Getting at a certain age one has had enough time to become purely energetically efficient.
Over the years, some have learned to hold their tongues a bit more while others, on the contrary, are now not shy about saying what is on their tongues.
With age has come the understanding that it is better to say how things are and that there is no longer any reason to hide things or withhold truth.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but annoying everyone is a piece of cake.
I’m not saying I’m old and worn out, but I make sure I’m nowhere near the curb on trash day.
As I watch this generation try and rewrite our history, I’m sure of one thing: It will be misspelled and have no punctuation.
Me (sobbing): “I can’t see you anymore — I’m not going to let you hurt me again.”
My physical exercise instructor (exasperated): “But you did only one sit-up.”
I haven’t gotten anything done today. I’ve been in the produce department trying to open this stupid plastic bag.
Turns out that being senior is mostly just Googling how to do stuff.
I’m on two diets. I wasn’t getting enough food on one.
If you find yourself feeling useless, remember it took…
There are people who want us to believe there is nothing wrong with Christian Nationalism. Particularly in the U.S.A. and in East Europe (Poland and Hungary) there are many who call themselves Christian, though they do not really follow the teachings of Christ and even have another god than Christ (because they do take Jesus to be God himself and worship him even before pictures and statues, which is an abomination in God’s eyes).
Those very conservative Christians often also believe Jesus Christ was a white person, though as a Palestinian he had a light brown skin. For them, Jesus had to belong to the White Race, because only the Caucasian or Europoid, as descendants of Adam, are the ones directly created and foreseen by God. The Mongoloid, and Negroid where considered the lower sort of human beings because they arrived from the sinners and as such had to bear the consequences of their sin and thus had to come to terms with the fact that, as people of colour, they were inferior human beings.
For many Americans God has given them America. According to them, it belongs to them. They forget that the Red Indians were and still are the original and rightful residents of what is now called North America or the United States of America and Canada. They also seem to forget that God has put all things under Christ’s feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:15-23) and that all people should become united in Christ. Those who call themselves Christian should as members of that body (Christ = the Church) should be as brothers and sisters, as siblings forming one body and one spirit, just as they were called to the one hope of their calling, not telling lies but speaking the truth in love, being prepared to let everybody grow and themselves also growing up in every way into Jesus Christ, him who is the head,from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promoting the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:4, 15-16)
That community sphere and love of Christ is far to look for in many of those American churches, and certainly in those nationalist churches. Strangely enough, several Americans in such nationalist churches or conservativeevangelicalchurches have forgotten their own family background, or simply do not want to acknowledge it, but others want to convince others that the land they live in, has always belonged to them and is a gift from God that they should protect against all strangers trying to come to nest in ‘their nation’.
Those nationalist Christians believe they have a heavenly calling to become immortal, coming to live in heaven. This heavenly goal is for them something which is received by grace and can only be received by the chosen people (they – and strangely not the Biblical Chosen People of Israel). According to them, the white man was created by God (they seem to forget that Adam means the ‘red man’ or ‘man from the red earth‘) to form families, clans, tribes and nations under different earthly governments. Nations and governments are, therefore, according to them, an absolute good and not merely a post-fall necessity of political systems. And that can only be accomplished by their society of white evangelicals making sure that their race and community shall not be polluted by mixing varieties, or coloured people and people thinking differently.
Stephen Wolfe defines Christian Nationalism as follows:
“Christian nationalism is nationalism modified by Christianity.
My definition of Christian nationalism is a Christianized form of nationalism or, put differently, a species of nationalism. Thus, I treat nationalism as a genus, meaning that all that is essential to generic nationalism is true of Christian nationalism.” {The Case for Christian Nationalism (p. 10). Canon Press. Kindle Edition by Stephen Wolfe}
One can wonder what he means by nationalism that would be Christianised. He explains:
My definition of nationalism is similar to that of Christian nationalism, though with less content: Nationalism refers to a totality of national action, consisting of civil laws and social customs, conducted by a nation as a nation, in order to procure for itself both earthly and heavenly good.” {The Case for Christian Nationalism (p. 10-11). Canon Press. Kindle Edition by Stephen Wolfe}
This for me gives the impression that man would be capable to produce heavenly good. Clearly he, like more Christian Americans does not know the Bible enough to work from those Scriptures. But that does not seem to him to be a shortcoming or problem at all, as he assumes that we may think further from the human mind and put everything in the light of the human relationship to the ecclesiastical relationship in order to be able to come to our place in the entirety of God’s work.
About his methodology Wolfe explains:
I assume the Reformed theological tradition might he mean Calvinism, and so I make little effort to exegete biblical text. Some readers will complain that I rarely appeal to Scripture to argue for my positions. I understand the frustration, but allow me to explain: I am neither a theologian nor a biblical scholar. I have no training in moving from scriptural interpretation to theological articulation.” {The Case for Christian Nationalism (p. 16). Canon Press. Kindle Edition by Stephen Wolfe}
He has a very strange idea about the unity of the church, but that is a general misconception of most American conservative evangelists. He writes:
Spiritual unity is inadequate for formal ecclesial unity. {The Case for Christian Nationalism (p. 200). Canon Press. Kindle Edition, by Stephen Wolfe.}
Though, ecclesial unity can only be formed by all those in the ecclesia willing to go for the same values and same beliefs. Without spiritual unity, based on Biblical Truth, no real good spiritual raster or framework can be built, nor shall the congregation be able to form one strong unity in Christ.
Not to fall far the trap of Christian Nationalism he is right to say
People do not suddenly speak some Gospel language and then assume a Gospel culture. The people’s way of life permeates the visible church, and it serves as an ancillary feature that makes possible the administration of sacred things (e.g., preaching in the vernacular). The administration of the Word and Sacraments require, at a bare minimum, a common language; and church fellowship requires at least a core culture serving as the cultural norm for social relations. Culturally distinct groups of Christians could, of course, start their own churches, and this would solve one problem. {The Case for Christian Nationalism (p. 200). Canon Press. Kindle Edition, by Stephen Wolfe.}
It is important to get a “Way of life” in line with the “Way of life of Christ”. And that is the main point where those Christian Nationalists go wrong. In Eastern Europe as well as in North America, those Nationalist Christians do not follow the teaching of Christ at all, which speaks of tolerance and unselfish love for all people, which is very wrong with those nationalists who exclude others, especially if they have a different colour or race, and do not think they belong to ‘their’ nation.
Many Christian Nationalists believe that it is impossible for people from other backgrounds and cultures to achieve a spiritual presence, especially if they do not speak the same language and / or use the same Bible. They actually exclude the power of God’s Work, and apparently do not believe that God can protect his own Word if it were not printed in their language. All too often we find King James Bible only by such conservatives, but also groups that give preference to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostles Bible. That last movement allows Pentecostal denominations and Charismatic movements to be considered as one spiritual unit or church unity. For them is the world under Satan, and it is the white people who have become Christians who have the authority as well as the duty to reclaim the world for God.
In Great Britain the Christian Nationalists may think like their American believers, but on the continent, they mostly are convinced that only the Roman Catholic Faith is the right faith, and all protestants should come back to the Papal Church, whilst all the unitarian or non-trinitarian believers should be done away with because they would be the hand of Satan.
Europe and the U.S.A may try to be a gathering of bigger places or states, also known as nations, which try to have common bonds in their legal system, their general culture of freedom of speech, even their religious attitudes and holidays, their sports, their food, their music, their movies, simply said to have a common culture. The main aim is to have a general line of common things that should bring different people in that ‘unit’ together. There is an understanding that the common bonds though there is a diversity of these cultural experiences would tear the connection apart or subtract from the strength of the “commonness” or “unity”. Variety should not mean that it would not go together and would mean division. But the nationalist Christians do not want to find a variety of ideas in their ranks. For them, equality in thinking is one of the main things to belong to the covenant.
Religion may traditionally been something that binds a people or nation together, but no group of people can force others to have their religion, and that its in a way what those Christian Nationalists want. They want everybody to think like them and to believe like them.
At no time was it ever Jesus idea that White Americans or any other group of people would be of more importance than the real original People of God, the Bnei Yisroel (people of Israel). God made it clear that Israel was His Chosen People. And it is not up to man to decide who is to be God’sChosen People. Those nationalists should better delve into the Scriptures to see what it teaches us about our place in the world and how we have to relate to other human beings.
It looks like a lot of Christian Nationalists are afraid of what is further from their bed, instead of opening their horizons, they want to close their world in a time of globalisation.
Those who think God’s Word is only for a few are wrong. The Word of God is revealed to all mankind and calls all people, be them white or bronw, to self-denial and transformation and to unite with eachother, coming closer to God in unity and full of love. From the gospels we learn that strangers were to be loved, the same as the followers of Christ would love themselves. The law effectively speaks against the actions of the nations in preferring their own.
We should know that any form of extreme behaviour or way of thinking is contrary to the open mind Jesus wanted his followers to have. From the previous centuries we also can see how such extremism derailed and gave birth to movements we as lovers of God should avoid, because they are totally against the rules of love for the other.
Giving exaggerated attention to the country or belonging to one country has created currents in the world that excluded others, such as what Nazism did to Jews, gipsies and true God-loving persons who did not wish to believe in the Trinity. Such a cursing attitude that goes against the commandments of God should be avoided by every Christian.
“teaching [kids] thatthe world is dangerous is bad for their health, happiness, and success,”
writes Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic.
Some research suggests thatthe perception of the world as a threatening place makes people more suspicious and less tolerant of others, and less inclined to take even moderate risks. People who hold such negative views of life are also less healthy, less satisfied, more depressed, and worse at their jobs than their more positive peers. Plus, teaching kids to fear their surroundings won’t necessarily keep them safe.
“A general state of fear can actually make a person less likely to take threats seriously (a self-defense mechanism to control our fear) and undermine precautionary behavior (by degrading the ability to address danger rationally),”
The Social Media Kindness Project by: Talin Orfali Ghazarian
Social media has become a big part in today’s society and some people use it for goodness, positive and inspiration, but others not so much. Some people tend to use social media in a negative and toxic way to spread hate, bullying, rudeness, and sending terrible comments to anyone. As previous generations have taught “If you have nothing nice to say or do, do not say or do anything at all”. That is the golden rule.
So, with that I have come up with the social media kindness project. You have no idea what someone is going through in their lives. It is always a good idea to be kind and use social media in empowering and positive ways. This is going to take a village to do. Social media needs a big makeover and we need to start somewhere.
Who is choosing who? Is it leaders choosing people for them or are it people who choose the leader?
In history we can see that more than once people followed the wrong leader, but we also can see how the Divine Creator had chosen Him a people, who not always remained faithful.
Human pride made that people went astray from the Most Precious and Most Righteous Leader, the God above all gods. It is man’s self-reliance and whimsy that brought him into all kinds of difficulties.
Today, man still has a lot to learn about humility and dignified recognition.
*
To remember
Humility = virtue asserted by every religion + every spiritual tradition > understood by very few.
Humility = self-forgetfulness.
A leader, particularly one in a spiritual position, must live a paradox.
natural + lamentable temptation to see leadership status as a privilege => affirmation of one’s own superiority.
best leaders = people do not notice their existence.
Focus on self, whether in praise or in criticism =/= humility.
leader of a people must forget himself => no room for selfishness
leader = clear channel for the people’s will + for wisdom => no room for his own desires, his own aggrandizement, his own ego.
Beware the rich man bearing gifts.
For the leader to be among the wise => first necessary a measure of wisdom be found in the people.
people follow a venal leader, keep him tightly bound with restraints of law + of their own suspicion => can do little good, dares do little harm, + law + people restrain him.
Humility is a virtue asserted by every religion and every spiritual tradition and understood by very few. It’s something that was brought home to me recently by an exploration of the phenomenon of leadership.
A leader, particularly one in a spiritual position, must live a paradox. He is “above” the rest in certain ways: taking greater responsibility, providing guidance and help to others that they cannot as easily do for themselves, upholding the highest standards of thought and behavior. If he starts to think of himself as above the rest, though, he hampers his ability to fulfill his function as a leader. There’s a natural and lamentable temptation to see leadership status as a privilege, and to take from it affirmation of one’s own superiority. It’s very difficult to avoid doing this, but the very best of leaders do.
Define problem right = you’re halfway to a solution.
Define problem wrong = you’ll probably never solve it => You’ll waste all your time looking for a solution that doesn’t exist.
Flip side of defining the problem wrong = what computer programmers call GIGO: “Garbage in, garbage out.” >>> If assumptions are wrong = if your logic is flawless =your conclusions will be wrong.
social problems < base assumptions on optimism rather than realism => go straight from errors in their premises to errors in their conclusions.
When you start with incorrect information but make mistakes in thinking, then you might get the correct answer just by blind luck. (it does happen)
Why are the great monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – chronically unable to fulfill their own self-professed goal of creating individuals infused with moral sensitivity and societies governed by the highest ethical standards? = seems to define problem incorrectly, based on an incorrect assumption about what religion can accomplish.
Judaism taught world about universal moral law under God, improving societies and people from ancient times to the present day.
Christianity added emphasis on individual conscience + individual rights, helping to develop Western ideals of freedom and personal dignity.
Islam = great improvement on earlier practices in the region where it developed, giving at least some rights to women + , in the medieval era, fostering a high civilization to which Jews contributed.
<< cannot do = make all individuals + societies ethical all the time, + can’t do it because it’s impossible.
=> limitation imposed by human nature, + fact people are not all alike
problem > message must be simple, clear, consistent, + realistic + achievable + allow occasional failures, providing a way to recover from them and get back on the right track.
Define the problem right, and you’re halfway to a solution.
Define the problem wrong, and you’ll probably never solve it. You’ll waste all your time looking for a solution that doesn’t exist. That applies in every area of life, such as religion, relationships, science, and social problems. The best movie mystery of 2008 turned on mis-identifying the problem to be solved.
The flip side of defining the problem wrong is what computer programmers call GIGO: “Garbage in, garbage out.” If your assumptions are wrong, then even if your logic is flawless, your conclusions will be wrong. Garbage in, garbage out.
Ironically, it’s the best and brightest people who are most susceptible to GIGO errors when they think about social problems.
Their kind hearts make them want to believe the most optimistic things, so they often base their assumptions on optimism rather…
Last year 50 000 Jews left France for better pastures. In Belgium we also find many who preferred to go to Israel and to face the difficulties there between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
When rabbi Prosper Abenaim first arrived at La Courneuve’s Ahavat Chalom synagogue in 1992 there were over 4,000 Jews in the neighbourhood then and at that time it was a struggle to fit them all into the synagogue on Yom Kippur. Today, at this Paris suburb’s only Jewish facility, he serves sweet tea to his synagogue’s most frequent and reliable guests: machine gun-toting troops of the French Legion which entered the seen on January 2016 to defend Jews in this heavily Muslim and crime-stricken municipality bordering the capital. This dwindling community, which has lost thousands of congregants over the past two decades to Israel and safer areas of Paris has now on some mornings, troops outnumbering worshippers.
That wasn’t the case when Abenaim first arrived at La Courneuve’s Ahavat Chalom synagogue in 1992. There were over 4,000 Jews in the neighbourhood then and it was a struggle to fit them all into the synagogue on Yom Kippur.
“The shul overflowed onto the street,”
Abenaim recalled.
Since then, improved economic fortunes and repeated anti-Semitic attacks have driven out all but 100 Jewish families from the neighbourhood, where drug dealers operate openly on streets that residents say police are too afraid to patrol. The remaining Jews are mostly a greying bunch, stuck here for financial reasons.
“We have two big problems, extremism and criminality, and they often mix,”
said Abenaim, who lives in Paris’ affluent and heavily Jewish 17th arrondisement and has encouraged his congregants to leave for Israel.
“I understand why people don’t want to raise children here. I’m here myself only because of my duties. Otherwise, I’d be in Israel.”
Rudy Abecassis, a Marseille-born computer specialist who moved to the Paris region in 2009 to find work, had a good job at a time of rising unemployment. In 2016 his family also left behind their comfortable lives and moved to Israel, joining nearly 8,000 French Jews who Abecassis said
He had found a nice life in France and he loved France for it, leaving it with sorrow. For him it being important
“to live in a Jewish country of our own, where we are not outsiders who need to be tolerated.”
Tolerance is the big word we have to look for these days. When we hear small children saying Jews are dangerous people we can wonder what they hear their Muslim parents telling about Jews.
Most Jews in France are not affiliated with any synagogue, while the majority of those who are belong to Orthodox synagogues. The third major current of Judaism in France is the Conservative or Massorti movement (with a.o. rabbi Haim Fabrizio Ciprian in Marseille). Next to them there are the Liberal and Reform Jews. The “Libérale” in French corresponds to the Reform movement in the UK and the US, though for some Americans its approach might appear to be midway between Reform and Conservative.
‘For French who do not have the American connection, if you’re Jewish, Israel is the easy place to go. Otherwise the other ambitious entrepreneurs of that age who are not Jewish and are not going to think of going to Israel tend to go to London, which is now the seventh largest ‘French’ city.”
says the American Rabbi Tom Cohen from the synagogue Kehilat Gesher in Paris’s 17th arrondissement.
In those suburbs Rabbi Michel Serfaty is not afraid to go to talk to the Muslims and to create events for Muslim kids. He also created a community or “French Jewish Muslim Friendship Association” for which he hopes to recruit several more young people to help with community outreach in the largely Muslim, immigrant communities where most people have never even met a Jewish person.
A poster for the French Jewish Muslim Friendship Association, which works in many poor, immigrant neighborhoods. – Eleanor Beardsley/NPR
The rabbi is convinced that Jews can live together in peace with Christians and Muslims as well with atheists. He also believes they can help and foster each other and can work together to build up France’s future.
“In these places they often have specific ideas about Jews,”
says Serfaty.
“And if they’re negative, we bring arguments and try to open people’s eyes to what are prejudices and negative stereotypes. We try to show children, mothers and teenagers that being Muslim is great, but if they don’t know any Jews, well this is how they are, and they’re also respectable citizens.”
The rabbi takes advantage of funding from a government program that helps youths without work experience find their first job. First of all Serfaty takes time for the Muslim youngster and unites them by creating opportunities to have games, like a football match together. Two days ago we could see on television how a coloured boy was proud to present his equip, which was constructed of youngsters from different origin. Serfati lets them feel how other young kids feel and have similar aspirations. He tries taking away the borders and wrong ideas their parents or some radicals imposted on them.
The rabbi offers them also tuition and for a period of three years, gives them valuable training in mediation and community relations. Serfaty’s recruits also study Judaism and Islam. And he takes them on a trip to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp.
Though French laws on secularism forbid him from asking applicants about their religion, he tries to have also Muslim employees for his work, who harbour no anti-Semitic feelings, which is not always so easy to find.
The people helping the rabbi are aware of the task to are wake up people’s consciences. They say
“This is a job that counts and we could have a real impact if there were more of us.”
Rabbi Michel Serfaty, third from right, and employees of his French Jewish Muslim Friendship Association. He says he has only grown more determined to do his bridge-building work since the terror attacks in Paris in January. – Eleanor Beardsley/NPR
Now there is also signed a manifesto where is demanded that the fight against this democratic failure that is anti-Semitism becomes a national cause before it’s too late. By the people who put their signature under it can be found politicians from the left and right including ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy and celebrities like actor Gerard Depardieu.
The signatories condemned what they called an “quiet ethnic purging” driven by rising Islamist radicalism particularly in working-class neighbourhoods. They also accused the media of remaining silent on the matter.
“In our recent history, 11 Jews have been assassinated — and some tortured — by radical Islamists because they were Jewish,”
the declaration says.
Condemning the “dreadful” killing, President Emmanuel Macron had reiterated his determination to fighting anti-Semitism.
“French Jews are 25 times more at risk of being attacked than their fellow Muslim citizens,”
Ask any traveller about his strongest experience and a story of an encounter invariably follows. When we meetpeople not only face to face , but ‘heart to heart’, we experience this as something special.
When travelling, each one of us recognizes the feeling of being out of one’s comfort zone.
Far away everything is different. Also the people. When we position ourselves at eye level of the ‘foreigner’ , we come to know him with an open mind , we enter his world and everything becomes different.
Trust that we give, we also receive.
Margot Kässmann responding to a question from the audience following her lecture on “Multicultural Society – Roots, Resistance, and Visions” at the University of Freiburg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When we accept that someone is different, a certain chemistry is created. We should not only look at the exterior, but we should keep listening. In this way prejudices and predispositions do not get a chance and the ‘foreign exterior’ will make place for a ‘recognizable interior’. We will experience that wealth is to be found in being different, exactly within the differences. In this sense, people we called ‘foreigners’ at first, are in fact a blessing. The only condition is that we open our heart and allow ourselves to be moved.
In this way foreigners become friends
If our society feels strongly about pluralism we should not be satisfied with an ennobled form of permisiveness that preaches tolerance. In our multicultural society pluralism only has a chance of survival if we go towards the other person and if we are really interested in who he or she is , regardless of whether he/she is a foreigner , of another religion or conviction.
Intercultural dialogue depends upon authentic pluralism
It is essential to allow the other person’s truth , in which a ‘ heart to heart’ encounter is the golden key. In this way a meeting close to home can become a rich experience worth telling. We are only asked to go outside and to let the world in.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Ga naar buiten. Laat de wereld binnen.
Equipping The Saints on the 24th of December 2014 found himself enjoying that Christmas Eve evening by watching one of his favourite of all time films and he had to talk to you about the movie, and the times.
Original poster for the 1947 Christmas comedy-drama film written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies
Seaton, George American screenwriter and director original name George Stenius April 17, 1911 South Bend, Indiana, U.S. July 28, 1979 Beverly Hills, California American screenwriter and film director who was perhaps best known for his work on Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and The Country Girl (1954), both of which earned him Academy Awards for best screenplay. The son of Swedish immigrants, raised in Detroit, got his breakthrough with the holiday classic about a young girl (Natalie Wood) who begins to believe that the elderly man (Edmund Gwenn in an Oscar-winning performance) hired to play Santa Claus at Macy’s department store might actually be St. Nick. After a jealous fellow employee frames him for an assault, Kringle is placed in a mental hospital. At the ensuing sanity hearing, Kringle and his attorney attempt to prove that he is indeed Santa Claus.
The actor John Johnson who played the official Santa Claus for St. Albans finds that Gwenn who starred in the 1947 holiday film classic, helped set the standard for what a movie Santa Claus is supposed to be. When we were children looking forward for the many presents we could find under the Christmas tree we nearly every year got to see a performance of a homespun Christmas Street with a group of neighbours smitten by sugar-plum dreams and equipped with lots of extension cords, Santas, Snoopys, and inflatable snowmen, nativity scenes and teddy bears, model trains and flashing rooftop sleighs. In several stage versions we got to see as a child the scoundrels were mad more obvious and there were more of them. Also according to the times and popularity of names, the names of some of the characters were adapted to be more contemporary and to find more recognisable characters.
Some of our friends had lost their dad in the war and others had their parents working so hard that they had not so much time for their kids. also the writer of 121714 – Christmas In The 50s his step-father was usually away from home working as a merchant seaman, so his mother would take his younger brother, sister, and him “downtown” on shopping excursions.
My mother was very good at shopping and not letting us know that all of the wrapped boxes “were not really ours.” As with many downtown shopping areas in America “in the 50s,” we had streets in my home town that were lined with tall buildings, such as Sears, Penny’s, Woolworth’s, McCrory’s, Kress’s, and you know the rest of them. The streets were nicely decorated with “Christmas” markings (not Happy Holidays yet!). The store personnel would always say, “Merry Christmas,” without the fear of being fired! {121714 – Christmas In The 50s}
Here in Belgium in front of nearly every big store there were Christmas singers for a good cause and the Salvation Army was unmistakably part of the Christmas Season picture. In town you could not pass one shopping street without finding a Salvation Army band singing carols, around their little ‘fire’.
At that time the shops were still so incredibly decorated we just went to gaze in front of the shopwindows for all the magic bringing us into many special Christmas dreams. Everywhere you could feel the special spirit and people seemed much more friendly than the rest of the year.
My family didn’t have a car, so we would always ride a city busy or take a cab. The drivers were very friendly and would also give “Christmas greetings” to us. {121714 – Christmas In The 50s}
Global warming had not reached us and we still could find real Winters with freezing cold days, having people to warm themselves very warm.
Equipping The Saints can remember the long kelly green coat that his mother wore;
she always had a wide black belt around the coat; and, she would have on black high heels – she had given up on wearing a hat and white gloves (sort of what Aunt Bea would wear!). And, we didn’t have a television at home. {121714 – Christmas In The 50s}
We at home having one of the first television had that extra dimension in the holiday period able to see the Christmas specials in the salon, after we had spend hours of reading in the library of the house and having had nice Christmas sweets in the lounge and some interesting chats in the parlour.
The writer of 121714 – Christmas In The 50s was very envious of the people of his age who were able to do their “downtown shopping” in the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis and the other large cities.
The stores that are mentioned in “Miracle On 34th Street,” such as Macy’s, Gimbel’s, Stern’s, Bloomingdale’s, McCreery’s and Hearns must have been wonderful places to shop. In the movie, a Macy’s store employee referred a shopper over to Gimble’s for an item that cost $2.98; can you imagine that? the price or the courtesy! {121714 – Christmas In The 50s}
The Christmas window displays seen in the film were originally made by Steiff for Macy’s. Macy’s later sold the window displays to FAO Schwarz in New York. FAO Schwarz then sold the windows to the Marshall & Ilsley Bank of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they are on display every December in the bank’s lobby on North Water Street. {Miracle on 34th Street (in the United Kingdom first released as The Big Heart}
On the stage as well on the screen many versions saw the light and tried to bring some nice atmosphere in the Winter Holiday season. today there doe snot seem such a search for family warmth and ‘togetherness’ any more and the shops do not make so much work for decorating their shop-windows. In the shops and at the Christmas markets everything focusses on material gadgets and on alcoholic drinks, whilst non-peaceful music is yelling out of the loudspeakers. Though I must agree it sometimes was too much of having for weeks all those Christmas songs and jingle bells coming out our ears. 😉
Equipping The Saints thinks rightly that many of our age have those “Miracle on 34th” times of Thanksgiving and Christmas memories neatly and protectively stored in the wonderful areas of our minds. He writes
I can vividly remember how J.C. Penny looked on Broughton Street; Sears & Roebuck was actually located about a mile away. Lerner’s was a dress store, kind of high-end, that made me really think that I was in New York… I trust that you will always cherish those memories, just as I do.
America in her generous bid to be tolerant and welcoming, has completely lost the essence of benevolence. She has allowed tolerance not only consume and blind her, but now, the many she welcomed with open arms are threatening to usurp her original self and traits. I know this country has seen many ugly sides such as slavery and denigration of fellow man, I do not speak of these times or traits, but rather of true fellowship of his ways and words, and the freedom to practice so, without being labeled one ridiculous thing or the other.
What about these generosities be reverted and extended to the people of America who still have traditional values and beliefs, regardless of how politically incorrect some may view their take?
I have a different sort of memory myself growing up in Christmas times back in Nigeria. It was a period of joy and celebration for us. A time when parents travelled back with families from cities to small hometown and villages, so the extended kin can all gather to celebrate our Lord and gift.
Many kids got their very own new cloths or shoes for the first time that period because parents saw it as a good time to reach deep into very thin pockets to give as Christ gave to their kids.
Total strangers would give kids money or sweets, and families would invite strangers off the streets to sup or dine with them. It depicted true brotherhood and such were glory days.
Today, it’s completely different. There are rapes, murders, crime of all imaginable sorts, and small hometowns and villages now overrun with thuggery, kidnapping ,rage and you name it.
The utopia Christmas no longer exits, and kids are no longer happy with sweets, new clothes and shoes or a simple supper. Everyone wants a mac, kindle, I Phone 6 or tablet, …
People of faith and followers of Christ are made to feel inferior for having an opinion and the very government that should protect everyone’s right to free worship, is now the same stifling some who want to celebrate our Lord.
We don’t all have to believe in the same thing, but the founding fathers of these united states as many mistakes as they made, in my humble opinion got one thing right… That is stating firmly that In God We trust. America is not and will never be anything other than In God We trust. If only present people will allow us follow our oath.
***
A fragment of the 1947 film with the little Dutch Girl and Mary Field as her Mother, where the child shows the true spirit of Christmas, to be with some one loved. After she tells the Santa she does not need anything else than to say with the nice lady she sings the Dutch Saint Nicholas song in Dutch “Sinterklaas kapoentje”
The Christians who are asking to be tolerant do not ask to be tolerant to violence. They ask do be concerned about those in need, and they ask to sincerely investigate all things and not to make conclusions too fast, putting everybody on the same line. Like after the Parisian attacks, so many people getting to shout to get all the refugees out and to stop them entering the European Union because they would be bringing Islam over our regions.
Русский: скромная одежда для muslims и non-muslims (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Most of the from violence fleeing people are not practising Muslims and they just want to be spared of any fundamentalist teaching reigning over their life. We should not straight ahead think those people would bring radical Muslim teaching to our regions. Even when lots of them may be Muslim it should not frighten us that they would convert people here. If they are able to convert people to Islam others should ask themselves
People may think they don’t have to tolerate everything that crosses their path or that we or others think they should tolerate. {Churches response to Radical Muslims} It is given to everybody in our democratic countries to utter their opinion. We always should make that clear to any body entering our regions and certainly to those who want to live in our regions. Those who come to live in our states should very well know that here there shall have to stay freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Such freedom of speech makes it also possible that there shall be people who take a stand against those teachings they consider false and against tolerances, that plague, divide and destroy the people of God.
Though what we see today is that certain Christians do think that those refugees would come in here in Europe or in other parts of the Northern hemisphere to
No, it is an idea that many want to pose because they are afraid of their own identity being hurt. In case they would stand strong enough in their shoes they should not worry. Christians should even be joyful because this would give them more opportunities to preach their faith and convert others to their faith. Is it not because so many Christians do not preach any more and are themselves not active in the Witnessing process that they consider those who are preaching as a danger. As such we also find a lot of aversion and opposition against Jehovah Witnesses, Christadelphians, Mormons and other preaching believers.
Christians should know there is a Big Battle coming. They should prepare themselves and their children for it, but also should warn others around them for the dangers that shall come over our world. But they also should know that in the Holy Scriptures is written that one of the signs of the Last Days shall be that religion shall come to rise against religion. Those religious groups fighting against each other should not make us afraid but should make us even more prepared to go out in the world and to preach the Truth. In case our teachings are founded on the Truth, we should not have to worry. We also know that man can kill man but they shall not be able to take man away from God when that man is in God.
The Ethnic composition of Muslims in the United States, according to the United States Department of State based on the publication of Being Muslim in America as of March 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We do know many Americans do think they are the centre of the world and that Islamic leaders saw America as the central power of Christianity. We have no idea where they got that from, but for sure it is true that radical Muslims do consider Christendom (and not Christianity) as their arch-enemy. In case they should know better Christianity than they should be more moderate and recognise that not all Christians do worship a threeheaded god. They should know that there are also many Christians who worship only the OneTrue God, Allah, The ElohimHashemJehovah. If they knew their history they should be able to see why Mohammed was the right person in its time on that place, but that throughout history there have always been true worshippers of the Only One True God, the God of Abraham (Ibrahim).
Everything about the West they view as Christian, all that we find valuable they hate; democracy, transparency, the rule of law, human rights, the separation of religion from governments are all discredited in the eyes of the jihadis (Wayne Grudem; Politics according to the bible). {Churches response to Radical Muslims}
That is today’s biggest problem, that those fundamentalist Muslims are doing exactly the same thing as the fundamentalist Christians from some centuries ago but also from those today.
Certain Christians do want to believe there are some extra-terrestrial demons hovering around, which they call devils, under the leadership of their head-devil Satan who organise a world-war against Jesus. They forget that according to the Holy Scriptures a satan is any adversary, like Peter was called a satan. so they teach people
so that you have a sound response either in your own mind or when people are attempting to discredit the truth that this is a battle between satan and the Jews and satan and Christians. {Churches response to Radical Muslims}
They are right in the fact that it is a satan who goes into battle with the world of God. The adversary of will trample hard. He knows the end shall be coming near and it is high time to go into the counter-attack. Real believers of God have to see that and should recognise the dangers of getting pulled in the trap to act also against the Will of God.
God is a God of love and order. He wants us to feel respect for all creatures, including those who do not love God. We should not kill them but should present them a life full of hope and glory. With our strength of faith we should bring them over the line, getting them to see where the true expectations of God are.
The real reason radical Islamists attack America, may be born out of a want to create an Islamic State and to destroy Jews & Christians, but it is mainly also because they consider the West interfering with their politics and hindering their cause in their own regions, which do not belong to America nor Europe.
It’s important that we understand the background. These attacks are not caused by people experiencing poverty or oppression in poor nations. This was started and is maintained by well-educated upper class, largely college-educated mostly wealthy men. (Wayne Grudem: politics according to the bible) {Churches response to Radical Muslims}
We even should come to see who are really backing ISIS and providing them with the necessary funds to get all that weapon arsenal.
There are apparently as many Christians as Muslims in Lebanon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Please let us always remember
“There are peaceful Muslims in the world that simply want to live their lives just like you and want their children to live peaceful and successful lives. The problem is not the peaceful Muslims but the radical Muslims. There are 1.2 billion Muslims, not all are radical. The radicals are 15-25% according to all intelligence reports around the world. That leaves 75% who are relatively peaceful people.” {Churches response to Radical Muslims}
We should concentrate much more on those peaceful Muslims as well on the peaceful Christians and should react to those Muslims and Christians who want to destabilise the world by their messages of hate and intolerance.
German TV channel ZDF documentary about people who arrive in Germany with the idea that their ideology stands above the German constitution
The documentary does question if Germans are maybe too tolerant towards immigrants from non-western and Islamic regions, and the documentary implies that they might be too tolerant because of the terrible history of Germany.
A community where people want to live in peace together requires respect from the citizens for each other and respect for the democratic rules of the ‘guest’ country.
We may not forget that respect also has to be earned and to say that tolerance ends where notolerance is shown to us is creating a danger zone. Better is that there were no tolerance is shown to some one, to try to find out the reasons why there is such attitude against such people. Often no tolerance comes from taking a wrong attitude because there is a fear being fed by not enough knowledge about those people. Too many Westerners do have a wrong idea about Islam and have also prejudiced ideas about people fleeing the war zones in the Middle East.
Several difficulties between the different groups trying to come to the West have their seeds also in their will to stay strongly to their own believes and not willingness to open themselves to other believes or ideas.
From the beginning those who want to enter the European Union have to learn this has to be a place where there is demanded an openness to different ideas, different believes and where there is a demand to give everybody a fair chance to develop in total freedom, respecting the freedom of the others. Freedom can there only be when everybody is willing not to restrict the freedom of the other. Though there have to be some limitations which demands that there can be found a consensus so that everybody can live undisturbed.
*
To remember
documentary maker thinks: we should make every refugee understand that if they want to stay => they have to accept our system of values
The German TV channel ZDF broadcasted a documentary that shows what kind of conflicts there are between immigrants and refugees that arrive from Islamic and non-western countries. Usually, I wouldn’t suggest to watch a TV broadcast from ZDF as they are often biased against German citizens, but over the last time they started to report more about conflicts that they denied previously, maybe because it’s no longer possible to hide the facts.
This documentary is about conflicts between immigrants or refugees, not so much about conflicts between them and German citizens, anyways, it gives you an impression what kind of effect this has on German citizens as well. The documentary is about people who arrive in Germany with the idea that their ideology stands above the German constitution, and the documentary does question if we Germans are maybe too tolerant towards immigrants from non-western and Islamic regions, and the documentary…
Freedom of thought can only be secured when everybody has access to unbiased quality education. All those fining asylum should have to learn that freedom and peace can only be there where every one respects the freedom of others inclusive the freedom of religion, in public places finding no restriction of any member of the community.
Ralie from the humble little country of Bulgaria, who believes in people’s power to use common sense and reach their own conclusions, presents a record of his life pre- and post-immigration brings his two cents worth of opinion
*
To remember:
Both sides of the debate flinging accusations on the entire scale from “xenophobes” to “betrayers of Europe”
there aren’t many people thinking what to do with the refugees once they’ve arrived
fearing they will “take our jobs” and “turn Germany into a caliphate”
lot of sense in upholding European values of tolerance and solidarity <= they have stood the test of time and war, + have proven themselves invaluable in times of humanitarian crisis
yes, build mosques, but respect the secular ideas which made your escape possible, keep your culture, but respect the people who gave you a new home on their own land.
On Sunday night hundreds gathered in in Zion Square, Jerusalem for a memorial to the 16 years old high school student from Jerusalem, Shira Banki, who died from injuries suffered in a knife attack at the city’s gay pride parade.
Shira Banki, 16, one of six stabbing victims at the Jerusalem gay pride parade, died from her wounds at a Jerusalem hospital. (Facebook)
Banki had died hours earlier at Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, where she had been fighting for her life after being stabbed in the chest and stomach on Thursday. She was one of six stabbing victims. She was marching to support her gay friends, her family said in a statement. The family agreed to donate her organs, Hadassah hospital announced.
“Our magical Shira was murdered because she was a happy 16-year-old – full of life and love – who came to express her support for her friends’ rights to live as they choose,”
the family statement said.
“For no good reason and because of evil, stupidity and negligence, the life of our beautiful flower was cut short. Bad things happen to good people, and a very bad thing happened to our amazing girl.”
The statement also expressed
“hope for less hatred and more tolerance.”
Israeli politicians from across the spectrum expressed sorrow about the teen’s death.
Tel Aviv gay pride parade 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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
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This site does not want to be a specific religious site, though now and then religious articles may be presented. The main interest on this site is about worldly matters, social affairs and the behaviour of human beings in this universe.
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
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Club members their own blog-writings – Clubleden hun eigen persoonlijke blogs
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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.
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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
Het is schrijnend te weten dat al leven wij in een ‘luxe land’ dat er zo veel verdoken armoede is, die toeneemt en meer mensen hun toevlucht moeten nemen in voedselbanken.
2022 was the year that the world could fear again some wars. A demagogue who wants to expand his empire Fear started coming over the people already in 2021 when Vladimir Putin came to show his teeth. It looked like the Biden administration saw through him, but in the European Union, we doubted Putin would […]
Christmastime in the theatre in many countries also means The Nutcracker ballet. Performances of The Nutcracker account for nearly half the annual revenue of American ballet companies.
In the past week, two astounding and unrelated criminal investigations have come to light in Europe. Both raise troubling questions for democracy. The European Union already has a hard time making itself useful and credible to the people at large. This week, it received a thump that will further damage confidence in the Union. In […]
An other look at the world by Marcus Ampe on: Some View on the World
The Chancellor has pleaded with early retirees to go back to work, as he said the country faced an “enormous and shocking waste of talent and potential”. The big story: ‘Enormous and shocking waste of talent’ Jeremy Hunt has promised a “fundamental programme of reforms” to get millions of people back to work, as he […]
Story of the week Revealed: how US transition to electric cars threatens environmental havoc The US’s transition to electric vehicles could require three times as much lithium as is currently produced for the entire global market, causing needless water shortages, Indigenous land grabs, and ecosystem destruction inside and outside its borders, new research finds. […]
26/01/2023 ‘Carbon offsets’ on flights, food and even TV claim to help the planet – what if they don’t? Patrick Greenfield Our investigation into rainforest offsets approved by Verra, the organisation that operates the world’s leading carbon standard, was driven by a simple question: are the carbon credits trustworthy? Protecting the world’s remaining tropical rainforests […]
Recent Posts on the other Lifestyle Magazine: Stepping Toes
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 Times, April 16 Russia’s setbacks could prompt President Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons, William Burns, the CIA director, has said. Moscow has a stockpile of about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, also known as low-yield or battlefield munitions, that can be deployed by air, sea or artillery. These are generally less potent than the […]
Event: The United Nations general assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the human rights council after images of atrocities apparently showing civilians left dead in the streets with their hands bound emerged following Russian troops’ withdrawal from around Kyiv. The call for Russia’s removal from the UN’s top human rights body was led by […]
“I have been crucified with Christ,” Paul writes to the Galatians. He touches on the same idea in Romans 6, where he says of all who have been baptized into Christ, that “our old self was crucified with him.” Jesus himself originated the idea, telling us that anyone who would follow him must take up […]
Good Written By Paul Zilmer “No one does good. Not even one!” In Romans 3:10-18 the apostle Paul quotes from a series of six Psalms, a Proverb, and Isaiah, all making this same point. There is no one who is righteous. All turn aside. Why say it so many times? Maybe so it will […]
““1 «For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.» O Jehovah, our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth, Who hast set thy glory upon the heavens! 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength, Because of thine adversaries, That thou […]
Majesty Written By Paul Zilmer “O YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Thus begins, and ends, Psalm 8 — one of the loveliest passages in scripture. This psalm conveys the awe we all feel when we stop and pay attention to the power and the grace of the Almighty […]
Recent Posts by the Brethren in Christ: Broeders in Christus
Wie de tekst van de Psalmen kent èn begrijpt, zal God met nog grotere vreugde lofzingen. Bij aanvang van het burgerlijk jaar is er alle reden toe om God lof te zingen, maar eveneens om uitdrukking te geven van ons vertrouwen in Hem die ons redding biedt. In de Bijbellezing voor vandaag kijken wij naar […]
The longest public speeches of Jesus that we have on record have nicknames: The “Sermon on the Mount” and the “Sermon on the Plain” e.g.. Jesus thought carefully about what and how he would show people the Father, how to be the vehicle by which people were drawn to Him.
Eerst was er de Oneindige God die de mens schiep terwijl Hij een plan had. Uit liefde voor de mens voorzag Hij een oplossing voor het verkeerd gaan van de mens. Uit liefde voor zijn God en zijn medemens gaf de zoon van God zich als zoenoffer aan zijn hemelse Vader.
Heiligheid behoort Jehovah toe Op de tulband van de hogepriester in Israël stond: “Heiligheid behoort Jehovah toe”. Onder het Hebreeuwse woorden qoʹdhesj en kedoesja of ‘heiligheid’ verstond men oorspronkelijk een toestand van afgezonderdheid, een exclusiviteit die reden gaf om apart geplaatst te worden. Heilige zaken waren die dingen die exclusief of geheiligd zijn voor God, […]
God, de Heer zal koning worden Dat de aanvallende vijanden van Israël gedecimeerd zullen worden, blijkt uit de woorden: “Allen, die zijn overgebleven van al de volken, die tegen Jeruzalem zijn opgerukt, zullen van jaar tot jaar heentrekken om zich neer te buigen voor de Koning, Jehovah de Heer van de heerscharen” (Zach. 14:16). In […]
De vijanden verdelgd Gods oordeel op de volkenlegers die Zijn land zijn binnengevallen en Zijn verbondsvolk hebben aangevallen, markeert het begin van de overgang van de koninkrijken van deze wereld tot het wereldomvattende Koninkrijk van Christus Jezus. Haggaï had de opdracht gekregen een zeer gewichtige boodschap aan Zerubbabel, stadhouder van de provincie Jehud en vertegenwoordiger […]
Uit de woestijnen liet God een berg rijzen die Hij voorzag van stromen water, om als een vesting voor Zijn Volk te zijn en waaruit zijn gezondene het levend water zal komen te zijn.
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 One How does Luke introduce his Gospel? Who received an angelic visitation in the Temple? Why was Zechariah struck dumb? Why was Elizabeth’s pregnancy unusual? What did the angel say to Mary? What happened when Mary visited Elizabeth? How does Mary magnify God? What is the name of Elizabeth’s child? What […]
Luke 1:67-80 – Zechariah’s Prophecy LK1:67 Then the baby’s father Zechariah was filled with holy Pneuma and prophesied:[1] “Blessed [be] YHWH, The God of Israel,[2] [Psalm 41:13] LK1:68 for He visited and redeemed His People.[3] [Psalm 111:9] LK1:69 He raised up for us a horn[4] of salvation in His servant David’s House. [Psalm 132:17] LK1:70 […]
Luke 1:57-66 – Elizabeth Gives Birth To John LK1:57 Now Elizabeth’s time came to fulfillment for her to give birth, and so she bore a son. LK1:58 Now her neighbors and relatives heard that YHWH[1] had shown His mercy to her and they rejoiced together with her. LK1:59 Then the time arrived on the eighth […]
Luke 1:46-56 – Mary Magnifies God LK1:46 Now Mary responded: LK1:47 “My soul magnifies the LORD![1] [1 Samuel 2:1] My inner being rejoices in my God, the Savior! [1 Samuel 2:1] LK1:48 For He has seen the humble condition of his servant-girl. Behold, from now on all generations will consider me most blessed. LK1:49 Because […]
Luke 1:39-45 – Mary Visits Elizabeth LK1:39 Now in those days Mary rose and traveled hastily into the hill country to a village of Judah. LK1:40 She entered into the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. LK1:41 Now the moment Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting her baby suddenly moved in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled […]
Recent Posts by bible Scholars: Bijbelvorser = Bible Researcher
The vast majority of the excavated areas of the ancient city of Nimrud were destroyed by ISIS through multiple attacks on the area, but now clean-up work can begin on restoration and further scientific research.
Decimated by war, revolution, and famine, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia had to face the Bolsheviks and their decrees and how the relative freedom that the Lutheran Church had experienced became curtailed by the dictates of the Soviet state.
About the National Lutheran Council (NLC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics coming into existence but having problems with housing and famine
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 […]
Menahem Schmelzer, a Hungarian refugee who for more than two decades was the doting custodian of one of the world’s greatest collections of ancient Hebrew and other Jewish manuscripts and books as the librarian of the Jewish Theological Seminary, died on Dec. 10 at his home in Manhattan. He was 88. During Professor Schmelzer’s tenure […]
Right now, we are in a time of seeking, and there is good reason to yearn for the Qadosh Barukh Hu, El ʿElyon, thirsting for Jehovah the living God, to find our way through the darkness. Those who have tasted the Bore and got that personal relationship with Him, have found that nothing else can satisfy their souls but Him.
In the north of Europe shelling brings a lot of darkness, but these days our brethren and sisters from Ukraine, with us are all united in the commemoration of another war won by the grace of the El’ Elyon.
As we gain new experiences and learn every day so does the confrontation of reading the Torah every year again from beginning to end, which makes us discover each time some new things, making us grow in our Bible knowledge.
Adolfo Kaminsky (or Adolphe; 1 October 1925 – 9 January 2023) was an Argentine-born member of the French Resistance, specializing in the forgery of identity documents, and photographer.
We always should remember that Shabbat is not just about not doing certain things, or the other way round, just doing special things, or having special food or bringing sacrifices.
Before planning to live together in union, one should carefully consider the cultural and religious differences and how one will deal with them after the marriage commitment.
Het hedendaagse idoliseren van Israël Dr. Steven Paas kijkt in C Vandaag naar de smet van antisemitisme die aan de geschiedenis van het (‘christelijke’) Westen kleeft en het hedendaagse idoliseren van Israël. Volgens hem zijn Bittere herinneringen van medeplichtigheid aan misdaden tegen de Joden hebben het bewustzijn van veel christenen in de westerse wereld bezwaard. […]
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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Remember that at each of the above blogs, you can register as a follower.
When you have a Facebook account, you may also connect to following Facebook Pages ("Like" them), to get updates of newly published articles.
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Wanneer u een Facebook Account hebt kan u de volgende Pagina's ook "Leuk" vinden en aangeven dat u berichtgevingen wenst te ontvangen zodat u steeds op de hoogte wordt gehouden van nieuwe publicaties.
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
Those nationalist Christians believe they have a heavenly calling to become immortal, coming to live in heaven. This heavenly goal is for them something which is received by grace and can only be received by the 
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 