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Not everyone was thrilled at the news of the birth of Jesus. Many were worried about the news of his birth. King Herod was unhappy with the news that a new king was coming to take over what he considered his own. He was furious and premeditatively unleashed a massive execution of infants to ensure that the newborn King was killed. That was how he understood the birth of Jesus, a King coming to take his place. If Herod interpreted his birth as that, imagine what it meant to hundreds of women who lost their children at the hands of Herod. The angels shout 'Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favours!' How much peace did those women know when their children were brutally murdered by Herod? Ironically, the Wise men from the east considered the newborn child as king and brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Unbeknownst to them, one of their gifts, myrrh would be used first in the burial of the children murdered by Herod. His coming brought p...

No time is too late for God to show his might, love, empathy, and care. He does care and wants to identify with us. Zechariah didn't see it coming. It wasn't a lottery, but he won the greatest affectionate draw in biblical history, following in the footsteps of Abraham. That's one of the implications of the nativity. The coming of 'God with us' opens every door. No time is too early for God. Humans exist in time and space, but God doesn't. 'Why me?' Mary asked. 'I'm but a virgin.' Doing the impossible in the eyes of mankind is a way God puts his stamp on the envelope of salvation history. He posted his good news of redemption through an innocent, childlike, simple girl. His Son is the Good News because he's salvation himself. Then the new and old met; the virgin and the barren embraced; the young and the elder entertained. Her greeting was simple but powerful. She said: 'Hello Elizabeth!' The child in her womb leaped for joy...

Every year we anticipate, expect, and approach the four weeks before Christmas with the wholeness of memory that is past, experience that is in the present, and a hope that looks to the future. Advent comes every year. Is it taken for granted? I do not think so. Like every other thing that happens once a year, it is expected, imagined, and welcomed. A typical example is a birthday. When your birthday comes, it is a day you remember and celebrate no matter how big or small the celebration is. It is momentous and symbolic. You cast your mind back to the birthdays of yesteryears, compare the previous with the now, and perhaps, imagine what the future birthday will be like. Advent stands for the coming of something or someone important. In Christian tradition, it is the expectation and preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. It is also a time for dedicated prayers and spiritual preparations for the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. In Western Christianity, it marks the ...

Reflecting on the life of Jesus and participating in it, Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ seems to be a perfect manual of practice. It instructs on what you should be and do to imitate Christ. Thomas spells them out in his book and Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr lived it out. The content of this reflection is: The Concept of the Imitation of Christ Musing One Musing Two Musing Three Acts 7:55-60 Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice,  covered their ears and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks  at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and c...

Table of Content Hephaestus Tiresias Larunda How can human language describe the gods and goddesses and their potent infliction of disabilities on other gods or goddesses? This writing will focus more on the ‘other-inflicted’ disabilities by the gods and goddesses with a few examples from ancient Greek or Roman mythologies. The gods and goddesses seem to punish other gods or goddesses with disabilities for either speaking out or saying their minds or even being cast out for having a disability. Here, we see the confrontation between the powerful and the protected, between the superior and inferior gods and goddesses, between what is normal and what is different, between ability and disability. A god or goddess that is inflicted with disability seems to lose the capacity to revert to ability again.   Can there be anything like a god or goddess with a disability? To start with, a god is a supernatural being who is viewed as divine or sacred. The word ‘divine’ means a being like a...

Table of Contents God is dead The literally dead gods Mortal/Eternal gods Tezcatlipoca and Nanauatzin Osiris Izanagi and Izanami Immortal/Eternal God Jesus Conclusion To say that ‘God is dead’ does not make him dead. It is like a boy venting his anger on his daddy for grounding him for two weeks. In reaction, he utters: ‘I wish my dad died.’ At that moment of seething resentment, he wanted him dead, but did he mean it? When inconvenienced or in a tight corner, we want immediate solutions or answers to our problems or questions. Usually, in human minds auto-suggestions of relief or balancing acts pop up. The boy’s strength cannot match his dad’s, so he resorted to a verbal duel.    To say that ‘God is dead’ is like a verbal duel that arises from one’s feelings of dread, frustration, or despair. It is a declaration that has no foundation. A God that is immortal does not die. This claim may be influenced by some Christian background. Reviewing the ideas of ‘god-death’ or ‘deici...

Table of Contents Oneness of the Lordship of Allah ( Tawhid-ar-Rububiyyah ) Oneness of the Worship of Allah ( Tawhid-al-Uluhiyyah ) Divine Names and Attributes of Allah ( Tawhid-al-Asma was-Sifat ) God - Unique and Unchangeable Conclusion In the recent past, there have been confrontations and demonstrations when some individuals through ignorance tended to teach students about Islam and got themselves into trouble by making paintings of the Prophet. I call it ignorance because if they had learned the Qur’an or been informed about the Shahadah, they would not have done that. This writing will briefly introduce to the reader the importance of the Shahadah in the Islamic religion.   In Islam, the concept of Tawhid invokes three aspects of monotheism, which the Shahadah   (the profession of faith) embodies. The Shahadah is made up of two declarations: “There is no god but God” and “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” ( La ilaha illallah, Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Allah ). The former s...