IN life there seems to be so many contradictions. The bible that we grew up on told us to ‘love our neighbors like we love ourselves’ and ‘do unto others as we would like them to do unto us’. But now, many of us seem to be wondering whether those were true statements then, or today.
Based on our teachings, we were taught to ‘forgive those who trespass against us’ and to ‘forgive, take care of the needy and be our brothers’ keeper. But again, many of us are asking ourselves: Was all that a lie?
What has happened to all these biblical quotations as it relates to Israel and their rebellion against their neighbors in Palestine. Are the people of Gaza doomed because they dared to react against oppression of their basic human rights?
Should they, or those who call themselves Christians, or the chosen ones, suppress their neighbors, take their lands and set their Laws?
The Israelis in Palestine decide who should have or own what, and where to work and walk, where to fish, where to live, how to praise or worship, but were these laws also meant for us The Converted in all other parts of the world, or was it not meant to only apply to the countries where Christianity was born?
Are they practicing what they preach, or was this story always a fib?
Should one nation kill millions in the name of God-given rights?
Has the image of God changed through the years? Is Christianity different now? Are we to follow in their footsteps or take sides with the USA and the rest of Europe in condemning the reactions of the oppressed people of Palestine to their Israeli neighbours’ long decades of imprisonment in their own homes and lands?
Should Russia continue to kill Ukrainians on the basis of being the big bad wolf? Should Africa continue to rebel against the exploitation of its resources that has existed for centuries, or should it just turn the other cheek?
All these questions I ask to better understand the role of Christians, or if we were fooled from the word Go!
Does the Heavenly Kingdom really exist? Is the so-called Promised Land for real for all, or just for some? Is the church teaching lies, or are we being deceived and misinformed or lied to?
Can I get some answers that will give me better understandings, or is the subject too complicated to understand? Is America our friend or foe? And are their European neighbors all part of the plot?
Is spending money on wars more important than fighting hunger? Was slavery ever been abolished? Is there a white bluff that exist that we are only now discovering? Are blacks and minorities destined to perish or be wiped out from this planet?
Is this about power, human control, or political dictates?
Where do I find the facts or clarifications to answer such questions? Are we to remain blind to what is happening? Or, are we programed not to notice, or to think contrary to what we have been taught?
Is the new theory: Don’t see, don’t talk, don’t react and don’t rebel — just go with the flow? Should we let the selective few decide our fate as humans? Are we doomed to die by submission?
Really, when do we get to know the facts or the truth, are we governed by human dictates or free to have independent minds. Or is independence out of the loop? Are we modern day puppets like human robots?
I just need some answers, because as I see it, we have been told a lie and we are destined to destroy ourselves in the interest of a few.
Is hope out of the window? Is it only all about who can afford, or is it the colour of your skin, or your ethnic background, that will determine your fate?
Who holds the answers? When will the truth be revealed? Or, are we to continue without knowing the answers?
Meanwhile, I plead to all the scholars and intellectuals, as well as pastors and priests, to please reply to me on these pertinent questions. Why? Because it makes no sense to me.
I must be missing some screws inside me because a lot is not adding-up in my understanding. I am open to ideas and advice. I truly need some help, so I appeal again to those with better understanding: Please enlighten me! That is all I need.
Mr. Ishmael you stand in the spot of Moses, Daniel, Job, Jeremiah and all of the prophets who have stood in the cleft of the rock to query the efficacy of GOD and HIS dictates concerning the nature of human existence on earth.
The Bible, Torah, Qur’an or other holy books which portends the owners manual that details the testimony, laws statutes by which humans must execute Righteousness –
Justice, judgement, truth and equity;
by which they must acquire knowledge, wisdom and understanding;
by which they must cultivate compassion and kindness
To maintain peace among man and nature on earth.
However, woven into this ancient parchment is an almost threadbare image of the nature of GOD and his relationship with mankind
As with any parchment, there are parts of the document where the narrative is cogent in its context, but, with the passage of eons of time and circumstance, one is led to ask.
What has been lost in translation ? What details have become indelibly erased by idiosyncrasies of the wicked ness or righteousness of the human heart?
Observe well, that amid the boom and clatter of war and bloodshed; amid the screams and anguish, cruelty and oppression, there emerges an enduring leitmotif of good versus evil the algorithms of which activate the cause and effect situations that issue from the behavior of man to man and man to the environment.
If then, there is a GOD who represents the kingdom of RIGHTEOUSNESS, it is abundantly obvious that HIS dominion is one of peace, dignity and respect for humanity and the planet.
Conversely, if the Devil represents the kingdom of EVIL, his then, is the place of wickedness There, man enters the dark realms of pandemonium. Confusion, war and violence and the toxic vices of racism, hatred lies, robbery , moral turpitude that throws humanity into a vats of unrest, strife, moral and psychological sickness.
So what happens when the equilibrium between man and nature is catapulted out of course by an onslaught of evil. and the planet rocks like a drunkard as it is today?
Blood cries for blood as the machinery of intrigue and debauchery run swift in high places
Where is GOD in all this ethnic cleaning Israel has avowed to do to the people of Gaza.?
Where is GOD in thousands of years of Holocaust ; where is GOD in this continuous hatred of white supremacy over negroes, Jews and people of color?
Today, in the heat of affliction, we spew out questions as people bereft of knowledge; not having taken time to learn of HIM;
To hear admonitions to RIGHTEOUSNESS continuously offered to man generation after generation, yet, the greater mass of mankind have chosen rebel against RIGHTEOUSNESS .
Thus, it must be said that our sins have procured us these things.
Can 21st. Century inhabitants of earth find the strength to examine their sins, acknowledge their duplicity in the curse that has fallen upon the earth; to ask for DEVINE forgiveness, turn from their iniquity
go back in the ways; seek for the good paths of justice, judgment, truth and equity;
Go back and learn from every source of knowledge the difference between good and evil( war and peace
Understand well the elements that sustain human well-being on earth;
And allow wisdom to direct the decisions that maintain compassion and kindness among all on earth.
Much has been lost in translation; every generation, for some reason ( good or bad) has added to or deleted shards of truth from the narratives of human existence on earth from our good books;
However, none can ever erase the eternal evidence of the differences between love and hate; between compassion and cruelty;
Go examine your good books carefully/- listen again to the prophets; compare HIS warnings to 21. Century events and maybe you’ll learn
That GOD has not left the building.