In these times of Coronavirus, we do find so many people in quarantine complaining, whilst they have now so much time for themselves.
For many, it should be the ideal moment to get their house cupboards and house cleaned and to put themselves at ease taking time for consideration and meditation.
Hopefully, lots of people shall now being able to find several little things of much pressure value and shall come to appreciate much more what is around them in the house as well as outside in nature.
*
To remember
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
When things seem tough = easy for all positivity to lose its place in our heart.
consult life in a deeper way => find an endless amount of things to be grateful for.
get to endure life’s tiny pleasures > sunrise, sunset, water, food, shelter, peaceful walk in nature, comforting warmth of the sun or heathing in the house,
> realize that there are some people who don’t even have access to the simplest of things.
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
When things seem tough, it is so easy for all the positivity to lose its place in my heart. But as I am beginning to consult life in a deeper way, I am starting to find an endless amount of things to be grateful for.
When I see homeless people from time to time, having to sleep on the streets all night, every night, I often think to myself, “What right do I have to show my frustration and complain about the tiniest of things that bother me?”
I live in a world where I get to wake up in the morning, breathe normally, and have a beating heart. I get to enjoy today, and hopefully wake up again tomorrow. I have the loveliest family, the most incredible friends, the yummiest food, that sometimes I feel like we take so many…
Lots of our brethren and sisters do not dare to come in the open. Most Jeshuaists prefer to stay in the darkness of this world hidden. They are afraid of being discovered or unmasked as Jew or Jeshuaist.
Many of our friends wonder how we live life when the world seems to be spinning in ways we did not expect it to be and where so many are against other religious people. Many Jews in Belgium and France are afraid. Several already left these regions, because they did not find it safe any-more for their kids to grow up here, and remembering what happened to those who wanted to leave Europe in the 1930ies too late.
Perhaps we should go to the Scriptures to find some advice, for being able to cope with our fear.
The first chapter of the book of Habakkuk is essentially a long complaint followed by God’s response. It then continues with yet another complaint and another response from God. The book concludes with a prayer or a Psalm from Habakkuk. This book was written, proceeding the fall of Babylon, yet the date of composition of the book cannot be guaranteed just by perusing the book itself. Most likely, individuals who lived after the fall Babylonia in 539 BCE understood much of this book is a meditation on life in an unjust world. They wondered how to relate to God when nations “slays nations without pity,” and “seize homes not their own.”
Today we can see many places in the world where nations are slain. We can see that political leaders do not mind what happens to those living in their country. Some even not having a blush on their face when they use gas-bombs on areas where many innocent people (inclusive many children) live.
We find lots of places where there are people who say they fight in the name of Allah (= God) but do the most atrocious things one can think of. Often they say it is the suffering people their own fault, not trusting in the right god.
What do we do when individuals do not place their trust in God, and how can a pious person deal with this unwieldy situation?
God responds that the answer is clearly written on tablets, perhaps as described in the book of Deuteronomy.
“Lo, his spirit within him is puffed up, not upright, But the righteous man is rewarded with life For his fidelity.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
This verse, initially describes a person whose life is swollen with not good things and who lives a twisted or unjust life. Perhaps it is one full of deception or one full of egotism. It then moves to a pious person whose faith is in God even under the most dire circumstances. Even though they must live life where justice is delayed or denied, that time according to God will be short-lived. Habakkuk goes on to draw a parallel with Isaiah chapter 11:9, that there will be a time when everyone will know God…
Today sometimes it looks like we are living in a world where everything is permitted, as long as it is not a matter of religious expression. Then suddenly no religious symbols are allowed or persons are not allowed to wear what their religion demands. In several countries we can see demonic people offering themselves as the leader who shall make their nation great again. With the stroke of a pen those men think they themselves can play for god and decide what to do with other people and with other nations. Every occasion, be it even the national day they use for putting themselves in the picture and throwing hate words against others.
Today many people are confronted with difficulties to come around, not earning enough, but working hard enough to have not much time for the rest of the day. Several people in Europe are wondering and struggling, what can they could do to make this world a better place and to assure it to make Europe a safe haven for all sorts of people.
In a world of greed, where materialistic values often take first place, money or financial gain and pleasure have become the gods of today next to the many starlets and idols from entertainment and sports.
In this world today there seems not much place for integrity, the moral value that makes people the same on the inside as they are on the outside — with no discrepancy between what they say and what they do, between their walk and their talk. Many people around us prefer to wear a mask and present themselves differently on social media than they are in reality. that is also an important factor why so many in our community are so afraid to show themselves in public.
Though I believe we should not hide, but come out of our cocoon and show people that it might go different ánd better. The answer is that the most impact we will have is on those who surround us. It is their lives that we can make better. We can and should speak up when we see injustices, and we can remove blind spots by becoming more aware of the world around us and the systems that work in it – systemic poverty and racism for example. We need to focus our energies on walking in the footsteps of God as a community. The book of Habakkuk ends by saying:
“my Elohim Hashem Jehovah is my strength: he makes my feet like the deer’s and lets me stride upon the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:19).
You should know it is inside of us all that God is found and when we unite our hands together we can bring the divine into this world through our very actions.
Those who believe in God should join hands and show the world their unity. It may not always be easy to live our lives full of tackling difficult and challenging issues, but let those experiences cause ourselves to grow and become better individuals and communities more focused on God and assisting those around us.
Every day we hear and see on television a lot about conflicts and wars. How do you look at them? Perhaps you think you can not do anything about it, but what about your voice and the politicians in your country?
three wars (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What are you up to?
The world is on fire. Far off Poison attacks.
Washed ashore luck seekers or fortune hunters.
Unrestricted wars.
Close by and far away. Rising poverty. Less tolerance. Almost no place for softness. The world is on fire.
Far & close.
What moves you?
Do you get up? Are you reaching a hand?
Are you willing to get up from your seat and do something against the injustice in this world?
What are you up to? What do you do if someone calls near or far?
Marcus Ampe and Bond Zonder Naam (Movement Without a Name)
Marcus Ampe when looking over the happenings of 2016 told his public that when we should have to choose a colour for 2016 it probably would be ‘black’. Even the darkest black colour you might find.
Certainly here in Belgium and neighbouring countries we have seen many black moments caused by people living very close to us. Hundreds of people who lived in cities like Brussels (Molenbeek district), Verviers, Charleroi, Mons, just to name some of the most mentioned living quarters of those who killed many in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and further away many cities in Syria. A so called liberation of human race was on their lips by causing so much agony in name for their sort of Islam which has nothing to do with real Islam, a religion which has ‘salam‘ or ‘peace‘ in its name.
2016 may have been the year where Bad came over Good and brought with it Hate over Love. Though many still may believe in
When we look around us it seems just the opposite. Those who do not mind to swindle and do whatever they can to make themself rich without taking care of others, seem to win. Marcus Ampe warns us for the political scene which is changing drastically almost everywhere in the world, not for the good. He warns for the populism which is going over Europe and the United States as a virus. As a Christadelphian he likes to look at what is prophesied in the Bible and by looking at that sacred book is not at all surprised of what is going on. In his eyes we can follow the notated signs of those old writings and see that we are heading to a third World War, though it may still many years before us. He likes to compare the last few years with the 1920ies and showed us also how the present days are very much related to the 1930ies, which should sincerely worry us.
He does not speak of an apocalyptic change like certain Christians may do, but likes to warn us to prepare ourselves and our kids for the coming period where very right wing politicians may gain lots of votes and even come into power.
it is happening in every corner of this world. People around the world are bringing this change by their votes, by their say, and by their actions. Be it Brexit or current US election, or stimulated political environment in my home country India. This change is too much. Too much for us to handle and accept, and to adapt to. {When it looks like hate is winning}
Is that not the danger we shall have to face in the coming months?
Are not many politicians going to make use of and are going to instigate people against others and nourish the fear many already have?
For Mrs. Chauhan Singh the present President elect in the States was
not elected against a virtuous leader. It was not the fight between good vs evil. It was just bad and worse fighting with each other. You guess which is worse and which is bad. But, it was never a winning situation for USA, no matter who would have won. {When it looks like hate is winning}
speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I do not know why Clinton would have been so bad, because honestly her stupidity about the e-mails was not really a criminal act, like so many Americans would like us to believe. If they consider such stupidity already a crime or sin than the many frauds and bankruptcies of Donald Trump which many Americans never seemed to have remembered or noticed, would be “cardinal sins and death penalty crimes”
We also may notice that many people seem to have some nostalgia to some times they had it better, though at those times they ware hoping for better times and for having more material richness. But as we could know beforehand all those modern gadgets they can have today are not making them more happy. The opposite today lots of people are more lonely and feeling poverty more harsh than years ago, though we may see less poverty stricken people. Less tramps on the streets.
With a smiling or is it a sarcastic face Mr. Ampe may tell us that many people would love to go back to a time they are imaging there was, but which has never been so. Mrs. Chauhan Singh alsy pointing to the same fact
With this election, Americans have spoken very clearly that they want to bring back ‘good old days’. Doesn’t matter if those good old days are going to be good for rest of us or not. They want to go back. They want someone with traditional values, traditional promises. Although seeing the lifestyle of elect president I hardly think he is an epitome of traditionalism. {When it looks like hate is winning}
Mr Ampe analysed some body language of Mr. Trump and showed us how clever that man must be playing with his public. This cleverness should make us even be more alert. He also compare certain tactics with the way how Erdogan managed to come in his dictatorial position today. How he was patient enough to go from mayor of Istanbul, even having spent some years in prison after his mayorship to come stronger and more radicalised out of it, imposing the traditional Muslim values and going in against the civil state of the old creator of a dream state Turkey.
We shall have to wait and see to know how Donald Trump is going to use his power and how Marine Le Pen is going to drive her wedge through France which seem to be the under the spell ofMuslim extremism and Islam fear.
Mr Ampe, like Mrs. Chauhan Singh seems to do also says we may not loose hope and contrary to how lots of people are concentrating on their own self, we should look more to others and try to come up for the weaker ones.
Mrs. Chauhan Singh writes
Losing hope is never an option. If we are given this result, we must be hopeful that there must be something good coming out of it. Give him a chance. He has already shocked all of us; he may surprise us too. Do not lose hope. Instead hope for him to change his ways, his words, and his actions, for the betterment of this country. {When it looks like hate is winning}
One of Mr. Ampe his main teachings, also as a retired teacher of ballet history, is that we should learn from history and that we should make others aware of possible traps lots of people in the past did not notice but became victim of. According to him by knowing the past we can avoid the same mistakes, which have been repeated so many times, because people did not know their history.
We always shall look at things and would love to see things changed. Man is not easy satisfied.
One also can wonder when our world evolves if/ when and how many people would be ready for such changes, and if they are for the better or for the worse. In most cases lots of people are just not ready for the changes taking place.
One might also ask whether we shall be able to find enough people who shall be really wanting to pursue peace. To find enough people who really want to “raise awareness that peace in itself,” and willing to take steps with which to motivate others to go that track of peace making is something we should go for. Too many may be very confused and may not be sure which dreams might be the best for them. Though according to Mr. Ampe we should come to work together towards mutual peace and to the broadcasting of hope and positive thoughts, trying to take away the confusion there is today and putting right the wrong ideas about some people, religions and ways of life. He believes the change must come from each of us and that we are responsible for the evolution of the day. According to him, we ourselves are to convey the message and have even to adopt a certain attitude and should form a shining example. According to him, there also should be peace as a base in our own daily lives.
This peace will also make the connection with the other and this will be like a snowball effect to be implemented on this world.
Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks Belgian authorities knew as early as 2012 that terrorists linked to the bloodshed in Paris were plotting attacks in the West. But little was done to disrupt the build-up of a network that subsequently became a cornerstone …
ISIS Launches Coordinated Attacks in Brussels Airport and Subway Early reports from Brussels are that two coordinated attacks have taken place with the first being at the Brussels Airport Departure Terminal and the second within the Brussels Subway system.
J’accuse ! L’attentat que les services craignaient Avec colère suite aux événements de ce matin, j’accuse la Belgique d’avoir été attentiste depuis des années et de n’avoir jamais donné les moyens aux services de Renseignement de faire leur travail professionnellement pour tenter de prévenir ce genre d’attaques.
… Outraged about the events of this morning in Brussels, I accuse Belgium of having endorsed a “wait-and-see” policy for years and having never giving to the intelligence services the means to do their job professionally to try and avoid this kind of attack. …
Terror attacks in Brussels kill at least 34, story developing Terrorist bombings at a subway station in Maalbeek and at Zaventem Airport have killed at least 34 people and injured another 170. Two bombs, at least one of which is believed to have been a suicide bombing, struck the …
Bombing in Brussels! Today, once again, Islamic terrorists have attacked the west. This morning, Brussels became the latest city to come under attack with a bomb detonating on a metro train …
Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan
Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan …
Het raadsel, Salah Abdeslam Op 13 november vorig jaar reed hij zijn vrienden naar de Parijse plekken om toe te slaan. Dood en verderf te zaaien, angst aan te jagen, het leven te vernietigen dat hij met hart en ziel haatte.
The Religion of Peace Strikes Again This morning we awoke to the news of a deadly terrorist attack in Brussels. Isis claimed responsibility for the bombings at the airport and the Metro station.
Why Belgium? ISIS has claimed responsibility for separate explosions in Brussel’s Zaventem airport and a central metro station that killed 34 and wounded over 200.
Links for 16/12/16 Black-White Earnings Gap Remains at 1950s Levels for Median Worker Donald Trump Should Know: This Is What Climate Change Costs Us How data maps are transforming the fight against malaria in Zambia South
What is Populism? Populism. It is everywhere in the news right now and it is one of those words that have so many vague meanings and yet describes itself so well. Populism is simply the revolt of the people against the political
Times of Uncertainty: The Rise of Far-Right Populism Uncertain times lie ahead. People have had their fill of neoliberalism and they’re looking for alternatives. So far, they’ve found dreadful ones. Trump was elected president of the US, Marine Le Pen
What is anti-establishment according to Donald Trump? People from Goldman Sachs, billionaires, top donors, Secretary of State from Exxon. It seems this is how the huge part of Trump’s administration will be established. What does it tell us about how Trump wanna
Policy corruption, vote buying and double standards The Constitution Drafting Committee has been hard at work hamstringing political parties to prevent them from ever “ruling.” Apart from simply being anti-Thaksin Shinawatra, the law is based on beliefs …
Why Did Trump’s Anticorruption Rhetoric Resonate? Three Hypotheses OK, I know I said in last week’s post that I would eventually get back to blogging about topics other than Trump, but not yet. After all, Trump’s election—a political and moral crisis on so many dimensions—
The SNP is not like horror-show euro-populism. Mercifully. THE liberal Left hasn’t had much to celebrate recently, what with Brexit, Donald Trump and the rise of the alt-right. So there was understandable jubilation over the defeat of the far-right candidate …
On Populism It was Lord Acton who said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But as citizens of a country and a nation, we have civic duties such as addressing corruption in government and empowering
Are France Next to Join the Nationalist Narrative? Last week saw Italy become part of the nationalist narrative in Europe after changes to their constitution were rejected. As a result the country’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi,
They Are All Populists ”Populism” is a loaded word and it is a rather strange one. It is used to express disapproval of certain forms of political activity, but unlike other such negative terms its basic reference would seem quite positive.
A retired public school administrator and history professor says political polls asked people all across the nation how they felt about issues and adds that hey have been publicized in the mass media and questions how minorities would not being protected?
He writes
Our laws call for equal justice for all. The problem is that certain segments of our society are in denial about some of the crimes committed in our country. For example, the Black Lives Matter supporters blame the police for the killing of a few black people some of whom had criminal records. But they ignore the fact that the greatest killers of black people are other black people. In Chicago, the murder rate of black on black is greater than the casualties we suffered in Afghanistan. So why doesn’t the Black Lives Matter supporters focus on the greatest killer of young black men? {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}
That America where effectively a lot of killing goes on between the black population by their own skin-coloured compatriots, could once more shake Europe with something they never would have expected and would not have hoped for.
A great problem of the States and Europe is that they had to undergo a terrible stock market crash and a period with lots of job losses. Both parts of the world also had to face a lot of people becoming poorer.
He writes
According to federal government statistics, we have more poor people now than ever before in our history. Ever since Lyndon Johnson started to spend billions on welfare and food stamps through his War on Poverty, poverty has INCREASED not decreased. Under Obama, according to federal government statistics, our nation now has more people than ever before. Obviously throwing money at the problem has increased poverty, not decreased it. {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}
He seems to forget Obama Care could not really be worked out as envisioned, because the republicans worked against it. It also had to face the difficulty, that though the U.S.A. claims to be a Christian nation there is not much Christian love for sharing with the weaker and needy ones. A lot of American citizens seem to care most for their own self little cocoon and all the rest they do not bother how they can manage.
For Europeans all what is going on in the states should be a portent. We should be aware of the dangerous harbinger showing very similar situations we have already encountered with the Weimar republic. In the twenties and thirties of previous century there was also a nation where there was a big difference between those who had money and those who had to fight every day to have some bread on the table. Last century Europe also face a crisis which made them very much afraid of all that was foreign or different than the main stream. Also then we saw a man with a big mouth shouting load and promising a lot.
This time it was at the other side of the ocean that some bigger or larger man used similar rhetoric tricks to get the majority of people on his hands.
Those who had other viewpoints at that time were not tolerated and often considered traitors. Something we also found a man of the American senate calling Hillary Clinton and demanding her to be put on the electric chair. It is not because the U.S.A. is called the land of the free that they are really so free.
The man replies
Trump has done nothing to violate the freedom of people. He isn’t even in office yet.
though did he not give enough signals that he would love to limit the freedom of many?
It is the protestors who are either unwilling or unable to accept Trumps’s selection in a democratic process. They are the ones who are creating the violence. When Obama won his elections, there were NO demonstration or violence committed against his supporters.
I agree with him that violence should not be permitted, in no circumstances, but to call Trump a full democratic process is to lay violent hands on the truth. In the U.S.A. people with not enough money never will make a chance to become a presidential candidate and once the are in, they have to count on people or worse organisations funding them. that the one with the biggest mouth can force them to step down, you can call part of the democratic system, so no objection to that. It is up to people to hear what a person is promulgating. It is up to the listeners to examine what that person in front of them is enunciating and if his or her words are filled with the truth or are distorting the truth. In the case of Donald Trump they seemed to be deaf for all the lies he told and for how he switched from one side to an other, turning like the wind. He could uncap whatever he wanted and they all wanted to take it in like sweet buns.
Hillary Clinton speaks to the press in New Hampshire. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The writer thinks we in Europe must be taken by all the propaganda, because most of us seem to have a distorted view of what is going on in America, and perhaps in the world.
What I find strange the writer of A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal does not seem to see the difference of what the bible-scholar Bijbelvorsers wrote and on what he reblogged, taking everything what was reblogged on the Stepping Toes article A Progressive Call to Arms as the writing of Bijbelvorsers though the reblog was of an article the bible-scholar wanted to lay in front of the readers to think about it. By doing so the reactor to that article also misses the point of such reblog, and also of such a writing on Stepping Toes, where I created a site where people should be able to come together to talk about controversial matters.
The second part the retired schoolmaster is referring and commenting to is a text written by theindependentthinker2016. I must commit it disturbs me we are not given more information who this can be, or which organisation may behind that name. But that does not make me to disagree with a lot that writer tells us.
I also would love to ask the readers on this readers digest and on the other lifestyle magazine to think about their way of going on with politics, willing to see what is going on or wanting to close an eye for certain things.
Niemöller, author of “First they came …” at The Hague’s Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk in May 1952
I too would like to call to remember what the ex-naval officer and commander of a German U-boat in World War I wrote. He also had faced a man who wanted to have control over everything, including the churches. Until his arrested by Hitler’s secret police, the Gestapo, he was not afraid to open his mouth and to defend those who had no voice. We as Christians should come up for the weaker ones in society and should look at what happens in the world, if it can endanger man, animal and flora.
Christians also should take care that we do not have a second generation to have a collective guilt. Lecturing widely, Martin Friedrich Gustav Emil Niemöller spoke freely in favour of international reconciliation and against armaments.
Like there has been given a call on the lifestyle magazine Stepping Toes, to remember his famous statement and provocative poem, I also would repeat that important saying here also:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Martin Niemoller
Let us always be prepared to stand ready, to defend those without a voice and those who are oppressed.
I also express my hopes that we shall not have to face such cowardice of American intellectuals following the rise to power and subsequent purging of his chosen targets, group after group.
Dear readers, for those who are new, we like to repeat our aims and about the idea behind our sharing.
Sharing Writings and linking
This website wants to bring an overview of interesting articles which were published on the worldwide internet and present some additional views on how we could come to a better world. Up until now we also wanted to bring additional literature in sight of our readers. For that reason we have, up until a few days ago, included several links into the articles, which opened automatically in a new window. But somehow WordPress changed the way to include url links and made it more difficult or time consuming, not allowing the enclosure feature to remember the previous used url codes and having each link to be separately indicated to open in a new window, instead of remembering it for all links on that page. This means we always have to look again for certain links and have to do much more work to include them. This makes writing our articles even more time consuming. For that reason we regret from a few days ago we did not include so many links any more and from today onwards you shall have to chose how to open the link. Until we do not find a solution to keep the fill in for the links remembering what we filled in previously, we shall have to limit such linking to tags and other articles than those of the particular website (in this instance From Guestwriter).
Secondly, we also received regularly complaints from people that we linked to their website or article and had to undo such links or write a letter first explaining why we included that link and asking what they wanted we did with it. Though most agreed then to have the link staying on the article, we had lost lots of energy writing back and controlling everything.
For that reason we are going to refer less to outside articles, but still use Zemanta for presenting some articles, but this time we are going to choose more those sites we do know and for other sites we are not always going to read them all, before placing the Zemanta link, and will withdraw them directly when a complaint or request for “why linking” is presented to us. (Simple as that.)
Now you know also why one or an other site shall be linked to more than others. Those who would also liked to be linked to, can always ask us to examine their website and to follow their writings, so that we can may have a choice out of their articles as well.
Authors sharing their writings
Concerning the writers on this platform, we still wait for more writers willing to share their ideas. Many who we have contacted wanted money to write or to help this site evolve.
We are very limited in funds and as such can not pay our staff. We also believe not everything has to be arranged by money. A money-free future is perhaps not possible, but lots of things could and should be done without money in the back of the head.
We still can do with people writing about the history of way of living, to show us how our lifestyle changed by the years of technological evolution. We also would love to find an author who want to talk about nature and show the world the beauty of it and/or can let our readers now what is important to look at at a certain moment in the year. (Parks to visit, special exhibitions, etc.)
A political and economical analyst is also welcome.
Because of our interest how human beings should try to make the best out of living with each other, we also could use some more writers who talk about keeping the family healthy, spiritually and health wise. Talks about marriage, brining up children are more than welcome.
Not everything for money
All That Money Wants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We are convinced there are many benefits for not having everything in return for money. Most reasonable people will have no trouble accepting a money-free where people want to share with each other out of brotherly love. That will give better quality of life for all, less inequality, poverty, crime, greed, corruption, pollution and waste; greater health, education, trust, respect, awareness, sustainability, community values, technological advances, etc. Most people want these things, but are they convinced of the feasibility. How is a moneyless society possible?
I am convinced that there is a misconception about the need of money.
Imagining a world without money usually raises the following objections immediately, each of which is linked to a particular lifelong held belief (in brackets):
1. You need to have exchange (You can’t get something for nothing) 2. No-one would do anything (money motivates people) 3. People would take advantage (greed is human nature) 4. I will lose everything I have (fear of loss, ownership) 5. Chaos and violence would ensue (society requires control) 6. Society would stagnate or regress (markets fuel progress)
The good news is that all of these objections can be overturned quite easily using just plain common sense and basic observations.
Something for something or nothing for something
I do agree that most people want something for something else. For generations we people are brought up with that idea. Even worse, often people consider somebody not right in his head when he just wants to do something, not requiring anything in the place. Naturally we all need something to eat and we need a roof above our head, whilst we can not all have the same skill. Not everybody has enough competence to do the things he need. So we often are for many things dependent on others.
I am a believer in the Divine Creator and I am convinced He created all beings in His image and with the idea that all creatures are there for some good reason and to complement each other. Rabbi Jeshua, better known today as Jesus, reminded his listeners to look at the birds who have no money but manage to have their food and everything they need to live.
The master teacher and the prophets of God asked the people to look at nature where we can see what man came to call “symbiosys“. Everywhere in the creation of the Most High where man did not interfere there is balance. We can see that in nature two species benefit each other (the bee taking nectar while helping the plant to pollinate is the most obvious example), but there is no intentional transaction taking place. Both species are ignorant of the desires of the other. Some look at it as purely an accident of evolution that has caused both species to survive and flourish. In nature we can find many plants or animals which make use of each other, but not really demanding a return as such, and most of all not being repaid by something we can compare with money. We invented that idea of intentional exchanges as an essential ingredient to life or to community, to cope with scarcity in more primitive times, and with more complex needs.
Motivation by money not the best motivation
Serious Money (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The money / value system that we humans operate in has its origins in more primitive times, but which has now made us hell-bent on keeping score and accounting for everything in a numerical sense, and at the expense of common sense and sustainability. It is true that people are motivated by money, and that the communist system failed because of people being too egocentric and not willing to work together for a communal idea, building up a society where everybody could live on the same terms and being considered of equal value. We love to have a hierarchical system and I do agree somebody who is just lazy and does not want to co-operate in the system can not have the same advantages as somebody who works hard.
But like in nature those animals not having money, we as humans also do not nervelessly need a currency to provide payment, which proved not always to bring that luck hoped for.
We all have look at “Money” as a handy tool or a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange. In industrialized nations, portion of the national money supply, consisting of bank notes and government-issued paper money and coins, provides a value or currency. Everybody expects everything to be “prized” and expresses the value of things in currencies or in money. In the so called “third world” or among less developed societies, we can see that currency encompasses a wide diversity of items (e.g., livestock, stone carvings, tobacco) used as exchange media as well as signs of value or wealth.
Human motivators Better values
We should come to see and understand that there are much better values than money. Think about the many other human motivators:
the desire to love and be loved, to meet people, to have children, to help others, to improve ourselves and our surroundings, to look good, to feel good, to learn, to challenge ourselves, to express ourselves, to innovate, to demonstrate our skills, etc.
Every person alive is motivated by these desires to some degree. Because, after survival, these desires are what give our lives value and meaning.
Nature doesn’t keep score and why should we put everything in figures and balance it out to get even? Do you find it normal that people would seek exchange in their families or in their circles of friends? So why do we seek exchange in others? Among our loved ones, loving people shall tend to help each other out when they can and no-one will keep score.
Permitting exchanges between people having prices
Trying to get everything for yourself is not a natural instinct but a created attitude which can be transformed back to the innocent position we have a s a toddler. At the beginning of life the human being only asks and takes what it needs. Greed is not a basic element of human nature – it is even a deformed desire to stockpile something what the person may consider scarce and which he need to live, or a wrong attitude having come into the personality by the envy looking at others and comparing to others.
Like a squirrel collecting nuts, some may find greed makes good sense – because we don’t know what the future will bring. In a monetary world, the greatest scarcity is money itself, so it makes sense to accumulate it, and, since there is no upper limit to the money and property you can have, there’s no reason to stop accumulating it.
Map of the global distribution of economic and physical water scarcity as of 2006
Price systems may be considered the result of scarcity but for the first time in history, we have the technology to eradicate scarcity (or paucity) and to create an abundance of necessities for all humans on Earth with minimal physical effort. Primarily by coordinating the decisions of consumers, producers, and owners of productive resources people have taken refuge with their monetary system. Prices have become an acceptable expression of the consensus on the values of different things, and every society that permits exchanges between people has prices. Because prices are expressed in terms of a widely acceptable commodity, they permit a ready comparison of the comparative values of various commodities.
Machines to do the work of man
Normally we have enough technology to make work light for man. For lots of jobs the machines could do the work for man. What is going wrong today is that certain people, who do not do much work, can earn more than 300% than those who do the dirty work. And that is too much inequality. Such a difference should not exist. This way not having people being rightly paid according to what they do or which responsibility they take at a reasonable reward, prevents a nice way of living for everybody, as it intrinsically requires scarcity to perpetuate itself.
Ownership
Throughout history mankind has tried out several systems which all failed in a certain way. I as a Christian am convinced no human system can bring the right solution, but until the return of the Messiah we have to find ways to make life as smooth as possible and to have the creation in balance, not demanding too much of nature and not destroying so many things around us, which we have in loan and do not own. And there is the difficulty of it all, too many people think they “Own” and want to possess more. It is their fear of loosing what they “own” which makes them behave this way and often makes them blind for the way others (other humans, animals and plants) have to live.
The whole notion of ownership should be revised altogether.
We all need privacy and a certain amount of exclusivity, right?
Who wants to share their toothbrush, or have strangers walking around their home, for example?
Our normalised belief tells us that we define who uses what through something called ‘ownership’. Our laws define and protect ownership, with the threat of punishment to those who disobey (ie. stealing).
But where does this concept of ownership came from in the first place? Did we own nothing before someone wrote the law?
Given in loan
We think we own something and that the earth is ours. Believers in God do know that it is a gift from the Divine Creator and that we have received this earth in loan. It is not ours, it is God’s.
Growing up we make things our own. We create our personality. Growing up we collect certain things we consider our own. But we should know that once we die, the breath of life goes out of us, and we shall be nothing any-more with those treasures we collected. We can’t take those treasures with us in our grave, to an other life. It shall be of no purpose in our death. We shall just decay and become dust like many of those goods also shall become dust.
The point is that most things in the community belonged to no-one. Whatever items within the community that were not morally or logically entitled to anyone were used and shared by all.
So without ownership, what stops people from stealing? What actually stops people from stealing from each other is that it is anti-social, disrespectful and invasive, and people who do so are liable to become deeply unpopular. This social incentive for certain behaviour is far stronger than any rule could ever be, as it is dictated by how we feel about ourselves and our position in society. Yet we commonly mistake the rule of law as being the only thing that governs this behaviour.
Crimes, violence and Respect, privacy and exclusivity
Value for Money (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If we understand that respect, privacy and exclusivity are, in fact, already hard-wired into our social psyche – not dictated by external controlling forces – then we can begin to move beyond the traditional inefficient limits of ownership and with it, any fear of loss.
Throughout history we can see that it was the desire of power and the greed of certain people that brought misery to others. The last few moths I encountered many who said religion is the base of violence. When they would look closer at what really happened in history they would see that most criminal acts where done by non-religious people for political reasons and on second place or by people who used a religion as an excuse for their war of conquest. Today we see this by ISIS who present a similar war as the crusaders and do the same atrocities as the inquisitors a few centuries ago. Their killing had a duration of more than one century, whilst ISIS is only busy for a few years. Their terror is as abominable as the terror other terrorists bring. They bring fear and terror in the hope increasing their power. But most crime and violence is driven by desperation through lack of basic requirements for living, ie. theft, armed robbery, burglary, etc. and by having a low moral. Almost all other crimes can be seen as the secondary effects of poor upbringing. ie. where parents are poor, over-worked, unemployed, frustrated, depressed or disillusioned, etc. – all factors that can contribute to an unstable and unloving environment for children, who may later turn to crime as a result of low self esteem or maladjustment.
No incentive for crime
When you succeed into taking away the inequality and create a world where everyone will have free access to good food, housing, education and technology, it still won’t be perfect or eliminate all crime, but if everyone has a good quality of life and free access, then crime will have little or no incentive.
Driven by passion
In our commercialised society we are so used that everything is valued by a currency and money. The economists or entrepreneurs look at the system we are used to and cite economic incentive and competition as good for progress. Have you ever wondered with what they compared their luxurious system? Might it not be that because they start of with a false key that they come to false conclusions?
Are we really to believe that all innovators, inventors and artists will down tools the moment someone calls time on money? Obviously not, since we all know so many creative people that never achieve financial success, it shows us that they are not driven by money, but rather by their passions and desire to innovate.
Sharing people
I would love to call onto people to come to think about sharing more.
Often I do meet people who are very much afraid of a sharing system and think we can not do without money, though they themself use lots of tools without paying for them. We can find lots of people who are using Open Source Applications, which they take it for granted they can use them because everybody is using them. Often they do not see other large scale innovative projects which are becoming the optimum means of production without a monetary incentive.
Lots of people behind the screens try to invent things which can be used by others, and use themselves things others created. Lots of people do forget that many computer programs like Linux, Chrome and Android have been developed freely by enthusiasts in their spare time,. It ware those people who were willing to spend their precious free time to create something for the good of the whole community and not just for themselves or to gain lots of money. The computer industry has led the way on this, but of course, there is no reason why ‘open source thinking’ cannot be applied in agriculture, crafts, construction or education, etc.
Difficult to get people to share something which they consider of their own
The big problem we are facing today is that there has been created a generation of people who mainly think about themselves. Their ego comes on the first place and they look for gaining as much as they can for their own, often at the cost of others.
In the past the economical factor, being of wealthy parents of a having a privileged background was the creating facility for equanimity or for daring taking risks. Comfortable upbringing, access to good food and education, often provided the luxury of time – not labouring for their keep – but spending it on developing their ideas and skills instead. But we also find lots of creative minds who had no financial security, though created masterpieces.
Having money does not mean being smarter. If society can work better without money, then all potential young Einsteins and Mozarts will have the optimal opportunity to exercise and advance their talents.
If we create a society where talents are recognised and stimulated and people can receive equal opportunities, so much more can come off the ground.
Why not believing in a a moneyless future?
You can see that money does not bring that happiness many people hoped for. It is not a bad tool to be used in exchange for things, but we should not put all our hopes on it.
We should go back to the natives. We best dare to look at those living in the Amazon or other not yet by capitalism spoiled places. We too can learn from populations where money is not the key factor to order their way of living.
We should also come to understand that in our society we do have so many things we do not need or do not need any-more. Why not giving that stuff away that is filling your cupboards? If you have certain talents, why not sharing them with others and letting them also enjoy them?
In case a moneyless future seems something interesting to think about or when you like the idea, why not join “a movement of believers”?
Please have a look at the underneath brief introduction to the charter for a truly free world.
On the trash of the wealthy the poor try to survive – People who earn their living by collecting and sorting garbage and selling them for recycling, Payatas, Manila, Philippines.
Less… is still enough!
The facts.
The collective wealth of all the Belgian people is more than 2.000 billion euro (De Tijd). The 10 richest families together own almost half of all that wealth (Knack). Yearly in Europe – and you read it correctly – we throw away 590.000.000 ( five hundred and ninety million) tons of food. 20 % of all young people between 13 and 20 years of age regularly think about suicide (Enquiry National Youth Service).
Are you still following?
Is each one of us not a prisoner of conventions, caught in materialthings and that what is on the surface? Are the energy we invest in production and the effort we make in order to consume, not out of proportion?
In the middle of progressive thinking the question arises about what proof we need to realise that some thing or other is getting out of hand? To put it in a different way: what else has to happen to us before we come to an insight ? Usually it is difficult to admit that to have ‘more’ and ‘property’ are addictive. With (a little) less it would become quite difficult for some. For the poor without doubt, because they always live with ‘less’.
Professions without borders
This is a televsion programme in which professional people from here go and cooperate with colleagues in far away countries. At the end of their trip, filled with experiences, each one of them nearly always has the same reaction:
“Do we really realise what a good life we have in Belgium”?
Confronted with shortage and poverty, ‘people that have a lot’ get to know the inner side of ‘people with less’. The encounter is very emotional and touching. It is ‘enrichment’ that they receive from these ‘poor’ people. Who helps who?
Someone said it as follows:
“Since I live with less, I do not feel the shortage, but rather have the experience of ‘more'”.
Or less is more … or at least enough!
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Translation from the Dutch / Nederlands origineel: Met minder is… nog genoeg
The Observer view on London’s wealth gap (theguardian.com) Striking new figures show that the proportion of households classified as either poor or wealthy has grown across the country in recent decades, leaving a shrinking middle. But it is in London that the trend is by far the most pronounced.
London is now a city of contradictions. It is the richest part of the country, but also its most unequal, with the highest levels of poverty. It is home to some of the world’s most expensive real estate, but has the highest proportion of renters of any area of the country, many of whom are locked out of home ownership. It has some of the world’s best teaching hospitals, but suffers from profound health inequalities.
In Europe, Parents’ Dismay as Syria Jihad Lures Troubled Teens (voanews.com)
As Belgium braces for a verdict in Europe’s biggest trial of those accused of fostering Islamist violence in Syria, much attention is on poor Muslim immigrant communities’ struggle in a region blighted by youth unemployment.
But for parents in Antwerp, a city on high alert since the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris and police raids on Belgian jihadists, Wednesday’s ruling by judges there may never explain why their two sporty teenagers, with no Muslim heritage, abandoned comfortable homes to take up arms in the Middle East.
Workers and labor unions said on Wednesday they had been angered by austerity measures being imposed by Belgium’s new center-right government, which include a two-year extension to the age of retirement, cuts in spending on healthcare and delays to the indexation of wages in relation to prices.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 people attended the demonstration, local media reported, where protesters held banners reading “No Poverty” and fired smoke flares at a square in central Brussels.
Belgium’s four-party coalition government under Prime Minister Charles Michel, which took office on October 11, has also pledged to cut corporation tax from 33 percent to 25 percent.
Poverty in Germany reaches a record high (counterinformation.wordpress.com)
“Poverty in Germany has not only reached a new record high, it has also threatened the country with disintegration into disparate regions.” Thus begins the annual poverty report of the German Federation of Welfare Associations.
Although the economy has grown slightly and unemployment is relatively low, the poverty rate in Germany has increased; it has been rising almost continuously since 2006 and now stands at 15.5 percent. This means that about 12.5 million adults exist on less than €845 per month as unmarried persons or less than €1,873 in a family with two children.
Many foreigners escape fines on Belgian roads (deredactie.be)
Xpats.com’s Robyn Boyle says that at present more often than not it’s only motorists from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg that have to pay a fine, if they commit a traffic offence in Belgium.
2 suspected Islamic recruiters arrested in Belgium (whitenewsnow.com)
Belgium has been one of Western Europe’s nations to furnish the large numbers of foreign fighters in Syria relative to population size.
A Wealth Tax for California? (sandiegofreepress.org)
California has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s main poverty measure, 16.8 percent of all Californians and 23.5 percent of the state’s children lived in poverty in 2013. Yet it also has the most billionaires in the country: 111. The state’s 33,900 millionaire taxpayers (just .2 percent of the state’s taxpayers) have combined incomes of $104 billion. According to the California Budget Project, California has the seventh widest income gap between rich and poor among the 50 states, ranking between Alabama and Texas.
Belgian coin spat awakens ghosts of Waterloo for the French (trib.com)
Belgium is looking to change a commemorative Waterloo coin to an unofficial value of 3 euros ($3.18) to avoid what it called opposition from France. Coining unofficial values do not need backing from other countries in the 19-nation eurozone.
Microcredit Today: The Shift from Lending to Savings (mint.com)
Increasingly, the world’s poor are able to securely borrow small amounts of money through microfinance institutes. This is proving to be an essential element of growth for poor or rural populations and their businesses.
How many in this world are not thirsting to peace? Those who may live in countries where there is no fighting going on, where there is no poverty, may count themselves lucky. They should try to get welfare also for the others and should try to get peace also in the other regions.
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Related articles
Peace (thisisyumnablog.wordpress.com)
I have forgotten the meaning of peace / I used to know it, I used to feel it around me / But it slipped out of my mind
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Our grounds are not but our skies are definitely besieged / By people who say they’re fighting for peace / Oh. I wonder. will all these ever cease?
Prayers for Peace in Chocó (seedcolombia.wordpress.com)
The need for peace in Chocó is not something abstract. The presence of armed groups, land exploitation through industrial mining, poverty, and a lack of basic resources for living impact the daily life of the people in this department. These are some of the answers by the people of Choco to the questions: How do you see peace in Chocó?
The Word in Peace, Third Sunday of Lent: For what do I thirst? (youngadultcatholics-blog.com)
Have you ever noticed that no (sane) religious authority insists that its followers fast from water? Water is not a luxury (nor should it be), and it is suicide to go without it. Those in the ancient Middle East were keen to the many dangers of even one day without hydration. The only time that eschewing water carries any spiritual weight is when one sacrifices to save another. Otherwise, if you’re thirsty, drink, and don’t feel guilty about it!
a spirituality of resistance (sparrowsandsandcastles.wordpress.com)
I define “spirituality” broadly as “a way of life,” your “sabeel,” which means there are many spiritualities. We are talking here about finding God as we resist empire, walking with Jesus as we resist empire, living in the Holy Spirit of faith, hope and love as we resist empire.
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While I was pondering the Sermon on the Mount, I saw Israeli warplanes swoop down over the Sea of Galilee on their way to bomb people in Lebanon. That experience of war at the Sea of Galilee changed my life. I’ve been trying to live out the Sermon on the Mount ever since as a call to faithfulness to the God of peace, resistance to empire and war, and an invitation to welcome God’s reign of peace and nonviolence here and now.
Peace brings no dividend to the poorest in the North (irishtimes.com)
There has been no improvement in the day-to-day lives of a majority of people in Northern Ireland since the restoration of the power-sharing executive in May 2007. Instead, things have become worse. In broad terms, the poorer you are the harder you are likely to have been hit. This is one of the reasons for the continuing relative fragility of the Stormont institutions.
Peace, war and defence – all are feminist issues (thefword.org.uk)
The women’s peace camp on Greenham Common, set up in 1981 by the group Women for Life on Earth, explicitly stated “we fear for the future of all our children and for the future of the living world which is the basis of all life”. The protesters highlighted their gender as a means of challenging assumptions that women should be at home.This tradition is carried on by the Aldermaston Women’s Camp, by projects such as Wool Against Weapons, and by campaigners with Action AWE – to name but a few of the groups involved with peace work in the UK.
Blood Thirst (divineincarnate.wordpress.com)
Why do we want to punish each other? Husbands and wives, daughters and mothers, sons and fathers, coworkers, and even friends. We feel any slight and we give it back to them; we want them to experience pain and we rub their noses in it. No matter how big the hurt – or how petty and small.
Lifestyle and Readers Digest Magazine founded by Marcus Ampe on the 26th of March 2014
Translate – Vertaal – Traduction
Welcome
New to this site. You may like to read this first
If this is your first time you visit us, you might like to know about our aims and intentions.
This site does not want to be a specific religious site, though now and then religious articles may be presented. The main interest on this site is about worldly matters, social affairs and the behaviour of human beings in this universe.
Our aim is to bring first articles about our responsibility in the progress of human relations and peace involvement.
Please find to read about our aims and aspirations:
Messengers of Peace and Positivism – Boodschappers van Vrede en Positivisme
We belong to the Bloggers for Peace and you can join them too. (Click on the picture to know more and to connect.)
Club members their own blog-writings – Clubleden hun eigen persoonlijke blogs
Articles by Guestwriters members – Artikelen bij Gastschrijvers leden
Most club members "From guestwriters" do not have their own blog, but shall write under their own name as "Guestspeaker" on the Lifestyle magazine Stepping Toes.
Those who do have their own website can be looked at underneath:
Please do find those independent authors their recent postings on their own website:
Van de schrijvers die een eigen blog hebben kan u op hun site als laatste artikels vinden:
Thoughts by and a Look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Marcus Ampe's Space
Originally posted on Akemsblog.com: Do you remember life before the internet? Life before the widespread use of the internet was quite different compared to the world we live in today. Here are some notable aspects of life before the internet: Communication: People relied heavily on traditional methods of communication such as landline telephones, letters,…
Turkey is still very far from being a possible bridge builder between East and West and between Russia and NATO countries, and the 2023 Turkish elections showed us that Turkey is driving away from democratic values.
In addition to being a once-in-a-generation talent that changed American music, Tina Turner, who died Wednesday 24, 2023, her voice shall sound forever.
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often? – Heeft u een citaat waarnaar u leeft of waaraan u vaak denkt? Doe een ander niets aan wat je zelf niet zou willen dat met jou zou gebeuren.
Het leven is zo dierbaar voor een stom wezen zoals het voor de mens is. Net zoals men geluk en pijn vreest, net zoals men wil leven en niet wil sterven, doen andere wezens dat ook graag. door Dalai Lama XIV Engelse versie / English version > Life is as dear to a […]
An other look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Some View on the World
Whether or not Ukraine is behind the recent attacks on Russian soil, it will not change the fact that the war is now starting to spread to both states.
If you thought the electoral appeal of populism was on the wane, think again. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory in yesterday’s presidential runoff in Turkey is the latest evidence of its staying power. He extended his 20-year rule despite a cost-of-living crisis, a slumping currency and public anger over the bungled relief effort following February’s […]
Negotiators expect to have a draft at the end of this round of talks after agreeing last December to develop a legally binding deal on plastic pollution by 2024.
Dear Reader, Inflation remains rampant in Britain at 8.7pc, still in excess of forecasts – leading many to question whether the Bank of England has the credibility to contain the situation. Szu Ping Chan and Melissa Lawford investigate just how high interest rates will need to rise to tame inflation, and just how devastating the […]
Rishi Sunak has been warned off his plan for price caps on staples like bread and milk. You can also read the latest on the fallout from Phillip Schofield‘s departure from This Morning, and our critic’s thoughts on the final episode of Succession. Price caps will create food shortages, Rishi Sunak warned Ministers and supermarkets […]
Recent Posts on the other Lifestyle Magazine: Stepping Toes
April 18, 2023 event: The U.S. and its NATO allies must remain alert for signs Russian President Vladimir Putin could use a tactical nuclear weapon in a “managed” escalation of his war in Ukraine, the second-highest U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman issued the warning during the opening session of […]
Christians in politics have been accommodated through a policy of don’t-ask, don’t-tell, but some argue endlessly about which bathrooms trans people should be allowed to use. Cisgender psychologists and sexologists pathologise the transgender experience according to their own biases, cisgender insurance executives arbitrarily what is and isn’t “necessary care” for transgender policyholders, and so on.
Originally posted on Quo Vadis: Zionisme is het (blijven) streven naar en behoud van een Joodse staat. Anti-zionisme is dus het verzet tegen de enige joodse staat. Behalve de genoemde landen met een islamitische meerderheid, zijn praktische alle andere landen, incl Israel, seculier, geen enkele religie is dominant en er is godsdienstvrijheid. Godsdienstvrijheid is één…
Event Turkey has broken Nato unity on Finland and Sweden’s push to join the alliance, blocking an initial vote on accession after President Erdogan demanded that the two countries hand over dozens of Turkish exiles he accused of “terrorism”. The veto came hours after Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, hailed a historic moment for western […]
The Times, May 2, 2022 Event Ukraine, one of the most fertile and productive countries in the world, has been known historically as the “bread basket of Europe”. Now it is facing a complex and unprecedented agricultural crisis, in which landmines are only one of numerous interlinked problems. The United Nations estimates this year’s harvest […]
BBC, April 22 + Audit of antisemitic incidents Event The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, a study by Tel Aviv University has found. The report identifies the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia as among countries where there was a sharp rise. This was fueled by radical left- […]
The short letter of Paul to Philemon has some valuable lessons for us about spiritual relationships one with another. Paul is writing as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” (verse 1) and Timothy is with him – and other visitors support him, “Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke” (verse 24). He tells Philemon, “I remember you in […]
In Joshua 14 we read of the blessings received by a man who “wholly followed the LORD”. Caleb was the other man who with Joshua spied out the land and brought back an optimistic report; this was after the people had miraculously escaped from Egypt, been fed in the wilderness, built the tabernacle and received […]
Door Jezus Christus zijn wij vrijgekocht en horen zo niet meer gebonden te zijn aan de wereld, maar aan God met wie wij één willen zijn en Hem toebehoren.
Door zich als loskoper aan God aan te bieden kunnen allen die in Jezus willen geloven genieten van die vrijgave in Christus, maar dan wordt er van hen ook verwacht dat ze God, Jezus en hun naaste liefhebben.
Sommigen zullen zeggen dat Bijbellezen geen nut heeft omdat er gedeelten in staan die geen toegevoegde waarde hebben voor het geloof. David schreef dat hij meer van God begreep uit zijn studie van de wet, en zo is dat ook voor.
Het centrale thema van het evangelie van Lukas is discipelschap. En gezien zijn nauwe banden met de bekeerde schriftgeleerde Paulus mogen we hier ook zeker diens inzichten verwachten aan te treffen. En inderdaad zien we verschillende koppelingen tussen de kennelijke bedoelingen van Lukas’ beschrijvingen en de leer die we vinden in Paulus’ zendbrieven. Lukas begint, […]
Het Evangelie van Mattheüs is, net als dat van Marcus, een van de drie synoptische Evangeliën. Bijna alle gebeurtenissen die we bij Marcus vinden, vinden we ook bij Mattheüs. Maar Mattheüs voegt er veel leer en gelijkenissen aan toe, die we bij Marcus niet vinden. Het bevat daarmee ca. 60 % meer tekst dan dat […]
Als wij beweren Broeders in Christus te zijn, moeten wij getuigen van een houding die waardig is in de geest van Christus. Als Broeder in Christus moeten wij “in Christus” zijn en hoort onze levenswijze in lijn te zijn met de levenswijze van Jezus Christus, de zoon van God en onze Heiland. In de Bijbellezing […]
Zij die geloven dat Jezus God is zouden best eens nagaan in hoeveel Bijbelfragmenten Jezus zijn plaats tegenover God kenbaar maakt en hoe hij met God in communicatie gaat en ons leert bidden tot God zoals hij tot God bad.
In voorgaande artikelen kon u al lezen hoe Jezus als hij wonderen had gedaan, tegen de mensen zei dat ze niet hem, maar God moesten danken. (Één van de onmisbare tekenen dat Jezus niet God is.) Voor hem was God danken ook een vorm van gebed waaraan hij en zijn discipelen zich ook aan hielden. […]
Bible prophecies do not deal only with the ancient past. They also accurately foretell events that are taking place in our day. But at the moment we focus at numerous prophecies preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) which long before the man was born told about events which would happen in his time and around him, his betrayal, humiliation, torture, execution, death, and burial. From those writings of the Old and New Testament nobody should have doubts who that man is who is called Immanuel, the son of man and Messiah, born out of the root of Jess in the tribe of king David.
In Scripture, all things are directed towards a man who was a servant of servants, in whom people should come to have faith. First we saw the connection with Eve and her seed, and in this article you may see the connection with Abraham.
Already in the Old Testament we find the focus on a son of man who is called the son of God, who shall be the most pure set apart (holy) servant of God who was been told about in the Garden of Eden, to be the one bruised.
Many Old Testament writers wrote about the prophet to come, about whom is spoke in the book of Moses and who shall be the special “Seed of a woman” given by God and who will bruise Satan’s head whilst his heel would be bruised with nails on the wooden stake.
Jewish and Christian literature since the time of Yeshua or Jeshua have pointed to Genesis 3:15 as the first reference to the Messiah in the Torah. Genesis 3:15 NHEBJE I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his […]
Recent Posts: Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
Review Questions on Chapter Two Describe the birth of Jesus. To whom did the angels appear? What happened on the eighth day of Jesus’ life? Who were two of the people present? What do we know of Jesus’ early years? Jesus was what kind of youth? + Preceding Luke 2 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Luke […]
Luke 2:41-52 – Twelve Year Old Jesus in the Temple LK2:41 Now each year [Jesus’] parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. LK2:42 So when Jesus was twelve years old[1] he went up with them according to the custom of the festival. LK2:43 After fulfilling the days [of the festival][2] [the parents] returned but […]
Luke 2:39-40 – The Young Child Grows LK2:39 Now when everything had been fulfilled according to YHWH’s law they returned to the village of Nazareth in Galilee. LK2:40 And so the child continued to grow stronger and stronger being filled with wisdom, and God’s unmerited favor was upon him.[1] * [1] God’s unmerited favor was […]
Luke 2:36-38 – Anna’s Thanks before Those Waiting LK2:36 Now there was a prophetess,[1] Anna, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, [a widow] who had only lived seven years with her husband from her virginity. LK2:37 She had been widowed eighty-four years and was never missing from […]
Luke 2:25-35 – Simeon’s Blessing and Warning LK2:25 Now look, there was a person in Jerusalem named Simeon. And he was righteous and reverent[1] and was waiting for Israel’s consolation,[2] and holy Pneuma was upon him. LK2:26 For it had been revealed to him by holy inspiration[3] that he would not experience death until he […]
Recent Posts by bible Scholars: Bijbelvorser = Bible Researcher
20 jaar geleden bracht een triller een debat op gang dat vervolgd en verder uitgediept zou worden in 2006 bij het uitbrengen van vertalingen van Nag Hammadi geschriften.
Twenty years ago there was a lot to do about discussions brought forward by the speculation that Jesus would have fallen in love with Mary Magdalene and would have had children by her. In the previous posting you could read that after his third novel, Deception Point (2001), Dan Brown returned to Langdon with The […]
Twenty years ago a novel saw light in a world where already more people were coming up against the Catholic Church, but this time also telling a lot of historical lies.
In several places around the world, one can find portraits, paintings and sculptures depicting Jesus as a white man. But that is not at all consistent with the real appearance of the man who was born in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth. By the way, there is scientific evidence to back that up.
First of all to come to a good relationship with some one, one has to talk with that person and has to listen to what that person has to tell. God talks to the people by the way of His Word, presented to mankind by the many Bible translations, so that most people can read […]
The One Who created everything and Who gave His Word, did all He did with a purpose and out of love. The Bible teaches us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Everything God does is motivated by love. Out of love created man in His image also with the intention to have a good relationship […]
In the previous writings we saw that the Divine Creator gave His Word to the world so that people could come to know Him. The Bible is a gift from God. It gives us information that we can’t find anywhere else. For example, it tells us that God created the heavens, the earth, and the […]
° In Jewish life, actions transmit more than words. Lighting Hanukkah candles; blotting out Haman’s name; cleaning out the hametz; tashlikh; fasting; dancing with the Torah. Yes, all of those things come with a story. And there’s so much more background and history and ideas and textual sources that go along with the story. But […]
Who has inflicted this upon us? Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. If we bear all this suffering […]
Er zijn gelukkig heel wat jonge kinderen uit de getto’s kunnen gesmokkeld worden en naar veiliger oorden gebracht. Verborgen bij anders sprekende leerden vele van deze ondergedoken Joden een andere taal en gebruiken, waarbij zij en later hun kinderen geen Hebreeuws meer konden spreken. Vandaag kan men wel de vraag stellen of zij de Elohim in hun eigen landstaal kunnen blijven eren of Hebreeuws moeten gaan leren? Vast staat wel dat de hele wereld aan die afschuwelijke Jodenvervolging moet herinnerd blijven.
Looking at the Biblical terminology used to denote the term “righteousness”, the Hebrew tsadiq translated by the Greek dikaiosune and its various forms in both the LXX and the NT.
God heeft alles Zelf in de hand en daarom spreekt de Schrift soms zelfs over dingen die nog moeten gebeuren, alsof ze al zijn gebeurd, en in termen die aangeven dat ook de consequenties daarvan al blijvende werkelijkheid zijn.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad emphasised the solidity of the relationship between Damascus and Tehran during his final meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, who visited Syria in recent days.
Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2023. Event The US Air Force has sent a chilling message to Iran after sending warplanes armed with ‘bunker busting’ bombs. The US military confirmed it has dispatched powerful 250-pound bombs on A-10 Warthogs in a bid to give pilots a better chance of deterring Iran by destroying ammunition bunkers. Forces have been repeatedly […]
We present the article “We Are Custodians of This Memory. 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” by Piotr Gliński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. We Are Custodians of This Memory. 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising In April 1943, on the eve […]
Dit jaar zijn er nog 2 sjabbatot tot Soekot en is er voor elke sjabbat een parasja en de sjabbat voorafgaande aan Rosj Hasjana lezen wij nu de de parasja Nitsawiem.
Verwonderlijk kreeg ik vandaag het bericht van WordPress dat ik tegen een jubileum mag aankijken. Gefeliciteerd met je jubileum bij WordPress.com! Je hebt je 5 jaar geleden geregistreerd op WordPress.com.Bedankt voor het gebruiken van onze service! Ga zo door met bloggen. Wat zijn die vijf jaren voorbij gevlogen. Voordat mijn pen al mijn gedachten kon […]
Met Rosj Hasjana denken wij aan de wondere scheppingsdaad van de Allerhoogste. Spijtig genoeg moeten wij toegeven dat de mensheid van die schepping een janboel heeft gemaakt.
Recent Posts: Unmasking anti Jehovah sites and people
The apostle Paul wrote about the dispersion, the dispersed House of Israel. They had been “without covenant“, but Paul was sent out to recover them. So they were “grafted in again“ (Romans 11/23). Or, Grafted back in“. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been […]
Rob Mac wonders when the door to door will return? He wrote this a while back, and went sharing it again. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses hate the door to door ministry, although they won’t readily admit it. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses have developed ‘creative’ ways of counting their time doing this work, and many strategies for avoiding actually […]
Constantine wanted unity in his realm, and his call in 325 C.E. for a council of his bishops at Nicaea, located in the Eastern, Greek-speaking domain of his empire, across the Bosporus from the new city of Constantinople was in a certain way his goal to achieve some agreement by which many could live. Constantine […]
Superstition, misunderstanding and hatred caused the Christians trouble for many generations, and governmental repression they had to suffer occasionally, as a result of popular disturbances. No systematic effort was made by the imperial authorities to put an end to the movement until the reign of the Roman emperor (249–251) who fought the Gothic invasion of […]
Self-enhancing When the apostles had died there came a time when those in charge of teaching and going around telling about the gospel, started coming to see themselves as special people. Some even started to consider themselves as ‘clergy of the highest order’. After a time the organisation of the church was given only to […]
When having many questions an interesting blog to look at: their old and more recent Posts: Questiontime - Vragenuurtje
God heeft de wereld van Zijn woord en Zijn profeten voorzien, maar niet altijd wensten de mensen van die leiders of profeten weten, waardoor er verscheidene groeperingen ontstonden die elk dachten of denken de juiste aanbiddingswijze te hebben.
Does one need proof to come to a certain belief? We can look at the signs in nature and find out what happened to certain people in the past, such as Noah and Paul. With the Book of Books, Allah has provided the world with His Interpretative Word.
Heeft men bewijzen nodig om tot een bepaald geloof te komen? Wij kunnen naar de tekenen in de natuur kijken en nagaan wat er in het verleden met bepaalde mensen, zoals Noach en Paulus is gebeurd. Met het Boek der boeken heeft Allah de wereld van Zijn Alzeggend Woord voorzien.
When we speak about “Faith” (iman) we look at acceptance of the Belief in the existence and oneness of God (Allah).and the existence of the Book of books of which God is the author, existing of five main parts, the Torah (revealed to Moses),,the Psalms (revealed to David).and the Writings of Kings and prophets as well as the Gospel (revealed to Jesus) with the writings of his apostles,
Wanneer wij over “Geloof” (iman) spreken, zien wij op de aanvaarding van het Geloof in het bestaan en de eenheid van God (Allah) en het bestaan van het Boek der boeken waarvan God de auteur is, bestaande uit vijf hoofdstukken, de Torah (geopenbaard aan Mozes), de Psalmen (geopenbaard aan David) en de Geschriften van Koningen en Profeten, alsmede het Evangelie (geopenbaard aan Jezus) met de geschriften van zijn apostelen,
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Biblestudents – Bijbelstudenten
A Google Site presenting the Biblestudents with articles in English and Dutch – Voorstelling van de Bijbelstudenten met artikelen in het Nederlands en Engels
Christen Focus
Vanuit de Bijbelonderzoekers oogpunt kijkend waarop de mens hoorrt te focussen
Getuigen voor Christus
Tegenover de Getuigen van Jehovah zijn er ook de Getuigen voor Christus die Getuigenis afleggen voor Christus en zijn God Jehovah.
Relating to God wordPress Blog
Proving there is Only One True God which should be honoured and followed and how we can come in a better relationship with Him by following His only begotten son Jesus Christ as the Way to God.
Unmasking anti-Jehovah people
Debunking all the false sayings of those who fight against non-trinitarian groups and people
Blogroll
Hoop tot leven
Platform van Marcus Ampe voor hulpverlening en hoop geving
Christadelphian
Belgian Christadelphians
Google site with articles in English from the Belgian Brothers in Christ or Christadelphians
C4All
Christ For All – Presenting ways to find Christ in your life
C4U – Christ for you & Christadelphians for you
Site of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, who love the Creator and His creations and want people to show who is the way to Him and to His Kingdom where there shall be peace for ever.
Our World
News and thoughts about what is happening in the world, brought by the Free Christian Marcus Ampe. – Een kijk op het wereldgebeuren vanuit het standpunt van de Vrije Christen Marcus Ampe
Relating to God wordPress Blog
Proving there is Only One True God which should be honoured and followed and how we can come in a better relationship with Him by following His only begotten son Jesus Christ as the Way to God.
Immanuel Verbondskind
A site where issues of Judaism, Christianity, Islamism, their search for continued authenticity and relevance for today are discussed and looked at the position of the Jeshuaist community wrestling with the non- or anti-religious world
Jeshuaisme
Het Jeshuaisme brengt volgers van de Nazareense rebbe Jeshua (door velen beter gekend als Jezus Christus) te samen en verenigd Jehudiem (Jehoediem) of Joden zowel als goyim of niet-Joden en doet een oproep naar alle soort gelovigen en niet-gelovigen om Je
Jeshuaist
Personal pages of a Flemish Jeshua-ist – Persoonlijke paginas van een Vlaamse Jeshuaist
Jeshuaist communities
A community of real followers of Christ, assembling for sharing the Good News of the works of the Moshiach Jeshua and his heavenly Father the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.
Jeshuaist Focus
Uiteenzetting hoe eenieder tot het Volk kan behoren dat het Koninkrijk van god zal mogen binnentreden
Jeshuaisten – Jeshuaists
Een plaats van en voor liefhebbers van de Joodse Nazarener rabbi Jeshua om het bijbelkennis te versterken. – A site of and for lovers of the Nazarene Jewish rabbi Jeshua to strengthen their knowledge of the Scriptures.
Jeshuaists (or Yeshuaists)
Jeshuaists (or Yeshuaists) are followers of the Nazarene rebbe Jeshua who presented himself as a sent one from the Adonai Most High Elohim, Hashem Jehovah.
Jeshuaists for Jehovah
Followers of the Nazarene rebbe Jeshua witnessing for him and his God, the Only True God of Isrrael, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.
Our World
News and thoughts about what is happening in the world, brought by the Free Christian Marcus Ampe. – Een kijk op het wereldgebeuren vanuit het standpunt van de Vrije Christen Marcus Ampe
Some View on the world
Marcus Ampe presenting general and religious newsitems. – Wereldse en religieuze nieuwsfeiten bekeken onder de loep van Marcus Ampe.
Stepping Toes
A Lifestyle magazine which can be for some a provocative site created by Marcus Ampe
alsowritten
Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
belgischebroedersinchristus
Bijbelvorsers
Christadelphians
Guestspeaker
Immanuel Verbondskind
jeshuaist
Vragensteller - Inquirer
lizaborstlap
Marcus Ampe
Success Inspirers' World
Fan of Pequeña Sudamérica
Relating to God
From guestwriters 