Festival of Freedom and persecutions

A group cannot be called am [nation] if there is no solidarity says Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Am is indicative of a readiness to share, a sense of compassion. The Jews were taken out of Egypt and were freed not because of their spiritual grandeur, but simply because they were charitable to one another; there was a feeling of solidarity among them, and they were prepared to follow the instructions of the God of Mozes.

Soon the Jews will be celebrating the Festival of Freedom. For us Christians that is also an important occasion to remember.

We have to remember all the wonders God brought unto the earth to show His Greatness. Though even today the Wonders of God on this earth can be seen every day, not many people do want to see them or do not believe in the Hand who is behind all those blessings.

Today we are confronted with a lot of wars going on all over the world. When we hear and see how many earthquakes and natural disasters are coming over the world where children oppose their parents and religions fight against other religions, than we have the free choice to either see the signs God is giving to the universe or to ignore what is happening as a prophesied element in the history of the creation.

The climax of the Exodus story is the construction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem:
If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and had not built for us the Beit Habechirah (Chosen House; the Beit Hamikdash) Dayenu, it would have sufficed us!

The central importance of Holy Temple in the Passover story and in Judaism must never be forgotten:
Thus did Hillel do at the time of the Beit HaMikdash: He would combine Passover — lamb, Matzah and Maror and eat them together, as it said: “They shall eat it with Matzah and bitter herbs.”

The nexus of the City of Jerusalem, the Holy Temple and the Kingdom of Israel in Judaism must never be forgotten:
Have mercy, L-rd, our G-d, upon Israel Your people, upon Jerusalem Your city, upon Zion the abode of Your glory, upon the kingship of the house of David Your anointed, and upon the great and holy House which is called by Your Name.

Jerusalem will be fully rebuilt:
Rebuild Jerusalem the holy city speedily in our days. Blessed are You, L-rd, who in His mercy rebuilds Jerusalem. Amen.

Lots of Europeans recoil the way “Israel” the country is setting up a wall and is discriminating other people. Often they forget that those secular Jews and the fundamentalist Jews are not presenting a proper picture of the active believing Jewish people, the People of God.

In Belgium we are confronted enough with real religious Jews, who act totally different from those we see battling in Israel. Though some Jews over here also may take on an attitude of considering themselves a more important and 'clean' people than the heathen population.Because many cut themselves off from the civil world they often have like many Muslims a wrong idea about Christians and Christendom. They should not forget how it where many Christian believers in the 1930ies and 1940ies saw what was happening in Europe and tried to save those who also believed in the God of Israel.
At the same time it where their own brethren in the New World who perhaps where not so interested in those Jewish brethren of the Old World. If in the 1940s those American Jews had responded to the call for help that came across the ocean from the ghettos in Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic lands, they might have saved hundreds of thousands of Jews. Rabbi Soloveitchik  also thinks that the Jewish community did not respond to that call. "I thought at the time that the Jewish community was falling apart," he says," that there was no sense of solidarity, of being together, of suffering together." Today he agrees: "It was a terrible crime on our part…and we have not purged ourselves from the great crime we committed, tolerating the destruction of six million Jews."

I bring up this holocaust drama because somehow it was also part of God His Plan and the start of the new Israel. It should also be a lesson for many of us. As Pesach nears, these words should set our consciences aflame. Today, some of the world’s most inspirational Jews suffer continual persecution and brutality. Masked troops destroy their communities under cover of darkness and jail their children without due process, traumatizing families and empowering the enemies of Am Yisrael.

Our world should make a big difference between Zionism and True Israel.

Rabbi Soloveitchik says: "Zionism means defending Jews and building Eretz Yisrael. People who hurt Jews and surrender Israel to Islamist neo-Nazis are not Zionists, no matter how fluent their Hebrew is." But does he not forget that fundamentalist Jews taking over the land of others, though they might think it is given by God, should ask for the land and come to the land to use it as it is instructed by the Most High Elohim Hashem?

All people should be aware that nobody shall be able to hinder God His Plan. Soon we shall be confronted with the reality of the prophesies coming to conclusion.
No matter what happens Israel shall be the Land of the Israelites, Israel God's People.

As on the night the blood of the lambs was brought on the doorposts to give a sign to the messengers of God, we today should give the right sign to God. We should bring the blood of the Lamb on the virtual doorpost of our Faith life. With the Passover the Jews began their unique relationship with God. On Passover God redeemed their but also our ancestors from the slavery of Egypt. And on Passover Jehovah made a commitment to stand by Israel, his chosen people, forever. They should become more aware of that and act to this special position. They should more to seek to fulfil their mission to be “a light unto the nations.”

As God liberated the Judaic slaves from Egypt He will save the slaves of this world, who confine to Him and follow His Instructions. Those that keep to the Law of God shall be saved. They shall be able to look forward to the Greatest Feast of Freedom. The Great Passover.

We should light our candles and be ready to see the light of God and be worthy to welcome the Lamb of God when he, Jeshua (Jesus) returns.

The Seder should be a moment of gathering where all those who know God, love the Most High, are wiling to celebrate the liberation of slavery in Egypt, share the love of God and want to show others that Jehovah is a God of love inviting all to the dish on which Jesus also sat a few hours before his death.

The Seder, like many festive occasions, provides a great opportunity to get others to know the wonders God did, to share family experiences and exchange personal stories of traditions (our own and others) so that it  will help to diminish the fear that comes from difference and misunderstanding which divides this world of people, who are all created in the image of God.

Edgar Bronfman, Sr.  looked at the long book with many different ideas. Jews spend hours discussing its profound teachings. Yet there is one theme that stands out as cardinal concept. 

For not only one has risen up against us, but in every generation they rise up against us to annihilate us, but the Most Holy One, blessed be he, always delivers us out of their hands.

Bronfman  has produced a new Haggadah for himself and other American Jewish critics of how Israel defends itself against it enemies.
Bronfman rewrites the standard, family favorite “Dayenu” song stating

“And if we deliver peace between ourselves, the Palestinians, and our Arab neighbors … that will be enough!”

He concludes with

 “commit ourselves to supporting every idea, every effort, and every carefully crafted plan that seeks to lead Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Arabs—indeed all of the world’s clashing people—out of the dark and narrow straits of fear and violence, out of the strictures of hatred and war, and into the spiritual Jerusalem—the true Promised Land—an open and peaceful place flowing with the milk and honey of justice, compassion, and freedom for all.”

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Please do find to read:

1. A Jewish Theocracy
2. Observance of a day to Remember
3. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
4. Observance of a day to Remember 
5. Day of remembrance coming near 
6. Pesach 
7. Korban Pesach
8. 1 -15 Nisan
9. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
10. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
11. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
12. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
13. Pesach and solidarity 
14. Seven days of Passover

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Those who call the Christadelphians a cult

Glenn Joseph Lea was annoyed at Google for when searching for Christadelphians, the term Christadelphian Cult comes up as one of the search phrases.

He should know that shall happen with other smaller religious groups as well. But he has reasons to complain on what he can find on those websites who tell people that we are a cult. We also found that at those websites telling us that we are a cult, they often present a wrong picture of our denomination. Often they even tell gross lies which can not be rectified because there is no way to reply provided. And when there is a comment section the comments we give and the explanation we provide about what cults really are and what we do believe and do not believe, they mostly let our reply not published or send us different sorts of letters, some hate mail, others with viruses, and others saying that we have to read such and such other postings before they want to place our reply in the open.

Mostly the label “cult” is applied to the Christadelphians because they do find that because we do not accept the Trinity, we can not belong to Christianity, like Jehovah Witnesses,  Abrahamic Faith Churches can not considered Christian according to them.

Jesus cult logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“All about Cults“  uses the term “cult” because we are a group of believers which "claims to follow Christian doctrines. Though they have a belief that there is only one God, Christadelphians’ doctrine is clearly non-Christian (James 2:19)." Strange that we, who do believe that there is only One God, which is the same God Abraham believed in and the God of Judaism, are considered to be a cult, but the Jews and Muslims not. So, why does this website not include Judaism, Islam, and a mulitude of other world religions?

Christadelphian Hall, Skircoat, Halifax This building looks to have been a Methodist (?) chapel.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those discussing the Christadelphians do seem either not to know so much about them or their gospelfaith and could better do some more and thorough research. Other websites with a more hating tone are written by ex-Christadelphians, who should know better. The majority of those ex-christadelphians have left faith in God totally. By ex-Jehovah Witnesses we often see the same thing happening, that they offer a lot of stories about their faith group where you can have doubts if they are really true. By them lots also become strong adherents of the Holy-Trinity or find the singing and speaking in tongues by the Pentecostals more attracting  and good fun .
But those who leave the more serious Biblestudent mouvements, their hate and distorted view from what they underwent in their community does not create a good sound review. Strangely enough very small groups are often protected as main streams. As such we can find a recurring error that the “Bereans are the most popular” (popular to whom, in what context, where?) when you look to the worldwide community of Christadelphians you would notice that they only form a small part. some would even say: "they barely exist today".

The peaceful, pacifist Christadelphians are perhaps not so quickly noticed by people, first of all because we are not with so many and secondly we never force our ideas to others. We do preach, but not often going to ring the bell from door to door like Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons. We prefer the softer way of putting leaflets in the mailboxes, where we are authorised to do so. (We always keep to the red, blue and green stickers if they are on the mailbox and never would put a leaflet in a box where is a notice on it not to put unrequested advertisements or unsolicited or non personal mail in it) We like to tell others what we believe, but always keep respecting their beliefs, and do not force to accept our beliefs or our faith.

ChristadelphiansChurchBrisbane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Christadelphians do not have an overall structure with one basic leader, like the Roman Catholics have their Pope. We only follow Jesus Christ, whose teachings can be found in the New Testament. All the different Christadelphian ecclesiae are independent in essence, though they may have international connections with each other and adhere certain main groups. but every Christadelphian is personally responsible for his or her actions. Nobody is tied to one or another group or institution. everybody is free to come and free to go.Not exactly the idea of a cult, where it is mostly very easy to come into but very difficult to get out.

Googling The Christadelphians leads to plenty of websites denouncing this community, but also an awareness of the reaasoning for the denouncement – soley based on a rejection of orthodox Christianity. That is very sloppy reasoning and only serves to show how little basis they have for such a derogatory term.

Please do read the article by Glenn Joseph Lea: Googling “Christadelphian”

find also:

What Christadelphians teach
Who, what are Christadlephian people
Christadelphian beliefs

Association of Christadelphians: Christadelphia

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Wordlist & Chronology Judaïsm

For our Dutch readers and those interested in words and their meaning, you can find a webpage with the meaning of Jewish words, translated to Dutch on:

http://www.katinkahesselink.net/faq/w_joods.html

And of the Chronology of Judaïsm, Christianity and philosophy:

http://www.katinkahesselink.net/faq/chron_west.html

Seeing the world through the lens of his own experience

"Everyone sees the world through the lens of his own experience. We perceive our world from a particular time and cultural background. It is easy to assume that Jesus and his disciples were much like ourselves. In our movies about Jesus he is often portrayed as a "hippie" with blond hair and blue eyes. It is not as easy to see Jesus as a homely, middle eastern Jewish rabbi who spoke Hebrew and went by the name "Yashua Ben Yoseph".

If we want to understand Jesus and his message in its original context we have to try to understand the world from his point of view. The most natural assumption in the world is that we put ourselves in the mindset of a first century Jew. If we read the Gospel from this perspective, does the message change? An intellectualized Gospel of the 20th century North American or a Social Justice Gospel which resonates so well in Third World today may miss the message found in a 1st century story of a Jewish Messiah.

Long ago, God chose a special people for himself. He promised Abraham and his descendants that through them would come a redeemer who would bless all nations. So it was that Israel looked forward to the coming Messiah (anointed one). Jesus was very clear in regard to the spiritual authority God had bestowed upon the Jews. We see this in his remark to the Samaritan woman in John 3:22. The Samaritans worshipped the God of Abraham too, but they worshipped him according to their own standards.

Jesus said:

"You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." John 3:22

The Gospel has become many things in the name of "spirit and truth" (John 3:23) yet God chose to bring forth salvation from within a Jewish context. Jesus cannot be properly understood apart from Old Testament Judaism.

Despite this reality, the Christian world has generally abandoned the Jewish context in which the Gospel was born. Gentile believers, in a reaction against Jewish "traditionalism", commonly discard all things Jewish as obsolete. As a result, Christian traditions have replaced the old Jewish ones.

Over the centuries, the Church developed a version of faith which accommodated its own cultural expressions. This is most readily illustrated by noting the many pagan practices that have been "christianized" and assimilated into our faith experience. It is just as revealing to note how little Jewish tradition was adopted. These "new" traditions are now so embedded we can hardly imagine Christianity without them. Imagine trying to live without Christmas or Easter, both pagan in origin, now fundamental centerpieces of the Christian experience.

There has been a paradigm shift from a Middle Eastern Jewish Messiah to a Western Greco-Roman Christ. So much so, in fact, that Christianity today bears little resemblance to the religion Jesus participated in on the earth. In the minds of most Christians, Judaism may as well be a different religion altogether.

I will suggest that Judaism is not a "different" religion. Rather, Christianity and Judaism are two perspectives of One God. Christianity is no more complete without its Jewish heritage than Judaism is without the Messiah. We may not be comfortable with accepting that Jesus and his disciples were all proud Jews, but I firmly believe it is in our interest to do so.

It is good to remember that the foundation for "Jewish" culture was established directly by God himself. Judaism is the original backdrop of the Gospel story. The Jewish Torah is our own beloved Christian Old Testament. Our God is One, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Christians should take pride in the fact that this Jewish heritage as it is ours as well. Even we Gentiles have a just spiritual claim to all things promised to the Jew through Jesus our Messiah (Christ)."
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GB - The Agora

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem (tzit zit) of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'"
Zechariah 8:23

+ About looking throught the lens > If we view the whole world through a lens that is bright