I'm being a little facitious here, but I will forgive myself, as it is a reaction to the ramblings on the internet by both a secularist and a Muslim who have chosen to attack Christianity in the same way some people have tried, to Christianity's detriment, to defend it; by taking scripture verses out of context.
The secularist is , well, secular. Enough of that. But, to a certain extent I cannot really find it in my heart to blame the Muslim individual because of all of the attacks upon the Qu'ran that also appear within and without cyberspace, too. When one has an affinity for certain literature of a religious nature it tends to make one a bit prickly to have it castigated repeatedly.
At any rate, the verse/verses in question are part of the many verses found within the Christian Bible, mostly the Old Testament, that describe the negative or more violent actions or commands attributed to God. The first verse that always springs to my mind when dealing with this particular matter is Psalm 137:9 where it seems that those who delight in the Lord must also take equal delight in braining the infants of His enemies against the rocks. Not a pleasant thought by any stretch of the imagination, and a verse that has caused a great deal of consternation for the more peace loving amongst us. However, it was not comments upon that verse that drew my ire this evening, but upon Acts 13:11, which by itself does not give a very accurate view of the context within which it is found. By the way, it was the secularist, NOT the Muslim, who stuck his foot in my mental doggie poo tonight.
The following is quoted from an online copy of the New International Version of the Bible:
(The items in brackets are what I have added in an attempt to help clarify the context of verse eleven.)
Acts 13:...6,7 - "6...they [Barnabas and Saul] found a certain sorcerer [a.k.a. Elymas], a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God."
Acts 13:8 - "But Elymas the sorcerer [a.k.a. Barjesus] (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy [Sergius Paulus] from the faith [Christianity]."
Acts 13:11 - "Now the hand of the Lord is against you [this is Saul speaking to Elymas]. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun..."
The website of the secularist lists the eleventh verse under "Bible Atrocities." I have a feeling the Muslim individual might know better than to take this one on in his ramblings due to the differences in reactions that would have happened in a Christian versus Islamic sort of way; Saul merely blinded the man "for a season." Had Elymas committed a similar act against the teachings of Islam, the Qu'ran charges the Muslim to kill him without compunction.
Such is the yield, so far, of my foray* into a study of current religious issues.
*Check the definition in the Oxford Dictionary - the word somehow seems unusually appropriate here. (I am chuckling quietly as I type this - just so you know.) Life and the reactions of others yet to determine the final definition!
This being Easter Sunday may have a lot to do with my frame of mind tonight. I managed to help my friend get out to visit her family and then I took my brother some candy turtles to say "Happy Easter!" Then I headed further north to drop off an Easter gift for my niece. We chatted for awhile and I think she enjoyed her gifts, which included a bouquet of roses. As she, her little brother, and their dad are traveling for a week starting tomorrow I suspect the enjoyment of the roses will be short lived, but she seemed pleased by them despite upcoming events.
This Easter morning was beautiful. The sky was mostly clear, the sun was soft and bright, the breeze was fresh, the Spring flowers blooming in abundance. It also got up into the 70s, degree-wise. It was wonderful! Days like this, especially with today being Easter, have always made me feel the blessings of God far more than the burdens of life. He rose again.
Peace.
Izzlebug
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Messy, Messy!
Given everything that has gone on in the past few months I suppose it is not too unusual to have really messed up my sleep and medication schedules for awhile, neither of which has produced any positive results in my life. I am fighting to regain control of my sleep schedule (i.e. "was not up all night last night") and have managed to remember to take my medications for one whole day in a row, so far (yuck, yuck!). I am feeling better for having gotten more and better sleep last night and finally getting back on my meds - my thoughts do get REALLY wierd when the blood levels drop - so I think its not too early to start claiming a victory, barring any unforseen, yet to happen, horrid or horribly distracting event.
My sweetie-pie ordered some books for me one of which was the Oxford edition of the Qu'ran. I chose this one because I felt it was likely to be the more scholarly of the choices available to me at the time and I was disappointed to find that, despite my hopes, according to the introduction to the copy I purchased I now own the "rosy glow" copy instead of the scholarly tome I was looking for. Oh well! Hopefully they were able to maintain some of the poetry of language in this translation that is supposed to make certain passages in the Qu'ran so beautiful, as well as keeping the integrity of the original meanings of the texts, etc. In this same book order I also received some books by an author who is supposed to be an expert on the Qu'ran and Islam. I find him a bit sarcastic but he does seem to know what he is talking about, so I feel I have found the two extremes here for my intellectual consumption; rosy glow versus severely critical. It should be an interesting study.
It is a grey and rainy day here in New England and I confess the weather matches my mood quite well. I guess I am just really tired right now - tired of the insects; carpenter ants, moths, beetly things. Tired of the mice - cute and beautiful creatures that they actually are, they are also unsanitary and horribly destructive and belong OUTDOORS! Tired of the stopped up sinks and bathtub drains. Tired of the mold and mildew everywhere in the walls. Tired of trying to get ahead of the water damage to the house. Tired of being tired and in pain most of the time. I guess I'm just plain old tired!
Despite the above, there is still much to enjoy in life, and a lot to look forward to being able to accomplish. There are many warm, dear friends to spend time with, many relatives to visit with, the kitties to watch and love, and that is just the tip of the very long list. (Maybe that's what is making me feel so tired!)
Of the many projects that need to be taken care of here, I am hoping to manage getting an office space set up for myself upstairs. I will need help, and since I am not the only busy person I know, that may prove difficult, but hopefully possible. Once that is done I think I will begin to feel more of a sense of accomplishment than I have had to date, despite the huge amount of work that has already gone into getting this house whipped into some kind of acceptable shape for merely living in! (Sigh!)
I remember, well after I started this blog, seeing the movie "Julie and Julia" and thinking how nice it would be if people wanted to start sending ME money and gifts and stuff, too. Then I realized that what I needed most from people was their time and effort in helping to physically get our home cleaned up and rearranged - a VERY different situation than that in the movie! (Although money and gifts are still VERY NICE things to receive :-) and I would not be upset at some of those instead of offers of actual, physical assistance at the house - just to be clear.)
Anyway, enough of those meanderings. I need to sign off and get busy with errands and such. I hope all of those who may encounter my words here will be entertained and amused; assisted in some way to their advantage and, maybe, comforted.
Love,
Izzlebug
My sweetie-pie ordered some books for me one of which was the Oxford edition of the Qu'ran. I chose this one because I felt it was likely to be the more scholarly of the choices available to me at the time and I was disappointed to find that, despite my hopes, according to the introduction to the copy I purchased I now own the "rosy glow" copy instead of the scholarly tome I was looking for. Oh well! Hopefully they were able to maintain some of the poetry of language in this translation that is supposed to make certain passages in the Qu'ran so beautiful, as well as keeping the integrity of the original meanings of the texts, etc. In this same book order I also received some books by an author who is supposed to be an expert on the Qu'ran and Islam. I find him a bit sarcastic but he does seem to know what he is talking about, so I feel I have found the two extremes here for my intellectual consumption; rosy glow versus severely critical. It should be an interesting study.
It is a grey and rainy day here in New England and I confess the weather matches my mood quite well. I guess I am just really tired right now - tired of the insects; carpenter ants, moths, beetly things. Tired of the mice - cute and beautiful creatures that they actually are, they are also unsanitary and horribly destructive and belong OUTDOORS! Tired of the stopped up sinks and bathtub drains. Tired of the mold and mildew everywhere in the walls. Tired of trying to get ahead of the water damage to the house. Tired of being tired and in pain most of the time. I guess I'm just plain old tired!
Despite the above, there is still much to enjoy in life, and a lot to look forward to being able to accomplish. There are many warm, dear friends to spend time with, many relatives to visit with, the kitties to watch and love, and that is just the tip of the very long list. (Maybe that's what is making me feel so tired!)
Of the many projects that need to be taken care of here, I am hoping to manage getting an office space set up for myself upstairs. I will need help, and since I am not the only busy person I know, that may prove difficult, but hopefully possible. Once that is done I think I will begin to feel more of a sense of accomplishment than I have had to date, despite the huge amount of work that has already gone into getting this house whipped into some kind of acceptable shape for merely living in! (Sigh!)
I remember, well after I started this blog, seeing the movie "Julie and Julia" and thinking how nice it would be if people wanted to start sending ME money and gifts and stuff, too. Then I realized that what I needed most from people was their time and effort in helping to physically get our home cleaned up and rearranged - a VERY different situation than that in the movie! (Although money and gifts are still VERY NICE things to receive :-) and I would not be upset at some of those instead of offers of actual, physical assistance at the house - just to be clear.)
Anyway, enough of those meanderings. I need to sign off and get busy with errands and such. I hope all of those who may encounter my words here will be entertained and amused; assisted in some way to their advantage and, maybe, comforted.
Love,
Izzlebug
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Thank Goodness For Distractions
Given that things have been difficult to cope with this past couple of weeks, I have tried to distract myself by taking part in some interesting pasttimes and events. One of the things I chose to work on was a code that the FBI made public, asking people to take a look at it and see if they could help figure it out. It has flumoxed some of the very best in the code-breaking world and they seem to hope new eyes on the problem might gain them some new insight or a possible solution. Anyway, it did seem to help distract me from the loss of our sweet, old kitty - which was the point - and I'm hoping my theories, etc., which I emailed in to the FBI via the page they set up for that specific purpose, might be of some small help, or at least on a par with those who are finally able to solve the riddle of the code. It would be nice to find out I was good at something, anyway!
Another thing I decided to do, more to get myself up and out of the house, was to attend a dinner and lecture being sponsored by my alma mater's alumni association. The event was this evening and was a lecture given by a young man who has been the advisor on issues of security and counterterrorism to two past presidents. It was a very interesting evening but left me a little frustrated and with a lot of questions I would have loved to been able to ask - darn the time limits on busy individuals who know so much interesting stuff!
Anyway, I guess my main question/thought right now is whether or not the nations of earth will be able to maintain their own unique national autonomy and character while the United Nations maintains accountability of nations to/for one another and within and for themselves. I do not feel the world would be a better place if the UN ended up as the single, ruling/governing international entity - too many squabbles and too much corruption on an international level and not enough idealistic fervor on an individual level - and would, ultimately, threaten or destroy one of the two things that make nations strong, the first being unity, the second diversity.
Of the three cats we still have left (the "girls" are still with us) one of them is snoring softly on the footstool beside me under the desk. We had to keep the two pairs seperate due to negative interactions we could not seem to get around, but there seems to be more possibility that we will be able to fully integrate the remaining three given a little more time. So life goes on, a little emptier and definitely more forlorn for the time being, but moving inexorably forward.
Blessings and Peace,
Izzlebug
Another thing I decided to do, more to get myself up and out of the house, was to attend a dinner and lecture being sponsored by my alma mater's alumni association. The event was this evening and was a lecture given by a young man who has been the advisor on issues of security and counterterrorism to two past presidents. It was a very interesting evening but left me a little frustrated and with a lot of questions I would have loved to been able to ask - darn the time limits on busy individuals who know so much interesting stuff!
Anyway, I guess my main question/thought right now is whether or not the nations of earth will be able to maintain their own unique national autonomy and character while the United Nations maintains accountability of nations to/for one another and within and for themselves. I do not feel the world would be a better place if the UN ended up as the single, ruling/governing international entity - too many squabbles and too much corruption on an international level and not enough idealistic fervor on an individual level - and would, ultimately, threaten or destroy one of the two things that make nations strong, the first being unity, the second diversity.
Of the three cats we still have left (the "girls" are still with us) one of them is snoring softly on the footstool beside me under the desk. We had to keep the two pairs seperate due to negative interactions we could not seem to get around, but there seems to be more possibility that we will be able to fully integrate the remaining three given a little more time. So life goes on, a little emptier and definitely more forlorn for the time being, but moving inexorably forward.
Blessings and Peace,
Izzlebug
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)