Me, a Terrorist Sympathiser?

Before anybody jumps to conclusions and accuse me of supporting terrorists in my last post, let me ask again: is it illogical and impossible for me to be on the side of the innocents who have borne the brunt of Israeli and Hamas atrocity?

Hamas ≠ Palestine

Remember that.

To Christians:
I am appalled that so many of you continue in your ignorance regarding the existence of the Zionist state and thus persist in supporting whatever the Knesset decrees.

Israel NO LONGER exists. It was created by God for His people, and was taken away from them when they rejected Christ. Israel can only be re-created by God, and for the Jews to presume that they have the authority to make Israel a nation by themselves is an act of arrogance so supreme that it boggles the mind.

Orthodox Jews would fully agree with me. Indeed, they loathe Israel more than most Muslims.

Anyone who defends Israel - as a Jewish state - is close to rejecting the exclusivity of the Church, and is drawing close to two-covenant heresy.

In the Old Testament, Israel was the physical nation as well as the spiritual people of God. When they ceased to be the people of God, they lost any claim to the land. The land now belongs to the Arabs (some of which are Christians). The fact that the majority of them are Muslims makes no difference.

The modern Zionist state is nothing but a collectivist agglomeration of people attached and made drunk by an idea of nation hatched in the dark workshops of Potsdam like a counterfeit that keeps passing as legal tender.

Regarding the establishment of [ersatz] Israel being prophesied in Sacred Scripture... where is that?

Indeed, the League of Nations approved the British creation of a Jewish state from the Palestine Mandate and the UN approved the creation of Israel along with an Arab state in Palestine in 1947.

And if that's the case, do you claim the League of Nations and/or the United Nations to be God?

And regarding assertions that the "re-creation" of Israel is an example of prophecy being fulfilled, I can only suggest that you have been reading far too much Darby and LaHaye. You may be right, but the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church has never given any authority to such a viewpoint, and to base politics on unproved eschatology is extremely dangerous.

That said, I haven't the faintest idea whether or not the average individual living in Israel believes in a Zionist ideal. I for one, have never spoken with the average individual Israeli. What I do know is that Hamas has killed, and will likely continue to kill innocent people by deceitful, cowardly, and insidious means.

So while I do not know the individual opinions of the modern-day Israelis, I am certain that they and their families do not want to die to and I am even more certain that they have a right to live. They have a right to defend themselves, but one cannot in good conscience say that the death and destruction wrought on the Zionist state was completely unwarranted.

British historian Arnold Toynbee wrote, "The treatment of the Palestinian Arabs in 1947 (and 1948) was as morally indefensible as the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis. Though nor comparable in quantity to the crimes of the Nazis, it was comparable in quality."

If you fail to grasp this point, then there is no point to continue reading. Dismiss me as a drink-sodden anti-Semite if you so wish, but I will not gloss over the ethnic-cleansing of non-Jews merely to 'win' an artificially-created war against Islam.

Beer - A Sign of God's Love!

With the Oktoberfest nearing its end, Memoirs thought it good to remind all "why malt does indeed offer convincing proof that God does indeed love us":

And yet, I can offer something about beer-brewing that proves, to my pagan mind, why malt does indeed offer convincing proof that God does indeed love us. In the process of brewing beer, there is a critical temperature. It is the temperature of the "sparge" water, the water used to wash the sugars out of the barley malt, and it must be 167 degrees. A few degrees lower, and you won't get all the sugars, a few degrees higher and you will get unpleasant tannins along with the sugars.

Yet, in the days before thermometers, which include most of the days during which mankind, Christian and pagan alike, have brewed beer, how did they possibly know when the water had reached that critical number? Boiling point is easy to find, but boiling water will ruin the wort. So how did they know? As it turns out, there is a sudden change in the reflectivity of water just at this critical temperature; that is to say, you can detect the change in temperature just by looking at the water, no thermometer required. Now, one can invoke mere coincidence to explain this. But to invoke coincidence is to reject not just God but science. For if we can attribute such miracles to coincidence, then we never need look for the cause of anything. And I think it quite reasonable, nay, quite scientific, to attribute such an amazing "coincidence" to the care and concern of God for his creation.

[via The Distributist Review]

Question

Now, who is more irrational: the person who believes in a God who they cannot see, or the atheist who is offended by a God they do not believe in?

God's Intention for Man

First of all, one thing must be clear to us: God has created us not for sorrow, but for joy. Where do we see man for the first time? In Paradise!

According to the testimony of the Holy Bible, especially of the New Testament, man is intended for Paradise, not for hell. The fact that many are perishing does not yet mean that such were God's intentions for man.

God is love.

He does not want the death of the sinner, but on the contrary, "will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth".

The following situation is very significant: on Judgment Day, the Saviour will say to the righteous: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world". And He will say to the sinners: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

From this, it is clearly seen that, according to God's plan, Paradise was prepared for men, and hell - for the demons.

Archimantrite Seraphim Aleksiev, 'The Meaning of Suffering', The Christian Message from Moscow

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?

WELLINGTON (AFP) - - The biggest squid ever caught, at up to 10 metres long and boasting a fearsome beak and razor-sharp hooks, may be small compared to others still lurking in the depths, scientists said Tuesday.

[...]

It weighs 495 kilograms (1,090 pounds), has eyes the size of dinner plates and is estimated at up to 10 metres (33 feet) long.

But that may be relatively small, scientists say after initial examination, suggesting other colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) under the chilly Antarctic waters might grow much larger.

On a museum blog following the progress of the thaw, Chris Paulin -- who is projects manager at the museum, known as Te Papa Tongarewa, said Tuesday that the beak of the colossal squid has been exposed as the flesh defrosts.

The size of the lower beak -- used to chop prey into bite sized pieces -- is around 43 to 45 millimetres.

Colossal squid lower beaks previously found in the stomachs of sperm whales have been as long as 49 millimetres.

Extrapolating the relationship between the length of the beak and body size from another smaller specimen being examined suggests the species could grow much bigger, Paulin said.

"Can we assume that this species reaches three quarters of a tonne in weight?" he asked.

- Yahoo! Singapore News, Tuesday, April 29

This is incredible; this mighty 'devil fish', as Victor Hugo wrote, is but a small specimen! One can scarcely imagine the other monstrous wonders that lurk in the depths.

The ocean depths, hellish and distant, are our last frontier - where wonders innumerable await the next generation of brave explorers who choose to journey there. Let us hope we live to see the day that these amazing creatures are brought to light.

P.S.: Memoirs would like to wish all readers a very happy Easter; a special Paschal post is currently in the works and will be ready soon!

Quotation

"And you still believe in God?"
"Got anybody else in mind?"

Dick Ohrt, RC former seminarian and Vietnam veteran
from Paul Hendrickson’s Seminary: A Search

[via A Conservative Blog for Peace]

He Was, But Is

He was baptized as Man – but He remitted sins as God - not because He needed purificatory rites Himself, but that He might sanctify the elements of water.

He was tempted as Man, but He conquered as God...

He hungered, but He fed five thousands...

He thirsted - but He cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.

He was wearied, but He is the Rest of them that are weary and heavy-laden...

He prays, but He hears prayer...

He is bruised and wounded, but He healeth every disease and every infirmity...

He dies, but He gives life.

St Gregory the Theologian
Third Theological Oration "On the Son"

[via Fr Joseph Huneycutt]