Monday 20 March 2017

Fight against nationalism main struggle for feminists today

For Feminist activist Sasha Shevchenko, "the main struggle for feminists today", apart of "the fight against patriarchy, the Church, the sex industry and any kind of totalitarianism", is "the fight against nationalism" and "Nazi ideas" that are "growing like mushrooms after the rain". 
During a debate at the European parliament in Brussels, Shevchenko and fellow Femen activists Oxana Shachko and Yana Zhdanova, said that
"the situation in Ukraine is much worse today than it was under former president Viktor Yanukovich", but their main concern today is "the situation of refugees in Europe."
"As we are refugees ourselves" – the three women fled Ukraine and have applied for asylum in France – "we see that society does not accept easily refugees. Although we are white women, we face many obstacles in getting asylum. Bureaucratic obstacles and also politicians using the refugee crisis for their own purposes. We don't want to be manipulated by Marine Le Pen and other populist politicians. The European Union should stay united and spread the idea of a place that accepts everyone. Nazi – meaning far-right – ideas spread across Europe and are the major threat to it. People should fight Marine Le Pen and the likes the same way they fought Hitler."





Sunday 19 March 2017

March 19, 1263 First significant concordane of the Bible

English: Page from the Dutsch Professorenbijbe...
English: Page from the Dutsch Professorenbijbel ("Professors Bible"), a translation of the Latin Vulgate of the Books of the New Testament. This part, covering the Pentateuch, was published in 1904. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
March 19, 1263
Hugh of St. Cher, a Dominican, made the first significant concordance of the Bible. This was for the Latin Bible, the Vulgate. He is said to have had the help of 500 Dominican friars. The only other person known to have attempted to compile a Bible concordance before him was St. Anthony of Padua. Hugh's concordance only gave the Latin word but did not give any of the text around it. This made it crude by modern standards. All the same, it served as a basis for the work of men who soon came after him.
Bible chapters had not yet been broken into verses. In order to help scholars find words, Hugh broke each chapter into seven parts to which he gave letters of the alphabet.
The concordance was only one of three tools that Hugh gave the Dominicans. Each of them was needed to assist the order to meet their goal of preaching the Gospel. One of his other efforts was an attempt to correct the errors of the Vulgate. However, he did not know that Jerome had made the original translation and often turned down Jerome's comments in favor of the ideas of other writers. When the church learned that Jerome had actually made the Vulgate translation, Hugh's work lost all credibility.

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Friday 17 March 2017

Donald Trump after declining numbers of people victimised for their religion managed to increase the numbers again

Emblem of the Ku Klux Klan
Emblem of the Ku Klux Klan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to an article from the National Review, the most reliable data on hate crimes comes from the FBI, which shows that the number of people victimized for their religion declined dramatically from 2010 to 2014: from 1,552 victims to 1,140 victims, or by 36 percent.

The number of victims of anti-Jewish bias declined similarly: from 1,039 to 648 victims, or by 38 percent. The FBI then records an uptick in 2015, to 1,402 total victims and 730 victims of anti-Jewish bias.

Since Donald Trump  heated up the crowd in 2016 many North Americans came to see a threat in other religious groups than their christians denominations. Not only immigrants and refugees became the bad guys. The hate speeches of Donald Trump took care that the KKK and far right fundamentalist evangelicals could find enough reasons to go against Jews.

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Thursday 9 March 2017

Discussie over zendingsbevel in Lutherbijbel

De voormalige Thüringse landsbisschop Christoph Kähler (Leipzig), die de revisie van Lutherbijbel leidde, stelt dat Luther bewust zo vertaald heeft zoals nu in de nieuwe Lutherbijbel is opgenomen, omdat mensen andere volken niet tot christenen kunnen maken.
In De Lutherse gemeenschap is er discussie ontstaan over de zendingsopdracht die Jezus heeft gegeven aan zijn volgers.

Het zendingsbevel in Mattheüs 28:19 in de vorig jaar opnieuw uitgegeven Lutherbijbel is niet goed weergegeven, zo vinden critici.
 
In de vertaling staat niet: 
„Gaat heen en maak alle volkeren tot discipelen”
, maar:
 „Gaat heen en leert alle volken.”
 Ds. Jochen Teuffel (Vöhringen/Iller) noemt het een vervalsing. Luther volgde hier niet de Griekse grondtekst maar de Latijnse Vulgaat. Het woord ”mateteuo” betekent meer dan leren en heeft betrekking op een betrokken levenshouding. 

Praying to see troubles in the proper perspective


I pray to see my troubles in the proper perspective.
I know that, as I have suffered, others have suffered and still suffer more.
I pray that I may help to relieve their pain. Amen


Real love releases hidden possibilities


Real love releases hidden possibilities.

...God is love.
He reveals deep and secret things, He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.'
1 John 4:8 - Daniel 2:22t



Dear God give me the opportunity to share the agapè love with others around me and let me show them the Way to You


Wednesday 8 March 2017

Even the Bible needed updating and upgrading

Throughout the centuries people their language changed and their use of names changed.

Dr. Michael S. Heiser is a scholar-in-residence for Faithlife, writes

Believe it or not, there is evidence that the Bible was updated. That may sound strange, but if you read closely, it’s undeniable. Take Genesis 14:14 as an illustration:
When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men . . . and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Did you notice the problem? This is the time of Abram, a time before Moses and Joshua — before there was a promised land divided among the tribes of Israel. There wasn’t even an Israel yet. So what’s up with the reference to the land that belonged to the tribe of Dan?

If we plotted out the battle between Abram described in this verse on a map, with place names appropriate for Abram’s day, we’d see that the writer really meant that the enemy was pursued all the way to a place called Laish, not Dan.

Many Bible critics would call this an error, but it isn’t. 

Much later, in the days of Israel’s judges, Laish was renamed as Dan:
 “And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first” (Judg 18:29). 
Evidently, an unnamed editor updated the text of Genesis 14:14 after the name change took place. The editor likely did this to make sure readers of his own day would understand the geography.

In other instances, an editor repurposed something already written in the Bible to make it preach to their community.

Psalm 51 is well known as a record of David’s repentance after his sin with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. The psalm, though, ends by asking God to “do good to Zion” and with the command, “build up the walls of Jerusalem” (Psa 51:18–19). The walls of Jerusalem were not in need of repair until after God’s people were exiled, centuries after David lived. The editorial addition is a masterful literary stroke. Just as King David repented centuries before, an editor sought to move the exiles to national repentance. It was just the kind of example they needed.

Though it seems strange, the updating of Psalm 51:18–19 and Genesis 14:14 gives us an insight into the process of inspiration — a process that included providential editorial work.

Vrouwendag 8 maart 2017

Ook al mag er een tendens zijn dat veel West-Europese mannen vervrouwelijken, mag de vrouw zich nog steeds in het hoekje gedrongen voelen. Op veel plaatsen wordt de vrouw nog steeds als de mindere of minder bekwame aanschouwd. Toch zouden heel wat mannen moeten weten dat ze helemaal niet zonder die vrouw kunnen.
Is het omdat de man diep in zich nog steeds het gevoel heeft dat de mannin of 1ste vrouw hem een loer gebakken heeft dat bepaalde mannen nog steeds op wraak belust zijn en de vrouwen bekijken als een gevaarlijke verleider. 

De wereld acht het nodig om toch die vrouwen, al was het één maal per jaar, in de bloemen te zetten. Vandaag ziet men dan ook graag over heel de wereld een "vrouwendag".
Moet de vrouw zich daar mee tevreden stellen met hoogstens één keer per  jaar een schouderklopje te krijgen?

Vrouwen moesten in in onze patriarchale maatschappij de voorbije eeuwen sterk opkomen voor hun rechten op het gebied van arbeid en kiesrecht. Uiteindelijk hebben ze na een lange en harde strijd wel stemrecht gekregen en de twee wereldoorlogen hebben het er toe gebracht dat vrouwen opgeroepen werden om hun "manskracht" boven te halen. Alhoewel na de eerste wereldoorlog men graag de vrouw terug aan de hard wenste, lieten de vrouwen zich nu niet meer doen en boden weerwerk. Het zou echter nog vele jaren duren eer de vrouw echt meerdere kansen zou krijgen om voor een job te gaan studeren.

Heden kunnen wij op meerdere plaatsen een vijfvoud van vrouwen vinden in bepaalde jobs, maar opvallend is daarbij dat het meestal de minder betaalde plaatsen zijn die vrouwen toegereikt krijgen. Aan de verloning van de vrouw moet nog heel wat gedaan worden. Gelijkheid van kansen moet er zijn en gelijkheid van verloning voor het zelfde werk.

Vandaag is het weer zo ver dat men daar even extra aandacht voor vraagt. Om de mannen eens te laten voelen waar de vrouw staat werd er zelfs opgeroepen tot een vrouwenstaking. Moesten de vrouwen eens allemaal solidair zijn en op 8 maart 2017 eens helemaal niets doen, waar zouden de mannen dan staan? Economisch zal het misschien niet veel uitmaken. De industrie zal er ook niet veel van merken. De zorgsector zou vast en zeker in de zware problemen geraken, maar dat is juist de tak van onze gemeenschap waar de meeste mensen niet voor geïnteresseerd zijn, enkel die wel moet klaar staan voor hen als zij er beroep op willen doen.

Nog steeds kunnen wij veel grootspraak van mannen horen hoe zij de vrouw als seksobject hebben kunnen gebruiken. In plaats die mannen eens goed op hun plaats te zetten worden zij in vele kringen nog als 'ware mannen' of 'helden' bekeken.

Er is nog steeds een lange weg af te leggen .....

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Lees ook
  1. Nederlandse man vervrouwelijkt volgens Jaap Marinus
  2. Toffe persoon van het jaar 2011
  3. Conservatieve rolpatronen en huishoudtaken
  4. Een keten van vrouwen tegen het besparingsbeleid van de regering!
  5. Vrouwenbewegingen uit 46 landen roepen op tot Women's Strike

Monday 6 March 2017

Lenten Season and our minds and hearts the spiritual temple in which God seeks to live

English: Meditation
Meditation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For many the Lenten Season has come for them to bring them thinking about life but also about death and about God. Let us hope there are enough people who want those 40 days serious to think about the essence of their being and about the essence of God. God wants to be found and people should look after him.

People should come to fully grasp the reality that our minds and hearts are the spiritual temple in which God seeks to live.
We must ask ourselves, what are the things we meditate upon?
Do we make ample time each day for this meditation?
It is vital that we are positive in reacting to this challenge – how utterly wonderful to have God in our very being, watching over us!

We therefore should see how important it is that we read God’s word every day.

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Preceding:
Lent, 40 days, meditation and repentance

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Find to read:

  1. Adar 6, Matan Torah remembering the giving of Torah
  2. Adar 7 Moshe’s review of the Torah contained in the Book of Deuteronomy
  3. Statutes given unto us 
  4. God-breathed prophetic words written torah and the mitzvot to teach us
  5. Mishmash of a legal code but importance of mitzvah or commandments
  6. Written by inspiration of God for our admonition, to whom it shall be imputed if they believe
  7. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
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Lent, 40 days, meditation and repentance

English: Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Ch...
Ashes imposed on the forehead of a Christian on Ash Wednesday. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For several Christians Lent, East and West, begins with a supposition. They may feel they are broken beings in need of forgiveness. Whether it’s the eponymous ashes of ash Wednesday or the forsaking of meat, dairy, and everything else worth eating practised by others, the Lenten Season for them is intended to enjoin repentance among them. But repentance is something which has to come from deep in the heart. And repentance presupposes a need for forgiveness, for healing; in a word, it presupposes brokenness.

People want to go inward, to the very core of the cells of their body, where the complexity is so great, so unequalled, that their human brains are incapable of understanding that, either. For 40 days some people try to find time to think about life. They also want to go for transcendence. It starts with a recognition that we are whatever else we are – eternal beings. There is something that is about us that goes beyond the material world. That we’re more than just the sum of our bodies.  Originally the Catholic Church had installed lent for that reason.

With 6 & 7Adar, last weekend, we may remember Moses having written down the Law, or Torah. It is that Mosaic Law that should have to think about. That Law is what we should have to think about.

Naked we are all born,without having done faults. Naked we shall die having done many faults probably. The price of those wrongdoings or sins is death. No other payment shall be required. Once we die we shall deteriorate and the decay shall bring us to become dust.

The Bible is also clear, that man has to make it whilst he lives. Once he dies it is too late to change anything or to make other choices. God's Word the Bible shows mankind which way to choose. In the Word of God, the Bible we can find the Law or Torah, plus guidance and answers to many questions.

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Find to read:
  1. Adar 6, Matan Torah remembering the giving of Torah
  2. Adar 7 Moshe’s review of the Torah contained in the Book of Deuteronomy
  3. Statutes given unto us 
  4. God-breathed prophetic words written torah and the mitzvot to teach us
  5. Mishmash of a legal code but importance of mitzvah or commandments
  6. Written by inspiration of God for our admonition, to whom it shall be imputed if they believe
  7. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
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