Some christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews

Mainly American Christians do show their disgust with Judaism. Doing so they forget that Jeshua, Jesus Christ, the man who they are supposed to follow was a very devout Jew, belonging to the Jewish sect of the Essenes.

Many Americans say the Jews killed Jesus, but it would be the same as Europeans saying the Americans killed our compatriots in World War II or they killed the Afghanistan and the Iraqis and the Iranians and the Vietnamese and the Koreans and so on. It were some Jews and other people present in Jerusalem at that time who were agitated by the Pharisees and certain Jewish leaders, but not by all the Jews, who also saw in Jesus one of their own.

Also the new Pope is aware it would be better if more Christians started to investigate the Jewish roots of Christianity and the Christian flowering of Judaism.
Francis said.

 “I understand it is a challenge, a hot potato, but it is possible to live as brothers.”

Francis’ statement seems to go further than his predecessor, St. John Paul II, who made headlines in 1986 as the first pope to visit Rome’s main synagogue and declared Jews to be the “elder brothers” of the Christian faith.

“Every day, I pray with the Psalms of David. My prayer is Jewish, then I have the Eucharist, which is Christian,”

the Argentine pontiff added.

Too many Christians do not use the Old Testament, but it was the main part of Jesus his teaching. At that time there was only the Old Testament which was brought to the beleivers in the One God, which was the Divine Creator, God of Adam, God of Abraham and the God of Israel, God His people.

Those Jews are still God His people, we may never forget that.

Certain  right-wing Christians in their denial of the Jewish connection even go so far to deny the Christians would not have killed many of those people of God. A denial of the Holocaust the pope criticizes as “madness.”

Deutsch: Pius XII., Glückwunschschreiben zum 100. Jubiläum des Pilger in Speyer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Francis I also defended the record of Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church during World War II. Francis will soon have to decide whether to advance the sainthood cause for the controversial wartime pope, who is accused of failing to speak out publicly against the mass murder of Jews. For years, Jewish leaders and Nazi hunters have demanded the Vatican open up its secret wartime files.


Some Jews have accused Pius, who ruled from 1939 to 1958, of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. The controversy has put a strain on Catholic-Jewish relations for decades.


Francis said he was concerned about

 “everything which has been thrown at poor Pius XII,”

while stressing that he sheltered Jews in the convents of Rome and other Italian cities, as well as the popes’ summer residence in Castel Gadolfo. Strange though that the Catholic Church did not come sooner with proof of such actions. We do know about nuns and priests who took all possibilities to bring Jews in safety. Many also told lies to the German soldiers to protect others. Their concious may have got very harsh times. but how was the concious of pope Pius XII?

The Vatican says Pius worked behind the scenes to save thousands of Jews and did not speak out more forcefully for fear that his words could have led to more deaths of both Jews and Christians at the hands of the Nazis


Pope Francis warns us to be careful, all being able to make mistakes.

"I don't want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes - I myself make many - but he has to be seen in the context of that era. For example, was it better for him not to speak out so that more Jews were not killed, or that he speak out?"

he said and added that Pius XII ordered the Church to hide many Jews in the convents of Rome and other Italian cities, that he sheltered Jews in the papal summer residence south of Rome and that 42 children of Jews and other refugees were born in his apartments there.



Francis added that he breaks out in an “existential rash” when he hears people speak against Pius and the church’s wartime record while ignoring inaction by the Allies fighting against Nazi Germany or forgetting the responsibility of the great wartime powers.

“Did you know that they knew perfectly well the rail network used by the Nazis to take the Jews to the concentration camps? They had photographs,”

 “But they did not bomb these rail lines. Why? It would be nice if we spoke a little bit about everything.”

Already in the 1930ies English and Americans did know about certain plans of the Germans, but they did not find it appropriate to react then, when there was still time to prtect further escalation.


Last month, Francis visited the Yad Vashem memorial to Holocaust victims in Jerusalem. The Yad Vashem's website, addressing the issue of the allies' activity during the war, says:

 "In practice, no military initiatives were taken to prevent or delay the extermination."

While some historians have argued those train lines should have been bombed, other historians note the allies were losing planes and airmen at such a high rate, and the lasting effects of the bombing of those train lines would have been so slight, that bombing them made no military or humanitarian sense.


Jewish groups have asked Francis and his predecessors to freeze the process that could lead to sainthood for Pius until the all the World War Two era archives are opened to historians, saying Catholic-Jewish relations could be harmed if the process moved ahead.

Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from Jerusalem last month, Francis said the sainthood cause for Pius was stalled because he had not been credited with performing a miracle, which Church rules require, suggesting it was not stalled because of any outside pressure.

Francis also used that interview to condemn anti-Semitism. He reportedly said it is a continuing problem that was primarily seen in right-wing European political parties which still continue to try to bring a screen in front of the people by ignoring the facts of history like the holocaust.

Francis confirmed that he intends to open the Vatican archives wartime collection.

"They will shed a lot of light,"

 the Pope said.


During Friday’s interview with the Barcelona daily, Francis was also asked about his own security, saying he refused to travel in a bulletproof “sardine can” vehicle because he wants to mingle with ordinary people.

“It is true that anything can happen, but let’s face it, at my age I have nothing to lose,”

the 77-year-old pontiff said. The way he can  now be in contact with young and old is much more important. Such a personal contact can do the Catholic Church some good to reboost it again.

Related articles

• Pope To Open Vatican WW2 Archives, Insists Wartime Pope Did Not Ignore Plight Of Jews (failedmessiah.typepad.com)
  "was it better for him not to speak out so that more Jews were not killed, or that he speak out?" Francis reportedly said, adding that the wartime pope’s critics "have dumped all kinds of things on poor Pius XII.”
  +The current Pope needs to read John Cornwell's book "Hitler's Pope." The book was written as part of an exercise to determine WHETHER Pius ignored the plight of the Jews. In conclusion the Pope was not so much an anti-Semite as "a deeply flawed man" who ignored the plight of Jews and Catholics. Professor Cornwell studied at Jesus College (not YU, BMG or Gush). Later, with the pressure on him, the author retracted.
  +
  
  Pius XI (according to David Kertzer's new book) spent most of his papacy collaborating with Mussolini, who agreed to restore much Papal power that had been stripped by the democratization of Italy (including antisemitic laws... up to what Church law had permitted before.) Both, though for very different reasons, loathed Communism and both had contempt for democracy. Only towards the end of his papacy did Pius XI realize his error in getting in bed with Mussolini; he tried to reverse course but faced opposition in the Vatican, which was heavily penetrated by Mussolini's agents and sympathizers.
  So Pius XII, by inclination and training, a diplomat, had about four years in office (in a divided and antisemitic Vatican) before the Nazis took over Northern Italy and installed their own racial laws.
  The "Hitler's Pope" meme may have originated, and at any rate was spread, as part of a Communist disinformation campaign.
• The Pope at Yad Vashem (samefacts.com)
  reading Gershom Gorenberg’s fantastic account of the Pope’s visit, something doesn’t sit right. At Yad Vashem, Pope Francis kissed the hands of elderly survivors. He was gracious. He said many things one might expect a religious leader to say in that place on that occasion.  His comments would have been pitch-perfect, had he been visiting (say) Gandhi’s tomb far to the east.  But that wasn’t where he was….
  What he did not do was to acknowledge his special responsibilities as the leader of the Catholic Church. He was not there—could not be there– as an individual righteous pilgrim offering comfort and good will to both sides in a tragic dispute. He was visiting in his capacity as the leader of an institution with a complicated and troubled history to precisely the events mourned at that memorial.
  
• The Things This Man Will Do For Publicity (sbyvl.wordpress.com)
  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.  Roman Catholicism and Talmudic Judaism do not share common roots.  Talmudic Judaism is a man-made religion, and the sworn enemy of Holy Mother Church.  It has sought for 2,000 years to destroy her, and after centuries of conspiring, they all but succeeded in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.  To recognize this fact is not Antisemitic.  It is interesting, however, that Francis has never spoken about Muslims who are actually Anti-Semitic (i.e. willing to kill someone simply because he is a Jew).
• Sainthood of two kosher Popes (rehmat1.com)
  The organized Jewry couldn’t hide its joy over the announcement that Pope Francis is formally conducting the canonization ceremony for two Crypto-Jewish Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoah), April 27, 2014.
  The Vatican’s selection of these two popes to be declared ‘Saint of Roman Catholic’ church, is not based on what they did for 1.1 billion Catholic sheep, but for embedding respect for Jews and Talmudism in official Catholic beliefs.
  “These two popes transformed not just the Church, but made bigger impact on the outside world – and on us. As a Jew, my life, and the safety and security of Jews, have been improved by the actions of these two individuals,” said Rabbi Garry Bretton-Granatoor, vice-president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism.
  
• Pope Francis Stands Up against False Historians Who Slander The Catholic Church, And Shows The Truth As To How The Catholic Church Saved Jews (shoebat.com)
  Pope Francis stood up against false historians who continuously slander Pope Pius XII, and showed how Pius XII saved Jews from Nazi persecution.
  +
  I have written several articles critical of Francis, but I do not do so out of hatred, but discernment and love. In this case Francis is doing very well in pointing out the historical inaccuracies that commonly are used to libel and tarnish the reputation of one of the greatest heroes for God and His people in history.
  We have written an article documenting what feats of heroism Pope Pius XII did to save hundreds of thousands of Jews. Click here to read it
  Just as Pope Pius XII saved Jews during the Holocaust, so must we save Christians who are currently being persecuted by the Muslims.
• Sainthood may be the only way to end Pius XII controversy; also, an interview with Vatican's "sexy bombshell" (bostonglobe.com)
  From a purely political point of view, however, there’s a strong case for a highly counterintuitive conclusion: the best thing for Catholic-Jewish ties would be to canonize Pius XII tomorrow.
  Perhaps no Catholic figure of the 20th century has been the object of more heated debate than Eugenio Pacelli, the given name of the pontiff who reigned from 1939 to 1958. The vast literature makes up what wags call the “Pius Wars,” referring to polemical exchanges between the pope’s critics and his defenders.
  The former argue that Pius stayed silent because he preferred to protect the Church’s institutional interests. Defenders say the pope was discreet in public in order not to make things worse, but behind the scenes he saved scores of Jewish lives.
  A sainthood cause for Pius began shortly after his death. In the meantime, three pontiffs who came later have leapfrogged past him: John XXIII and John Paul II are now saints, and Paul VI will be beatified in October.
  
• Pope slams Allies over WWII actions (warhistoryonline.com)
  Pope Francis has criticised Allied forces for failing to bomb the railway lines that led to concentration camps in World War II. He also defended pope Pius XII, who has long been accused of remaining silent in the face of the Nazi Holocaust and the mass murder of millions of Jews. ‘I don’t know why everyone picks on Pius XII and the Church, but no one talks about the Allied Forces,’ Francis said in a wide-ranging interview published on Friday in the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia.
• Should the Pope push through the canonisation of Pius XII? (catholicherald.co.uk)
  Fr Rutler’s book is keenly relevant on this subject – not least because of an article written on June 14 by the veteran Vatican-watcher and journalist, John L Allen, of the Boston Globe. In it he suggests that “the best thing for Catholic Jewish ties right now might be to canonise Pius XII tomorrow and get it over with.” As is well known, the cause for Pius’s canonisation has been bogged down for years over the controversy surrounding his wartime record: could he or could he not have done more to help the plight of the Jews in Europe who were being at first persecuted and finally exterminated by the Nazis?
  +
  If Pius XII had spoken more frankly and showed less “self-restraint” it might have helped his later legacy – but it would certainly have also occasioned more savage reprisals by the Nazis. Rutler’s book brings together some additional proofs, if they are needed, and from Jewish sources, of the very real “charitable, financial and moral assistance” of the wartime pope. Perhaps, as John Allen suggests, there is now a case for simply getting on with the process of his canonisation.
• Becoming saints: Two popes who revolutionized Jewish-Catholic relations (jta.org)
  These two post-Holocaust pontiffs revolutionized relations between Catholics and Jews, fostering interfaith dialogue and embedding respect for Jews and Judaism in official Catholic dogma.
  “These two popes transformed not just the church, but made a bigger impact on the outside world — and on us,” said Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, a vice president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and longtime participant in Jewish-Catholic dialogue. “As a Jew, my life, and the safety and security of Jews, have been improved by the actions of these two individuals.”
  
• Pope Francis leads Catholic Church in pro-Jewish direction (theuglytruth.wordpress.com)
  
  
  

  

  I strongly disagree with Caroline Glick’s conclusion in her May 27 article that Pope Francis “is leading the Catholic Church in a distressingly anti-Jewish direction.” I can understand Caroline’s distress at some of the pope’s actions and words but it is important to have balance and not draw wrong conclusions.

  Pope Francis is totally committed to reconciliation between the Church and Israel. I would like to demonstrate this under five headings: 1. State of Israel Pope Francis in his first Encyclical in November 2013 affirmed God’s everlasting covenant with the Jews: “We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for ‘the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable’ (Rom 11:29).”

Zionism occupier

Simin Rafati writes:

Judaism Rejects Zionism (Photo credit: danny.hammontree)

Iran's Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians have members in the parliament which is rarely, if any, seen in countries with Christian majority (needless to say I mean representing Islam and not being Muslim but standing for other political parties).
Judaism has always been separated from Zionism at least since the 1979 revolution and it is Zionism which is considered as occupier, militarist, and a defamation to even Judaism, which is hardly a position for Iran only. Even archbishop Desmond Tutu who experienced apartheid himself was surprised by the Israeli apartheid. Judism is respected as other true religions.
Last but not least, Iran's religion was Shi'ism in the time of the Shah too while with the 1979 revolution people chose for a religious regime. I hope that other countries and those carrying out pew researches can recognize the democratic right of the Iranian people for their choice.

Related articles

• Iran minorities 1: diverse religions
• Judaism VS Zionism, There's a difference
• Pope vs. Apartheid Wall: A sign of the times
• What is Zionism ?
• Iran Zoroastrians Celebrate Ancient Feast of Fire
• IslamHouse.com

Meet the atheist … who believes in God

By The CNN Editors  Opinion by Frank Schaeffer, special to CNN  (CNN)

 -- All the public debates between celebrity atheists and evangelical pastors are as meaningless as literary awards and Oscar night.  They are meaningless because participants lack the objectivity to admit that our beliefs have less to do with facts than with our personal needs and cultural backgrounds.  The words we use to label ourselves are just as empty.  What exactly is a “believer?” And for that matter what is an “atheist?” Who is the objective observer to define these terms?  Maybe we need a new category other than theism, atheism or agnosticism that takes paradox and unknowing into account.  Take me, I am an atheist who believes in God.  Let me explain.
 Read more of this post: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/10/meet-an-atheist-who-believes-in-god/#more-46455

Our brains are not highly evolved enough to reconcile our hunger for both absolute certainty and transcendent, inexplicable experiences.

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If Shroud of Turin was fake, how come no man on earth able to replicate it

In 1988 it was considered that  the Shroud of Turin was a fake. For some the Shroud, in a way is like the Staff of Moses, turned into a serpent since the story of that relic gobbled up whatever fake imitations and challenges all the naysayers, magicians, scientists and lawyers concocted.
Jesus himself is already called a figure of imagination, though historically there is more evidence about him than of many other figures of history .

English: Full_length_negatives_of_the_shroud of Turin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Because the Shroud tells of a story of his crucifixion and resurrection, some people take every effort to get others to believe it is a real tissue with a print of that divine figure.

After doing carbon-14 dating of scraps of the cloth carried out by labs in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona declaring it to be from 1260 to 1390, it seemed a fraud. Later it was find out there was cotton in only the sample taken to be carbon tested and that there was no cotton in the rest of the shroud! As it appeared, the location on the shroud where the sample was taken are later repaired spots, the worst possible place they could have gotten the sample.

Read more about it: >

The Shroud of Turin Really Is The Face of Jesus, The Staff Of Moses Is Real, And Christ is Alive

Related articles

• The Shroud of Turin Really Is The Face of Jesus, The Staff Of Moses Is Real, And Christ is Alive (shoebat.com)
  If I had to someday defend the Bible in a court of law, and at the end of the trial, after all of the evidence has been presented, witnesses and experts questioned here would be my closing arguments:
  Your Honor, Opposing Council, Members of the Jury. To the point when the Opposing Council accused, argued and asked as to how can we believe in all the miracles? How do we prove beyond doubt that Moses tossed his staff and that the magicians challenged him to only have the staff-serpent of Moses gobble up all the fakes?
  May I present the results of one DNA evidence titled “The Shroud of Turin”.
  
• Shroud Of Turin Research Has One Doctor Convinced It's The Real Thing (webpronews.com)
  The Shroud of Turin is one of the most controversial artifacts to have ever been found. The piece of cloth depicts a man’s face, hands and legs that many claim to be the body of Jesus Christ. For some, it’s proof that Jesus lived, died and was resurrected. For others, it’s a dirty piece of cloth that people put too much importance on. While these two sides argue, science continues to search for the truth with one scientist now claiming it’s the real deal.
  The Tampa Tribune reports that Clearwater Beach resident Dr. Wayne Phillips is now convinced that the Shroud of Turin depicts the face of Jesus Christ. While Dr. Phillips is a Catholic, he says that his conclusion comes from hard science instead of faith. To illustrate this, he travels the country giving lectures on the science that proves the shroud is real.
  
• Shroud of Turin: Could Ancient Earthquake Explain Face of Jesus? (livescience.com)
  a study claims neutron emissions from an ancient earthquake that rocked Jerusalem could have created the iconic image, as well as messed up the radiocarbon levels that later suggested the shroud was a medieval forgery. But other scientists say this newly proposed premise leaves some major questions unanswered. The Shroud of Turin, which bears a faint image of a man's face and torso, is said to be the fabric that covered Jesus' body after his crucifixion in A.D. 33. Though the Catholic Church doesn't have an official position on the cloth, the relic is visited by tens of thousands of worshippers at the Turin Cathedral in Italy each year. [Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus]
  
• New research removes 'shroud' of doubt (mobile.wnd.com)
  In 2011, Corsi told WND, “What the Italian scientists are saying is that the image was created on the shroud in a burst of energy that Christian believers would understand as physical proof of the Resurrection.”
  And, in 2010, Corsi had reported in WND that scientists were building the case that the Turin image was created by radiation that emanated from the body itself, a theory remarkably supportive of the traditional resurrection account that is central to Christian theology.
  +
  An app sanctioned by the Catholic Church called “Shroud 2.0″ will let users see details in the shroud invisible to the naked eye.
  “For the first time in history the most detailed image of the shroud ever achieved becomes available to the whole world, thanks to a streaming system which allows a close-up view of the cloth. Each detail of the cloth can be magnified and visualized in a way which would otherwise not be possible,” said Nosiglia.
  You can also examine the shroud in close detail at shroud.com.
  
  
• Royal Oak exhibit examines mystery, intrigue surrounding the Shroud of Turin (macombdaily.com)
  “There’s a beauty to the shroud and this exhibit,” said Jose Juan Garrigo, CEO of Immersive Planet, distributor of the American leg of the tour. “You can see how the shroud has been revered throughout centuries, and you can see the different leaps that science has taken over the years as the shroud has been examined. At every turn, the shroud has revealed something new, whether it was through carbon dating, blood typing, x-rays, or VP8 three-dimensional imaging. Science has gone as far as it can for now, and the shroud has been able to provide answers.”
• Top 4 Documentaries on The Shroud of Turin Mystery (virtuosochannel.com)
  Amazing documentary about the recreation of the most accurate image of Jesus yet. For more information please visit.
• Shroud of Turin depicts Y-shaped crucifixion (newscientist.com)
  
  They found that the marks on the shroud did correspond to a crucifixion, but only if the arms were placed above the head in a "Y" position, rather than in the classic "T" depiction. "This would have been a very painful position and one which would have created difficulty breathing," says Borrini. Someone crucified in this way may have died from asphyxiation. Borrini presented his results at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle in February.
  
  
  Borrini says similar positions were used during medieval torture, but in those cases the victims were suspended from a beam by binding their wrists with rope, rather than using nails.
  The results confirm earlier experiments by Gilbert Lavoie, a Massachusetts-based doctor, that suggested a Y-shaped crucifixion. "The blood-flow is absolutely consistent with what you see on the Shroud," Lavoie says. He described his studies in Unlocking the Secrets of the Shroud.
  "The imprint on the Shroud does not correspond with many traditional artistic images of crucifixion," says Niels Svensson, a doctor in Maribo, Denmark, who has also studied the Shroud.
  But not all artists show Jesus in a T-shaped posture. For instance, the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens repeatedly painted Jesus with his arms above his head on the cross, as did many others.
  Whoever made the Shroud must have been a skilled forger to create the correct blood spatter for a crucifixion. The alternative is that they made the right pattern by chance. "It could be that the artist just decided to draw the rivulets of blood parallel to the arms for artistic reasons," says Borrini.
• Shroud of Turin: New Study Results May Debunk Theory of Cloth's Inauthenticity (webpronews.com)
  According to Carpinteri, the theory that his scientists are banking on is based on the idea that high-frequency pressure waves in the earth’s crust caused by an earthquake that hit Old Jerusalem around the time Jesus is thought to have died and been buried could have produced an overload of neutron emissions.
  Those neutron emissions are exactly what Carpinteri is basing his theory on, saying that they could have had an interaction with nitrogen atoms in the cloth’s fibers that caused a chemical reaction which created the outline of the face.
  
• Shroud Of Turin Couldn't Have Been Faked [Research Findings] (inquisitr.com)
  In a study from 1978-1981 researchers also said that “no chemical or physical methods known” at the time could have produced the image.
  For the time being the Shroud of Turin remains shrouded in mystery and religious lore.
  This most recent study was conducted at Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development.
  According to the Montreal Gazette:
  

  [Researchers] conducted 120 hours of X-rays and ultraviolet light tests and concluded that the marks were not made by paints, pigments or dyes and that the image was not “the product of an artist”, but that at the same time it could not be explained by modern science.

• Latest Shroud of Turin News with an Exclusive Message from A Renowned Scientist (pjmedia.com)
  Headlines such as: “Shroud of Turin is not a medieval forgery” were typical of what appeared across all media platforms especially on Good Friday, 2013.
  Now in 2014, Professor Fanti has a new book (only in Italian at this moment) and the title translates into English as, Turin Shroud: First Century A.D.
  According to the book’s press release, “The new dating methods are published in prestigious international journals and no one has yet pointed out methodological errors.”
  This Shroud dating research project costing $75,000 (54,000 Euro) was funded by Padua University. The funding made it possible to “develop alternative methods of dating the Shroud based on mechanical and opto-chemical analyses after obvious calibration.”
  

Message of Pope Francis I for the 48th World Communications Day

Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter

[Sunday, 1 June 2014]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller” and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbours. Developments in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalization makes us increasingly interdependent. Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family. On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor. Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows. We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle us. Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.

In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all. Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity. The walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another. We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect. A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive. Media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances. The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God.

This is not to say that certain problems do not exist. The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression. The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests. The world of communications can help us either to expand our knowledge or to lose our bearings. The desire for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbours, from those closest to us. We should not overlook the fact that those who for whatever reason lack access to social media run the risk of being left behind.

While these drawbacks are real, they do not justify rejecting social media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human rather than technological achievement. What is it, then, that helps us, in the digital environment, to grow in humanity and mutual understanding? We need, for example, to recover a certain sense of deliberateness and calm. This calls for time and the ability to be silent and to listen. We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are different from us. People only express themselves fully when they are not merely tolerated, but know that they are truly accepted. If we are genuinely attentive in listening to others, we will learn to look at the world with different eyes and come to appreciate the richness of human experience as manifested in different cultures and traditions. We will also learn to appreciate more fully the important values inspired by Christianity, such as the vision of the human person, the nature of marriage and the family, the proper distinction between the religious and political spheres, the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, and many others.

La parabola del Buon Samaritano Messina Chiesa della Medaglia Miracolosa Casa di Ospitalità Collereale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How, then, can communication be at the service of an authentic culture of encounter? What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel? In spite of our own limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29). This question can help us to see communication in terms of “neighbourliness”. We might paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be “neighbourly” in our use of the communications media and in the new environment created by digital technology? I find an answer in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication. Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours. The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him. Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other. Communication is really about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God. I like seeing this power of communication as “neighbourliness”.

Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road. The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance. In those days, it was rules of ritual purity which conditioned their response. Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbour.

It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves. We need to love and to be loved. We need tenderness. Media strategies do not ensure beauty, goodness and truth in communication. The world of media also has to be concerned with humanity, it too is called to show tenderness. The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people. The impartiality of media is merely an appearance; only those who go out of themselves in their communication can become a true point of reference for others. Personal engagement is the basis of the trustworthiness of a communicator. Christian witness, thanks to the internet, can thereby reach the peripheries of human existence.

As I have frequently observed, if a choice has to be made between a bruised Church which goes out to the streets and a Church suffering from self-absorption, I certainly prefer the first. Those “streets” are the world where people live and where they can be reached, both effectively and affectively. The digital highway is one of them, a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope. By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Keeping the doors of our churches open also means keeping them open in the digital environment so that people, whatever their situation in life, can enter, and so that the Gospel can go out to reach everyone. We are called to show that the Church is the home of all. Are we capable of communicating the image of such a Church? Communication is a means of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church; today the social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ. In the area of communications too, we need a Church capable of bringing warmth and of stirring hearts.

Effective Christian witness is not about bombarding people with religious messages, but about our willingness to be available to others “by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence” (BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day, 2013). We need but recall the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. We have to be able to dialogue with the men and women of today, to understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself, God incarnate, who died and rose to free us from sin and death. We are challenged to be people of depth, attentive to what is happening around us and spiritually alert. To dialogue means to believe that the “other” has something worthwhile to say, and to entertain his or her point of view and perspective. Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute.

May the image of the Good Samaritan who tended to the wounds of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them be our inspiration. Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts. May the light we bring to others not be the result of cosmetics or special effects, but rather of our being loving and merciful “neighbours” to those wounded and left on the side of the road. Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world. The Church needs to be concerned for, and present in, the world of communication, in order to dialogue with people today and to help them encounter Christ. She needs to be a Church at the side of others, capable of accompanying everyone along the way. The revolution taking place in communications media and in information technologies represents a great and thrilling challenge; may we respond to that challenge with fresh energy and imagination as we seek to share with others the beauty of God.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2014, the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales.

FRANCIS

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25 years after Tiananmen

Opinion by William McKenzie, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Early on the morning of November 28, 2007, Jia Weihan was forced to think the unthinkable: Was her father really a bad man?

At the time, she was an 11-year-old attending a school in Beijing that taught her to respect the communist authorities. When 30 or so police officers arrived to arrest her father, she did not know what to think.

As it turned out, her father, Shi Weihan, the pastor of a house church, was simply trying to live out his religious beliefs. That should be a fundamental right, but in China -- even the more economically liberalized China – it’s not.

Twenty-five years after Tiananmen Square -- where on June 4, 1989, Chinese soldiers turned their guns on protesting students and activists -- freedom remains elusive.

In China, Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims face worse conditions than at any time over the past decade, according to a report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The report warns that independent Protestants and Catholics face arrests, fines and the closing of their churches. The government recently bulldozed one large church in the city of Wenzhou.

The report also highlights other restrictions, including these problems:

"Practitioners of Falun Gong, as well as other Buddhist, folk religionist, and Protestant groups deemed 'superstitious' or 'evil cults' face long jail terms, forced denunciations of faith and torture in detention, and the government has not sufficiently answered accusations of psychiatric experimentation and organ harvesting."

In Shi's case, he had decided not to tell Jia and her 7-year-old sister, Enmei, that he was printing Bibles and Christian literature. That was against Chinese law, so he did not want to put his children in jeopardy by letting them in on the secret.

Their children soon came to understand the secret, in a life-altering way.

Read more of this post

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  Born in 1989, Steve Wang sometimes wonders what happened in his hometown of Beijing that year. But his curiosity about pro-democracy protests and the crackdown on them passes quickly. "I was not part of it," he said. "I know it could be important, but I cannot feel it."
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  "Just the fact that people would be shot at by the army - that seems like something that we would have read in novels or history books, but [would] never happen to us," she says. "That was quite shocking."
• AP PHOTOS: Images of Tiananmen in 1989 and Now (abcnews.go.com)
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  Each year's anniversary brings a crackdown on dissent, but this year has been especially harsh, say dissidents and human rights groups. Lawyers and others taking part in even minor private commemorations have been detained. Outspoken relatives of those killed in the crackdown have been forced out of Beijing.
  Journalists, including those in the foreign media, have been issued stern orders not to report on unspecified sensitive topics around the June 4 anniversary, with warnings of dire consequences.
  "We are seeing a crackdown very large in scope," said William Nee, Amnesty International's Hong Kong-based China researcher. "What we have seen thus far under the Xi Jinping government hasn't been very good."
  
• China tightens Tiananmen crackdown (bbc.co.uk)
  Hundreds of thousands called for democratic reforms in a peaceful demonstration largely focused on a gathering in Tiananmen Square.
  After weeks of protests, the authorities responded on 4 June 1989 with a massacre of hundreds in the streets of Beijing.
  Analysts say repression for the 25th anniversary of the protests is much more intense than in previous years.
  
• 25 years after Tiananmen Square, China tightens grip on religious freedom (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
  the freedom to worship, or not worship, is a given in our country. When we think of religious liberty, the concept usually revolves around matters like whether the government can allow prayers at public events. That question undoubtedly matters, but religious freedom presents a more immediate challenge to many others around the world who wonder whether their faith will get them thrown in jail, persecuted or even killed.
  Some religious dissidents leave their homelands for more unfamiliar territory. Shi and his family ended up in a suburban community outside Dallas that once was a cotton-farming haven.
  

A look at evolution from a Christadelphian perspective

We never shall get to know how everything really was created, until the moment Jesus has returned and will tell us or our Father in heaven will enlighten us.

Until then many options are possible, and lots of ideas are being uttered. The question of where we come from is a mystery man has explored throughout human history. 

Geocentrism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Looking at Evolutionary Creationism: A Christadelphian Perspective you may find some interesting reading.


One hundred years ago, second editor of The Christadelphian CC Walker rebutted the arguments of a Christadelphian who thought the concept of a spherical earth was unbiblical and heretical, and based his arguments on a literal reading of the Bible.

Fundamentalists and the New Atheists are mirror images of each other in how they see the science-Bible debate. The former reject science because a literal reading of the creation narratives conflicts with it, while the latter reject Christianity because they know that reality contradicts a literal reading of Genesis which they think is the only possible way to read the Bible.

Nothing demonstrates the fact that Genesis 1 is ancient cosmology and not modern science more effectively than its declaration that the firmament was solid, separating waters above from waters below. It is this one fact more than anything else that destroys both literal and strong concordist readings of the Genesis 1 that seek to read it as a scientifically accurate account of origins. It also shows that contemporary special creationists - both YEC and OEC - not only fail to interpret Genesis 1 properly on this point but are also ignorant of how early Christian and Jewish expositors interpreted Genesis 1.

Read more in:

Karl Giberson: Geocentrism is what real Biblical literalism looks like

From the Dust - Conversations in Creation

Early Christians and Jews accepted that the firmament of Genesis was solid

 +++

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  Yom — which means day has other meanings.  None of them in ancient hebrew means a 24 hour day.  It means literally sunset to sunset.  So then how exactly can there be a sunset to sunset before the fourth yom in Gen 1:14-19?  Right there cant be.   That definition requires an earth, a sky, a moon and a sun.  Which didn’t exist until then.  So the other definitions of yom are this: a metaporic day,  an unspecified amount of time.   If we want to take it literally we are left with an unspecified amount of time.   Those of us that think its metaphoric don’t have a problem with either.  Why?  a day to God is an unspecified amount of time.  Either way the main reason for the belief is wrong.
• Genesis as a metaphor, does even that work? (skeptical-science.com)
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• Ch. 6 - Non-Concordist interpretations (lookroundyou.wordpress.com)
  Non-concordist views- Genesis is divinely inspired and authoritative but does not contain historical or scientific information
  +
  the number and ordering of the “days” of Genesis 1 are chosen for poetic and thematic reasons rather than historical reasons; Genesis 1 is not typical Hebrew poetry, nor is it Old Testament historical narrative such as the books of Samuel and Kings;  It is a narrative but one with rhythm and repetition of ideas and phrases.  There is structure where the first three days correspond with the last three:
  +
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• Without science, and the center of our own universe (themorningsun.com)
  Since the universe isn’t fixed, you can make an argument that every spot is its center. The case for the other is a touch dicier, especially if you understand anything about gravity.
  +
  Geocentrism is a fringe idea among fringe ideas in scientific circles. Alas, scientific circles aren’t the same as popular circles. Most polls tag public belief in it at between 20 and 25 percent. That is, at least one in five Americans believe that Copernicus got it wrong in the 16th century.
• Creationist: Science Begins with the Bible, Not the Facts (patheos.com)
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• Creationist Ham Claims Fossil Is Proof Humans And Dinosaurs Lived Together (americanlivewire.com)
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  Like many who call themselves skeptics of pseudoscience, the paranormal, and religion, I have some friends who are into one of more of the aforementioned areas. Specifically, I have friends who proudly call themselves creationists, in the sense that they adhere to the most common variant called Young-Earth Creationism (where their reading of the Bible says the Earth/universe is roughly 6000-10,000 years old). What I want to do here is to recount a conversation I had with one of these friends and how it opened my eyes into how the creationist mind seems to work.
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  I have to scratch my head over Geocentrists. These are people who believe that the Earth is fixed in space, unmoving and unmovable, and the Universe literally revolves around it. Without exception, in my experience, these followers of Geocentrism believe in it due to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Finding passages in the Bible to support this belief isn’t hard; Genesis is loaded with them.
  However, like young-Earth creationism, the problem here is in that "literal" part^*. If you take the Bible to be true word for word, then you have to deny a vast amount of reality, and almost everything we’ve learned about the Universe since the Bible was written.
  
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  Many Christians are falling for deceptions of all kinds. They are falling into cult and occult false denominations, false good, false evil….they are being attacked on every aspect of life. Why would the area of science be any different? I already did an earlier post with longer videos to look at. Biblical Science You Were Never Taught In School  Please just look at what it is. You don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to but I think the argument is compelling and you know what else is more important? I trust God’s word over what the godless humanists say about anything.  As Christians we should follow God’s word over man’s in all things.

Jesus spoke Hebrew and Aramaic

Pope Francis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded words on Monday over the language spoken by Jesus two millennia ago.
"Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew," Netanyahu told Francis, at a public meeting in Jerusalem in which the Israeli leader cited a strong connection between Judaism and Christianity.
"Aramaic," the pope interjected.
"He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew," Netanyahu shot back.

We should compare it to today where many people speak their mothertongue and speak an other language for business matters and to be able to have a good conversation with others who speak a different language. As such many today speak English, Spanish or Mandarine to communicate with foreigners or business partners.

Jeshua was a palestinian Jew, from the Essene sect, who spoke Aramaic.
Israeli linguistics professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann told Reuters that both Netanyahu, son of a distinguished Jewish historian, and the pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, had a point.

"Jesus was a native Aramaic speaker,"

 he said about the largely defunct Semitic language closely related to Hebrew.

 "But he would have also known Hebrew because there were extant religious writings in Hebrew."

Zuckermann said that during Jesus' time, Hebrew was spoken by the lower classes - "the kind of people he ministered to"
But we should know that by those speaking Aramaic were also people who had studied and who had better positions in life and as such were not of the 'lower class'.

Additional reading > Pope, Netanyahu spar over Jesus' native language

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Wéér een boek over homoseksualiteit en geloof

Johannes ten Hoor heeft de laatste paar jaar niet meer zo veel gelezen over homoseksualiteit en geloof. Op een gegeven moment wist hij de verschillende visies en standpunten wel. Maar toen hij onlangs bij zijn ouders was en ze vertelden dat ze een nieuw boek over homoseksualiteit en geloof hadden gekocht, besloot hij het toch maar in te zien.
Nog altijd zijn er te veel christelijke homo’s die zich verscheurd voelen, het gevoel hebben dat ze moeten kiezen tussen homo-zijn of christen-zijn. Nog altijd zijn er te veel christenen die zich door hun geloofsgenoten afgewezen voelen. En zo lang kerken niet verder komen dan een verhitte dogmatische discussie – inderdaad vaak ongenadig hard – wordt dat gevoel alleen maar versterkt.

> Lees zijn verslag:

Wéér een boek over homoseksualiteit en geloof

over een boek van Justin Lee (oprichter en directeur van het Gay Christian Network)