No such thing as a free lunch

Free lunch as served in the 1st class aboard a Thalys train. 22x20px|border Français: Déjeuner offert dans la 1ère classe des trains Thalys. 22x20px|border Deutsch: Mittagssnack, wie er in der ersten Klasse der Thalys-Züge kostenfrei angeboten wird. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

'The world says,
'There's no such thing as a free lunch. Quid pro quo.' God says, 'Come! No charge!''

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters." Isaiah 55:1 NIV

(From God's little book of Grace' by David Marshall)

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Niet zoiets als een gratis lunch

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Wat God niet zegt maar wel zegt

God zegt niet: ‘Ik hou van u vooropgesteld dat…’ niet: ‘Ik hou van u als u maar…’ Hij zegt: ‘Ik Hou van U!’

'De Here, uw God, is in uw midden, een held, die verlost. Hij zal Zich over u met vreugde verblijden, Hij zal zwijgen in zijn liefde, Hij zal over u juichen met gejubel.' Zefanja 3:17


Dierbare God, ik ben u dankbaar voor Uw liefde voor mij.
In u heb ik mijn hoop gesteld en plaats ik al mijn vertrouwen.
 

English  version / Engelse versie > What God says or does not say

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What God says or does not say

God does not say,
'I'll love you if...'
He does not say,
'I'll love you when...'
He says,
'I Love You !'

'The Lord your God is in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save,
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you in His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.'
Zephaniah 3:17


Dear God, thank you for loving me.
In you I put my trust and my hope.
 

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Wat God niet zegt maar wel zegt

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Gaining deeper understanding

As Christians, we are tasked with gaining a deeper understanding of God through the study of His inspired Scriptures. This requires great faith and personal effort to dig far beyond the superficial meanings of translated words and phrases, and with the aid of divine revelation, to discover the genuine intentions of the divine Author. 

Most important day in Christian year

The Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What is the most important day in the Christian year? 
Ask the average person in the United States and chances are you will hear

Christmas.

But in the early centuries of the church, first they remembered the Last Supper and the gathering for the remembrance of the exodus out of Egypt. In later years several Christians started to put the accent on the day of the resurrection, finding that more important than the Egyptian exodus.

Some may think that

From its earliest days, the church annually celebrated the anniversary of Jesus' resurrection, often calling the holiday the Christian Passover. (The Greek name for Passover was Pasch, so Easter is sometimes called Paschal; Easter is an English word... Read More

but that was not at all the case. Eostre feast or Easter was the pagan Spring festival, very popular in the West of Israel, and the Roman Empire.

The real followers of rabbi Jeshua, very well knew that God had ordered to yearly remember the exodus of God's people out of Egypt. They kept to the same Jewish remembrance day as the Jews, for years, until there came division by those who agreed to go with the Roman requirement to integrate the Roman pagan gods in their religion, starting the trinitarian Catholic Church.

Though not all members of "the Way", like the Jewish sect was often called, agreed to accept that human doctrine of a three-headed god and to let their holy days to coincide with the Greek-Roman pagan festivals. The true Christians kept celebrating the by God given holidays, which where the Jewish religious holidays and festivals.

Today nothing should be different. We too should celebrate those special or set apart (holy) days which where ordered by God for man to remember or to keep special in their heart.
as such the 14th to 22th Nisan should be a special time, where on the 14th of Nisan we take more time to remember what Christ Jesus has done for mankind.

Coming April the 10th it shall be that special remembrance day when real Christians come together to think about the Gift which is given to mankind., the Grace of Salvation, which is given for free, but which each individual has to accept and take the responsibility for himself or herself concerning the faith in Jesus, the Way to God.

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Please read also

1. 1691 years ago on June the 20th in 325
2. Altered to fit a Trinity
3. Who Celebrates Easter as Religious Holiday
4. High Holidays not only for Israel
5. Eostre, Easter, White god, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and metaphorical resurrection
6. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
7. Seven days of Passover
8. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
9. Fraternal week-end at Easter in Paris
10. Risen With Him

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Additional reading

1. Spring playing hide and seek
2. Family happiness and little things we do
3. Christian values, traditions, real or false stories, pure and upright belief
4. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #2 Pantheon of gods and celebrations
5. Who Gets to Say What the Bible Says?
6. Being Religious and Spiritual 8 Spiritual, Mystic and not or well religious
7. Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things
8. Holidays, holy days and traditions
9. Seven Bible Feasts of JHWH
10. Easter holiday, fun and rejoicing
11. Entrance of a king to question our position #1 Coming in the Name of the Lord
12. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
13. A Messiah to die
14. Not bounded by labels but liberated in Christ
15. The Weekend that changed the world
16. Pesach and a lot of brokenness in the world
17. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
18. Welcome to Easter 2014
19. Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ
20. Exodus 9: Liar Liar
21. Hanukkahgiving or Thanksgivvukah
22. Irminsul, dies natalis solis invicti, birthday of light, Christmas and Saturnalia
23. Christmas in Ancient Rome (AKA Saturnalia)
24. Different approach in organisation of services #1
25. Why we do not keep to a Sabbath or a Sunday or Lord’s Day #3 Days to be kept holy or set apart
26. For ever changed by spiritual experience
27. White Privilege Conference (WPC) wanting to keep the press out for obvious reasons

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Na verzwegen Bernie Sanders vast houdend aan de zelfde principes waardoor populair

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Congressman (now U.S. Senator) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Misschien loont het wel om voor jaren vast te houden aan de zelfde principes, ook al mogen sommigen dan nog je beschouwen als een "oude zak".

Ook al komt Bernie Sanders terug heel wat minder aan bod dan tijdens de verkiezingsstrijd, maar in ieder geval is dat veel meer dan de jaren voorheen, toen hij in feite bijna compleet verzwegen werd, blijft hij nu toch wat populair. Tot voor twee jaar  was hij buiten zijn eigen thuisstaat Vermont een nobele onbekende voor de meeste Amerikanen. Sinds hij nipt de strijd voor de Democratische nominatie verloor tegen Hillary Clinton wordt Sanders niet langer genegeerd door de grote Amerikaanse media.

Sanders trekt onvermoeid het land rond voor lezingen, waarin hij zijn politieke ideeën verkondigt. Zelfs in zuidelijke staten die overwegend voor Trump hebben gestemd blijft hij volle zalen trekken. Het verbazende aan dat blijvend succes is dat hij in feite niets nieuws vertelt sinds zijn verkiezingscampagne van 2015/2016. Die campagne was bovendien opgehangen aan de ideeën die hij al verdedigt sinds hij in 1981 burgemeester werd van de stad Burlington in Vermont.

Een mogelijke verklaring is zijn geloofwaardigheid. Sanders verdedigt zijn idee van democratisch socialisme al 36 jaar. Een andere reden is dat zijn boodschap meer dan ooit actueel is. De Amerikaanse middenklasse en werkende klasse verdient in 2017 minder dan in 1980.

Misschien zonder het zelf goed te beseffen heeft hij een politiek programma geschreven voor de 99 procent, een begrip dat sinds de Occupy beweging een nieuw politiek symbool werd. Dat programma is in feite een kopie van de sociale welvaartsstaat zoals die in de Benelux, Duitsland en de Scandinavische landen bestaat (en daar zwaar wordt aangevallen en ondergraven). Sanders pleit voor:

• recht op een redelijk minimumloon in heel de VS van 15 dollar per uur (13,94 euro); als de lonen sinds 1980 de inflatie zouden hebben gevolgd zouden ze nu het dubbel zijn van wat ze nu in werkelijkheid zijn;
• recht op openbare gezondheidszorg voor iedereen;
• recht op gratis degelijk openbaar onderwijs van kleuterklas tot middelbare school;
• recht op een gezond leefmilieu;
• recht op een onpartijdig rechtssysteem, dat etnische minderheden en arme witte Amerikanen gelijke toegang geeft tot een billijke rechtspraak;
• stemrecht en verbod op privé-financiering van verkiezingscampagnes;
• recht op lidmaatschap van een vakbond: in meerdere staten en bedrijven is dat nu verboden; in heel de VS is vakbondsactiviteit onderhevig aan talloze repressieve maatregelen;
• recht op burgerschap voor de meer dan 11 miljoen ongedocumenteerde immigranten;
• openbare banken en een openbaar postbedrijf (alleen de staat North Dakota heeft een overheidsbank die onder meer goedkope hypotheekleningen aanbiedt);
• verder pleit Sanders voor een taks op speculatieve transacties, op aandelen en op andere financiële producten en voor een taks op de fortuinen boven 10 miljoen dollar.

> Consistent principles pay of for Bernie Sanders

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Consistent principles pay of for Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Congressman (now U.S. Senator) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may doubt it but it can well help to your credibility to hold on for years to the same ideas.

It looks like people are coming to see who can be the more honest politician. Having come to see how Trump is of the same political tribe to fill his own pocket with power, no matter if he does violence to the truth, more Americans are willing to come to listen to Bernie Sanders.

Saying the same things for nearly a half-century. He's been a consistent democratic-socialist fighting on behalf of working people and against financial/corporate power. While his straightforward commitment to his ideals is refreshingly genuine, he did not make his mark on the national scene until last year at age 74.

Sanders His message about the ravages and unfairness of runaway inequality hit home because it is true.

He wants more citizens going for basic human rights.

Here's a rough draft of such an agenda:

• The right to a job at living wage: Everyone who is willing and able to work should be entitled to a job that today would pay at least $15 an hour. If the private sector is unable to produce such jobs, then government should serve as the employer of last resort. There's more than enough work to be done to rebuild our infrastructure and protect our environment.
• The right to universal health care: It is time to expand Medicare—our efficiently run single-payer system for the elderly—to anyone who wishes to join.
• The right to free public education from pre-k to graduate school: Each child deserves access free of charge to as much education as he or she qualifies for through our public educational systems. Nearly every economically advanced country provides free higher education. So should we. (See here.)
• The right to a sustainable environment, free from chemical, radioactive and carbon pollution: We need to protect working people and communities from harmful exposures while rapidly reducing the emission of greenhouse gases—the cause of global warming. The climate crisis is real and must be addressed now. In doing so we also should have a policy of buying goods as locally as possible to limit the carbon footprint of transportation, and we should make sure industries do not flee to countries with weaker health, safety and environmental standards.
• The right to an impartial criminal justice system that does not harm anyone based on their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, racial category or religion. In particular, we need to dramatically reduce the differential impact of enforcement, prosecution and sentencing on young people of colour.
  • The right to vote, free of voter suppression activities and billionaire influence: For our democracy to endure we need to halt any and all efforts to deny voting rights, and we need to curtail the influence of money in all areas of the political system.
  • The right to citizenship for all residents: We are a nation of immigrants, documented and undocumented. There should be a straightforward pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants here today.
  • The right to organize unions without employer threats or harassment, We need to reform the current laws and processes which allow employers to intimidate workers from joining labor unions. Congress should pass the Free Choice Act which will level the playing field. (See here.)
  • The right to control our money through public state banks and a national postal bank: We need an alternative to the predatory financing provided by Wall Street. Modeled on the public Bank of North Dakota, every state should charter a public bank whose first and only goal is to serve its people. Like many other nations, we also need a national postal bank to provide financial services in all our communities. (See Public Banking Institute and Campaign for Postal Banking.)
  But can America really afford these basic human rights?
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Racisme geen eenrichtingsverkeer

Affiche racisme dans le sport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Racisme is geen éénrichtingsverkeer. Het is helemaal niet enkel een probleem dat uitgaat van autochtone Vlamingen ten aanzien van allochtonen. Er bestaat evenzeer racisme tussen diverse bevolkingsgroepen. En verder bestaat er ook racisme of vooroordelen van allochtonen ten aanzien van autochtone Vlamingen. Sommige onderzoekers beweren zelfs dat dat nog groter is bij allochtonen dan bij autochtonen.

De kijk van de Gentse schepen Elke Decruynaere (Groen) op racisme doet Vlaams minister van Gelijke Kansen Liesbeth Homans (N-VA)  de wenkbrauwen fronsen..

Denkt zij dat racisme éénrichtingsverkeer is? Dat racisme iets is dat enkel uitgaat van "autochtone Vlamingen" richting "allochtone Vlamingen"?

Racisme is geen éénrichtingsverkeer. Het is helemaal niet enkel een probleem dat uitgaat van autochtone Vlamingen ten aanzien van allochtonen. Er bestaat evenzeer racisme tussen diverse bevolkingsgroepen. En verder bestaat er ook racisme of vooroordelen van allochtonen ten aanzien van autochtone Vlamingen. Sommige onderzoekers beweren zelfs dat dat nog groter is bij allochtonen dan bij autochtonen.

Lees:

'Campagne die discriminatie wil tegengaan, moet beter kunnen dan andere vooroordelen bevestigen'

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