USA: The world has loved, hated and envied the U.S. Now, for the first time, we pity it

Fintan O'Toole is one of Ireland’s many national treasures, a great writer who stands out in a country where great writing would be almost ordinary were it not so revered.
In today’s Irish Times, O’Toole writes:

The grotesque spectacle of the president openly inciting people (some of them armed) to take to the streets to oppose the restrictions that save lives is the manifestation of a political death wish. What are supposed to be daily briefings on the crisis, demonstrative of national unity in the face of a shared challenge, have been used by Trump merely to sow confusion and division. They provide a recurring horror show in which all the neuroses that haunt the American subconscious dance naked on live TV.
 
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The world has loved, hated and envied the U.S. Now, for the first time, we pity it - Imgur

Middle East Christian Communities: Why Did Christian Leaders in the Middle East Shun Vice President Pence's Visit?

The Middle East At Easter: "the US 
want Jesus to be a political Jesus"

According to Israeli news outlet Haaretz, Christian leaders in the Middle East shunned Vice President Mike Pence in his recent trip to their countries.

Christian leaders in Egypt and Jerusalem reportedly decided to boycott his visit, in an attempt to protest President Trump’s December 7th recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Pence was unable to visit Bethlehem, the city where Jesus was born, because it is located in the occupied region of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority who declared that Pence was ” unwelcome in Palestine.”

Pence declared that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the “only true foundation for a just and lasting peace.” Arab Christians apparently disagree, wanting East Jerusalem to be the capital of a non-Israeli Arab state. Protestors held signs that read, “Pence you are desecrating our land. Pence go home.”

Pence reportedly completed his visit to the Middle East without meeting with any prominent Christian leaders from Egypt, Jordan and Israel. In his meeting with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Pence raised the issue of protecting Egypt’s Christians from persecution.

After meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, Pence’s remarks made clear their disagreement over a two state solution: “Friends occasionally have disagreements, and we agreed to disagree on recognizing Jerusalem. We agreed all parties need to come to the table. I hope I impressed on him our earnest desire to restart the peace process.”

In his speech to the Knesset today Pence used religious symbolism, quoted from the bible, and explained his support for Israel as a moral and religious obligation, not solely a political one. His speech was interrupted by numerous standing ovations by Israeli  Knesset members.

According to The Associated Press, Palestinian Christians reject Pence’s “brand” of Christianity:

They argue that such streams of evangelical Christianity have used religion to whitewash Israel’s harsh policies during its half-century-old rule over millions of Palestinians.

“For me, it’s a sick ideology,” said Munib Younan, the recently retired bishop of the small Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and former president of the Lutheran World Federation, an umbrella for churches with millions of believers.

 “When I say Jesus is love, they want my Jesus to be a political Jesus,” Younan, 67, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian, said in a recent interview at his West Bank church.

The AP adds that while Christian Arabs are a minority living in the West Bank, they lived peacefully next to their Muslim Arab neighbors, describing their neighborhoods as places “where the pealing of church bells often blends with the Muslim call to prayer.”

Note EU-Digest - Jesus Christ represents love, not hatred or violence, and if politics and fanaticism was not injected into the Middle East as a result of  foreign interventions,  historical peaceful coexistence would still prevail there today.   

Read more: Why Did Christian Leaders in the Middle East Shun Vice President Pence's Visit?

Middle East: "A call for Peace, Forgiveness and Hope - Not for War but for Love"

Collateral damage

While most of us in the more affluent societies around the world are enjoying, praising, and, often also bragging (to friends, family,on social media, etc.), about the pleasures of life this corrupt consumer society has brought us, let us also not forget to pray for those who are suffering and living under unimaginable conditions of despair and hopelessness.

Often, as a result of war, created by political deceit, greed and hypocrisy. Unfortunately, all this terror of war is often also caused by not only their, but also our very own Governments.

May your prayers, however, not be one for Revenge, but for Peace, Forgiveness and Hope. Not for War. but for Love.

Check out the video: A call for Peace

Immigrants: Love your neighbor as yourself

Immigrants are people just like us

An anthropologist was winding up several months of research in a small village, the story is told.

While waiting for a ride to the airport for his return flight home, he decided to pass the time by making up a game for some children.

His idea was to create a race for a basket of fruit and candy that he placed near a tree. But when he gave the signal to run, no one made a dash for the finish line. Instead the children joined hands and ran together to the tree.

When asked why they chose to run as a group rather than each racing for the prize, a little girl spoke up and said: “How could one of us be happy when all of the others are sad?” Because these children cared about each other, they wanted all to share the basket of fruit and candy.

What happened here among these children. was very biblical and is applicable to all of us, specially now with the large influx of immigrants.

After years of studying the law of Moses, the apostle Paul found that all of God’s laws could be summed up in one: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14; see also Rom. 13:9). In Christ, Paul saw not only the reason to encourage, comfort, and care for one another but also the spiritual enablement to do it.

Because He cares for us, we care for each other.

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Christmas 2013

 

May This Christmas Bring You and Yours The Joy And Hhappiness It Represents

Tourism for singles: where do the best and worst lovers in the world come from?

A tourist magazine recently listed the best and worst places in the world for singles to visit. These are:

World's Worst Lovers:	World's Best Lovers:
1. Germany (too smelly)	1. Spain
2. England (too lazy)	2. Brazil
3. Sweden (too quick)	3. Italy
4. Holland (too dominating)	4. France
5. America (too rough)	5. Ireland
6. Greece (too lovey-dovey)	6. South Africa
7. Wales (too selfish)	7. Australia
8. Scotland (too loud)	8. New Zealand
9. Turkey (too sweaty)	9. Denmark
10. Russia (too hairy)	10. Canada

EU-Digest

The Internet: a new avenue for love and marriage

According to new research commissioned by Match.com, people are using online dating services to meet new people in ever increasing numbers: 1 in 5 singles have dated someone they met on an online dating site, 1 in 5 new relationships now begin on an online dating site, and 1 in 6 couples getting married first met on an online dating site.

For couples getting married, that statistic places online dating sites third in ways to meet a partner – behind school/work and friends/family, but ahead of bars, clubs, social events, and through their places of worship.

According to the research here’s the breakdown on where people who’ve married in the past three years met their spouses:

• Through Work/School 36%
• Through Friend/Family Member 26%
• Via Online Dating Site 17%
• Through Bars/Clubs/Other Social Events 11%
• Through their Church/Place of Worship 4%
• Other 7%

Online dating has only been around for about 15 years. But those 15 years have done more to change how couples meet than the preceding 2,000 years. Amazing. Just be sure to follow the Eleven safety tips for online dating , and then, sit back, watch your computer screen and discover who you’ll meet.

EU-Digest

Easter celebrates the defining moment of Christianity - by Thane Himes

Easter Sunday marks a time for Christians everywhere to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but their faith can be tested when problems like commercialization and other motivations for celebration risk depriving the holiday of its meaning.

Easter tends to see a rise in the number of church attendees. Brian Peck, president of The Rock Christian Students, believes family values can frequently be a contributor to the spike in churchgoers."Maybe people especially go because maybe their mom would appreciate that you go at least this one day a year," Peck said. "It's kind a special thing. I think a lot of it is tied to families."

There is a perception that there are many so-called "twice-a-year Christians," especially in America. "People have said many times that going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car," Peck said. "[Church] isn't described in scripture as what Christianity is about."

Michael Patterson, senior in computer engineering and president of the Campus Crusade for Christ, agrees attendance and labels aren't as important as what people get out of going to church. "God doesn't work on some type of point system where those who attend church regularly are 'good' Christians and those who attend church only on Christmas and Easter are 'bad' Christians," Patterson said. "That's just not how it works, and the Bible makes this extremely clear."

With the commercialization that comes with many Christian holidays, the original meanings of these holidays, as well as Christianity in general, are often misunderstood. Reverend Whit Malone, pastor at the Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames, thinks that from an outsider's perspective, it must be confusing. "Do we worship Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or Jesus?," Malone said. "For some it must look like we really just worship ourselves with the amount of money and energy we expend on the cultural trappings of Christmas and Easter."

However, Malone doesn't condemn these perceptions. He instead sees most of what Christians do as a culture during their holidays as an expression of hunger to believe in and live for something bigger than they are. Patterson agrees, saying Easter can be celebrated however people wish. "If I want to spend the entire day of Easter thinking about Jesus, I'm free to do so," Patterson said. "Similarly, if I want to buy huge amounts of chocolate and spend Easter eating it, I'm also free to do so." Patterson said that the commercialization of holidays is simply a product of the consumerist society that we live in today, and that he's not personally offended by it at all.

Above all, Malone believes Easter means that love wins. "Jesus loved even to death," Malone said. "His resurrection means that love is more powerful than death. And this is not just about the afterlife, though I look forward to that too. Because unconditional love wins in the end, we can risk loving unconditionally here on earth."

"It's really ... the climax of everything [Jesus] did," Peck said. "I think that [1 Corinthians 15:12-14] really sums it up. The reality is ... that if Christ wasn't resurrected, we'd ultimately be wasting our lives."

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." — 1 Corinthians 15:12-14

For more: Easter celebrates the defining moment of Christianity - Iowa State Daily: News