Saturday 23 December 2017

Post 197--This Confusing World



The heading of the article I draw to your attention today is CNN.  So, I start with them. I was amazed when I saw the heading of this article and when I read its contents. Here we have CNN praising and defending Israel.  They praise Israel for the many Nobel and other awards its citizens have won, far more than any other nation in proportion to its tiny population, certainly far more than the nations that would like nothing better than to see its people erased from the face of the earth. I am not used to such sounds from CNN. Highly unusual.

I agree with CNN on this one. My response to these facts is that I would love Canada to invite the entire Jewish nation to move over to Canada, live where they themselves please and bless Canada with their amazing talents. I cannot imagine how far they would take Canada into the stratosphere of the arts and sciences. Our country would be transformed totally. And the Jews would finally have peace--no one to molest them anymore.

Not only did CNN praise Israel for their accomplishments, but they also criticized the nations that continually criticize Israel; it criticizes the critics. Now, we all know that Israel is not a perfect nation and deserves critique, but what of the nations that major in this critique within the halls of the UN?  The article asks pointed questions about a number of them. Is Israel really worse than those others?  This is a list of rhetorical questions the answers to which are so obvious, they don't need to be spelled out. Why are those nations not taken to task?  What right do they have to critique Israel? Do they have any sort of higher ground from which to expressed their holier-than-thou hypocrisy? 

What amazes me still more is that  Jake Tapper, the anchor of the above CNN programme, expressed all the above in the context of President Trump's declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Ordinarily, one would expect CNN to castigate the President for this action.  After all, the network specializes in berating Trump. That's about all I hear them do, the reason I am tired of them and no longer listen to them.  For once they were able to restrain themselves with respect to their President. Another highly unusual event.  I can hardly imagine such restraint on their part!  Is this the same CNN I know?  If you do not believe in miracles, perhaps you ought to do a rethink! Can you blame me for being confused?

That said, I now provide you with the opportunity to hear it from the horse's mouth as it comes to us from the Algemeiner of December 22, 2017.  As our own CBC likes to put it, "Have a listen."


Top CNN Host Calls Out Human Rights-Abusing UN Member-States for Hypocrisy on Israel


Jake Tapper. Photo: Screenshot.
CNN news host Jake Tapper on Thursday called out human rights-abusing UN member-states for their hypocritical focus on Israel.
On his “The Lead” program, hours after the UN General Assembly passed— by a 128-9 margin, with 35 abstentions — a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Tapper noted, “The United Nations General Assembly, from 2012 to 2015, has adopted 97 resolutions specifically criticizing an individual country, and of those 97, 83 have focused on Israel. That is 86 percent.”
Tapper continued: “Now certainly Israel is not above criticism, but considering the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, the lack of basic human rights in North Korea, the children starving in the streets of Venezuela, the citizens of Syria targeted for murder by their own leader using the most grotesque and painful of weapons, you have to ask is Israel truly deserving of 86 percent of the world’s condemnation? Or possibly is something else afoot at the United Nations, something that allows the representative of the Assad government to lecture the United States for moving its embassy?”
Watch the segment below:

T

Friday 22 December 2017

Post 196--First Coming--by Madeleine L'Engle


I do not know much about Madeleine L'Engle, but I do know whose "First Coming" she's talking about in her  poem.  I'll give you a chance to beat me to it.  Say it!........  Yes, you're right: Jesus's. I found this poem in a church bulletin last night. I immediately changed my plan for this post and decided to let you in on Madeleine's poetic musing.  A fine one it is. Simple, eloquent, true. 

Here it is. Make this pre-Christmas day of Friday worthwhile by doing your own musing on Jesus' birth--the Incarnation, as we call it in proper theological term.  The core of that word is the Latin "Carnus" or some such form, which means "flesh" or "meat. You come across it in words like "carnal" and "carnivore." So guess what "incarnation" refers to--Jesus coming into our flesh and blood, taking on our body.  But let me not digress....


                                                     First Coming

                                He did not wait till the world was ready,
                                till men and nations were at peace.
                                He came when the heavens were unsteady
                                and prisoners cried out for release.   

                                He did not wait for the perfect time.                                     
                                He came when the need was deep and great.
                                He died with sinners in all their grime,
                                turned water into wine.

                                He did not wait till hearts were pure.
                                In joy He came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
                                To a world like ours, of anguished shame
                                He came, and His Light would not go out.

                                He came to a world which did not mesh,
                                to heal its tangles, shield its scorn
                                In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
                                The Maker of the stars was born.

                                 We cannot wait till the world is sane
                                 To raise our songs with joyful voice,
                                 For to share our grief, to touch our pain,
                                 He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

                                 

Thursday 21 December 2017

Post 195--Refugees: An upside-down poem




                                      REFUGEES

                                                      by Brian Bilston 

                              They have no need of our help
                              So do not tell me
                              These haggard faces could belong to you or me
                              We need to see them for who they really are
                                      Chancers and scroungers
                                       Layabouts and loungers
                                      With bombs up their sleeves
                                      Cut-throats and thieves
                              They are not
                                      Welcome here
                              We should make them
                              Go back to where they came from
                              They cannot
                                    Share our food
                                    Share our homes
                                    Share our countries
                               Instead let us
                               Build a wall to keep them out
                               It is not okay to say
                                     These are people just like us
                                     A place should only belong to those who are born there
                               Do not be so stupid to think that
                               The world can be looked at another way.

                                                                          (now read from bottom to top)

                                Christian Courier,  December 19, 2017     

                                You can expect a more Christmasy post within the next day or so.  In the                                                meantime, enjoy these days of preparation for the Feast of the Incarnation. For                                      those not familiar with this sort of Christian terminology, "incarnation" refers to
                                Christ coming to the world in human form. "Carnus" refers to "the flesh" as in                                      "carnivore," --eater of flesh or meat.



You can expect