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Saturday, January 03, 2015
"wisdom, justice, and judgment"
Mt. Fuji on January 3
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Pro 1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Pro 1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
Pro 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Friday, January 02, 2015
"of all things that he saw" - American Uniqueness
From Mt. Fuji to a Shinto Shrine
American Uniqueness
A certain American professor of politics, who studied in Japan when he was young, said that Japan is not so unique but it is America that is very unique in the world.
He is wrong in that he cannot see the uniqueness of Japan is more significant than the uniqueness of America, though he can speak Japanese and his wife is Japanese.
But which is more unique, the US or Israel? Of course, the uniqueness of Israel is graver than the uniqueness of the US.
First of all, America was discovered by Columbus who was doubted as to whether he was pure Christian or a kind of Judaist in the era when Judaists were being expelled from Spain and Portugal. It is believed that the adventurous voyage of Columbus was financially supported by many rich Judaists and ex-Judaist Christians. Especially some influential converted Judaists persuaded the queen of Spain to back up Columbus. .
In that era, Spain and Portugal were competing in acquisition of colonies under authority granted by the Pope. The world view of the Vatican was reflected in those actions for overseas advance by Spain and Portugal in the Age of Discovery.
So, America's uniqueness is rooted in the European religious situations in the 15th century. America is doomed to serve Christianity and Judaism. No matter how much America has changed or evolved, it cannot be free from European traditions, Christianity influences, and complicated linkage with Judaism.
But the uniqueness of Israel is much more graver. For the nation Israel to be established, first of all, a majority of Judaists had to wish their own nation. Then, international circumstances should allow such movements. Of course, Judaists had to possess financial and military power to realize their dream. Put simply it took 1900 years for Judaists to fulfill all these conditions after WWII or the Holocaust. Israel is far more unique than the US.
From another perspective, as America's uniqueness, since its discovery by Columbus, turned to be meaningless for Judaists, Judaists needed their own nation Israel.
That some American professors think that America is the most unique country in the world means how deteriorated the American intellectual level has become. Wealth and power of America have deprived the American elites of the ability to correctly understand history.
Of course, America is unique in that Americans are living in the American way of living due to the uniqueness of the nature and environment of America. But, especially since the establishment of Israel, the value and significance of the uniqueness of America is being lost.
Americans are unique in that they have no problems or suffering other than that related to money. But this uniqueness has no meaning in history.
Israel is unique, which is more meaningful than America's as it is related to history under which America exists.
Japan is also unique, which is more meaningful than America's, since it is related to another culture and civilization Americans cannot fully understand.
Further, Gaza is also unique because the place saw once Abraham, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Cleopatra, Christ Jesus, and so on. Americans must humbly help the Gaza people, leveraging the American uniqueness.
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Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Thursday, January 01, 2015
"In the beginning was the Word" - Love God and Hate Money
Tokyo Old Town where once Many Daily Workers Lived and Died, New Year Day
Love God and Hate Money
Poor men usually think they have to be rich.
Poor people are expected to want to be rich. Rich people think that poor people want money, so that they would work hard. But, rich people think that they need strong police to watch and suppress poor people who want to be rich not through hard working but by stealing money, assets, goods, etc.
Rich people like poor people working hard to be rich. But without stable and effective social structure, poor people would not obediently work hard to earn any money. So, rich people are eager to maintain social structure that would not allow poor people to revolt. For this purpose, they want to use religion and tradition of society and a nation. If everybody is following the same rule to earn money and become rich, rich people can easily control a great number of poor people.
Generation after generation, through this mode of social control, new rich people have emerged. But nothing is revolutionary. They share the same ideology. "People must want to be rich and become rich through hard working or by using their talent and ingenuity in a given social environment."
But every successful rich man knows that hard working and ingenuity alone cannot make them successful. There are tow other critical factors: good luck and dirty tricks.
Most of rich people pretend that they have become rich through hard working and by exercising their ability. But, behind the scene, they betray their benefactors, friends, and collaborators to steal assets and take crucial credit from them.
If poor people revolt putting up some slogan for social justice, socialism, communism, and so on, it cannot change the situation. Leaders of a revolution would enjoy rich lives but their followers would be deprived of freedom and forced to respect their rich leaders as representatives of poor people. They would be watched and controlled more sternly than in the capitalistic world. Without freedom, there cannot be true love. It is a tragedy for poor people to live in the society established through a violent revolution where old rich capitalists are simply replaced with new rich dictatorial leaders.
The answer is for poor people to decide to follow God more strongly than they want to be rich.
Since money is a tool for Satan to control and rule people, God orders mankind to hate money and love God. If poor people accept this commandment fully, they would no more belong to this world where money makes them slaves of Satan.
Hate money but love God. What a great teaching it is, indeed!
Poor men don't have to be rich, accordingly.
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Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Luk 1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
"the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" - How I Met 1979 and 1996 Again
Sendai is the Major City in Northeast Japan including the 2011 Tsunami Hit Areas
How I Met 1979 and 1996 Again
I visited a humble and old Shinto shrine in a very local town.
The shrine was on a small triangular hill covered by woods along the main road of the town with gentle mountains behind. A community center and other public buildings were on the left side of the hill base. Almost no one was walking and cars passed by only sporadically. The sky was grey and the air was chilly.
At the foot of the hill there was a humble shrine wooden gate, with tow vertical poles set up a few meters apart and connected by two top crossbars, where a holy rope made of rice straws was stretched in the air just above the height of a man. Ten or so holy stripes of white paper were attached to the straw rope at several inch interval to one another horizontally.
I walked through the shrine gate and climbed steep stone steps for 12 meters or so. Then I met a man cleaning up the humble and old wooden shrine or fixing some damaged parts. He might be a Shinto priest in casual dress.
"May I donate money?" I asked, observing a humble and old offertory box, 1.2 meters wide. "Yes," replied the man who then walked toward the back side of the shrine structure.
I prayed for peace and threw coins into the box. But when I turned back to return, I found two one-yen coins on the small garden, a little wet for light snow falling several days ago, before the shrine structure. I first thought I had dropped them when I pulled other coins out of my pocket. However, they looked having been left there for some time with some dirt at their rims. I then wondered if the possible Shinto priest might have dropped. But, it was also unlikely,
I checked years impressed on the surfaces of the two aluminium coins. They were 1979 and 1996.
I put them on the edge of the offertory box, laying them side by side. And I descended the stone steps, leaving the nameless town or village shrine once and for all.
On New Year days, hundreds of town residents would visit the shrine, though I don't know what will become of the two one-yen coins.
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Mat 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Mat 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Mat 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
"love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" - Year after Year, Page after Page, and Teaching after Teaching
Year after Year, Page after Page, and Teaching after Teaching
Now December 30 was over in Japan.
The sun is coming back to the north hemisphere from the solstitial position.
But it is strange that a man never counts his days since he was born. If you were born 30 years ago, you are now living the 11,000th day or so. If a man lives for 100 years, he would count his 36,500th day.
The number of pages of the Old Testament is 993 and that of the New Testament is 288, total 1,281 pages.
If Christ Jesus had read the Old Testament at a pace of 100 pages per day, he should have needed ten days to read them all. If 200 pages per day, then five days. If His followers had read it at 10 pages per day, they should have read it all in three months.
So, we had better assume that they read and knew the Old Testament very well. Or at least, they must have sufficient knowledge about the Old Testament.
If we read the Old Testament at a pace of 1 page per day, we can accomplish it in three years. If we read the Old Testament at a pace of 1/10 page per day, we can accomplish it in 30 years.
But if you believe teachings of Christ Jesus, you can get rid of the burden of reading the Old Testament.
Matthew 22:36-40New Living Translation (NLT)
36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
In addition, there are 114 chapters in Koran and 5,048 volumes for Buddhist scriptures as specified by Chinese monks in the 8th century.
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Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Monday, December 29, 2014
"An angel spake to him"
Tokyo Station
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John Chapter 12
Sunday, December 28, 2014
"the God of the living"
Japanese New Year's Visit to a Shrine, around Tokyo, on January 1, 2014
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Mar 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
Mar 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.