Category: Christianity
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Book Review: God Was Not In The Fire – The Search For A Spiritual Judaism by Daniel Gordis
I began studying Biblical Hebrew seriously when the COVID-19 Pandemic forced a hiatus from the daily requirements of work and other mandatory activities. This enabled me to devote more time to other pursuits, one of which was the desire to gain a level of proficiency in biblical Hebrew, the primary language in which the Old…
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אבן העזר ואבן’ם לזכרון The Stone of Help and Stones of Remembrance: Bringing to Mind Yahwah’s Help and Goodness
Putting the Hebrew words first in the title is meant to illustrate how these two well-known phrases appear in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. As many of you who read this post will know, Hebrew writing goes from right to left, which means that אבן העזר is the Hebrew phrase translated as ‘stone…
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“We Have Faith, They Have Religion”
Thus Russtrat director, Elena Panina, begins her May 5, 2023 opinion piece in which she reasons that Russia will prevail in Ukraine because the former is united under the rubric of ‘faith,’ i.e., that ‘God is on our side’ because of the justness of the cause under the banner of which the SMO [Special Military…
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Turkey: The Abandoned Iraqi and Syrian Christian Asylum Seekers, Late April 2023
Turkish journalist, Uzay Bulut, who writes for the Gatestone Institute, International Policy Council, recently submitted the following report which details the difficulties Iraqi and Syrian Christian asylum seekers are experiencing, including persecution for their faith, while living as refugees in Turkey. The author also addresses the dangers facing Christians who have not left Iraq or…
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Dostoevsky and the [Russian Orthodox] Church
This is a translation, from the Russian, of a 3-part article by Vladimir Malyagin, an author and dramatist who serves on the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church. The reader is invited to engage in a critical review of the author’s commentary, remembering that it is the viewpoint of an apologist of Russian Orthodoxy,…
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Book Review: Russia in Search of Itself by James Billington
An American scholar with a deep interest in Russian culture, particularly as it relates to the country’s Christian heritage as expressed through Russian Orthodoxy, James Billington was perhaps the foremost chronicler of Russia and its history for over 40 years. Billington first appeared on my radar in the mid-1970s while I was studying Russian Language…
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When is ‘Dog’ not ‘Dog’?
In 2 Samuel, chapters 7 & 9, there are two Hebrew words that appear to be from the same root with the meaning ‘dog’ (כלב/keleb). In the second passage, Mephibosheth, upon being showered with King David’s mercy, asks, “What is your servant, that you have turned [your attention] to the dead dog that I am?”…
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The “Greatest Generation” and its Legacy: A Perspective
Just the other day, January 20, 2023, to be exact, I turned 75, i.e., the day that marked ¾ of a century of existence on Planet Earth. If you’ve done your math, you’ve figured out that I was born approximately four weeks into the new year of 1948, just 2 ½ years after the end…
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Christians Experiencing Discrimination in Iraq; In ISIS-Controlled Northwestern Syria Suffering Persecution, early-December 2022
Turkish internet Christian news site, Sat7, on December 9, 2022, disseminated for its Turkish readership two articles that had originally been published in English. The article concerning Iraqi Christians was based on a FIDES wire that was picked up by several internet sites. One can be found at: https://www.worthynews.com/80474-iraq-christian-families-are-leaving-in-droves . The article on the persecution…
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“You have opened My ears” or “A body You have prepared for Me”: An Examination of Psalm 40:5-7 (LXX)/6-8 (Hebrew)
Psalm 40:6 ~ 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear.[a]Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Hebrews…
The Dragon is Slain 