Category: faith

Matthew 6, do good, the Lord’s model prayer, fasting, treasures in heaven, God and Mammon, do not worry.

Pope Francis has called for a rewriting of the Lord’s Prayer, saying the current translation gives God a bad name and, essentially, does not give the devil his due.

Described in the Bible as a prayer taught by Jesus, the Lord’s Prayer is viewed in the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church as “the summary of the whole gospel.”

In a TV interview December 2017, Pope Francis said that the line asking God to “Lead us not into temptation,” or in Italian, “non indurci in tentazione,” should be changed.

Jesus spoke in Aramaic and this prayer in the gospel of Matthew is originally written in Greek, and it says:

και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις     πειρασμον            αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου and not  bring         us   into temptation(or testing), but rescue   us   from   –     evil.

The Roman Catholic church of France has changed the translation of this verse to “and do not let us fall into temptation” and somehow Pope Francis thinks this would improve on what God has said.

Matthew 5, the sermon on the mount, the Beatitudes, salt and light, fulfill the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, an eye for an eye, love your enemies

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Matthew 4, the Temptation of Jesus, calling of the first disciples, early ministry.

The tempter appeals to Jesus to show His power over the elements, Jesus answers back with scripture.

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The tempter is wising up. Now he is using scripture to tempt Jesus.


Jesus answers back with scripture.

Finally the tempter appeals to Jesus vanity. This always works, except this time. Jesus answers back with scripture.

The prophecy in Isaiah 9 begins in doom and gloom, but promises the great light.

And Isaiah 9:6-7 is two of the most wonderful verses in all of scripture.


Matthew calls it “the Kingdom of Heaven, the other Gospels “the Kingdom of God”. It means the same.  “My Kingdom is not of this world”

Matthew 2, the visit of the Magi, flight to Egypt, the massacre in Ramah, return to Nazareth.

The Magi were the scientists of that day, combining astronomy, astrology, calendar keeping and natural sciences.

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This passage is particularly interesting, with verse 15 put in the middle of a passage full of the most wonderful promises for Israel, ending with “a woman shall encompass a man.”

One of the possible sources for the  last quote:

In the Arab world, Christians are named Nazarenes, symbolized with the letter ‘Nun’ .

It was painted on Christian homes in Mosul  during the ISIS occupation, and Christians were systematically removed and some of  them killed.

Exclusive CNN images capturing the homes of Christian families forced to leave the city by ISIS

 

 

Isaiah 65, Judgment and salvation, the New Creation, the New Jerusalem

 

 

The new Jerusalem is as a dream. Many have imagined it different ways. Here is the Salvation Army singing a capella “I have heard of a City” with the melody of a Russian fold song.

Isaiah 63, the LORD’s Judgment and Salvation, God’s Mercy Remembered, a Prayer.

“He has trampled out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored”

From Revelation 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.