#I think the Muslim and Jewish teachings on this are very similar

[frownyalfred]

the creator talking about omegas and Ramadan over on tiktok has me up wondering how pikuach nefesh applies to heats during Jewish fasts too and yeah, maybe that’s enough internet for today.

#I think the Muslim and Jewish teachings on this are very similar #but I would need to ask my rabbi #also I cannot ask my rabbi this so #here we are #a/b/o #a/b/o mention #a/b/o tw #omegaverse #Judaism #Islam

[pencopanko]

Antisemitism and Islamophobia are very similar (if not the same), actually

So I was scrolling down the #palestine tag for any updates and important information, and I came across this:

And I think we need to sit down and talk about this.

I am a Muslim. I live in Indonesia, a country that is predominantly Muslim and a lot of Muslims here also support the Palestinian cause. Hell, even our government supports it by not only allowing Palestinian goods enter the country without fee, but also by taking in Palestinian refugees and even acknowledging the status of Palestine as a state while not having any political ties with Israel. The topic of the Palestinian tragedy has been spoon-fed to us at schools, sermons, media, etc., so your average Indonesian Muslim would at the very least be aware of the conflict while non-Muslims would hear about it from their Muslim friends or through media.

However, there is a glaring problem. One that I keep seeing way too often for my liking.

A lot of them are antisemitic as hell. The sermons I would hear sometimes demonize Jewish people. Antisemitic statements are openly said out loud on social media. Some are even Nazi supporters who would literally go to anime cons and COSPLAY as members of the Nazi party. This is not just an Indonesian Muslim problem, no, but this is a glaring issue within the global Islamic community as a whole. Today, this sense of antisemitism is usually rooted in general hatred towards the Israeli government and its actions against the people of Palestine, but antisemitism amongst Muslims are also rooted in certain interpretations of verses from the Qur'an and Hadith mentioning Jewish people and Judaism (particularly the Bani Israil), but in a way that is more ridiculing instead of life-threatening when compared to how antisemitism looks like in the Western world.

As someone who prefers to become a "bridge" between two sides in most cases, I find this situation to be concerning, to say the least. While, yes, it is important for us Muslims to support Palestine and fight against injustice, we must not forget that not every Jewish people support the Israeli government. A lot of them are even anti-Zionists who actively condemn Israel and even disagree with the existence of Israel as a state as it goes against their teachings. A lot of them are also Holocaust survivors or their descendants, so it is harmful to think for one second that Hitler's actions and policies were justified. It's just like saying that Netanyahu is right for his decision to destroy Palestine and commit war crime after war crime towards the Palestinians.

As Muslims, we also need to remember that Jewish people (the Yahudi) are considered ahli kitab, i.e. People Of The Book along with Christians (the Nasrani). The Islam I have come to know and love has no mentions of Allah allowing us to persecute them or anyone collectively for the actions of a few. While, yes, there are disagreements with our respective teachings I do not see that as an excuse to even use antisemitic slurs against Jewish people during a pro-Palestine rally, let alone support a man who was known for his acts of cruelty toward the Jewish community in WW2. They are still our siblings/cousins in faith, after all. Unless they have done active harm like stealing homes from civilians or celebrating the destruction of Palestine or supporting the Israeli government and the IOF or are members of the IOF, no Jewish people (and Christians, for that matter) must be harmed in our fight against Zionism.

Contemporary antisemitism is similar to (if not straight up being the exact same thing as) contemporary Islamophobia, if you think about it; due to the actions of a select few that has caused severe harm towards innocent people, an entire community has been a target of hate. Even when you have tried to call out the ones supporting such cruelties, you are still getting bombarded by hate speech. It's doubly worse if you're also simultaneously part of a marginalized group like BIPOC, LGBTQ+, etc. as you also get attacked on multiple sides. This is where we all need to self-reflect, practice empathy, and unlearn all of the antisemitism and unjustified hatred that we were exposed to.

So, do call out Zionism and Nazism when you see it. Call out the US government for funding this atrocity and others before it that had ALSO triggered the rise of Islamophobia. Call your reps. Go to the streets. Punch a fascist if you feel so inclined. Support your local businesses instead of pro-Israel companies.

But not at the cost of our Jewish siblings. Not at the cost of innocent Jewish people who may also be your allies. If you do that, you are no different from a MAGA cap-wearing, gun-tooting, slur-yelling Islamophobe.

That is all for now, may your watermelons taste fresh and sweet.

🍉

Salam Semangka, Penco

#palestine #free palestine #gaza strip #free gaza #israel #israeli occupation #boycott israel #penco writes #penco rambles #yupyupyup #antisemitism #islam #islamophobia #thought piece

[rotzaprachim]

Fiction doesn’t equal reality obvious disclaimer but one of the weird things about the shadow and bone fandom is it like…. Is to me a kind of record of the dehumanizing moral polarity people had around Jews prior to Oct 7 when everything about Judaism became Bad and Fair game. Like the darkling imho is Jewish coded and he does very bad things in ways that aren’t separated from how he is Jewish coded-not only because there are no guarantees that being a marginalized person will stop you from hurting others, but because of the fact marginalization and pain don’t teach valuable lessons and instead force many people into the idea they need violence and extremism - including against their own people, especially women - to Keep Everyone Safe. Like the darkling’s logic and thought processes are very similar to Jewish nationalists and militarists, not only to Zionism but the most specifically violent and extreme forms and fandom was OK with it because the IRL Jewishness had been scrubbed from the box at the same time they expressed genuine hatred of Jews in real life with ideologies nowhere newer as extreme. But see aleks, a fictional Jewish coded man, Had to be good and alright and cool even as he did (check notes) kill mass numbers of people and almost destroy a comity because what if those people didn’t like grisha? It’s the acceptance of fictional Jewish extremism without serious empathy for the complex politics of real Jews that disturbs me. People like Jewish violence when it’s removed from the context of real life. I’m going to mix metaphors for a second because this is a fantasy series and they mix metaphors. Leigh specifically multiple times said she didn’t model Matthias on Nazis and that he isn’t one and fandom didn’t buy her. I don’t want to let Matthias off the hook - I think he’s a fascinating and profoundly messy character- but I think the refusal to take Leigh at her word flattened the fact that Matthias as a violent religious extremist is an uncomfortably mdoern and global figure. There are evangelical Christians in the us like Matthias, there are Muslims and Hindus like Matthias, and - there are Jews like Matthias. Much of matthias’s logic and violence reflects the ideology of modern right wing religious Jewish men men in Israel, down to the fear of women’s voices or being touched by a woman. Much of Matthias’s ideology and backstory is probably closer to a his family was actually killed, as has been the case with some of the killings of Israeli civilians. So I’m not saying he /is/ a violent right wing Jew but there’s much about him that’s /like/ them in real life. To me the darkling and matthias represent two of the worst modern streaks of Jewish violence - one explicitly Jewish, one universalized but potentially so-, and so it’s wild to see years of fandom refusing to see that Jews /could/ be bad or do and things and then wiping all those things they did away at the same time as many of the same people are genuinely fine with making generalized moral claims that real Jews actually are inherent morally monstrosities of evil now that it’s become politically and culturally acceptable to do so

[ritualofthehabit]

Honestly ever since reading several articles decrying ousd for like the fact that “almost 2 dozen Jewish students have transferred out of ousd for fear of antisemitism” im just like…. Laughing…. Thats it i guess. So roughly 22 students out of almost 50,000 felt unsafe and yet have no evidence that they were harrassed and bullied except for like, the presence of pro palestine posters…. They are literally citing the fact that they were quickly transferred as “evidence ousd knows theyre wrong” as if ousd doesnt have literally everything else in the world to worry about and prolly wants ur zionist karen asses out of the district for other reasons…

there is no religious self identification data on ousd (not collected) but its worth noting that Yemeni students are the 3rd largest immigrant group of students (after mexican and guatemalan students) and 68% of yemeni students report harassment and bullying. Also worth noting that OUSD also has a huge population of indigenous guatemalan students who had to flee due to the genocidal attacks on indigenous groups in guatamala. These students dont speak english and often dont speak spanish either, and for about 10 years the district has struggled supporting students who primarily speak Mam. When i teach in oakland schools, conversations around race ethnicity religion and nationality are huge bc these kids face those issues every day. It is an area with an intense history of activism and a strong pride in that. Kids are incredibly aware of the struggles of poverty and racism, and I feel like the schools do a pretty good job with very very limited resources. Ive had more than one student express intense concern to me about the plight of the Palestinian people - even the kids who are not muslim see themselves in the struggle of Palestinians, sometimes unfortunately because they have witnessed similar struggles firsthand. To read articles where every jewish zionist family “fleeing” ousd is white and wealthy and creating problems where there is none is…. Idk. I cant do anything really…. The article i posted has pictures of this karen ass zionist in her home which is literally fancy as fuck. Sometimes i hear from kids about how theyve been staying in a shelter, or with a relative, or with 5+ kids in the same one bedroom. The cognitive dissonance of thinking you are oppressed as a middle class or wealthy white jew while the kids in ur kids (former) class dont have stable housing or food on the table or a reliable green card when they turn 18….. stop inventing bullshit problems that you dont face. I swear to god.

#Also idk but ive only had one kid identify himself as jewish so far and he was black but its craaaazy how hes uhh… not leaving ousd.

[hjellacott]

Genetic "contamination"

I'm pretty sure if I started digging in my ancestry (and at some point, you can bet I will) and I knew more about my family tree, I'd find we're related to Muslims, Jews, descending from Eastern Europeans, descended from Southern Mediterranean people, and mixed-up with French and Spanish Christians-Catholics. I'm pretty sure I'd find all sorts of people from all sorts of places within the first 10 generations before me. I don't even need a blood test to feel there's Christian, Muslim and Jewishness in our bloodline. You just have to see the way we look, know our surnames, or look a tiny bit at the history of the towns and cities we come from, and it's evident that we're from all over, and that no one in my family has really spent more than one or two generations in one same place, ever, but rather we constantly travelled across the world and mixed our blood with all sorts.

We've never even discussed anti-semitism at home. Or muslim phobia. There was no need, in my home, to teach us we're all the same and related, it was a given. I don't remember anyone in my family even suggesting something else. We learned our local history in school, we knew our native country (Spain) and specially our region (lower half) were always populated by people from all over the world and all sorts of religions and we always assumed, without it being dramatic or problematic, that there was no way we were pure Catholics, or that our bloodline wasn't filled with genetic material from all over the world. And it's always been a source of pride to me and to my family.

So imagine my surprise to grow up to find out about Fascism and racism, and see that what to me is a source of huge pride, to so many others is disgusting and shameful and wrong. That there are people who will deny their genetic connection with any other race or culture no matter what, because the idea of not being "pure", of being "contaminated" is unacceptable. It's been a hard pill for me to swallow, all my life. It's been another hard pill to swallow to realise that my looks, that in my native city were normal and common, made people look at me, in cities such as the multi-cultural London, and point fingers at me thinking "she must be Hindu, or Muslim, or Jew". No one where I come from even stopped to try and put me in some cultural and race-based box or category. I was simply human. I was simply Spanish. But you get out of home, and instantly, people are trying to categorise you, and they don't even realise the internalised racism this shows.

It just shouldn't matter, what religion or culture or race you belong to. It should only matter to you, in as much amount as you want, for the celebrations and festivities of your people, or for religious reasons. Why should anyone else look at me and decide that my looks must mean I'm Hindu, or Arabian, or Muslim, or Jewish, or whatever? why should my looks be that important, or mean anything? why should my looks put me in boxes people use against me, to put their prejudices and racial bias on me?

So whenever I hear about people getting mad about some people being supposedly anti-semitic (and not against people that are well-known for really being anti-semitic and racist) I have to scoff. Because often, it shows more anti-semitism and racism in them, than in anyone else. Like when people say Goblins repressent Jews. Like, fine, no one in my living family actually practises Judaism (or anything any more for that matter), but we know quite well Grandma was Jewish-descent, and I'd NEVER spot any similarities between my sweet Grandma and a fucking Goblin. I'd never even stop to draw comparison. My grandma was a beautiful, very dark woman, why the heck would I think an ugly goblin with a big nose and big ears repressents her or any other Jew or Jewish-descent?!

Are people even conscious that Jews and Muslims not necessarily look like they'd expect? fuck stereotypes, you know? because the more we mix, the less stereotypical traits you find. I see blonde, blue-eyed Muslims a lot, and I bet a lot of people would never imagine them like that. A lot of people would also not imagine a Catholic to be dark-haired, with bushy dark eyebrows, dark eyes and long dark beards, but that's a bunch of men in the Catholic branch of my family. As for the bit of my family that I know to come from a mixture of Muslim and Jew, none of them have huge ass noses, or weird ears, or look yellowish, which I've learned through mainstream media is how people tend to imagine Jews (like Goblins?).

So get rid of your bloody stereotypes and racial bias. Look into yourself and stop thinking of what traits make someone a race or another. The only races that you can clearly see from outside with an extremely low window of failure are white and black. Other than that? we can look like anything, because the bigger distinctions are associated to geographical location and exposure to the sun. And it shouldn't fucking matter to you. Regardless of what race or ethnicity I am... I am a person. A hard-working, loving woman. None of the rest of it matters to anyone but myself.

#race #xenophobia #racism #muslim #jew #christian #catholic #religion #racist bias #ethnicity #society #politics #women

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Answer asap (I feel bad saying that, but I'm stuck). Do you have any resources for dating/not dating non-christians? A dear friend of mine told me they care for me, and I feel the same for them, but... all the resources online warn again and again not to date non-christians lest they endanger my faith. I feel like going forward with this would be ignorant at best and would set us both up for heartbreak. And I fear my fear itself would lead to me trying to convert them. But I still care for them.

Hey, anon! Thanks for reaching out -- the rhetoric among many Christians against interfaith relationships, particularly with the argument that they’re “unequally yoked,” is something I haven’t addressed in years, and have been meaning to discuss again. 

Little disclaimer at the start that this stuff is so contextual, and it’s personal -- I don’t know your life as well as you do, or this friend of yours like you do. Maybe what i say doesn’t fit you and your situation. 

_____________

To begin, I firmly believe that interfaith relationships can be and often are truly beautiful, holy partnerships. (This includes relationships in which one or multiple members identifies as an atheist / otherwise doesn’t ascribe to a particular religion.) 

When both (or all) members are respectful of one another’s beliefs, and find as much joy in learning as in teaching their partner(s), their unique perspectives can deeply enrich one another. You can bear good fruit together that glorifies God and nourishes others. 

This being said, you definitely want to at least begin working through your worries and fears before starting to date this person. If you enter the relationship overwhelmed with fear or guilt about dating them, it’ll bring a lot of resentment and angst. The rest of this post points out things you’ll want to reflect on and read up on before entering this or any interfaith relationship -- and offers resources that can help.

_________

Interfaith Partners: Always “Unequally Yoked”?

I’m sure you’ve seen a certain phrase on those websites you mentioned, drawn from 2 Corinthians 6:14 -- “unequally yoked.”  I’m going to end this post with some alternative ways of interpreting this verse, but what Christians who advise against interfaith relationships take it to mean is something like this:

Just as two animals yoked to the same plow should be of equal strength and on the same page so that one doesn’t do more of the work, or get tugged away from the work by the other one, two partners should also be of equal “spiritual” strength and on the same page when it comes to their faith...

And of course, these people will say, a person who is Christian is definitely spiritually stronger than any non-Christian -- and a non-Christian might just pull them away from The Way, getting them to skip church or prayers or even stop being Christian entirely.

But there are a lot of assumptions there that don’t hold true in every relationship, right? First off, who says every Christian is necessarily “spiritually stronger” than every non-Christian? To claim that is to assume that non-Christians don’t also have access to spirituality or to the Divine -- which I’m going to push against throughout this post. 

Furthermore, the assumption that a non-Christian partner will definitely harm your own Christian faith doesn’t have to be true, as I’ll get to in a second.

So yeah, keeping these assumptions about an interfaith relationship being inherently “unequally yoked” in mind, and with a plan on returning to this phrase at the end, let’s move on to specific things you should think about before entering an interfaith relationship. 

______________

Must a non-Christian partner “endanger” your faith -- or can they enrich it?

If being open to learning about how our fellow human beings perceive the world, humanity, and the divine “endangers one’s faith,” perhaps that kind of faith was not made to last. Perhaps it has to give way in order to birth a new, deeper faith -- a faith that is bold enough to wrestle with God as Jacob did; broad enough to survive questions and doubts and times of grief; and wise enough to perceive the Spirit blowing wherever She will (John 3:8), not only among Christians.

If your partner truly respects you and your faith even if it’s different from theirs, they’ll do what they can to help you be the best Christian you can be -- or at the very least, they will give you the space and time you need to go to church, pray, etc. And you will do the same, helping them to be the best Muslim, Buddhist, or simply person they can be.

I highly recommend asking this friend of yours before you start dating what their thoughts are on your being a Christian, and/or on Christianity in general.

Is it something that makes them happy for you? is it something that makes them deeply uncomfortable? or something that they don’t have strong feelings one way or the other on? .

How “involved” would they be open to being in your faith? Would they be interested in going to church with you, as long as they could trust you weren’t trying to force them into anything? Would they enjoy talking about your varying beliefs together and how they impact your lives? Or would they never ever want you to bring up Christianity (which I imagine for you would be a deal breaker)? .

Be open and honest with one another about what expectations you each have about things like boundaries around discussing faith, about time and space you each want for practicing your faith, etc. As you seem aware, it’s better to get all this clear before you start dating, to avoid problems later down the road! 

For an example of what such discussions might look like, I found this story from Robert Repta, a Christian man married to a Jewish man. Their union, he says, has included working out what it means not only to be gay persons of faith, but also persons of two different faiths:

“Ultimately, what happened was that in our struggles to find ourselves, we ended up growing closer together. We both supported and challenged each other. We began asking each other bigger life questions and talking about religion, God, science. Both of our lives were evolving, and what started to happen was that we started seeing the similarities in our core beliefs more than the differences. Some of those beliefs even evolved along the way.

We both believed in God. We both believed that God is love. We volunteered together. He would occasionally come with me to church, and I would occasionally go with him to the synagogue. Eventually, I could see that the common thread between us was unconditional love. The same unconditional love of God.”

_____________

On pressuring a non-Christian partner to convert -- assumptions about Christian superiority & fearing for their afterlife destination

It’s really good you recognize that it might end up being hard for you not to try to get this person to convert! Before dating them, you should keep reflecting on this and decide whether that’s something you can let go of or not. If it’s not, then you’re probably right in thinking this relationship won’t work out. 

It would be highly disrespectful to this person you care about to pressure them to become a Christian in order for you to feel okay about being with them. (And for more thoughts on how evangelism and conversion as carried out by many Christians isn’t what Jesus had in mind, see this post.) Doing so would imply a lot of things, including that you don’t think they’re a worthy or equal partner unless they make this big change, that whatever beliefs or ideologies they currently hold are inferior to yours, etc.

In order for your interfaith relationship to go well, you would need to come to understand non-Christians as being equally made in God’s image, equally worthy of dignity, equally capable of doing good in the world. You’d have to come to believe that there is much of value within their own religion / ideology that you as a Christian could learn from. 

Let’s bring in our lovely Christian/Jewish couple from before: as his relationship with David developed, Robert discovered that 

“God is not conformed to this world we live in; God does not belong solely to the Pentecostals or the Baptists, to the Jews or Gentiles, to Muslims or Zoroastrians. Two of the most profound self-identifiers God calls himself in the Bible is “love” and “I am.””

Here are a few resources that can help you explore the idea that other religions are as valid as Christianity and also have much wisdom to bring to the world:

I highly recommend you check out the book Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor to help you explore how you can be a devout Christian and learn from and form mutual relationships with persons who are not Christian. You can check out passages from the book in my tag here. .

You might also like my two podcast episodes on interfaith relationships (in general, not romantic ones, but the same material applies) -- episode 30, “No One Owns God: Readying yourself for respectful interfaith encounters” and episode 31, “It's good to have wings, but you have to have roots too": Cultivating your faith while embracing religious pluralism.” You can find links to both episodes as well as their transcripts over on this webpage. .

There might also be some helpful stuff in my #interfaith tag or #other faiths tag if you wander around. .

Simply getting to know whatever religion this friend does belong to (or what ideologies and value systems they maintain if they’re atheist / non-religious) can also be super helpful. Ask them what resources they can think of that can help get to know their religion as they experience it. Attend worship service (virtually works!), seek out folks on social media who share their religion, etc. I bet you’ll find a lot that you have in common -- and hopefully you’ll find some of the differences thought-provoking and enriching to your own understandings of Divinity!

I’m guessing a lot of your worry stems from the assumption that non-Christians don’t go to heaven. If you believe that not being a Christian leads to hell after death, it’s very hard to view non-Christians and their beliefs as equal to your own!

That Holy Envy book discusses this genuine fear many Christians have on behalf of non-Christians, and how to let it go.  .

Here’s a post with links to other posts describing the belief that many faithful and serious Christians hold that non-Christians don’t all get whisked to hell. .

And a post on the harm done by fearmongering about hell. .

Finally, a little more on the academic side but if you’re interested in some history behind Christian views of hell that can help you see that there really is no one “true” belief here, check out the links in this post.

_______

Reinterpreting “unequally yoked”

I said we’d get back to this, and here we are! While the easiest to find interpretation of 2 Corinthians 6:14′s “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” is that it argues against interfaith marriage, there are other ways to read this text.

I adore this article I found on the passage from a Christian minister who is married to a Hindu monk -- “Unequally Yoked”: How Christians Get Interfaith Marriage Wrong.” Incredibly, Rev. J. Dana Trent writes that when she and her now-husband dug into 2 Corinthians 6:14 to see what it was all about, she found that 

“An ancient scripture meant to deter us from getting involved with each other actually brought us together. Our core beliefs in God became the focus of our study and relationship, not the issues that divided us.”

She also explains that biblical scholars say this verse isn’t even specifically about interfaith marriage -- which becomes clear when you read the full chapter surrounding it! It’s more general -- about the hazards of “working with” an unbeliever.

And what exactly is an unbeliever? Paul and other “believers” of these very early days of Christianity had a different definition than we might today -- an “unbeliever” wasn’t synonymous with “non-Christian,” because Christianity hadn’t even solidified into an actual religion yet! Instead, a nonbeliever was "anyone exposed to but was not faithful to Christ’s teachings—someone not characterized by devotion, love, peace, mercy, and forgiveness.” 

In other words, if a person in those early days was told about the good news of Jesus that entailed things like liberation of the oppressed and love of neighbor, they didn’t have to “become a Christian” to accept that good news. And thus, Rev. Trent continues,

“Today, my husband’s deep Hindu faith has taught me to dig deeper into what Jesus would have me do. Perhaps Paul might have even considered me an “unbeliever,” as I claimed to be a baptized Christian, but my life did not inwardly and outwardly reflect the Gospel. Since marrying Fred, I re-attuned my life to Christian spiritual practices: spending more time in contemplative prayer, practicing non-violence through a vegetarian diet, limiting my consumption, and increasing my service to others.

Much to many Christians’ dismay, it took a person of another faith—a seemingly “unequally yoked” partner, to strengthen my Christian walk.”

Isn’t it beautiful to hear how this relationship between a Christian minister and Hindu monk has born good fruit for both of them? They help one another become the best Christian and best Hindu they can be, respectively. They are both so deeply committed to faith -- that doesn’t sound like an “unequal yoking” to me.

______

Whew, this got long! But it’s a big topic, and one I hope you’ll take the time to explore. Bring God into it; bring your friend into as much as they’re comfortable. And feel free to come back and ask me more questions as you go.

If anyone knows of other articles or other resources that explore the good fruit that can come from an interfaith partnership, please share! 

#interfaith relationships #unequally yoked #progressive christians #interfaith dating #Anonymous #relationship tag

[friendoftheelves]

People, what is somethings you wish writers knew about your culture, I'll start (I'm English):

If you say British-English I will riot. It's standard English, American English is just the most commonly spoken version of English, being the dominant culture

Nobody cares about sports at Secondary school, I didn't realise my school had sports teams until like year 11 when I saw them leaving and it was just a casual observation

Also Primary school = reception to year 6 or ages 4 to 11, Secondary school = years 7 to 11 or ages 11 to 16, Sixth Form (attached to a secondary school) and college (independent from a secondary school but otherwise same thing) = 16 to 18. Primary school to Secondary school is compulsory, after that you have to attend some form of further education whether that be an apprenticeship or sixth form/college is up to you. It is common to have a compulsory uniform for secondary school and less common for both primary school and sixth form/college. Primary school and sixth form/college uniforms are noteworthy whereas a lack of compulsory uniform in secondary school is noteworthy

American culture is the dominant one, we have watched and read a lot of American media

If you're poor, you live in a council flat and probably have free school meals, "trailer trash" isn't really a thing because trailers just aren't a common occurrence, the only group I can think of that commonly lives in "trailers" is 'gypsy' who are their own community and live in motorhomes. Discrimination against them is common but not in your face, which I will explain in a bit because that is its own point

People care a lot about both rugby and football and if you call it soccer and act all superior about you will make a lot of people mad because British football officially came first and a lot of languages call it something that sounds very close to football in their language and American football is closer to rugby in how it looks to us so it is a very sore point

Also, in case you haven't gathered, Britain is subtly anti-American we had an empire and we are bitter we lost it so seeing America get to where we were is something Britain does not react well to

British culture is all about pretending everything so normal and subduing, ignoring and otherwise refusing to acknowledge what strays from that "normal" so unless we are forced to openly acknowledge it we will not and then we will passive aggressively snipe at it. American culture is all about being in your face, British culture is all about pretending we don't see what's wrong. We refuse to acknowledge we even had an empire

Class is a big deal. The elites in our culture have historically been their own one and this is still seen today. Class divide is what defines us. We have things like the house of commons and the house of lords. Rather than the rich ending up in positions of power due to society falling to prevent their privilege, British culture and actively encourages elite power. There is still discrimination but because of the importance of class divide and the British refusal to acknowledge our own faults, it presents differently. Race is seen as it's own class below working class and there is discrimination between the white classes. The working class are seen as beneath the rich and the rich are seen as 'upperclass tw**s'. The middle class are then seen as traitors and having abandoned the working class because the elite government has purposefully drafted policies to ensure that happens

Also,all of the above applies to English culture. There are three countries in Great Britain and 4 countries in the UK. England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland and the divide between these countries is clear. Scotland actively hates England, Wales passive aggressively hates us and Ireland is a mess we created (I would suggest waiting for someone who is Irish to explain that because I don't know enough about it and it is an incredibly complicated topic which plays a significant role in politics)

Also we dislike the French, Britain and France are rivals because we have been fighting on and off for centuries but the French are still seen as equals. We dislike them but we will fight alongside them if if comes to it

Also accents are important, because of the class divide, if you have a working class accent you are being discriminated against, if you have a posh accent you will be hated but people will respect your 'authority', no matter how much they hate

Oxbridge is elitist but there are so many other great Unis across the UK

To American media specifically, stop romanticising British culture, I have never seen the academia aesthetic you are portraying and it irritates, we are not just the rich upper class, look at our history people you portray and because of the class divide it hurts to see that as our only representation

Also London is its own thing, Britain does not recognise London as representative of Britain and London does not like everywhere that is London, it is the most diverse and the biggest city in the entirety of England by a large margin, it does not feel like the rest of Britain

On that point, there are many, many other cities and other towns outside of London, please acknowledge them (having never been to a lot of cities I can't explain them to you)

London does have divides within it such as the divide between North and South of the river, the South does not want to be part of London and the North refuses to acknowledge it. The Northern edge of London is also up for debate, for me it is the edge of Zone 3 (on a tube map) and the other side of the North circular by car but for others it might be further in or out so be aware of that. There is also divide between the post codes for example Wood Green and Tottenham, both have the same council (Haringey) but there is a clear divide between them only further emphasises by Haringey having two MPs one for Tottenham (David Lammey) and one for Wood Green and Hornsey. Both Wood Green and Tottenham have bad reps but the Wood Green half of Haringey starts drifting into middle class at its edges with Hornsey being solidly middle class so be aware of the variation in boroughs

And, London has no centre. It is a city that grew with its country and absorbed the surrounding towns. So if you say the centre of London people will assume you mean a specific part in zone 1 but will not know which part you are talking about and will assume you are talking in a generalisation. If they are traveling with you though, they will expect further clarification, don't say the centre and expect me to know where

Also, there is no space between houses in England, they are mostly semi-detached. I once watched an episode of escape to the country where someone tried to find a detached house and just struggled massively. You either have to pay loads of money or be in the middle of nowhere before your house is fully detached and it will still be only the same distance away from another house as the average American house is. We have one of the highest populations in Europe but a small land mass

Going on from that, Britain is definitely European and has a lot of shared culture whilst still obviously being it's own thing (like every single other country) but Britain acts like and will get mad at the suggestion that they are European like any other European country because 'we are entirely seperate and on an island and how can we not have become our own thing' the actual variation is because Rome (contrary to what the school system will teach you) had very little impact on Britain so we aren't as similar to the other Latin speaking countries as is expected, the main reason we are still similar is because of the impact of Norman conquest. Also everyone underestimated the effect of Scandinavian and Germanic culture on Britain because we act like all they did was pillage when in fact they settled down and where embraced by Briton (unlike Rome which did actually pillage and subjugate Britain without being widely accepted) so that's why there is variation. We are very European but not in the way people expect so Britain refuses to acknowledge it

Honestly British culture is a lesson in tolerance versus acceptance. But there is still active discrimination as people of colour and the LGBTQ+ can attest

Also Christianity is baked into Britain to the point that even atheists follow Christian customs without questioning it but significantly less extreme than France which just stops on Sundays (but is acknowledged as a Christian country so you know) and 'pagan' - so, in this case, Celtic, anglosaxon and Norse - culture has effected us being carried down in fairy tales and witchcraft

Some of this will be upsetting to many people as it should be because British culture hurts, it discriminates without acknowledging it and I want people to know that. I want people to see that when they write about it because the alternative is writing about Britain as if it has faults and that would be so much worse. So writers, please bear all of this in mind when talking about Britain, even and especially, the ugly parts

This has been a white, middle class, Londoners, perspective on Britain and no I will not call myself English because the divide between England and London means that being a Londoner rather than just English matters in this context

I would recommend listening to the perspective of Brits from other groups, such as England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, working class, upper class, Brit of colour, non-passing queer folk, Muslim, Hindu, Indian (the largest immigrant group is actually Indian and that's just immigrated in their lifetime rather than born British and Indian), Jewish (especially Jewish I can talk about that on another post but let's just say the Jewish have never been accepted but always been part of Europe) and so on, to get a more comprehensive view of Britain

#british #writers on tumblr #history #perspective #this was upsetting to write #my country needs to change #discrimination #english

[iamkhange]

Why is Israel a developed country, and why are we still developing?

I am not a very good writer or author. But one day, I sat down to write my thoughts,

Think about it, some irrelevant ideas and questions are starting to get very annoying these days, like:

· Why is Israel a developed country, and why are we growing?

· Why does he have so many resources that he is selling the world and we are just borrowing?

· Are they still a chosen nation, and our share is limited to the "promise of intercession"?

When I started drowning in these and many other questions, I resorted to Google, proving to be very strong.

Many things between the Jewish nation and the Muslims

Like meet

Both are Abrahamic religions

Believe in one God

To worship him

To be cleansed

make ablution

To do charity

Slaughtering and eating animals

Don't eat pork

Circumcision

Believing that jinn are God's creation

Considering Satan disobedient

The act of considering the people of Lot a sin

Don't recognize a relationship without marriage

On the coming of the Messiah before the resurrection

Believing in the reckoning on the Day of Resurrection

Thinking in the same way of being resurrected after death (being made back from the tail bone)

Witt: The practical methods of all these ordinary things are different; for example, they call Allah by another name, the practise of ablution and prayer is different, their Messiah is different, etc.

Now the surprise increased from here that despite so many similarities and similarities, how did they move forward? While here (God forbid), religion has become a chain of feet, the children graduating from our madrassas are seldom integrated into the outside world, and in the modern lifestyle, they are barely visible, any skill anyway. It is not part of our education system that the child is still "reading" (why it is inappropriate for us to teach skills while learning).

We have included religion only in everyday life till the azan at birth and the funeral prayer at death. The rest of it has been left in the niche. The two are not conceived at the same time. Yes, some schools or madrassas are now promoting religious and scientific education together, but on the one hand, their number is like salt in flour; on the other hand, their fees are out of the commoner's pocket. And if the money came in the bag and then the education system of London, Europe and America would look fine, then very few children are getting an education from these modern madrassas.

After madrassas, school and college education is also in an awful condition in our country. An example of our education system is termite infested wood. We memorize it. But the same child cannot write 5 to 10 lines on any subject other than these.

Curriculum and the practical world are two different things; there is no match between them; education is so expensive that if one leaves with a degree, he is worried about "recovering his investment" first.

And after all, the sad thing is that 44.5% of children go to high school; 55 out of every 100 children do not go to school.

Beloved God, the Prophet (peace be upon him), prioritized the gathering of knowledge and education over the meeting of remembrance and supplication that I was sent as a teacher (Ibn Majah).

And more than 25 million children in Pakistan do not go to school ... (These are pre-Corona statistics)

In Israel, schooling is free and compulsory, as well as skills and practical business training, paid for by the school/government, and the dropout is skilled. Yes, and also business, he also bears and collects the cost of his further education. Thus, the country's economy is also strengthened, and the expenditure incurred on the child's teaching also starts coming back.

There was no oil in the house at the Prophet's death, but three swords of personal use were hanging on the wall.

On the occasion of the trench warfare, the Muslims dug a fifteen-mile long trench in fifteen days with stones tied to their stomachs and defended Medina on an empty stomach.

Referring to both incidents, Israel's defense minister bought heavy weapons from the United States in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, saying that even if it provided the nation with only one loaf of bread for 20 years, the world would see only a winner after the war. Not empty stomach

In 1973, we lost Bengal, and Israel increased some of its territories.

There is no water in Israel, they make seawater usable, grow crops from it, drink it, and now they have become so skilled that they are selling the world, even purified water, to purify it. Plants, crops grown on them, animals raised on them and their milk/meat,

Despite being the most extensive canal system, it is sometimes time to import wheat and sugar (which are among our significant crops) despite being primarily an agricultural country.

The Hour will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them until the Jews hide behind a rock or a tree.

“O Muslims! This Jew is behind me. Come and kill him, except for the tree of Gharqad, because he is one of the trees of the Jews” (Sahih Muslim).

Despite being the world's technology hub, Israel has grown the most trees in the last 50 years. While the number of trees in the rest of the world is declining, Israel is the only country growing.

He (the Antichrist) will come to the babe Lud in Palestine. Jesus (PBUH) will have descended, and here they will kill him ... Hadith

Today, Israel has a military airport in Lud and has excellent security.

So, sir, the thing is that religion is not a chain of feet, nor does a large population hold anyone back. On the contrary, the most vital factor that hinders progress is mental retardation, the thought of not moving forward.

If our prime minister said that women's clothes cause mischief, he would also give some ugly justification for the crimes committed against older women, boys, girls, dead (dead bodies). But in our country, Islam starts with a woman's clothes and ends with four marriages of a man. There is no rule of training or justice, no control of the self and no control over the eyes. There is no question of passing any verse of knowledge, of discovery,

Well, this is a collective matter, which we all blame the government and its policies and acquit our political party and ourselves, but our role as individuals is no more negligible.

We never try to pick up a loser, but we call him so bad that he loses confidence in his return. To get a chance to hit a woman,

Mobile has become very popular; about 30 million people in Pakistan currently use smartphones, but sadly, the top trends in search are cricket series, cricketers, political scandals, controversial and bold actors, education, health. We have nothing to do with research and knowledge. Thanks to Corona, the only "Google classroom" in terms of education is still in trend in 2020.

The epidemic is also considered a "business season" in our country, and things are expected at 4 to 6 times higher prices, oxygen cylinders are missing from the market, and a simple mask is available at 20 to 25.

Of course, not everyone is like that; many people are doing perfect things, retail shops deliver rations to needy homes, schools give free education to poor children, etc.

But all this is not enough. It is like salt in the flour. For development, we all have to move forward, so whatever you are, whatever your status, think of collective benefits, your neighbor, partner, house. Help, employee, friend, brother, make encouragement a motto in every relationship, encourage them to move forward, ignore their mistakes and shortcomings, guide them according to their talent,

We are a very talented nation, and the world is buying our talent ... Via the same mobile, laptop and computer,

Anyone around you has any talent, provide information to sell on the net, guide them on how they can make money by selling this skill, don't limit the intake to yourself, because stagnant water, no matter how good and abundant it is, rots, it becomes impure, so keep sharing, knowledge, conveniences, sweet words, whatever is available to you,

Believe in everything you can get money need a little research, information, so do not use your mobile phone to wait for the magic by writing five in the comments it is a great power you can use it; ideally, you can earn money from it, you can strengthen your family, your nation ...

Rise and do your part to move beyond Israel and developed countries like this so that our next generation can breathe in a developed Pakistan, do your part to make this country safe because

ہیں ہے ناامید اقبال اپنی کشت ویراں سے

ذرا نم ہو تو یہ مٹی بڑی زرخیز ہے ساقی

Pray for progress

#education #pakistan #pm imran #motivationalwords

[sincerelyreidburke]

How your Kiersey friends survive the end of fall semester: by making campus festive!

Day 4 of the 25 Days of Kiersey is upon us! I’m doing a text post today. In normal college times, the stretch between Thanksgiving break and the end of fall semester finals is an extremely festive time of year. Or at least it is on my college’s campus, and I’m projecting that festivity onto Kiersey.

What you’ll find under the cut: the ways in which all the “main” characters of the Kiersey-verse celebrate that festive few weeks on campus.

Ask for anything you’d like to see this month in the way of Kiersey-verse festivities!

The 25 Days of Kiersey AO3 work

//

Nando: He occupies the Beech Street kitchen like it’s a damn military outpost (but not nearly as strict), and whips out every holiday recipe from home that he can manage. This means baking— Christmas conchas and marranitos especially— but not only baking. There’s a lot of, like, soup and stew going on. Red pozole, and chicken pozole verde...... (I am hungry typing this up) and also, this host of cooking wouldn’t be complete without Nando’s papa’s hot chocolate recipe. He makes it many times for his teammates and Quinn. Because Nando has such a thing about feeding the people he loves and cares about, he wants to make sure all his friends from Kiersey experience the true wonder of a Hernandez family Christmas.

Remy: Remy is a huge fan of pond hockey, so he goes out to skate any chance he gets on the one pond on campus. He can and will do this by himself, but he invites friends along too. You’re lying to yourself if you don’t think Remy “raging Canadian” Tremblay isn’t 100% in his element out on a frozen pond in skates, a winter hat, gloves, his Olympic Team Canada windbreaker, and track pants. So, yes, he does take himself out on skating dates. He works on his shot, his speed, and stick handling. But like I said, he’s not always alone. One time, he invites the team out for a game of shinny and it starts snowing, so it devolves into a KMH snowball fight. Another time, he invites Kai and gets ready to laugh at xir the whole time because Kai makes it out like xe can’t skate, and then Kai invites him to race, and it turns out Kai is a former figure skater and xe’s extremely fast. Remy is shook.

Ben: (Sigh) Although this is extremely characteristic of Ben Shaley, I do not approve of his life choices. Ben has a personal holiday tradition called the 12 Days of Lay. It’s exactly what it sounds like, but I’ll explain it to you anyway. In the 12 days leading up to the end of the semester, Ben tries to hook up every single day. He does this by showing up at random parties. Yes, I hate him. Yes, he makes terrible decisions. Yes, he’s a thot. Thanks for your time.

Quinn: First of all, he knits like a crazy person. Sophomore year, he makes matching blue and gold pom-pom hats for the entire hockey team (this requires some pre-planning, but he does it nonetheless), and he gives them to the boys right before their last game of the semester. He knits other things, too, in various holiday themes. He and Nando try to watch as many Christmas movies as they can in the short window of time post-Thanksgiving and pre-winter break, because Quinn never watched holiday movies growing up, and Nando gives him his first education in them, and then it becomes a tradition for them.

Cole: True story: every year, the drama club hosts a little holiday talent show, and every year without fail, Cole goes up and sings the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song. Yes, he plays his own guitar. Yes, he wears the ugly Hanukkah sweater that Quinn made for him. He might even wear his kippah? I’m not sure, but either way, he gets a real kick out of himself. I would also say “Cole teaches his Christmas-celebrating friends Hanukkah traditions,” but Cole barely has friends, so, uh. I mean, he could teach them to Reid? Except one of Reid’s roommates/“boys” from his graduating year is also Jewish, and Reid probably already knows. Come to think of it, Cole probably hangs out with Jake. But anyway.

Reid: He has a pair of Christmas socks for each separate day. You think I exaggerate, but I assure you, I do not. And as we saw yesterday, Reid is a big fan of Christmas decorations. He puts a [plastic] tree up in his campus residence, Duffy Hall apartment 3, which we saw a brief glimpse into during yesterday’s installment of the 25 Days. Duff 3 goes hard at the holidays, and it probably includes some good parties.

Bri: In collaboration with her fellow Art Students, she participates in a big fundraiser where they sell art designed to be holiday gifts. They do this on campus, but probably also out in the actual community of Kiersey, which is a (fictional) medium-sized town. Bri makes a lot of vases, dishware, and other ceramic stuff, plus stuff in the glass studio. The students donate some of the proceeds to charity, and use some to help fund their department. Also, Christmas leggings are to Bri what socks are to her boyfriend.

Jhiron: I know we don’t really see Jhiron all that much, but I want to include him on this list because he’s one of the few members of the Kiersey cast who actively celebrates an “uncommon” or at least uncommercialized winter holiday, which is Kwanzaa. He’s Muslim, but Kwanzaa is cultural rather than religious, so he celebrates it both at home and a little on campus. It doesn’t actually start until after Christmas, but he’s really active in the Kiersey Black Student Union (his girlfriend, Jazzy, is the president of it their senior year), and they have this really nice African holiday festival in collaboration with the campus multicultural center. It involves food, traditions, et cetera, and takes place right before everybody leaves.

Maggie: Maggie is the online shopping queen. She capitalizes on Cyber Monday deals, and times all her shopping so that gifts for friends will come in before they all leave for break. She’s extremely thoughtful and also extremely stylish, and there’s glitter on the wrapping for pretty much every present she hands out. She’s not a “DIY gift” kind of person— but she will gift you something that corresponds to your exact aesthetic, every time. She has an eye for stuff like that. She likes doing Yankee swaps and stuff for similar reasons.

Kai: I actually don’t know that Kai is big on celebrating any one winter holiday, but I don’t think that that means xe is against festivities, and I know for a fact that xe would decorate xir lizard’s tank. With, like, little lights around the sides. And Leonardo (the lizard in question) gets some kind of festive hat. He only keeps it on for about two seconds, but it’s long enough for Kai to get his picture and set it as xir profile picture on everything for the duration of the holiday season. Also, skating with Remy, as I mentioned earlier.

Claire: She does campus-wide caroling with the Kiersey acapella group, which is a real student organization that exists, despite my lack of mentioning it to this point. I think there’s probably some crossover with theatre kids, as in, a handful of them are in it, and Claire sticks out as someone who definitely would do it. Anyway. They go caroling from dorm to dorm during finals. Claire brings cookies for her acapella friends. They all wear Santa hats. It’s great fun.

Ellie: Because she is, at heart, a very outdoorsy person, Ellie helps decorate the exterior of campus. Like, hanging lights on trees and stuff? She also encourages her friends to participate in various outdoorsy activities such as building a snowman, which lives outside her apartment for a few days until some drunk football players knock it down, and then Ellie gets super pissed and re-makes the snowman passive-aggressively, and basically just keeps this up until the end of the semester. A hopeless romantic at heart, Ellie daydreams about having a girlfriend who will make snow angels, go on skating dates, and watch festive movies with her. When she actually does get a girlfriend, she does all these things with her accordingly.

Teegs: He throws the most raging, wild holiday parties you ever did see. Anyone who gets within a 10-foot radius of the house on Beech Street from after Thanksgiving until the end of the semester risks getting covered in fake snow confetti, being forced to play some kind of Christmas drinking game, and, of course, having their eardrums blown out by Teegs’ Christmas music. He has sunglasses with fun rims, like this..........

#25 days of kiersey #kiersey college

[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.

#islam #allah #god #muslim #quran #revert #convert #convert islam #revert islam #reverthelp #revert help #revert help team #help #islamhelp #converthelp #prayer #salah #muslimah #reminder #pray #dua #hijab #religion #mohammad #new muslim #new revert #new convert #how to convert to islam #convert to islam #welocme to islam

[indianpolsoc]

The Perception of Language and its Political Implications

The following is an opinion piece by guest writer Arman Hasan and does not reflect the views of the Indian Political Society. Arman is a first -year student studying Political Science at Ramjas College, Delhi University.

Sometimes memories emerge in your mind even when you are engaged in the most mundane activities. They have no structure or meaning, they are just glimpses from your past. For me, one of these is from my childhood, of a day when I was just staring at an illuminated manuscript of Persian calligraphy framed by my mother on the wall of our living room. Following some unknown inspiration, I decided to copy the calligraphy on a piece of paper. I ran to show my mother what I had achieved, and she responded enthusiastically, telling me how proud she felt. I could not comprehend why she felt so proud of me for merely copying down a text, a text that neither she nor I understood.

At the time, I could not make sense of this, and till this day, have never had a Eureka moment revealing to me the nature of that event. However, with every repetition of this piece of unstructured past in my mind, more and more depth began surrounding it.

I belong to a family of linguists and poets, so the privilege of learning the beauty of Persian, Arabic & Urdu was present in the meritocracy around me. Yet, when I see myself now, inept at speaking any one of these, it makes me introspect about the conscious decisions I took which deprived me of this privilege and the societal influences which shaped these decisions.

I remember my first day of primary school, with all the children bright with excitement and energy, waiting for their names to be called out by the teacher for a roll check. I was any other kid in uniform, with no way of distinguishing me from others, and yet when the teacher called out my full name - Arman Hasan- I could sense an ambiance of demarcation among the other children. A kid wearing the same uniform as the others was now somehow different. After some days had passed and I had finally made friends, one of them confessed a peculiar thing which confused my five-year-old self, "Arman, why don't you look like a Muslim?". I don't remember whether I responded to the query as I couldn't really comprehend what it meant, but it did sow the seed for future dilemmas I would face. As the years have passed, I've repeatedly been asked that same question, and each time the answer has kept evolving.

What others perceived of me began shaping how I perceived myself. There emerged a vehement need to distance myself from this perception- to do so my opinions about my language, culture and religion took the form of aversion. The second time I was asked this question by another one of my classmates sometime in middle school, I couldn’t stay silent. I had to show that I was different and not what they thought of me. I replied, "I am not like other Muslims, my family is very modern." The identity which others had prescribed to Muslims began shaping my opinions about my own community.

In school, I found myself developing an identity that my peers could relate more to. The Hindi dialect spoken at home was similar to Awadhi and was quite distinguishable from the Hindi spoken around Delhi. The word for 'Me' in Awadhi is 'Hamm,' but using that at school would bring mockery. So, I restricted the use of such phrases there. I thought I was successfully able to separate the two paradigms, but as time went by my vocabulary limited itself to what was taught formally at school.

Another subtle change that was occurring simultaneously was the shift in my opinions. I began mocking my mother for using 'Hamm' and became guilty of compromise, which I masqueraded as change.

Soon, my interest in Persian, Arabic, and Urdu began dwindling. Over the years, I've used different rationales to justify this- to be truly 'modern,' it was necessary to be fluent in English. English and Hindi were already taught at school, but to be even more modern, I opted for German as a third language. To be able to say 'Wie heißt du?' was a step towards modernity. Eurocentrism was being indoctrinated in my mind. My diminishing interest in Persian, Urdu & Arabic was inevitably due to structural problems as well- the popular Delhi school I attended didn't teach these languages, and so the belief that they are not modern or profitable became entrenched.

I tried many ways to rationalize my apathy towards the memory of me copying the Persian calligraphy. I began associating my mother’s happiness that day to her thinking that I was being religious. Modern society had established the notion that these languages are religion-centric, an identity I didn't want to confine myself to. Ironically, I later learnt that neither Persian nor Urdu are holy languages, and yet the association was made subconsciously. I was influenced to such an extent that as a kid, I used to argue with my relatives who knew no other language than Urdu, insisting that learning Urdu was useless, patronizing their entire existence.

In my search of identity within modernity, there was a dissonance in terms of the culture I was brought up with and the one which I strove to adopt. By merely learning my name, my peers could not unsee my Muslim identity, yet within my familial circles, I wasn't Muslim enough.  Not knowing the Ramayana led to me being differentiated while not keeping a beard led to the questioning of my beliefs. Why was society not content with my synthetization of the two?

Reading Hannah Arendt's 'Origins of Totalitarianism,' gave me some insight as to why I felt this way. She gives a detailed analysis of the psychology of middle-class Jews in 18th century Europe who wanted to be seen outside of their Jewish identity for want of not being confined to the prejudices of Anti-Semites. But regardless of their struggle, society did not see them without ingrained Anti-Semitism while the Jewish community didn’t see them as Jewish enough. This paradox became the primary causality behind their dissonance.

I could finally see how a single question asked again and again over many years caused so much moral dilemma, shaped opinions, and formed subconscious hierarchies of religion, culture, and language. It took some time to realize the nature of the causality behind all this.

Media and Pop Culture play a major role in enforcing stereotypes and prejudices against minorities. Portrayals of minorities in their designated roles are successful both in creating prejudices and ghettoizing their communities.  To see a Muslim outside of stereotypical clothing is for the person not to be Muslim anymore. Affiliation with Islamic languages cannot be classified as modern.

The base of my beliefs was shaped by stereotypes and prejudices and deconstructing such problematic associations became my primary task. I had to tell myself that language does not exist in a binary. To learn English, I did not have to give up Persian, Arabic or Urdu. Speaking these languages doesn’t make me any less progressive and the duty to define progress is up to me, not to how the society wanted me to perceive it.

I remember the last time I was asked the question, "Why don't you look like a Muslim?". After years of contempt and guilt brewing under the influence of this question, I finally took my time to carefully explain why the monolithic image of Islam was the one which the media wanted to portray, while being ignorant to the complexities and diversities which exist within the community, thus exacerbating the age-old stereotypes stemming from propaganda and hatred. The standardization of languages which had been coerced on me by society finally had to be dismantled. I realized that language and orthodoxy were highly political entities but separate from each other. Approval should not be a reason for me to sacrifice the experience of being mystified by richness of such languages.

As I recalled that vague memory slowly over a few years, acquiring some structure, I finally asked my mother why she felt so happy for me that day, receiving an answer I could not have anticipated. She felt pleased neither for society nor for our religion. She felt happy because she believed that I was privileged to have my forefather’s creativity in my possession, and not knowing what my father and forefathers wrote just because it was in a language I didn't understand would have truly been a tragedy. Over the years, society had made her conform and had shaped her views for which she often felt guilty as well. But I had an opportunity to transcend that guilt. For me, choosing to learn one language did not have to mean giving up the other. My act of noting down a single illuminated manuscript made her hope that the binary which society had reinforced, the prejudices it had exacerbated and the precarity it had caused could slowly but surely, be taken apart.

#politics #articles

[creepingsharia]

“They Asked Him to Deny Christ” - Muslim Persecution of Christians, August 2019

by Raymond Ibrahim

Hate for and Violence against Christians

Cameroon: Militant Muslims reportedly connected with the Nigerian based Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, “reached new heights” of depravity, according to a report: after devastating the Christian village of Kalagari in a raid, they kidnapped and fled with eight women.  Some of the women were later released—but only after having their ears cut off (image here).  The report adds that  Boko Haram “has terrorised Christian communities in Nigeria for the last decade and has now splintered and spread its violent ideology into Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”

Nigeria: On August 29, Chuck Holton, a CBN News reporter, aired a segment on his visit with Christian refugees who had fled Boko Haram’s incursions into their villages.  Among the stories of death and devastation, the following, spoken by a young man, stood out: “On 29 September 2014 was the day that they attacked my village. Around ten I had a call that they have killed my dad. They asked him to deny Christ and when he refused they cut off his right hand. Then he refused [again], they cut to the elbow. In which he refused, before they shot him in the forehead, the neck, and chest.” “Many of the 1,500 Christians living in this camp have similar stories,” adds Holton.

Indonesia: A Muslim preacher in a Christian majority region referred to the Christian cross as “an element of the devil,” prompting outrage among Christians and some moderates.   Sheikh Abdul Somad made the comment during a videotaped sermon when he was asked why Muslims “felt a chill whenever they saw a crucifix.”   “Because of Satan! Was his response: “There’s an evil jinn in every crucifix that wants to convert people into Christianity.”  Christians and moderates condemned his words.  Even so, “I can’t imagine the reaction if it had been another preacher of a different religion insulting an Islamic symbol,” observed one moderate. “There would have been a tsunami of protests, with the perpetrator severely punished.”  Sheikh Somad responded by releasing another video; his excuse was that he was unaware that non-Muslims might hear his words: “The Quran reciting session was held in a closed mosque, not at a stadium, a football field, nor aired on television,” he explained. “It was for Muslims internally. I was answering a question about statues and the position of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) relative to Muslims.”

Burkina Faso: Although most mainstream media downplay the religious element in Muslim on Christian violence in Africa, attacks on the Christians of Burkina Faso have become so flagrantly based on religion that the Washington Post published a report on August 21 titled,  “Islamist militants are targeting Christians in Burkina Faso.”  Its author, Danielle Paquette, explained that “A spreading Islamist insurgency has transformed Burkina Faso from a peaceful country known for farming, a celebrated film festival and religious tolerance into a hotbed of extremism.”  She noted that the jihadis have been checking people’s necks for Christian symbols, killing anyone wearing a crucifix or carrying any other Christian image.   In a separate report discussing several deadly attacks on Christians and their churches, Bishop Dabiré said, “If this continues without anyone intervening, the result will be the elimination of the Christian presence in this area and — perhaps in the future —in the entire country.

Egypt: Authorities reinstated Sheikh Yasser Burhami, a notoriously “radical” cleric and hate preacher, to the pulpit (minbar) despite strong opposition.  Burhami had previously issued numerous fatwas—edicts based on Islamic scriptures—that demand hate and hostility for non-Muslims, most specifically the nation’s largest and most visible minority, the Christian Copts, whom Burhami has referred to as “a criminal and infidel minority,” and has invoked “Allah’s curse” on them.  He once went so far as to say that, although a Muslim man is permitted to marry Christian or Jewish women (ahl al-kitab), he must make sure he still hates them in his heart—and show them this hate—because they are infidels; otherwise he risks compromising his Islam.  Burhami has also stated that churches—which he refers to as “places of polytheism (shirk) and houses of infidelity (kufr)”—must never be built in Egypt.  He issued a separate fatwa forbidding Muslim taxi and bus drivers from transporting Christian clergymen to their churches, an act he depicted as being “more forbidden than taking someone to a liquor bar.”  Burhami’s fatwas also include calling for the persecution of apostates, permitting Muslim husbands to abandon their wives to rape, permitting “marriage” to 12-year-old girls,  and banning Mother’s Day.  In a video, Dr. Naguib Ghobrial, a Coptic activist, politician, and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization—which over the years has lodged 22 separate complaints against Burhami—repeatedly questioned Egypt’s leading religious authorities’ decision to reinstate the hate preaching sheikh:

Is what Burhami teaches truly what Islam teaches—is that why no one has done anything to him [in regards to the 22 complaints lodged against him]?  Truly I’m shocked!  Please answer Sheikh of Al Azhar; please answer Grand Mufti: are the things Burhami teaches what Islam teaches?  Is this why none of you oppose him or joined us when we lodged complaints against him?… Why are you so silent? Amazing!

The Slaughter of Christians

Pakistan: “A ten year old Christian child who chose to work in a dangerous scrap factory so he could support his mother who had to fend for a family of two boys and a drug-addict husband, was raped and tortured before being killed by his Muslim employers,” according to a report (with photos).  Badil, 10, worked at the men’s factory in order to support his impoverished mother, Sharifa Bibi:

I worked hard for many hours just for the sake of my two sons so that they would not have to suffer as I have suffered without education.  My son Badil couldn’t bear to see the struggle of his mother and insisted on working to help the family—despite my insistence that he avoid work till he was older.  Badil was such a responsible son.  Daily before leaving for work he asked me what should bring in the evening from his wages.  I insisted that he kept his money for himself, but he brought groceries like sugar, rice, flour, ghee daily.

Badil had to walk long distances and work for many hours a day to earn the equivalent of one dollar a day.  Soon his employer began to cheat him on his wages.  His mother insisted that he quit, but the boy persevered; at one point he took his younger brother, 9, with him to help.  When the employers refused to pay his brother anything for his contribution, Badil finally decided to quit—which angered his Muslim employer.  His younger brother recalls:

As Mr Akram heard this he ran to hit Badil but Badil ran from the shop and Akram gave chase.  However, A friend of Akram was standing nearby on his motorcycle and told Akram to sit behind him, then both men chased Badil till they caught up with him. Akram then got off the motorcycle and dragged Badil back to the store.  They took Badil inside the store which is full of scrap.  For half an hour I was completely unaware of what was happening with Badil inside.  Eventually both men came outside and pretended as if nothing had happened inside.  I thought my brother had also left the store from another exit so I went to look for him.  I searched vigorously for 15 minutes and then saw my mother [approaching to walk the boys home], so I rushed to her to tell her what had happened.

Sharifa and her younger son searched frantically for Badil and finally found him collapsed on the ground near their home.  They rushed to him, thinking he was exhausted from the day’s work and subsequent thrashing, but quickly realized that he was barely breathing: “At this point the whole situation was too much to bear for Sharifa who began to scream and wail hysterically,” the report notes.  Badil was taken to a hospital where, seven hours later, the boy was pronounced dead. His brother “has been traumatised following his brother’s death and hasn’t left his house since and often screams in terror thinking the men responsible will take him too.”

Cameroon: A Bible translator “was butchered to death on Sunday morning [August 25] during an overnight attack while his wife’s arm was cut off,” according to a report:  “Bible translator Angus Abraham Fung was among seven people said to have been killed during an attack carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning in the town of Wum, according to Efi Tembon, who leads a ministry called Oasis Network for Community Transformation.”  Fulani herdsmen are Muslim and the chief persecutors of Christian farmers in Nigeria.  “They went into houses and pulled out the people,” Tembon explained: “They attacked in the night and nobody was expecting. They just went into the home, pulled them out and slaughtered them.”  Fung’s wife, Eveline Fung, who had her arm hacked off was last reported as receiving a blood transfusion at a local hospital.

Attacks against Apostates and Evangelists

Iran: Authorities sentenced a 65-year-old woman, a Muslim convert to Christianity, to one year in prison, on the charge that she was “acting against national security” and engaging in “propaganda against the system.”  According to the report, “The hearing was owing to her arrest shortly before Christmas when three agents from Iranian intelligence raided her home and took Mahrokh to intelligence offices where she endured ten days of intensive interrogation before she was released after submitting bail of 30 million Toman (US$2,500).”  Friends of the woman said that “the judge was very rude and tried to humiliate Mahrokh after she disagreed with him.”

Separately, a Kurdish bookseller in Bokan, Western Azarbaijan province, was arrested for selling Bibles.  According to the August 27 report, “Mostafa Rahimi was arrested on 11 June on charge of selling bible[s] in his bookstore, and he was released later on bail until the court issued his sentence. Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has learned that Rahimi is sentenced to 3 months and 1 day imprisonment.  Later in mid-August he was arrested again, and he is currently at the central prison of Bokan.”  Another report elaborates: “Iran’s government is officially Islamic, and authorities actively restrict access to Bibles and other Christian literature. Sharing one’s faith is categorized as a criminal offense, usually of the national security nature. The authorities often pressure Christians so extensively, routinely violating their human rights, that they are given no choice but to escape their country.”

Somaliland: An August 16 report shares the experiences a married Muslim woman, 32, underwent after her husband discovered a Bible in her possession.

“I told my husband that I found the Bible in Nairobi and wanted to read it,” the woman responded. “He just pronounced the word talaq [Arabic for divorce] to me. I knew that our marriage had just been rendered null and void because I joined Christianity, so without wasting time I left the homestead….  There and then he took our two daughters [ages 4 and 7] away from me and divorced me.  He gave me a stern warning that I should not come close to the children, and that if I do, he will take the Bible to the Islamic court and I will be killed by stoning for becoming an apostate.”

Her former husband proceeded to expose the clandestine Christian to her Muslim family. “My brothers beat me mercilessly with sticks as well as denying me food,” she said. “I feared to report the case to the police or the local administration, because they will charge me with a criminal offense of apostasy in accordance with the sharia.”  She has since relocated to an undisclosed location: “God has spared my life, and my fellow underground Christians in other regions of Somalia have received me and shared the little they have, but I am very traumatized.”  According to the report,

Somalia’s constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims.  Somalia is ranked 3rd on Christian support group Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Pakistan: After opening a summer education program for the youth, a Christian family was “terrorized” and forced to shut down on the accusation that they were clandestinely trying to convert Muslim children to Christianity.  According to a family member: “We started a project for interfaith harmony and education teaching marginalized children from different faiths about a year ago. In June, we started a summer camp that provided a free program for children that have dropped out of school. The design of this program was to provide guidance for these children to become civilized and tolerant.”  Two weeks into the summer program, a group of men, two of whom were armed, stormed into the academy, did violence to the property and harassed the children, and beat one of the instructors: “They threatened us with consequences if the academy was not shut down.  They alleged that we were promoting Christianity and were doing Christian evangelism.  For safety and security, we had no other choice but to obey the extremists and shutdown the academy….  I don’t want to lose my son or any family member. This terrorizing incident has already put us into trauma.”

In a separate incident in Pakistan, around 4 a.m. of August 2, seven Muslim men stormed into a parish house, where they tied up and savagely beat two young priests, Fr. Anthony Abraz and Fr. Shahid Boota, all while they “humiliated and abused them for preaching the Gospel in a Muslim-majority neighborhood.”  The invaders also vandalized the building—including by breaking windows, bookshelves, and cupboards—and desecrated Christian objects, including Bibles, Christian literature, and icons. Afterwards, “We were told we will have to face consequences if this house is not vacated,” Fr. Abraz reported. “They said, ‘We don’t want a Christian center near the mosque.’”

Finally, increasing numbers of Christian girls continue to be targeted for kidnapping, rape, and/or forced conversion in Pakistan.  According to one report,

In August, Yasmeen Ashraf, age 15, and Muqadas Tufail, age 14, were kidnapped and raped by three men in Kasur. The pair of Christian girls were taken when they were on their way to work as domestic workers.  Also in August, another young Christian girl, named Kanwal, was kidnapped, raped, and forcefully converted to Islam by a group of Muslim men and a cleric in Lala Musa, located in the Gujart District. After reuniting her family, Kanwal shared that she had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and threatened with the deaths of her brothers if she refused to convert to Islam.

In the previous month of July, at least three similar cases occurred.  “Oppression exists in different layers for Christian girls in Pakistan. They are suffering on the bases of gender, religion, and class. It has been documented that young Christian girls face higher levels of sexual harassment and are persecuted for their Christian faith,” Nabila Feroz Bhatti, a human rights defender in Lahore, said in response to the aforementioned incidents.  Similarly, the Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need, announced in August that it “is sounding the alarm on the plight of young Christian women, and even teenagers, in Pakistan who are forced to convert to Islam.”  “Every year at least a thousand girls are kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert to Islam, even forced to marry their tormentors,” elaborated Tabassum Yousaf, a local Catholic lawyer.

Meanwhile, those who try to protect Christian girls are punished.  On August 16, Maskeen Khan and two other Muslim men attacked the home of Bahadur Masih, a Christian.  While holding a knife, Khan and his partners tried to rape Masih’s daughter, Rachel, but were prevented by the rudely awoken family that immediately and desperately responded.  “Since the Christian family was defending themselves, Khan also got some injuries,” Ahsan Masih Sindhu, a local Christian political leader, reported. “The family handed Khan over to police and he got medical treatment. However, he later died in police custody.”  Police arrested and charged four members of the family with murder, even though they were in their own home protecting their daughter from violent intruders.  Other members of the family have gone into hiding due to threats from the dead would-be rapist’s relatives.  “We are sad about the death of Khan, however, the Christian family did have the right to defend,” Sindhu explained. “The police must conduct a fair investigation into this incident.”  Instead, police are denying the family the “right to defend” itself.

Attacks on Churches

Algeria: On August 6, police barged into a church during worship service, evacuated reluctant worshippers, and sealed the church building off.  “I am deeply saddened by so much injustice – it breaks my heart,” Messaoud Takilt, the pastor said.  “This is not surprising since other Christian places of worship have been closed and sealed as was the case today. But anyway, we will continue to celebrate our services outside while the Lord gives us grace for a final solution.”  When police denied, with a veiled threat, his request to at least let the worship service conclude,  “The assembly finally yielded and agreed to leave the premises, but with much pain.  Some went out with eyes full of tears. ”  Police proceeded to empty the premises of all furniture and sealed off every door before the distressed pastor (picture here).  Responding to this latest church closure the World Evangelical Alliance issued a statement on August 12 calling on Algeria to cease closing and instead reopen churches. A portion follows:

We deeply regret that two additional churches were forcibly closed by administrative decisions, in May and in August 2019 in the city of Boudjima, northeast of Tizi-Ouzou in Kabylie Region.  This brings the number of forcibly closed churches to 6, including one house church…. Many more churches are threatened with closure, amid denial of formal registration and recognition by authorities.

Indonesia: Muslim protestors compelled local authorities to revoke a permit for and cease construction of a Baptist church in Central Java.  On August 1, residents went to the partially constructed church and padlocked its fence.  A meeting was later held between the church, local residents, authorities, and others.  Although the pastor displayed the governmentally issued permit to build a church, Muslim residents insisted that it was wrongly given, leading to a standstill in negotiations.  In the previous month, July, two other churches were shut down in Indonesia following local protests.

Turkey: St. Theodoros Trion, an abandoned, historic church—the original Greek congregation of which was purged by the Ottoman Empire—was vandalized, including with genocidal slogans.  According to the report,

The vandals sprayed hate speech across the church’s walls. The vandalism was largely a reference to the secularism that Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder, had forced into the governmental structure….  Just a few years ago, the same church was targeted by Islamist vandals who wrote slogans such as “the priest is gone, he went to the mosque” — a reference to the country’s genocide and the forced conversions which occurred during this time. There are no Christians attending this church. All of the congregants were victims of the genocide. They faced death, deportation, and forced conversions. Those few who survived have since fled the country. The church currently stands as a historic monument to the Christianity that once was commonplace in the region.

Egypt: A Christian toddler was the latest, if inadvertent, victim of Egypt’s draconian restrictions on churches.    According to an August 21 report, Youssed Ebid, a 4-year-old Christian boy (photo), was struck by a tractor while waiting outdoors for a bus to take him to church in another village.  His own village is currently denied one, forcing its Christian residents to travel long distances to attend church.  Many Christians in Egypt are in the same situation, and accidents during their long treks are not uncommon.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1)          To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2)          To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

#Sharia #Islam #Muslim #News #Politics #Persecution #Religion #Jihad

[madewithonerib]

What Separates Judaism from Christianity?

          Revelation 3:18 | I counsel you to buy from ME gold           refined by fire so that you may become rich,           white garments so that you may be clothed &           your shameful nakedness not exposed, &           salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

BS: This is why it’s so interesting, when I read the NT myself, & I’m obviously not a believer in the divinity of JESUS.

     I can see what JESUS actually has to say about the OT.

     Shaking head in disbelief: It seems to me very similar      to stuff that Zachariah is saying, or that Jeremiah is      saying.

     Jeremiah says that the sacrifices themselves are      basically of no use unless there’s actual meaning      behind the sacrifices.

     GOD wasn’t there because HE liked the barbecue.

     Right, it actually has to have some meaning when      JESUS comes along & HE says:

          You’re focusing on all the details of the Sabbath,           without actually recognizing the rationale for the           Sabbath.

          Then HE exaggerates it beyond the point of..

     JM: “without loving GOD with all your heart,             soul, mind, & strength.”

           Matthew 22:37 | JESUS declared,            “‘Love the LORD your GOD with all            your heart & with all your soul &            with all your mind.’

     BS: Right exactly, & HE even to make a point exaggerates      it beyond the scope of what Jewish law would permit.

     So for example, when HE says:

     You’re going to leave a guy to die in the ditch on the      Sabbath? (shakes head) it’s against Jewish law,      you can’t do that, you have to violate the Sabbath      in order to save a life it’s (shakes head) like basic      black letter Jewish law.

     But HE’s making a point, which is:

          You guys are           ignoring what is important           to focus in on the           mundane aspects of practice.

     Like that is not unique to JESUS in other words.

     There’s a moral prophetic tradition of people      saying exactly that, & in the modern Jewish world,      it’s called mitzvot.

          It's basically telling people what they should           understand about the values beyond           the black letter law

     And this is why I think it’s fascinating to talk to people      who are real biblical scholars, from the Christian side,      a lot of the areas where Christian scholars think      Christianity has departed dramatically Judaism      (I think) are not really dramatic departures.

     They seem to be reflections of Judaism from a slightly      different angle. (shaking head) Even so far as a lot of      the (shaking head) stuff from the Sermon on the Mount.

     About, you know, when it says (shaking head) you’re      supposed to love thy brother as thyself.

     And you’re supposed to treat your brother, as you would      wish to be treated & all of this (excludes: love thy enemy)

     JM: “sure.”

     BS: “I mean that’s present in the OT too.”

     JM: “I think what JESUS did on the sermon on the Mount      was elevate the teaching of the rabbis.”

     Elevate it, HE went above them.

     HE said, “You’ve been told you shouldn’t commit adultery.      I’m telling you, if you look at a woman to lust after her,      you’ve already committed adultery in your heart.”

     HE got to the heart of the law.

     They were content with the practical application of the law.      JESUS was not content with that.

     So I would say: JESUS was the purest Jew that ever lived.      BS: (smiles sheepishly)

          Because HE understood the elevation           of the law, to the heart & the soul.

     It would be a monstrous responsibility for      some committee to have invented JESUS.

     When you hear even the people in HIS time saying:

          Never a man spoke like this man.

          John 7:46 | “Never has anyone spoken like this man!”           the officers answered.

     HE is a person that doesn’t seem to have been a product      of human invention.

1.] And you could say, “Well JESUS is a good teacher.” But      good teachers don’t claim to be GOD.

     They don’t say I & GOD are one.

          John 10:30 | I & the FATHER are one.”

          Deuteronomy 6:4 | Hear, O Israel:           The LORD our GOD, the LORD is One.

           John 17:21 | that all of them may be one, as YOU,            FATHER, are in ME, & I am in YOU. May they also            be in US, so that the world may believe that            YOU sent ME.

     They don’t say, “I created the universe,” that’s not a      good teacher, that’s somebody who’s crazy.

     Is a lunatic, or somebody who’s trying to pull off      a huge deception. So you cannot come to JESUS      & just patronize HIM as a noble good Jewish rabbi.

     Because HE crossed the line;      HE crossed a severe line & the Jews saw that.

     Either HE’s the Messiah or HE is a blasphemer.      And HE needs to be put to death.

     Those are really the choices you have, so      when you ask me to show the variation between      Judaism & Christianity morally? No there’s none.

2.] And in terms of GOD, we don’t have the same GOD as      Muslims. Allah is not the same as Jehovah.

     We don’t have the same gods as any of the false      religion, but Jews & Christians have the same GOD.

     HE is the one true creator GOD.      The one true living GOD.

     GOD has aseity, that is eternal by HIS own nature.      HE is the uncreated one.

     We believe HE is more than one person in one GOD.

     That’s why Genesis 1 said,      “Let us make man in our own image.”

     And relationship comes from a GOD who has relationship      within HIMSELF.

3.] But the distinction between Christianity & Judaism      is what we do with JESUS CHRIST.

     The writer of Hebrews said, “If a sacrifice had been      enough to atone for sin, they would have stopped      making em, but they never stopped.

     Hebrews 10:1-18 | CHRIST's Sacrifice Once for All

     Every: morning & evening (5x)      You know, basically, a priest was the butcher.

     He had blood right up to his waist. No I mean it.

     BS: (laughs nodding) That’s true.

     JM: And the frustration of it. Even on Yom Kippur,      the Day of Atonement & all the blood letting. And      year after year (3x) this goes on (3x), you have      this most amazing thing:

     You come to the death of JESUS CHRIST; & at the      death of CHRIST, the veil on the Temple is ripped      from top to bottom the Holy of Holies is thrown      open. WOW that’s a statement from GOD.

     Because it couldn’t have been ripped by men,      from the top down.

          The way to GOD is open,           there’s no more barriers.

     Because a suitable sacrifice has been found.      This is The LAMB of GOD.

          And amazingly, soon after that,            the whole sacrificial system ends.

     Because that’s the final sacrifice.

          And GOD validates that sacrifice           by raising HIM from the dead.

     The Resurrection is provable historical fact.

     So I think that’s the issue.      It’s what do you do with JESUS?

Source: @eternalloveheart​​​, youtu.be/gNdHX43rFXM

#believers in JESUS #believe #religion #fundamentals #Matthew 22:37 #love GOD #Ben Shapiro #Yom Kippur #Day of Atonement #death of JESUS #Judaism #Jewish #Jewish beliefs #The LAMB of GOD #sacrifice for sin #The Resurrection #Revelation 3:18 #John MacArthur #no more barriers

[frosty-the-killer-doll]

Pony Religions

For some time now I've seen humanized Fluttershy with a hijab, a piece of clothing worn by some Muslim women, which means that Fluttershy is Muslim. I got to thinking, how would human religions exist in MLP, and since the ponies have a monarchy that defines the Alicorn Sisters as deities, how could Equestria still reconigze their status/authority and have differing religions with other gods?

Well... Cadence is the Princess of Love... The elements are avatars of Harmony... Discord is the Lord of Chaos... So that would mean?

Yup! Real world gods and mythologies would translate into Cosmic Forces in the Ponyverse. An example of these forces are Love, Harmony, and Chaos. Pinkie Pie herself comes from a long line of traditionalist earth ponies similar to American Amish, called Ponies of the Plains/Plain Ponies, that believe in Providence, and Pinkie still holds this belief.

Providence notes itself as the will of fate and ponies it's creation, made to toil and be nature's guards. Providence is believed to be a single being that exists both for all-time and simultaneously as a communion of Will, Nature, and Fate. Will represents want, Nature acts as one's character, and Fate is the evitable future. Together, these are the trinity that form the single Providence.

Plain Ponies opt to live without modern technology and comforts. Plain Ponies put emphasis on labor, humbleness, discipline, duty, dignity and family. They believe Providence crafted earth ponies to be the strongest of the three pony races, the workers of their species, and the guardians of nature. Providence forged them divinely to maintain the ancient lifestyle of the old pony clans.

The Apple family too are followers of Providence, but are not Plain Ponies, as the way a creature worships one force differs just like reality. The Apples think themselves designed by Providence as sturdy laborers/nature(with a lower n)'s guardians, but don't spurn the modern luxuries. Apples put more strength in family, duty, pride and one's personal want/will.

Submission is where Providence differentiates, similar to Muslims and Christians. Submission is a different type of Providence. Submission is the force of surrendering to destiny, whatever it may be. Followers of Submission, "Submitters", believe solely in Submission and it's oneness. They don't think Providence is a three-in-one and regards the notion distastefully. They believe that the other forces are simply distorted and/or changed or corrupted works of Submission. Submitters put their lives in the hands of their force, and pray to it daily before any event. Submission makes no mistake; it is whole, it is one. Submitters disregard Will and Nature, thinking them mortal, not divine instruments of Submission. Submitters believe whole-heartedly in Submission; their own character or own wants are not to be put higher than what Submission demands their destiny as... That might sound cruel or unfair, but Submitters are happy to put their life in its path.

Fluttershy and her family are followers of Submission. Despite the budging differences between Providence and Submission, Submission still praises Providence's creatures for believing in Fate, while some old Providence prophets claim that Submitters are not worthy of any of Providence's gifts because they don't care for Will and Nature.

Dash is a lax atheist in Harmonyverse canon.

The believers of Order follow general guidelines. Their relationship with Order is deeply personal. Orderers think that Order is a solitary, unified Force-- the one and only Force-- and that it is concerned with the actions of Ponykind. Orderers have everyday, private experiences with Order, interpretating things like a draft or a stream of sunlight as a sign from Order. Ordinary, common occurences is how Order's manifests, and Orderers thank It for the very fact that they are alive this day, and for the day's existence. Order is thought to be concerned with daily conduct, being kind and showing mercy, not shedding blood, and not commiting acts like adultery and idolatry. Orderers follow that any Orderer's experience brings them closer to Order. Twilight and her family are followers of this Force.

Rarity believes strongly in Mercy, another form of Providence. To the Mercies, the cosmic force they worship is considered the first Providence. Mercies believe Providence to be an aged document of Mercy, and the ones that follow it instead practice the very first teachings to the letter. Mercies are compassionate by nature, always ready to help. Princess Celestia, and later Twilight, are viewed as an avatar of Mercy by It's followers.

Some creatures pray to Magic itself, channeling It's power through incantations and using the boost to create potions and cast spells. Zecora is one of these creatures. They are considered witches and wizards.

Treehugger practices Freedom, the act that her life is her own, her choices are her own, and nothing is set in stone. There's no grand plan for Freedom's friends, there's simply life and the promise of free will.

There can be some bad blood between the believers of all the different forces, but the Mane 6 respects and celebrates their differences, encouraging others to do the same.

Love is a force closer to Chaos that Princess Mi Amor Cadenza managed to master, despite its mysteries and power.

Discord isn't truly the embodient of Chaos itself; it's more of a title than anything. Rather he was born with a distinct, strong connection to the Force and began work as It's sentient, willing vessel after he became the last of his species. It's not weird for draconequi to be born with a natural link to a Force's magic/abilties; it is, in fact, what they were made for.

Every draconequi was born as an instrument as a different Force; so many exist, big and small, that none ever was repeated. Chaos was the last to birth a vessel (Discord). The species can only exist by being its birth Force's servant, but they eventually died out because they couldn't produce due to no more forces being available to craft a magic-born dracub. (All draconequi were born to virgins as only a Cosmic Force could create one of their kind).

Now Discord is the last draconequus, thanks to Chaos giving in and pouring powerful, erratic magics into cub Discord so the lone boy could survive. This is how he's immortal.

That took place before the Forces had other sentient vessels; draconequi were the first species to exist, and it would be a long time until the planet where ponies exist formed. (Earth = Aeroth, Aerth? Idk something punny)

Harmony is fucking complicated. Harmony is a force all by itself, but it has halves; the respective forces of Order and Chaos. This is where the Elements of Harmony are finally mentioned. The Elements make up Order or Chaos. Chaos is Laughter, Magic, and Honesty. Order is Kindness, Loyalty, and Generosity. You need that all to create Harmony.

As Discord and to some extent Cadence represent Chaos, Celestia and Luna were chosen to be barriers of Order. Like anything, too much Order can be reckless without a place for Chaos and their love-child Harmony, so Luna fell victim to the dreamwalker that corrupted her into Nightmare Moon, a violent instrument of Order. Twilight Sparkle became a vessel of Harmony (a more correct title would be a Lady of Harmony, not the Princess of Friendship) and was born with the tie to Magic like Discord, eventually ascending into Magic's high prophet, thus becoming an alicorn when Harmony deemed her worthy of being their immortal priestess.

The Mane 6 were all born with that connection to their Forces. They were chosen a long time ago, before their ancestors existed. All it took was the return of a crueler show of Order to make them realize their destinies.

The first born of the six, Fluttershy, is the shy servant of Kindness; Kindness gifted the timid pegasus the ability to communicate with animals and is responsible for Fluttershy's secret weapon, the Stare. (Trigger for sexual abuse ahead) Kindness also once saved filly Fluttershy, who had fallen from Cloudsdale and was badly injured, from being raped, calling upon woodland creatures to attack the stallion.

Twilight Sparkle would be the next component to come into existence; Magic manifested itself in boosting Twi's power, skillset, intelligence, and magical strength.

Rarity is Generosity's maiden. Generosity gave Rarity confidence in herself, creativity, an eye for detail, the power of influence, and the power to sense gems.

Pinkie Pie is Laughter's self-proclaimed lackey. Pinkie somehow has a tighter bond with Laughter, so much so that she can call upon Chaos to do the things that Pinkie does, like store things in her mane or take objects out of nowhere. Laughter is to thank for Pinkie Sense.

Applejack is Honesty's enforcer, and her being an element of Order shows in her being the den-mother of Sweet Apple Acres and often a voice of reason. Honesty's gift to AJ was super strength and endurance.

Loyalty got the cocky showboat Rainbow Dash as It's representative. Thanks to Loyalty, Dash acquired supersonic flight, the flashy Sonic Rainboom, and a specialty for manipluating weather.

No Force is inherently good or bad. It's up to the interpretation of creatures, but none Force is just a power for either villains or heroes. Forces don't discriminate, and it is not their choice if one uses their power for what others would deem villainous. A Force's only job is to answer to the call of any creature, no matter what.

And that's how shit works, yo. This Force stuff is really interesting to me, and it was fun and fucking hard researching so many different religions to craft them into MLP shit. Human Twi is Jewish, Human Pinkie comes from American Amish, Human Applejack is Christain, Human Rarity is Roman Catholic, Human Fluttershy is Muslim, and Dash is an atheist either way. Human witches and wizards (like Zecora, Sunburst, and Starswirl the Bearded) are Wiccan. Human Treehugger is just... a hippie, and Cadence is a worshipper of Aphrodite.

I hope this translating real religions into a world of talking pastel ponies doesn't offend anyone lol ✌️ don't use this headcanon in your own works without asking. The Plain Ponies thing and the Order/Chaos making up Harmony comes from Lopoddity on DeviantArt, she said I could use for my own verse. For more Harmonyverse, check out my DeviantArt GAYSWILLRULE.

#mlp #mlp headcanons #religions #cosmic force #worship #harmonyverse #my da is called gayswillrule in all caps

[stephendavid]

'A prominent member of Turkey's highest Islamic institution, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), stated that children who read the Turkish translation of the Koran "start gravitating towards" atheism and deism, a belief in a non-interventionist creator. The statement was made by Professor Cağfer Karadaş during an interview with the pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak on June 5.... “Religious culture teachers ask the Diyanet for free translations of the Koran and distribute them to students,” continued Karadaş. “When the students start reading [the Koran] and have trouble making sense out of it, they get confused and they can turn to these trends [atheism or deism]. I think that this is our most fundamental problem right now.”...' -- Uzay Bulut, Turkish journalist and political analyst ===================================================== This is why I ALWAYS encourage everyone to read the primary texts of their own as well as all other religions in one's own language, instead of just digesting what someone else tells you about it (e.g. pastors, priests, imams, scholars, et al.). That includes both your own religion and any other religion that has any impact on you and/or your community and/or the world. In Christianity, we have what is called "Nominal" (in name only) or "Cultural" (religion "inherited" from culture) Christianity. In Judaism, it is called being a "Secular" Jew. But in the twenty-odd years I studied world religions, I gradually reallized this is true about ALL religions. The average person sitting in any house of worship usually puts no thought into their belief system, but instead swallows everything they are told by their local preacher. If the preacher says something that shocks or seriously challenges their own personal deisres, wishes, etc, they frequently may move on to find another preacher who presents less challenges. But they also don't bother turning to their own Scripture to determine whether or not what is being preached is true or false. I have always believed that one also needs to study the texts of other religions as well because more often than not, you will be told misleading or false statements from either apologists from the other religion or from preachers of your own religion who are very ignorant on the subject. For instance, in one church I remember a very good Christian preacher trying to explain Buddhism and Hinduism... except that he got the two religions exactly the opposite. And, if you come to believe a wrong thing about another religion and then have a discussion with someone of that religion, you will quickly lose all credibility. This is especially important when dealing with apologists of another religion or someone attacking your own. If you don't actually know the teachings of your own religion from its primary texts, then you won't get far simply repeating ideas that came from a pastor, who may himself have no credibility with anyone outside of your own church/temple etc. You can only have real credibility with anyone when arguing directly from your own primary text and the founder(s) of your religion. Similarly, If you have actually read the Scripture of another religion, you will be far less likely to be deceived by apologists that are arguing falsehoods about their own religion. I.e. "You say this xxxx... but your Scriptures say yyyy... why is that?" So in a nutshell, I would say to anyone of any religion or no religion... if you are going to be discussing religion, be familiar with the original text... not just what some local pastor, sect or denomination tells you to believe. ====================================================== DEISM: This is mentioned in the original article which talks about Muslims turning to Deism after reading a copy of the Qu'ran in the vernacular (their own tongue) and turning to either Atheism or Deism. For those who don't recognize this term, it refers to a belief system that arose with "The Enlightenment" otherwise known as "The Age of Reason." This belief system was formulated and expressed as Science and knowledge grew in the west in the 17th through 19th centuries. It was an attempt by Western intellectuals to hold onto some semblance of religion while trying to balance it with scientific ideas that appeared (at least on the surface) to contradict those that derive from religion. Deists continued to claim belief in God, however they also believed that the universe ran under rules of nature that could be explained by science. As such, God exists as creater and the source of all natural rules and systems but did not intefere with His universe beyond just creating it. The common image given to explain this is that God created the Universe like an old fashion wind up alarm clock. He wound the imaginary spring up and then lets it run without touching it. I.e. the Universe needed to be created initially (e.g. similar to the Big Bang which was theorized much later) but then performed no further miracles and did not interact with His creation or creatures (humankind). Famous nominal, cultural "Christians" who were actually Deists included Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson literally took a pen knife to copies he had of the Gospels, cut out all Scripture verses he did not approve of, and created his own version of the Gospels -- which has recently been republished and made+available through Smithsonian Magazine. The Jefferson Gospels are devoid of all miracles, including Angelic visitations, the virgin birth of Jesus, miracles associated wtih the birth of John the Baptist, any of Jesus' miraculous healings and raising of the dead, as well as changing water to wine, walking on water, et al. Jesus was not the divine Son of God. He was not raised from the dead. He did not ascend directly into heaven. He was just a good man and religious teacher. In short, the entire religious basis for Christianity (i.e. the "fundamentals") are denied by Deists. Given the fact that Benjamin Franklin was also a Deist, as was Thomas Paine, who was also a virulent anti-Christian, the oft repeated claim that the founders were all "Christians" is easily seen as unreliable. I may discuss that further at some time in the future, but for right now, I will close the discussion of Deism with the following quote from Paine: "I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.... [The Bible] is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."

#diyanet

[thethingsihavelearned]

The Historicity of Jesus According to Non-Christian Sources

These last few articles have been leading up to this topic on the historicity of Jesus. We defined truth as being that which corresponds to reality, and we considered why it is actually important to answer the question of the historicity of Jesus Christ – is he a real historical figure, or is he merely a myth or an allegory.

First, understand that it is impossible to know anything from history with absolute certainty. Because no one can capture every aspect of a particular event, we cannot know for certain that the event in question happened in a particular way, in contrast to how we can know precisely the answer to a math or physics problem. For example, I cannot prove without question that Alexander the Great was born on August 8, 358 BC, at night, but I can prove to you without question that 2 + 2 = 4, quite literally. I will spare you from that proof for now, but my point is that historians cannot prove things in the same way that students of the hard sciences can. Historians must determine to what conclusion the facts most strongly point, and we can know things from history with reasonable certainty. It is similar to the dichotomy in law between trying a civil case and trying a criminal case. In a civil case, the lawyer must demonstrate that the preponderance (or majority) of the evidence supports his conclusion. In a criminal case, the prosecutor must prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. Historical research is more like the civil case than the criminal case. We must determine which conclusion the majority of the evidence supports.

There are several ways to address this question of the historicity of Jesus that occur to me. First, one can examine the historical record, other than the Biel, pertinent to the time period during which Jesus lived, which is what we will do here today. In Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell looks at the allusions to Jesus Christ in the following sourced: Toledot Yeshu, the rabbinical source from the fifth century; the Qur’an; Suetonius, the second century Roman historian; Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia from 111 – 113 AD; Mara bar Serapion, the 70 AD stoic philosopher; Cornelius Tacitus, the Roman historian who wrote his Annals around 100 AD; and Flavius Josephus, the first century Jewish historian. All of these sources have one thing in common, which is that they were not Christians, but in their writing about the first century, they had to discuss Jesus because he was the most prominent historical figure of that time period; otherwise, their records would have been woefully incomplete. McDowell also discusses the historical document about that time period that the Christians wrote. Some example he examines are the First Clement and the letters of Bishop Ignatius, both from the early part of the second century. Another mode of attack would be to prove the veracity of the New Testament, which liberal scholars seem to doubt for no verifiable academic reason, and consider what it says about Jesus. Finally, from a philosophical standpoint, one could use syllogisms to elucidate the logical necessity of Jesus based on what we perceive about God’s character. The philosopher would show how the triune God’s perfect harmony of love and holiness logically necessitates the life, death, and resurrection of God the Son. It makes sense for a beautiful argument, but at this juncture, it seems pertinent to me to use the works of Jesus’ critics to draw conclusions about his life. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Using these non-Christian sources to glean information about Jesus is useful because no critic of Christianity can label them as biased toward the Christian position. Early church fathers such as Polycarp and Clement of Rome, not to mention the Bible, certainly have a lot to say about Jesus; however, the critic could claim that these Christians lie or exaggerate to support their own arguments. I would disagree with this contention. Many of the early church fathers died a martyr’s death, never renouncing their faith in Jesus. I am no psychologist, but I would think that if these men were lying regarding Jesus, they would have admitted to their lying in the end to save themselves from the hangman’s noose. The fact that these martyrs maintained their position even to death strengthens their argument, showing at least that they believed strongly in their claims about Jesus; therefore, their writing is worthy of consideration. Notwithstanding, for now, we will consider Josephus, Tacitus, and some of the other non-Christian sources.

In History, as in law, the most valuable evidence is first-hand. In a court of law, second-hand evidence is inadmissible as hearsay. For example, if Sally witnesses Johnnie’s car wreck and tells Suzy all about it, Sally’s testimony is admissible and relevant, while Suzy’s is inadmissible because only Sally actually witnessed the wreck. In like manner, the further in time a historian writes his record from the time at which the event happened, the more likely it becomes that the report contains inaccuracies. First-hand reports recorded on the day of the event make the best evidence, and other records lose value loosely in proportion to a combination of the distance in time they are from the event and distance in people. There is a children’s game where children gather in a circle, and child one whispers some phrase into the ear of child two. Child two whispers phrase to child three, and the process continues accordingly around the circle. Without fail, the phrase is always different when it makes its way back around to the first child. Similarly, time and the people chain tend to weaken the strength of historical documentation such that the report of an eyewitness on the day of the event is best, and second-hand and third-hand testimony becomes weaker the further in time the testimony is recorded form the original event. With this historical analysis lesson in hand, let us now attempt to examine some of the historical record regarding Jesus.

Fist, consider the attestations to Jesus in the Qur’an. The Muslim prophet Muhammed dictated the Qur’an. Ergo, it stands to reason that the Qur’an probably harbors some polemic devices against Christianity, yet look at the information it contains about Jesus. According to the Qur’an, Jesus performed miracles, uttered prophecies that came true, and was born of a virgin. It also argues against the Christian doctrines of Jesus’ divinity, the Trinity, and even Jesus’ crucifixion. I believe the only reason that the Qur’an mentions Jesus at all is because his fame was already so widespread at the time of its writing. The Qur’an, purporting to be a religious book, had to include some true information about Jesus to give it any credibility whatsoever. Although its denial of Jesus’ crucifixion, as well as several other errors, probably tolls its death bell, its information about the miracles surrounding Jesus’ life mirrors that of the other historical accounts we will analyze. The Toledot Yeshu is similar to the Qur’an in that it is likely polemical against Christianity by its very nature. It is a Jewish commentary written around 450 AD that discusses Jesus Christ, calling him essentially a false prophet, certainly denying his godship. The Toledot proposes that Jesus was a disrespectful charlatan who mastered demonic magic to gain a following. It says that the Romans crucified Jesus and erroneously reports that his body was stolen by his disciples and ultimately recovered by the Sanhedrin. Clearly a Christian would disagree with this polemic’s contention about the recovery of Jesus body, but notice the tacit referent to three core Christian tenants. First, where the Toledot says that Jesus mastered magic, it is attempting to account for Jesus’ well-documented miracles that he performed throughout his life, interestingly doing so in the same way that the Gospels say that the Jewish leaders did so during Jesus’ lifetime. Second, it agrees that Jesus was crucified. The Toledot disagrees with the Christian as to the purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion, but it agrees that Jesus was indeed crucified. Finally, it attests to Jesus’ resurrection. It says that Jesus’ body was stolen and later recovered, again mirroring the story that Matthew, in his Gospel, tells us that the Jewish council fabricated. The Toledot Yeshu had to address these three issues regarding Jesus because his story was already so widespread by the fifth century. Like the Qur’an, the Toledot Yeshu likely does not contain any independent information about Jesus due to its late date, but, here again, Jesus’ critics help to verify the Gospel account of Jesus’ life.

Next, let us examine some documents written much closer in time to Jesus’ life. In the second century, knowledge about Jesus had not been disseminated as widely as it would be, but the process had begun. Suctonius, the second century Roman historian, mentions “Chrestus” as the reason for Jewish disturbances and their expulsion from Rome in 49 AD. “Chrestus” almost certainly is a misspelling of “Christus”, which is the Greek spelling of Christ, and Suetonius’ record tells us, at the very least, that differences in opinion about Jesus within the Jewish community aroused the attention of Rome. Mara bar Serapion, a Syrian stoic philosopher, writes about Jesus in a letter to his son in 70 AD. Mara describes Jesus’ teaching, calling Jesus the “Jew’s wise king.” Neither of these men were Christians, nor were they particularly invested in the Christian movement. Nevertheless, both discuss Jesus in their works around the end of the first and the beginning of the second century.

Cornelius Tacitus presents a different situation altogether. From his works, it is obvious that he despised Christians. Tacitus lived between 56 and 120 AD, and historians today consider him to be the greatest Roman historian of all time. He writes about Jesus in his Annals toward the end of the first century. Tacitus claims that Christians worship Jesus Christ as their god and that Pontius Pilate, under Emperor Tiberius, crucified Jesus in the 30s AD. Tacitus considered the Jews to be an inferior race, likening them to rodents, so he would not have used Jewish sources in his records; ergo, Annals represents a source that is completely independent from the Gospels and that attests to Jesus’ life and death by crucifixion. How about that lasting confirmation from a man who admittedly hated the Christian way.

Finally, Flavius Josephus mirrors Tacitus in his timeline and his disdain for Christianity, as well as his independent support of the Gospel record of Jesus’ life. Josephus was a Jewish historian and politician who lived between 37 and 100 AD. He wrote Antiquities of the Jews to explain Jewish history to the Romans. Josephus was probably related to Caiphas and Annas, the two Jewish high priests during Jesus’ life, who instigated Jesus’ crucifixion, and Josephus shared their opinion about Jesus and his followers. They viewed Christianity as a cult that endangered the Jewish nation, and they wished to eradicate it. In Antiquities, Josephus mentions James, the brother of Jesus Christ, being one of the early leaders of the Christians and describes James’ death by stoning. He also discusses Jesus being the crucified founder of the sect and the man who Christians worship as God. Josephus describes these two topics while castigating the Christian faith, and his information likely came from the very men who crucified Jesus. With Flavius Josephus, we have another source independent from the Bible that calls Jesus the founder of Christianity who really lived and whom the Romans crucified. In fact, Antiquities of the Jews even presents Jesus as resurrected, although, admittedly, this detail seems to have been added at a later date by an interpolator.

These works represent only a sampling of the references to Jesus in ancient historical documents. McDowell refers to even more documents in Evidence That Demands a Verdict, but these should be enough to put to rest any doubt about whether or not Jesus really live in history as the Bible claims. These sources, other than the Qur’an, also confirm the Gospel account of Jesus’ crucifixion. Frankly, the last two references alone, one from a Roman historian and the other from a religious Jewish historian, disprove the absurd contention that Jesus never lived or was not actually crucified. Jesus Christ really in live in “space-time” as Francis Schaeffer like to say. He is no allegory or mythical character invented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is up to you to decide if you will believe God’s promises and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have not already, I sincerely hope that you will.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14

#Jesus Christ #God #Christianity #Thoughts #spilled ink #spilled truth #spilled thoughts #truth #writing #read #long reads #passages #lessons #life #apologetics