Thursday 30 May 2013

Relieve the current humanitarian crisis in Syria

At the end of March the Samaritan Fund made a significant donation to an Emergency Appeal by the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help relieve the current humanitarian crisis in Syria. This is in addition to the donation made in January to the UNICEF emergency appeal for children in Syria. The DEC appeal provides a grim summary of life in that troubled country: 
Map of the autonomous areas under the French M...
Map of the autonomous areas under the French Mandate of Syria before 1937. Only the entities within the territory of the modern state of Syria are shown, so that Hatay (Alexandretta) -- which was ceded by France to Turkey -- and Lebanon (often considered part of Syria before 1936) are excluded. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Two years of war have had a devastating impact on many Syrian families and have left more than four million people in need of aid. In many parts of the country the health system has effectively collapsed, water supplies have been cut and food is in short supply. In addition, over one million people have now fled to the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Refugees are arriving at camps which are already stretched to capacity, and many families are living in crude shelters they have built themselves, with host families in overcrowded conditions, or in partially finished buildings. The Samaritan Fund is also able to forward donations from ecclesias and brethren and sisters wishing to support this appeal. Donations should be sent to our Treasurer, Brother Ken Smith, Westhaven House, Arleston Way, Shirley, Solihull, West Mids., B90 4LH, with a note earmarking it for the DEC Crisis Appeal for Syria.
 
 Neville Moss (Secretary Samaritan Fund)
 
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Saturday 25 May 2013

Helping against or causing more homophobia

Everywhere in the world we see that there is a growing trend of verbal/physical abuse and life threatening violence by friends, family members, teachers, mobs and in worst case by the law enforcement officers from time to time to people who do not fall into the mainstream or to those who are considered 'queer'.

Can you believe in the fact that organisations could make a difference? Is it possible that the physical, spiritual, social and economic well-being of communities can be greatly influenced to the good by effectively mobilizing religious societies to collaborate for change?

The Interfaith Consortium in partnership with United for Life Ethiopia, the local Pro-life, western Conservative Evangelicals ally organized two national anti-homosexuality conferences and pass a joint statement to plea the government to further restrict the practice of homosexuality in December, 2008 at UN Convention Center and June, 2012 at the newly built African Union headquarter in Addis Ababa.

According to the corrupted and politicized Interfaith Consortium is unfortunately, doing nothing and remains silent in several pressing issues of the country; when the government was repeatedly and openly criticized by international human rights and press organizations as well as by some government officials from the European Community and United States for its abuse of freedom of the press and civic association and human rights since the introduction of  the restrictive charities and societies, press and anti-terrorism laws.

Read more about it: Is the Ethiopian Interfaith Forum for Development or for Homophobia??? and the Support from The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/Emergency Plan) ???


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Tuesday 21 May 2013

A non paragraphed Bible


Image0006Crossway had made the decision to introduce the first ESV not to be paragraphed. New Bible ideas go through multiple stages of review by the committee before approval and publication. Usually this process begins with the review of a brief proposal and summary of the new idea. Then it progresses to a careful review of sample pages and proposed specifications.  The initial idea for the Legacy Bible originated in 2009.


Image0003 From the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, double column, verse-per-line text settings were the norm. Every Bible looked like an old KJV (then again, most of them were old KJVs).
Over the past fifty-odd years, however, Bibles have tended to be presented in paragraphs, the way other books are formatted. That was true of the ESV when it was released in 2001.
Single column Bibles were a rarity until recently. The success of the Message Remix brought them into the mainstream, but a number of years passed before other translations got into the game. The first efforts, while promising, did not quite manage to pull off the difficult balancing act inherent in rendering the vast text of Scripture in readable novel-like page spreads.

The Single Column Journaling Bible is printed and bound in China, opens flat from Genesis 1.1 forward, and is sold at a affordable price.




Read more about it:
R. L. Allan Single Column Reference ESV in Brown Highland Goatskin
Single Column Legacy ESV (Part 1): Interview with Crossway
Crossway's ESV Single Column Journaling Bible




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Crossway Headquarters Flooded


English: ESV Study Bible Hardcover Cover
English: ESV Study Bible Hardcover Cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
ESV Publisher - Crossway Headquarters Flooded
As a not-for-profit ministry, Crossway is not only committed to publishing the English Standard Version Bible and gospel-centered content, but also to providing God's Word to hundreds of thousands of people overseas, either free or at a substantially reduced cost. A flood swept through Crossway's headquarters on April 18.
 
About two feet of water poured into our 32 first-floor offices due to unrelenting rains. The damage was extensive and repairs and rebuilding will take five or six months. You can see the damage here in this video.

Read further:

Crossway Flood Update: Help Still Needed

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Monday 20 May 2013

Pope Francis I on the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we contemplate and re-live in the liturgy the outpouring of the Holy Spirit sent by the risen Christ upon his Church; an event of grace which filled the Upper Room in Jerusalem and then spread throughout the world.

But what happened on that day, so distant from us and yet so close as to touch the very depths of our hearts? Luke gives us the answer in the passage of the Acts of the Apostles which we have heard (2:1-11).
The evangelist brings us back to Jerusalem, to the Upper Room where the apostles were gathered. The first element which draws our attention is the sound which suddenly came from heaven “like the rush of a violent wind”, and filled the house; then the “tongues as of fire” which divided and came to rest on each of the apostles. Sound and tongues of fire: these are clear, concrete signs which touch the apostles not only from without but also within: deep in their minds and hearts. As a result, “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”, who unleashed his irresistible power with amazing consequences: they all “began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”. A completely unexpected scene opens up before our eyes: a great crowd gathers, astonished because each one heard the apostles speaking in his own language. They all experience something new, something which had never happened before: “We hear them, each of us, speaking our own language”. And what is it that they are they speaking about? “God’s deeds of power”.


In the light of this passage from Acts, I would like to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit: newness, harmony and mission.

1.
 Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and change, and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day.
 The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to “God’s surprises”? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded...
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


2. A second thought:
 the Holy Spirit would appear to create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony.
 One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – “Ipse harmonia est”.
 Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church. Journeying together in the Church, under the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry, is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit.

 Having a sense of the Church is something fundamental for every Christian, every community and every movement. It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous! When we venture beyond (proagon) the Church’s teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Jn 9). So let us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the Church and with the Church?

3. A final point.
The older theologians used to say that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go forward. The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us.

 The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of the risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to reach everyone. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever” (Jn 14:16). It is the Paraclete Spirit, the “Comforter”, who grants us the courage to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The Holy Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ.

 Let us ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?

Today’s liturgy is a great prayer which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May each of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins, the Church, in union with Mary, cries out:“Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love!” Amen
- Pope Francis I

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Related readings:

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is controlled strength...
After the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles at Pentecost, the prime question of Judaic observance was debated. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and consulted with the other Apostles. This was a hint of how the Church was to resolve matters in great Councils. Given the stolid temperament and vivid personalities of the Apostles, the term “debated” might be an understatement. But they remembered that the Risen Lord had promised that his “Paraclete” would guide them. Only rarely does ancient Greek use that term, as when the orator Demosthenes used it for a sort of legal advocate, and not necessarily an ethical one at that. But Christ makes it mean the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. How the Apostles were helped by this divine Helper is not said, but they sent their decision to the scattered Christians, beginning with the words “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.”

To claim private guidance from the Holy Spirit that departs from what has inspired the collective agreement of the successors of the Apostles, would be to confuse personal opinion with divine truth. But the Holy Spirit does help us in the ways of truth every day. Sometimes he even works through children: “. . . and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). The birth of a child may convert a parent to more intense faith, or a child's First Communion may inspire a young father to return to Confession. The Holy Spirit works through encounters that are often unnoticed. Yogi Berra, not to be underestimated as a philosopher, said, “Some things are just too coincidental to be a coincidence.”

Do You Speak in Tongues?
 What would you say if we told you that speaking in tongues was necessary for your eternal salvation? Many of you would be trembling in fear because you have never spoken in tongues. Yet there are members of the Pentecostal church who insist that you are not sealed by the Spirit of God unless you speak in tongues. In other words, speaking in tongues is the outward sign of your redemption and salvation.

Brief hiatus

First, a happy Shavuos (celebrating the giving the of the Torah at Mt. Sinai) to all those celebrating and a happy Pentecost (celebrating the Holy Ghost descending on the early Christian apostles) to all those celebrating.
These holidays are sometimes celebrated through study, and especially to those of you who are studying, I wish that you enjoy full fruits of your study and that your study brings understanding and wisdom.



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