Tag Archives: Jews

Sep 14

THE SEVENTH DAY GOD RESTED…WHY?

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THE SEVENTH DAY GOD RESTED…WHY? Does God need rest like we do? What were those ancient Jewish writers trying to say? What does “created in His image” mean? Do you think that becoming aware of what the jewish scholars and rabbis are writing today might give us a better insight?-mackie
 
While it is true that many translations of the Bible such as the New Revised Version Standard (NRSV), the King James’ Version (KJV) and others render the word Shavat as “rested” a more accurate translation of Shavat is “abstained,” i.e., “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because He abstained from all His work which God created to make” (Gen. 2:4). Nachmanides (12th century) interpreted these words to mean “he ceased to perform all His creative work.”
Why the need to abstain? Obviously it wasn’t because of tiredness! God’s resting from creation teaches us that as human beings created in the image of God, we too need to make time for rest and purposely abstain from interfering with creation one day of the week. The passion to create can sometimes be dangerous — especially for a technological society that prides itself on its ability to create, manipulate and control the world around it.
There’s a great story I would like to share with you from Mrs. Lettie Cowman’s wonderful book, Springs in the Valley. In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
 

 

Mar 11

IS OUR FREEDOM SLIPPING AWAY?

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Then They Came for the Trade Unionists

Thursday 10 March 2011 by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

On this day, it behooves us to remember the words of Martin Niemoller.

 

“First they came for the communists,” he wrote,

“and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me and

there was no one left to speak out for me.”


I am a trade unionist, and yesterday in Wisconsin, they came for me. They came for you. They came for every working person in America, and their intent could not be more clear. Governor Scott Walker, along with the Koch Brothers and the right-wing radicals of the Republican Party, moved in darkness and with shameless deceit to gut the ability of dedicated laborers to bargain on an equal footing for the right to earn a living wage and to have access to decent health care.

Among other things, the bill as passed allows the state to fire anyone who participates in a strike. The story of the 20th century was written by workers who dared to face the truncheon in order to fight for their basic rights, and the strike was integral to that struggle. Any Wisconsin worker who dares to stand in defiance of The Bosses now faces personal annihilation, not just for themselves, but for their family. America was made in the struggle of union workers standing shoulder to shoulder in defiance of the idea that being rich means being right. That struggle is now in mortal peril, and the outcome affects all of us.”

For much more click on:
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“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. Matt: 7:15

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit.
You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God.
For there are many false prophets in the world. 1st John 1:4

 

Aug 15

THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM?

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As most of us know, in all believers of faith there are liberal, moderate, and conservative in each faith.  Most tolerate each other out of love and respect.  There is one other group that most have problems with: the extremists.
  
There are 3 MAJOR FAITHS that developed from Abraham Jewish, Christian, and Islam.  Last year several teenagers from these each of these faiths got together believing that if people get to know those of other faiths, conflicts would ease.  over time a conference was formed called: “Children of Abraham: Building Interfaith Peace and Community.” It was organized by the Interfaith Center for Peace, a nonprofit group housed at Indianola Presbyterian Church (click #2 below).  The following article reports on Islam with the same belief that if people get to know those of other faiths, conflicts would ease, and there will be less chance of war. -mackie
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It’s Ramadan — the holiest month for the world’s estimated 1.5 billion Muslims. We won’t discuss Ramadan so much as experience something of its meaning — its delights and its gravity — through the memories and musings of Muslims from far-flung perspectives.
 
The “Multiplicity in Singularity” That Is Islam
 
We’re thrilled to put this program back on the air a year after we created it. It is really more an experience than a show — one that was as full of discovery to produce as to hear.

In fact, we were surprised to find ourselves creating it. At the beginning of the summer of 2009, we extended an invitation to Muslims to reflect on their lived experience of Islam, of what it means — in a daily, particular way — to be part of what is often referred to in the abstract as “the Muslim world.” Responses were slow at first but began to pick up in number and intensity as our query was circulated in networks far beyond the public radio universe. 

 

 Link #2:

 http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/26/abraham.ART_ART_10-26-09_B1_I9FFR9V.html 

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SEARCHING FOR RELIABLE SOURCES,
not hearsay, rumors, or falsehoods.