"they brought young children" - Birds and Flowers

Tokyo Station

Birds and Flowers

Christ Jesus was poor while living and preaching unlike the Pope and priests of today.  But how did He earn money?

Christ Jesus healed sick people and drove out demons from haunted people.  Then, the families of those saved by Christ Jesus must have invited Him to meals.  But as symbolized by the incident that Christ Jesus was arrested after the last supper while He was sleeping in a garden, Christ Jesus must have slept in open in most of nights.  He actually said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Christ Jesus had some followers who must have carried some money or earned some money working in towns and villages while following Christ Jesus.  Even Judas is believed to have carried a money bag.  But from the beginning, these followers were mere workers, fishermen, or farmers; they were poor.

The most important thing was that He didn't go and preach for rich people, although today's churches welcome connections with rich people.  No matter how poor Christ Jesus and the Apostles were, they went to poor people and preached among them.

This is the essence of Christianity, since there are birds in the air and the flowers in the field that do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet heavenly Father feeds them.  Believers are much more valuable than those birds and flowers.

So, historically millions or more poor people who have been saved by these words of Christ Jesus, which must be the reason why Christianity has prevailed (even among birds and flowers).


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Mar 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

"Whosoever shall put away his wife" - What is Standing in for God

Tokyo

What is Standing in for God

It was about 2000 years before the emergence of Christ Jesus that God appeared to Abraham.

Then, God appeared before and directly spoke to Moses about 1300 years before before the emergence of Christ Jesus.  Further, 500 years before the emergence of Christ Jesus, God spoke to Daniel to save him.  Then God sent Christ Jesus to Israelites most of whom did not accept Christ Jesus as God or God's Son.  Then the Jewish-Roman wars erupted and Judaists went into the Diaspora.  And, for almost 2000 years after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, God never appeared and spoke to Judaists.

In the meantime, God gave Islam to Muhammad, Arabs, etc. almost 500 years after the Jewish-Roman wars by speaking to Muhammad.  But God kept silence to Judaists and Christians.

God even kept silence during the Holocaust in WWII.  And, 2000 years passed after the emergence of Christ Jesus in the early first century.

Something must be wrong, however, not in God but in Judaists, Christians, and Muslims.

What is more alarming is that Judaists and Christians today don't care about the fact that God never spoke to and appeared before them in these 2000 years since the Crucifixion of Christ Jesus.  They behave as if they could go well without interference by God.  It means that they don't believe God.

However in these 2000 years, God gave Islam to Arabs, etc., supported the Eastern Roman Empire for 1000 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, helped Columbus reach America, supported Martin Luther to launch Protestantism, approved the establishment of the nation Israel after the Holocaust, and saved the life of Pope John Paul II.

We can only search true intention of God on the mankind in these events.  But, we should ask God to speak to us directly and appear before us clearly.  And, as God would not do, we have to think about why God would not speak to us directly and appear before us clearly since the early seventh century.

Or should we regard Istanbul (Islam), America, Protestantism, Israel, and the Vatican as standing in for God? 


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Mar 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

"the sheep did not hear them" - To Understand God

Tokyo

To Understand God

The origin of the English word God is identical with the Anglo-Saxon word for “good.”  It is derived from Proto-Germanic *ǥuđán.

The Proto-Germanic meaning of *ǥuđán and its etymology is uncertain. It is generally agreed that it derives from a Proto-Indo-European neuter passive perfect participle *ǵʰu-tó-m. This form within (late) Proto-Indo-European itself was possibly ambiguous, and thought to derive from a root *ǵʰeu̯- "to pour, libate" (Sanskrit huta, see hotṛ), or from a root *ǵʰau̯- (*ǵʰeu̯h2-) "to call, to invoke" (Sanskrit hūta). Sanskrit hutá = "having been sacrificed", from the verb root hu = "sacrifice", but a slight shift in translation gives the meaning "one to whom sacrifices are made."  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_(word)

However, Hebrews who originally wrote the Bible are different from users of Indo-European languages.   Although the concept of God might be the same in both the users of Indo-European langugages and those of Hebrew, the original word of God in Hebrew is different from God, which is El.

SUMMARY OF FACTS ON THE HEBREW WORD ‘EL’ FOR GOD

This term was the most common general designation of deity in the ancient Near East.

The word ‘el’ was also combined with other words to constitute a compound term for deity, or to identify the nature and functions of the “god” in some manner.

Names with ‘el’ as one of their components were common in the Near East in the second millennium B. C. 

This tradition of the Hebrew ‘el’ as a “God” who revealed Himself in power and entered into a covenant relationship with His people was prominent.

The name of ‘el’ was commonly used by the Israelites to denote supernatural provision or power.
http://www.bibleanswerstand.org/God.htm

In Japanese God is called Kami.  However, the origin of this word is unknown although there are various theories linking Kami to other Japanese words.  The word that is similar in pronunciation and meaning is Kamui of the Ainu, a minority tribe in Japan mostly living in Hokkaido.  However, the linkage between the two words has not been confirmed.

According to Japanese linguist Susumu Ono, the Japanese Kami means something terrible that has superhuman force.  But, Kami is not only one but there are many entities called Kami.  Ono wrote one book only for the word Kami.    The Japanese Kami has characters that are partially akin to El in Hebrew.  But ancient Japanese even call something related to an act itself the God of the act.  For example, they called even the god of sprinkling the ground with water.

The Zulu of Africa is said to call God Unkulunkulu.  Native Americans have also the concept of God.   So, the concept of God with supernatural power or as the creator of the world is common to (almost) all the mankind.  Their words meaning God show some history of development of the concept of God.

In this context, it is very revolutionary for Christians started to call Christ Jesus God.  But it should not mean that one man became God, but should mean the God appeared as one man.  And, more revolutionary is Christ Jesus' definition of God: God is love.  It may look reasonable that English uses the word of God that originally split from good. 

The God is love with which He created the universe but He appears with supernatural or terrible force sometimes as if He is indifferent to tragedies of human beings.

Anyway, to understand God is the task requested of the mankind, which must be more difficult than understanding this universe and internal of everyone.  The hint must be love shown by Christ Jesus.



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Joh 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.