Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts

Friday 10 April 2020

the Just Gospel conference

At the beginning of last month, before Coronavirus lockdowns, a sizable and impressive conference took place at Garrett Kell’s Del Rey Baptist, in the Washington, D.C. area.

It was not bad that those Americans dared to look at the issues of politics and the church and touched on issues from poverty to immigration as well. In what will be a volatile election year with many evangelicals involved in Christian nationalism the Just Gospel looked like a healthy and solid event.

The Del Rey Baptist church is a daughter church of Capital Hill Baptist.

The Just Gospel described itself as following:

No one saw the 2016 presidential election coming. No one predicted the effect the election would have on the country — and the Church.
To some extent, our tribalism has been exposed and perhaps deepened. Unity has become more fragile.

In all likelihood, the Church will face the same stark choices and the same potential for misunderstanding, disunity and tribal politics. This time, however, we have an opportunity to approach politics and the election differently… like Christians… like the pilgrims and aliens we are in the world.
The goal of Just Gospel 2020 is NOT to engage in partisan debate or endorse any party’s platform. Nor is our goal to bind the consciences of attendees to a particular policy prescription the Bible does not require. We will not recommend or even comment on any candidate.
The Just Gospel 2020 conference goal is to help Christians think biblically and deeply about being Christians and taking our Christian identity and perspective into our political lives.
The organisers of the conference in any case had good intentions/
We hope to aid each other in our discipleship. We are “strangers and exiles on the earth” who “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:13, 16).
We hope to model how Christians who differ in secondary and political matters can nevertheless do so charitably and in a way that preserves both unity and freedom of conscience. We hope to make a difference — for the Church and the country.
We need and want healing conversations that serve the Church We need pilgrim politics that bear witness to Christ and Kingdom to which we are headed. Join us!
 
The Neo-Calvinist movement addresses the situation of racism or even hate groups. Traditional evangelicals and Trinitarian Baptists have failed substantially on this issue and have ignored, downplayed or just haven’t really spoken to this topic. Garrett Kell in his ministry has been consistent on pushing back against those in the Southern Baptist Convention who embrace Christian nationalism and marry faith and politics. When the Southern Baptists had their regular meeting in Dallas, Texas in 2018 it was Garrett Kell who tried to replace Vice President Mike Pence speaking to the Convention with a time of prayer.

The conference was well balanced and covered a large number of issues form immigration, to poverty,  to politics and the church. What surprised me is that there were more outsiders than the traditional 9 Marks church circuit speakers. That made this conference well needed and necessary.

Monday 10 August 2015

Three pillars of sustainable development, young people and their rights

United Nations Decade of Education for Sustain...
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The member states of the United Nations have this week agreed on ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, but youth has been neglected in the adopted document.

There is made an agreement on a universal, interlinked agenda that applies to all countries and brings together the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Its core aims – to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, reduce inequality, achieve gender equality, improve water management and energy, and take urgent action to combat climate change should help to improve millions of lives – will help ensure the future of our planet for forthcoming generations.

But the younger generations are somewhat forgotten. Young people and their rights are not prioritised.

Find more about it on:

European Youth cries out: Sustainable Development Goals ambitious, but lack focus on youth


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Wednesday 18 March 2015

London an exaggerated microcosm of the UK at large

English: Ladbroke Grove Looking north towards ...
English: Ladbroke Grove Looking north towards the railway bridge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The city where I loved living in but could not afford it any more has even become more impossible to reside for many. People who have lived there for generations, who are born there have no alternative to leave the city and look for cheaper ground to reside.

Striking new figures show that the proportion of households classified as either poor or wealthy has grown across the United Kingdom in recent decades, leaving a shrinking middle. But it is in London that the trend is by far the most pronounced.
London is now a city of contradictions. It is the richest part of the country, but also its most unequal, with the highest levels of poverty. It is home to some of the world’s most expensive real estate, but has the highest proportion of renters of any area of the country, many of whom are locked out of home ownership. It has some of the world’s best teaching hospitals, but suffers from profound health inequalities.

As with every cosmopolitan you get an exaggerated microcosm of the country at large, distilling its inequality to concentrated extremes.

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Most of London’s poor have jobs, many of which do not pay the minimum wage thanks to unscrupulous companies using tricks like keeping tips to top up wages. They don’t bat an eyelid at commuting over two hours on three buses to get to their office-cleaning jobs because they can’t afford the tube, or because they need to start at 4am so they can clear out by the time the office workers arrive. They live with the fear their teenage children will get caught up in the gang violence that barely touches the professionals who walk the same streets in Peckham, Ladbroke Grove and King’s Cross. Yes, London has wonderful free museums and parks – but who has time to visit them when you’re trying to hold down two or three jobs?

Read more about it:

The Observer view on London’s wealth gap

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Full text of Pope Francis' Interview with 'La Vanguardia'

.- In an interview granted with Spanish-language magazine "La Vanguardia" on Monday, Pope Francis lauded Pius XII for his efforts in saving Jews, discussed Orthodox-Catholic relations, as well as the motivations behind his prayer meeting at the Vatican last Sunday.

Below, please find the full text of his interview in English:


Interview with Pope Francis: “One has to take the secession of a nation with grain of salt.”

“Our world economic system can’t take it anymore,” says the Bishop of Rome in an interview with La Vanguardia. “I’m no illumined one. I didn’t bring any personal projects under my arm.” “We are throwing away an entire generation to maintain a system that isn’t good,” he opines with respect to unemployed youth.

“The persecuted Christians are a concern that touches me very deeply as a pastor. I know a lot about persecutions but it doesn’t seem prudent to talk about them here so I don’t offend anyone. But in some places it is prohibited to have a Bible or teach the catechism or wear a cross… What I would like to be clear on is one thing, I am convinced that the persecution against Christians today is stronger than in the first centuries of the Church. Today there are more Christian martyrs than in that period. And, it's not because of fantasy, it’s because of the numbers."

Pope Francis received us last Monday in the Vatican - a day after the prayer for peace with the presidents of Israel and Palestine - for this exclusive interview with “La Vanguardia.” The Pope was happy to have done everything possible for understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.
Violence in the name of God dominates the Middle East.

It's a contradiction. Violence in the name of God does not correspond with our time. It's something ancient. With historical perspective, one has to say that Christians, at times, have practiced it. When I think of the Thirty Years War, there was violence in the name of God. Today it is unimaginable, right? We arrive, sometimes, by way of religion to very serious, very grave contradictions. Fundamentalism, for example. The three religions, we have our fundamentalist groups, small in relation to all the rest.

And, what do you think about fundamentalism?

A fundamentalist group, although it may not kill anyone, although it may not strike anyone, is violent. The mental structure of fundamentalists is violence in the name of God.

Some say that you are a revolutionary.

We should call the great Mina Mazzini, the Italian singer, and tell her “take this hand, gypsy” and have her read into my past, to see what [she finds]. (He laughs) For me, the great revolution is going to the roots, recognizing them and seeing what those roots have to say to us today. There is no contradiction between [being a] revolutionary and going to the roots. Moreso even, I think that the way to make true changes is identity. You can never take a step in life if it’s not from behind, without knowing where I come from, what last name I have, what cultural or religious last name I have.

You have broken many security protocols to bring yourself closer to the people.

I know that something could happen to me, but it’s in the hands of God. I remember that in Brazil they had prepared a closed Popemobile for me, with glass, but I couldn’t greet the people and tell them that I love them from within a sardine tin. Even if it’s made of glass, for me that is a wall. It’s true that something could happen to me, but let’s be realistic, at my age I don’t have much to lose.  

Why is it important that the Church be poor and humble?

Poverty and humility are at the center of the Gospel and I say it in a theological sense, not in a sociological one. You can't understand the Gospel without poverty, but we have to distinguish it from pauperism. I think that Jesus wants us bishops not to be princes but servants.

What can the Church do to reduce the growing inequality between the rich and the poor?

It’s proven that with the food that is left over we could feed the people who are hungry. When you see photographs of undernourished kids in different parts of the world, you take your head in your hand, it incomprehensible. I believe that we are in a world economic system that isn’t good. At the center of all economic systems must be man, man and woman, and everything else must be in service of this man. But we have put money at the center, the god of money. We have fallen into a sin of idolatry, the idolatry of money.

The economy is moved by the ambition of having more and, paradoxically, it feeds a throwaway culture. Young people are thrown away when their natality is limited. The elderly are also discarded because they don’t serve any use anymore, they don’t produce, this passive class… In throwing away the kids and elderly, the future of a people is thrown away because the young people are going to push forcefully forward and because the elderly give us wisdom. They have the memory of that people and they have to pass it on to the young people. And now also it is in style to throw the young people away with unemployment. The rate of unemployment is very worrisome to me, which in some countries is over 50%. Someone told me that 75 million young Europeans under 25 years of age are unemployed. That is an atrocity. But we are discarding an entire generation to maintain an economic system that can’t hold up anymore, a system that to survive must make war, as the great empires have always done. But as a Third World War can’t be done, they make zonal wars. What does this mean? That they produce and sell weapons, and with this the balance sheets of the idolatrous economies, the great world economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money, obviously they are sorted. This unique thought takes away the wealth of diversity of thought and therefore the wealth of a dialogue between peoples. Well understood globalization is a wealth. Poorly understood globalization is that which nullifies differences. It is like a sphere in which all points are equidistant from the center. A globalization that enriches is like a polyhedron, all united but each preserving its particularity, its wealth, its identity, and this isn’t given. And this does not happen.

Does the conflict between Catalunya and Spain worry you?

All division worries me. There is independence by emancipation and independence by secession. The independences by emancipation, for example, are American, that they were emancipated from the European States. The independences of nations by secession is a dismemberment, sometimes it’s very obvious. Let’s think of the former Yugoslavia. Obviously, there are nations with cultures so different that couldn’t even be stuck together with glue. The Yugoslavian case is very clear, but I ask myself if it is so clear in other cases. Scotland, Padania, Catalunya. There will be cases that will be just and cases that will not be just, but the secession of a nation without an antecedent of mandatory unity, one has to take it with a lot of grains of salt and analyze it case by case.

The prayer for peace from Sunday wasn’t easy to organize nor did it have precedents in the Middle East nor in the world. How did you feel?

You know that it wasn’t easy because you were there, and much of that achievement is due to you. I felt that it was something that can accidentally happen to all of us. Here, in the Vatican,99% said it would not happen and then the 1% started to grow. I felt that we were feeling pushed towards something that had not occurred to us and that, little by little, started to take shape. It was not at all a political act - I felt that from the beginning - but it was rather a religious act: opening a window to the world.

Why did you choose to place yourself in the eye of the hurricane, the Middle East?

The true eye of the hurricane, due to the enthusiasm that there was, was the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro last year. I decided to go to the Holy Land because President Peres invited me. I knew that his mandate would finish this Spring, so I felt obliged, in some way, to go beforehand. His invitation accelerated the trip. I did not think of doing it.

Why is it important for every Christian to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land?

Because of revelation. For us, it all started there. It is like “heaven on earth.” A foretaste of what awaits us hereafter, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

You and your friend, the Rabbi Skorka, hugged each other in front of the Western Wall. What importance has that gesture had for the reconciliation between Christians and Jews?

Well, my good friend professor Omar Abu, president of the Institute for Inter-religious Dialogue of Buenos Aires, was also at the Wall. I wanted to invite him. He is a very religious man and a father-of-two. He is also friends with Rabbi Skorka and I love them both a lot, and I wanted that that friendship between the three be seen as a witness.

You told me a year ago that “within every Christian there is a Jew.”

Perhaps it would be more correct to say “you cannot live your Christianity, you cannot be a real Christian, if you do not recognize your Jewish roots.” I don’t speak of Jewish in the sense of the Semitic race but rather in the religious sense. I think that inter-religious dialogue needs to deepen in this, in Christianity’s Jewish root and in the Christian flowering of Judaism. I understand it is a challenge, a hot potato, but it can be done as brothers. I pray every day the divine office every day with the Psalms of David. We do the 150 psalms in one week. My prayer is Jewish and I have the Eucharist, which is Christian.

How do you see anti-Semitism?

I cannot explain why it happens, but I think it is very linked, in general, and without it being a fixed rule, to the right wing.  Antisemitism usually nests better in right-wing political tendencies that in the left, right? And it still continues (like this). We even have those who deny the holocaust, which is crazy.

One of your projects is to open the Vatican archives on the Holocaust.

They will bring a lot of light. 

Does it worry you something could be discovered?

What worries me regarding this subject is the figure of Pius XII, the Pope that led the Church during World War II. They have said all sorts of things about poor Pius XII. But we need to remember that before he was seen as the great defender of the Jews. He hid many in convents in Rome and in other Italian cities, and also in the residence of Castel Gandolfo. Forty-two babies, children of Jews and other persecuted who sought refuge there were born there, in the Pope’s room, in his own bed. I don’t want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes - I myself make many - but one needs to see his role in the context of the time. For example, was it better for him not to speak so that more Jews would not be killed or for him to speak? I also want to say that sometimes I get “existential hives” when I see that everyone takes it out against the Church and Pius XII, and they forget the great powers. Did you know that they knew the rail network of the Nazis perfectly well to take the Jews to concentration camps? They had the pictures. But they did not bomb those railroad tracks. Why? It would be best if we spoke a bit about everything.

Do you still feel like a parish priest or do you assume your role as head of the Church?

The dimension of parish priest is that which most shows my vocation. Serving the people comes from within me. Turn off the lights to not spend a lot of money, for example. They are things that a parish priest does. But I also feel like the Pope. It helps me to do things seriously. My collaborators are very serious and professional. I have help to carry out my duty. One doesn’t need to play the parish priest Pope. It would be immature. When a head of state comes, I have to receive him with the dignity and the protocol that are deserved. It is true that with the protocol I have my problems, but one has to respect it.

You are changing a lot of things. Towards what future are these changes going?

I am no illumined one. I don’t have any personal project that I’ve brought with me under an arm, simply because I never thought that they were going to leave me here, in the Vatican. Everyone knows this. I came with a little piece of luggage to go straight back to Buenos Aires. What I am doing is carrying out what we cardinals reflected upon during the General Congregations, that is to say, in the meetings that, during the conclave, we all maintained every day to discuss the problems of the Church. From there come reflections and recommendations. One very concrete one was that the next Pope had to count on an external council, that is, a team of assessors that didn’t live in the Vatican.

And you created the so-called Council of Eight.

They are eight cardinals from all the continents and a coordinator. They gather every two or three months here. Now, the first of July we have four days of meetings, and we are going to be making the changes that the very cardinals ask of us. It is not obligatory that we do it but it would be imprudent not to listen to those who know.

You have also made a great effort to become closer to the Orthodox Church.

The invitation to Jerusalem from my brother Bartholomew was to commemorate the encounter between Paul VI and Athenagoras I 50 years ago. It was an encounter after more than a thousand years of separation. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has made efforts to become closer and the Orthodox Church has done the same. some orthodox churches are closer than others. I wanted Bartholomew to be with me in Jerusalem and there emerged the plan to also come to the Vatican to pray. For him it was a risky step because they can throw it in his face, but this gesture of humility needed to be extended, and for us it's necessary because it's not conceivable that we Christians are divided, it's a historical sin that we have to repair.

In the face of the advance of atheism, what is your opinion of people who believe that science and religion are mutually exclusive?  

There was a rise in atheism in the most existential age, perhaps Sartrian. But after came a step toward spiritual pursuits, of encounter with God, in a thousand ways, not necessarily the traditional religions. The clash between science and faith peaked in the Enlightenment, but that is not so fashionable today, thank God, because we have all realized the closeness between one thing and the other. Pope Benedict XVI has a good teaching about the relation between science and faith. In general lines, the most recent is that the scientists are very respectful with the faith and the agnostic or atheist scientist says, “I don’t dare to enter that field.”

You have met many Heads of State.  

Many have come and it’s an interesting variety. Each one has their personality. What has called my attention is the cross made between young politicians, whether they are from the center, the left or the right. Maybe they talk about the same problems but with a new music, and this I like, this gives me hope because politics is one of the more elevated forms of love, of charity. Why? Because it leads to the common good, and a person who, [despite] being  able to do it, does not get involved in politics for the common good, is selfish; or that uses politics for their own good, is corrupt. Some fifteen years ago the French bishops wrote a pastoral letter reflecting on the theme “Restoring Politics.” This is a precious text that makes you realize all of these things.

What do you think of the renunciation of Benedict XVI?

Pope Benedict has made a very significant act. He has opened the door, has created an institution, that of the of the eventual popes emeritus. 70 years ago, there were no emeritus bishops. Today how many are there? Well, as we live longer, we arrive to an age where we cannot go on with things. I will do the same as him, asking the Lord to enlighten me when the time comes and that he tell me what I have to do, and and he will tell me for sure.

You have a room reserved in a retirement home in Buenos Aires.  

Yes, its a retirement house for elderly priests. I was leaving the archdiocese at the end of last year and and had already submitted my resignation to Benedict XVI when I turned 75. I chose a room and said “I want to come to live here.” I will work as a priest, helping the parishes. This is what was going to be my future before being Pope.  

I am not going to ask you whom you support in the World Cup….

Brazilians asked me to remain neutral (he laughs) and I  keep my word because Brazil and Argentina are always antagonistic. 

How would you like to be remembered in history?

I have not thought about it, but I like it when someone remembers someone and says: “He was a good guy, he did what he could. He wasn’t so bad.” I’m OK with that.

Read more:

http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140612/54408951579/entrevista-papa-francisco.html#ixzz34VC9wXkh  

This text was translated from the original Spanish by CNA's Alan Holdren, Estefania Augirre and Elise Harris.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Pope Francis says Catholics must become evangelisers

Pope Francis I who becomes more and more popular because of his own simple attitude has issued his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), following the synod of bishops on the new evangelisation in October 2012.
emblem of the Papacy: Triple tiara and keys Fr...
The Gospel in itself is a bringer of Good News and tells us the story of how Jesus brought the Word of God to the people and instructed his followers to do likewise, evangelising all over the world.
“The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus,” the Pope wrote, inviting Christians to “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” said the Pontiff to a number of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday.
Those who call themselves Christians should know that they have to follow their leader of whom they got their name: Jeshua the Christ. Jesus Christ gave his followers commandments and his instructions focused on the love of his Father, the Only One God and on his Father His commandments.
In the evangelisation we should give an emphasis on God’s saving love before proclaiming doctrines and follow the “way of beauty,” the Pope said. Patience and “respectful and compassionate listening” are also a key part of evangelisation, he added.
“The Gospel tells us to correct others and to help them to grow on the basis of a recognition of the objective evil of their actions, but without making judgments about their responsibility and culpability… our personal experience of being accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach us to be patient and compassionate with others, and to find the right way to gain their trust, their openness and their readiness to grow,”
Pope Francis leads a mass at St Peter's basilica
Pope Francis also explained a “profound connection between evangelisation and human advancement,” saying that the
 “Gospel is not merely about our personal relationship with God”
 and that religion cannot be “restricted to the private sphere,” but is concerned with society, since
 “all Christians … are called to show concern for the building of a better world.”
As he correctly said "all Christians" which includes the protestants, trinitarian and non-trinitarian Christians
Naturally the 48,000-word document covers a wide range of Catholic issues including abortion, the role of the papacy in the 21st century and the question of women priests.
Many may look at the decline of priests or pastors, but for the Catholic church father the issue of women priests was “not open to discussion”.
Matters which are connected with our encountering other people, to talk to and about, area also written about in the document, including the global economy, the plight of the poor and the relationship between science and religion. He also discussed ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, making specific reference to Islam.
“In order to sustain dialogue with Islam, suitable training is essential for all involved, not only so that they can be solidly and joyfully grounded in their own identity, but so that they can also acknowledge the values of others, appreciate the concerns underlying their demands and shed light on shared beliefs,” the Pope said.
“We Christians should embrace with affection and respect Muslim immigrants to our countries in the same way that we hope and ask to be received and respected in countries of Islamic tradition. I ask and I humbly entreat those countries to grant Christians freedom to worship and to practice their faith, in light of the freedom which followers of Islam enjoy in Western countries! Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalisations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.”
Not only the Catholic Church can learn from this apostolic exhortation. It should be  “a challenge to everyone, without exception.”
The joy of the Gospel, the exhortation’s very title, should embrace all Christians. By all our actions we should convince others of the truth of that Gospel.
The pope said.
“It presents a vision for the pattern of life of the Church present throughout the world, for parish life, for the work of the preacher, for the catechist, for the bishop, for the business person and the politician and for the ministry of the Pope himself.
It contains a radical look at the crisis of poverty in our world and at the role of economics. 
It offers a new light on the Church’s social teaching and calls for dialogue between faith, reason and science, with our fellow Christians, with the Jewish community, with other religions and with society, especially in the context of religious freedom.
This dialogue about faith, reason and science was already started by the Christadelphians in "Stepping Toes", with articles like:

Our world may have developed into the 21st century, but that does not have to mean that science has conquered religion and made it not necessary any more.

Contrary to his previous encyclical writing Lumen Fidei, released in July, essentially based on the work of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, this Evangelii Gaudium is very much his own work.
Apostolic exhortations are often based on deliberations of synods of bishops, and although this one takes into account the October 2012 synod on the new evangelisation, last June, Pope Francis informed the ordinary council of the Synod of Bishops, which is normally responsible for helping draft post-synodal apostolic exhortations, he would not be working from their draft.
Instead, the Pope said, he planned to write an “exhortation on evangelisation in general and refer to the synod”, in order to “take everything from the synod but put it in a wider framework”.
For the full text of Evangelii Gaudium go here.
For key quotes from the Pope’s document, go here.

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Monday 31 October 2011

New articles for October 2011

While in September war was imminent according to Israeli commander and hundreds of thousands had come on the streets in Israel the Unites States and Europe found also many hundreds of people who were undignified whith todays situation.
In September Israel had attacked and Egypt had entered a severe crisis but the common people showed their anger and dislikes.

This month in the Ecclesia we gave attention on the Name of God and looked at its use in several languages and Bibletranslations.

Also the economic troubles and Bank tribulations could not escape our attention. After the American debacle, the Lehman Brothers brought a lot of Belgian people in a position where they lost all their savings. On top of that the Belgian Banks burned their soup as well.
Dexia-debacle met venijnig staartje.
Politically Belgium saw some light and got somewhere on the good way in the worst political crisis since it short existance. Doorbraak in grootste regeringscrisis van België

We discussed how a Christian has to behave him or herself in such a situation and which responsibility we do have to take about our environment.

We spoke about the many diversions people looked for and what sort of entertainment got him away from our real purpose and essence of life. We could see that also today we still have A god between many gods and that a lot of people still keep choosing for the wrong hero.


We showed that it has become more important today to know the importance of the Creator of heaven and earth and everything aroundיהוה. When we look at the world and see what human beings try to do with the creation we know that no mater what the world may be thinking we should honour always only The Only One Elohim who creates and gives all, but we should also dare to speak to Him using His Name. Though when we do hear many Christians speak, we hear them using strange words for a believer in the Most High and we do not often hear Gods real Name, but often we hear His titles used in a strange way, not really honouring the Elohim Hashem. Lots of Christians are afraid to utter their opinnion when it goes against the general contemporary attitude. they are afraid not going to be accepted by the community and fear to fail. Faal beter
Faal beter #2 Jij en de ander

We can wonder What is your greatest fear? not to use Gods Name?
Some one or something to fear #2 Attitude and Reactions
Some one or something to fear #3 Cases, folks and outing
Some one or something to fear #4 Families and Competition
Some one or something to fear #5 Not afraid
Some one or something to fear #6 Faith in the Most High
Some one or something to fear #7 Not afraid for Gods Name

In Flanders the population of the poor is growing fast and we can find more families where there is no possibility to consume three meals a day:Geen drie maaltijden voor kind. Several parents have no possibility to buy the necessary products for their children anymore. With the growing population some people are afraid that we shall not be able to feed all those mouths. From the several articles you shall be able to find out that God has foreseen in His Plan that we all shall be able to live nicely. So it can be interesting to look at the World Population Watch - see http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ - where a magic figure of 7 Billion  is brining a reality of acute awareness to take care of each other (- purely for interest not a doomsday prediction.)

Britain changes rules to the act of settlement. What does this mean and why is it significant? > CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEKS WWW 23rd - 29th Oct 2011‏

In > Niet winkelend we show how certain evolution in the belief of people made that we do came in a situation which is not worth for a civilised population to live in. In November we shall go deeper into that because professor Verhaeghe does not agree with what I am saying that a lot of what happens today in the financial and work market happens because of the loss of values and morals. We look also on what others think about The origins of Occupy Wall Street and about the Complex Equality. We also looked at the metaphor for the lost generation. >Metafoor over een generatie but also dare to say we to the great indignation question the incident in the university buildings in Brussels > Verontwaardigd over Indignados. (The photographs of the damage say enough about the attitude of certain people today.)
This outrage or outcry we hear today may be understandable, but how should we behave as Christians? To know how we best can react we also should try to understand all the parties and look at the historical and political situation.
Anti-Crisis anger calling out
Op straat voor waardigheid #1 Zieke broertje
Op straat voor waardigheid #2 Grote broer
Op straat voor waardigheid #3 de Rest van de Familie
Op straat voor waardigheid #4 de Erfenis

The economical crisis also showed that there is some division in Europe and questions the position of each individual in the system.Verdeeldheid bijgelegd.

Europe has enjoyed many decades of growth in wealth and well-being, based on intensive use of resources. But today it faces the dual challenge of stimulating the growth needed to provide jobs and well-being to its citizens, and of ensuring that the quality of this growth leads to a sustainable future. Humanity should be aware that it has become high time to take care of our neighbours, humans but also plants and animals around us. If we would like to have something to eat in a few years time, we shall have to do something against the pollution and about the greediness of certain people.

We have come to a position where we have many fragile creatures pushed in a corner of extinction. the stronger ones should come up for the weaker ones we discussed in the European Parliament:Kwetsbare mens in het Europa van morgen #1 Colloquium
Some think Christians may not rise their voice or may not interfere with politics, but we should be aware that we cannot let certain things happen. Also we do have to come up for the Creation of our beloved Most High Elohim. Therefore several believers came together to share their ideas of how to continue as a nation and to discuss which measures we all should take or how we can stand up as one nation to protect mother earth and show the world that it has to respect the Creation of the Most High Creator, though some humans themselves want to play for god creator. >Sense or nonsense of “Human Fragility”

In the mean time several protesters went on to the streets to show their indignation. But in Brussels and Rome some of those los Indignados showed how we as humans really should not behave. Los Indignados occpyed New York and other cities: Van Evere naar Occupy Antwerp. We are reminded of the Anarchy on the streets a few months ago. What can be learned from the August riots?

We did not only see violance against buildings, cars and parcs. Lots of damage is done to those who are very fragile in our community.

Violence against disabled children while we have to find four-in-10 disabled young ‘poor’.
We wonder what the prospects can be for our children and look at the position we as believers do have to take. We also should dare to call on the governments to recognise the urgency of the situation and take immediate steps to reduce child poverty. We should not think it is just an Aziatic, African, South-American and Flemish situation. There is also a Bleak forecasts for children in the UK .

How can we let it happen that in Belgium 1 in 6 children lives in poverty today?
Is there a hungerweapon? >Hongerwapen
Lappendeken als uithangbord? What can we offer those kids? Droevig vooruitzicht voor jonge kinderen. Therefore we looked also at the International Day for 
the Eradication of Poverty
and dared to asked what you would do and think of your life when you would die today >Indien u nu zou sterven. If Today Was Your Last Day On Earth?

would you be settled with what you think today? Would you be scared? > If Today Was Your Last Day On Earth?

Those children who live in poverty have a bleaker forecast because they cannot have a social formation in youth clubs or extra tuition in music, word or movement theatre. they also have more chances to be bullied at at school. this has really become something that happens more and more and we see it spreading in the work units of adults, where several people are already driven to take their own life.
Onbesef van pesten op school

Ecological economics in the stomach #1 Alarmbell
Ecological economics in the stomach #2 Resources
Ecological economics in the stomach #3 Food and Populace

The world had to loose one of those persons who recognised who is behind all the things we see around us. For many years she tried to get some damage undone which humans had caused to the Creation of the Most High. She tried to save humans by saving trees. > Tree Planter Maathai died

The world lost also a dictator and international terrorist. What are the implications for the Middle East now Gaddafi is dead? CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEKS WWW 16th - 22nd Oct 2011‏
His dead brought freedom for many. So also in Israel and Gaza people were happy for newly liberated friends. What is the significance of Israel releasing 270 murderers for one Israeli soldier? Could it be a prelude to conflict? What does the Bible say about this? > CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEKS WWW 9th - 15th Oct 2011‏

Going a little-bit further in the past: The Palestinians had voted at the Security Council and the UN General Assembly.  You can read what brother Andy Walton thought what might happen? > CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEKS WWW 11th - 17th September 2011‏

In summer the Bible Exhibition at Tewkesbury was blessed with well over 500 visitors in just 4 days! They have also had around 20 people sign up to the seminars. It shows that there are still people interested in hearing about God's word and his plan and purpose - even in these last and very dark days.

Perhaps in our writings we bring not such nice tidings, looking at all this misery, political difficulties, economical and other crimes, but we show also that we can have better prospects as well, but are ourselves also responsible for a lot of things which happen today and shall happen in the near future. Next month, going on about our stance in the Fragile environment I shall dare you to confront with the disastrous figures the scientist brought forwards at the congress in the European Parliament about Fragility. We then shall look with Dr.E. Herr at the relation between the Bible and the Cosmos and with Dr. Le Bichon how we shall be able to work for a better humane community when we try to bring others also over the border of our mysterious feeling and get as many as possible to see how we have to honour our Only One God by giving full honour also to His Creation.