they did not want to miss. They felt united with young Christians from all over the world being a real heart-warming experience, giving them renewed hope. Some even dare to express that this even made them not te be afraid any more to express their faith. Some of whom feel lonely in their home parishes in Portugal could feel that they are not alone in the world.

Toinon and Josephine

Toinon, 24, from a village in northern France, was re-energised by this adventure.

“We sometimes feel alone in our countryside, but here we realise that there are lots of people like us, and that’s comforting! We’re here, we pray at the same time, we sing, and through it all there’s Jesus!”

she marveled.

Some 800,000 young people – according to the Lisbon municipality – converged one last time in the Eduardo VII Park for the Way of the Cross, opened by a short, spontaneous meditation by Pope Francis. Introducing the event, the Pope invited young Catholics to hand over their “anxieties” and “loneliness” to Christ.

Setting aside the pages of his prepared speech, the Pope encouraged the pilgrims to allow themselves to be consoled by Jesus. He then invited the young people, who had come from all over the globe, to ask themselves if there are

“things in life that make [them] cry,”

and suggested that they silently entrust them to Christ.

Under the hot Portuguese sun, Pope Francis I concluded the Lisbon World Youth Day by encouraging young people

“to shine, to listen, and to be unafraid”

as they return home to their countries across the globe.

An estimated 1.5 million people were at the Tagus Park, bordered by the river of the same name, and on the surrounding roads, to participate in the final mass of the Lisbon WYD. After the vigil the previous evening, many had slept in sleeping bags and mattresses under the stars, to wait for Mass with the Pope the following morning.

“We do not radiate light by putting ourselves in the spotlight, projecting a perfect image or appearing to be powerful and successful. No, we radiate light when we welcome Jesus into our hearts and learn to love as he does,”

Pope Francis said in his homily. As he usually has during this WYD, Pope Francis largely improvised part of his address, but focused on telling the pilgrims to “listen” to Jesus by reading the Gospel. Echoing John Paul II’s appeal during the 2000 WYD in Rome, Pope Francis repeated

“do not be afraid”

over and over.

According to the pope Jesus reestablished the connection between us and God so that divine grace may flow through us and intoxicate us, like the good wine.

Give your life to Christ—as our Blessed Mother said, “Do whatever he tells you”— and you will find true freedom and true joy. Freedom is the disciplining of desire, so as to make the achievement of the good first possible and then effortless.

a crowd of people at a beach

Preceding

“Stand Up and Go” symposium

Additional reading

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Pope Francis I making another passionate appeal for peace in Ukraine

The head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio or Pope Francis I, already mentioned this year that health care is a moral obligation. But we should not forget that health care is about the physical as well as the spiritual health and the attitude we do take in life.

In the previous years, the present pope has given his attention to people in difficulties. In November 2020, Francis named China’s Uyghur minority among a list of the world’s persecuted peoples. He wrote:

“I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya [Muslims in Myanmar], the poor Uighurs, the Yazidi—what ISIS did to them was truly cruel — or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in church.” {China dismisses Pope Francis’s comments about persecution of Uighurs”. The Guardian. 25 November 2020.}

As the theme for the 108th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to be celebrated on 25 September, Pope Francis has chosen “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees.”
“Building with” means recognising and promoting the role that migrants and refugees have to play in this work of construction, because only in this way will it be possible to build a world that ensures the conditions for the integral human development of all, a communiqué explains.

If we are not careful, we shall find a new flood of people looking for safety, but this time not coming from the Southeast but from the Northeast.

Pope Francis meets participants taking part in the Plenary of Congregation for Eastern Churches (Vatican Media)

Meeting with members of the Plenary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches on Friday the 18th of February, Pope Francis said

“humanity still seems to be groping in the dark,”

highlighting the massacres from conflicts in the Middle East, in Syria and Iraq, and the

“threatening winds across the steppes of Eastern Europe.”

During the General Audience this morning, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for peace in Ukraine, saying that the threat of war had caused

“great pain in my heart.”

“Despite the diplomatic efforts of the last few weeks,”

the Pope said,

“increasingly alarming scenarios are opening up,”

with many people all over the world feeling anguish and pain.

““Once again the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests,”

he stressed. Pope Francis appealed to those

“with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war, who is the Father of all, not just of some, who wants us to be brothers and not enemies.””

Though, we wonder how many of those leaders think about God! We also can see that certain people do not seem to have a conscience at all. They are taken in by their greed and want for more power.

We are even convinced that certain world leaders have long had plans in their heads to conquer various parts of the world, even though they claim that they do not want to attack or invade countries. One wonders, then, how one can name and justify the Russian army convoys entering the Donbass region. According to Putin, they may be peacekeeping forces but appear to be earlier occupation forces, giving Russia the opportunity to take Luhansk and Donetsk as their own.

For weeks we have heard about talks and have seen efforts to get to a diplomatic solution. In vain, because there is a hardliner who intends to carry out his plan, whatever the others may think. He has frightened many people in many countries and made them resort to appealing to their god to make the right decision.

The Pope also prayed that

“all the parties involved refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people, destabilising coexistence between nations and bringing international law into disrepute.”

For many Catholics, there is a period of preparation towards Easter, during which they want to take time for reflection. Six and a half weeks before Easter they have their “first day of Lent,” reminding them of their mortality and the need for reconciliation with God. In Anglican, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches such a day of fasting and abstinence can be found.

Speaking at the end of the General Audience, Pope Francis appealed to everyone, believers and non-believers alike, to put evil aside. He asked to remember the Nazarene teacher Jesus who taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God’s weapons, with prayer and fasting.

He proposed to make 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting for Peace.

“I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war,”

he said.

Preceding

A lot of talk about a war beginning soon

Risk of accidental war with Russia highest in decades, general warns

Boris Johnson warns Putin against Ukraine invasion

Britain warns Russia over Ukraine

US bolsters Europe with 3,000 extra troops

The strategic error Putin is potentially about to make

Make Ukraine A Buffer State Between Russia & the EU

Additional reading

2 Comments

Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Headlines - News, Health affairs, Lifestyle, Political affairs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters, World affairs

Tagged as Ash Wednesday, Donbass region, Eastern Europe, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Lent, Occupation force(s), Peacekeeping force(s), Pope Francis I, Rohingya, Ukraine, Uyghur, World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Yazidi(s)

by Guestspeaker | 2022/02/14 · 5:08 pm

Many looking for the church of the world instead of the Church of God

Looking for the church

Someone has said,

“I looked for the Church, and found it in the world. I look for the world, and found it in the Church.”

The word ICHABOD has been stamped on many a local church door, but only spiritual eyes can see that the glory of the Lord has departed. {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

That is the problem of our world or the problem of our nation … human beings always looking for other human beings and believing in human beings more than in the Word of the Highest all-knowing eternal God above all gods.

Coming face to face with God

Mankind is afraid to come face to face with God. It is impossible for man to see God, though man wants to have something they can refer to, see and feel or touch. They also want to have a god who has similarities with them, and therefore they took themselves a godhead they can grab. Of that god they created for themselves, a male figure, they can take pictures and statues. Even when the Bible tells mankind that he may not make any graven image of God, man prefers to ignore such demands and has made himself many images of their god.

The Holy Scriptures or Infallible Word of God – Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Too many people do forget or do not want to see that God promises to work through His Word and that This Word of God gives all the knowledge that we need to come to find God and to come to know what God wants from us. God wants to have a relationship with His creatures. He did not create them to be against Him, in the same way, He did not give them commandments of which He knew man would be able not to keep them.

Sinful people

By the first sinful act of Adam and Eve, sin came into the world. All those coming after them were sinful people. Still today it is like that. It would be very difficult to find someone who is without something doing wrong or without having sinned. We are all taken up by sin.

“As by means of one man, sin entered into the world, and, by means of sin, death; and so death passed upon all the sons of men, inasmuch as they all have sinned: — ” (Ro 5:12 Murdock)

“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”” (Ge 4:7 KJ21)

“”If they sin against Thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and Thou be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;” (1Ki 8:46 KJ21)

It is that sinning that is standing in the way to have a good relationship with our heavenly Father. To come to a better relationship God provided means. One of those was by creating a possibility for man to show his submission to God and his desire to please God by offering sacrifices to God. Later in the history of mankind, there came special places to bring such offerings to God and as such temples came into existence, where also special people took care of the services for God. Those priests were at first anointed by God Himself, though later man took care of themselves to appoint priests and to decide for themselves how those services to God and sacrifices were to be carried out. In a way such services would later become churchservices.

Houses of worship for the Only One God Jehovah

At first Jesus and his apostles went to those houses of worship. In those temples, they praised not Jesus but the God of the Hebrews, the God of Adam and Eve, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Who is the Only True God. Jesus and his apostle were very well aware of that Name of That God. They worshipped Jehovah as the Only One True God.

“that men may know that Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.” (Ps 83:18 KJ21)

“2 And God spoke unto Moses and said unto him, “I am the LORD. 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” (Ex 6:2-3 KJ21)

When Jesus was gone the apostle did not change their mind about Whom they had to worship and about Whom they had to pray to and call His Name.

“For “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”” (Ro 10:13 KJ21)

“and in that day shall ye say: “Praise the LORD! Call upon His name! Declare His doings among the people; make mention that His name is exalted.” (Isa 12:4 KJ21)

The way of worshipping did not change in the first century. It was customary for them to continue to go to the temple and to praise and glorify God there, as well as to continue to study the Hebrew Scriptures. They were convinced that such worship of God should come from deep within the heart and not be a mere passing fancy.

“God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”” (Joh 4:24 KJ21)

“yet to us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1Co 8:6 KJ21)

Yes, not Jesus was their god, but the Divine Creator of heaven and earth was their God. To them, it was as pure as a lump of sugar or clear as water, that this God is only one.

“”Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” (De 6:4 KJ21)

One God and His beloved son opposite a god the son

They felt that they had become one in God by the sent one from God in whom they came to believe as that promised one from old times, who they now recognised as their saviour or that promised Messiah, by whom they now got the opportunity to get a new life.

“yet to us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1Co 8:6 KJ21)

It was several years after Jesus had died that certain people started taking Jesus as their god, forgetting the words Jesus himself had spoken.

“Jesus said unto her, “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, ‘I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”” (Joh 20:17 KJ21)

Today there are still many people who do not hear or want to understand those words of that son of man, who gave his life for many, so that we can have hope for receiving a new life in the Kingdom of God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1Pe 1:3 KJ21)

Those who claim that Jesus is God, should better think about the fact that Jesus more than once prayed to Whom he called God. He did not pray to himself, neither cried to himself, or did not ask himself why He had abandoned him. (How would a person abandon or forsake himself?)

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”” (Mr 15:34 KJ21)

“1 These words spoke Jesus and lifted up His eyes to Heaven and said, “Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee, 2 as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. 3 And this is life eternal: that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (Joh 17:1-3 KJ21)

The apostle Peter might be one of the first apostles who publicly professed who Jesus Christ was.

“16 And Simon Peter answered and said,

“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him,

“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in Heaven.” (Mt 16:16-17 KJ21)

A son of man as a way to God

It was such confession that the apostles required also from those who wanted to go in the footsteps of their master teacher. This way started of a group of followers of Christ. People who were convinced that Jesus was the way, like he more than once told others.

“Jesus said to him: I am the way, and truth, and life: no one cometh unto my Father, but by me.” (Joh 14:6 Murdock)

“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1Jo 4:15 KJ21)

The apostles also wrote down how they came to understand who Jesus Christ was and how the world had come to see that he is the son of man and son of God. By writing it all down, those writings should give a clear picture of Whom God is and about whom Jesus is.

“And the angel answered and said unto her,

“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that Holy Being who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Lu 1:35 KJ21)

“And I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God.”” (Joh 1:34 KJ21)

“29 Jesus said unto him,

“Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through His name.” (Joh 20:29-31 KJ21)

Accepting Jesus as son of God

That life which may come over us is by accepting who Jesus is, the son of God, and not by going all the fancies of the world. It are not the human doctrines we should take for the rules to follow, but the Biblical doctrines we should take for granted and to go by. It are those sacred writings that tell us that Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, being a mediator between God and us.

“5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” (1Ti 2:5-6 KJ21)

For those who continued to follow the apostles of Jesus it is clear that there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and that newt to This God there is the one Who God Himself declared to be His only beloved son, Jesus Christ the Messiah. (1Co 8:6)

Followers of false teachings and false teachers

Up to today there are people who want to follow the teachings of those false teachers who claimed that Jesus would be an incarnated God. Some of the present teachers or pastors even want to twist the historical truth and come to say that it were the non-trinitarian preachers who would have followed Greco-Roman philosophy, though it are the Trinitarians who took all sorts of believes of those philosophers in their teaching, like incarnation, separate souls who would leave the body after death, hell as a burning place of eternal torture, etc. . Instead of bringing people on the right path to God, they mislead their churchgoers and having them worship a false god.

Already in the first century, the apostles warned against such false teachers who violated the Word of God and often came to deceive people with things they liked to hear. Such a God made flesh appealed to many, and still does. Hereby lots of people forget how often in the Bible is told that Jesus is the son of God (something totally different as “god the son”) and how Jesus himself spoke about his heavenly Father, from Whom he came and to Whom he went again.

“Jesus said to her:

Touch me not; for not yet have I ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” (Joh 20:17 Murdock)

Those teachers claiming that Jesus would be God destroy the value of Jesus’ act of sacrifice and make God a great comedian who repeatedly told lies to deceive people, let alone called Himself a “God of no lies” when He did see mankind as lying creatures. Those Trinitarian preachers seem to neglect that The God of no lies said Himself that Jesus is His beloved son.

“And lo, a voice came from Heaven, saying,

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.”” (Mt 3:17 KJ21)

“God forbid! Yea, let God be true, though every man a liar. As it is written:

“That Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou art judged.”” (Ro 3:4 KJ21)

Not only minimalise those preachers the self-sacrifice of Jesus the also make the resurrection of Jesus as a joke, because God can not die (Him being an eternal Spirit) and when Jesus is God we are still left with no proof at all that man would be able to step out of the dead. As such those trinitarian churches take away our hope for a resurrection, because we can not become God and do like Him, but are then still bounded to the grave (sheol or hell). The real followers of Christ continued teaching the Gospel or Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, by which there is the hope in the resurrection of the man Jesus Christ, as an example of what can happen to us.

“Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who in his great mercy hath begotten us anew, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, to the hope of life,” (1Pe 1:3 Murdock)

Not a schizophrenic God

Jesus was or is not a schizophrenic God Who came to pray and cry to himself. Jesus prayed sincerely to his heavenly Father, Whom he considered to be the Only One True God.

“And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said: [Il, Il, lemono shebakthone;]that is: My God, my God; why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mr 15:34 Murdock)

“1 These things spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said: My Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. 2 As thou hast given him authority over all flesh, that he might give life eternal to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, that thou art the only true God, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Messiah.” (Joh 17:1-3 Murdock)

It might have taken some time before the apostles really came to see who their master-teacher really was and how they should behave and go into the world as his disciples and workers for God. It can well be that the apostle Peter was the first one to recognise for the first time in public Jesus real position.

“16 Simon Cephas {Greek: Simon Peter} answered and said:

Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

17 Jesus answered, and said to him:

Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonas; for flesh and blood have not revealed [it] to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 16:16-17 Murdock)

The religion of Old Testament not passing away

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

After that Jesus was taken into heaven by his heavenly Father and after Jesus promised helper came over the apostles they dared to come out in public again and started off their great preaching work.

Those who heard and/or saw Jesus preach and/or heard the apostles, could not believe that the religion of the Old Testament, revealed by God Himself, should pass away. They indeed regarded Jesus as the Saviour of Gentiles as well as Jews. We could say that Judaism was for them considered the necessary introduction to their group (which we call today Christianity). Several people from all sorts of rang came to join the apostles. Their Jewish movement was called “The Way“.

But by joining more non-Jews the matter of circumcision and the observance of the whole Mosaic law came under discussion. The question was the sole condition of an interest in the Messianic salvation. And, offensive as Judaism was, rather than attractive, to the heathen, this principle would have utterly precluded the conversion of the mass of the Gentile world. The apostles themselves were at first trammelled by this Judaistic prejudice, till taught better by the special revelation to Peter before the conversion of Cornelius.
But even after the baptism of the uncircumcised centurion, and Peter’s defence of it before the church of Jerusalem, the old leaven still wrought in some Jewish Christians who had formerly belonged to the rigid and exclusive sect of the Pharisees, to which the apostle Paul also belonged to.

Difficulties around gentile converts

The churches of Jerusalem and Antioch resolved to hold a private and a public conference at Jerusalem. Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas as commissioners to represent the Gentile converts. Paul, fully aware of the gravity of the crisis, obeyed at the same time an inner and higher impulse. He also took with him Titus, a native Greek, as a living specimen of what the Spirit of God could accomplish without circumcision. The conference was held C.E. 50 or 51 (fourteen years after Paul’s conversion). It was the first and in some respects the most important council or synod held in the history of Christendom, though differing widely from the councils of later times. It is placed in the middle of the book of Acts as the connecting link between the two sections of the apostolic church and the two epochs of its missionary history.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

In the beginning, the people from The Way, like all the Jews, went on the Sabbath to the gathering in the temple. But after more goyim or non-Jews had joined that movement which confessed that Jesus is the son of God (Lu 1:35 ), and as such also came to abide in God (1Jo 4:15), they were not so welcome anymore in the temples and synagogues. Those non-Jews by their baptism in Christ being taken up in the group, which grew fairly quickly, and made others look jealous at them but also did not want those non-Jews in their prayer houses. Therefore The Way started also to come together in private houses and as such creating the first house churches.

Seeing and not seeing the man of flesh and blood

The apostles had after some years got a very clear picture of Jesus and with them many others had seen this man of flesh and blood (remember that God can not be seen by man). They testified that their master is the Son of God (Joh 1:34) and never said that Jesus would have claimed such a position, to be God. The amount of false teachers grew and began to argue with the true followers of Jesus who held to the sonship of Christ Jesus and did not wish to enter into the false teaching of Jesus’ Godhead.

In ancient time people could see and hear Jesus. We do not have such an opportunity anymore, though we should go by the material which is handed over to us in the Books of the New Testament. They provide enough information to learn about the man Jesus from Nazareth and his disciples. In connection with the Books of the Old Testament one should clearly come to see what Jesus role is in the history of mankind. Not having seen Jesus Christ, there were loads of people who came to believe in the son of God, that man of flesh and blood. Not having been able to see Christ we have to believe in him and accept him as the mediator for us by his heavenly Father the Only One True God.

“29 Jesus said to him: Now, when thou hast seen me, thou believest: blessed are they, who have not seen me, yet believe. — 30 And many other signs did Jesus before his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God; and that when ye believe, ye may have life eternal by his name.” (Joh 20:29-31 Murdock)

“5 For God is one; and the mediator between God and men is one, [namely] the man Jesus the Messiah; 6 who gave himself a ransom for every man; — testimony that arrived in due time,” (1Ti 2:5-6 Murdock)

Jerusalem consultation

The object of the Jerusalem consultation was twofold: first, to settle the personal relation between the Jewish and Gentile apostles, disciples and preachers, and to divide their field of labour; secondly, to decide the question of circumcision, and to define the relation between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. On the first point (as we learn from Paul) it effected a complete and final, on the second point (as we learn from Luke) a partial and temporary settlement. In the nature of the case the public conference in which the whole church took part, was preceded and accompanied by private consultations of the apostles.

Constantine period

In the fourth century the division between the real followers of Christ and the followers of those false teachers who mixed those teachings of Christ with other human teachings, had become so big that they called for a council to decide how the church would continue.

Constantine I (the Great) the founder of Constantinople and the Byzantine empire, and for someone of the most gifted, energetic, and successful of the Roman emperors, was the first representative of the imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and religious rights, and regards church and state as the two arms of one and the same divine government on earth. This idea was more fully developed by his successors, it animated the whole middle age, and is yet working under various forms in these latest times; though it has never been fully realised, whether in the Byzantine, the German, or the Russian empire, the Roman church-state, the Calvinistic republic of Geneva, or the early Puritanic colonies of New England. At the same time, however, Constantine stands also as the type of undiscriminating and harmful conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of heaven with the earthly interests of the state.

He was the man who gave those preachers the choice to come with the world or to stay by their ideas of not being part of the world. The majority choose to be befriended and to walk in fellowship with the world.

Unquestionably every age produces and shapes its own organs, as its own purposes require and as such the Jewish movement of The Way had seen many people going astray and going their own way. Constantine I did put himself at the head of the age, and was annoyed by the differences and discussions there were by those who claimed to be the followers of the Nazarene rebbe Jeshua ben Josef, Jesus Christ. He also clearly saw that idolatry had outlived itself in the Roman empire, and that Christianity alone could breathe new vigour into it and furnish its moral support.

Donatists and Arians

From the year 313 he placed himself in close connection with the ‘bishops’, made peace and harmony his first object in the Donatist and Arian controversies and applied the predicate “catholic” to the church in all official documents. The Donatists argueing that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to be valid. Constantine, hoping to defuse the unrest, gave money to the non-Donatist bishop Caecilian as payment for churches damaged or confiscated during the persecution. Nothing was given to the Donatists; Constantine was apparently not fully aware of the seriousness of the dispute, which his gift exacerbated. The Donatists appealed to Rome for equal treatment; Constantine tasked Miltiades with resolving the issue, which led to the 313 commission.

Many non-trinitarians are often called Arians by Trinitarians, though often those Christians do not follow Arius his teachings but simply the Biblical teachings. The Christian priest Arius, whose teachings gave rise to a theological doctrine known as Arianism, also followed the apostolic teaching that God is One and that Jesus is His son and not God Himself. What makes Arainism so different with what many non-trinitarians are still following today, is that those real followers of Christ (including us) do not integrate Neoplatonism, nor are we inspired by Plato’s ideas or by pre-Socratics (who interpreted the world monistically in terms of nature as such), from the relativism of the Sophists, and from the correction of Platonism in a this-worldly direction carried out by Plato’s greatest pupil, Aristotle.

It is a very big misconception of Trinitarians that nonTrinitarians, or those who do not wish to accept Jesus as God, would be Arians, whereas they do not follow the teachings of Arius at all. The teaching those present non-Trinitarians follow is simply the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.

The only similarity in Arius and the present non-trinitarian denominations is Arius’s basic premise of the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent (not dependent for its existence on anything else) and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot therefore be the self-existent and immutable God.

“”There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun ^{[a poetic name for the people of Israel, meaning ‘upright people’]}, who rideth upon the heaven to thy help and in His excellency on the sky.” (De 33:26 KJ21)

“33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! 34 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?” 35 Or, “who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” 36 For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Ro 11:33-36 KJ21)

Because the Godhead is unique, it cannot be shared or communicated according to Arius. Because the Godhead is immutable, the Son, who is mutable, must, therefore, be deemed a creature who has been called into existence out of nothing and has had a beginning. Moreover, according to Arius the Son can have no direct knowledge of the Father, since the Son is finite and of a different order of existence. For the real followers of Christ there is the knowledge that Jesus was placed in the womb of that young girl and as such coming directly from God must have some DNA from God. Jesus was born in that very devout Essene family of the tribe of King David and had got a very thorough religious upbringing with the Word of God as an inspirational source.

Name change

Badly enough, most of the clergy wanted to come to an agreement with Constantine the Great in order to keep the peace and not to be persecuted anymore. This was done by the clergy to bring their religion more in line with the Greek Roman religion and their triple deity Zeus who was then the main deity worshipped by Constantine and his followers. In order to equate Jeshua (Yeshua) with that deity Zeus, his name was transformed from Jeshua to Issou or Yai_Zeus > Je-Zeus which means Hail Zeus. Since then, the false name (Jezus – Jesus – Chesu) has become fully accepted and in time it was also used by the non-trinitarians to make clear that they were talking about one and the same person as the Trinitarians.

Constantine was praised and censured in turn by the Christians and Pagans, the Orthodox and the Arians, as they successively experienced his favour or dislike, but the real followers of Christ saw in him a very dangerous despot who could easily subdue the false teachers and in unity oppose the true followers of Christ.

The ones coming under agreement with each other about the deity of Jesus and the wishes of Constantine, became the Roman Catholics, who claimed to be the only true church and continued to grow by making sure people from all sorts of tribes could find themselves at home, because many of their traditions were taken in or integrated into that religion.

The real followers of Christ Jesus did not like the name change but had to do with it. for many centuries they tried those who worshipped Jesus as their god to come to know the real Jesus from the Bible.

The groups which accented the absolute oneness of the Divinity as the highest perfection, with a literal, rationalist approach to the New Testament texts sought their way in the world. That point of view was publicized about 323 through the poetic verse of his major work, Thalia (“Banquet”), and was widely spread by popular songs written for labourers and travellers.

The non-Trinitarian aspect and the other Arian teachings (of Arius) and papal positions (Ursinus) brought forth further disputes and conferences, synods or councils. The Ursinians became established in Milan and rekindled their opposition to Damasus.

Damasus I presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He encouraged the production of the Latin Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome.
He spoke out against other groups of Christians that had grown in popularity and denounced several major heresies in the church (including Apollinarianism and Macedonianism). In two synods (368 and 369) the unorthodox teachings of Bishop Macedonius of Constantinople and of Bishop Apollinaris (the Younger) of Laodicea were condemned. Among Damasus’s literary remains are 24 anathemas against various 4th-century heresies. Apollinaris The Younger and his father (Apollinaris the Elder) had reproduced the Old Testament in the form of Homeric and Pindaric poetry and the New Testament in the style of Platonic dialogues after the Roman emperor Julian had forbidden Christians to teach the classics.
Apollinaris the younger denied the existence in Christ of a rational human soul, a position he took to combat Arianism. Skilled in logic and Hebrew and a teacher of rhetoric, Apollinaris also lectured at Antioch c. 374. Their different ideas also brought forth several schisms.

Current Churches in a Torn Church World

It would not remain at all with these few schisms in the church community; in each century several schisms occurred. Today, many even regard certain breakaway groups as churches of the commons, such as the Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican Churches. They now belong to the generally accepted Protestant churches.

Lots of churches sought ways to get as many followers as they could, claiming that they are the only church by which people can be saved. They forget that it are no other human beings, than Christ Jesus who saves people of all races and people of all persuasions or from all walks of life. They claimed and still claim that their sacraments, religious signs or symbols, are the way to be saved. Many of those churches are convinced that their liturgy is the best one to prepare people to receive those sacraments, as visible symbols of the reality of God, as well as a channel for God’s grace and helps to understand what they are doing. Their liturgy is used to give the sacraments context and is there to allow folks to see them in action. Outside of the liturgy, the sacraments lose direction and application. For some that is the reason why a private baptism or communion is a sacrament without purpose or meaning.

It is a sacrament that is cut off from its intended goal. {The Role of the Church}

For non-Trinitarians, like the Christadelphians, there does not have to be a set of liturgical rules and order. Each church service can be done in a different order or different way. but what is most important is that the service is built upon the Word of God, and as such most time of the service should be spent on that Word, or readings from the Holy Scriptures and not on readings from human beings. Next to that Word of God people should be able to find, feel and see, that love of God and love of Christ present and shown by those people of that church.

The church is tasked with loving the Lord and loving its neighbor. The church takes what it receives from God and shares it with the world. Taken together, this means God acts through even-broadening layers to bring His grace into the world. {The Role of the Church}

Receiving God and being united with His son

But to receive God and to be united with God and His holy son, people have to do away with pagan or heathen teachings and traditions. In the Church of God, there can be no place for pagan rituals and false worship, like praying in front of pictures or sculptures. So, there has to be no place for crosses, paintings or portraits and statues of gods and saints, no idolisation taking place in the liturgy. Done away with a “Hail Zeus” or calling unto “YaiZeus” or JeZeus – Jezus or Jesus as a figure that would be three in one, a God the Father, a god the son and a God the Holy Spirit.

In case we want to hold on to that changed name of Jeshua, namely Jesus, that hopefully would be not too bad and shall be accepted by the Elohim Hashem Jehovah (That we can only hope and pray for – that he forgives us to use that name so that we shall be able to get others to get to know the Name of Jesus his God.) Better would naturally be that by the years coming closer to the end-times, people shall come to use more the real names of the Biblical characters and especially of Jehovah God, Whose Name is holy, and of the son of God, Jeshua ben Josef.

Sin is the opposite of God’s will, so to be a sinner means to be one who is opposed to God, who is an offense to everything God is. Sin is intolerable to God and so God destroys it, even if that means destroying the one who commits it. {Face to Face with God}

Having idols and false gods is “sin” because it goes in against the Will and Commandments of God. Real lovers of God have to keep tp those Commandments of God and not to the commandments, human doctrines or will of human beings.

Active in the world

In this picture, from a Lutheran pastor his site, you might see how far the church is gone away from God’s Word that forbids such pictures or reflections of people they call their god.

It is true that the Church or the community of believers has to be active in both worship and in the world so that God’s grace can reach those who need it.

This becomes the central work of the church and everything God does for His people is designed to facilitate that work. {The Role of the Church}

Though that does not mean the church has to think and act like the world! It is totally wrong to think you should be part of the Church of the world, because people have to be part of the Church of God of which Jesus is the foundation. Jesus should be the man whom we follow and whom we take as the cornerstone of our community.

“Jesus saith unto them,

Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes?” (Mt 21:42 ASV)

“being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone;” (Eph 2:20 ASV)

Loving Christ is not only loving his word, it is living by his word that one fully accepts as a truthful word. And as such that one does not think when Jesus says God is greater than him that he (Jesus) is the greatest and that he can do everything because he would be God. all the thing Jesus did, we should appreciate and understand why he did it and how he wanted to be a faithful servant for God the same as he requires from his followers to be servants for man and for God.

Servants not doing bad things

Those who call themselves servants of God have to do their best to live according to the Will of God. In the last few decades, people should have had enough opportunities to see how many in those so-called churches of God have gone astray. In several Trinitarian denominations, being them Catholic or Protestant, we have seen that there were priests who used little children (boys and girls) to have sex with. Some churches thought that they could cover those paedophile acts by transferring those paedophiles to another church in another village. For centuries the Catholic Church has been a male bastion where male domination and tyranny were giving opportunities to defile the Name of God.

They thought to clean up the cesspool of sin in that religious structure, but the roots have gone very deep.

Furthermore many churches do not dare to speak out about certain Rules of God.

Sung Mass with the ordinations of two deacons and seven priests by the Bishop of Stockholm, in St Nicholas’s Cathedral (Storkyrkan)

In Europe’s largest Lutheran denomination, hundreds of clergies, staff, and congregates of the Church of Sweden, have declared, in an open letter that it is now a trans-inclusive institution.
While the hearts of the faithful Christians are broken, while heaven weeps, while the demons of hell dance in delight, the modern-day church is changed. Why? Because it is easier to change the local assembly than the eternal Word of God, which lives and abides forever. {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

After all those centuries the Catholic church did not change one hair.

In Rome, the Vatican is now home to a woke Pope, who allowed South American animistic religious rituals in the opening of the recent pan-Amazon Synod. Kathy Clubb writes in the conservative Catholic publication, The Remnant:

“Idol worship was on full display in preparation for the Pan-Amazon synod, with the tacit approval of Pope Francis. Although the Synod hadn’t yet started, the celebration of pagan ceremonies added weight to the concerns being voiced by prominent prelates and laymen that the Synod will be a vehicle for apostasy.”

{It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

Strangely enough, when the Pope says something which comes closer to the Biblical truth, all the hairs of Catholic and Protestant (Trinitarian) priests raise up to heaven.

To embracing idol worship, Pope Francis is said not to believe in the eternal divinity of Jesus as the Son of God. Instead,

“Pope Francis conceives the Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, a man, not God incarnate. Once he took flesh, Jesus ceased to be a God and became a man until his death on the cross… {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

Pope Francis has said to Eugenio Scalfari: ‘There is proof that Jesus of Nazareth, once he became a man, even a man of exceptional virtue, was in no way a God’.” (Mark Powell, CALDR@N POOL on the web; see also, Fatima Perspectives #1343) {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

Several priest think wrongly that it would be changing Catholic dogma because the non-Trinitarians are gaining field in this world.

Why is the woke Pope Francis (b. Dec. 17, 1936), head of the Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City, changing Catholic dogma?

Because it is easier to influence and change a vast religious institution than to change the Word of God, which says: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

Yes, the Bible is very clear about That! One may not have other gods before the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.

Lots of those learned people do not want to see how a person can be divine but not God. (Perhaps you might have a divine wife, though we hope you would not worship her as a god.)

There is no such verse in the letter of Paul to Timothy that would say

Concerning the eternal divinity of Christ, the Bible says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:18). {It is Easier to Change the Local Church than the Bible}

The Bible words are as follows in the last verses of that letter:

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” (1Ti 3:16 ASV)

giving an indication that Jesus is one way to come to “see and understand God“. Him being manifested in the flesh is the son of God who “gave himself for us.” Truly they are in harmony. The love of the infinite God could neither be created nor purchased but it could be and is been shown through the work of His son. The Spirit of the Father was manifest in Jesus and by the inspiration and power given by God, Jesus was able to speak wise words and to do many miracles.

All those things which are clearly notated in Scriptures are not to confuse us, but to bring us light. Jesus should be such a light for us, a beacon or a lighthouse in the surf.

When looking at churches we should check how those who call themselves leaders of that church, behave. We should check in which way a church has its teachings in accordance with the Bible and how the leaders of that church live according to those Bible Words.

For sure we should not choose for the church that wants to be fully in line with the world and its traditions. From the Bible, we can learn that most of those traditions are not in line with God’s commandments and as lovers of God we should want to go fully doing the will of God in the same way Jesus put his own will aside to do the will of God. (Naturally, in case Jesus would have been God he would never have put his own will aside. … Is it not?)

“And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,

My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Mt 26:39 ASV)

“And again he went away, and prayed, saying the same words.” (Mr 14:39 ASV)

It is not Christ his will that shall be done on earth as in heaven. Also, Jesus prayed and learned others to pray that this Will of his heavenly Father would be fulfilled.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” (Mt 6:10 ASV)

Even in difficult times, Jesus asked his God that not his will was going to be fulfilled, but God His Will

“And he said,

Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; remove this cup from me: howbeit not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mr 14:36 ASV)

We should know that like Jesus could not do anything without God, we too cannot do the important thing without our heavenly Father. (Though in fact even the little things we are only able to do because God allows them to happen.) Let us therefore not do our will, but have the courage to do like Jesus, going for the One Who had sent him, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah, God His Word, God His Will and for God His Chuch, doing God His Will.

“I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (Joh 5:30 ASV)

“For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (Joh 6:38 ASV)

Preceding

A vital question for believers

The rock on which we stand

As near to God as you want Him to be

Religion and the essence of devotion – Necessary parts in the daily walk with God + Christians, Lutherans, Wesleyans, and other followers

Seeds and weeds for being the greatest nation

After darkness a moment of life renewal

Should church members question preachers about the doctrine that is not in the Holy Bible?

Christians saying Jesus is God giving food for atheists to prove there exist no God

Responsibility bigger than those who talk about worldly matters

Additional reading

+++

Why does the Bible need 66 books? Part 2
Exquisite Uniqueness of God
“The Eve of Christmas,” Matthew 1:18-25
In the Incarnation, Humanity Received a New Dignity
The Incarnation
Incarnation and all that…
The Mystery of Godliness: The Transformative Power of the Incarnation
Incarnate Love
Truth-less “grace,” or grace-less “truth”?
Mystery and Clarity
John 1:1-14 Sermon: Love Incarnate, Love Divine
Adoption, incarnation, and growing in grace and truth (Growing Deeper with John 1:6-18)
John’s Gospel and the Word made flesh (Growing Deeper with John 1:1-5)
The Word Became Flesh. II: The Word Was God
God the son, Part 1
Epistle Reading for Sunday, January 30, 2022
Hebrews: Superiority of the Son
Creed // Jesus God’s son (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Today’s Scripture – November 15, 2021
All that he is triune
Trinity – Trilogy – Triplet
Definition of the day: Trinity
Trinity
Why a Triune God?
God Who Is—is Triune
Beyond Belief – What the Heck is the Trinity? Is God Three or Is He One?
There are certain Christian preachers who want people to believe that all Christians would believe in the Trinity. Why do Christians beleive in the Trinity? Such a question let us see that the writer of that article either is not aware of other Christians who only believe in a binary god and neglects the most important group which worship only the God of Jesus and not a god the son, namely the unitarians and non-Trinitarians.
Your Divine D.N.A. [Sermon]
Am I headed in the right direction? [Sermon]
The Incarnation in the Life of the Church
He Was, He Is, and Forever Shall Be
“The Word became Flesh,” John 1:14
“Simeon’s Song,” Luke 2:22-40
Statue Of Zeus At Olympia
False Gospels: On Blindness > Antics > Compromise
False Gods by Graham McNeill
Reenacting the Way of Jesus
Loving Christ Really IS Loving His Word
Poetic faith
How can Jesus be considered sinless when the Bible describes his anger
“Jesus in the Temple,” Luke 2:40-52
“Jesus, the Son of God,” Luke 4:31-44
Know Jesus, Know God
Hebrews: The Fulcrum
Direct Access to the Father
Do Denominations Divide Us?
Does Denominationalism Blind You to the Truth?
Nuanced beliefs
Deceived
Throwback Thursday ~ Finding a New Church- Starting from Scratch
Law; Is It For The Rich Or The Poor?
Division Among Christians
From One Religion To Another

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by Guestspeaker | 2020/08/20 · 12:44 pm

Analysis: Will religious freedom flourish in post-treaty Middle East?

Could peace between the Jewish State and a Sunni Arab powerhouse portend increasing religious freedom across the Middle East?

By Lela Gilbert, World Israel News

On August 13, World Israel News reported that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt Israel’s extension of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. The announcement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel.”

The announcement was made by President Donald Trump.

“Now that the ice has been broken I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates.”

So President Trump, who negotiated the agreement, predicted.

There was, of course, debate in Israel and beyond about whether the agreement had cast aside annexation of biblical Judea and Samaria for the sake of an elusive peace gesture. At the same time, there was celebration among young Israelis, embracing new hopes for harmony with the Arab world.

Despite the UAE flag emblazoned in lights across Tel Aviv’s city hall, heated discussions on the subject continue between American and Israeli, religious and secular, conservative and liberal Jews and their supporters.

‘Sarsour has no role in the campaign whatsoever,’

Biden spokesman says after DNC address

Meanwhile, conversations about the religious implications of the agreement have extended well beyond Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. Could peace between the Jewish State and a Sunni Arab powerhouse portend increasing religious freedom across the Middle East?

Pope Francis is welcomed by Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince , Feb. 4, 2019. (AP/Kamran Jebreili)

For several years, the United Arab Emirates has been painting a self-portrait not only of a super-wealthy Arab state, but also as a haven of religious freedom. And since Pope Francis’ dramatic visit there in February 2019, much has been said to affirm that these efforts amount to more than a photo-op.

Deutche Welle (DW) described the Pope’s visit as an historic milestone, reporting

“More than 130,000 worshipers flocked to the Zayed Sports City Stadium in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday to celebrate a Mass with Pope Francis… He is the first leader of the Catholic Church ever to set foot on the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.”

If peace between Jews, Muslims and Christians is possible in one small Arab country, why couldn’t it extend further? Reflecting on this possibility, prayerful optimists have lifted their eyes heavenward while world-weary cynics continue to shake their heads.

On the optimistic side, DW explained that at the start of his papal visit, Pope Francis met with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other UAE leaders at the presidential palace.

“He also signed a document promoting ‘human fraternity’ with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the seat of Sunni Muslim learning. During an address to a gathering of interfaith leaders, he called for an end to wars in the Middle East, including in Yemen and Syria. All religious leaders had a ‘duty to reject every nuance of approval from the word war,’ he said.”

But, as less-than-upbeat observers will quickly note, religious freedom in the Middle East often ends where radical Islam begins, whether that dangerous version of ideology is rooted in Shiite or Sunni tradition. In fact, in its 2020 Country Report, the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) declared that Egypt, Iraq and Turkey were included on its “Special Watch List,” while Iran and Saudi Arabia continue to be “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC).

Both had either permitted or committed egregious violations of religious freedom. Indeed, the violent nature of conflicts in the Middle East, including genocides of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities, tend to discourage even the most enthusiastic proponents of dialogue and reconciliation.

Still, efforts for peace – whether motivated by economic promise or intended to create a bulwark against Iranian and Turkish aggression – should not be disregarded. It is a region where churches are sometimes bombed or torched and surviving synagogues are broken relics of happier days — before the wholesale expulsion of entire Jewish communities.

Nonetheless, the UAE has begun a unique project intended to transform the marred image of Muslim, Jewish and Christian relations: a Multi-Faith Complex – including the first official synagogue in the country’s history.

“A church, mosque and synagogue will share a collective space for the first time, serving as a community for inter-religious dialogue and exchange, and nurturing the values of peaceful co-existence and acceptance among different beliefs, nationalities and cultures,” the committee overseeing construction of the complex said in a statement.

For years, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have been holding clandestine meetings. Now their newly revealed projects include both economic and defense opportunities to which both have contributed expertise and funding. Today, the inclusion of other Arab states in such endeavors is already under discussion, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and more.

Sanguine regional conversations about peace and prosperity should never be silenced. Prayerful candles should always be lit by people of faith. Nevertheless, wary eyes keep their watch as Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rage and rant about the Israeli-Emirati agreement’s betrayal of Islamic empire-building.

And while Abu-Dhabi’s construction of the Multi-Faith Complex prepares for its 2022 opening, deadly gunfire shatters quiet nights in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, while rockets and explosive balloons continue to darken the sunlit skies above Israel.

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Six years on, Yazidis in Iraq demand justice for ISIL persecution
Yazidi elderly exterminated, women & young girls gang-raped & young men captured & indoctrinated & who cares? …
Children of the Camps
JIAS Helps Yazidi Kids Rebuild Lives Through Education
ISIL will find no safe haven
2014 Human Rights
2014 Religion
2016 review Human rights
Palestinian Family in Cave Home Faces ‘Israeli’ Eviction
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Palestinians express anger at UAE following US-brokered accord with Israel
For Palestinians, Israel-U. A.E. Deal Swaps One Nightmare for Another
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Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights in Palestine (29 July – 12 August 2020)
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a Surprise at sunrise – Israel has agreed to suspend West Bank annexation plans in exchange for the normalization of ties with the United Arab Emirates, according to a joint statement from Israel, the UAE and the US released by US President Donald Trump. UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayad confirms in a tweet that Israel has agreed to suspend annexation plans, but says that the countries have only agreed to work toward the normalization of relations. The UAE and Israel also agreed to cooperation and setting a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship.
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Stand Down Jews – worldwide
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The Dilemma of the Left – There is a contradiction on the left that should make some of them re-examine their positions. The peace camp is predominantly leftist (as if conservatives don’t want peace), and the left is predominantly pro-Palestinian. So that makes the peace camp predominantly pro-Palestinian.
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by Guestspeaker | 2020/01/21 · 4:55 am

Signs of the times – As the Day approaches

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:
and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time” (Daniel 12:1).

The snippets below reflect upon signs of the times to inform and give warning of the trials and dangers to believers in this “time of trouble.”
Let us be aware of the growing threat to our faithful “endurance to the end,” that we might prepare ourselves to act and respond wisely when tempted or confronted.

Americans Have Little Confidence in Religion, Congress, and the News Media:

Gallup first conducted their “Confidence in Institutions” poll in 1973. Americans have very little confidence in organized religion, Congress or news from the TV, Internet, or newspapers, according to the latest Confidence in Institutions poll. Only 38% of Americans said that they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the church or organized religion. Conservatives and Republicans showed more confidence with 52% and 48% confidence respectively. Liberals and Democrats showed less confidence with 31% of Democrats and 21% of liberals expressing confidence. From 1973 to 1985, American confidence in organized religion was higher than confidence in any other institution at above 60%. A sharp fall in confidence in organized religion (down to 45%) was recorded in 2002 when an expose was published by the Boston Globe revealing that Catholic Church leaders had been aware of serial sex abuse by priests and didn’t take strong action.

Confidence in Congress has consistently been relatively low and this year that trend continued with only 11% of Americans expressing a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress. Confidence in newspapers also ranked low in 2019, with only 23% of Americans expressing a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in print media. Only 20% expressed confidence in TV news, and only 16% expressed confidence in Internet news.
The criminal justice system and big business also have low-confidence ratings, with only 24% of respondents expressing confidence in the criminal justice system and 23% of respondents expressing confidence in big business. Americans expressed the strongest level of confidence in the military (73%), small business (68%) and police (53%), continuing a trend of majority levels of confidence in those three institutions for the past two decades.

Jerusalem Post, July 14, 2019 Comment:

This loss of confidence is but another confirmation that we are living in the time of the end. As Jesus prophesied,

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars [governmental authority; ecclesiastical authority; princes / governors] and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves [the people and nations in rebellion] roaring (Luke 21:25).

Giant Statue of Molech Now Sits at the Entrance to the Colosseum in Rome –

A gigantic statue of a pagan Canaanite deity known as “Molech” has been erected at the entrance to the Colosseum. In ancient times, those that served Molech would sacrifice their children to him. Now a massive statue of this pagan idol is the centerpiece of a new “archaeological exhibition” at the Roman Colosseum (the same Colosseum where countless numbers of Christians were martyred for their faith). What makes this even more shocking is that the Colosseum is controlled by the Vatican. The large-scale exhibition, titled Carthago: The immortal myth, runs until March 29, 2020.

The statue of Moloch was erected nine days prior to the opening of the Amazon Synod, which was plagued with controversy from the beginning after a ceremony in the Vatican Gardens involving the pagan goddess “Pachamama” was held in the presence of Pope Francis and top-ranking prelates.

People bow to Pachamama during pagan rite in Vatican Gardens prior to opening of Amazon Synod, Oct. 4, 2019.

In the ceremony, participants prostrated themselves before wooden statuettes of the fertility goddess indigenous to South America. The statuettes were kept as part of an exhibit in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina until they were thrown into the Tiber by Austrian Catholic Alexander Tschugguel on Oct. 21. Afterward, one copy of the mass-produced figures was kept in the church.

The pagan god Moloch next to an exhibition board in the Colosseum, Rome, September 27, 2019, placed in that prime spot so that everyone that entered into the Colosseum had to pass it. The image of Moloch is modeled on a representation of the child-devouring demon found in the 1914 Italian silent film Cabiria. In the film the idol of Moloch, set up in a Punic temple, has a giant bronze furnace in his chest, into which hundreds of children are thrown. Cabiria, the heroine of the film, is threatened with this fiery fate.

Some Catholics are distressed that the pagan god Moloch has been erected at the entrance to the Colosseum, which is one of many amphitheatres where Christians were tortured and executed for the entertainment of the pagan crowds.

“It was like they put Moloch there to mock the sacred place where the holy martyrs spilled their blood for the True Faith!”

The following comment from Breaking Israel News(11-7-2019) reads,

“There is no way that such a thing could be done without permission from the highest levels of the Vatican. The Colosseum of Rome is owned by the Vatican, specifically the Diocese of Rome, also called the Holy See. If anyone wants to do anything there, they must get permission from the office of the Diocese of Rome. This exhibition, called ‘Cathargo: the immortal myth’ could not be held there unless permission was granted at high levels.”

In Jeremiah 32:35 we are told that the people of Israel began worshipping Molech as they fell away from the Lord, And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech;

which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

In Leviticus 18:21, the people of Israel are specifically warned against sacrificing their children to this idol,

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord

Over the past few years, there seems to have been a concerted effort to put up symbols from ancient pagan religions in key locations all over the globe. This includes erecting the “arch of Baal” in both Washington D.C. and New York City in 2016.

The original Arch of Palmyra in Syria was the ancient arched entrance to the Temple of Baal. It was destroyed in 2015- by ISIS ironically enough. An outfit named the Institute of Digital Archaeology reconstructed the arches using 3-D printers. It was unveiled on April 19, the occult holiday of Beltane, the beginning of a 13-day period known as ‘the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast’. This took place at the 2016 UNESCO World Heritage Fair in Trafalgar Square in London.
Next was a UN World Heritage event in New York City in September. After that, a global summit in Dubai. Then, off to the G7 in Florence, Italy. Then it went to Washington DC to catch the back end of the sacrifice to the beast, and to form that Baal bond.

Prophecy News Watch, November 11, 2019 Comment:

There’s a modern movement to honor as well as embrace witchcraft and pagan deities, resurrecting religious practices of idolatry and superstition centered around the polytheistic, nature worshipping religions of pre-Christian Europe. A significant portion of today’s pagan converts were raised in Christian families.
By embracing the title “pagan” these converts express their break from Christianity, though it’s uncertain just what the allure to adopt idolatry and superstition may be.

Modern day practicing pagan sects of various orders are associated with such practices as worshipping nature, chanting, dancing, spells, sacrifices, festivals, etc. (see Wikipedia –Modern Paganism)

September 28, 2018 by YC Nightingale – Democracy has a new door, or Arch. The seat of the free world is represented by the “democracy” of the United States. This happens at the US Capital building at the National Mall. The Arch is representing this new democracy than will then be brought to the Hague, the International Courts. – The US Capitol building signifying that the womb is the entrance that takes you through the Arch of Triumph or gateway/portal that leads you to the obelisk or Baals shaft. There is a disgusting sexual element to all of this ritual and this is why they want the public to touch it and go in and out from the Arch. They are having a union with Jupiter, Sophia and their lord, Baal. It is their demonic trinity.

154 Nations Reject Israel’s Biblical Connection to the Temple Mount:

The United Nations gave preliminary approval for a resolution that calls the Temple Mount by its Muslim name exclusively –Haram al-Sharif. The resolution passed at the UN’s Fourth Committee in an overwhelming turn-out of 154-8. The vote featured 14 abstentions as well as 17 absences. It was one of eight Anti-Israel resolutions approved last week. An expected 15 more anti-Israel resolutions are anticipating approval as well. Only Israel and the United States voted against all eight resolutions, although Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Nauru joined them in voting against the Jerusalem texts. All of the twenty-eight EU member states backed the resolution…

The Acting US Deputy Representative to the United Nations responded to the resolution saying,

“We are disappointed that despite support for reform, member states continue to disproportionately single out Israel through these types of resolutions.”

She added,

“it is deplorable that the United Nations –an institution founded upon the idea that all nations should be treated equally –should be so often used by member states to treat one state in particular, Israel, unequally.”

Breaking Israel News, November 18, 2019

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by Marcus Ampe | 2018/01/24 · 7:21 pm

Fake News Goes Back to the Garden of Eden says Pope Francis I

On this day of “News and communication” we can’t escape to ponder on the last two years where we got bombarded with continuous streams of fake news and attacks on people and organisations.

All people who write on the internet should be aware of their social function and be conscious of their responsibility and impact on others. The last few months social media also showed its bad and dangerous side in being a weapon of opponents and misleader of the people. When you look at the fake news that could be spread in one week it should really alarm us.

Today the Roman Catholic Church Father Francis I looked at what is going on in this world and said

Made in the image and likeness of our Creator, we are able to express and share all that is true, good, and beautiful. We are able to describe our own experiences and the world around us, and thus to create historical memory and the understanding of events.

He is also aware and tells about what happened very early in the history of man, what too many have forgotten. We should remember that there was the inner thought of the mannin or first woman who doubted the sincerity and honesty of her Creator. Pope Francis has denounced fake news as evil, comparing it to the snake in the Garden of Eden, and urged journalists to make it their mission to search for the truth.

In his annual social communications message, Francis said fake news played on stereotypes and prejudices, and praised efforts to make social media users aware of false reports. Question hereby can bye how we ourselves want to see the world around us and how we want to be honest to others. Lots of our way of reaction against others has to do with our background, attitude of life and our pride.

The pope opened his sermon today with a warning.

But when we yield to our own pride and selfishness, we can also distort the way we use our ability to communicate. This can be seen from the earliest times, in the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and the Tower of Babel (cf. Gen 4:4-16; 11:1-9). The capacity to twist the truth is symptomatic of our condition, both as individuals and communities. On the other hand, when we are faithful to God’s plan, communication becomes an effective expression of our responsible search for truth and our pursuit of goodness.

In 1972 Pope Paul VI already for the World Communications Day had its theme: “Social Communications at the Service of Truth”. The present pope want also to contribute to our shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and to rediscovering the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth. for this pope it is not the first time he has scolded those who spread false news reports. He called it a “very serious sin” that not only hurts those who have been slandered but also hurts journalism itself.

We have come into a time when it looks like a sport or competition to bring the most deceiving and manipulating messages to the reader. Clearly the spreading of fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests, and is as such used.

The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible. Secondly, this false but believable news is “captious”, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration. The ability to spread such fake news often relies on a manipulative use of the social networks and the way they function. Untrue stories can spread so quickly that even authoritative denials fail to contain the damage.

In Christendom we can see that lots of people are so caught by the arrangement between the clergy and the Roman emperor Constantine. Their agreement to equal the Roman gods with the Christian figures (or better the other way around) made that the Trinity was born and fostered.

The difficulty of unmasking and eliminating fake news is due also to the fact that many people interact in homogeneous digital environments impervious to differing perspectives and opinions. Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue; instead, it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas. The tragedy of disinformation is that it discredits others, presenting them as enemies, to the point of demonizing them and fomenting conflict. Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth.

In Facebook Groups lots of people go very hard against people who have an other opinion than they or than mainstream groups. Many want others to believe as them and when they do not do that they come to abuse them and call them names.

It is not an easy task to get people to see what really happened and to get rid of the false information Awful is it when such false news is to blacken people or organisations. Since disinformation is often based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms, plus when it gets multiplied or shared via social media it starts running its own life and often turns up a few years later when people have forgotten about the matter and do not recollect that it was classified as fake news.

The Pope finds it good that

praiseworthy efforts are being made to create educational programmes aimed at helping people to interpret and assess information provided by the media, and teaching them to take an active part in unmasking falsehoods, rather than unwittingly contributing to the spread of disinformation. Praiseworthy too are those institutional and legal initiatives aimed at developing regulations for curbing the phenomenon, to say nothing of the work being done by tech and media companies in coming up with new criteria for verifying the personal identities concealed behind millions of digital profiles.

Yet preventing and identifying the way disinformation works also calls for a profound and careful process of discernment. We need to unmask what could be called the “snake-tactics” used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place. This was the strategy employed by the “crafty serpent” in the Book of Genesis, who, at the dawn of humanity, created the first fake news (cf. Gen 3:1-15), which began the tragic history of human sin, beginning with the first fratricide (cf. Gen 4) and issuing in the countless other evils committed against God, neighbour, society and creation. The strategy of this skilled “Father of Lies” (Jn 8:44) is precisely mimicry, that sly and dangerous form of seduction that worms its way into the heart with false and alluring arguments.

The world is taken by its greed. So many people do want it all for themselves. Politicians do whatever they can to degrade their opponents and to let themselves look the better one.

What is at stake is our greed. Fake news often goes viral, spreading so fast that it is hard to stop, not because of the sense of sharing that inspires the social media, but because it appeals to the insatiable greed so easily aroused in human beings. The economic and manipulative aims that feed disinformation are rooted in a thirst for power, a desire to possess and enjoy, which ultimately makes us victims of something much more tragic: the deceptive power of evil that moves from one lie to another in order to rob us of our interior freedom. That is why education for truth means teaching people how to discern, evaluate and understand our deepest desires and inclinations, lest we lose sight of what is good and yield to every temptation.

At Facebook Groups we often find people, claiming to be Christian, using words unworthy for a lover of God and for a follower of Christ, calling those who are not in line with their thinking all sorts of names. By bringing all sorts of false ‘news’ they also try to bring others in discredit. In many of those groups we can see a constant contamination by deceptive language which can end up darkening our interior life.

Dostoevsky’s observation is illuminating:

“People who lie to themselves and listen to their own lie come to such a pass that they cannot distinguish the truth within them, or around them, and so lose all respect for themselves and for others. And having no respect, they cease to love, and in order to occupy and distract themselves without love they give way to passions and to coarse pleasures, and sink to bestiality in their vices, all from continual lying to others and to themselves.” (The Brothers Karamazov, II, 2).

Many people are thrown form one side to the other and become so confused, not able to see what is true , half-true and what is false. Lots of false messages look so engrossing that one can not resit the excitement and love to share it on social media which makes the ball rolling.

So how do we defend ourselves?

The most radical antidote to the virus of falsehood is purification by the truth.

In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true or false. The truth is not just bringing to light things that are concealed, “revealing reality”, as the ancient Greek term aletheia (from a-lethès, “not hidden”) might lead us to believe. Truth involves our whole life. In the Bible, it carries with it the sense of support, solidity, and trust, as implied by the root ‘aman, the source of our liturgical expression Amen.

Those who call themselves Christian should have the aim in them to purify their body and spirit and to share the love of Christ with others, not wanting to hurt them by false sayings or awful words. they should work on their character, trying to become like Christ. By their daily meditations and reading of the Word of God they should discover and rediscover the truth when they experience it within themselves in the loyalty and trustworthiness of the One who loves them.

every person should know that the truth will set them free (Jn 8:32).

Freedom from falsehood and the search for relationship: these two ingredients cannot be lacking if our words and gestures are to be true, authentic, and trustworthy. To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide, and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true. An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results.

When looking at news channels, social media (tweets and Facebook messages) we always should use our common sense and examine the truth as well as the value of the message.

The best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people: people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language. If responsibility is the answer to the spread of fake news, then a weighty responsibility rests on the shoulders of those whose job is to provide information, namely, journalists, the protectorsof news. In today’s world, theirs is, in every sense, not just a job; it is a mission. Amid feeding frenzies and the mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons. Informing others means forming others; it means being in touch with people’s lives. That is why ensuring the accuracy of sources and protecting communication are real means of promoting goodness, generating trust, and opening the way to communion and peace.

The pontiff wants to invite everyone to promote a journalism of peace. He said

By that, I do not mean the saccharine kind of journalism that refuses to acknowledge the existence of serious problems or smacks of sentimentalism. On the contrary, I mean a journalism that is truthful and opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans, and sensational headlines. A journalism created by people for people, one that is at the service of all, especially those – and they are the majority in our world – who have no voice. A journalism less concentrated on breaking news than on exploring the underlying causes of conflicts, in order to promote deeper understanding and contribute to their resolution by setting in place virtuous processes. A journalism committed to pointing out alternatives to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence.

Preceding articles

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #3 Cyberwars and prophesy

Additional reading

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by Bijbelvorsers | 2015/10/27 · 8:53 am

The Catholic synod on the family and abortion

In the United States Catholic bishops hire public-relations firms to discourage abortion and the last few months also evangelical groups join hands with conservative Catholics and Muslims.

In certain countries there have been lots of teenage mothers. For them certain groups advised them to consider abortion. But this is not an option for those who want to turn to pleasing God, as the Bible makes it clear that abortion is against God’s law. (Exodus 20:13; 21:22, 23; Psalm 139:14-16) In God’s eyes the life of any embryo — including one conceived out of wedlock — is precious.

Those situations were also subject of the talks at the Vatican, were in continuation of the previous meetings the Synod on marriage and family spend only a little bit of time for the women in need of advice and pregnancy support.

Last year there were already surprised looks at the request of Pope Francis I to absolve from the censure that is incurred by the crime (not just sin) of successfully procuring an abortion, as part of the Year of Mercy.

On Saturday evening the Synod of Bishops on the Family came to a close when Synod Fathers voted paragraph by paragraph on the final text. At the end of the vote the text was presented to the Holy Father. All 94 points received the required two-thirds majority vote. For the pope the Synod was not about settling issues but attempting to see them in the light of the Gospel and the Church’s tradition and two thousand year history. The Pope said it was about interpreting reality through God’s eyes.

The Holy Father said it was about making clear that the Church is a Church of the poor in spirit and of sinners seeking forgiveness.

Than we may ask what the Catholic Church is going to do about the sex offenders in their clergy and how they are going to treat the young girls who were molested by priests and got pregnant. At the same time we want to question the Catholic Church fathers how they are going to treat those girls who decided to have an abortion.

Quoting Benedict XVI, Pope Francis said

“Mercy is indeed the central nucleus of the Gospel message“.

The Holy Father said that many of the delegates felt the working of the Holy Spirit who is

“the real protagonist and guide of the Synod.”

To conclude the Synod, he said, is to

“return to our true ‘journeying together’ in bringing to every part of the world, every diocese, to every community and every situation, the light of the Gospel, the embrace of the Church and the support of God’s mercy!

But when we look at the results we can not see that there is much progress made in handling the gender issues and in coping with matrimonial and out of marriage family formation.

Did those bishops really listened to and made heard

“the voices of the families and the Church’s pastors, who came to Rome bearing on their shoulders the burdens and the hopes, the riches and the challenges of families throughout the world.” ?

There was a “disparity in the voting” on the subjects of pastoral care for divorced and remarried persons. While preserving the Church’s teaching and current pastoral practice on dealing with divorced and remarried couples, the synod urged the bishops to treat these couples as baptised persons who must be

“more integrated into the Christian community“

while

“avoiding every occasion of scandal.”

For sure the Catholic Church itself had to endure enough scandals the last ten years and strangely enough those homosexual priests did not want to have an ear to be more lenient to the homosexual and transgender civilians. Now they had an opportunity to show their comprehension for people with such feelings, but they mist that chance.

The bishops called the homosexual ideological colonisation

“unacceptable in every case.”

They also rejected the pressure exerted on local churches by those who are pushing for the acceptance of gay “marriage.”

Perhaps those pushing the Church to adopt a more welcoming and tolerant stance towards the LGBT community might ask themselves what stern opposition to that position was all about during the synods of 2014 and 2015.

They might realize, for instance, that for many African Catholics, such demands come off as another chapter in what Pope Francis has described as “ideological colonization,” meaning efforts by the West to force its values on the rest of the world. (The final document acknowledges the legitimacy of those concerns.) {After the synod, can Catholics put Humpty Dumpty together again?}

DignityUSA is deeply disappointed in the final report out of the Synod on the family.

“The respectful language of the midterm report is gone,”

said Marianne Duddy-Burke, DignityUSA’s Executive Director.

“A return to what we’ve heard for decades will dishearten LGBT people, same-sex couples, and our families.”

“What we saw through the Synod process is that there are deep divisions in what the Catholics bishops think about LGBT people, even at the highest levels of leadership. Unfortunately, today, doctrine won out over pastoral need. It is disappointing that those who recognized the need for a more inclusive Church were defeated,” {LGBT Catholics Disappointed by Final Synod Report}

Duddy-Burke continued.

We may not underestimate the importance of what the Vatican decrees and sends into the world. those words are not only used by the 1.2 billion Catholics of which more than 40% live in Latin America (483 million Catholics) – but Africa has seen the biggest growth in Catholic congregations in recent years. Since 1970, Catholicism has seen a global shift southwards – the proportion of Catholics living in Europe has declined, while Africa has seen a growth in the number of Catholics – from 45 million in 1970 to 176 million in 2012. Asia has also seen a growth in Catholicism and now represents almost 12% of the total Catholic population in the world, or 137 million people.

The people in Europe do not mind to have their own Catholicism for their own region and perhaps this is going to show up even more after this missed change for this church which according to some bishops prefers to stay in the world of 2000 years ago.

In a final speech to the synod, Francis took some clear swipes at the conservatives who hold up church doctrine above all else, saying the church’s primary duty isn’t to condemn or judge but to proclaim God’s mercy and save souls.

That condemnation we can see a lot in the Catholic denominations and in several evangelical and Pentecostal churches. On that part we can find certain organisations which are doing more damage to the unity of people and formation of Bible readers and followers.

The bishops were willing to take Francis I his direction, finding “positive elements” in couples who live together even though they are not married. Rather than condemning these couples for living in sin, the document says pastors should look at their commitment constructively and encourage them to transform their union in a sacramental marriage.

The Pope already gave several examples how to show respect and love for others and asks his pastors also to show respect for those who are not like the majority. He even demands that particular pastoral care shall be given to families with gay members. though the Church can not accept such a declination. Gay marriage and “gender theory” are strongly rejected by the document which omits references to church teaching that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”

The final synod document also supported Church teachings on life issues such as abortion and contraception.

It reiterated that all human life

“is sacred because, since its beginning, it involves the creative action of God.”

The document rejected the “biotechnical revolution in the field of human procreation” which

“has introduced the ability to manipulate the generative act, rendering it independent of the sexual relationship between a man and woman.”

The document gives notice that only God

“is the Lord of life from its beginning to its end,”

and that no one, under any circumstance, can claim for themselves the right to directly destroy an innocent human being. But they did not go deeper into different conditions or certain necessities.

The document focused on the beauty of marriage and the family, emphasising the indissolubility of marriage from beginning to end.

It quoted Pope Francis’ Oct. 4 homily during the opening of the synod where he said, “God didn’t create the human being to live in sadness or to be alone, but for happiness, to share his path with another person that is complimentary.”

The document said, “God united the hearts of man and woman who love each other and unites them in unity and indissolubility. This means that the goal of married life is not only to live together forever, but to love each other forever!”

Gregorio III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch said

“In a way, we experienced the Pentecost here. We held a Synod here in the Vatican hall, under closed doors, just as the apostles did in Jerusalem. Now it’s time to reach out to the world, through our local dioceses with the message of the Synod.”

Preceding articles:

Additional reading:

Pope Francis leaves a session of the synod in the Vatican

Pope Francis had pointed words for conservative bishops after the meeting

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My Choice (by Jezabel Jonson)

I would not say a person has to undergo certain situations to have an idea of what is going on in such circumstance. People can have some idea of what a person must or can undergo in a certain situation. We also do know that every person in a similar situation undergoes it differently.

Not one abortion by woman is the same as an abortion by an other woman.

In this world of a lot of violence also not all unwanted babies do come from horrible situations, like rape or unwanted sex. We also must be aware that because of no allowance or of no provision or of economical difficulties to provide for contraceptive pills, condoms and/or implanon (the rod) the world also sees about 21.6 million women each year with unsafe abortions, adolescents suffering the most from complications and having the highest unmet need for contraception ‒ yet are still not perceived as eligible for “family planning” in many countries.

We also in many countries can find medical abuse, such as refusal to provide pain relief or the use of caesarean section to avoid doing a second trimester abortion that would be illegal (Argentina) or to save the life of the baby when the woman has asked for an abortion (Ireland, Paraguay).

For those persons to come to a decision which is going to change their life for ever is not easy and often underestimated.

In our society we also have to take certain responsibilities which give no excuse to accuse the one who has become pregnant. To incriminate the person with child is an easy way to escape the responsibility of not having guided her when she was young and without child. Before things happened female beings should have learned about ways to prevent and in case something went wrong how to avoid a pregnancy (e.g. after-morning pill).

Though when no help is offered or no knowledge about safe ways was there when the person comes to know she is pregnant it will be up to that person herself to make decisions, which not always will be easy to make.

In the West the decision to have an abortion would be totally different than in China were there are about 13 million abortions conducted every year. The US, by comparison, which has about one-quarter of the population, conducts around one million annually. Forced abortions, as part of the government’s one-child policy, have long been used to contain the country’s population since the 1980’s. It is more common to see an ad for “painless abortions” than for condoms in China.

The Holy Father talks frequently about spiritual struggle, as a devoted follower of St Ignatius Loyola would do. He has clearly condemned abortion on many occasions, and he has said that the “door is closed” to the ordination of women to the priesthood. At the same time in many other denominations the woman is still a second citizens and seems to be there only to reproduce. But as Pope Francis I has so deftly demonstrated, respect for life does not fit neatly into left or right, liberal or conservative. Undocumented workers’ lives are worth respect. Unborn life is worth respect. Muslim refugees’ lives are worth respect. The handicapped, the elderly, the patient with cancer or a brain tumour – their lives are worth respect. Criminals in prison – even on death row- their lives are worth respect. The Catholic Church, according the Pope, has always faithfully taught that every life is precious.

The Bible for sure has taught that and still demands human beings to have respect for every living soul. This respect is for all living beings (plants, animals, people) and that is so often forgotten by those who want to throw stones to people who have chosen to end the life of a foetus. What we also see and hear is that of those protesting against abortion there are many who are against the abolition of weapons and against the abolition of the death penalty. Suddenly there it does not seem to be wrong to take life of some other living being (be it a man, a woman, an animal, but also even not a child) Is that not a hypocritic attitude of many Americans?

We all better should listen to those people who had the experience, for whatever reason, to be put in front of the decision-making.

It is wrong to think mishaps only happen to certain people or even only to yourself. No one is excluded from certain unpleasant happenings in life. Therefore we should be well aware that others can have had certain experiences we never would like to have but which we also not would like to have others, or when there are people who had to undergo certain experiences that they find ways out of it and can find ways to come back on the right track of a better life.

The witnessing on Jezabel and Catt therefore is important and may not be ignored.
We all must be aware that every day somewhere in the world living souls are confronted with
“The good, the bad, and the ugly. ” and perhaps then it is better to have “No censorship, no bullshit, no knights in shining armour.”

Lets face reality and help each other to bear it.

+

Preceding: Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion

++

Additional reading

A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person

From Despair to Victory

I can’t believe that … (4) God’s word would be so violent

2014 Human Rights

American Senate ignoring many voices and tears of their own people

Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America at war

Caricaturing and disapproving sceptics, religious critics and figured out ethics

About lions and babies

Westboro Baptist Church and Catholic Truth against Nelson Mandela

Always a choice

+++

Further reading:

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Abortion Survivor to Cecile Richards: ‘I Am So Thankful to Be Alive’

In New Video, Planned Parenthood Business Partner Defends Abortion, ‘That’s Where We Get Our Tissue’

The Nazis Were Huge Supporters of Abortion, Calling it “Freedom of Choice” Issue for Women

This Woman Left the Abortion Industry for the Pro-Life Movement. Now, She’s Written a Book About Her Journey ‘From Death to Life.’

Intent vs. Impact, speech on anti-abortion language in JVTA and blocking qualified women

Safety of abortion and status of clinic access in NC

Women’s health 2.0: The pill, the ‘Rod’ and emergency contraception vs abortion.

The truth about how women get abortions in America

Pope Francis is not a progressive—he just has terrific PR

True “pro-life” conservatives should support lifesaving fetal tissue research

Rogue mothers have no decency

Selective hearing on abortion

Dispel the fog on abortion

Pope sets time frame for forgiveness

Feminists vs. the Patriarchy

Save the babies down under. #shoutyourabortion

Abortion? Only if you’ve got the money and Abbott’s not PM

Turnbull: women must be respected but only if they are of our tribe.

Abbott’s ‘War on Everything’

Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

Gun Control: Pro-Life or Anti-Suffering?

When Mass Shootings Were Real

Another Crappy CNN Article About Gun Control

#CocksNotGlocks

Hide and Seek

The Evil AR-15?

Emotions, Facts, And the Diversity Therein

Mass Murder motivations murky

Weekend reading

Justices mull appeal of Chicago suburb’s assault weapons ban

October 18, 2015

Gun Control–Part 3

Want a gun? Take a bullet: Take this, gutless NRA cowards — you can have a gun, once you understand the pain of being shot

Gun Control – Sandy Hook, CT

Clinton suggests she’d consider mandatory gun buy-backs, sparking fears of ‘confiscation’

Open Letter to Justicar of The Rationalists

Hillary Clinton: Nationwide Gun Ban, Repeal of Second Amendment “Worth Considering”

Bloated, irrelevant actor expresses dim-witted opinion

God and Guns

Safe Spaces: Guns in Neoliberal America

Gun Lies – The Mistake of Only Comparing US Murder Rates to “Developed” Countries

The “Gun Control” Farce

Indiana Sheriff: I Enforce 2nd Amendment, Not Obama’s Executive Actions on Guns

Hillary Clinton: Nationwide Gun Ban

Results of our PollOn Gun Control…

Guns and Violence Part 5: Why I Carry?

Another Very Bad Anti-Gun Meme

Related articles

LifeNews Pro-Life News Report 9/23/15

Catholic Clerics, Knights Warn Youths Against Abortion

Obama Invited Fired Gay Catholic School Teacher and Her ‘Wife’ to Meet Pope

Biden rationalizes stance as legalized abortion supporter – with Catholic interviewer’s help

Joe Biden Says ‘Abortion is Always Wrong’ But He Supports It Anyway

Obama’s words to the Pope ring hollow

What the Pope has said on key issues for church

Jezabel & Catt

I want to talk about abortion. I want to talk about my abortion.

I don’t want this blog to turn into a pro choice versus anti abortion discussion. I merely want to share my experience about a very personal and difficult time in my life. Everyone has their own opinions and everyone will have some form of judgement when they read this. The fact is, that is your opinion and your judgement. Not mine.

So, here goes. When I was 21 I fell pregnant. It was an accident, I didn’t plan it and I was scared. I was at university, I had just met this man and I was petrified. I was scared not just for the 21 year old girl with stars in her eyes, I was also scared about how I would be treated when I admitted to myself I didn’t want a baby.

As a woman in…

View original post 271 more words

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Filed under Being and Feeling, Crimes & Atrocities, Educational affairs, Health affairs, Juridical matters, Lifestyle, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters

Tagged as Abortion, Abortion Debate, Awful moments, China, Contraception, Death penalty, Decision making, Family planning, Foetus, Gun-control, Jezabel Jonson, Living beings, Medical abuse, Pope Francis I, Pregnancy, Preservatives, Pro-Life Arguments, Rape, Unwanted sex

by Marcus Ampe | 2015/10/08 · 8:28 am

72 Synod Fathers on the topic “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”

World Youth Day is a popular Catholic faith themed international youth event initiated by Pope John Paul II but those very enthusiast youngsters do not always come out very happy families and often meet lots of friends from new assembled families (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

72 Synod Fathers got together at the Vatican to look after family life, debating at the Synod on Marriage and Family from October the 4th until the 25th.

The Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said this synod wants to give more space to the various language-specific groups (circuli minores) and under the new proceedings, there will be a commission of ten Synod Fathers nominated by the Pope, who will follow the work of the assembly.

Pope Francis I in his brief speech underlined that this Synod is to develop in continuity with last year’s Extraordinary Synod. He said that

“three documents from the last Synod are to be considered official: the opening speech, the concluding speech and the final relatio synodi.”

The clergy has a year time to go locally in debate and to come to some conclusions which should be further discussed in Rome. Additions were made to this concluding document between the 2014 assembly and the start of this October gathering, with contributions received by the Synod secretariat, which then turned it into the Instrumentum laboris – the Ordinary Synod’s working document – “with the Pope’s participation”.

Catholics and those interested in the Catholic Faith should know that

“Catholic doctrine on marriage has not been touched, no one called it into question in this assembly or in the Extraordinary assembly. It has been preserved in its integrity”.

the Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said, adding,

“We must not let ourselves be conditioned or limit ourselves seeing the question of communion for remarried divorcees as the only problem”. Instead, “the Instrumentum laboris requires a broader outlook.”

When the cardinals a few years ago choose a cardinal coming from a free-thinking religious society known to question Vatican directives and church teachings, they probably had not expected the new elected pope would become so popular and so forthcoming to the general public; Question is now how much does this pope wants to be open to the changed society where some governments even to introduce a third sex, taking into account those who have a dual sex or have changed their sex and want to have normal relationships as well. As the first Jesuit pontiff, Pope Francis I is also working in response to a 1990 call by Pope John Paul II in his Ex corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), for closer ties between the church and Catholic colleges.

Those who hoped that Ex corde would usher in rapid change have also been disappointed. Many advocates maintain that the bishops have never fully enforced its guidelines. Catholic colleges still remain highly autonomous and do more or less what they want. When I talk to American Catholics outside academe, most draw a blank when Ex corde is mentioned. When Pope Benedict XVI addressed Catholic educators during his visit to the United States in April 2008, he made no direct reference to the Apostolic Constitution. {Catholic Colleges 20 Years After ‘Ex Corde’}

“Catholic identity” and “faith and reason” since that call have been circulating, bolstered by Pope John Paul II’s 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), which was widely discussed on Catholic campuses worldwide. But the Catholic Church did not seem to come to reason and had even more difficulties to address other gender feelings than in the 1960ies. The clergy came to exclude more and more people. Also having difficult family issues made even more Catholics shunned by their church. The exclusion of many parishioners made the churches run faster empty. Feeling the water at their mouth, nearly drowning some Catholic church fathers are aware that there must come an end to exclusionary language and a strong emphasis on embracing reality as it is.

“We should not be afraid of new and complex situations.”

says Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the Vatican’s English speaking language spokesperson,who was speaking at the briefing of the Synod’s second day in the Vatican press office, with its director, Father Federico Lombardi, Italian Archbishop Claudio Celli, and Canadian Cardinal Paul-Andre Durocher.

Fr. Rosica Speaks on Synod Delegates, Fathers Discussing the Need to Embrace People Where They Are

The importance of changing language used to address certain difficult situations, Fr. Rosica said, was highlighted.

“The language must be renewed,”

he said, noting how this is especially appropriate and linked to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy which Pope Francis has declared, December 8, 2014 – November 20, 2015.

“The Jubilee of Mercy requires a language of mercy,”

he stated. Father Rosica underscored how language ought to always be inclusive, rather than exclusive, particularly for homosexuals.

“In particular, when speaking about homosexuals or gay persons,”

he said,

“we recognize them for who they are: They are our sons, our daughters, and brothers, sisters, neighbours and colleagues.”

Not only the Catholic Church is struggling with that subject of feelings people can have for people of the same sex. When you look at the net in Christian circles the gay matter may be a seriously discussed parcours where some so called Christians may use a terrible language or send horrible messages to those who are having other preferences than the mainstream people in our society.

Healthy seriously sane people are sensible enough to approach this matter with much caution and are aware that it is much more complicated than it looks at first sight. Most religious organisations from whatever denomination do know that it is not easy at all to convince people of the value of God’s Word. They all know also how difficult it is nowadays to build up an ecclesia or church and to have that church grow. It might well be that it looks like we are living in a marvellous world, people over here are confronted with loads of problems and often need social, psychological and communal help. There is a huge need today for pastoral work. Also the Catholic Church knows that a better approach is needed for couples living together, to welcome and help them move forward toward a fulfilling married life, one which says:

“Look, God loves you as and where you are, but God doesn’t want you to stay there. He wants you to go further.”

A common suggestion of the delegates, Father Thomas Rosica noted, was not only for greater preparation before entering into marriage, but to continue into its early stages to help couples adapt to their lives as spouses.

Moreover, the synod fathers and delegates spoke about the role and treatment of the elderly, especially for their importance in transmitting the faith and values with in families.

There are Americans who think that dissident Catholic pressure groups — aided by the liberal media — are feverishly working to dismantle vital Church teaching on marriage and family at this Synod on the Family in Rome. The American TFP was joining forces with over 20 more pro-family groups around the world to collect as many signatures as possible before this Synod started. They want others to believe that

they are bombarding the Holy Father and the Synod Fathers right now with messages of revolt against traditional moral values as they lamor for “change, change, change” inside the Church. {Filial Petition to Pope Francis}

Find also:

+++

Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery

65 mayors and top representatives from some of the world’s most prominent cities — including New York, Paris, Stockholm, and Tehran came to the Vatican, whilst the London major send his cat.

Both Tuesday’s workshop, titled “Modern Slavery and Climate Change: The Commitment of the Cities,” and a Wednesday symposium on “Prosperity, People, and Planet: Achieving Sustainable Development in Our Cities,” will be hosted by the Vatican’s Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences and underwritten by an Italian donor.

The meetings are cosponsored by the United Nations.

Francis told the mayors at a Vatican summit on climate change and human trafficking that he placed great trust in the United Nations to bring about a good agreement.

Pope Francis said he has “a lot of hope” that negotiators at Paris climate talks will reach an ambitious agreement to reduce global warming.

But he also wants U.N. nations to prioritize fighting both human trafficking and the exploitation of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The Vatican is angling to make sure the U.N.’s new Sustainable Development Goals, to be finalized in September, address the problems of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

Trafficking In Persons Report Map 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: (Green) Italy. (Light-green) The Euro...

(Green) Italy. (Light-green) The European Union (EU). (Grey) Europe. (Light-grey) The surrounding region. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio did express his discontentment concerning the European Union leaving Italy in the cold. That country can impossibly deal on its own with waves of immigrants coming from North Africa. The EU must come up with a Europe-wide immigration policy.

De Blasio, whose grandparents emigrated from Italy to New York, said he was

“deeply troubled by the lack of action by the European Union and the way that Italy has been left to fend for itself very unfairly.”

The African-American Birmingham Mayor William Bell had a very personal reason for being at the Vatican’s conference on climate change and human slavery.

Today, he told his fellow mayors from around the world:

“At the time of my birth, I was born into a society in Birmingham, Alabama, that existed as a close cousin of slavery called segregation.”

and continued:

“Segregation was designed to exploit individuals and groups based on race and race alone. It was for the economic purpose of cheap labour. It was to control society. It was to control human beings.”

21 Comments

Filed under Ecological affairs, Economical affairs, Social affairs, World affairs

Tagged as Bill de Blasio, Cheap labour, Climate change, Climate talks, European Union, Global warming, Human trafficking, Immigration policy, Italy, Modern-day slavery, Pope Francis I, United Nations, Vatican, William Bell

by Marcus Ampe | 2014/04/12 · 5:17 pm

Responsibility for children who were molested by clergy

No pope has ever taken personal responsibility for the tens of thousands of children who were molested by priests over decades, as bishops moved them from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police

Pope Benedict XVI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since being elected last year it is the first time the head of the Catholic Church has made an apology for the thousands of cases of abuse by priests and bishops which had to come to public light before the church was going to do something against it. The church has came to embarrassment with several stories in many countries of the “evil” of priests and bishops who raped and molested children. Already some years the church leaders were noticed by people and by their own clergy, but did not do much. It took a lot of media attention before something came off the ground. Many times the leaders said they did not know about such cases, but when others came with proof they should have known they tried an other whistle. Pope Benedict XVI was not the brightest example in trying to escape the accusations.

At a conference to combat human trafficking and child exploitation, called ‘Church and Law Enforcement in Partnership’, survivors of sex-trafficking from Hungary, Chile and the Czech Republic, were also greeted by the Pope.

Hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and organized by organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales the Vatican event brought sex-trafficking global police watch-dogs INTERPOL together with other police forces around the world. It also brought discussion between active members of the Catholic church, with members of foreign governments who are working today to slow the rising tide of crime in the worldwide human sex-trafficking industry.

“It is a crime against humanity,”

said Pope Francis on Thursday on the last day of the event that ran for two days on April 2 and 10.

“Our meeting today includes law enforcement authorities, who are primarily responsible for combating this tragic reality by a vigorous application of the law. It also includes humanitarian and social workers, whose task it is to provide victims with welcome, human warmth and the possibility of building a new life,”

continued the Pope.

“These are two different approaches, but they can and must go together. To dialogue and exchange views on the basis of these two complementary approaches is quite important. Conferences such as this are extremely helpful, and, I would say, much needed,”

Pope Francis added.

General Audience with Pope Francis (Photo credit: Catholic Church (England and Wales))

Today we may find a total different pope than the previous ones, who takes this matter very serious. By giving attention to what happened to all those youngsters in the past, he is giving forgiveness and forgetfulness a chance. On Friday he was asking forgiveness from victims and saying the church must be even bolder in its efforts to protect the young. It was the first time a pope has taken personal responsibility for the sex crimes of his priests and begged forgiveness.

The Catholic Church has faced numerous allegations of child sex abuse by priests around the world and criticism over inadequate responses by bishops. Earlier this year Pope Francis strengthened Vatican laws on child abuse, broadening the definition of crimes against minors to include sexual abuse of children.

While in office, predecessor Pope Benedict XVI apologised to victims of child sex abuse, saying he was “truly sorry” for the “sinful and criminal actions” committed by priests.

Francis’ off-the-cuff remarks were the latest sign that he has become sensitized to the gravity of the abuse scandal after coming under criticism from victims’ advocacy groups for a perceived lack of attention to, and understanding of, the toll it has taken on the church and its members.

The main U.S. victim’s group, SNAP, said it was waiting for more.

“We beg the world’s Catholics: Be impressed by deeds, not words,”

said SNAP’s outreach director Barbara Dorris in a statement.

“Until the pope takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant.”

Vatican Radio, and Vatican Television gave screening material wich we also could watch on the Belgian Newschannels. We could see the Argentine-born pontiff talking very very slowly, saying he had formed a high-level group on the scandal including an abuse victim to probe the allegations and come clean on this matter which is haunting the Vatican for quite some time.

“I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests – quite a few in number, (although) obviously not compared to the number of all priests – to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,”

he told members of the International Catholic Child Bureau.

Many adults who remember their childhood, where they got slapped in their face when they told their parents what had happened in the parsonage or presbytery, shall perhaps find some peace now. For many it is unbelievable that the abuse could go on for so many years. And that even after the Dutroux rage still nothing was done again what had happened and still happened in many Catholic presbyteries. they are convinced that the ‘church’ should have been aware of what was happening. Many might have lost their faith in church and religion and can not understand how such an institute which preaches love and peace, and say we all do have to be honest could itself be constructed so much on loads of lies.

Those damaged people can only hope the Catholic Church shall try to soothe this personal, moral damage carried out by men of the church. Lots of men and women (because they also may not be forgotten) shall be looking at the Catholic Church under its new leader to see if it will not take one step backward with regards to how they will deal with this abuse problem. Many people are also curious about the sanctions which shall be taken.

Are we going to see serious sanctions that must be imposed? the pope himself promisses:

On the contrary, we have to be even stronger. Because you cannot interfere with children.”

“It is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the church and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed” the Pope Francis I called for zero tolerance. – Copyright © 2014 Fairfax Media

In a response, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP, issued a statement calling on the Pontiff to take decisive action against abusive clergy.

These steps include defrocking all known child abusers; handing enforcement over to secular authorities; punishing officials who failed to report instances of abuse; and ensuring the protection of whistleblowers.

“Actions speak louder than words,”

the statement reads in part.

A bad name church going to take action: Catholic church asking for forgiveness and promising to take action against child-abusers
Television view (Washington Post): Pope asks for forgiveness for ‘evil’ of priest child abuse
Reuters video: Pope asks for forgiveness for evil of priests
Pope Francis asks forgiveness for child abuse by clergy
Pope: Child abuse criticism unfair
UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy

+++

Deceptive evil Jesuit anti-Pope Francis I asks for Forgiveness for paedophilia by clergy (theunhivedmind.com)
Last month, Pope Francis strongly defended the Roman Catholic Church’s record on tackling sexual abuse by priests, following UN criticism.

The Pope set up a committee last year to organise help for victims of clerical sexual abuse but has been accused by some Catholics of dragging his feet in acknowledging the extent of the moral and mental damage caused by paedophile priests, the BBC’s David Willey reports from Rome.
Pope asks forgiveness for child sex abuses (vanguardngr.com)
“I feel compelled… to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” the pope said at a meeting with members of a children’s charity, Vatican Radio reported.

The apology was a first for Francis since he was elected last year and he was quoted as saying there were “quite a few” guilty priests, although “obviously not compared to the number of all the priests”.
Pope Francis Apologizes For Sexual Abuse: Asks For ‘Forgiveness’ For Damage Done By Priests (medicaldaily.com)
Perhaps most importantly, though, Francis has taken responsibility for the priests who have sexually abused thousands of children over the course of decades — at least partially. Barbara Dorris of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) isn’t impressed by his speech. “But that is all it is: talk,” she said. “We beg the world’s Catholics: Be impressed by deeds, not words. Until [Francis] takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant.”
Pope Francis Asks Forgiveness For Catholic Clergy Child Abuse (thewire.com)
Pope Francis gave some unusually direct comments on the Catholic Church’s decades-long clergy abuse epidemic on Friday. Francis “personally ask[ed] for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children” in a short speech on Friday to a Catholic children’s NGO. The remarks, according to the Vatican Radio write-up, were at least partially off script.

Although he has taken some steps to address the scandal, and the calls for church reform that it created, Francis has faced criticism from victim advocates for failing to fully address the child abuse epidemic in his first year as pope. Today’s remarks could be, in part, an attempt to convince advocates that he takes the spiritual aspect of the abuse scandal seriously.
Pope begs forgiveness for ‘evil’ of clerical molesters (triblive.com)
Children were molested by priests over decades as bishops moved them from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police. Pope John Paul II denounced the abusers, saying there was no place for them in the priesthood. Pope Benedict XVI expressed sorrow and regret to victims, met with them and even wept with them.

The main American victim’s group, SNAP, said it was waiting for more.

“We beg the world’s Catholics: Be impressed by deeds, not words,” said SNAP’s outreach director Barbara Dorris in a statement. “Until the pope takes decisive action that protects kids, be skeptical and vigilant.”
Pope Assumes Responsibility For Priest Sex Abuse (mintpressnews.com)
The evolution began last month when he named four women and an abuse survivor to a sex abuse advisory panel that the Vatican has suggested will address the critical issue of sanctioning bishops who cover up for pedophiles.

Francis delivered the comments to members of the International Catholic Child Bureau, a French Catholic network of organizations that protects children’s rights. Sitting with them in his library Friday, Francis spoke slowly, deliberately and softly in his native Spanish, deviating from his text.

“I feel compelled to take personal responsibility for all the evil that some priests, many — many in number, (although) not in comparison with the totality — to assume personal responsibility and to ask forgiveness for the damage caused by the sexual abuse of the children,” he said.
Pope Francis pledges to tighten action to stop all forms of child exploitation (womennewsnetwork.net)
“We beg the world’s Catholics: be impressed by deeds, not words. Until the Pope takes decisive action that protects kids be skeptical and vigilant,” says SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris.

“This may be the first time a Pope has talked of sanctions against complicit bishops. But that is all it is: talk. (and if this ever happens, many, many tangible steps to safeguard children in the church must be taken),” Dorris continued.

In February 2014 a United States Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles, California closed what has been described as a decade of priest molestations lawsuit cases under what advocates called “wrenching” courtroom litigation. The combined court cases cost the Catholic Church more than $740 million.
Pope asks forgiveness for pedophile clergy (news.smh.com.au)
Pope asks forgiveness for clergy abuse (skynews.com.au)
Pope asks forgiveness for child sex abuses (ndtv.com)

60 Comments

Filed under Being and Feeling, Headlines - News, Religious affairs

Tagged as Abuse victims, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Catholic Church, Child abuse, Child exploitation, Church and Law Enforcement in Partnership, Crimes against humanity, Crimes against minors, International Catholic Child Bureau, Law enforcement authorities, Molestation, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis I, Sex-trafficking, Sexual abuse, Sexual abuse of children, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)

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Guestspeakers and guestwriters

Translate – Vertaal – Traduction

Welcome

Please find to read about our aims and aspirations:

Authors presenting articles - Artikelen voorstellende Auteurs

Looking for something? Fill in your word or phrase. – Zoekt u iets, vul hier een woord of zin in en vindt het in één van de artikelen

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Volg dit Blog via Email

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Categories – Categorieën

Tags – Specifieke onderwerpspunten

Recent articles by author - Recente artikelen per auteur

Recent comments – Recente commentaren

Our greatest hits – Onze huidige hits

Top Clicks

Community – Gemeenschap

Archive – Archief

Messengers of Peace and Positivism – Boodschappers van Vrede en Positivisme

Club members their own blog-writings – Clubleden hun eigen persoonlijke blogs

Articles by Guestwriters members – Artikelen bij Gastschrijvers leden

Thoughts by and a Look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Marcus Ampe's Space