Posted on 11/07/2001 6:38:28 PM PST by crystalk
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is an act of hate and of hate speech by Muslims against Jews and Christians. Neither the US nor Britain would ever allow such an object to be created, nor such a collection of slander to be publicly displayed.
Remember, every bit of that oh-so-pretty Arabic arabesque script on this little shrine dating from AD 691, is a slander-in-stone, posing as a sermon-in-stone, against Christianity which had ruled Jerusalem for centuries under Byzantium prior to the Islamic takeover in the AD 638-40 era. "God has no Son. It is Blasphemy to Say He has Taken a Son." would be the least of what is written there. This Dome is not a mosque, and it is an artifact of pure hatred against Christianity.
It also is an artifact of pure hatred against Judaism, for it occupies and stands upon the holy precincts of the Temples of Solomon and of Herod (first and second Temples)...a dog in the manger as it were, which neither itself worships, nor allows the Jews to worship, God as He ought to be. This building is preventing the Jews from re-establishing the Temple and its sacrifices for the good of all mankind and the peace of the world.
As I understand it, the Dome itself stands over the area reserved solely for Jewish men (court of Israel) in the time of Jesus, including the area of the altar of sacrifice and the "holy" (as opposed to Most Holy) place of the Temple (Bet ha Mikdosh) itself. I believe that the place of the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy, however, stands on the western steps leading up to the octagonal Dome structure...
Called by Daniel the "Abomination of Desolation" (loathsome thing), this structure was stated in Dan. 11 and 12 to stand until the indignation (wrath) of God against Israel for its sins was over, but that was to end in 1290 or 1335 years from the construction of same in 691. Thus, its fall is up in 1981 or in 2026, and I think the 1981 date referred to the finding of the Ark in that year...
Since in our liberal times, Westerners are called upon to accomodate every nuance of the sensiblilities of Muslims here in our homelands, perhaps Muslims in return would be willing to see this insult and injury to Judaism and Christianity removed and made away in our day. Perhaps it could be disassembled stone by stone and set up in Mecca, a city only Muslims are allowed to visit, and thus it could do less harm there.
Sorry for any little appearance of arrogance on my part there, I had just said "as I understand it" and "as I believe it" and the equivalent so many times in the Para. before, that I was hoping to be able to dispense with their constant repetition there about Daniel...but I had labeled the whole writing an editorial, thus an opinion on my part...
You're on my side anyway, praise God.
Worship your own god, hunt for easter eggs, bang your head on a wall, or sniff other people's butts when you pray. It's not nice to kill other people over it. If they come to kill you first, then get after them. Just don't expect me to get my nipples in a twist over your caterwauling about some architecture.
Shields: up!
Flame suit: on!
Bag of popcorn in hand. And yes, I will miss them all as I'm burning in hell.
For those unfamiliar with the New Covenant, I am of course contrasting that theologically with what Paul of Tarsus says in 2d Thessalonians, where he warns that the End will not come in his own times, despite fraudulent letters circulating in his day saying that it would, or even already had!
Instead, Paul says that the end cannot come until the Mystery of Iniquity (Pagan cultus at Mecca) which was already going on...would be revealed under the Man of Sin (Muhammad), ...and time forbids my saying more than to note that this Satanic Mecca cult is said to still be in existence at the Second Coming of Jesus, to be destroyed finally only by the brightness of His coming! (Jews, that is the coming of the Messiah in power as long predicted--and just on the scheduled dates, it is just that some of us think he had put in a brief appearance (in no power) before, before he comes in as the afikomen at the end. Sorry no time here to discuss adequately, another forum awaits)
How would a renewal of animal sacrifices at the temple benefit Christians?
And why would God's spirit hover over the ruins of an ancient man-made temple when the bodies of Christians are His temple now?
But if you are so blind as to think Islam has not ALREADY "COME FOR" you liberals and epikorsim just as much, and maybe even more surely, than they have for me, you are badly deluded.
I think the typical Muslim, if he had the choice of shooting you or me, would shoot YOU! (THEN he would turn to me and other believers.)
Yes, brother, they have come for us all in the West, and like apostate Jews enquiring of observant rabbis in Aushwitz, you and your ilk my have to turn to my kind before too long, to find out why it is you are dying, why Islam is exterminating you, just as Hitler did the Jews, observant or not...
Study, brother, Study for the time is short.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. . . The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:16-18, 35-36
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16,17)
By "you", Paul meant Christians. The point here is, in my opinion, that God's presence is around Christians, who are his temple now, and not around the ruins of an ancient, man-made temple.
And I'm still unclear as to how the renewal of animal sacrifices at the temple will be of any benefit to Christians. I believe that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient.
As so often in discussing earthly events with my fellow believers, a confusion arises because if I see anything as interesting or important, someone is sure to say that it does not affect their salvation, which is already sure in Jesus, whose blood is sufficient for us all. In that sense, my discussant is always the winner, for God's grace as made known in that sacrifice of Jesus on the cross IS sufficient to save us. But does that necessarily keep me from thinking other matters might be interesting, even fulfilments of prophecy, or might help many others not (yet) so saved to find their way to Him?
...Just as surely as I am sure God will use the events of 9/11 to lead many to Christ, just so surely how many would be led to Him and to a better understanding of who He is and was, if the Temple He so loved and in which He spent so much time, were again in existence...
For you to call this temple "man-made" as if it were pagan and existed for the service of a false deity, or existed by the will and hand of man only, is very poorly received by us Bibliophiles. Every stone in it was placed under the guidance and permitting and will of God...who worked many miracles in its construction and in its daily operations...
Malachi tells us that the Messiah whose coming we all seek (however sure we are that our own personal destiny is assured by our pre-acceptance of Jesus--our own potty little petty asses being saved, as a religion teacher of mine used to say...)...will suddenly come TO HIS TEMPLE...and that this will be the redemption of the world, and of Israel...However much I have my own little hidey hole and feel my own potty little self is eternally saved, I am still interested in the outcome of the world and the salvation of others including the nation and people Jesus belongs to...and in Him we all belong to...
I say again, the presence of God is to me palpable at the Wall and among the stones there, stones Jesus saw...the presence of the God who worked so many miracles, little and big, from a child's confession of sin, his little string turning white, up to the redemption and reparation of the world, and God concerned with it all, small (petty/potty) and great alike...
As Paul said, if the sin (failing, falling away) of Israel has meant life and salvation to billions, how much more so will their return to observance mean! And that is caught up with a place, and a practice, the ritual sacrifices soon to resume. Those could occur even if the Temple were not rebuilt, on a bare hill. Isa. 13. But not with the obscene Dome there.
When Islam took over the land of Israel, in 638/9 AD, there were 4 million residents there, mostly Christian, whether of Jewish or Greco-Roman ancestry, or Armenian etc. When Napoleon got there in 1798, only some 45,000 people were left. That is what I call desolation. As Jesus said, when you see this abomination standing there in the Holy Place where it ought not to be, let him that is in Judea flee! Sure enough, they DID! As Paul says in 2 Thess, Muhammad the Man of Sin is in the person of this building, standing in the place of God and showing himself to the World as if he WERE God!
Study, brother, study for the time is short. And be concerned not only smugly with the fact that you and I are aboard the life boat already, but with an Israel and a World that may not yet be. (The British saying, "Sod you, Jack, "I'M" all right!" ) which is implied in your tone, if you forgive my saying so...may not be a sin large enough to undo your salvation, but a sin it still is, let us having assured ourselves of our own acceptance yet dare to be then concerned with the world, especially that dear holy land and place, so central to salvation history and eternity.
Maranatha.
As to the Temples' dates, my sources show that the First Temple was dedicated 962 BCE after 7 years of construction, and was destroyed (finally in its last part) at the end of July in 586 BCE, so it stood 376 years in operation.
The Second Temple was placed in operation early in the year 516 BCE, some say at Hanukkah of 517, and with several major renovations, rebuildings, and rededications especially that of Herod circa 19 BCE...until its fall early August of 70 CE: thus it stood 586 years to nearest whole year.
Of course the notorious false messiah, bar-Kokhba, did rebuild and attempt to reinstitute the Temple services with the help of Rabbi Akiva for some 2 to 3 years circa CE 132-135, but this is now discounted and not considered a Third Temple.
Broadly, the present State of Israel represents in bud form, a Third Temple, and we all hope the actual Bet hMikdosh will be speedily rebuilt in our own days. That will require the ole Dome to get out of there, and good riddance.
But I keep hearing in the media that Islam is a peaceful religion that co-exists with other faiths. Or at least that it is really quite similar to Christianity and that they know of Jesus.
Surely the peaceful Muslims would gladly be willing to move this object of offense out of the holy ground of other faiths. As another poster said, move it to Mecca. I suggest placing it in a museum as a historical relic of past transgressions.
My socks had not been washed for three days. Hope the smell still remains to this day!
You really should go see it again. Next time put a couple of pork chops in your shoes as "odor eaters" before you set out touring...
Frankly, Yardstick, I fail to see how replacing a temple to one false god with a temple to another false god can benefit anyone. Except of course the temple rats who set up that sacrifice scam in the first place so they could get for free the meat the shepherds had to work for.
What's the difference between this situation and a Catholic church and an Islamic mosque being on the same block in New York City?
"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion."- Abraham Lincoln.
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