#ishmael suffered more than jesus

[serene-sundisc]

My collected thoughts on the themes of Canto V (Extremely heavy spoilers for Canto V)

So, Canto V is probably my favorite so far, (which is surprising based on how good Canto IV was), despite some issues I had with pacing, it felt like it culminated extremely well in the dungeon of the chapter. While I appreciated the expanded lore (and a whole new Color!) of a Nest, it did make the early parts feel a little disjointed (though I guess that was on purpose, to communicate the chaotic nature of the Great Lake). The thing that really got me though (besides the angst between Queequeg and Ishmael oooough doomed by the narrative yuri) was the extremely strong theming of the chapter, which I wanted to write and share my thoughts about. Again, fair warning that this is extremely spoiler heavy, and very rambley as well.

**First, the Whale in the room:**

This one is kind of cheating, as it's given to us directly by the game (and is also already a common phrase), but I still think it warrants investigation. The White Whale, and whales in general symbolize great purposes. Ishmael describes the whale oil as something that could "turn others just like them," and that people are alike because they seek to paint others like themselves, to "fill them with things that make us." In this sense, Whales are a perversion of the natural human desire to bond with others and to be like others. To be consumed by a Whale is to lose yourself and what makes up who you are as a person. Living Whales turn you into a Mermaid, while dead Whales "\[scatter\] your sense of self, until there is nothing of you left." Mermaids are made up of people who have been consumed by whales, and who have lost all sense of reason and simply lash out blindly. We can think of Ahab like a Mermaid, and as a Whale. Ahab is not only a Whale in the sense that she is Ishmael's target, her hunt, but because she swallows up others. She makes them lose their purpose, and lose their reason, their personalities, for her own goals. She concocts a story to absolve Pip of his guilt, and to preserve the lie that she would never allow her crew to die without her permission when Stubb is about to turn. She even almost manages to convince Dante to give up the Bough in their head for the sake of killing the Whale. She fills the lost and purposeless with her words like Whale oil, and she spreads madness as well as any Calamity.

Ishmael, without a purpose in her life, joined the Pequod to "hunt a Whale," to find a purpose, but she didn't feel the same purpose that the others on the Pequod did. When she fell into the dead Whale's oil, it reveals to Ishmael how lost and insignificant her life feels even aboard the Pequod, before she is offered a "rope" (literally, and in a metaphorical sense) by Queequeg. Through bonding with Queequeg, she finds a purpose in her life, until Ahab's reckless mission to kill the Pallid Whale takes everything away from Ishmael. In the same way that Ahab sacrificed her crew, Ishmael begins lashing out and isolating herself from her busmates; they both begin to lose anything that could be valuable to them in pursuit of this singular goal.

We can see Pallidification as an extension of the White Whale; people can resist it as long as they hold fast to a meaningful goal (which, for Pequod Town, was to kill the Pallid Whale itself). When Queequeg's conviction in this ultimate goal wavers, when she saves the sinners from taking the unstable bridge against her Captain Ahab's instructions, when she digs up her heart and bears it to Ishmael once more, she is consumed by the Pallidification. Perhaps the Golden Boughs, as a manifestation of Light and which connect to the psyches of the Sinners, protect against Pallidification due to their inherent link with the sinners' goals.

To be swallowed by a living Whale is to lose yourself to an irrational, all-consuming purpose. To be swallowed by a dead Whale is to lose everything, even the purpose itself, as Ahab did when Ishmael stole the kill of the Pallid Whale from her. It is to realize the futility of a purpose, or to concede to the ultimate meaninglessness of that purpose, to have actualization stolen from you. Ahab's betrayal of her crew leaves no one to mourn her or lament her fall to madness, a fate that Ishmael narrowly avoids by working with her busmates. There was no crew left of the Pequod, no Pequod itself, no Pallid Whale for them to hunt, and with no crew, ship, or whale, there was no Captain Ahab. As Starbuck says after pulling Ishmael out of the dead Whale; "Dying in that oil... would've left nothin' for nobody to remember."

**Another one obvious one is rope:**

The rope symbolizes the precious connections made with others. Purpose found beyond Whales. Ishmael describes the rope tied between her and Queequeg as "one that could never be severed" (despite the actual rope snapping quite quickly). However, in response, Queequeg says "That rope. It snapped." We could take this literally, but both Queequeg and Ishmael mean it as a bond. She meant that her bond to Queequeg could never be severed, shown by how Ishmael further says, "No, no... We can make it whole again... we can tie another knot. She is hoping to rekindle her relationship with Queequeg when they hopefully both escape the whale ;\_\_;). However, even in the sense that the rope represents their bond, it has snapped, at least for Queequeg. Queequeg never knew if she would ever see Ishmael again after being swallowed by the whale, while Ishmael held steadfast in the belief that Ahab (and, indirectly, Queequeg) still lived on. So, she abandoned her hope of seeing Ishmael again and devoted herself entirely to killing the Pallid Whale, lest she become Pallidified before either could happen. This is why Queequeg says "To meet you again... I have to escape. Have to kill the Whale. But do that, I had to... cut the rope. I... buried you." And when the sinners finally escape the Whale, the rope she sees that "she has a feeling won't snap" symbolizes her connection to Dante and her busmates, her friends, her newfound purpose in seeing their journeys to their ends before going her own way.

**Another metaphor lightly touched on by the two is burial:**

Ishmael said she wanted to be buried at sea to escape the mundanity of her life in the Nest, while Queequeg said where she comes from people are buried underground to be forgotten. Ishmael never "buried" Queequeg, but Queequeg felt she had to bury Ishmael. Queequeg put her "heart to sleep", devoting herself to the same Whale as Ahab. This is the moment that Queequeg "becomes" Ahab, as Ahab says in her GasHarpoon EGO. When Ishmael reconnects with Queequeg, Queequeg is able to open her heart to Ishmael again, to realizes she wants to choose her own path again, to the point when she pleads for Dante to help Ishmael find her own path again as well. Though she is unable to defy Ahab again, she has a brief moment of clarity before dissolving, where she "sees the sunset" in Ishmael's hair, and speaks her name again (another sappy tragic lovers moment aaaaa).

**Parallelism & foil between Ishmael and Ahab:**

This one is also fairly obvious, but I think worth discussing because of how different Ishmael ended up being in the end. Though Ishmael was said to dislike long hair because it was bothersome, she ends up growing her hair out between the crash of the Pequod and her joining of the Limbus Company. Why? Because Queequeg says that it reminds her of the sunset, and that she liked the color. So, perhaps, she lengthened it out as a gesture of remembrance to Queequeg. This is a fairly easy read of, but there is also a metatextual reason for this. Her long, unruly hair also makes her resemble Ahab's. While her bright, orange hair reminds us of warm sunsets, Ahab's drab, grey hair is cold and comfortless. While Ishmael became like Ahab in her pursuit of vengeance, suffering the same obsession and shortsightedness to the degree of being willing to leave her busmates behind if they delay her from finding Ahab, she ultimately "scorns" her Whale by not only refusing to kill Ahab, but taking her kill, taking her Whale.

**And that's it for my thoughts!**

This was pretty long, so if you bothered to read it all, thank you, and I'd love to hear your thoughts too. There was a LOT, to this Canto, stuff I noticed but either felt really obvious/not that deep such as the sunset, compasses, and butterflies, or that I didn't understand well enough to touch on (did you catch the religious themes? After being dropped in the dead Whale oil, Ishmael says she was "reborn that day, maybe," almost like a baptism, and the heart-within-a-heart of the final battle with Ahab resembles a Chapel, bathed in white, almost holy light, sinews mimicking stained glass windows, not to mention Ahab being a Hebrew name. Does this have any metaphorical significance? Maybe. I haven't thought about it enough).

This is unrelated now so if you don't like this take then ignore it but NOOOOO HEATHCLIFF QUEEQUEG ID I DONT LIKE THE IMPLICATIONS UGH. Heath has grown on me more but I just don't like it. I don't see him as a particularly soft or caring person in the way that Queequeg was, and he's certainly way more abrasive. I guess he also is singularly-minded in his motivations, but... Ugh.

[sassyandclassy94]

You think "God's will" justifies the forcible removal of a group of people from their native land? God gave us a choice, to treat others humanely, or to not do so, and it seems you are in favor of the latter.

Um… have you not read Genesis? Where God promised The Promised Land to Abraham and his descendants? Aka the Israelites ??

Have you read any of the Bible? Did you know there’s more to it than just “love everyone” and “do not judge”? God tells us to condemn sin. To call it out. Did you know that Revelation and the Minor Prophets, and even in Jeremiah and Isaiah have passages and sections about the end times?

Did you know that God never backs out on His promises? The Mosaic covenant is dead because Jesus dying for us and making atonement for our sins replaced the Law. The Davidic covenant - Jesus coming to earth being born from his mine - has been fulfilled so it’s no longer still going. However, the Abrahamic covenant was everlasting. Israel is God’s chosen people, and they always will be, until Jesus comes back to conquer evil and it’s forces. There are so many obvious verses in Revelation explaining how the end and His return revolves around Israel. Literally the entire 11th chapter in Romans is about how God’s promise to the Israelites is not void and how gentiles will provoke them to jealousy in order to lead them to salvation. (Paul was a Jew - the topic was obviously a heavy burden on his heart). If He never takes away His promise of salvation then He’ll never take away His promise to Israel.

Did you know that Palestinian Hamas are literally raping women and children until their pants are soaked with blood? Did you know they are torturing and mutilation people so that their limbs are twisted in more than unnatural positions (Did you not see that poor German woman???)?? Did you know they’re shooting the Israelites’ dogs point blank in cold blood because Muslims hate dogs (a simple google search and a video on Twitter will confirm that)? Did you know that Hamas is literally beheadig Israelite babies?? BABIES!!! The most innocent creatures in society?! I guess I’m failing to understand how you see Palestine and Hamas as the ‘humane’ side🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Did you know that these ‘innocent’ Palestinians have knowingly elected Hamas leaders and that they are the ones that want Israel dead?

Did you know that Israel sacrificed the crucial and effective ‘element of surprise’ battle tactic to warn Palestinian civilians in hopes to save as many lives as possible?

Did you know that having your head cut off by a machete is not at all merciful and that it takes a long time? You want to say “Oh but the Israelites are blowing children to smithereens!!” Guess what? War is ugly. But being blown up is more merciful than being decapitated. Why, you ask? It’s quick. It’s over before you know what’s happening. And if these children are young enough to not know they’re sinners then it’s God being merciful because they’ll be in heaven instead of having to grow up into a brainwashed monster by Islamic terrorists.

Did you know that supporting Palestine and Hamas is you supporting terrorism, rape, and torture?

Also. This would not be happening if Sarah kept her eyes on God and didn’t have her maid sleep with her husband. If she had trusted God, Ishmael would not have existed. Hence, Arabs wouldn’t exist. But I’m not judging Sarah because it is HARD to keep trusting God and keep your eyes on Him.

This also wouldn’t be happening if Israel has obeyed God when He told them to kill ALL the inhabitants of the land (read all of Joshua and Judges please). But again, I’m not judging them because it would be hard to kill women and children. This is why we should always obey God’s orders because it’s not just us who will suffer consequences but also will our descendants thousands of years after us.

Lastly: ‘Chosen’ does not mean ‘favored’, or ‘preferred’. It means ‘chosen to fulfill a plan or purpose’. Jesus is not done with His chosen people and He won’t be done with them until He destroys evil and establishes His new heaven and new earth in, where? Oh yes, baby, JERUSALEM! The PROMISED LAND PROMISED TO ABRAHAM AND HIS DESCENDANTS (meaning both his spiritual descendants - born-again Christians such as me - and his physical descendants, the 144,000 Jews/Israelites that call on His Name and recognize Him as their True Messiah after the Rapture)

Israel has always been God’s chosen people. They’ve always been a small but mighty nation. And as far back as they’ve been a nation, God has always avenged them, even when they turn from Him. Philistines: they stole the Ark; God unleashed he’ll on them with boils and tumors. Babylon: He used Nebuchadnezzar to chastise His children but then He allowed Persia to rise up and used them to punish Babylon for hurting His children. He used Rome as a way to chastise His people and bring about His plan for redemption. Rome is no more. Some day soon, Palestine will be no more. Whether it’s before or after the Rapture, they’ll be no more.

God said they’ll never have peace until His Son comes back. Israel will never be stomped out because God won’t allow it (again, ALL over Scripture). Once Israel cries out to the Messiah it’s game over for everyone. Because that’s when He’s coming back. And when Jesus comes back, it won’t be as a meek lamb for sacrifice. He will return as a roaring lion. A Warrior. And He will avenge His martyrs and destroy evil, it’s forces, and it’s followers - aka, those who hate and reject Him.

Most importantly: you saying you hate Israel and being pro Palestine is you saying you hate God and His plan, and His chosen people. And that is a very dangerous place to be in. I pray God will open your eyes to the truth❤️🙏🏻

I STAND WITH ISRAEL.

I wish King David was alive today. He and his deep unwavering faith in the living God, along with his mighty men, would squash these Palestinians and bring Hamas to their knees. “Never back. Whom shall we fear? Never back. In Him alone! Never back! That’s how giants fall! The battle belongs to the LOOOORRRRRD!”

[nijjhar]

Pu njabi - Satguru = Christ Amar Dev Ji stresses go by you "Innerman = C... Pu njabi - Satguru = Christ Amar Dev Ji stresses go by you "Innerman = Christ = Satguru" for Mukti = Salvation. Whilst Munnmukh = psychic seeking the praises of the public suffers. https://youtu.be/vutlCka3Xs8 ਸੋਰਠਿ ਮਹਲਾ ੩ ॥ ਸੋ ਸਿਖੁ ਸਖਾ ਬੰਧਪੁ ਹੈ ਭਾਈ ਜਿ ਗੁਰ ਕੇ ਭਾਣੇ ਵਿਚਿ ਆਵੈ ॥ ਆਪਣੈ ਭਾਣੈ ਜੋ ਚਲੈ ਭਾਈ ਵਿਛੁੜਿ ਚੋਟਾ ਖਾਵੈ ॥ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਸੁਖੁ ਕਦੇ ਨ ਪਾਵੈ ਭਾਈ ਫਿਰਿ ਫਿਰਿ ਪਛੋਤਾਵੈ ॥੧॥ ਹਰਿ ਕੇ ਦਾਸ ਸੁਹੇਲੇ ਭਾਈ ॥ ਜਨਮ ਜਨਮ ਕੇ ਕਿਲਬਿਖ ਦੁਖ ਕਾਟੇ ਆਪੇ ਮੇਲਿ ਮਿਲਾਈ ॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ ਇਹੁ ਕੁਟੰਬੁ ਸਭੁ ਜੀਅ ਕੇ ਬੰਧਨ ਭਾਈ ਭਰਮਿ ਭੁਲਾ ਸੈਂਸਾਰਾ ॥ ਬਿਨੁ ਗੁਰ ਬੰਧਨ ਟੂਟਹਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਮੋਖ ਦੁਆਰਾ ॥ ਕਰਮ ਕਰਹਿ ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦੁ ਨ ਪਛਾਣਹਿ ਮਰਿ ਜਨਮਹਿ ਵਾਰੋ ਵਾਰਾ ॥੨॥ ਹਉ ਮੇਰਾ ਜਗੁ ਪਲਚਿ ਰਹਿਆ ਭਾਈ ਕੋਇ ਨ ਕਿਸ ਹੀ ਕੇਰਾ ॥ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਮਹਲੁ ਪਾਇਨਿ ਗੁਣ ਗਾਵਨਿ ਨਿਜ ਘਰਿ ਹੋਇ ਬਸੇਰਾ ॥ ਐਥੈ ਬੂਝੈ ਸੁ ਆਪੁ ਪਛਾਣੈ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਹੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਕੇਰਾ ॥੩॥ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਸਦਾ ਦਇਆਲੁ ਹੈ ਭਾਈ ਵਿਣੁ ਭਾਗਾ ਕਿਆ ਪਾਈਐ ॥ ਏਕ ਨਦਰਿ ਕਰਿ ਵੇਖੈ ਸਭ ਊਪਰਿ ਜੇਹਾ ਭਾਉ ਤੇਹਾ ਫਲੁ ਪਾਈਐ ॥ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮੁ ਵਸੈ ਮਨ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਵਿਚਹੁ ਆਪੁ ਗਵਾਈਐ ॥੪॥੬॥ {ਪੰਨਾ 601-602} Hi Brethren, I am a 90-year-old University retired Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy from Punjab, India where the Second Coming of Jesus in the name of Satguru = Christ Nanak took place in 1469. I Preach Christianity, Sikhism and Real Shariah-Free Islam of Allah, Noor called Inshallah and not this Satanic Islam of Mullahs, called Inshmullah full of the Sharia Laws. My views are not common but I can explain them in detail. Here are my views on the present situation:- The Gospel Truth you receive directly from God and not from any man. Allah is NOOR and you cannot apply Sharia Laws that bind you on NOOR that sets you FREE. This Islam is not of Allah called INSHALLAH but of Mullahs called Inshmullah. JEWS THEMSELVES ARE ANTISEMITIC. A Jew is spiritual of heart inwardly and not in the flesh outwardly. So a Jew is never born or dies. END TIME GOSPEL TRUTH – FREE LECTURES AND SEMINARS. www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GistEndGospel.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm Other:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Nobility.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/tenlights.htm http://www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JattIslam.htm Proofs of the Virgin Birth of Jesus: - www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bojes.htm Super Hitler tribal Putin will destroy Blasphemer USA and the West as the German Hitler killed the unfaithful Abraham and Yahweh sinner Jews outwardly. https://youtu.be/FQ9TyEEZcDQ Mammon and Media are of Satan. https://youtu.be/NIB8q3YiQZs The Udege tribal Son of Man Super Hitler Putin speaks the truth versus the great blasphemers of the USA and the West. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not forgivable and Putin will punish them very hard. https://youtu.be/WCjpz-_w0y0 Thus, everyone is to give his account to God and you cannot blame anyone other than yourself for not waking up to the Golden Occasion of resurrection. Just wean off the Milk, and the Scriptures and go for the refreshing Meat of Jesus for your Daily Bread of Life. Then, put on your Cross and enjoy the Blood of Christ by Preaching the Gospel from the Rooftops. This is America - Israel in Disguise:- Grim American Jewish Reaper waving sickle to kill more in Venezuela as they did in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc. www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GrimReaper.htm I attended the recent seminar on the Nicene Creed that bound the people that Jesus had set FREE but it was rather in the name of the sacked Husbandmen of the Winepress, the Temple Priests, that coined the adulterated moral laws to make money. Gen 17 on circumcision is a typical example. This is the tribal mark of Abraham to Isaac and his generation only and was not given to Ishmael or anyone else. But the Temple Priests gave it to the Gentiles and made them the sons of Isaac of the Semitic race. They circumcised the Negro and white Aryans to increase their number of the Disciples for income. Angel Stephen was baptising the repenting sensible Jewish people of the Semitic race in the name of Abraham or disclosing their malpractice. He was summoned to the Sanhedrin where he stressed that our forefather Abraham was a Nobleman. Do not make fake sons of Isaac and Abraham through the tribal mark of circumcision. That made them grind their teeth and they took him out and stoned him to death. Also, when these satanic For the unlisted videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Unlisted.htm My ebook by Kindle. ASIN: B01AVLC9WO Private Bitter Gospel Truth videos:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/Rest.htm Any helper to finish my Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf and in Punjabi KAKHH OHLAE LAKHH:-  www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/pdbook.pdf Very informative Channel:- Punjab Siyan. John's baptism:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

[mothereliza]

More valued than many sparrows!

Matt 10: 24-39; Gen 21: 8-21 Matthew continues with the story of Jesus's calling of the twelve, where he shares a few protective tips. They are to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We sent out our college-bound students to the world last Sunday. Mo. Astrid researched Episcopal Churches close to or on their campuses. She blessed them to go forth – to continue to be faithful disciples. And I'm sure they will be excellent disciples!

In this reading, Jesus continues to lay it all out. This mission will not be easy (10: 39). We heard the details -  the hard truth. A close look will tell you that Jesus didn't want his followers to maintain the false belief that following him is easy and fluid. Maybe up to that point, the disciples did underestimate the cost. We don't know that. But, their ending in the hands of Jesus's enemies is evidence they understood the instructions and still moved forward because they believed when Jesus said, 'Not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.'

Matthews' narratives can be very intimidating to the faint-hearted. Some demands in the passage demonstrate profound loyalty, but there are also great rewards. By baptism, we are all part of this movement and must be forward-looking, picking up from where the disciples left off; we are to 'proclaim the gospel by word and example, to strive for everything just, true, and righteous, and serve Christ in all persons - selflessly.' These are words from the BCP that we may be familiar with.

The critical message in this gospel is that: God's disciples are not to be afraid to stand as God's chosen and defend the defenseless. Yes - some may get in trouble doing that. Yes – some may even die. Jesus's teaching here is a beautiful expression of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called 'the cost of discipleship.' To Bonhoeffer, the critical distinguishing quality of a disciple is obedience—personal, unconditional obedience to our baptismal vows. Your love for Christ must be constant – it must precede all other obligations, such as family, country, and career.

You see, God's love and compassion will get the last word. And we see that in the Genesis story. Hagar and her son Ishmael suffered hatred, but God heard Hagar's weeping and comforted her (Gen 21: 16-19). The poet in Psalm 86:17 felt he was far from God's earshot, then held the conviction that God is the firm ground to stand. And he asks that God show him a sign of God's favor so that those who hate him may see it and be ashamed. "For you (he says), – only you, O Lord, is my comforter!"

Jesus opens this truth of God's love and constant protection to his disciples, asking, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet none will fall to the ground as long as God controls them." Based on this truth, he repeatedly assures us that even the hairs on our heads are all accounted for. And because of our worth, storms will besiege. But we will be fine if we remain faithful and trust God's love, guidance, and protection.

Today the church welcomes two children into the household of God for baptism. It is an excellent time to reconsider each of our baptized identities as heirs - as people of God. The Holy Spirit gives us the privilege and empowers us to lead for radical, loving, and courageous discipleship in this challenging world. Consider these gospel truths as we invite the children, parents, and godparents to the font so they begin their journey to be part of this calling to the discipleship of Jesus Christ.

[dailytafsirofquran]

Tafsir Ibn Kathir: Surah Al-Baqarah Ayah 126-128

Part 1

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

126. And (remember) when Ibrahim said, "My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.''

He (Allah) answered: "As for him who disbelieves, I shall leave him in contentment for a while, then I shall compel him to the torment of the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination!''

127. And (remember) when Ibrahim and (his son) Ismail were raising the foundations of the House (the Ka`bah at Makkah), (saying), "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily, You are the Hearer, the Knower.''

128. "Our Lord! And make us submissive unto You and of our offspring a nation submissive unto You, and show us our Manasik, and accept our repentance. Truly, You are the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.

Makkah is a Sacred Area

Allah said,

And (remember) when Ibrahim said, 

"My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.''

Imam Abu Jafar bin Jarir At-Tabari narrated that Jabir bin Abdullah said that the Messenger of Allah said, Ibrahim made Allah's House a Sacred Area and a safe refuge. I have made what is between the two sides of Al-Madinah a Sacred Area. Therefore, its game should not be hunted, and its trees should not be cut.

An-Nasa'i and Muslim also recorded this Hadith. There are several other Hadiths that indicate that Allah made Makkah a sacred area before He created the heavens and earth.

The Two Sahihs recorded Abdullah bin Abbas saying that the Messenger of Allah said, Allah has made this city a sanctuary (sacred place) the Day He created the heavens and earth.

Therefore, it is a sanctuary until the Day of Resurrection because Allah made it a sanctuary.

It was not legal for anyone to fight in it before me, and it was legal for me for a few hours of one day. Therefore, it is a sanctuary until the Day of Resurrection, because Allah made it a sanctuary. None is allowed to uproot its thorny shrubs, or to chase its game, or to pick up something that has fallen, except by a person who announces it publicly, nor should any of its trees be cut.

Al-Abbas said, O Messenger of Allah! Except the lemon-grass, for our goldsmiths and for our graves.'

The Prophet added, Except lemon-grass. This is the wording of Muslim.

The Two Sahihs also recorded Abu Hurayrah narrating a similar Hadith, while Al-Bukhari recorded a similar Hadith from Safiyyah bint Shaybah who narrated it from the Prophet. Abu Shurayh Al-Adawi said that he said to `Amr bin Sa`id while he was sending armies to Makkah, "O Commander! Let me narrate a Hadith that the Messenger of Allah said the day that followed the victory of Makkah. My ears heard the Hadith, my heart comprehended it, and my eyes saw the Prophet when he said it.

He thanked Allah and praised Him and then said, Allah, not the people, made Makkah a sanctuary, so any person who has belief in Allah and the Last Day, should neither shed blood in it nor should he cut down its trees. If anybody argues that fighting in it is permissible on the basis that Allah's Messenger fought in Makkah, say to him, `Allah allowed His Messenger and did not allow you.'

Allah allowed me only for a few hours on that day (of the Conquest), and today its sanctity is valid as it was before. So, those who are present should inform those who are absent (concerning this fact).

Abu Shurayh was asked, `What did `Amr reply?'

He said, (Amr said) `O Abu Shurayh! I know better than you about this, the Sacred House does not give protection to a sinner, a murderer or a thief.'

This Hadith was collected by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

After this, there is no contradiction between the Hadiths that stated that Allah made Makkah a sanctuary when He created the heavens and earth and the Hadiths that Ibrahim made it a sanctuary, since Ibrahim conveyed Allah's decree that Makkah is a sanctuary, before he built the House.

Similarly, the Messenger of Allah was written as the Final Prophet when Adam was still clay. 

Yet, Ibrahim said, (Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own), (2: 129).

Allah accepted Ibrahim's supplication, although He had full knowledge beforehand that it will occur by His decree.

To further elaborate on this subject, we should mention the Hadith about what the Messenger of Allah said when he was asked, "O Messenger of Allah! Tell us about how your Prophethood started.''

He said, I am the supplication of my father Ibrahim, the good news of Jesus, the son of Mary, and my mother saw a light that radiated from her which illuminated the castles of Ash-Sham (Syria).

In this Hadith, the Companions asked the Messenger about the beginning of his Prophethood. We will explain this matter later, if Allah wills.

Ibrahim invokes Allah to make Makkah an Area of Safety and Sustenance

Allah tells;

And (remember) when Ibrahim said, My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security, from terror, so that its people do not suffer from fear.

Allah accepted Ibrahim's supplication. Allah said, Whosoever enters it, he attains security, (3:97)

and,

Have they not seen that We have made (Makkah) a secure sanctuary, while men are being snatched away from all around them. (29:67)

We have already mentioned the Hadiths that prohibit fighting in the Sacred Area.

Muslim recorded that Jabir said that the Messenger of Allah said,

No one is allowed to carry weapons in Makkah.

Allah mentioned that Ibrahim said, (My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security) meaning, make this a safe city.

This occurred before the Ka`bah was built.

Allah said in Surah Ibrahim, And (remember) when Ibrahim said, "My Lord!

Make this city (Makkah) one of peace and security...'' (14:35) as here, Ibrahim supplicated a second time after the House was built and its people lived around it, after Ishaq who was thirteen years Ismail's junior was born.

This is why at the end of his supplication, Ibrahim said here,

All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has given me in old age Ismail (Ishmael) and Ishaq (Isaac). Verily, my Lord is indeed the Hearer of invocations. (14:39)

Allah said next,

"...and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.''

He (Allah) answered: 

"As for him who disbelieves, I shall leave him in contentment for a while, then I shall compel him to the torment of the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination!''

Ibn Jarir said that Ubayy bin Ka`b commented on, "(He answered: "As for him who disbelieves, I shall leave him in contentment for a while, then I shall compel him to the torment of the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination!'')

"These are Allah's Words (meaning not Ibrahim's)''

This is also the Tafsir of Mujahid and Ikrimah.

Furthermore, Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Ibn Abbas commented on Allah's statement, (My Lord, make this city (Makkah) a place of security and provide its people with fruits, such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.)

"Ibrahim asked Allah to grant sustenance for the believers only. However, Allah revealed, `I will also provide for the disbelievers, just as I shall provide for the believers. Would I create something and not sustain and provide for I shall allow the disbelievers little delight, and then force them to the torment of the Fire, and what an evil destination.'' 

Ibn `Abbas then recited,

On each these as well as those We bestow from the bounties of your Lord. And the bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden. (17:20)

This was recorded by Ibn Marduwyah, who also recorded similar statements from Ikrimah and Mujahid.

Similarly, Allah said,

Verily, those who invent a lie against Allah will never be successful. (A brief) enjoyment in this world! And then unto Us will be their return, then We shall make them taste the severest torment because they used to disbelieve. (10:69-70)

And whoever disbelieves, let not his disbelief grieve you (O Muhammad). To Us is their return, and We shall inform them what they have done. Verily, Allah is the Knower of what is in the breasts (of men). We let them enjoy for a little while, then in the end We shall oblige them to (enter) a great torment. (31:23-24)

and,

And were it not that mankind would have become of one community (all disbelievers desiring worldly life only), We would have provided for those who disbelieve in the Most Gracious (Allah), silver roofs for their houses, and elevators whereby they ascend. And for their houses, doors (of silver), and thrones (of silver) on which they could recline. And adornments of gold. Yet all this would have been nothing but an enjoyment of this world. And the Hereafter with your Lord is (only) for the Muttaqin (the pious). (43:33-35)

Allah said next,

Then I shall compel him to the torment of the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination!

meaning, "After the delight that the disbeliever enjoyed in this life, I will make his destination torment in the Fire, and what an evil destination.''

This Ayah indicates that Allah gives the disbelievers respite and then seizes them in a manner compatible to His greatness and ability.

This Ayah is similar to Allah's statement,

And many a township did I give respite while it was given to wrongdoing. Then (in the end) I seized it (with punishment). And to Me is the (final) return (of all). (22:48)

Also, the Two Sahihs recorded,

No one is more patient than Allah when hearing abuse. They attribute a son to Him, while He grants them sustenance and health.

The Sahih also recorded,

Allah gives respite to the unjust person, until when He seizes him; He never lets go of him.

He then recited Allah's statement, Such is the punishment of your Lord when He punishes the (population of) towns while they are doing wrong. Verily, His punishment is painful (and) severe. (11:102)

[kabane52]

Abraham’s Family Dysfunction

The history of mankind is a family history. I am very partial to “the human family” rather than “humanity” because of the way the former captures the particularity and inherent structure of the human race. We are the children of Adam and Noah. That family has a branching structure and the life-creating sap of the Holy Spirit has given it everlasting life through the incarnation of the Son as a branch of that tree. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the climactic moment in an intensification of evil that had begun with the fall. We read that the crucifixion was according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. We read of the Torah making sin “sinful beyond measure.” The two seeds- the progressively sanctified and matured remnant of Israel through whom the nations are ingathered- and the progressively rebellious and hardhearted architects of Jesus’ murder- march together throughout the history of scripture.

Genesis anticipates the whole history of redemption. There is creation in Genesis 1-3, judgment by water in the flood, and judgment by fire in the great famine through which Joseph saves not a remnant, but the nations of the world. He reigns from Goshen, which is “like the garden” of Eden (Gen. 13:10) Joseph has been perfected and matured through suffering, and in him is the Spirit of wisdom. He has lawfully partaken of the Tree of Knowledge, and he perceives the rhythm of God’s royal dominion over the world: “You meant it for *evil* but God meant it for *good.*” And like the great story of Israel and Jesus, so also the story of the patriarchs is a family history. And in that family history we see many of the same dynamics we continue to be familiar with. Old wounds continue to scar generation after generation until the break is set explicitly. Adultery, alcoholism, even sorcery seems to run in families- sometimes a great sin continues to be covered up generation after generation until its severity grows so great that it must either destroy the whole tree or be dealt with through the Tree of the Cross.

Consider how this functions in the generations of Abraham:

-Abraham jumps the gun and produces Ishmael through Hagar. Then, having begotten Ishmael, he allows him and his mother to be systematically mistreated and expelled from the family home.

-Isaac has grown up in this context, the favorite of the household. Having learned from his mother’s breast that such treatment is perfectly normative, he replicates it in his mistreatment of Jacob. Esau is allowed to run wild, and when Isaac at lasts submits and blesses Jacob, Jacob is forced to flee for his life.

-Jacob, having been the mistreated younger brother, shows obvious favoritism to his younger sons, not to mention his preferred bride. Reuben sleeps with Bilhah as part of an effort to defend his mother’s honor. This is not to justify it by any means- but only to say that there are concrete family dynamics which make these crimes more intelligible than random acts of perversion. Just as Absalom’s rebellion originates because of David’s outrageous failure to defend his own daughters, so also does Reuben’s.

It was not the fault of Joseph that his father so publicly and obviously favored him, but it was folly on Jacob’s part to give him such honors and publicly set him over his younger brothers. David’s mismanagement of his household typologically corresponds to Jacob’s (David and Jacob have parallel lives). In the end, the family dysfunction that began with Abraham reaches its climax in the apparent murder of Joseph, just as in the great story the family dysfunction of Adam’s children reaches its climax in the real murder of Jesus Christ, the great “son of Joseph” (“is this not the son of Joseph?”) Yet just as in the case of Christ, in Joseph’s life it is the ultimate rupture within the seed of Abraham that produces the ultimate healing, a healing through which the nations themselves are gathered into share in the blessing of the reunified family. Joseph is first cast into the pit, then rises to rule the nations (and nourishes his brothers even as they do not realize from whom their bread comes), then is reconciled tearfully with his family.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: 5 PILLARS OF ISLAM: ALMS AND CHARITY: VIRTUES OF ZAKAT:

DID ZAKAT EXIST IN RELIGIONS PRIOR TO ISLAM?

Past prophets have also been under obligation to take humankind by the hand and show all the roads leading to physical and spiritual ascension; thus, they too have shown the precious path of zakat as part of a primordial effort to diminish class differences in societies and to provide a judicious and blissful lifestyle remote from detrimental excessiveness. By virtue of providing examples of previous Prophetic applications, the Qur’an does much to put the accent on this mission. Following a brief reference in the Qur’an to the prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob comes the following declaration:

And We made them leaders to guide people in accordance with Our command: We inspired in them acts of virtue, the establishment of salat and payment of zakat. They were worshippers of Us. (Anbiya 21:73)

In reference to Prophet Ishmael, the matchless significance of salat and zakat as the primordial existence of alms as an essential component of worship is underlined from early on: “He used to enjoin his people salat and zakat, and was acceptable in the sight of his Lord” (Maryam 19:55).

Salat and zakat, in actual fact, are the common denominators of all monotheistic religions, where salat and zakat, after belief in the Oneness of God, form the very core of worship. In fact, salat and zakat are, or at least were, essential characteristics of all of the great religions of the world, those guided by a long line of prophets sent by God since the dawn of humankind, despite the fact that current forms of worship in some faith communities may vary in outward appearance. In support of this, the Qur’an, adamantly states:

They were ordered no more than to worship God with sincere devotion, to honestly establish salat and give zakat. And that is the Standard Religion.” (Bayyina 98:5)

The following verse, which provides insight into how the people of Midian first received teachings of Prophet Jethro (Shuayb) teachings about obligatory zakat, bears testimony to its practice in preceding times:

In sarcasm, they said, “O Jethro! Does your salat command you that we should abandon what our forefathers worshipped or that we should cease doing what we like with our property? Conversely, you are pleasant and right- minded.” (Hud 11:87)

The Midians’ apprehension at being compelled to cease doing what they liked with their properties denotes, almost certainly, a remonstration againstzakat. The people of the Midian, who evidently had complete appreciation for the altruistic Jethro, still could not get themselves to accept or follow Jethro’s brave attempts to encourage them to perform proper salat or give zakat; branding him instead as an instigator, and a rebel. As is the usual case with similar public dissentions, the people of Midian had a ready scapegoat for giving full vent to their frustrations about the obligation of zakatwhich was, as can be seen, salat itself.

Even though the Qur’an does not explain, literally, whether or not each prophet carried the duty of imposing zakat, it is highly possible to argue for its primordial existence through the i d e a l notion of peace, the humane spirit of assistance and support represented and accentuated by each Messenger, beginning with the Prophet Adam, and the Qur’anic references discussed above.

In addition, despite having their initial contents altered, the Torah and the Bible still include many passages which support the proposition that zakatactually predates Islam. As no revelations prior to Muhammad %(upon whom be peace) have survived to this day in their original forms, a fact supported even among Jewish and Christian scholars, the sole, authoritative point of reference in this argument remains the Qur’an itself. Additionally, it is worth noting that the Qur’an stresses zakat was enjoined as a duty on Jews and Christians, as well, not just on Muslims, as the textual references to the Qur’an which are included below will clearly demonstrate. Likewise, an analysis of the Torah and the Bible provides fascinating similarities and conformities with Islam’s all-embracing concept of zakat.

CAN YOU PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT

ZAKAT

IN JUDAISM?

The Qur’an generally tends to speak of the Jews as somewhat “skaters on thin ice,” underlining their preponderantly neglectful attitude concerning their religious responsibilities and periodically provides us a detailed account of what exactly those responsibilities were:

And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, We said; “Serve none but God, show kindness to your parents and to your relatives, to the orphans and the needy; speak kindly to humankind, establish the prayer and pay the zakat. But with the exception of a few, you turned away and paid no heed. (Baqara 2:83)

Zakat along with salat is sternly recommended as a requirement for divine acquittal for their transgressions:

God made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and God said: “I am with you. If you establishsalat and pay the zakat, and believe in My Messengers and support them, and lend to God a goodly loan, surely I shall remit your sins, and surely I shall admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whosoever among you disbelieves after this has gone astray from a straight path.” (Maida 5:12)

And in spite of undergoing multiple amendments, the current text of the Torah still grants us glimpses of the spirit of zakat, grounded on the relations between the rich and the poor:

Jehovah has not despised or been disgusted with the plight of the oppressed one. He has not hidden His face from that person. Jehovah heard when that oppressed person cried out to Him for help. (Psalms 22:24)

When you help the poor (needy) (lowly) (depressed) you lend to Jehovah. He will pay you back. (Proverbs 19:17)

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. He who has mercy for the poor honors his Maker. (Proverbs 14:31)

This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. Be generous to these poor people. Freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hardhearted and stingy with them. When the seventh year, the year when payments on debts are canceled, is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to Jehovah about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. Give the poor what they need, because then Jehovah will make you successful in everything you do. (Deutoronomy 15:7-12)

He who gives to the poor will not lack. But he who hides his eyes will have many curses. (Proverbs 28:27)

And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will be like midday. (Isaiah 58:10)

He who gets ahead by oppressing the poor and giving to the rich will certainly suffer loss. (Proverbs 22:16)

It is certainly easy, by and large, to draw a connection between the above verses and many Qur’anic passages, not to mention the conspicuously striking similarities between some. It is these considerable parallels that lead us to the conclusion that the ideas and instructions all stem from the same source, God, and that the essential issues concerning humankind have, quite surprisingly, undergone very little change despite human’s apparent weakness as a transmitter over time.

One further point deserves mention. The above quotations gathered from the Torah, as well as the upcoming Biblical passages, are from current versions of the texts which have, as is widely accepted and was noted above, been partially or predominantly altered, though the exact extent and manner in which such changes have been brought to these ancient scriptures is a matter for debate. A tentative and prudent approach to the current versions is thus the correct attitude, as recommended wisely by the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) himself:

When the People of the Book utter a narration, do not agree nor disagree with them, but say, “We only believe in God and His Messengers.” This way, concurrence is avoided if they speak lies, and denial is avoided provided that they speak the truth.48

IS THERE INFORMATION ABOUT

ZAKAT

IN CHRISTIANITY?

The situation in Christianity is no different, for the Prophet Jesus, while still in the cradle, utters the duties obliged onto him by God in the following manner:

(Whereupon) he (the baby) spoke out: “I am indeed a servant of God. He has given me the Scripture and has appointed me a prophet. And He has made me blessed whereever I may be and has commanded me to pray and to give alms to the poor as long as I live. And (He) has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me oppressive, wicked. So peace be upon me the day I was born and the day that I die and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again).” (Maryam 19:30-33)

Considering the fact that the Bible predominantly focuses on ethical issues, a jurisprudential adherence to the Torah, so to speak, was a social necessity. Nonetheless, there are copious Biblical verses which themselves allude to zakat and sadaqa. The following passages may throw light on this discussion; of course, the possible alterations to these passages must be kept in mind:

Be careful! Do not display your righteousness (good works) before men to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward with your heavenly Father. Do not loudly announce it when you give to the poor. The hypocrites do this in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do this to be praised by men. Believe me, they have already been paid in full. When you give charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. (Matthew 6:1-3)

He looked at him and was afraid. “What is it, Lord?” he replied. The angel said: “God hears your prayers and sees your gifts of mercy. (Acts 10:4)

He said: Cornelius, your prayer is heard and your gifts of mercy are noticed in the sight of God. (Acts 10:31)

Jesus then replied: “If you wish to be complete, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. You will have wealth in heaven. Then follow me!” But hearing these words, the young man went away grieving, for he was very wealthy. Jesus said to his disciples: “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of heaven. Again I say, it is eas ier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:21-24)

Sell your possessions and give to charity. Make yourselves purses that do not get old, a treasure in heaven where moth and rest cannot corrupt and thieves cannot steal. (Luke 12:33)

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (Corinthians 13:3)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. You should do both and leave nothing undone. (Matthew 23:23)

It is thus quite possible to, again, draw connections between the Qur’an and Hadith, on the one hand, and many Biblical passages. The level of conspicuous similarities between the above texts accentuates their unity of origin. Adopting this approach in scrutinizing the Torah and the Bible will, undeniably, offer us much more evidence culminating in the very same conclusion.

[romancatholicreflections]

18th February >> Daily Reflection/Commentary on Today’s First Reading for Roman Catholics on Monday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Genesis 4:1-15, 25).

The story of original sin continues with a number of accounts all pointing to the source of people’s pain and suffering – their alienation from the ways of God. Today it is about the all-too prevalent violence and killing which brings death, anger, fear and division into people’s lives.

The New Jerusalem Bible introduces the story in this way:

This narrative presupposes a developed civilisation, an established form of worship, the existence of other people who might kill Cain, the existence of a clan that would rally to him. It may be that the narrative originally referred not to the children of the first Man but to the eponymous ancestor of the Cainites (see Num 24:21). The Yahwistic tradition has moved the story back to the period of the beginning, thus giving it a universal significance: after the revolt against God we now have fratricidal strife; against these two evils is directed the double command that sums up the whole Law – the love of God and of neighbour, Matt 22:40.

Now expelled from the Garden, the Man has sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and they have a son who is called Cain. “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” The Hebrew name qayin (“Cain”) and the term qaniti (“I have produced”) present a play on words. There are many examples where biblical naming of children or places typically involves puns on key events. The statement also expresses the delight of the first Woman who, though under the domination of her husband, produces what the Man wants but cannot produce on his own – a son. God is more behind the procreation of the son than her husband.

Cain, then, is seen as a gift from God. There is an element of creation in every act of pro-creation. Cain is soon followed by a brother, Abel. ‘Abel’, in Hebrew folk etymology “Emptiness, Futility”, is the perfect counterpart of “Acquisition”. In the Scriptures brother pairs are often seen opposed in temperament, way of life and destiny (e.g. Jacob and Esau).

Abel was a shepherd while Cain was a farmer tilling the ground. The historical opposition of shepherds and farmers is indicated here. God favours the shepherd, but the choice comes to grief in any case. This is the first instance, too, of a common biblical theme – the younger being preferred to the elder (among others, Isaac to Ishmael, Jacob to Esau, Rachel to Leah). Such preferences indicate the freedom of God’s choice, his bypassing earthly standards of greatness and his regard for the lowly. (See Jesus’ teaching to his disciples about who is really great in the Kingdom.)

In the course of time, Cain brought along the fruits of his farming and offered them to the Lord. Abel also brought the first lambs of his flock and offered their fat portions to the Lord. God was pleased with the offerings of Abel but disregarded those of Cain. This made Cain very angry and resentful. We might be inclined to sympathise or ask the reason for the discrimination.

Perhaps Cain is being told that what really pleases God is righteousness and good behaviour. This will emerge more clearly in the time of the prophets where religious rituals are seen only as having value when they are accompanied by a life of concern for the brother and sister, especially those in need.

God asks Cain why he is angry and despondent. If he had done well, would he not have been accepted by God? If he is badly disposed to God’s treatment of him, is not sin lurking at his door “like a crouching beast hungering for you”? This is something he must overcome but something he failed to do. He invited his brother to go out to his farm and there Cain killed Abel. The crime is aggravated by the deceit (“Let us go into the field”), its being against a blood brother and a good man, who had done nothing to provoke such violence.

God then asks Cain where his brother has gone. As in the case of the Man and the Woman after their sin, God knows very well what has happened but he wants to give Cain an opportunity to confess his crime. However, Cain backs off. He says he does not know and then asks the famous question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It is, of course, in the Scriptures a rhetorical question.

God now comes out straight: “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the earth.” So Cain is cursed from the ground, the very ground which received Abel’s blood from Cain’s hand. From now on, the earth he tills will not be productive while Cain himself will be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth. He will enjoy no citizens’ rights, at least in his initial homeland.

Cain’s punishment is to till the ground with great difficulty and to be condemned to the life of an ever-wandering nomad. This was, in fact, the life of many people in pre-agricultural days and there are still people living in this way, including the Bedouins of the desert.

Cain feels his punishment is more than he can bear: he has been driven from the soil which provided him with a living and, worse, he must remain hidden from the face of God, while being a fugitive and wanderer for the rest of his life. Anyone who sees him will feel justified in killing him. Faced with his crime, Cain does not express any form of repentance but is simply filled with self-pity. Ironically, then, he begs God that he not meet the same fate as his own brother, that of being killed.

He has no need to fear, God tells him, because anyone who kills Cain will be punished seven times more severely. The message is clear: killing, even in revenge is ruled out (cf. Jesus’ words on this in Matt 5:21-26). God then put a mark on Cain to prevent anyone from striking him down. This is not a brand of shame but a protecting sign: it shows that Cain (with Abel) belongs to a clan which will exact blood for blood. The use of tattooing for tribal marks has always been common among the nomads of the Near Eastern deserts. Also in ancient times, certain criminals were offered limited asylum when uncontrolled reprisals posed a greater social danger than the criminals themselves.

Cain was left in a living hell – neither living nor dying. But what he did was only the beginning of a huge trail of murder and bloodshed in the world’s history. For the authors of Genesis this was the first recorded murder but such violence continues now as a reality of life, part of man’s sinfulness from the very beginning. In a verse which is part of this story but not contained in our reading, Lamech, a descendant of Adam boasts of killing a man for wounding him and a young man for striking him. “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (Is Jesus’ answer to Peter about the number of times he should forgive an echo of Lamech’s boast? Cf. Matt 18:22)

At the end of the reading, we are told that later Adam again had intercourse with his wife and they bore a son called Seth. “God has granted me another child instead of Abel.” The Hebrew word for ‘granted’ (shat) sounds very like ‘Seth’. Abel was dead and Cain was rejected so another son was needed for the family line (indeed the human line) to continue. We know very little about Seth except that – in biblical terms – he lived a very long life and had many descendants (Gen 5:6-7).

We live today in a world full of violence and killing. Let us not be instigators of violence in any way – in action, in word or even in thought.

[pamphletstoinspire]

MARY THE CHURCH AT THE SOURCE - PART 8

WRITTEN BY: JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER AND HANS URS VON BALTHASAR

________

III

CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY

I

It is impolite to cut someone short. He rightly protests and says: “Let me finish!” It is just as impolite to cut the New Testament short, to click one’s stopwatch at some stage of its reflection on the phenomenon of Jesus Christ, to interrupt it in the middle of a single connected idea or sentence. A few exegetes are guilty of this impoliteness, and many people echo them without sufficient thought.

Everyone knows that the New Testament was conceived and written in the light of the Resurrection. The gift of certain faith in the Resurrection turned the world upside down. Without it, it would have been pointless to found a Christian community, write a Pauline letter, or compose a Gospel. The Resurrection casts its light backward on the enigmatic, peculiar existence of the man from Nazareth— above all on the failure of his career, the Crucifixion, which at the time seemed to have defeated all his expectations and promises. The light falls backward on this catastrophic event that had occurred only three days before, creating almost out of nothing, in a kind of primordial generative act, the nucleus of the Christian faith. This nucleus is summed up in the two words “for us”, already a firm conviction of the primitive Church when Paul arrived on the scene: “[He] was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25).

Now, if someone wanted to freeze faith’s ongoing reflection once it had arrived at this insight, he would already be too late, for everything that comes later is already contained in this first germ. The light falls on what Jesus did the night before he suffered: “Eat the flesh that is broken for you, drink the blood that is spilled for you.” Indeed, the light falls even farther back on the inexplicable shape of his life, which could only create perplexity. On the one side, this terrible majesty, this superhuman claim in all that he did and said; on the other side, this equally terrible abasement and defenselessness, the feeling (of which he made no secret) that he was going to meet an ignominious death; and immediately afterward the renewed promise that he would come on the clouds of heaven to judge the world. Nothing in this existence seemed to round itself out; behind every final verdict one might try to reach there lurked a contradiction. “When they heard these words, some of the people said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, Ts the Christ to come from Galilee?’ So there was a division among the people over him” (Jn 7:40-41, 43). Even the elect disciples who knew him more intimately understood nothing, as they themselves confess. Nor could they have understood anything even if they had been much smarter than they actually were. You could explain the mysteries to them as much as you wanted—but what, in the end, was this kingdom of God they were always talking about and that had supposedly drawn near, no, had already completely come? The sick were healed; bread could be distributed to famished crowds; demons could even be expelled. Was this the kingdom of God? But whenever they thought they had found a clue to solving the puzzle, they would be rebuffed again: “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this” (Lk 10:20), Once only did he promise some of those standing by that they would see the kingdom of God coming in power before their death (Mk 9:1), but then we read that, because “they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately” (Lk 19:11), Jesus told them the parable of the man who went into a far country and told his servants to trade with his goods.

No, the puzzles were insoluble. The best one could do (so far as one did not, like bis relatives, think he was crazy) was to stick by him and hope that at some point he would resolve his own enigma. And he did resolve it—in the unity of defeat and victory, of Crucifixion and Resurrection. Now the unity of majesty and lowliness became clear: it was the unity of a mission from God and perfect obedience to the will of the Father. The unity of present and future, of the already now and the not yet, of restless activity and patient waiting for the Father’s hour, also became clear. The story of the disciples from Emmaus wonderfully illustrates how the sun of the Resurrection rises over the twilight landscape of Jesus’ life: “O foolish men. . . . Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?. . . Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” (Lk 24:25-26; 44).

And Jesus expressly (Lk 24:46) includes the Resurrection, the surpassing fulfillment of all God’s promises that the covenant between his eternal life and man’s mortal life would one day be perfectly fulfilled and that mortal man would become a partaker in his eternal life.

Once this immense paschal light had risen to illuminate Jesus’ life, there was no more stopping. The question simply had to be asked: Who really was this man; where did he come from originally? We thus arrive at the question of his provenance, to which the line from the Creed we are going to consider is the answer: “Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary”.

II

Now, running through Jesus’ life there was a very clear motif that, like Ariadne, gives us the guiding thread we need to venture forward into the mystery: Jesus’ unique, all-determining relationship to his heavenly Father. It is already the Synoptics, not John, who first give us the powerful words: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” It is with this Father, whom Jesus customarily called Abba, Papa (the early Church handed on this word forever in Aramaic), that he wrestled in his most difficult hour: “ ‘Abba [Papa], Father, all things are possible to you; remove this chalice from me; yet not what I will, but what you will’ ” (Mk 14:36).,

In view of texts like these, which stand for many others, let us go abruptly to the question: Could this man, who had such a unique relationship to the “Father in heaven”, to whom he owed his existence, entrusted himself, and unreservedly gave himself back—could he owe his existence to another father at the same time? Could he, putting it crudely, have two fathers? Did he have to acknowledge two fathers as the source of his existence? After all, he did not live in our supposedly “fatherless society”, in which the fourth commandment seems to have faded to the point of total disappearance, in which the parent-child relationship no longer rests upon a holistic, fully human relationship of care and reverent love, but is reduced to a chance sex act that does not oblige the child toward its parents in any essential way. No, this man was a Jew who was part of his people’s intergenerational continuity. And in this continuity—precisely because of messianic hope, but also because of descent from Abraham, the first father—the parent-child relationship was the sustaining ground of one’s whole existence. Would not Jesus’ exclusive relation to his heavenly Father have deeply offended Joseph the carpenter if Joseph had been his physical father? And could Jesus, who, after all, enjoined the observance of the Ten Commandments (Mk 10:19), have himself transgressed against one that was so vital to all ancient cultures? And supposing he owed his existence as much to the man Joseph as he did to his heavenly Father, and so had to keep the commandment, would not this double paternity have led to certain schizophrenia? The only way out of the dilemma would be to say that he owes his existence to his heavenly Father like any other man whose immortal soul comes from the Creator, who plants this soul in the new being at the moment of the parents’ procreative act. If this were the case, Jesus would be, to be sure, a pious man who honors his parents and in doing so also thinks of his Creator, but he would be in no respect better or worse than we are, and he would have been just as incapable as we are of saying “no one knows the Father but the Son.” Nor would he have any special ability to mediate bis fellow men into a completely new relationship to their heavenly Father. He could do only what Harnack says he can: make them see a bit more clearly what they already know and are. For this reason I must for once contradict a statement of Joseph Ratzinger that has been repeated eagerly everywhere: “The doctrine of Jesus’ divinity would not be affected if Jesus had been the product of a normal Christian marriage.”1 But the point is that the human parent-child relationship is more than a mere physiological event.

If this claim is mistaken—and Jesus’ entire life, especially when seen in the light of the Resurrection, proves that it is—then it makes sense to see Jesus as the high point of a trajectory beginning in the Old Testament, as the superabundant fulfillment of a promise, toward which the Old Testament had already built the ladder.

The history of faith began with Abraham. He first obtained an ordinary son, Ishmael, by the fruitful Hagar, but God promised him another son when he was a hundred years old. This was the son of the promise, Isaac, whom Abraham’s sterile wife, Sarah, would bear. The same sign is repeated with the birth of Samson and, once again, with the birth of Samuel from Hannah, who until that time had been sterile. It occurred one last time with Elizabeth, who, also sterile, conceived the Forerunner, John, by an express divine miracle. “ ‘And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible’ ” (Lk 1:36-37). This motif, which spans the entire Old Testament, haunted Jewish thought. Reflection brought more and more clearly to light that it was God himself who played the principal role in these begettings and conceptions. God’s power quickened the dead seed and the barren womb. Paul says that Abraham fathered Isaac in faith in “the God . . . who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. . . . He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (Rom 4:17, 19). Paul likewise says that Isaac was “born . . . through promise” (Gal 4:23), “born according to the Spirit” (Gal 4:29).

However, so long as we stay within the horizon of the Old Testament, the human father’s relation to his son continues to play a decisive role despite everything that God does. Not the Holy Spirit, but Abraham is, in an eminent way, Isaac’s father. When they journey together to Mount Moriah, “Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘My Father!’ And he said, ‘Here am I, my son.’ He said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ ” (Gen 22:7). Before Samson’s birth, the angel first appears to the woman, who remains anonymous, but the decisive negotiations take place with Manoah of Zorah, from the tribe of Dan (Judg 13:2-24). The story of the barren Hannah also begins with a detailed description of her husband, Elkanah, son of Jeroham, and so forth, from Ramathaim-zophim, who makes a pilgrimage with his wife to sacrifice in Shiloh. And upon Hannah’s entreaty that a son be granted, we read of the two that “they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORDremembered her” (1 Sam 1:1-19; citation, 19), And how clearly the priest Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, predominates over his wife in the first chapter of Luke. It is he whom the angel meets at the hour of incense, he who receives the detailed promise about the son who, filled with the Holy Spirit, will prepare the ways of the Lord in the power of Elijah.

It is Zechariah who, after having been struck dumb on account of his unbelief, is asked what name his son shall be given and finally sings the Benedictus: “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel’ ” (Lk 1:67-68).

After these preliminaries, we would expect to learn a great deal about Joseph, the man descended from David on whom the whole promise depends. But the entire scene of the Annunciation, both in Matthew and in Luke, passes over him and concentrates entirely on Mary. Here for the first time the angel of the Lord addresses a woman, and it is she who transmits the Spirit whom she has received to another woman, her cousin Elizabeth, who only then is filled with the Holy Spirit and receives the sign of the child leaping in her womb. Mary alone sings the Magnificat. It is quite clear that something much more than “biological generation” is going on here, namely, the decisive appearance of God as the sole Father, an appearance that excludes a relation to another father to the same degree that Jesus’ spousal relation to his bride, the Church, rules out any other marital relation for him.

Abraham’s loins had been blessed by the Holy Spirit, who reawakened their life-giving powers. The old servant Eliezer had to touch them in order to seal his oath to provide Isaac with a bride. Surely Joseph’s life-giving powers would have received much more praise if they had finally brought forth the long-awaited scion of David.

But no. The whole process of bodily begetting, in fact, the whole question of whether a man or woman is fruitful or not, loses its importance in the New Covenant. Joseph crosses the threshold of the New Covenant by an act of renunciation. In this way he becomes the foster father of the one who himself will be a virgin and through a most radical renunciation will open a completely different source of life. His crucified body as a whole will be endowed with power to beget and, according to Paul, will produce his immaculate bride without spot or wrinkle, the Church.

The predominance of renunciation over human begetting places us before the very threshold of our Creed. To be sure, we have not yet crossed the threshold, for we must still make the step from the barren Elizabeth to the virginal Mary. But it surely bespeaks the biblical origin of the motif of the virginal birth that the angel of the Annunciation puts Mary’s hand in that of her cousin Elizabeth, thereby unequivocally deriving the motif from, and legitimating it in terms of, the Old Testament promise. Everything that Matthew and Luke say in their accounts of Jesus’ conception and birth can be understood, without exception, against the background of the Old Testament, whereas there is no trace in pagan mythology, in Egyptian or Hellenistic stories, of pharaohs or heroes being divinely begotten of a virgin. The very most one might concede here is that such distant parallels (but the differences are greater!) suggest a vague expectation that a great man could come directly from the divine world. But we must immediately introduce a correction here: According to the Jewish conception of God, there can be no question of a divine filiation in any physical sense.

On the one hand, Luke’s account directly cites the promise in Isaiah that the young woman (almah) will conceive and bear a son whom they will call Emmanuel (Is 7:14). The Hebrew word “young woman” is translated as parthenos in the Greek Bible. This term means “virgin”, and it thus builds a bridge to Nazareth. However, there was nothing particularly splendid about virginity in the Jewish world. On the contrary, all the light fell on the fruitful woman. For this reason, Mary’s allusion to the fact that God “has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid” is another Old Testament echo.

Furthermore, the expression “Holy Spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you” also refers, in its entirety, to the Old Testament. Nowhere in the Old Testament does God couple himself in a “sacred marriage” with a human being; rather, he always sends the power of his Spirit from his inaccessible height to enact his will. And yet here, too, we cross the threshold from the Old Covenant to the New—we are talking about the Virgin Birth, after all!—and we should not hesitate to see this “Holy Spirit” as divine power that Christian reflection on the events came to call the third Divine Person, or hypostasis. That fact that the word pneuma has no article here (as is often the case in the New Testament), whereas in other passages it does (“to pneuma”), is not a decisive argument against our claim the texts sometimes add or drop the article from one verse to another, for example at Jesus’ baptism: “He will baptize you with Holy Spirit. . . . Then [Jesus] saw the heavens open and the Spirit descending like a dove. . . . The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness” (Mt 1:8, 10, 12). What is much weightier is that it is precisely in the scene of the Annunciation that the angel’s threefold speech is the first explicit mention of the three hypostases of the Godhead: “The Lord is with you” (Yahweh, the God of Israel, whom Jesus will call his Father); “you will bear the Son of the Most High”; “Holy Spirit will overshadow you.” If the Father, as the Almighty, remains on high, if, on the other hand, the Son allows himself to be borne into the womb of the Virgin, thus allowing his Incarnation to occur, rather than actively carrying it out, it is, and always will be, the Holy Spirit, as the third divine hypostasis, who is the real agent in the Church’s prayers and sacraments and charisms.

III

And now just one point remains: the vessel that receives the power of the Most High, the Virgin. The text has told us that she is betrothed to a man named Joseph, which, according to Jewish law, means that she is already legally married to him but is not yet living with him. The Jews considered it a disgrace to consummate marriage during the time of betrothal. For this reason, Mary also asks the angel: “How can this be, since I [for the time being] have no husband?” However, Mary’s connection with Joseph is absolutely decisive for New Testament theology, because only Joseph was of the Davidic stock that bore the messianic promise, and it was the legal father who decided which lineage a child belonged to. If we reflect on this tapestry of subtly calibrated interconnections, we cannot help observing that Jesus’ divine sonship is a much better founded, much more essential fact than his messiahship, to which he actually attached little importance, at least in its then conventional meaning. When Peter proclaimed him as the Messiah, he directed attention instead to the Son of Man and the suffering servant who would have much to suffer; but a Messiah that really suffered like the servant of God was unimaginable to a Jew of the time.

The Virgin, harboring a mystery under her heart, remains in profound solitude. In a silence that almost causes the perplexed Joseph to despair. Incarnation of God means condescension, abasement, and, because we are sinners, humiliation. And he already draws his Mother into these humiliations. Where did she get this child? People must have talked at the time, and they probably never stopped. It must have been a sorry state of affairs if Joseph could find no better way out than to divorce his bride quietly. God’s humanism at once begins drastically. Those whose lives God enters, those who enter into his, are not protected. They have to go along into a suspicion and ambiguity they cannot talk their way out of. And the ambiguity will only get worse, until, at the Cross, the Mother will get to see what her Yes has caused and will have to hear the vitriolic ridicule to which the Son is forced to listen.

In Greek tragedy there is the chorus that comments on the events, and it can be either sad or celebratory. In the Christian drama of Christmas, the angels of the gloria are the chorus; they comment on the heavenly truth of this poor earthly scene in the manger. Glory is due God in heaven, but joy is given on earth to those men who delight in his good pleasure. In the first place, that means this new man, his Son. And then around the Son, those who are placed at his side: the Virgin who gave herself to be his Mother; the man who for the sake of God’s will renounced being his father; the shepherds watching at night who are granted the favor of being the first to see the sign of salvation. The Son will appoint his own shepherds and his own sheep. May these shepherds, too, pass the Christmas season watching over their flocks (Lk 2:8) and announcing to all those entrusted to them the sign that the God of grace has worked for us all.

________

1 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity, trans. J. R. Foster (Communio Books; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 274-75.

[dfroza]

A sacred treasure in the inner room of the heart

is the True illumination of the Son

this is seen in Today’s reading of chapter 3 of Hebrews with the first verse:

So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do.

The Book of Hebrews, Chapter 3:1 (The Message)

it truly matters what we “believe...”

and the whole chapter in The Voice:

So all of you who are holy partners in a heavenly calling, let’s turn our attention to Jesus, the Emissary of God and High Priest, who brought us the faith we profess; and compare Him to Moses, who also brought words from God. Both of them were faithful to their missions, to the One who called them. But we value Jesus more than Moses, in the same way that we value a builder more than the house he builds. Every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Moses brought healing and redemption to his people as a faithful servant in God’s house, and he was a witness to the things that would be spoken later. But Jesus the Anointed was faithful as a Son of that house. (We become that house, if we’re able to hold on to the confident hope we have in God until the end.)

Listen now, to the voice of the Holy Spirit through what the psalmist wrote:

Today, if you listen to His voice,

Don’t harden your hearts the way they did

in the bitter uprising at Meribah

Where your ancestors tested Me

though they had seen My marvelous power.

For the 40 years they traveled on

to the land that I had promised them,

That generation broke My heart.

Grieving and angry, I said, “Their hearts are unfaithful;

they don’t know what I want from them.”

That is why I swore in anger

they would never enter salvation’s rest.

Brothers and sisters, pay close attention so you won’t develop an evil and unbelieving heart that causes you to abandon the living God. Encourage each other every day—for as long as we can still say “today”—so none of you let the deceitfulness of sin harden your hearts. For we have become partners with the Anointed One—if we can just hold on to our confidence until the end.

Look at the lines from the psalm again:

Today, if you listen to His voice,

Don’t harden your hearts the way they did

in the bitter uprising at Meribah.

Now who, exactly, was God talking to then? Who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all of those whom Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for an entire generation? Wasn’t it those who sinned against Him, those whose bodies are still buried in the wilderness, the site of that uprising? It was those disobedient ones who God swore would never enter into salvation’s rest. And we can see that they couldn’t enter because they did not believe.

The Book of Hebrews, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 9th chapter of First Chronicles that continues documenting the Family Tree of Israel that includes service for the Temple in Jerusalem:

This is the complete family tree for all Israel, recorded in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah at the time they were exiled to Babylon because of their unbelieving and disobedient lives.

[The Back-from-Exile Community in Jerusalem]

The first Israelites to return from exile to their homes and cities were the priests, the Levites, and the temple support staff.

Returning to Jerusalem from the families of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh were the following: Uthai son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, from the line of Perez son of Judah; from the Shilonites were Asaiah the firstborn and his sons; from the family of Zerah there was Jeuel. There were 690 in the Judah group.

From the family of Benjamin were Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah, and Ibneiah son of Jeroham, and Elah son of Uzzi, the son of Micri, and Meshullam son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah. There were 956 in the Benjamin group. All these named were heads of families.

From the company of priests there were Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jakin; Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, who was in charge of taking care of the house of God; Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malkijah; also Maasai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer. The priests, all of them heads of families, numbered 1,760, skilled and seasoned servants in the work of worshiping God.

From the Levites were Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, a Merarite; then Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zicri, the son of Asaph; also Obadiah son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun; and finally Berekiah son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

The security guards were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their brothers. Shallum was the chief and up to now the security guard at the King’s Gate on the east. They also served as security guards at the camps of Levite families.

Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, along with his brothers in the Korahite family, were in charge of the services of worship as doorkeepers of the Tent, as their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the camp of God. In the early days, Phinehas son of Eleazar was in charge of the security guards—God be with him! Now Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was the security guard at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The number of those who had been chosen to be security guards was 212—they were officially registered in their own camps. David and Samuel the seer handpicked them for their dependability. They and their sons had the permanent responsibility for guarding the gates of God’s house, the house of worship; the main security guards were posted at the four entrances, east, west, north, and south; their brothers in the villages were scheduled to give them relief weekly—the four main security guards were responsible for round-the-clock surveillance.

Being Levites, they were responsible for the security of all supplies and valuables in the house of God. They kept watch all through the night and had the key to open the doors each morning. Some were in charge of the articles used in The Temple worship—they counted them both when they brought them in and when they took them out. Others were in charge of supplies in the sanctuary—flour, wine, oil, incense, and spices. And some of the priests were assigned to mixing the oils for the perfume. The Levite Mattithiah, the firstborn son of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for baking the bread for the services of worship. Some of the brothers, sons of the Kohathites, were assigned to preparing the bread set out on the table each Sabbath.

And then there were the musicians, all heads of Levite families. They had permanent living quarters in The Temple; because they were on twenty-four-hour duty, they were exempt from all other duties. These were the heads of Levite families as designated in their family tree. They lived in Jerusalem.

[The Family of Saul]

Jeiel the father of Gibeon lived at Gibeon; his wife was Maacah. His firstborn son was Abdon, followed by Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth. Mikloth had Shimeam. They lived in the same neighborhood as their relatives in Jerusalem.

Ner had Kish, Kish had Saul, Saul had Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab, and Esh-Baal. Merib-Baal was the son of Jonathan and Merib-Baal had Micah. Micah’s sons were Pithon, Melech, and Tahrea. Ahaz had Jarah, Jarah had Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri; Zimri had Moza, Moza had Binea, Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah was his son, and Azel was his son. Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan—the sons of Azel.

The Book of 1st Chronicles, Chapter 9 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, january 8 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about the True nature of humility:

From our Torah portion this week (Shemot) we read: “when Moses grew up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens” (Exod. 2:11). The sages say, "do not read, 'he grew up,' but rather 'he became great'" (וַיִּגְדַּל), since Moses made the decision to experience the exile for himself by opening his eyes to his people's suffering. Indeed Moses was made great as he emptied himself of his royal privilege and identified with the pain and misfortunes of others (Phil. 2:7). As is written in the New Testament: “By faith Moses was made great (μέγας γενόμενος) by refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:24-25).

Regarding this verse the great Torah commentator Rashi wrote, “Moses set his eyes and heart to feel their anguish.” The midrash says that when Moses saw the hard labor of the people, he took their yoke upon him. Indeed some of the earlier sages said that sharing the burden of another is the essence of Torah, the very foundation of all heavenly obligation (Avot 6:6). Therefore the Apostle Paul wrote (Gal. 6:2): “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Torah of the Messiah (תּוֹרַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ).” Expressing empathy by identifying with the pains of others requires what is called bittul hayesh (בִּטּוּל הַיֵּשׁ), or the setting aside of the ego, which is also the essential requirement for revelation from heaven. Hence Moses was given direct encounter with the Divine Presence because of his great humility.

In order to say, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done" you must let go of your own agenda; your ego must be deposed from its petty little kingdom... Likewise, you can't say, "Come, Lord Jesus" by putting your fear first, or by otherwise demanding that your life should center on your own personal “advent.” No, you must consciously choose to live in exile to this world (Gal. 6:14). How can we ever expect the LORD to live out His life through us if we do not genuinely offer our lives to Him? And yet this is exactly the problem of the ego...

A principle of spiritual life is that we descend in order to ascend, or the "the way up is the way down." As Yeshua said, "Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all" (Mark 10:44). Becoming nothing (i.e., ayin) in this world is the condition for seeing something in the world to come. But we become nothing by trusting in the miracle, not by trying to efface ourselves... This is not another venture of the ego. Life in the Spirit means trusting that God will do within you what you cannot do for yourself... We can only take hold of what God has done for us by "letting go" of our own devices (Phil. 2:13). When we really let go and trust, we will become nothing (i.e., klume: כְּלוּם), carried by the Torah of the Spirit of life. The way is not trying but trusting; not struggling but resting; not of clinging to life, but of letting go...

This is another example of the difficulty of truly trusting God for the miracle, of genuinely receiving the miracle... Some people scorn the idea of "easy believism," though of course there is nothing at all "easy" about exercising true faith in the LORD and living the truth in our lives. We need the miracle; we need grace from heaven to impart real passion for us to walk according to God's heart. [Hebrew for Christians]

https://hebrew4christians.com/

1.7.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

January 8, 2021

Guide and Keeper

“For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.” (Psalm 31:3)

David wrote often about the trials of life, but he leaned on a wise and good Guide for deliverance. The next verses tell of the grave danger ahead and David’s resolve: “Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth” (vv. 4-5). “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners” addresses that in its fourth stanza.

Jesus! what a Guide and Keeper!

While the tempest still is high,

Storms about me, night o’ertakes me,

He, my Pilot, hears my cry.

There was a time in the gospels when the disciples were overwhelmed by a tempest, but Jesus Christ, their Guide and Keeper, calmed the sea and rescued them. “There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves....Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:24-26). This was one of their first indications He was more than a mere man. “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” (v. 27).

Sailors know the value of a wise and experienced pilot who can guide their ship into safe harbor. In an analogous way, Christ and His Spirit can keep us from ruin—human, natural, or spiritual. Christ promised, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). We are safe in His care.

The Old Testament contains the precious truth “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). We have the assurance that “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). JDM

[frederickwiddowson]

The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 13:14-41 comments: Paul preaches in Antioch of Pisidia

Acts 13:14 ¶  But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. 15  And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. 18  And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. 19  And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. 20  And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21  And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. 22  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 23  Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: 24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25  And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. 26  Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27  For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28  And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30  But God raised him from the dead: 31  And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32  And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33  God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 38  Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40  Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; 41  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

 Perga was in Pamphylia. There were several places named Antioch in the Greek-speaking world. Pisidian Antioch is near Perga on the map. Both would be in what is present-day Turkey. This Antioch is not the Antioch called the “cradle of Christianity”. So, it is not the same town as where the Christians were first called as such near the modern-day city of Antakya, Turkey in extreme Southern Turkey. Pisidian Antioch is near the present-day Isparta Province in Turkey.

 Here Paul gives a sermon in a synagogue. As they are Jews his sermon is filled with Old Testament references. Notice in verse 19 Chanaan, spelled with a Ch rather than just a C, gives us a clue as to the way to pronounce the Ch in words, like a K. Again, remember my remarks about variations in spelling.

 In my comments on Genesis 15:12-16 I noted;

 “God tells Abram that his seed will be servants in a foreign land, which we know to be Egypt. They will be afflicted for four hundred years and will serve the people of that land. This is an about, not an exact 400 years, ten months, 23 days, and two hours type of statement.

Exodus 12:40  Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

And then, Luke recounting what Stephen said, alluding to what Moses had written from God’s words;

Acts 7:6  And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

If I wrote you a lesson that said, ‘in the thousand years since the Norman invasion of England,’ and then, in the lesson later wrote, ‘in the nine hundred and fifty four years since 1066, when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at Hastings,’ would that be a contradiction or would you understand what I said as meaning the same thing?

Here is Paul referring to this bondage bracketed between the covenant and the giving of the Law.

Galatians 3:17  And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

Rabbis have written that the affliction begins when Ishmael, the offspring of Abram and Hagar, an Egyptian, begins to persecute Isaac, the son of the promise. They regarded the four hundred years to start from that point.

God also tells Abram that four generations will come into being in Egypt before returning to the land that is promised, The Promised Land of Canaan. For instance, Levi, Jacob’s son, and his son, Kohath, and his son, Amram, and his son, Moses. These were four generations that sojourned in Egypt. It is then important to see that God is talking about two different things; four hundred years of affliction and four generations in a foreign land. As the Bible clearly states in Exodus the Hebrews come out of Egypt with a great deal of wealth given to them freely by the Egyptians.”

Notice verse 20 says about the space of four hundred and fifty years. Using the typical fallacious modernist mindset of reading the Bible like an instruction manual for your lawn mower I have been amazed at how many Christian commentators argue about how this figure of four hundred and fifty can be reconciled by adding this or subtracting that trying to fit it into the timelines one derives by adding up reigns and rules. This is nonsense. You dare deny the Holy Spirit the very same figures of speech you use yourselves? The very same general statements that are approximations or even hyperbole?

In verse 21 the Hebrew name Kish from 1Samuel 9:1 is translated from a Greek derivation as Cis in English. Note also how Elijah of the Old Testament verses like Malachi 4:5 is translated from the Greek as Elias in New Testament verses like Matthew 11:14.

Notice how in verse 33 Paul links the resurrection with the verse in Psalm 2. As an eternal being Christ represents all of us who will be raised incorruptible, the children of God.

Romans 8:17 ¶  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered

from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

 In Hebrews 1:5 Paul connects it to Christ’s birth and the relationship between a Father and a Son. By the time we get to verse 8 in Hebrews 1 we are back at Christ’s rule and authority, the basis of Psalm 2.

Hebrews 1:4 ¶  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art

my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

 Notice in verse 8 of Hebrews 1 the reference is made to Psalm 45:6. Here is the original reference in Psalm 2 marking out Christ’s physical reign on earth to come.

 Psalm 2:1 ¶  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his

anointed, saying, 3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

     7 ¶  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and

the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

     10 ¶ Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish

from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

 In verse 34 in Acts 13 here he makes mention of the sure mercies of David.

 Isaiah 55:3  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

 Following this is a reference to David’s prophecy of Christ’s resurrection a thousand years previously.

 Psalm 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 Peter uses this verse in his sermon noted in Acts 2:27. Here is the entire passage in Psalm 16.

 Psalm 16:8 ¶  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in

hope. 10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 Note the argument that Paul makes here that David could not have been talking about himself as he did see corruption and knew that he would die eventually. Only Enoch, Elijah, and Christ saw no corruption.

 See in verse 36 how if you are doing God’s work you serve in a generation and then you are gone from the world and others take your place. In modern evangelical terms we can get caught up in the broad sweep of events over history rather than placing ourselves in the context of our generation.

 In 41 Paul issues a warning based on;

 Habbakuk 1:5 ¶  Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

[nijjhar]

The noble sons of the Noble Abraham would not spit at the stranger but t... The noble sons of the Noble Abraham would not spit at the stranger but the "Saltless" Tares would. Video link https://youtu.be/7HNMGI91Pnk Predictions based upon the Chosen People of Yahweh. Matt 13v24-30 is getting fulfilled. Tares would be burnt. https://youtu.be/xCP4_8JQ2ws PREDICTION BASED UPON THE "CHOSEN PEOPLE" OF THE DEMIURGE YAHWEH, BRAHMA, KHUDA, ETC. By Chaudhry Rajinder Nijjhar of the Jatt tribe M.Sc., Retired Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa. We are very lucky to have a demonstration nation of Priests, the moral teachers, through whom we learn all the moral laws. Abram was of the Semitic race and was loved by both the black Negros and the white Aryans people and he, a Nobel Man, was picked up from the Iraq area, the cradle of humanity to settle in the Middle East as Adam, Sarah as Eve and Yahweh gave them the "Promised Land" as the Garden of Eden. So far, the generations of Abraham remained faithful to Abraham and Yahweh, the sons of Man called "Salt of the earth", they enjoyed the best fruit of the earth whilst when they had become liars and murderers, John 8v44, then the same land became barren and the unfaithful "Saltless" people were kicked out of the Promised Land called exodus remembered as "Sukkot" in which they had to leave for a foreign land (Egypt, the land of the faithful Elder son of Abraham, Ishmael) as "slaves". Jesus told this story in the Parable of the Prodigal son Isaac and how they suffered under the cruel Pheroh and Moses, the First Prophet liberated them as the repentant faithful sons of Abraham in which case, there was no more "rift" among the brethren as Moses had made them faithful to Abraham, Father bof the Faithful sons", creating "Eros, the tribal love" among them called the snakes (rifts) were lifted up in the wilderness. But this trait of the Jewish patriarchs did not vanish but became stronger at the times of Christ Jesus depicted in the "Crucification of the Most Righteous Person Jesus" by these thorough "Saltless" people on earth called the "Tares", trouble makers and their fate is foretold by Christ Jesus in the Parable of the Farmer, Yahweh, Matt 13v24-30 when the End of this Dark Age called "Kalyug" comes, I will bundle up the Tares in Israel and burn them yjrough the Atomic War expected on 14/11/2023 wjen Israel is 75 plus six months of intensive war in the name of Yahweh whilst in the Seventh Month, the Middle Candle of Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc. represented by all merciful Christ Jesus, the ATOMIC WAR in which the faithful tribal sons, Wheat Plants, that are found in Africa and the Brazillian jungles will survive. The Cycle of the Four Ages is represented by Swastika. Much more in my Youtube Videos; channel One God One Faith. All this you learn through "intuition" taught not by the humans but by God within you if you are not greedy but contented with your lot. The "Blood Money" as depicted by the Temple High Priest and his stooges especially the American Jews controlling Mammon and Media belongs to the sons of most High Satan Al-Djmar Al-Aksa who will vanish from the planet earth leaving the 144000 tribal people to enjoy the fruits of the earth. Finally, let us Glorify our Supernatural Father of our supernatural "soul" Elohim, Allah, ParBrahm, etc. by Eating the flesh of Jesus and His Second coming "Christ = Satguru Nanak", "His Word" Preached by them by lending our ears, Mouth, and take it to our heart, the Stomach and digest it by the teeth of "Logical reasoning" to Brew "Logo" and Preach it from the Rooftops called Drinking the Blood of Christ within our own heart called the "Innerman" and not the inner woman, the Disciples of Pope, Rabbis, hireling Dog-Collared Priests working for Mammon and not God that deliver the sugar-coated sermons of falsehoods far sweeter than honey that creates sectarian riots such as Catholics and Protestants. Jesus established the Church of God, One Fold, the Fellowship of the Royal Priests, headed by One Shepherd, the unbiased like the little children Christ Jesus and His Second Coming Christ = Satguru Nanak. A typical example of the Church of Satan is the Church of England headed by King Charles whose soldiers are not like the serving ones of the Salvation Army but the killers and looters. Brethren, wake up from your SLUMBER. Greatest Blasphemers and Killers Blair and Bush:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qHdTpTXHvE&list=PL0C8AFaJhsWz7HtQEhV91eAKugUw73PW1 Blair and Bush’s blasphemies against Holy Spirit   https://youtu.be/0WBYOmpDuCs Shoe throwing at Bush by the Soldier of God Elohim, Allah, Parbrahm, etc., a HERO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_shoeing_incident#:~:text=%22Arab%20moment%E2%80%9D.-,Event,Bush. This is America - Israel in Disguise:- Grim American Jewish Reaper waving sickle to kill more in Venezuela as they did in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc. www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/GrimReaper.htm   Beware of these robed people. Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf

[pastorralffriedrichs]

“Lord, You are my portion and my cup of blessing; You hold my future.” - Psalm 16:5

A dry, parched land stretched out before them. Hagar and her son Ishmael had used up the last of the water given to them by Abraham before he sent them away (Genesis 21:14).

Discouragement saw opportunity and came calling. With no water in sight, Hagar knew they couldn’t survive. So she set Ishmael under a tree and walked away.

She couldn’t watch her only son suffer this way. No water, no future, no hope. The emptiness of the water skin reflected the emptiness of her spirit.

Uncertainty and emptiness often walk hand-in-hand. Our concern for the unknown causes us to try and fill our questioning hearts with answers. Find solutions. Because we long to fill the void with something that will satisfy. And the more we try in our own strength to fill the void, the emptier we become.

Only one thing will fill the emptiness when life’s battles leave us depleted.

“Lord, You are my portion and my cup of blessing; You hold my future.”

Psalm 16:5

Hagar had forgotten God’s promise to fill her cup with abundant blessings. Ishmael would have a future, greater than anything Hagar herself could’ve planned. But she needed to trust God to be the portion to fill the emptiness with the fullness of His presence. “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well full of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.”

Genesis 21:19

When we remember to turn our focus to our everlasting Father and seek Him as our portion, He supernaturally becomes whatever we need to fill that void. It may be strength to face another day, joy in a time of loss, or peace instead of panic. Whatever we need, God is the sustaining portion.

If you’ve forgotten to ask God to be your portion lately, take heart. Then take your uncertainty to Him. Let’s begin with this prayer, and find satisfaction as God fills our cup with blessings today.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You For Your Precious Word. Thank You For The Encouragement It Brings Me In Difficult Times. Lord, I’ve Been Sensing A Void Lately That I Can’t Quite Explain. It Seems Like I’m Facing One Thing After Another, And When I Look At My Struggles I Feel Empty. Hopelessness And Discouragement Threaten Me. Help Me To Remember That You Are My Portion. You Fill My Cup And Are The Only One Who Will Satisfy My Parched Soul.

Help Me Hold Onto This Truth. Your Word Says In Psalm 16:5, You Hold My Future. I Can Rest In Knowing Even In My Uncertainty That You Are In Control, And You Have Good Plans For Me.

Psalm 73:26 Assures Me That You Are “The Strength Of My Heart And My Portion Forever.” When I’m Tempted To Search For Temporary Things To Fill The Void In My Heart, Help Me Recall This Verse. You Are My Portion. Not Only Today, Not Only Tomorrow. Forever.

I Pray As You Fill My Cup To Overflowing, I Will Discover The Strength, Joy, And Peace That Comes From You Alone. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

#takeyourlifebacktodayshow

#ralffriedrichs

[kingdomofthelogos]

A Sanctuary from Sin

The Church is called to be a sanctuary from sin, not a harbor for sin. As Christians we are called to be born again as Children of God, not mere products of our passions. Furthermore, we must structure the church as a place where people clearly can see liberty from their sin.

In order to do this, we have to assert the truth of sin. Does Christ erase the existence of sin, or cleanse the sinners willing to receive His testimony and pursue Christlikeness? A good understanding of salvation and sanctification holds that sin and its temptations are threats to spiritual health. Sin is a serious problem, and it cannot simply be wished away with good will.  

We live in a culture that holds to a belief of “live your truth,” or “live out your passion.” This sounds simple and harmless, but there is a huge problem with this line of thinking that says “live your truth.” This notion fails to acknowledge the truth that we are all sinners, and need the power of God to be liberated from sin. Furthermore, if fails to acknowledge that there are real consequences to sin. We need to have a fixed standard for truth, and not leave truth up human impulse.

The entire myth that abortion is acceptable is centered around a modern luxury where actions do not have immediately visible consequences. We hide the brutal truth of abortion, or pretend that a God who sent His Son to die for others, that a God teaching there is no greater love than the love that leads one to lay down their life for another, that a God who chose to redeem degenerates and defectives would somehow find it acceptable to kill our own children if we consider the circumstances of their birth to be anything other than ideal. Our culture is built around hiding from the consequences of our actions, and its all a lie.

If your passion is to rob banks or commit violent crime, we can easily see that those are not good Yet, the hidden sins are equally destructive. If we are honest we will realize that our unregenerate passions are contrary to the call of God, and sometimes "our truth" is outright evil. We need to be transformed into Christlikeness so that the truth we live out is not of our own design, but instead it is of the design of God.

The truth of God is that He sent His Son to forgive us of our sins. The condition of humanity is to be a sinner, and this is true for every son of Adam and daughter of Eve. Everyone of us is born with an immovable sin. However, if we turn to God and accept the Testimony of Christ we can find forgiveness and be made new regardless of where we start in life.

The Truth of God is greater than the truth of a single man. It is greater than the truth of a collection of men. In fact, the truth of God cannot be compared to the unreliable truths emerging from the soul of sin.

Yet, once we have accepted Christ and begin the journey of sanctification, we will find ourselves being renewed day by day. We will find our minds being transformed and molded more and more into the image of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. 9 Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again? 10 You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted. (NRSV)

Sin enslaves people, and its consequences are real. Despite the obvious ugliness of slavery, there are many people who desire to be slaves to sin. Our world sells a belief system that tells people it is ok to be enslaved to one’s own truth or desire. That you can only be fulfilled if you are living out your desires. This is quite tragic, because it is ultimately unfulfilling. The church must give people an alternative to where they can be relieved from the chaos of sin.  

The Consequences of Sin

Galatians 4:22-26 takes us to the story of Hagar, found in Genesis 16, where a child is born due to a direct lack of faith. Abraham and Sarah didn’t trust God’s promise to bring them a child, so they decided to live “their truth” and seek to fulfill themselves through a means other than God’s design. This created great suffering and caused chaos with no easy answer. If we look at the social dilemmas and injustices in this world, we will find that they are all consequences of sin.

Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. 23 One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. (NRSV)

The Galatians text uses the story of Hagar as a springboard for understanding our relationship to sin. Abraham made the decision to move outside of God’s design and have a child with Hagar, who was not his wife Sarah. Suffering immediately ensued. As soon as Sarah, Abraham’s wife, gave birth to her first child with Abraham, she was immediately displeased with the existence of Hagar and her child. Therefore, Hagar and her son Ishmael were thrown out into the wilderness.

Whenever people act outside of God’s design, suffering and chaos is brewing. God does not desire for us to life in suffering and chaos. Hagar is stuck in a difficult situation because of sin.

So how do we respond to these difficult situations? If you were asked by Hagar who her husband was, what would be your answer? If she asked you to take her home where would you take her? If she asked you to return Ishmael to his homeland where would you take him? There is no clean answer to these questions, because sin has complicated life.

God’s response is to redeem rather than condemn. Hagar and Ishmael were already condemned as they waited thirstily for a death of starvation in the wilderness. God came to them and blessed them with life and a promise to make a nation out of Ishmael. Despite the reality of sin, God came to pull Hagar and Ishmael out of the pits caused by sin.

There are many who are trapped in slavery to sin, where they have made covenants outside the design of God. Many people do not care to acknowledge the state of their soul. The church must want to pull people out of covenants of slavery and show them the liberating Gospel of Christ Jesus.

We as the church must be people pulling people out of these situations rather than advancing them. The church must be a sanctuary from sin, and this requires us to work with others to give them the hope found in Christ Jesus. Our world likes to be desperate and stay in the pits of life, but Christ wants to call us out of them.

[thescienceofapologetics]

Have you done any research on Islam? Like why they believe they are the best or the first of the major 3 religions or whatever? Or even where their 'prophet' came from?

Every religion boasts that it’s the best, no one would believe it if they didn’t believe it were so. While religions can claim to be the best, however, Christianity is the only one that can support that claim. As for believing they are the first, Islam’s roots can be traced all the way back to Ishmael. God promised Abraham a son, but he and Sarah took matters into their own hands. Instead of trusting God, Abraham sired a child with Hagar, a child named Ishmael. Isaac was later born to Abraham and Sarah, but because of Abraham and Sarah’s actions, the effects of that sin are some we still suffer from today. While Isaac’s descendants would eventually lead to the birth of Jesus, Ishmael’s descendants deviated and created their own false religion - Islam. All that to say, Ishmael did come before Isaac, but while Muslims believe that Abraham was not a Jew or Christian, the Bible, which has proven itself far more trustworthy than the Qur’an, says otherwise. Their prophet, Muhammad, was a man who lived during the 7th century, and claimed to have been given divine revelation by an angel. This is exactly why the Bible says in Galatians 1:8-9, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”

For more information about the origins of Islam and the differences between it and Christianity, I would start by looking up Usama K. Dakdok’s books on “Exposing the Truth About the Qur’an”.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: ALMS AND CHARITY: VIRTUES OF ZAKAT: Part 9

DID ZAKAT EXIST IN RELIGIONS PRIOR TO ISLAM?

Past prophets have also been under obligation to take humankind by the hand and show all the roads leading to physical and spiritual ascension; thus, they too have shown the precious path of zakat as part of a primordial effort to diminish class differences in societies and to provide a judicious and blissful lifestyle remote from detrimental excessiveness. By virtue of providing examples of previous Prophetic applications, the Qur’an does much to put the accent on this mission. Following a brief reference in the Qur’an to the prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob comes the following declaration:

And We made them leaders to guide people in accordance with Our command: We inspired in them acts of virtue, the establishment of salat and payment of zakat. They were worshippers of Us. (Anbiya 21:73)

In reference to Prophet Ishmael, the matchless significance of salat and zakat as the primordial existence of alms as an essential component of worship is underlined from early on: “He used to enjoin his people salat and zakat, and was acceptable in the sight of his Lord” (Maryam 19:55).

Salat and Zakat, in actual fact, are the common denominators of all monotheistic religions, where salat and zakat, after belief in the Oneness of God, form the very core of worship. In fact, salat and zakat are, or at least were, essential characteristics of all of the great religions of the world, those guided by a long line of prophets sent by God since the dawn of humankind, despite the fact that current forms of worship in some faith communities may vary in outward appearance. In support of this, the Qur’an, adamantly states:

They were ordered no more than to worship God with sincere devotion, to honestly establish salat and give zakat. And that is the Standard Religion.” (Bayyina 98:5)

The following verse, which provides insight into how  the people of Midian first received teachings of Prophet Jethro (Shuayb) teachings about obligatory zakat, bears testimony to its practice in preceding times:

In sarcasm, they said, “O Jethro! Does your salat command you that we should abandon what our forefathers worshipped or that we should cease doing what we like with our property? Conversely, you are pleasant and right-minded.” (Hud 11:87)

The Midians’ apprehension at being compelled to cease doing what they liked with their properties denotes, almost certainly, a remonstration against zakat. The people of the Midian, who evidently had a complete appreciation for the altruistic Jethro, still could not get themselves to accept or follow Jethro’s brave attempts to encourage them to perform proper salat or give zakat; branding him instead as an instigator, and a rebel. As is the usual case with similar public dissensions, the people of Midian had a ready scapegoat for giving full vent to their frustrations about the obligation of zakat which was, as can be seen, salat itself.

Even though the Qur’an does not explain, literally, whether or not each prophet carried the duty of imposing zakat, it is highly possible to argue for its primordial existence through the ideal notion of peace, the humane spirit of assistance and support represented and accentuated by each Messenger, beginning with the Prophet Adam, and the Qur’anic references discussed above.

In addition, despite having their initial contents altered, the Torah and the Bible still include many passages which support the proposition that zakat actually predates Islam. As no revelations prior to Muhammad %(upon whom be peace) have survived to this day in their original forms, a fact supported even among Jewish and Christian scholars, the sole, authoritative point of reference in this argument remains the Qur’an itself. Additionally, it is worth noting that the Qur’an stresses zakat was enjoined as a duty on Jews and Christians, as well, not just on Muslims, as the textual references to the Qur’an which are included below will clearly demonstrate. Likewise, an analysis of the Torah and the Bible provides fascinating similarities and conformities with Islam’s all-embracing concept of zakat.

ZAKAT IN JUDAISM

The Qur’an generally tends to speak of the Jews as somewhat “skaters on thin ice,” underlining their preponderantly neglectful attitude concerning their religious responsibilities and periodically provides us a detailed account of what exactly those responsibilities were:

And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, We said; “Serve none but God, show kindness to your parents and to your relatives, to the orphans and the needy; speak kindly to humankind, establish the prayer and pay the zakat. But with the exception of a few, you turned away and paid no heed. (Baqara 2:83)

Zakat along with salat is sternly recommended as a requirement for divine acquittal for their transgressions:

God made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and God said: “I am with you. If you establish salat and pay the zakat, and believe in My Messengers and support them, and lend to God a goodly loan, surely I shall remit your sins, and surely I shall admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whosoever among you disbelieves after this has gone astray from a straight path.” (Maida 5:12)

And in spite of undergoing multiple amendments, the current text of the Torah still grants us glimpses of the spirit of zakat, grounded on the relations between the rich and the poor:

Jehovah has not despised or been disgusted with the plight of the oppressed one. He has not hidden His face from that person. Jehovah heard when that oppressed person cried out to Him for help. (Psalms 22:24)

When you help the poor (needy) (lowly) (depressed) you lend to Jehovah. He will pay you back. (Proverbs 19:17)

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. He who has mercy for the poor honors his Maker. (Proverbs 14:31)

This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. Be generous to these poor people. Freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hardhearted and stingy with them. When the seventh year, the year when payments on debts are canceled, is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to Jehovah about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. Give the poor what they need, because then Jehovah will make you successful in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:7-12)

He who gives to the poor will not lack. But he who hides his eyes will have many curses. (Proverbs 28:27)

And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness and your gloom will be like midday. (Isaiah 58:10)

He who gets ahead by oppressing the poor and giving to the rich will certainly suffer loss. (Proverbs 22:16)

It is certainly easy, by and large, to draw a connection between the above verses and many Qur’anic passages, not to mention the conspicuously striking similarities between some. It is these considerable parallels that lead us to the conclusion that the ideas and instructions all stem from the same source, God, and that the essential issues concerning humankind have, quite surprisingly, undergone very little change despite human’s apparent weakness as a transmitter over time.

One further point deserves mention. The above quotations gathered from the Torah, as well as the upcoming Biblical passages, are from current versions of the texts which have, as is widely accepted and as noted above, been partially or predominantly altered, though the exact extent and manner in which such changes have been brought to these ancient scriptures is a matter for debate. A tentative and prudent approach to the current versions is thus the correct attitude, as recommended wisely by the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) himself:

When the People of the Book utter a narration, do not agree nor disagree with them, but say, “We only believe in God and His Messengers.” This way, concurrence is avoided if they speak lies, and denial is avoided provided that they speak the truth.

ZAKAT IN CHRISTIANITY

The situation in Christianity is no different, for the Prophet Jesus, while still in the cradle, utters the duties obliged onto him by God in the following manner:

(Whereupon) he (the baby) spoke out: “I am indeed a servant of God. He has given me the Scripture and has appointed me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I may be and has commanded me to pray and to give alms to the poor as long as I live. And (He) has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me oppressive, wicked. So peace be upon me the day I was born and the day that I die and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again).” (Maryam 19:30-33)

Considering the fact that the Bible predominantly focuses on ethical issues, a jurisprudential adherence to the Torah, so to speak, was a social necessity. Nonetheless, there are copious Biblical verses which themselves allude to zakat and sadaqa. The  following  passages  may throw light on this discussion; of course, the possible alterations to these passages must be kept in mind:

Be careful! Do not display your righteousness (good works) before men to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward with your heavenly Father. Do not loudly announce it when you give to the poor. The hypocrites do this in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do this to be praised by men. Believe me, they have already been paid in full. When you give charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. (Matthew 6:1-3)

He looked at him and was afraid. “What is it, Lord?” he replied. The angel said: “God hears your prayers and sees your gifts of mercy. (Acts 10:4)

He said: Cornelius, your prayer is heard and your gifts of mercy are noticed in the sight of God. (Acts 10:31)

Jesus then replied: “If you wish to be complete, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. You will have wealth in heaven. Then follow  me!” But hearing these words, the young man went away grieving, for he was very wealthy. Jesus said to his disciples: “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of heaven. Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:21-24)

Sell your possessions and give to charity. Make yourselves purses that do not get old, a treasure in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot steal. (Luke 12:33)

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (Corinthians 13:3)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. You should do both and leave nothing undone. (Matthew 23:23)

It is thus quite possible to, again, draw connections between the Qur’an and Hadith, on the one hand, and many Biblical passages. The level of conspicuous similarities between the above texts accentuates their unity of origin. Adopting this approach in scrutinizing the Torah and the Bible will, undeniably, offer us much more evidence culminating in the very same conclusion.