Posted on 07/02/2016 5:55:17 PM PDT by Coleus
The city of Damascus in Syria claims the title of being the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. The Hyksos, the Aramaeans, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Muslims, the Mamelukes, the Ottomans and the French have all left their imprint on this ancient city. Today, in the midst of a protracted civil war in Syria, its citizens cling to their normal routine in the shadow of Roman ruins and along the alleyways of the souks. For Christians, the very name “Damascus” conjures up the memory of the conversion of St. Paul. On his way to this city to persecute Christians, the Risen Lord appeared to Paul. How appropriate that this same city would recently host the leading patriarchs of the Middle East who wished to face head on today’s brutal persecution of Christians.
On June 8, the patriarchs of the Antiochian Greek Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, and the Maronite Church gathered in Damascus. These church leaders were looking for a way out of the conflict and chaos caused by those who are imposing their extremist Islamic ideology on both Christians and Muslims who oppose them. They urged a political, diplomatic solution to the crisis. In their public message, the patriarchs reminded the world of their right as Christians to live in the Middle East. They said, “We are authentic (people) of this land, deeply rooted in its earth that was watered by the sweat and blood of our fathers and grandfathers, and we confirm more than ever that we are staying.” They also issued an urgent plea for the world to help Christians survive in the lands where Christianity was birthed.
The statistics sadly confirm the disappearance of Christianity from the Middle East. At one time, Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was 90 percent Christian. Today, it is 65 percent Muslim. Just 30 years ago, Lebanon was 60 percent Christian; today it is barely 25 percent. More than a third of the 600,000 Syrian Christians have fled their country. And almost half of those fleeing Iraq are Christian. After World War II, the Middle East was 14 percent Christian. Today, it is less than 4 percent.
In the radical vision of ISIS, the killing of Christians, as well as moderate Muslims and other minorities, has become a way to instill fear, impose the extremists’ radical ideology and establish a caliphate after their own making. In June 2013, ISIS kidnapped and beheaded Father Francois Murad in front of a cheering crowd. The following month, ISIS kidnapped the Italian Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio. They shot him 14 times. In April of 2014, they killed the Dutch priest Father Francis Van Der Lugt by shooting the septuagenarian twice in the back of the head. These are a few of the hundreds of individuals that have been captured, tortured, sold into slavery, abused, drowned, crucified or beheaded.
On Aug. 29, the Church beatified Syriac-Catholic Bishop Flavien-Michel Malké. A hundred years ago, on this very same day, he suffered martyrdom. In 1895, under Ottoman persecution of Christians, Malké’s church and home in southeastern Turkey were sacked. Many of his parishioners were murdered, even his own beloved mother. When Bishop Malké refused to convert to Islam, he was martyred and his diocese was wiped off the face of the map. On Aug. 9, the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch remarked, “In these painful times experienced by Christians, especially the Syriac communities in Iraq and Syria, the news of the beatification of one of their martyrs, will surely bring encouragement and consolation to face today’s trials of appalling dimension.”
Undoubtedly, the example of this one holy person will give courage and hope to those suffering persecution. But, his beatification should also make every decent human person question how is it possible that killing others for their religious beliefs continues? Why is it so widespread today? Why are the powerful nations of the world so complicitly silent? In the Sub-Sahara nations of Nigeria, Sudan, and elsewhere, Islamists are kidnapping, enslaving, raping and killing Christians. In Saudi Arabia, foreign workers are forbidden to hold gatherings to pray as Christians. In Pakistan, a 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped, raped and forced to sign a marriage contract to a Muslim man. And when she refused to give in to his demands that she convert from Christianity to Islam, she was severely beaten. The list of atrocities could continue.
Why are governments, including our own, so timid in facing the reality of the systematic destruction of the Christian faith? Why are news media so interested in the latest remarks of political candidates running for the presidency and so deaf to the cry of the persecuted? The brutal disregard for the dignity of the individual and the freedom of conscience and religion, the torture, the violence are history repeating itself. We cannot shun our responsibility as decent human beings. Distance does not absolve us of the need to speak out and take action. The killings cry out like the blood of Abel. We are our brother’s keeper. And our sister’s. Anyone who suffers is brother and sister to each of us. We cannot close our eyes. We cannot remain silent.
Still filling up the space under the altar. “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Revelation 6
9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Nelson, Thomas. Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 1189). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Ok, not on the topic of the article, but just the mention of Cain and Abel. I always thought Cain kind of got a raw deal. Shepherd offers a sheep, farmer offers his produce.
What the heck else was a farmer supposed to offer?
Just not right and ive never heard a good explanation.
Bishop Serratelli seems to be on a roll.
I’d like tomske his acquaintance.
Yes - I remember a text by some writer who commented - it seems so unfair - they both gave what they had.
However, this theme of the favoured sibling runs right through the Bible - Jacob and Esau, Martha and Mary, etc.
We don't quite know what happened to Father Paolo. He was kidnapped by ISIS in Raqqa. After that, it is a blank.
However, one has less sympathy for him than for many other victims. He was supporter of the rebel movement, and therefore, could be described as a sympathiser for Al-Qaida. He entered Raqqa having crossed the Syrian border illegally - the Syrian govt had expelled him. Every nation has the right to expel foreigners who may be trouble makers.
Fr Paolo went to Raqqa, apparently not realising the terrifying creatures which the Syrian rebels had evolved into.
God loves carnivores more than He does vegetarians. I don’t know.
From what I have been taught and read, it was because of Faith, Abel had the faith, Cain did not.
Abel, had a good heart in wanting to do what God requested. Cain, did what he “was suppose to do” begrudgingly.
Its like folks who go to church every Sunday because its a sin if they don’t and attend. But their heart is not there for the right reason- they are obeying the law only. This would be Cain people.
That would fit with what else I've heard commonly related about why Cain's sacrifice was rejected;
It was not 'first fruit' prime grain, but instead was gleanings and leavings, secondary stuff.
What that teaching is derived from, I do not know. I suppose I should go look. Perhaps someone else will see the comments and supply good answer, backed with a source that shows what there could be for solid basis of these understandings. Or so I hope...and should confess I'm too lazy (at the moment) to search the matter out.
Cain’s ‘inferior fruits’ of the soil is recorded in Genesis Rabbah.
I figured there was probably some old-fashioned rabbinical commentary on the subject.
What was that based on though, one can honestly wonder.
There's likely something in the Scripture, something revelatory in the specific Hebrew wording(s)?
(yeah, I am trying to coax someone, anyone, into doing the work of searching the matter out, then organizing the information into understandable form (in English) while I sit here on my duff)
Bingo - maybe. I know nothing of the details of Fr Paolo’s activities and circumstances. It is claimed that he is a Jesuit. That, in addition to reports of the generally-held attitude of Modernist Catholic priests that they are ministers to Man and not to God, i.e. they are social workers, leads me to think that he is (was) a ‘trouble maker’. I think that the reports of persecutions of Catholics in India (I presume the reports to be true) are probably due to priests working for ‘social justice’ (against the traditional social status quo including the caste system) instead of for the salvation of souls.
The crux is faith versus works ...
Cain brought what he worked for, and with an attitude of ‘my work ought to count’ and find me worthy. God does not have plan B’s ... the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world covers the sin nature, not the works of striving for worthiness.
That is also another understanding, but the quote in the bible specifies “faith”
Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.” When Abel came for worship, it was by faith that he brought his offering, the “fat portions from some of the first-born of his flock” (Genesis 4:4). The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, and it was accepted.
His brother Cain brought “some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord” (Genesis 4:3). But on Cain and his offering the Lord did not look with favor. We do not know how He expressed His rejection, but it was evident. In Jude’s epistle, verse 11, we read, “They have taken the way of Cain,” referring to lawless men. This may mean that they, like Cain, disobediently devised their own ways of worship; they did not come by faith. Cain’s offering, while acceptable in his own eyes, was not acceptable to the Lord. The result was that Cain became very angry, and later, in the field, he killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8).
13, 14, and 15 might help you ...
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