Our World: Belgium

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Thursday 8 October 2015

A Synod to speak freely and to listen without reservations

English: A Roman Catholic priest baptizes an i...

A Roman Catholic priest baptizes an infant as his parents look on. what about baptisism of children of gay people or same sex marriages? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Often referred as the "Pope John Paul II generation," or now the "Benedict XVI generation," the younger leaders today are often far more receptive to the principles articulated in twenty years old Apostolic Constitution that defined Roman Catholic colleges and created guidelines to assist them in fulfilling their missions, Ex corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church) issued by Pope John Paul II.

Coming together in Rome conservatives and more progressive cardinals do have to find a solution for the changes in our society and how the world today looks at marriage and gender relations. They can not ignore the changes that took place in civil society the last three decades. Several gender-problems did find the light but haven't yet find solutions.

We can see that the Roman Catholic church like always has found 'temporarily' local solutions. Yesterday in 'Koppen' on Canvas we could see how homosexual men are working as pastoral-workers in Belgium. Belgium has the problem that there are not only many homosexual priests, there are not enough priests in the diminishing parishes. For that reason the Catholic Church accepted the transfer from other denominational clergy into their community and when those pastors were married they could keep their wife and family as a Catholic priest. Male who did not want to take on the priesthood no matter their gender feelings could become a pastoral co-worker and take office in parishes.

In the Ex corde were laid out rules for academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission but also the parish its intentions. Several Catholics in Belgium do find Pope Francis I his main interest in preaching the Gospel. Though many also urge Roman Catholic institutions to abide by traditional church teachings.

The Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family taking place on the theme "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World" as the continuation of last year special synod on the family, may wind up in a situation similar to that one.

Many Cardinals made it already clear that no one should have to expect new church teachings or some changes in church doctrine. Though others expect that this time key leaders can not go around the agenda to emphasize "innovative" pastoral practice..

Pope Francis I wishes for an open discussion yielding a well-grounded unity, but it could well be that this synod may result in even more confusion and dissension.
To prevent this, some are looking upon the synod as a summons to return to the established teachings of the Church, to revert to Scripture and tradition, which were largely sidelined at the last synod. Critics of last year's meeting believe that, after years of poor catechises, doctrine must be reasserted and proclaimed, ending the false dichotomy underlying the notion that upholding the Church's teaching and practice somehow means being unpastoral. Jesus, they point out, took pity on the crowd, who were "like sheep without a shepherd," not by affirming them in their worldly thinking and values, but by first "teaching them many things."

There are several clergy who warn about false doctrine cloaked under the seductive guise of "innovative" pastoral practice. This is not new, of course, and no shortage of scriptural passages warn against it. Also not new is the passion shown during a synod, which can, at times, be wearying....

In the Catholic church today doctrine and pastoral theology seem to stand irreconcilably against each other never being able of reconciliation. One reads about “The Rigging of a Vatican Synod?” and alleged manipulations and the now famous Cardinal Burke stated that the final report of the extraordinary Synod produced a

“gravely flawed document that does not express adequately the teaching and discipline of the Church and, in some aspects, propagates doctrinal error and a false pastoral approach” {Ideology or Faith?}

Being a Roman - Catholic priest and working in the fields of HIV and AIDS in Africa, the blogger of

God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE writes:

Pope Francis encouraged the participants of the Synod to speak freely and to listen without reservations. These are the basis of deliberation and discernment to find consent, to build bridges, to see realities, to encourage dialogue and to give Pope Francis the tools to extract what is needed for the development of the church. Synods are advisory boards – they are not a parliament and they should have the openness to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who – in my humble opinion – can’t work freely if there is nothing to reflect or to develop as everything must remain as it is. {Ideology or Faith?}

Lots of discussions have gone on the last few months about laity in church and gender issues. since the clergy sex-scandals in Belgium "Mercy" has been a much uttered word, though for many civilians this seems to work only from one site for the Catholic church. Many divorced people who wanted to stay in the Catholic Church and wanted still to be partakers of the sacraments, are often refused to take them.

Concerning the theology of marriage a lot of discussions found their way into the community. The government accepting gay marriage brought also forth that from those wanting to seal their bond of marriage, they asked for a marriage ceremony in church. Most churches refuses such actions but gay people still could find their way out by renting a priest and having a sacramental services in their own environment, which made it even cosier.

The above mentioned priest warns:

There is no need to build up theological barricades or fortresses to defend yesterday – look at Abraham and Moses and be aware that faith always means to set out trusting that God is in the lead. If one only holds firm what one knows already there is the danger that faith turns into ideology and that would be the worst outcome of any such church assembly.

Additional reading:

Monday 13 April 2015

Wrong ideas about religious terrorism

Al-Fatiha Muslim Gays - Gay Parade 2008 in San Francisco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lots of people do have a wrong idea about the amount of religious terrorism. Most badly affected is the Muslim community which has to cope with the bad name those fools of ISIS do give them.

Belgium and the United Kingdom have seen many people recruited, surprisingly also several women to come to Syria and help the jihad. The present going on series about those recruitments on BBC is a must see.

We can not ignore those militant groups in Muslim countries who make a big effort to radicalise and recruit Muslims living in the West. They even use for it a British girl from Birmingham to do that. West Europe has seen many leaving their capitalist soil for what they call the good cause. The United States of America looked at those happenings with a magnifying glass and got a terrible fear that large-scale terrorist would strike on their home soil.

Such fears, however, have been largely unfounded, because Muslims in the United States have overwhelmingly ignored the calls to militancy, said Charles Kurzman, a researcher with the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security in North Carolina.

“We have not seen mass radicalization of Muslims in the United States,”

he said.
As part of a Triangle Center study, Kurzman, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who researches Islamic movements, tallied a total of 250 American Muslims who have been arrested for — or who have engaged in — acts that might be called terrorism since 2001. That’s out of an estimated population of 3 million Muslims in the U.S.

Kurzman’s study found that the death toll as a result of all their plots was 50 — over a period of time in which 200,000 people were murdered in the United States.
Although comparisons are tricky, other studies suggest that right-wing violence claimed more lives in the U.S. than terrorism committed in the name of Islam.

There have been serious attacks, of course. The 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas and the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon were carried out by Muslim U.S. citizens who claimed to be avenging American military actions overseas.

Though we must not exaggerate such a Muslim violence and should be well aware there is much more intern violence by non-believing people going on. When we look at the figures for Belgium religious violence is negligible with less than 0.14% of more than 700 terrorist attack in one year. The only thing is that often such Muslim fed terrorism gets more attention in the media. Cases as the attack around the Charlie Hebdo got the fantasy of many heads turning wild.

Also in the United States there are less Muslim American terrorism suspects the last few years than two decades ago. Kurzman said the numbers have actually been declining, and over the last couple of years there have been almost no plots aimed at the United States. Most of those arrested recently on suspicion of terrorism were attempting to travel to Syria or Yemen to join groups that the U.S. government considers terrorist organizations.

David Schanzer, a Duke University expert on homegrown terrorism who directs the Triangle center, said that while federal authorities spend “a disproportionate amount of energy” thinking about domestic terrorism, local police departments across the country have other things on their minds.

“They very much realize that the things that are threats to public safety in their communities are much more things like drugs, gangs, domestic violence,” he said.

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Please find to read:
Acts of Terrorism Very Rare Among US Muslims, Study Finds

Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something

Please do find additional reading:

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Tuesday 24 March 2015

Hiding or opening attitude for same sex relationships

In this world lots of people seem to question their own personality. From the babyboom generation there are a lot who have problems with their outer-side or do not feel happy with what they get inside and outside not colliding.

We perhaps may say that there has been an "ethical earthquake" in the past decade in several countries. In Belgium people do not look strange any more when they hear the people opposite them are a married gay couple. for women going with women that was already long ago accepted, but for men it was much longer more difficult to walk hand in hand or to show their same sex love to others.

The gay parades and open same sex parties did not help but the opposite confirmed such negative ideas certain people had about gay people. Those events mostly accentuated perverse actions, though lots of gay people have a personal private relationship with one partner of the same sex, and are not interested in having partnerships with many.

Change in the feeling of the English people is notated by the results of the research by the Oasis Trust. According to the review almost half (49.6 per cent) of Christians across the main 11 denominations believe that monogamous same-sex relationships should be fully embraced and encouraged. More than two-thirds of respondents (68 per cent) said that their views have become more inclusive over the past decade, with 61 per cent noting that the shift had come as a result of "understanding or interpreting the Bible differently".

This is the most difficult issue, how to interpret the Bible and how to look at people with other feelings than your own. I would say people should look more at Jesus and see how he went about people who were different than others, or who had an other ethic or other religious point of view. Can we see the churches of today take on such a gracious patient attitude as Christ did?

In many countries we also can see that the churchgoers have less problems about the gender issues than the church-leaders. Ten per cent are more likely to support gay marriage than their leaders, but Oasis found that those clergy who supported same-sex relationships were also reluctant to share their views. Some respondents said that admitting to it could put funding at risk, or even cost them their job.

"Whatever the stereotype, it's clear that attitudes in the church toward loving, committed and faithful same-sex relationships are changing,"

director of Oasis, Steve Chalke said, adding

Many of the most senior church leaders in the country have said they support same-sex relationships, but feel they cannot state it publicly

"It's crucial that we keep talking about it."

According to the survey, the most accepting denomination of same-sex relationships is the Quakers – with 100 per cent of those asked saying that they had no problem with those in faithful same-sex relationships fulfilling a leadership role in the church.
Almost 9 in 10 (88 per cent) of Methodists agreed, along with 79 per cent of those who belong to the United Reformed Churches. Just over half of Anglicans (57 per cent) also affirmed their support of gay people participating in all areas and levels of the church.

The majority of respondents said they would be comfortable with their church leader conducting a blessing or marriage ceremony for a gay couple, but some people who said they had no issue with same-sex relationships didn't think churches should hold gay weddings. Five per cent said they were definitely against it, while eight per cent favoured a blessing.

Please read:

More than a third of UK churchgoers hide their support for same-sex relationships

Monday 3 November 2014

Amount of Muslims living in your country

English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in ...

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)

Americans have a tendency to overstate the number of Muslims living in the United States -- and at least 13 other countries are dealing with the same misconception.

Only 1% of America’s more than 319 million residents are Muslim, according to the research group Ipsos MORI. But during a recent global survey, Americans told researchers that the Muslim population is 15 times greater than it really is.

On the other hand, Americans grossly underestimated the number of Christians living in the country -- with an average guessing around 56% when the true figure is closer to 78%.
The countries that fared the worse at accurately guessing the number of Muslims within their borders were France and Belgium, both of which guessed 23 percentage points too high. Belgium is standing equal 2° with France with an overrating of 23% according the researchers who use the official numbers. But for the real ciphers the governments only count the registered Muslims by the officially recognised Muslim federations, thought there are many more Muslim groups like there are other groups of Christian which are not recognised by the state and do not receive funding from the state. Only the official religions have their pastor and imam paid by the government, others like the ones in charge for the Christadelphians, Jehovah Witnesses, Church of God, a.o. have to take care of their own income

Wednesday 8 October 2014

More Muslim children than Christian children growing up in our cities

England has to come to face what can be seen already in many cities at the continent.

Statistics from 2011 Census show more Muslim children than Christian growing up in Birmingham
Of 278,623 youngsters, 97,099 were registered as Muslim compared with 93,828 as Christian
A similar trend has emerged in the cities of Bradford and Leicester
Experts said more must be done to ensure that society does not become polarised along religious lines

English: More crowds on Brick Lane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This frightens many Christians. What I do find strange is that of those scared Christians nobody wonders why so many Caucasians coming form a Catholic or protestant family (Anglican, Church of England) wanted to convert to a religion which was not for a long time originally present in their surroundings.

In England’s second* city of Birmingham, of 278,623 youngsters, 97,099 were registered as Muslim compared with 93,828 as Christian. The rest were of other faiths such as Hindu or Jewish, or none.

A similar trend has emerged in the cities of Bradford and Leicester, the towns of Luton, in Bedfordshire, and Slough in Berkshire, as well as the London boroughs Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets, where nearly two-thirds of children are Islamic.

writes Paul Alexander in his article Children in many UK Towns and Cities now more likely to be Muslim rather than Christian.

I do agree with Professor Ted Cantle, of the ICoCo Foundation who said:

‘What we are seeing are several trends running together. There is a long-term decline in support for the established religions, notably Christianity; continuing immigration from the Asian sub-continent; and higher fertility among the Muslim population, which has a considerably lower age profile.

But to me it is not only by deepening segregation exacerbated by the loss of white population from cities, which the professor and many white people say. It is not only in the cities where we can find more intensive concentration of black and minority ethnic groups as a result of replacement, that we do find Muslims. In Belgium for example there are a lot of Belgians, with Belgian Caucasian ancestors, who converted to the Islam.

It is far too easy to point the finger to a so called "pace of demographic change" and saying that the Government has no policy to combat segregation

"because it inevitably reduces understanding and tolerance on both sides of the divide."

We should more come to see that we are going to a secularization because lots of people are not anymore interested in relgion and have no message in the god of others.

Why do not more people come to see that the churches in the West lost their flock? Churches are running, even so much that many churches already became closed and that in many villages there are not any more weekly services. For Sunday Mass people now have to go a few kilometres out of their doorstep, but this is perhaps demanded too much for them. So where is their connection with their faith and what do they want to do for their faith. The same can be said for their clergymen, are they really going out preaching, proclaiming the Word of God? How many Christians are willing to testify for their faith and do go out preaching the Gospel of the Good News?

Do Christians not have to see in their own bosom, to find that not many Christians really have a true faith?

There is still hope for the Christian community to have it back growing or not diminishing any more.

The figures show that Christianity is still the dominant religion in every local authority area in England and Wales, even in the most culturally diverse towns and cities.

Of the 45.5million participants, 27.9million subscribed to Christianity, compared with 1.8million Muslims, the second largest grouping.

However, among dependent children – defined as those aged up to 15, or between 16 and 18 and in education and still living at home – the gap is narrower.

Of 12.1million youngsters, 6.1million were Christian and 1million were Muslim. And in some places, the balance has now tipped towards Islam.

In Bradford, 52,135 children are Muslims (45 per cent) next to 47,144 Christians; in Leicester the figures are 22,693 and 18,190 respectively.

The widest gap is in Tower Hamlets where 62 per cent of children are Islamic, outnumbering Christians by 34,597 to 8,995.

writes Paul Alexander.

Sughra Ahmed, president of the Islamic Society of Britain, said:

‘Britain’s Muslims make up just 5 per cent of the population but have a younger demographic profile than other faiths, as these figures show. It matters to us all that this next generation of young British Muslims develops a clear and confident sense of their British identity alongside their Muslim faith. It’s important that schools teach all of our children the values of respect and tolerance.

For every Western country it is important that all children learn to respect all other cultures and religions.

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Note: *The Daily Mail, Sept. 15, 2014, denotes Birmingham as England’s “second city” but some estimates rank Birmingham as the third largest city by population, below Manchester and London.

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Friday 19 September 2014

Brussels’ Jewish Museum re-opened on Sunday

English: Jewish Museum building line drawing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Around 300 people came to attended the emotional reopening of the Brussels The Jewish Museum on Sunday, four months after a gunman shot dead two Israeli tourists and two members of staff inside the building.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo told those present that Belgium had redoubled its fight against terrorism since the attack.
Mehdi Nemmouche, a French-Algerian who allegedly spent time fighting in Syria, is accused of the killing.
"Those who commit antisemitic attacks shouldn't be able to hurt again. They should be prosecuted and sanctioned," said Mr Di Rupo.

The re-opening of the museum in downtown Brussels (pictured) followed the introduction of a number of security measures. Police will now be posted at the entrance, and visitors will have to pass through a metal detector.

“We don’t want to serve the interests of extremists who want to muffle our culture,” said museum director Philip Blondin. “We wanted to reopen our doors as soon as possible, but it wasn’t [immediately] possible because the Belgian authorities had to do their work,” he said.

A memorial plaque bearing the names of the victims of the attack — the Rivas, a museum employee, and a volunteer — has been affixed to the entrance of the museum. As part of the increased security measures, two armed police officers will be stationed at the site, and security checks at the entrance will be more stringent.

> http://www.flanderstoday.eu/current-affairs/brussels-jewish-museum-re-open-sunday

Welcome

Welcome at this zone created by Marcus Ampe for the Belgian Free Christadelphians, where previous articles from the MSN Groups and Multiply are brought together and made available again to the general public. On 2012 October 26 this site came into development and new articles shall be added next to our main site and to the Christadelphian Ecclesia site: Christadelphian Ecclesia.
You are welcome at that site to find more articles.

All who want to follow Jesus/Jeshua (Yeshua/Yahsua) from Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah and wants to be united with people who sincerely want to keep to those teachings of this masterteacher are welcome to share their love for Christ and their hope for the coming Kingdom.

The names "Christadelphia" and 'Christadelphian' is compounded of two Greek words: 'christos' and 'adelphoi' and means 'brethren in Christ'.

This site is created by a Free Christadelphian only bounded to Jesus Christ. We are open to anybody who wants to share the brotherly love of Christ. Coming together by a common belief in 'the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ' (Acts 8:12).

In the older Multiply messages links to Multiply shall not always work from 2012 December 1, but you shall be able to find them by copying and pasting the title in the search machine. I have worked on re-editing those links from 2005 onwards, so that they could work in the future, but it became a to much time consuming job, so I stopped doing it after a while. (My apologies for certain links not working any more.)

Thanks for visiting us and hope to see you again.

Welkom

Wij wensen allen welkom die hier op deze pagina's terecht komen en hopen dat zij geïnspireerd mogen geraken om verder de Bijbel ter hand te nemen en zelf op onderzoek te gaan wat er in de Heilige Schrift werkelijk staat.

De namen "Christadelphia" en "Christadelphian" is een samentelling van twee Griekse woorden : "Christos" en "adelphoi" en betekent 'broer in Christus'. De Christadelphians zijn een groep van mensen die samen verbonden zijn door hun gemeenschappelijk geloof betreffende de dingen aangaande het Koninkrijk van God en de naam van Jezus Christus (Jeshua, de Messias) (Handelingen van de Apostelen 8v12).
Christadelphian mensen zouden tot een wereldwijde gemeenschap moeten behoren, wiens doel is zo trouw als mogelijke de leerstelling en voorbeeld van Jezus/Jehsua Christus te volgen, zoals het geregistreerd staat in de Bijbel.
In een wereld die vol is van onzekerheden genieten wij van een eenvoudig, rechtstreeks en logisch geloof, dat nu al vrede en voldoening aanbiedt en de belofte van het nog te komen eeuwigdurende vreugderijk: het Koninkijk van God.

Op deze site, gecreëerd door Marcus Ampe voor de Vrije Belgische Christadelphians, of Broeders in Christus, zijn in oktober 2012 de vroegere berichten uit de MSN Groepen en Multiply samen gebracht en terug zichtbaar gemaakt voor het algemeen publiek.

Meerdere linken in de vroegere artikelen zullen vermoedelijk niet werken, maar u kan de titel dan kopiëren en plakken in het "Zoek" venster om zo bij het juiste artikel te komen. Ik maakte er werk van om de artikelen vanaf 2005 terug te editen en daarin de linken te vernieuwen, zodat zij terug zouden werken. Maar dit vroeg zo veel tijd dat ik het heb opgegeven. Daarom verzoek ik mij te verontschuldigen indien u een link tegen komt die niet meer werkt.

Vanaf 26 oktober 2012 is deze website opengesteld naar het publiek en zullen er in de toekomst nog enkele artikelen bij komen. Maar de meerderheid van de teksten zullen nu geplaatst worden op de site van de Vlaamse Broeders in Christus of Christadelphians en op de kerkgemeenschapssite
Christadelphian Ecclesia.

Graag ontmoeten wij u daar voor meerdere artikelen.

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Thursday 8 October 2015

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Monday 13 April 2015

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Tuesday 24 March 2015

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Monday 3 November 2014

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Wednesday 8 October 2014

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Friday 19 September 2014

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