View allAll Photos Tagged Existence
*They started their primordial existence as microscopic lifeforms placed on separate parts of the Earth's Oceans by a dying race of ancients with the hopes of reviving a once great species. Over ions of existence the unpredictable conditions of this planet slowly morphed them into strange and unrecognizable versions of themselves."
"Like her sister, was born in water. But unlike her sister she felt cradled by the dark. The depths of the ocean provided solitude. She feared the sun and it's violent rays. Unable to stand even the faint light that peaked through the surface she delved into the darkest depths she could find. A large section of this ocean is an endless expanse of pitch black water or an "abyss" which interconnects with countless maze-like rocky passageways that expand for thousands of miles. This entire area, completely void of sunlight and home to very few lifeforms, provided a shelter for the her. However, while these underwater caverns are mostly void of life, the few that do manage to exist are extremely aggressive and monstrous in appearance. In the abyss she evolved into a silent ambush predator to feed and hide from horrifying creatures that roam the deep dark. Millenniums pass and she can heard the voices of humans in the water. They tell legends of her and call her Sobek. After ions of lonely existence something in the void calls to her and she discovers an ancient life form of unknown origin even older than herself. A sentient orb covered in metallic scales that is able to telepathically communicate with her. The creature reveals ancient cosmic knowledge, telling her she has a sister, and proposes a trade. It will guide her to her brethren and protect her from the sunlight she fears, but only if she allows the scaled orb to bond with her flesh."
Sobek is a OOAK Nnaji in Milk skintone and Busty chest option. Her body blushing is lilac and burned turquoise. Her head is covered in hand sculpted scales to enhance her monstrous looks. Her lips and nails are a palest pearl pink and her fanged teeth share the same steel grey as her alien gharial eyes. Sobek wears a hand stitched haute couture armour with a poseable tail, each sequin sewn to a form sculpture that bristles in the back as gharial scales, adorns the shoulders leaving sensuous naked spots and exaggerates the hips for a feminine silhouette. She wears spiky heels painted to match her skintone.
This is a commission order for a private collector, not for sale.
The oldest motorised bus still in existence in the world. It dates from 1904 and was specially designed for public transport in London.
At the time, there were fewer than twenty motorised double-deckers in London; two years later there would be about four-hundred, of which half were manufactured by Milnes-Daimler.
The bus is painted in the livery of one of London’s most famous bus companies of the time, Thomas Tilling Ltd. It was initially delivered to the Southborough & District Bus Company in Tunbridge Wells, but the company was financially weak and had to sell the bus a few months later. In 1907 the bus was converted to chain drive. Originally, the drive was taken directly to the rear wheels via a cogwheel system. This was better suited to carrying heavy loads but was also very noisy.
Milnes-Daimler was created in 1902 after the German Daimler company took over the English tramcar and lorry manufacturer G.F. Milnes & Co. Ltd.
4 in-line
45 hp
Vmax : 35 km/h
Louwman Museum
Den Haag - The Hague
Nederland - Netherlands
August 2012
The Republican Party is at a critical crossroad and its very existence, as we have known it, is at stake. We have seen that even the most intelligent politicos make huge miscalculations and blunders. From being so blatantly obstructionist (Mitch McConnell famously stated the GOP's primary goal was to make Obama a one term President) to thinking that Donald Trump could not ever be taken seriously as the Republican nominee, these leaders of conservative political thought keep making bad decisions. Bad for them, not for their liberal opposition. They are the party of NO! —just on partisan principles, not for the good of the country. Their decision, hours after Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia's death, to refuse to consider any justice nominee President Obama put forward, is the latest proof of that. Even George Will, ultra-conservative and erudite writer for The Washington Post, questions his party's nominee trajectory.
The GOP is becoming an isolated island of anger and unmet promises. Their base is angry because they have failed to deliver not one of their promises for limited government and lower taxes. More importantly, rather than help middle class Americans retrain for the world of the 21st century, they bicker and play politics.
The party says it wants to be more inclusive and wants to help people, but their actions show otherwise. There has been no legislation on immigration. Party members make misogynistic remarks and support oppression of minorities in the name of religious freedom.
They're inviting you to the island but they really don't want you there.
See all the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here. Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.
An old photograph taken on Kirkstall Road (near Haddon Place) of Leeds City Tramways (LCT) 'Chamberlain' class car No. 44 showing '3/4 - Corn Exchange via Corn Exchange!' destination blinds.
The photo reverse is stamped with the photographer (and/or negative owner) name of R. B. Parr and the date 1 Jun 1951.
No. 44 was built by Brush seating 26/46 running on an EMB 4 wheel pivotal type J truck and going into service Mar 1927. In Dec 1929 it suffered an accident and fire which required the reseating of the lower saloon, this was done with a Horsefield type 2+1 seating layout (changing capacity to 22/46), it did not go back into service until Sep 1930. It was retrucked in Mar 1948 with a Peckham type P35 using 27" wheels, and in Jun 1953 had both saloons reupholstered in red rexine.
It last ran in service in Jun 1955 and the following month was burned at Lowfields Road Permanent Way Yard. The parts of the Leeds tramways systems that had not already been withdrawn or transferred to bus operation closing in Nov 1959.
📷 Any photograph I post on Flickr is an original in my possession, nothing is ever copied/downloaded from another location. 📷
-------------------------------------------------
If there are any errors in the above description please let me know. Thanks.
Any photograph, ephemera, etc I post on Flickr is in my possession, nothing is copied from another location. The original photographer may have taken copies from their original negative and passed them out (sold them?) so there may be other copies out there of your (and my) 'original' transport photo, although occasionally there may be 'holiday snaps' type photos where there are not any other photos exactly the same in existence.
If you wish to use this image (bearing in mind it may not be my copyright) or obtain a full size version (most of my uploads are small size) please contact me.
EXIF:
Nikon D7000
AF-D Nikkor 80-400mm Telephoto lens
1/160 Sec
F/5.3
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO-640
Photo by Kacey Jordan
Editing by Cary Jordan
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheJordanCollectivePhotography
___________________________________________________________________________
© The Jordan Collective Photography, under the Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported) License.
You are free to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions:
Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that we (The Jordan Collective) endorse you or your use of the work).
Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from The Jordan Collective Photography. You must contact us BEFORE the image is used in any way that conflicts with the current license. We often grant waivers, but you must contact us FIRST.
Public Domain — Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:
•Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;
•The author's moral rights;
•Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.
Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. We recommend you either link back to this page, or to our website (www.TheJordanCollective.com)
Everything that grow up will fall down; some cottonwoods sooner. We walked Sage Trail around the south of the pond when we were trekking out at North Boulder Open Space some time back. I got stuck when I caught this downed cottonwood in the corner of my eye. This detail has texture that I could never pass up if it registers with me first. This tight frame includes a wealth of texture. Frankly, I don't get details often enough, IMHO. This monoculture of moss really jumps from the capture. It's a good thing the light has already softened and that I had the monopod in tow. Dead cottonwoods provide little more that humus. This is the Boulder Valley Ranch. The pasture grasses here were so well watered that it looks like Ireland out there, magnificent but not Colorado. This shot was from early summer but... we are still getting unusual weather not unlike the entire globe. Few areas have not been impacted by more violent weather. This day dripped on me before I got back in the car but I had a grocery bag in my back pocket to put over the camera.
On this day, it was our project to walk the Sage Trail ahead. Our outdoors time might be limited today from the look of the sky over the closer hills and the Flatirons just west. The darker foothills behind are already under clouding. Translating for the young now, a flat iron was an iron for clothes that was left on a wood/coal burning stove to heat up. Using the irons was never exact science particularly when they were hot enough! Doing laundry could be a scorching experience.
This cherry tree is 2,000 years old (*o*;
take
HASSELBLAD SWC
Carl Zeiss Biogon 38mm f4.5
EPSON GT-X970
FujiFilm REALA 100
存在革命同人活動 - 台南一中 / 武力不一定有效 - 魅力卻可以擊倒壯漢
The Cosplay of the Existence Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / The Military force not necessarily effective - The charm actually may strike down the Strong man
El Cosplay de la Revolución Existencia - Tainan Primera Senior High School / La fuerza militar no no necesariamente eficaz - El encanto puede pegar realmente abajo al hombre fuerte
革命の人の活動が存在しますと - 台南の一中 / 武力は有効ですとは限りません - 魅力は堅強な漢を打ち倒すことができます
Die Cosplay der Existenz Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / Die militärische Streitkraft nicht notwendigerweise wirkungsvoll - Der Charme kann den starken Mann wirklich unten schlagen
Le Cosplay de la Révolution Existence - Tainan Première Senior High School / La force militaire pas nécessairement efficace - Le charme réellement peut frapper vers le bas l'homme fort
Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南
偵探先生 / City Hunter / 薩克斯風伴奏 / Saxophone accompaniment
{View large size on fluidr / 觀看大圖}
NIKKOR 180mm 1:2.8 *ED AIS NIKON-EOS & Fujifilm PROPLUS II 100
{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}
{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}
{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}
{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}
{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}
{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}
書中風起雲動 劍下虎嘯龍吟
The book stroke have the clouds to move under the sword the tiger's roar and dragon to recite
誰知成敗早已天定
Who knows the success or failure already to decide for GOD
回首江山依舊 入眼夕陽正紅
Who looks back on the landscape as before pleasant setting sun is red now
但願人長久情長在
Hopes the persons long-time sentiment exist
熱蘭劍士無悔無憾
The Zeelandia's swordsman regretless not regrets
TWG Tea has a nice restaurant in a prime location in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Resort.
TWG Tea is a brand of tea established in Singapore in 2008. The company promotes itself as a luxury brand.
TWG stands for The Wellbeing Group.
The company opened its first tea outlet in Raffles Place's Republic Plaza. Today the company has outlets in many countries around the world, including one in Vancouver BC, Canada.
BUT, all is not well in TWG's tea leaves, even though their sign leads one to believe they have been around since 1837, the court disagreed.
In 2011, a lawsuit against TWG Tea was filed by tea retailer Tsit Wing International and its parent company Tsit Wing, for incorporating the abbreviation TWG in its name, which was trademarked by Tsit Wing.
The latter company, based in Hong Kong, was founded in 1932. A judge handling the lawsuit noted in July 2013 the use of the "existence of the date 1837 in TWG Tea's sign has led people to believe that the company was established at that time", while in actuality it was founded much later, in 2008.
In justification, the firm's spokespeople claimed that it was instead a tribute to the "year when the Chamber of Commerce was founded in Singapore". The case was ruled in Tsit Wing's favour, with damages payable yet to be decided.
Shortly after the ruling, TWG Tea filed for appeal.
On 3 December 2014, TWG Tea lost a court appeal and as a result it may have to change its name in Hong Kong. TWG Tea has room to pursue its final appeal. According to the company's lawyer, in case the company loses the appeal again, it may use another registered logo containing the acronym "TW" instead of the currently used "TWG", to which Tsit Wing had no objection.
Shareholding law:
A second lawsuit was launched against the company 17 February 2014 by the company's founder, Manoj M Murjani, who claimed his ownership in the company has been unlawfully diluted by OSIM Group, and as a result was in breach of shareholding agreement previously signed. The trial was completed in 2016 and Murjani's claim was dismissed.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
(view in lightbox)
Life is a tenuous series of moments, each glowing for but a second, no matter what your fridge tells you.
Check this shot out at Snaps Magazine!
Rietvlei Nature Reserve belongs to the City of Tshwane and came into existence as a water scheme to supply drinking water to Tshwane. Rietvlei Nature Reserve is, therefore, a fairly big nature reserve in an urban setting and covers about 4 000 ha. It has been a conservation area since 1929. The large animals that occur in this reserve are eland, buffalo, white rhino, red hartebeest, Burchell’s zebra, black wildebeest, blesbok, cheetah, waterbuck, hippo, ostrich and jackal. Nocturnal animals in the reserve are hedgehog, aardvark, serval, bushpig, aardwolf and brown hyena. Many reptile species also occur in Rietvlei Nature Reserve.
存在革命同人活動 - 台南一中 / 角色扮演成另一個人物 - 要了解角色的個性和能力
The Cosplay of the Existence Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / Role-playing as another character - To understand the role of personality and ability
El Cosplay de la Revolución Existencia - Tainan Primera Senior High School / El juego de roles como un personaje más - Para entender el papel de la personalidad y la capacidad
革命の人の活動が存在しますと - 台南の一中 / ロールプレイはもう一つの人物になります - 役の個性と能力を理解します
Die Cosplay der Existenz Revolution - Tainan First Senior High School / Rollenspiele als ein weiteres Zeichen - Um zu verstehen, die Rolle der Persönlichkeit und Fähigkeit
Le Cosplay de la Révolution Existence - Tainan Première Senior High School / Jeu de rôle comme un autre personnage - Pour comprendre le rôle de la personnalité et de la capacité
Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南
管樂小集 2013/09/28 安平古堡演出 Fort Zeelandia performances
{ ドルチェ人形 / Dolce Doll / 甜美娃娃 }
{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}
{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}
{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}
{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}
{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}
{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}
家住安南鹽溪邊
The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river
隔壁就是聽雨軒
The next door listens to the rain porch
一旦落日照大員
The sunset Shineing to the Taiwan at once
左岸青龍飛九天
The left bank white dragon flying in the sky
The world class boanical collections in Waimea Valley owe there existence to Mir. Keith Woolliams, a dedicated botanical horticulturist who was trained at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, on the outskirts of London.
Keith led a rich life traveling around the globe studying botanical collections in England, Japan, Papua New Guinea and Bermuda. He brought to Hawaii his expertise and knowledge of uncommon horticultural treasures, and he acquired seeds, plants, and cuttings from remote places and botanical gardens all over the world. In pre-internet days dozens of letters and packages were dispatched and received daily.
His theme of "Conservation Through Cultivation" resulted in a balance of rare and useful native and Polynesian-introduced plants among exotic horticultural specimens.
What was once an ungroomed valley, filled with koa haole and ravaged by feral cattle was transformed into what you see today by Keith and the many dedicated people he inspired. They oversaw the design, landscaping and construction of the pathways, stone walls and stairs that frame the gardens. Keith's high standards for record keeping and signage persist to this day. He left us in 1998 with a library full of his propagation knowledge, cultivation practices and plant lore which survives to ensure that the precious life forms brought to this valley will thrive here long into the future.
Keith was an inspiring advocate for Hawatian plant conservation and he influenced many young people across the state. He connected Waimea with state, federal and international agencies such as the Center for Plant Conservation, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International - partnerships that Waimea Valley continues to uphold today.
Keith was instrumental in bringing in critically endangered plants from Japan's Ogasawara Islands, hibiscus relatives from all over the world, and with international colleagues he tried to assemble wild-source collections of every species of Erythrina in the world. In the periodical, "Notes from Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden" published twice a year until 1992 he stated "Waimea is a labeled and documented collection of plants for educational and scientific purposes, a living gene pool for future generations".
It is with great honor and gratitude that we remember Mr. Keith Woolliams and his dedication to Waimea Valley.
"I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey."
~ Brian Molko
Dhaka | Bangladesh | 2015
there were multiple inspirations for this creation..
the design is from an osho tartot card of the same name..i actually tried to recreate ths earlier in my stream with a baby in the lotus flower instead..it was not very good.. hence the re-do
and so i decided that i would 'bare all' so to speak and do a selfie ( actually i am wearing shorts that i edited out) mostly because i have been thinking about the belief that some people have about being modest.. and that somehow showing skin makes you a "whore" and is not right in the eyes of Divine..
i wholeheartedly disagree with this viewpoint...
and so this is my expression of my belief that nakedness is next to Godliness.. and that repression of the natural energies is what causes all forms of sexual dysfunction including all fetishes and rape..
having said that.. again.. i am not saying i want to walk around naked and post naked pictures on flickr.. because we don't live in a utopian world.. i'll stay happy and free enough with my tank tops and shorts.
:)
also have to mention cate loughran for inspiring me with her beautiful night life, photo based series
Which Religion is the ONLY true one?
Because there are so many different religions all with conflicting beliefs, many people find it confusing and difficult to decide which one they should follow.
Would a God really want to make it difficult for us to find the truth? Surely the truth has to be available for all humankind - - - for the simple and humble, as well as the clever, the intellectual and the theologian? So, it makes perfect sense to conclude that it must be possible to discern the truth through simple logic.
Firstly, it is easy to see that God has made his existence clear, through reason and logic to those who are open-minded and genuinely desire to seek the truth. [The evidence for the existence of a single creator God, is overwhelming. i.e. an intelligent, single, first cause, itself uncaused, and not subject to the laws of nature (Supernatural), can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of any truly, open-minded person through simple logic and science… for example, the laws of: Cause and Effect, Biogenesis, Thermodynamics, Information Theory and Intelligent Design... all point to a creator.]
Thus monotheism - - belief in one supernatural, eternal, creator God is easy to deduce by those who are open-minded and really wish to seek the truth.
See: (Atheism revealed as false - why God MUST exist:
www.flickr.com/photos/truth-in-science/24321857975
AND
The real theory of everything...
www.flickr.com/photos/truth-in-science/34295660211
Once we have used reason and logic to establish that the Creator God can only be: one, supernatural and eternal, we know that all non-monotheistic religions are automatically ruled out as intrinsically untrue.
Of course, polytheistic or pagan religions may have some teachings which appear good, but it is obvious that they are all based on a false premise.
The true religion has to profess belief in only one, supernatural God and Creator.
We are left with only three major world religions that are strictly monotheistic.
They are: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
So the true religion has to be one of these three.
It is a fact that these three religions have many important doctrines which conflict with each other, for example; Christians and Jews believe in monogamous marriage, while Muslims believe in polygamy.
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, while Judaism rejects Jesus and teaches that the messiah is still to come.
Likewise, although Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet and a messiah, they reject many of His teachings, including His teachings on marriage, divorce, Heaven, drinking wine, love of enemies etc. and, even more importantly, His Divinity and His Crucifixion.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was an authentic prophet while both Jews and Christians would refute that.
God is truth, so as these three religions disagree fundamentally with each other - - - - it is obvious that it is possible for only one of them to be completely true in all its doctrines. So how can we decide conclusively which of these three religions is the only true one?
By asking the following question - - - we know that the Creator of the universe (the first cause of everything) must be infinite (unlimited). So everything about God must be perfect, his love is perfect and without limit (all love existing in the world originated from God), so too is his justice (his justice cannot be cheated).
Therefore if God is infinitely and perfectly just, and we have all offended his infinite majesty by sin, how can anyone hope to be saved?
Only because God is also infinitely merciful and loving.
But here we have an apparent contradiction, perfect justice demands that the full price is paid for every sin, whereas perfect mercy and love demand extreme leniency. - - -
HERE IS THE QUESTION: - - -
How can God overcome the apparent contradiction between His perfect justice and perfect mercy?
To clarify ... How can God (who cannot deceive, nor be deceived) satisfy his infinite justice, which demands a price equal to the *offence, yet at the same time enable us to be saved through his infinite, unfathomable, mercy and love?
*[the seriousness of an offence can be judged to be commensurate with the status of the person offended against. In the army, if a private were to insult a fellow private it would not be considered very serious, but if a private were to insult or disobey an officer this would be much more serious and the seriousness would increase the higher the rank of the officer. A sin against a perfect and infinite God (our Creator) is of the ultimate seriousness. Therefore perfect justice demands infinite reparation for an offence against God].
Christianity is absolutely unique. It is the only religion that has a satisfactory answer to this question. And this question is crucial to salvation. Put the same question to the followers of any other religion and they will be unable to give you a credible answer.
THE AMAZING ANSWER - - - Jesus Christ said “I am the way the truth and the life” and “no one can come to the Father except through Me.” Jesus backed up His claim by suffering an agonising death on the Cross for the salvation of all humanity.
Why?
Atonement.
Animal sacrifice, as practiced in the Old Testament, was an imperfect, forerunner to the prophesied, perfect sacrifice.
Only God, Himself, in His infinite mercy, was able to provide an acceptable ‘scapegoat’ to fully satisfy perfect, divine justice. A pure sacrifice, both fully human and fully divine.
Jesus, although completely innocent of all sin Himself, suffered for the sins of all humankind.
He was crucified, as an atoning sacrifice, for the redemption of His enemies, as well as His friends. We are all sinners and have all offended the infinite goodness of god. No one deserves heaven entirely on their own merit.
Everyone is defiled by sin, and nothing defiled can ever enter heaven. An offence against the infinite goodness of an infinitely loving, but also an infinitely, just God, can only be redeemed by an infinitely, good sacrifice. So only a Divine sacrifice can satisfy the demands of infinite, Divine justice. only the sacrifice of the true, spiritual Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, incarnated as man (as prophesied in the Old Testament) is sufficient to save us all from the consequences of sin, to open the gates of heaven and restore eternal life to the whole human race.
This was even foreshadowed in the Old Testament (Book of Genesis), when God asked Abraham (as a test of his obedience) to sacrifice his only son Isaac on a pile of wood at Mount Moria. This Mount Moria is believed by some to be in the same place as Golgotha, the site of the sacrifice of God’s only Son on the wood of the Cross. God prevented Abraham from carrying out the sacrifice of his son , at the last minute, But, because of his steadfast obedience, Abraham became the symbolic, earthly father of all who follow God.
Because of the Incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus, God became the spiritual Father of all who follow Him.
The Cross of Jesus now represents the new tree of life, because it has restored the possibility of eternal life to the whole human race. Access to the original tree of life was removed from Adam and Eve and the rest of the human race because of original sin. The Cross of Jesus is a restoration of the tree of life. It promises eternal life to those who accept its saving message. The new fruit is the bread and wine of the holy Eucharist.
Only those whose garments have been ‘washed white by the Blood of the Lamb’ are fit to enter heaven. The debt of our sin has been paid by Jesus - and His saving sacrifice is offered as an unsurpassed, loving and free gift to us all. We simply have to gratefully acknowledge and accept that gift in a spirit of humility and repentance.
By His supreme sacrifice, Jesus atoned for every sin ever committed, and thereby opened the gates of Heaven to the whole human race. Without His unique sacrifice, no one of any religion could ever enter Heaven. It matters not whether you are the most devout Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist or follower of any other faith, ultimately you will rely not on any of the rituals or customs of these various religions, but on the sacrifice of Jesus to enter heaven. All who enter heaven do so only with a passport provided by the merits of Jesus’ sacrifice. Without His sacrifice on the Cross you would never get there, whatever your religion. All other sacrifices or religious offerings, rituals etc. are as dirty rags before the Divine majesty of Almighty God, they cannot pay the price for sin that God's perfect justice demands.
This is the unavoidable truth, whether you like it or not.
Of course, we should all have free choice to follow any religion we choose, but once we know that it is only the sacrifice of Jesus that can make us fit to enter heaven and eternal life, we will surely wish to love and follow Him. It would be foolishness indeed for us to choose to follow any religion which refuses to acknowledge this, but would rather pretend that we can redeem ourselves by following its manmade doctrines and rituals.
Death entered the world through the sin of disobedience of one woman and one man (Adam and Eve), but sin was pardoned and eternal life restored through the obedience of one woman (Mary) and the death of one man (Jesus).
The ancient Hebrews used the blood sacrifice of an animal as a symbolic scapegoat to bear the punishment for their sins. The old animal sacrifices of atonement ended with the destruction of the temple. Animal sacrifice was simply a precursor to the only acceptable sacrifice of the true Messiah, Jesus. They were intended to show the necessity of atonement, repentance alone is not sufficient. Atonement for sin is essential. There is no atonement for sin in present day Judaism or in Islam.
Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, (true man and true God) became the real scapegoat who bore the punishment (by His Crucifixion) for the sins of the whole world. His death on the Cross was a perfect, holy, once and for all sacrifice, sufficient to atone for every sin ever committed. It is re-enacted in remembrance, with bread and wine, every day, by Christian priests all over the world. It is known as the Holy Eucharist which is part of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God is reminded at every Mass that Christians trust in the perfect atonement made by Jesus.
Only God Himself could pay the enormous price that God's perfect justice demands for sin, but as it is man who is responsible for sin, in true justice, it is man who should pay the price. Therefore only someone who is both God and man (God made man) would be able to pay the price for sin. So the only possibility of salvation for humankind had to be provided by God Himself, and that is exactly what He did. That is why Jesus has to be God incarnated as man. Those who deny that Jesus is God, or deny the Crucifixion of Jesus, have fallen for the lies of Satan, his false prophets and false religions and, sadly, they deny the only possibility of salvation.
Abraham (the representative, earthly father of all followers of God) showed he was willing, when asked by God, to sacrifice his only son Isaac to God, as reparation for sin (it didn’t happen, because God stopped it at the last moment). And God, our heavenly Father, (who cannot be outdone in love or generosity) offered His only Son (Jesus) as a sacrifice for our sin.
Prophesies from the Old Testament.
Isaiah 53 New International Version (NIV)
1. Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2. He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3. He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4. Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5. But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7. He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9. He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11. After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53 New International Version (NIV)
___________________________________________
Psalm 22 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
22 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted[b] in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced[c] My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.[d]
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.
Psalm 22 New King James Version (NKJV)
____________________________________________
Babylonian Talmud: "The Messiah --what is his name?...The Rabbis say, The Leper Scholar, as it is said, `surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted...'" (Sanhedrin 98b)
Midrash Ruth Rabbah: "Another explanation (of Ruth ii.14): -- He is speaking of king Messiah; `Come hither,' draw near to the throne; `and eat of the bread,' that is, the bread of the kingdom; `and dip thy morsel in the vinegar,' this refers to his chastisements, as it is said, `But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities'"
Targum Jonathan: "Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high and increase and be exceedingly strong..."
Zohar: "`He was wounded for our transgressions,' etc....There is in the Garden of Eden a palace called the Palace of the Sons of Sickness; this palace the Messiah then enters, and summons every sickness, every pain, and every chastisement of Israel; they all come and rest upon him. And were it not that he had thus lightened them off Israel and taken them upon himself, there had been no man able to bear Israel's chastisements for the transgression of the law: and this is that which is written, `Surely our sicknesses he hath carried.'"
Rabbi Moses Maimonides: "What is the manner of Messiah's advent....there shall rise up one of whom none have known before, and signs and wonders which they shall see performed by him will be the proofs of his true origin; for the Almighty, where he declares to us his mind upon this matter, says, `Behold a man whose name is the Branch, and he shall branch forth out of his place' (Zech. 6:12). And Isaiah speaks similarly of the time when he shall appear, without father or mother or family being known, He came up as a sucker before him, and as a root out of dry earth, etc....in the words of Isaiah, when describing the manner in which kings will harken to him, At him kings will shut their mouth; for that which had not been told them have they seen, and that which they had not heard they have perceived." (From the Letter to the South (Yemen), quoted in The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters, Ktav Publishing House, 1969, Volume 2, pages 374-5)
Rabbi Mosheh Kohen Ibn Crispin: This rabbi described those who interpret Isaiah 53 as referring to Israel as those: "having forsaken the knowledge of our Teachers, and inclined after the `stubbornness of their own hearts,' and of their own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah....This prophecy was delivered by Isaiah at the divine command for the purpose of making known to us something about the nature of the future Messiah, who is to come and deliver Israel, and his life from the day when he arrives at discretion until his advent as a redeemer, in order that if anyone should arise claiming to be himself the Messiah, we may reflect, and look to see whether we can observe in him any resemblance to the traits described here; if there is any such resemblance, then we may believe that he is the Messiah our righteousness; but if not, we cannot do so." (From his commentary on Isaiah, quoted in The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters, Ktav Publishing House, 1969, Volume 2, pages 99-114.)
Why the Isaiah 53 prophesy cannot refer to Israel.
Why Isaiah 53 cannot refer to the nation of Israel, or anyone else, but must be the Messiah
1. The servant of Isaiah 53 is an innocent and guiltless sufferer. Israel is never described as sinless. Isaiah 1:4 says of the nation: "Alas sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. A brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!" He then goes on in the same chapter to characterize Judah as Sodom, Jerusalem as a harlot, and the people as those whose hands are stained with blood (verses 10, 15, and 21). What a far cry from the innocent and guiltless sufferer of Isaiah 53 who had "done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth!"
2. The prophet said: "It pleased the LORD to bruise him." Has the awful treatment of the Jewish people (so contrary, by the way, to the teaching of Jesus to love everyone) really been God's pleasure, as is said of the suffering of the servant in Isaiah 53:10 ? If, as some rabbis contend, Isaiah 53 refers to the holocaust, can we really say of Israel's suffering during that horrible period, "It pleased the LORD to bruise him?" Yet it makes perfect sense to say that God was pleased to have Messiah suffer and die as our sin offering to provide us forgiveness and atonement.
3. The person mentioned in this passage suffers silently and willingly. Yet all people, even Israelites, complain when they suffer! Brave Jewish men and women fought in resistance movements against Hitler. Remember the Vilna Ghetto Uprising? Remember the Jewish men who fought on the side of the allies? Can we really say Jewish suffering during the holocaust and during the preceding centuries was done silently and willingly?
4. The figure described in Isaiah 53 suffers, dies, and rises again to atone for his people's sins. The Hebrew word used in Isaiah 53:10 for "sin-offering" is "asham," which is a technical term meaning "sin-offering." See how it is used in Leviticus chapters 5 and 6. Isaiah 53 describes a sinless and perfect sacrificial lamb who takes upon himself the sins of others so that they might be forgiven. Can anyone really claim that the terrible suffering of the Jewish people, however undeserved and unjust, atones for the sins of the world? Whoever Isaiah 53 speaks of, the figure described suffers and dies in order to provide a legal payment for sin so that others can be forgiven. This cannot be true of the Jewish people as a whole, or of any other mere human.
5. It is the prophet who is speaking in this passage. He says: "who has believed our message." The term "message" usually refers to the prophetic message, as it does in Jeremiah 49:14. Also, when we understand the Hebrew parallelism of verse 1, we see "Who has believed our message" as parallel to "to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed." The "arm of the Lord" refers to God's powerful act of salvation. So the message of the speaker is the message of a prophet declaring what God has done to save his people.
6. The prophet speaking is Isaiah himself, who says the sufferer was punished for "the transgression of my people," according to verse 8. Who are the people of Isaiah? Israel. So the sufferer of Isaiah 53 suffered for Israel. So how could he be Israel?
7. The figure of Isaiah 53 dies and is buried according to verses 8 and 9. The people of Israel have never died as a whole. They have been out of the land on two occasions and have returned, but they have never ceased to be among the living. Yet Jesus died, was buried, and rose again.
8. If Isaiah 53 cannot refer to Israel, how about Isaiah himself? But Isaiah said he was a sinful man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5-7). And Isaiah did not die as an atonement for our sins. Could it have been Jeremiah? Jeremiah 11:19 does echo the words of Isaiah 53. Judah rejected and despised the prophet for telling them the truth. Leaders of Judah sought to kill Jeremiah, and so the prophet describes himself in these terms. But they were not able to kill the prophet. Certainly Jeremiah did not die to atone for the sins of his people. What of Moses? Could the prophet have been speaking of him? But Moses wasn't sinless either. Moses sinned and was forbidden from entering the promised land (Numbers 20:12). Moses indeed attempted to offer himself as a sacrifice in place of the nation, but God did not allow him to do so (Exodus 32:30-35). Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were all prophets who gave us a glimpse of what Messiah, the ultimate prophet, would be like, but none of them quite fit Isaiah 53.
So what can we conclude? Isaiah 53 cannot refer to the nation of Israel, nor to Isaiah, nor to Moses, nor another prophet. And if not to Moses, certainly not to any lesser man. Yet Messiah would be greater than Moses. As the rabbinic writing "Yalkut" said: "Who art thou, O great mountain? (Zech. iv.7) This refers to the King Messiah. And why does he call him`the great mountain?' because he is greater than the patriarchs, as it is said, `My servant shall be high, and lifted up, and lofty exceedingly' --he will be higher than Abraham...lifted up above Moses...loftier then the ministering angels..." (Quoted in The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah According to the Jewish Interpreters, Ktav Publishing House, 1969, Volume 2, page 9.)
Of whom does Isaiah speak? He speaks of the Messiah, as many ancient rabbis concluded. The second verse of Isaiah 53 makes it crystal clear. The figure grows up as "a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground." The shoot springing up is beyond reasonable doubt a reference to the Messiah, and, in fact, it is a common Messianic reference in Isaiah and elsewhere. The Davidic dynasty was to be cut down in judgement like a felled tree, but it was promised to Israel that a new sprout would shoot up from the stump. The Messiah was to be that sprout. Several Hebrew words were used to refer to this undeniably Messianic image. All the terms are related in meaning and connected in the Messianic texts where they were used. Isaiah 11, which virtually all rabbis agreed refers to the Messiah, used the words "shoot" (hoter) and branch (netser) to describe the Messianic King. Isaiah 11:10 called Messiah the "Root (shoresh) of Jesse," Jesse being David's father. Isaiah 53 described the suffering servant as a root (shoresh) from dry ground, using the very same metaphor and the very same word as Isaiah 11. We also see other terms used for the same concept, such as branch (tsemach) in Jeremiah 23:5, in Isaiah 4:2 and also in the startling prophecies of Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12.
Beyond doubt, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 refers to Messiah Jesus. He is the one highly exalted before whom kings shut their mouths. Messiah is the shoot who sprung up from the fallen Davidic dynasty. He became the King of Kings. He provided the ultimate atonement.
Isaiah 52:13 states that it would be the Messiah who will "sprinkle" many nations. What does that mean? What was Messiah's ministry to be toward the nations? The word translated "sprinkle" or sometimes "startle" is found several other places in the OT. The Hebrew word is found in Leviticus 4:6; 8:11; 14:7, and Numbers 8:7, 19:18-19. The references cited all pertain to priestly sprinklings of the blood of atonement, the anointing oil of consecration, and the ceremonial water used to cleanse the unclean. Is Isaiah 52:13 telling us that the Messiah will act as a priest who applies atonement, anoints to consecrate, sprinkles to make clean? (This vision of the Messiah as both priest and king is also found in Zechariah 6:12-13). But, priests were to come from the tribe of Levi and Kings from the tribe of Judah! What kind of priest is he? David told us Messiah would be a priest of the order of Melchizedek (see Psalm 110 and Hebrews chapters 7-9).
Isaiah 53 must be understood as referring to the coming Davidic King, the Messiah. King Messiah was prophesied to suffer and die to pay for our sins and then rise again. He would serve as a priest to the nations of the world and apply the blood of atonement to cleanse those who believe. There is one alone who this can refer to, Jesus, whom millions refer to as Christ, which is from the Greek word for Messiah. Those who confess him are his children, his promised offspring, the spoils of his victory. According to the testimony of the Jewish Apostles, Jesus died for our sins, rose again, ascended to the right hand of God, and he now serves as our great High Priest who cleanses us of sin and our King. Jesus rules over his people and is in the process of conquering the Gentiles. The first century Jewish disciples were willing to die rather than deny they had seen the risen Messiah. Only if one has presupposed Jesus cannot have been the Messiah can one deny that which is obvious. Israel's greatest son, Jesus, is the one Isaiah foresaw.
(c) 1997 Fred Klett
___________________________________________
The many paths to God lie.
‘There are many paths to God‘ has become a politically, correct catchphrase, used by the liberal establishment to imply that all religions and beliefs are equally worthy.
Of course, you don’t need a degree in common sense to work out that this is illogical.
Everybody is aware that even the major religions disagree on many important issues. Therefore, simple logic dictates that they cannot all be right. Where they all disagree on a particular belief (if any are right) it can only be ONE that is right.
It is obvious then that all those religions that are wrong in any belief cannot be equal in merit, or equal as a path to God, as the one that is wholly right. So to insist they are all equally worthy is to be unjustly biased against the one that is true.
Error should never be given equality with truth.
Therefore it is inexcusable that our society should not to make every effort to discern, and then to officially recognise the truth in this matter.
For anyone to contend that ERROR should ever be entitled to equal endorsement and support by the state as TRUTH is unjust, prejudiced, morally reprehensible and downright stupid.
Western civilisation was founded and built on the commendable notion that truth really matters and should be encouraged and supported.
For centuries, it was accepted and agreed by the most learned persons and rulers, that the beliefs of Christianity best represent spiritual truth. Whilst also providing superlative spiritual and social benefits for citizens and society. And therefore it was agreed that Christianity should be entitled to official recognition and special support by society and the state. The traditions, heritage, laws and culture of Christendom were founded on this generally, accepted precept.
It is not hard to understand why?
Christianity really is special.
Jesus Christ taught love, peace and forgiveness.
Jesus is the role model for Christians. Although they are not always completely successful, the teaching and example of Jesus Christ are what every genuine Christian aspires to. Those things are eminently conducive to the moral, spiritual and material good of society. They are the fundamentals of Christianity and a Christian society. We hear a lot today about religious fundamentalism being something bad, but in the case of Christianity the opposite has to be true. The more fundamental a Christian seeks to be, the more like (the Christian role model) Jesus they hope to become.
In a nutshell Jesus taught - love God above all and love your neighbour as yourself. and seek to advance the welfare of all, materially and spiritually - be humble, not proud or envious, be prepared to serve others, not lord it over them - love and forgive even your enemies and do not seek revenge or bear grudges.
Saint Augustine.
“Let those who say that the teachings of Christ are harmful to the State find armies with soldiers who live up to the standards of the teachings of Jesus. Let them provide governors, husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, kings, judges, taxpayers and tax collectors who can compare to those who take Christian teachings to heart. Then let them dare to say that such teaching is contrary to the welfare of the State! Indeed, under no circumstances can they fail to realize that this teaching is the greatest safeguard of the State when faithfully observed.” (“Epis. 138 ad Marcellinum,” in Opera Omnia, vol. 2, in J.P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, col. 532.)
A major problem today is that the term 'religion' is cynically used by secularists rather than 'religions'. The effect is to lump all religions together and stereotype them as though they are a single entity. Which means if one religion is perceived in some way as not conducive to the public good, people are led to believe that all religions are a problem - that 'religion' is a problem per se. This sort of stereotyping would be unlikely to be tolerated in any other field. But it suits the aims of militant atheists and the liberal, secular, politically correct agenda.
There is no question that the twentieth century was the bloodiest century in the history of the world. It was in this century that the major nations of Christendom began to abandon Christian beliefs, principles and heritage. And, in the misguided name of progress, began to embrace a variety of pagan, atheistic, materialist, Darwinian, Marxist and socialist ideologies. As a result we were subjected to 2 world wars, numerous other wars, including the Spanish civil war, and an horrendous, mass murder as a result of the German nation adopting the national, socialist policies of a crazed, Darwinian inspired, anti-Christian, pagan occultist named Hitler. An even greater, mass slaughter was carried out by atheistic, socialist revolutionaries in pursuit of their proposed ‘paradise on earth‘. The historical record of the twentieth century is absolutely horrendous, the atheistic, Marxist, socialist regimes of; Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were together responsible for the brutal slaughter of an estimated thirty six million people. In addition, we have seen millions of war deaths, countless murders carried out by other, atheistic, socialist regimes and various other tyrannies, and millions of unborn babies callously slaughtered in state approved and funded, abortion mills.
We hear a lot today about equality, which sounds admirable. And true equality certainly is admirable and a God-given right. However, false equality is not admirable, it can be discriminatory against truth, goodness and, if enforced by the state, can result in an evil tyranny. Error should never be equated with truth and evil should never be equated with good.
So what is true equality?
Every human person is of equal value and should be equally respected and cared for, regardless of gender, colour, race, disability, wealth, influence, intelligence or power. That is true equality.
What is false equality?
False equality is the idea that everything any human person does or believes, is equally valid. The idea that all lifestyles, beliefs, traditions or cultures (that are not against whatever the state decides should be legal) are equally valid and worthy of equal respect.
In post Christian, secular society, while it is demanded by supporters of the liberal establishment that all religions, beliefs and lifestyles should be treated by the state as equally worthy, with no preference or special status given to any. In practice, we can see this is completely ignored in one respect, because there is an exception, inasmuch as it is now the beliefs of 'atheism' that actually receive special recognition and status in most, Western nations. This is evident in the state approved and funded, promotion and teaching of the (unscientific) naturalistic beliefs of Darwinian evolution and spontaneous generation of life, as though they are ‘scientific truths’ (they are treated as sacrosanct - with no alternative, scientific views or contrary evidence, permitted in any state funded or approved, educational curriculum).
The modern, secular state's 'enforced' equality demands that all beliefs etc. are treated as equally worthy, regardless of truth or merit. But, in practice, the liberal mind-set is that all beliefs/religions are inferior to the atheist/secularist ideology, which is perceived as the pinnacle of rationality and arbiter of 'scientific truth' which benevolently deigns to grant (a false) equality to every inferior, belief system. And religions should all be grateful that the secular state grants them equality with each other.
All religions and religious beliefs are thus lumped together as
being equal (the crazy with the not so crazy - the logical with the illogical - the true with the patently false) with no intelligent, or logical discernment permitted.
And so we are led to believe by a secular state (which doesn't recognise God) that there are:
‘Many paths to God’ -That all religions and beliefs are equally valid.
But are they?
Anyone who agrees with this automatically rejects the claims of Jesus Christ, who stated; “I am the way, the truth and the life” and “no one can come to the Father except through Me.”
Uniquely, Jesus backed up his claim by suffering an agonising death on the cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of all humanity. The words of Jesus means you cannot be a Christian if you claim or believe there are many paths to God, or that there is any path to God other than through Jesus Christ.
The fact is that Jesus (although completely innocent of all sin himself) suffered for the sins of all humankind, He was crucified for the redemption of His enemies as well as His friends. We are all sinners and have all offended the infinite goodness of God, no one (not even a saint) deserves heaven entirely on their own merit. Everyone is defiled by sin, and nothing defiled can enter heaven. An offence against the infinite goodness of an infinitely loving, but also an infinitely, just God can only be redeemed by an infinitely, good sacrifice. So only a divine sacrifice can pay the price justice demands for our sins.
Only the sacrifice of the true, spiritual messiah, Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, incarnated as man, is sufficient to save us all from the consequences of sin, open the gates of heaven and restore eternal life to the whole human race.
Only those whose garments have been ‘washed white by the blood of the lamb’ are fit to enter heaven.
The debt for our sin has been paid by Jesus and His saving sacrifice is offered as an unsurpassed, loving and free gift to us all. We simply have to gratefully acknowledge and accept that gift in a spirit of humility and repentance.
Jesus requested that a remembrance of his sacrifice should be celebrated (the Eucharist). This unites us with Him and His sacrifice, and is the only sacrificial ceremony for sin which is truly acceptable to God. All other sacrifices devised and offered by humans are as ‘dirty rags’ before the divine majesty of the almighty creator.
Only the sacrifice of the true messiah, God made man
(as prophesied by Isaiah in the old testament), is acceptable to God.
By his supreme sacrifice Jesus paid the price for every sin ever committed, and thereby opened the gates of heaven to the whole human race.
Without His sacrifice, no one of any religion could ever enter heaven.
It matters not whether you are the most devout Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist or person of any other faith, ultimately you will rely, not on any rituals and customs of these various religions, but on the sacrifice of Jesus to enter heaven.
All who enter heaven and eternal life do so only with a passport provided by Jesus, without His sacrifice you would never get there.
This is the truth whether you like it or not.
Dr James Tour - 'The Origin of Life' - Abiogenesis decisively refuted.
youtu.be/B1E4QMn2mxk
Mrs Mail said I should photograph some fungi growing in the footpath near our house.
I doubt this is edible and they often grow around the grass in the unstettled weather.
It is about 50mm o 2 inchs across.
Droids find themselves in existential crisis more often than you might think. Self-doubt is universal.
Photo shot for the Flickr group 7 Days of Shooting.
“When we stop to consider, we recognize that happiness is not something we're going to get somewhere, nor is it the result of some action we take. The very fabric of our beingness is itself what we are always actually looking for. We seek pleasure, joy, happiness, peace, strength, power. But these are simply aspects of our existence. Our nature, our origin is the most precious thing there is. The existence itself is a delight. This existence, this delight, is the very center of reality, all the time.” - A. Hameed Ali
Fabrício and Guilherme; their beingness - their very existence, are reason enough for ours.
The human being is not designed to live as a hermit – we are dependent on the existence of others in our lives.
Finding the right people to surround us is quite a tricky and possibly a life-long task. We need to invest time and energy until we can figure out if it is worthy or not. We are obliged to discover whether our vis-à-vis will also stand at our side in the dark times, how serious they are and if we can trust them?
For a working relationship, trust is mandatory. In order to build it up, we put ourselves in a status in which we assume to be almost as crucial for the life of the others as they are for themselves. We hypothesize that they would make an effort to bring a smile to our lips when we are depressed, that they would make sacrifices to help us and that they would carry us on their shoulders if we could not walk anymore.
Probably, we would come from the conclusion that all of our “extraordinary people” would fulfill the favorable characteristics which we attribute to a working relationship because, in the end, it was us, that believe to be in the right position, who decided whom to let in the exclusive circle.
The truth is that the world is full of people with empty words who promise whatever suits the situation and their own best interest. They hide behind their invisible masks and adjust their behavior whenever it is needed to get their benefit. They laugh with us, chill or party with us – but they are the quickest to run away the moment life becomes a bit more complicated. To understand that we were outsmarted and rapidly replaced hurts even more.
But as severe and painful these experiences are, they also show us who really cares and sometimes it can be surprising who unexpectedly shows up to comfort us while we are licking our wounds.