Monday 13 October 2014

Which man is mentioned most often in the Bible? Jesus, Moses, Abraham or David?

Jesus or Jesus Christ is mentioned approximately 968 times.  Christ (without Jesus) is mentioned an additional 286 times (approx).  Making a total of  approximately 1254 times
English: Icon of Jesus Christ
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Moses is mentioned 852 times.
Abraham is mentioned 250 times and Abram 62 times making a total of  312 times.
David is mentioned 1141 times.
So Jesus/Jesus Christ/Christ occurs 113 times more than David.
Of course there are many references in the old testament to Jesus in the types and in the prophecies of the messiah, but I only listed the times the actual names occurred in all cases.

(I didn’t manually count the number of occurrences – I searched using 2 methods and got a discrepancy of 2 in one instance, so these numbers are likely to not be totally accurate)

 - Bible Q; Rob. Hyndman


Christadelphian Meal –A- Day informing about Ebola virus in Sierra Leone

The Christadelphian Meal –A- Day Pikin Dem on Friday 22nd August 2014 held a one day sensitization on ways of preventing the Ebola Virus.

Speaking to parents/guidance and children the coordinator of the Christadelphian Meal –A- Day Pikin Dem Mrs. Nancy King informed parents and their children that the Ebola virus is real and it kills. She further encouraged parent and guidance to control and keep their children at home as the health of the children is very paramount. She also mentioned that they should be mindful of all preventive measure to keep their children free from the Ebola virus.

 - See more at: http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/?p=69991#sthash.vcR8nEDj.dpuf

King William County's historic Lanesville Christadelphian Church


Pictures: Lanesville Christadelphian Church and Lester Manor Village

Tidewater-review and former King William County Historical Society (KWCHS) President Carl Fischer  expects the KWCHS to be deeded the King William County's historic Lanesville Christadelphian Church property sometime in the first quarter of 2015. The property is being donated by its current owner, Carroll Lee Walker, who also led the church's successful restoration effort.
 "We voted to accept the donation (of the Lanesville church)," Fischer said. "The building is very nice and we felt it should be preserved. We'll accept the title to the land — a third of an acre — that includes the church. We'll also receive a small contribution for upkeep."
The Lanesville church was restored in 2006 by Walker, a local man who has since 1969 taken on numerous restoration projects in the county. When Walker purchased the property, the church had fallen off of it's foundation and was in great need of renovation.

 Charles Edwards, great-grandson of the church's founder, had tried several avenues to restore the building as a historical landmark, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He eventually sold Walker the land and donated the contents of the property.
 "I knew he had done other buildings and I knew he had the connections to do it, so what did we have to lose,"
Edwards said of Walker.
 "We had to pass the torch onto someone who could do it (the restoration)."
The church's restoration took Walker and his crew only a few months to complete. Walker tried to keep the property as true to its original form as was possible — his team refinished the pulpit furniture and original pews — but also added a Sunday School building and two restroom houses that were originally not on the property.

The Lanesville Christadelphian Church was built in 1876 by Dr. Lemuel Edwards, a county physician and minister who treated soldiers during the Civil War. The church, which at one time had a congregation of 30 to 40, closed its doors in 1964 after dwindling down to seven members.

Edwards still lives on the family property located behind the church at the corner of Mt. Olive-Cohoke Road and Pocahontas Trail.
Edwards his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all lead the church without pay. He said the King William denomination, which is the oldest body in the U.S., was unique because most Christadelphian congregations did not build churches and met in rented spaces of homes.

David Brown, current president of the KWCHS, said while the building's restoration is important to the Christiadelphian faith, it is likewise significant for residents of the county.
 "I think it's important for people to have these touchstones to remind them of their past,"
Brown said.
 "In a lot of Virginia's rural counties, more buildings are disappearing quickly."
Fischer said the KWCHS' goal is to ultimately have the Lanesville church added to the national registry of historical places.

 - See more at: http://www.tidewaterreview.com/features/va-tr-byline-lanesvillechurch-0917-20140917,0,5724603.story#sthash.2pmQD4bV.dpuf

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
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 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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Monday 6 October 2014

Malaysia requires sole use of God's title for Muslims

In June Malaysia authorities ruled that non-Muslims cannot refer to God as 'Allah'.


Allah in Arabic
Allah in Arabic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Muslim-majority country, many Malays believe that the national conscience must be firmly rooted in Islam, therefore they are happy that Putrajaya’s persistence in refusing non-Muslim Malaysians the right to use the word “Allah” so that their faith can be honoured by having the only right to use that title.

The Malaysian people and government forget that God belongs to the whole world. I would have thought the court ruling will soon be made unfinished, but it did not. Holding strong to this court ruling it is not only tantamount to the systematic destruction of the language and culture of the Bumiputera community in Sabah and Sarawak,but also does damage to all other languages where they use "Allah" as title for the the Divine Creator.

Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok said the word “Allah” has been part and parcel of the community’s language for generations and has become “embedded” in every aspect of their culture, including for the Bumiputera Christians, who make up the majority of Malaysia’s Christian population.

The government’s prohibition and the Federal Court’s denial for the Catholic Church to appeal for the right to publish the “Allah” in its weekly newspaper, had made the Bumiputera Christians feel they had been wronged, said the Sarawakian senior clergyman.
“We feel there has been a miscarriage of justice. It is insidious. It is tantamount to an act of language and culture genocide,” said Bolly, who also chairs the Association of Churches in Sarawak.
Malaysia’s Bumiputera Christians are accustomed to praying in their native tongues and the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. Their bibles, scriptures and hymns too have been translated into their respective indigenous languages, many of which contain the controversial “Allah” word as reference to God.
In its landmark ruling on June 23, a seven-judge panel at the top court had in a majority decision dismissed the Catholic Church’s bid to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision last year, which held that the word of Arabic origin was not “integral” to the religious practice of Malaysia’s Christians.
The Federal Court has however noted that the “integral” comment in the Court of Appeal was non-binding on other cases as it was just a remark made in passing.

The Catholic Church recently applied for a review of the Federal Court’s June decision while a Sabah evangelical church, Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), succeeded in clearing the first hurdle for its “Allah” challenge to be retried at the High Court, providing a glimmer of hope for Malaysia’s native Christians.

Those people should know that all people who speak Arabic or do have words in their language which came from Arabic, will have "Allah" for the title of "God", be it atheists, Hindus, Jews, Christians or Muslims. It is not a word which Muslims can claim only for themselves. In case such a thing happens all sorts of groups could claim singular words in any language claim for their own use, and forbidding others to use it in their own daily language.

Syed Putra Jamalull writes:
This whole problem can be traced to the home ministry directive way back in 1986 prohibiting non muslims from using certain arabic terms that snowballed malay intolerance. Who was the home minister then? It could either be Musa Hitam or Dr M. Just like books and ideas, words should never be prohibited from being used as its the foundation.
Mark Beaumont, senior lecturer in Islam and mission at the London School of Theology, says that while there is controversy regarding the way that God and Allah are referred in Malaysia, in other parts of the world it's considered far less of a contentious issue.
"In the Arab speaking world there's no difficulty in calling God 'Allah' – they've been doing it in the Christian church and in the Bible for hundreds of years,"
he explains. Which is logical, because it is a word like any other word in the Arabic language and is in that language also used to indicate other gods that the Most High Divine Creator of heaven and earth form the Abrahamic faiths. In the early days of Egypt Pharao was also called Allah.

Muslims also should be aware that in many countries is spoken about "Allah" in respect, presenting the Divine Supreme Being, Whose Name was also given to His People, the Israelites and should come to be known all over the world as Jehovah.

In several churches not always is used the Name, but more often the title of the Elohim, as such
"In the Coptic Church in Egypt, the church in Syria, Jordan, Iraq and even Iran, it's always been the practice to call God 'Allah' using the Arabic form. Although the Arabic Bible wasn't translated fully before Islam came, it's obvious that people were reading the Gospels using 'Allah' before the rise of Islam.
Whatever people want to believe about creation and all that, accepting or not believing in a Divine Creator, they should know that in the ancient history of the Middle East, 'Allah' was the equivalent of 'Elohim', the Hebrew word for the Most High God.

While it may be mostly Malaysian Muslims who are offended by the Christian use of the word 'Allah', many Christian believers the last decennials also have been reluctant to use the Name of God (Jehovah) as well as His title "Allah". With the growing of non-trinitarian Christians and with the growing of the Islamic faith more Christians find the use of "Allah" to be controversial.
in Arabic language. The book was written by th...
in Arabic language. The book was written by the end of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Lots of Christians and Muslims do think they have a different God. This makes that people wonder if it  is really possible to reconcile the name 'Allah' with the God of the Bible?
"Anything is possible! You just have to think about the person who is saying 'I believe in Allah,'"
Beaumont insists.
"When I lived in Morocco, there was a Christian man who was being interrogated by the police. He had grown up as a Muslim but came to know Christ and became a Christian. He was told to confess his faith, and he said:
 'There is no God but God, and Jesus Christ is my saviour and Lord'. He confessed it in Arabic, using the word 'Allah', and so he was quite happy to use the Muslim testimony of faith as a Christian because of course we also believe there is no God but God! He was able to affirm the basic statement of faith for Muslims – There is no God but Allah – but wasn't able to affirm Mohammed as God's prophet, which is the second part of it.
Normally Jews, Christians and Muslims should have one and the same God, but I do agree with Jews and Muslims, in case certain Christians take Jesus to be the God of gods, than I as a Christian would also dare to question those trinitarian Christians if they have the same God as me.
An other difficulty by Muslims is that they do get more and more a distorted image of Christians and cannot come to see that a person can really embrace a genuine faith in Christ Jesus, accepting this rabbi and prophet as their Messiah, but still believing in the Only One True God.

Beaumont also says:
"It's usually not that big a difficulty using the word 'Allah' and filling it with a Christian meaning. There are of course people in the West who worry about that – it makes some Christian missionaries feel uncomfortable, and I can understand that – but it's not my personal position."
Beaumont contends that it is not only just possible to use Islamic terminology while offering a Christian meaning, but it is, in fact, a vital part of helping Muslims to understand the message of Christ.
"I favour beginning where Muslims are, with what they understand, and trying to draw them into another way of thinking," he explains.
According to him
"The word 'God' came when the Bible was translated into Anglo-Saxon, and comes from a pagan name for a deity – it's a northern European understanding.
and as such in our regions it is also used regularly for indicating higher or in the picture standing figures, like fashion queens, film-stars, sports-favourites, etc.
So when Christians have strict view on using the word 'Allah' but are very happy to use the King James translation of the Bible, or even more recent, I smile to myself,"
Beaumont says.
"Language can take a word and change it – you can fill an old word with a new meaning, and that's what's going on here. Some people feel uncomfortable with that – they say 'you can't fill an old wineskin with new wine' but nobody says you can't use the Anglo-Saxon word for God.
"There's also a parallel with William Carey, who translated the Bible into Bengali and used the word 'Ishvara' – 'Ishvara created the heavens and the earth' – and that's the word Christians in India still use today.
"Ishvara is the God Hindus believe created the earth, and so Carey thought it would be best word for the Biblical creator – it's interesting to see how different translations use local deities to help explain the Bible, rather than 'Elohim'."


Read more about it:
  1. For Bumiputera Christians, ‘Allah’ ban akin to cultural ‘genocide’, says archbishop
  2. Continues Syrian conflict needing not only dialogue
  3. Islamic State forcing the West to provide means for Kurdistan
  4. Migrants to the West #5
  5. Migrants to the West #10 Religious freedom
  6. An Ex-Muslim’s Open Letter
  7. Muslims should also Fear God
  8. Patriarch Abraham, Muslims, Christians and the son of God
  9. Prophets making excuses
  10. Jesus begotten Son of God #12 Son of God
  11. Pluralis Majestatis in the Holy Scriptures
  12. Quran versus older Holy Writings of Divine Creator
  13. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
  14. Are Christians prepared to Rejoice in the Lord
  15. Sharing a common security and a common set of values
  16. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
  17. Why is it that Christians don’t understand Muslims and Muslims do not understand Christians?
  18. Al-Fatiha [The Opening/De Opening] Süra 1:1-3 In the name of Allah the Merciful Lord Of The Creation
  19. The Immeasurable Grace bestowed on humanity

In Dutch:

  1. Sharia een kwaad voor Islam
  2. Rellen en Oude Geschriften
  3. Koran tegenover veel oudere Heilige Geschriften
  4. Onze God ook deze van de moslims
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More Mexicans start questioning Catholic doctrine and the concept of the Trinity

In Mexico at last more people start questioning Catholic doctrine and the concept of the Trinity — three Gods in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit — as opposed to one God in the unitarian Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

In 1970, Catholics comprised 96.7 percent of Mexico’s population. By 2010, that number had fallen to 82.7 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Most of this change is attributed to growth in other Christian denominations. Evangelicals, Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses now account for 8 percent of Mexicans who identify with a religion.

But we may also find several Mexicans who could not find themselves at ease with the Christians who do not believe in the Trinity, though they say it was that trinity that bothered them. So why did many Catholics not find non-trinitarian Christians but can they at last find enough places in the Bible to prove there is no such thing as a three-une God. what was it that attracted them to convert and to seek spiritual salvation in Islam?
Pew estimates Mexico will be home to 126,000 Muslims by 2030, up from 111,000 in 2010.

Map showing the relative proportion of Christi...
Map showing the relative proportion of Christianity (red) and Islam (green) in each country. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friday 3 October 2014

Condemning QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi their extremist ideologies and to clarify the true teachings of Islam

Dar al-Iftaa signs an open letter addressed to QSIS to condemn their extremist ideologies and clarify the true teachings of Islam

Dar al-Iftaa signs  an open letter addressed to QSIS to condemn their extremist ideologies and clarify the true teachings of Islam
More than 120 Muslim scholars across the globe have signed an open letter which was sent to the leader of QSIS or the self-claimed Islamic state ruler, al- Baghdadi, in their attempt to clarify the true Islamic stance on issues such as the Islamic caliphate, jihad, and treating non-Muslims among other vital issues.
This open letter comes after the horrific atrocities that were committed by QSIS which in no way shape or form could be remotely related to Islam. The Islamic scholars felt the responsibility to cite their vehement rejection and utter condemnation to the theological fallacies and warped ideologies that these terrorist groups embrace.
 
Dr. Shawki Allam, the current Grand Mufti of Egypt was one of the signatories of this open letter to state his adamant refusal of placing any association of Islam with their abhorrent acts of extremism which is prohibited under all religions.
This move was necessary especially due to the unfortunate fact that a number of European Muslims are joining these extremist groups and are lured by the myth of establishing an Islamic caliphate as they are wrongly embracing the notion that establishing a caliphate is the only legally valid political system in the eyes of the Islamic law. Also Muslims across the globe are dismayed with the atrocities that are committed both against Muslims and non-Muslims which totally go against the merciful teachings of Islam.

The
The "black flag of jihad" as used by various Islamic terrorist organizations (since the late 1990s) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“These terrorist groups failed to recognize that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was not sent except to be a mercy to all the worlds and they failed to understand that God bestows mercy on those who are merciful and thus we should have mercy on those on earth, for the Lord in heaven to have mercy on us” said Dr. Ibrahim Negm, the Senior advisor to the Grand Mufti.

QSIS among other terrorist groups lost all meanings of compassion, mercy and affection towards humanity as they use the pathetic classical approach of hiding behind the motto of religion to attain their pity political goals of usurping lands, gaining political power and ruling people through torture, killing and persecution.


To read the open letter, please click here http://lettertobaghdadi.com/

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