Friday, January 10, 2014

English rendering of a letter written by the Prophet Muhammad (sa) to all Christians. Original in Istanbul Library - Jan. 10, 2014

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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Original in Istanbul Library 

Jan. 10, 2014

https://newsrescue.com/letter-to-all-christians-from-prophet-muhammad-sa/#ixzz3EjSMNmZ0

How should Muslims treat Christians?  With violence? Anger? Hatred?  The answer is none of the above.  Below is the English rendering of a letter written by the Prophet Muhammad (sa) to all Christians.

In a time when tensions between Islam and Christianity seem to be at an all time high, we remind our Christian friends that a true Muslim cannot hurt a Christian in any way, neither by his hand, nor by his tongue.

The below letter requires no explanation.  We hope it provides credence and comfort that Prophet Muhammad (sa) truly celebrated his Christian friends. (The original letter is now in the Topkapi Museum in Instanbul)

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

English translation from ‘Muslim History: 570 – 1950 C.E.’ by Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq, ZMD Corporation. P.O. Box 8231 – Gaithersburg, MD 20898-8231 – Copyright Akram Zahoor 2000. P. 167


This document is the Achtiname of Muhammad, also known as the Covenant or (Holy) Testament (Testamentum) of the Prophet Muhammad, a document or
ahdname which is a charter or writ ratified by the Islamic Prophet Muhammad granting protection and other privileges to the monks of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. It is sealed with an imprint representing Muhammad’s hand. -wikipedia


Read more:
http://newsrescue.com/letter-to-all-christians-from-prophet-muhammad-sa/#ixzz3EjSMNmZ0


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English Translation of the Ashtiname by Richard Peacocke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtiname_of_Muhammad

  1. Muhammad the son of ‘Abd Allah, the Messenger of Allah, and careful guardian of the whole world; has wrote the present instrument to all those who are in his national people, and of his own religion, as a secure and positive promise to be accomplished to the Christian nation, and relations of the Nazarene, whosoever they may be, whether they be the noble or the vulgar, the honorable or otherwise, saying thus.I. Whosoever of my nation shall presume to break my promise and oath, which is contained in this present agreement, destroys the promise of God, acts contrary to the oath, and will be a resister of the faith, (which God forbid) for he becomes worthy of the curse, whether he be the King himself, or a poor man, or whatever person he may be.
  2. That whenever any of the monks in his travels shall happen to settle upon any mountain, hill, village, or other habitable place, on the sea, or in deserts, or in any convent, church, or house of prayer, I shall be in the midst of them, as the preserver and protector of them, their goods and effects, with my soul, aid, and protection, jointly with all my national people; because they are a part of my own people, and an honor to me.
  3. Moreover, I command all officers not to require any poll-tax on them, or any other tribute, because they shall not be forced or compelled to anything of this kind.
  4. None shall presume to change their judges or governors, but they shall remain in their office, without being deported.
  5. No one shall molest them when they are travelling on the road.
  6. Whatever churches they are possessed of, no one is to deprive them of them.
  7. Whosoever shall annul any of one of these my decrees, let him know positively that he annuls the ordinance of God.
  8. Moreover, neither their judges, governors, monks, servants, disciples, or any others depending on them, shall pay any poll-tax, or be molested on that account, because I am their protector, wherever they shall be, either by land or sea, east or west, north or south; because both they and all that belong to them are included in this my promissory oath and patent.
  9. And of those that live quietly and solitary upon the mountains, they shall exact neither poll-tax nor tithes from their incomes, neither shall any Muslim partake of what they have; for they labor only to maintain themselves.
  10. Whenever the crop of the earth shall be plentiful in its due time, the inhabitants shall be obliged out of every bushel to give them a certain measure.
  11. Neither in time of war shall they take them out of their habitations, nor compel them to go to the wars, nor even then shall they require of them any poll-tax.
  12. In these eleven chapters is to be found whatever relates to the monks, as to the remaining seven chapters, they direct what relates to every Christian.
  13. Those Christians who are inhabitants, and with their riches and traffic are able to pay the poll-tax, shall pay no more than twelve drachms.
  14. Excepting this, nothing shall be required of them, according to the express order of God, that says, ‘Do not molest those that have a veneration for the books that are sent from God, but rather in a kind manner give of your good things to them, and converse with them, and hinder everyone from molesting them’ [29:46].
  15. If a Christian woman shall happen to marry a Muslim man, the Muslim shall not cross the inclination of his wife, to keep her from her church and prayers, and the practice of her religion.
  16. That no person hinder them from repairing their churches.
  17. Whosoever acts contrary to my grant, or gives credit to anything contrary to it, becomes truly an apostate to God, and to his divine apostle, because this protection I have granted to them according to this promise.
  18. No one shall bear arms against them, but, on the contrary, the Muslims shall wage war for them.
  19. And by this I ordain, that none of my nation shall presume to do or act contrary to this my promise, until the end of the world.
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English Translation of the Achtiname by Anton F. Haddad:

This is a letter which was issued by Mohammed, Ibn Abdullah, the Messenger, the Prophet, the Faithful, who is sent to all the people as a trust on the part of God to all His creatures, that they may have no plea against God hereafter. Verily God is the Mighty, the Wise. This letter is directed to the embracers of Islam, as a covenant given to the followers of Nazarene in the East and West, the far and near, the Arabs and foreigners, the known and the unknown.

This letter contains the oath given unto them, and he who disobeys that which is therein will be considered a disobeyer and a transgressor to that whereunto he is commanded. He will be regarded as one who has corrupted the oath of God, disbelieved His Testament, rejected His Authority, despised His Religion, and made himself deserving of His Curse, whether he is a Sultan or any other believer of Islam. Whenever monks, devotees and pilgrims gather together, whether in a mountain or valley, or den, or frequented place, or plain, or church, or in houses of worship, verily we are [at the] back of them and shall protect them, and their properties and their morals, by Myself, by My Friends and by My Assistants, for they are of My Subjects and under My Protection.

I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but that which pleases them—they must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religious order, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells.

No one is allowed to plunder the pilgrims, or destroy or spoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islam. And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the oath of God, and, in truth, disobeyed His Messenger.

Poll-taxes should not be put upon their judges, monks, and those whose occupation is the worship of God; nor is any other thing to be taken from them, whether it be a fine, a tax or any unjust right. Verily I shall keep their compact, wherever they may be, in the sea or on the land, in the East or West, in the North or South, for they are under My Protection and the testament of My Safety, against all things which they abhor.

No taxes or tithes should be received from those who devote themselves to the worship of God in the mountains, or from those who cultivate the Holy Lands. No one has the right to interfere with their affairs, or bring any action against them. Verily this is for aught else and not for them; rather, in the seasons of crops, they should be given a Kadah for each Ardab of wheat (about five bushels and a half) as provision for them, and no one has the right to say to them this is too much, or ask them to pay any tax.

As to those who possess properties, the wealthy and merchants, the poll-tax to be taken from them must not exceed twelve Dirhams a head per year (i.e. about 45 cents).

They shall not be imposed upon by anyone to undertake a journey, or to be forced to go to wars or to carry arms; for the Muslims have to fight for them. Do no dispute or argue with them, but deal according to the verse recorded in the Koran, to wit: ‘Do not dispute or argue with the People of the Book but in that which is best’ [29:46]. Thus they will live favored and protected from everything which may offend them by the Callers to religion (Islam), wherever they may be and in any place they may dwell.

Should any Christian woman be married to a Musulman, such marriage must not take place except after her consent, and she must not be prevented from going to her church for prayer. Their churches must be honored and they must not be withheld from building churches or repairing convents.

They must not be forced to carry arms or stones; but the Muslims must protect them and defend them against others. It is positively incumbent upon every one of the Islam nation not to contradict or disobey this oath until the Day of Resurrection and the end of the world.

[Haddad, Anton F., trans. The Oath of the Prophet Mohammed to the Followers of the Nazarene. New York: Board of Counsel, 1902; H-Bahai: Lansing, MI: 2004]

Read more: http://newsrescue.com/letter-to-all-christians-from-prophet-muhammad-sa/#ixzz3Eju5Utra

 

 https://newsrescue.com/letter-to-all-christians-from-prophet-muhammad-sa/#ixzz3EjSMNmZ0

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Friday, October 7, 2011

EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE: WHY NOT? QUICK ANSWERS TO COMMON ARGUMENTS - Catholic Organization for Life and the Family

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Christian Remembrance of Yom HaShoah, by Rabbi Leigh Lerner - St. Luc’s Church, Dollard des Ormeaux, May 1, 2011

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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            The Christian community has celebrated Easter, and you are now on the way to Pentecost. We Jews have celebrated Pesach, Passover, and we are on the way to celebrate another day, Shavuot.  The two festivals have much in common.

            Pentecost means "fiftieth.”  Fifty days after Easter, the Holy Spirit came into the world. Your Christian commemoration of Pentecost is based on our Jewish practice. In the Jewish tradition, we count a week of weeks, 7 times 7 days, from the second day of Passover, Pesach.  If we had counted from the first day of Pesach, naturally it would be 50 days. Then we come to Shavuot (the feast of 7 weeks), which celebrates the gift of the Torah at Mount Sinai.  At Shavuot, the word of God comes into the world by this great revelation.  So your celebration of the Holy Spirit is directly related to our Shavuot.

            The reading for Pentecost, drawn from the Acts of the Apostles, indicates how the Holy Spirit filled the first disciples of Jesus, giving them the ability to speak other languages and hear wonderful things about God in their own language.  This, too, reflects an old rabbinical teaching which tells that when the Torah was given, God did not only give in Hebrew. The legend says that at Mt. Sinai, God gave the Torah in 70 languages, and we always interpret "70 languages" to mean, "every language of the earth".  The Ten Commandments, the Torah, and the Bible belong to everyone, and each person can hear their message.

            How does Acts describes the advent of the Holy Spirit?  As a violent wind which filled the whole House where they were standing.  This wind brought good news, but the Bible also mentions another violent wind, a vortex of destruction.  Speaking of the Jewish community in exile, Isaiah (54: 11) said: "unfortunate, storm-battered, and unconsolable!" Similarly, after poor Job was almost completely destroyed, God speaks to him out of a whirlwind, symbol of the chaos of his life (Job 38.1).

            And what is the word that describes the destruction Job has seen?  Shoah. Today we remember that good news is not the only news to arrive on the wings of the wind.  The winds of history also blew with a destructive force, the Shoah, the Holocaust.  6 million Jews were destroyed by the Nazis and those who cooperated with them. 

How can I help you better understand the figure, six million people murdered?  The population of Quebec is 7,800,000 people.  The population of the island of Montreal?  It is 1,800,000 people.  So imagine.  You live here on the island of Montreal, and one day you decide to drive to Quebec City.  On the South Shore?  Not a soul.  In central Québec?  No one.  Mauricie?  Not one human being.  Quebec City?  Empty.  You drive farther, looking for  another human being.  The Beauce?  No one.  Lac St. Jean?  Not a soul.  Eastern Townships, Montérégie, Gatineau, Laurentians, Laval.  No one, no one, no one.  The buildings still stand, but the original occupants are not there. 

You return to Montréal, happy to see each of its 1,800,000 people, glad to find humanity.

When the few who survived returned to their cities and villages, with very few exceptions, they returned to Jewish communities utterly destroyed, their houses often occupied by local residents who took them for themselves.  The remaining Jews were refugees on a continent where they had lived for 2000 years, but which was suddenly judenrein, the Jewish community murderously expunged from existence.  The Jews of the former Soviet Union and England survived, and as for the rest - so few survivors.

            Six million. Even now we breathe the dust of their ashes. To stop this destruction, too few voices were raised in the seventy languages of the world. And many have refused to hear the cries of those who were swept away by the devastating force of the Shoah. At that time, Canada's policy on Jewish refugees was simple: none is too many.  Yes, it is true. I saw myself the government document which said so.

            John tells us that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit with his breath, much quieter and softer than the violent wind in the book of Acts.  Similarly, if Moses heard God in thunder, Elijah the Prophet found God not in thunder and in the earthquake, but in a still, small voice. On this day, while we are commemorating the 6 million, let the still small voice of God speak to the conscience of every human being. Let us say, never again a Shoah, never again a genocide. We did not hear this voice in Nazi Europe, nor in Cambodia nor in Bosnia nor in Rwanda. It now calls to us from the Darfur region in Sudan: are we still also deaf? Kol demama daka - that still small voice can be heard in each of our languages, and let our memory of the Shoah remind us that the difference between life and death for entire peoples may depend on the ability of each person to hear the still, small voice of God.  Amen.

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Monday, March 21, 2011

Where the hell is God? By Richard Leonard SJ

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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Where the hell is God?

Posted on: 21st March 2011  |
Author: Richard Leonard SJ

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110321_1.htm

Category: Spirituality and Catholic Life
Tags: problem of evilsufferingRichard Leonard SJ
Photo by nanda_uforians at flickr.com

In a new book due to be launched tomorrow in London, Australian Jesuit, Richard Leonard looks at how we understand the presence of God in our lives when we are faced with suffering. Using his own experience of a family tragedy, Fr Richard speaks about his personal response when he is tempted to ask: ‘Where the hell is God?’

Most explorations of where or how God can be found in human suffering tend to be fairly academic. I have found them to be immensely important, even when I have disagreed with their arguments or conclusions. I have even found the intellectual distance they establish to be somehow helpful in dissecting an anything but distant enquiry.

My passion for some answers in this area started from a different base. It was not, primarily, an academic question, though I hope my thoughts are intelligent. My interest started from experience, from my grappling with a family tragedy which forced me to confront how I can hold on to my belief in a loving God in the face of suffering.

On 23 October 1988 my sister, Tracey, was involved in a freakish car accident: she dislocated the 5th cervical vertebra and fractured the 6th and 7th vertebrae. For the last 23 years she has been a quadriplegic. Tracey is one of the finest people I know, and even at the time of the accident, at 28 years of age, she had already lived in Calcutta for three years and nursed the poorest of the poor at Mother Teresa’s House of the Dying. She had returned to Australia and got a job working with the Sisters of Our Lady of Sacred Heart, running a health centre for Aboriginal people at Port Keats. It was near there that the car accident happened.

Within twelve hours of my mother finding out about Tracey’s accident, she was standing in a hospital room in Darwin asking, ‘Where the hell is God?’

In the months that followed I received some of the most appalling and frightening letters from some of the best Christians I knew. A few wrote, ‘Tracey must have done something to deeply offend God so she had to be punished here on earth.’ They actually believe that God is out to get us. I have discovered since 1988 that this theology is far more common than I would have ever imagined. I have met people with cancer, couples with fertility problems and parents who have lost a child – all of whom have asked me what they ever did to deserve the curse under which they think God has placed them.

Others wrote, ‘Tracey’s suffering is sending up glorious building blocks to heaven for her mansion there when she dies.’ This is what is usually called ‘pie in the sky when you die theology’. I did not know that in heaven, in the many rooms of the Father’s house, there are first, business and economy class suites. There were scores of letters and cards which said, ‘Your family is really very blessed, because God only sends the biggest crosses to those who can bear them.’ I always found it strange that some people, who are not receiving that particular blessing, can see it so clearly in other people’s suffering. But let us think about this line a little more. We hear it often. If it is true, then we should all be on our knees morning, noon and night with only one prayer: ‘I am a wimp. I am a wimp. I am a wimp, O God. Do not consider me strong.’

Added to these responses were those of good people who were trying to be comforting, and so gave out the usual trio of replies in the face of bad news: ‘It’s all a mystery’; invoking Isaiah 55 with, ‘My ways are not your ways’; and ‘Only in heaven will find out God’s plan.’ There is a truth in each of these statements, but I thought that one of the points of the Incarnation is precisely that God wants to reveal his ways and thoughts, wants to be known, especially in the moments when we are sometimes given to the greatest despair. We do not believe and love an aloof being who revels in mystery and goes AWOL when the action turns tough in our lives. The Incarnation surely shows us that God is committed to being a participant in the human adventure in all its complexity and pain.

23 years later I am very grateful to the correspondents who wrote to me after my sister’s accident. They have alerted me to how often we hear some terrible theology, which does not draw people to God, in the worst moments of our lives. It alienates us. It alienated me for a while from believing in a God who wants us to have an intelligent discussion about the complexities of where and how the Divine presence fits into our fragile and human world. So here are my steps to spiritual sanity when we are tempted, and we give into the temptation, to ask, ‘Where the hell is God?’

In offering anything on this topic we are squarely in the domain of speculative theology. Greater minds than mine over the centuries have applied themselves to these questions and have come to different conclusions about them. I am happy for that. The problem is that when I most needed their insights, I found their answers inadequate. I am not blaming them. The vast majority of them did not have the benefit of contemporary biblical studies, theology, science, and psychology to lend a hand.

The Church knows, too, that it cannot be definitive about these matters, because on this side of the grave we just do not know where or how God fits with regard to the suffering of the world. Therefore I make no greater claim for my ideas than that they have helped me hold on to faith in a loving God as I walked through the ‘valley of tears’ and in the ‘shadow of death’.

God does not directly send pain, suffering and disease. God does not punish us, at least not in this life. I hold this confidently because in 1John 1:5 we are told that, ‘God is light, in him there is no darkness’ – so deadly and destructive things cannot be in the nature of and actions of God. Secondly, whatever we make of the varied images of God in the Old Testament, in Jesus God is revealed as being about life not death, construction not destruction, forgiveness not retribution, healing not pain. There is a huge difference between God permitting evil and God perpetrating such acts on us. We need to stare down those who promote and support a theology that portrays God as a tyrant.

God does not send accidents to teach us things, though we can learn from them. We do not need to blame God directly for causing our suffering in order for us to turn it around and harness it for good. The human search for meaning is a powerful instinct but I think spiritual sanity rests in seeing that in every moment of every day, God does what he did on Good Friday: not allowing evil, death and destruction to have the last word, but ennobling humanity with an extraordinary resilience and, through the power of amazing grace, enabling us to make the most of even the worst situations and let light and life have the last word. Easter Sunday is God’s response to Good Friday: life out of death.

God does not will earthquakes, floods, droughts or other natural disasters: can we stop praying for rain please? If God is directly in charge of the climate, he seems to be a very poor meteorologist indeed. When people ask, ‘why did the earthquake and tsunami happen?’, I think it best if we just tell them the simple geophysical truth: ‘Because the earth shelf moved, setting off a big wave.’ Behind the meteorologist-in-the-sky idea is not the God and Father of Jesus Christ, but Zeus, and I think we have to be careful what we think petitionary prayer does. It cannot change our unchanging God (James 1), so it asks our unchanging God to change us to change the world.

God’s will is more in the big picture than in the small. I believe passionately in the will of God. It is just that I believe it is discovered on the larger canvass rather than in the details. I think God wants me to live out the theological virtues of faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13). Through the blessing of time and place, the gifts of nature and grace, I work with God to realise my potential in the greatest way possible, even if that involves having to do things that are difficult, demanding and sacrificial. This response is not out of fear and compulsion, but comes from love and desire. I think we should be very careful in talking about God’s will using lines like, ‘But for the grace of God, go I’. What about the poor person who was not so blessed? Did God not care about them?

God did not need the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not just come ‘to die’ but God used his death to announce the end to death. This is the domain of ‘offer it up’ theology: it was good enough for Jesus to suffer; it is good enough for you. While I am aware of St Paul in Romans, St Clement of Alexandria, St Anselm of Canterbury and later John Calvin’s work on atonement theory and satisfaction theology, I cannot baldly accept that the perfect God of love set up for a fall in the Fall, then got so angry with us that only the grisly death of his perfect son was going to repair the breach between us. This is not the only way into the mystery of Holy Week. For most of Christian history the question that has vexed many believers seems to be, ‘Why did Jesus die?’ I think it is the wrong question. The right one is ‘Why was Jesus killed?’ And that puts the last days of Jesus’ suffering and death in an entirely new perspective. Jesus did not simply and only come to die. Rather, Jesus came to live. As a result of the courageous and radical way he lived his life, and the saving love he embodied for all humanity, he threatened the political, social and religious authorities of his day so much that they executed him. But God had the last word on Good Friday: Easter Sunday.

God has created a world which is less than perfect, else it would be heaven, and in which suffering, disease and pain are realities. Some of these we now create for ourselves and blame God. I have lost count of the number of people who have said to me, ‘I cannot believe in a God who allows famines to happen.’ I think God wonders why we let famine happen. God is responsible for allowing a world to evolve within which the effects of moral and physical evil can create injustices. But God is not responsible because we refuse to make the hard choices that would see our world transformed into a more just and equal place for everyone. In the face of this obstinacy, it is not surprising that we find a divine scapegoat to carry the guilt for our lack of political will and social solidarity.

God does not kill us off. As Catholics, thank God, at least since the 1960s, we do not officially take the scriptures literally until we go near texts about God knowing the ‘hairs on our head’ and the ‘span of our days’ (Jer 1:5; Gal 1:15-16; Prov 16:33; and Matt 10:30). Then we become completely fundamentalist. When I go near a nursing home I am regularly asked, ‘Father, why won’t God take Grandma? To which I reply ‘Because Grandma won’t stop breathing yet.’ I do not actually say this. I have more pastoral sense than that, but I want to. The verb ‘take’ is so revealing of what we think is going on here. Why would God’s desire ‘to take’ a two year old to heaven be more than God’s desire ‘to leave’ this child in the arms of loving parents? In contrast to this, I think it is entirely appropriate to believe that life, from the womb to the nursing home, is not allotted a span, as such, by God, but that our body will live until it can no longer function, for whatever natural or accidental reason. God is not an active player in this process, but, again, has to take responsibility for making us mortal. Then, when our body dies, our soul or spirit begins its final journey home.

Some might think that the theology outlined here presents God as remote or aloof. I do not need to think that God has to be the direct cause of everything in my life to have a strong and lively belief in a personal God. Indeed, I am passionate about God’s personal love and presence. Thinking that God is removed from the intricate detail of how things develop does not remove God from the drama of our living, our suffering and dying. God waits patiently for an invitation to enter our lives at whatever level we want. Christ meets us where we are, embraces us and holds us close when the going gets tough, and helps us find the way forward, even and most especially, on that last day when we find the way home.

Rev Dr Richard Leonard is a Jesuit of the Australian Province and author of Where the hell is God? (Paulist Press, 2010). He will be giving a public lecture on the book at its UK launch at 6pm on Tuesday 22 March 2011 at St Paul’s Bookstore, Morpeth Terrace, London SW1.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110321_1.htm


 Thinking Faith reviews Where the Hell is God? by Richard Leonard SJ

 More information about Where the hell is God?

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0087HTAEK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Karma vs Eternity – Responsibility, Salvation, & the Communion of Saints

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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We are in agreement - there are always consequences....

People invoke karma to suggest consequences and endless possibilities: where every decision, word, and act has consequences and what is in the past has consequences for us now. There is a false dichotomy due to popular misunderstanding of Christianity as impoverished in its view of the afterlife. Ironically, in the Bible God addressed his people and addresses us about the importance and value of what we think, say, and do, both for ourselves and for others. We are responsible, and when we say and do good we bless others, give glory to God, and enhance our own selves. When we neglect good or think, say, or do evil, we harm others, dishonour God, and degrade ourselves.

The Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures, witnesses God forgiving his people, while reminding them He must nevertheless punish them. God's forgiveness, like our own, restores the relationship between the offender and the offended, but consequences remain. Punishment or restitution must repair the destructive or harmful consequences of the offense in both the offended and the offender.

Forgiveness and also punishment - both are needed....

We are all connected to each other, those alive now on Earth, those who went before us, and those who have yet to come; this is the communion of saints. All the good, wise, and holy people who died have a beneficial effect on us, as we have now and will have on others; just as we suffer the harmful effects of the evil done in the past and others suffer the harmful effects of our sin now.

Both our origin and our destiny are caught up in God....

God's plan, revealed in the O.T. and in Jesus, is that we are all in this together; that we be uplifted and inspired by this awesome truth, and grateful to our God for the gift of our life – however short or long – and for the greater gift of eternal life awaiting us. In contrast, the whole environment of evil and good intertwined and surrounding us and preceding us is in fact overwhelming and more than anyone can fix or undo. Moreover, the evil has affected our very nature, and we are often unable to lift ourselves up, to do good, or avoid doing evil. We are in need of being saved, rescued, forgiven, restored, and given growth by our Creator. He is doing this in Jesus, his divine Son, who in becoming a man entered into solidarity with us in both our blessing and our trouble; so that we might enter into solidarity with Him in the blessedness of God who is the Holy Trinity.

The hypothesis / belief of reincarnation....

The Judeo-Christian faith in the Creator God, a Holy Trinity of divine Persons for Christians, differs from Eastern non-Christian religions who see us caught up in a chain of successive incarnations; which in the end is a philosophical hypothesis to explain the consequences of human lives and actions.

God reveals each soul is unique with only one life continuing after death into eternity....

The truth revealed to us by God is that, however unfair it looks to us in this life – from infants killed in the womb to people appearing to linger far too long in old age, and all variations in between – our Creator creates in us a human soul or spirit at the moment we are conceived by our parents. From that moment on, we have an eternal destiny. Once we die, we shall never return to this mortal existence on Earth but are caught up into the eternal reality awaiting us. In his mercy and abundant generosity, God will provide each soul time to be finally freed of all mortal attachments and to be purified of all evil in accord with its own will. All that was unfinished at the moment of physical death will have eternal opportunities for fulfillment and happiness with God and all the saints.

Souls, out of body at death, will be clothed anew with their body made immortal at the resurrection

Then at the moment God has planned and decided, He will grant the resurrection of all the human bodies that have returned to dust or disappeared in the sea, clothing all the human souls anew in the physical flesh in which they were known, but with a wondrous difference. Our flesh will no longer be mortal but immortal, acquiring the properties of our immortal soul and in perfect harmony with it and with the Triune God. We will enjoy the company of God and all the saints in a perfect and eternal union of our soul and risen body, like Jesus after his resurrection and Mary after her assumption; as she appeared at Lourdes, Fatima, in the Philippines, and in many other places. She who lived to be old is now forever young. So will it be for all. 

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Muslims and Canadian Culture - Time to change tune on official multiculturalism - Let's remember what makes Canada such a great place for people from all over the world to live together in peace.

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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Muslims and Canadian Culture

Time to change tune on official multiculturalism

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/calgary-herald/20110212/284069138172559

Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald                               Published: Saturday, February 12, 2011

About one dozen families who recently immigrated to Canada are demanding that the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg excuse their children from music and coed physical education programs for religious reasons.

The families believe music is un-Islamic -just like the Taliban believe and then imposed on the entire population of Afghanistan -and that physical education classes should be segregated by gender even in the elementary years.

The school division is facing the music in a typically Canadian way -that is, bending itself into a trombone to try to accommodate these demands, even though in Manitoba, and indeed the rest of the country, music and phys-ed are compulsory parts of the curriculum.

Officials say they may try to have the Muslim children do a writing project on music to satisfy the curriculum's requirements. The school officials have apparently consulted the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, and they have also spoken to a member of the Islamic community suggested by those very same Muslim parents.

In any event, the school district is trying to find a way to adapt the curriculum to fit the wishes of these families, rather than these families adapting to fit into the school and Canadian culture.

Mahfooz Kanwar, a member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, says he has some better ideas.

"I'd tell them, this is Canada, and in Canada, we teach music and physical education in our schools. If you don't like it, leave. If you want to live under sharia law, go back to the hellhole country you came from or go to another hellhole country that lives under sharia law," said Kanwar, who is a professor emeritus of sociology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

That might be putting things a little more forcefully than most of us would be comfortable with, but Kanwar says he is tired of hearing about such out-of-tune demands from newcomers to our country. "Immigrants to Canada should adjust to Canada, not the other way around," he argues.

Kanwar, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan via England and then the United States in 1966, says he used to buy into the "mosaic, official multiculturalism (nonsense)."

He makes it clear, that like most Canadians, he is pleased and enjoys that Canada has citizens literally from every country and corner in the world, as it has enriched this country immensely. But it's official multiculturalism -the state policy "that entrenches the lie" that all cultures and beliefs are of equal value and of equal validity in Canada that he objects to.

"The fact is, Canada has an enviable culture based on Judeo-Christian values -not Muslim values -with British and French rule of law and traditions and that's why it's better than all of the other places in the world. We are heading down a dangerous path if we allow the idea that sharia law has a place in Canada. It does not. It is completely incompatible with the idea and reality of Canada," says Kanwar, who in the 1970s was the founder and president of the Pakistan-Canada Association and a big fan of official multiculturalism. Kanwar says his views changed when he started listening to the people who joined his group. They badmouthed Canada, weren't interested in knowing Canadians or even in learning one of our official languages. They created cultural ghettos and the Canadian government even helped fund it.

"One day it dawned on me that the reason all of us wanted to move here was going to disappear if we didn't start defending Canada and its fundamental values." That's when Kanwar started speaking out against the dangers of official multiculturalism. He has been doing so for decades.

So, it's no surprise that Kanwar is delighted with the recent speech British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered to the 47th Munich Security Conference on Feb. 5.

"Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism," said Cameron, "we have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our val-ues. So when a white person holds objectionable views -racism, for example -we rightly condemn them. But when equally unacceptable views or practices have come from someone who isn't white, we've been too cautious, frankly even fearful, to stand up to them. . . .

This hands-off tolerance," said Cameron, "has only served to reinforce the sense that not enough is shared.

All this leaves some young Muslims feeling rootless and . . . can lead them to this extremist ideology."

Kanwar actually credits German Chancellor Angela Merkel for being among the first of the world's democratic leaders to take the courageous step in October to say that official multiculturalism had "failed totally."

It appears leaders are getting bolder. During an interview with TFI channel on Feb. 10, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared: "We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him."

Cameron ended his speech by saying: "At stake are not just lives, it's our way of life. That's why this is a challenge we cannot avoid -and one we must meet."

That democratically elected leaders are at long last starting to sing a different tune on official multiculturalism is sweet music to Kanwar. Here's hoping those poor kids in Winnipeg will get to hear some of it.

Licia Corbella is the Herald's Editorial Page Editor. lcorBella@ calgarYherald.com

http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/columnists/story.html?id=d44dba36-3b51-461c-a1ea-2101d57e346f

 https://www.pressreader.com/canada/calgary-herald/20110212/284069138172559
© Calgary Herald 2011

Corbella: Inclusion missing at Calgary Muslim event

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/calgary-herald/20120607/281595237595300

Bilal Philips is on the record as saying all male homosexuals should face the "punishment for deviant behaviour . . . which is death"                 By Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald June 7, 2012

A man who has repeatedly said homosexuals should be executed is the top speaker at a Calgary conference taking place on the Canada Day long weekend.

The ironically named conference - The Power of Unity: Islam in a MultiCultural Canada - is headlining Bilal Philips, who goes far beyond saying what many religious leaders believe about homosexuality being a sin. Philips, who has been barred from travelling to Germany, is on the record as saying all male homosexuals should face the "punishment for deviant behaviour . . . which is death."

You can check him out on YouTube.

But Philips, who was born in Jamaica and raised in Ontario, where he converted to Islam, is not the only controversial speaker - not by a long shot. There's a whole raft of them speaking at the Muslim Council of Calgary event.

Munir El-Kassem, a dentist from London, Ont., wrote a column back in 2001 that condemned the West as hypocritical and defended the Taliban regime for destroying the sixth-century Buddha statues in Bamiyan. He has written glowingly about Louis Farrakhan, the extremist Nation of Islam leader who frequently makes bigoted statements against Jews, whites and homosexuals, and is linked to the assassination of Malcolm X.

Shaykh Hatem Alhaj recently lost his job at the Mayo Clinic because he wrote papers in support of female circumcision. He later tried to clarify his position by saying he only supports nicking the clitoris, not cutting it right off.

Another heavy-hitting speaker is British MP George Galloway, a veritable rock star of antiIsraeli and anti-western sentiment, who was barred from entering Canada in 2009 after he gave more than $50,000 to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in contravention of Canadian law, which bans all donations to terrorist organizations. Canada lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Galloway was eventually permitted to enter Canada, but he can be seen very clearly on YouTube handing over a bag of money to members of the Hamas leadership, whose very charter calls for the obliteration of the state of Israel and all Jews.

Abraham Ayache, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, said the conference is being organized to celebrate 50 years of Islam in Calgary and is all about unity and celebrating multiculturalism.

"This conference is open to everybody. Our doors are always open. We encourage Muslims to integrate into society and we want to raise awareness about Islam and we want non-Muslims to understand more about Islam . . . and for the media to start focusing on the positives rather than the negatives," Ayache said.

His lineup of speakers, however, makes that difficult. When asked about Philips's views that homosexuals should be executed Ayache responded by saying: "George Bush is an individual who holds that opinion." It's an outrageous claim.

While certainly finding ample evidence that Bush believes in maintaining the traditional definition of marriage, nowhere is there evidence that he believes in sentencing homosexuals to death.

Ayache, who says the MCC has eight Islamic scholars working for the organization, adds that speakers will be given topics to discuss that deal with unity and multiculturalism.

But a recent posting on the MCC website under the heading "Ask the Imam" seems to indicate that some of the organization's hired imams haven't read the memo about cultural tolerance and unity.

In answer to a question by a single mother concerned about her children no longer being obedient to her, an imam on the site wrote: "You should instil a hatred for this culture and its ways in the hearts of your children." He also wrote: "It is haraam (forbidden) for you to give your children free rein in forming friendships with the children of the kuffaar." Kuffaar, or kufir, is synonymous with infidel or nonbeliever. Translation: the vast majority of Canadian society.

That particular posting has very recently been removed from the website, but there are some blogs that have preserved screen grabs of those pages.

Nagah Hage, the conference committee chair, said the MCC is the umbrella organization for Sunnis in Calgary and is "the most powerful Muslim organization in the country," since it owns and operates all the Sunni "assets" in Calgary including mosques and the Calgary Islamic School.

Hage says some of the topics open for discussion at the conference include: the influence of national and international politics on Muslims of North America, western media in Muslim countries and the use of financial resources for improving the status of Muslims of the world, as well as other topics that have not been solidified. Not a whole lot there about unity or multiculturalism.

Kevin Alderson, a psychology professor at the University of Calgary and a gay rights activist, says he's concerned about Philips speaking in Calgary.

"This is barbaric, archaic and insane," said Alderson, who has just finished writing his latest book, Counseling LGBTI Clients. "It certainly says nothing about multiculturalism. I think these speakers should be carefully monitored to ensure that they don't cross the line into hate speech by advocating the killing of homosexuals."

Sgt. Bill Dodd, who heads the Calgary Police Service's diversity resources section, says Calgary police have a good relationship with the MCC and intend on attending the conference, which will run from June 29 through July 1 at the Coast Plaza Hotel, 1316 33rd St. N.E.

"It's not our role to ban speech.

"Our job is to uphold everybody's Charter rights and freedoms and to uphold the Criminal Code, and sometimes there's a balance there."

Time will tell if there will be balance at this conference and whether the diversity of Canadians - all Canadians - will truly be, if not celebrated, at least accepted on Canada Day.

Licia Corbella is a columnist and editorial page editor.                                            lcorbella@calgaryherald.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/calgary-herald/20120607/281595237595300

Calgarians are rich in character and rich in opinions. So, too, is Herald columnist Licia Corbella. She's not afraid to say what others are thinking, but at the same time, she's eager to celebrate wonderful stories of success in our city. Opinion that matters; opinion that counts: Read Licia Corbella, exclusively in the Calgary Herald and at calgaryherald.com

Biography

Columnists                      http://www.calgaryherald.com/columnists/licia_corbella.html

Licia Corbella has worked for daily newspapers for almost 30 years and is currently the Calgary Herald's Editorial Page Editor. She started her journalism career in 1986 at The Province newspaper in Vancouver while still a journalism student at Vancouver Community College, where she graduated with honours. Eventually, she and her husband moved to Toronto where she worked as a general assignment reporter at The Scarborough Mirror, The Toronto Star and The Toronto Sun, where she won numerous awards for her feature writing and news reporting, including two Edward Dunlop Awards.

In October 1993, she moved to Alberta with her husband Stephen and began working at the Calgary Sun in a variety of roles, including assistant city editor, lifestyle and travel editor and news columnist. In 1998, she was appointed editor, a role she held until she came to the Herald in December 2007.

Licia was a competitive swimmer and former Canadian record holder in the 200 and 400 Individual Medley events as an 11 & 12-year-old and 13 & 14-year-old girl.She is married to Stephen and they have twin sons in high school - both of whom are accomplished athletes, students and budding philanthropists.

E-mail : lcorbella@calgaryherald.com

Recent Columns

Corbella: Albertans’ anti-Christian bigotry is shocking

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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