"But I am of the House of Éorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
" Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." ( Judges 1:9, 24:15 ) " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.." ( Isaiah 41:10 )
For the child of God: Death is the key that opens the door to the riches of eternity ( Quote by Dr. J.B. Hixson; NBWMinistries.org ).
Your story soared deep into my heart and welded my emotions to yours as if they were one. You are a person deserving recognition and simultaneously to be lifted as an iconic inspiration to others regarding what is right and what is plainly wrong. That scope covers the life of humanity, of who has passed, those who are and those yet to come. In that sense you are part of a great continuum of humanity through the ages recorded as part of the great stories of humans from the beginning of time. Thank you deeply for sharing.
Playfulness aside, from what I’ve seen of your writing, your points are thoughtful, measured, but powerful and focused on core truths. That sounds like a sermon to me.
“…because God has put this world into the hands of the Evil one and only God can do that.” It is quite hard if not impossible to understand how a God of Love can do this. Why does good tolerate evil but evil does not tolerate good? …….
These questions are impossible to answer in our present state. As a kid, I used to cry about it at night in my bed. I would get up and run to my dad's study and ask him why God allowed evil in this world. Honestly, I never got an answer that satisfied me. I've had to conclude over time that we just don't understand. It's too horrible sometimes to contemplate. I read C.S. Lewis when it gets to be too much. The Problem of Pain. I love The Great Divorce.
From Sweden here. Thank you Karen for a great article. Could you please elaborate from your neck of the woods on how Biden lost the respect of the world when he abandoned the Americans in Afghanistan? In the West many of our leaders do not understand the concept of respect any more (if ever) and what the consequences are when a whole country loses respect due to its political leaders. Sweden has also lost so much respect around the world due to our political leaders and their decisions. Another comment regarding shared values, many people don’t actually know any longer what those values are – because these have been manipulated by their governments and political parties into nothingness – including with censorship.
As the leader of the free world the US has a responsibility to set an example of honorable conduct and it's done a bad job. Our enemies into particular lost respect for us.
ya have such a gift of clarity, Karen!--in this imperfect world we may indeed--any of us--have ta take that first step, an offensive one, when put on the defensive--and we might have ta do it at great risk to ourselfs too! (as you did in Luxor! as many are doin' in the much-maligned State of Israel) so it's a great analogy--I believe--an' timely now.
It's ironic that many who said that if they were confronted with takin' the clot shots (which are killers) or die fightin' for their bodily sovereignty--they chose the latter BUT these same folks cannot even remotely see the same thing with Israel, fightin' for it's own "bodily sovereignty" --imperfect an' brutal as it is... The only conclusion I kin draw (from all I'm hearin') is that some bodies are valued more than others--kinda Animal Farm like! Jooish bodies are of zero "value" I'm sad ta say--and I see it by them tearin' down posters of the hostages, by the comments I see daily--so these folks refuse ta make analogies EVEN when saner voices like yerz point out the hypocrisy in their words, behaviors (sigh)
The situation is live-or-die/existential an' so many folks don't understand it... they say BB is evil so the entire nation must be destroyed "for their terrorism"... There is no greater evil in the world than Zionism BECUZ it's Satanism they say... I mean how do ya respond ta that--it's near impossible.
But as ya say, if they were attacked an' their own wee babes put at risk, they too would act with the same kind of fierce ruthlessness and yes, violence, to protect their own, to protect their loved ones.
again I'm'a harkenin' back ta Shakespeare... but this time replacin' one word--the word Christian for Muslim (and again, I know many Muslims do not hate all joos but there are so MANY who do that the haters far outnumber the non-haters...)
"Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons (..) a Muslim is? (...) and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Muslim
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Muslim wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.
Written 'bout 500 years ago--funny how some things stay the same with us humans...
Thank YOU fer bein' a truth-tellin' bard yerself even when they're buildin' bonfires in the town square!
There are certain basic truths that aren't difficult to discern at all. I can see with my own eyes, I can read the Quran for myself, I can look at history, I can listen to the voices of people who have lived under Islam, I can see what is happening right now. I don't put much credence on a "secret memoir", but if you want to find "proof" to support something that you already believe, you can always do it, especially when it comes to justifying the extermination of Jews and spreading the lie that Islam is a religion of peace. Please live in a Muslim country and you will see for yourself.
I grew up with a father who was a highly respected Christian scholar. He gave many sermons on Islam, wrote books about it. I am so grateful to have had that upbringing and to have all his knowledge at my fingertips now.
My family was in Egypt right before the 6 Day War and we barely got out, escaping through Lebanon, and over the mountains of Syria into Turkey 36 hours before they closed the borders. Some others weren't so lucky. I will never forget the fear I had as an almost eleven-year-old (I turned 11 June 6, 1967 in Ankara, Turkey) listening to Nassar's voice scream on loudspeakers in the streets of Cairo, death to America and its stooge Israel. Men with guns roamed the streets. The hatred could not be denied, the lust for war. They were going to obliterate Israel. Of course, they didn't, just as they have lost every war they started against Israel. Besides my own memories, I have my mom's journals so I can be very accurate about this.
Even so, years later, as an adult, I was determined to accept that Islam was a religion of peace, times had changed, and Islam had been given a bad rap. As a result of that determination--to find out the truth for myself because I will go to great lengths to find out the truth of something that I consider to be important--I lived in Luxor for three years. I went with an open heart and mind, completely convinced that my dad would be proved wrong. He was right. I was wrong. The funny thing is, the men there believed they had won the 6 Day War, they have this obsession with Israel, this obsession to prove they are better, they are going to enslave and torment and kill Jews. It is so deeply engrained; it seems to be part of their very souls.
I told part of that story here, but you completely ignore it. You ignore the voices of so many from the region who know what they are talking about because they have lived it, warning the world about Islam. Why do you ignore their voices? Why would you bring up some questionable "memoir" as an argument that the truth is difficult to discern? This is one of the most obvious truths that there is in the world. What is difficult is for people to ACCEPT the truth right in front of their faces.
" the problem of evil "books depends on who is interpeting , all religous script can and was and is used to justify evil ...my history is in the balkans where there is 3 major religions,,, that the majority were living together as neighbors inter marying , communicating happily, interacting openly honestly no hostilities, shared everything ... then came 1990 and the etrocious war happened because a "s m a l l minute evil minority instigated the war,and now there are at least 4 view points ie the islam ,the orthodox the catholic and the west points of view ... all are somewhat right and somewhat wrong ... as all wars were started by evil minded, "divide and conquer .".. "end justifies means"homocidal goodness hating pshycopaths... wars evil words thoughts and deeds since adam was a boy ... thats why the unseen warfare is with our evil thoughts words and deeds , that is where all evil starts within us then manifests in the world ... in every culture, nation,in every time , era, location history repeates it self [ is there a solution ??? ] the only solution i see is individual and personal and a possible devine intervention of a good higher power .... good God enlighten our darkness by your gracious wisdom ...
You realize you have no right to tell Jews they are not Jews.
You have created this entire narrative, for what purpose, I don't wish to contemplate. I've written enough on the topic that I cannot respond to your comments endlessly. We don't agree so we can leave it at that.
I admire your ability to respond to even the most paranoid, pathetic verbal miasma in the most thoughtful and polite manner, Karen. Thank you for your bravery and knowledge!
I've listed facts. Jews have responded civilly to you here. I cannot imagine telling a Jew that they are not a Jew—that they simply do not exist. Especially when they have a long history of being persecuted and killed precisely for that reason. But that is what you are doing here. My father researched all of this extensively. I've put his sermons in my essays. You discount the entire history of Jews. Jews have commented here about how they do not follow the Talmud and it is considered a bunch of stories, it is not in the same class as the Torah.
Of course there are weird sects in Judaism just as there are in all religions. But they are not the norm. But I guess you know better than Jews do. I know one Jew on here told you she took a DNA test. But you discount the it.
However, even this is beside the point. Regardless of whether a person proved their Jewishness by a DNA test or not, it has nothing to do with you. I know too many Jews to doubt that they exist. I mean, you just have to know some Jews to know they are a unique people and God has blessed them and they are a miracle. I am not sure what your obsession is with this topic. But quite frankly, its become distasteful.
Not all Jews are descendents of Judah, they are descendents of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Your "facts" are incoherent. If you clam to be a Christian, you must recognize that bloodline of Jews as God's chosen people, regardless of any of your "DNA facts." What He decides to do about that is up to Him, not up to you.
"The child born to Jewish parents has nothing special or identifiable from that of any other child born into a different faith." Scripturally, you are just wrong. If you're not a Christian, please don't try to use doctrine or Scripture as argument. You're blasphemous. If you are a Christian, you're remarkably uninformed.
I think you are being very generous by calling it “incoherent.” The entire sentences read as if someone’s brain is inflamed and consumed by severe illness…
This is a very moving essay!
Thank you!
" Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." ( Judges 1:9, 24:15 ) " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.." ( Isaiah 41:10 )
For the child of God: Death is the key that opens the door to the riches of eternity ( Quote by Dr. J.B. Hixson; NBWMinistries.org ).
Thank you for telling the truth. We may all have to fight for our lives and our families lives at some point.
None of this should come as a surprise.
Exactly.
Your story soared deep into my heart and welded my emotions to yours as if they were one. You are a person deserving recognition and simultaneously to be lifted as an iconic inspiration to others regarding what is right and what is plainly wrong. That scope covers the life of humanity, of who has passed, those who are and those yet to come. In that sense you are part of a great continuum of humanity through the ages recorded as part of the great stories of humans from the beginning of time. Thank you deeply for sharing.
Thank you for your kind words. 🙏
This rises to the level of being a sermon.
I never saw myself as giving sermons but these days, something's going on with me. 🙏
Preach, sister!
Playfulness aside, from what I’ve seen of your writing, your points are thoughtful, measured, but powerful and focused on core truths. That sounds like a sermon to me.
“…because God has put this world into the hands of the Evil one and only God can do that.” It is quite hard if not impossible to understand how a God of Love can do this. Why does good tolerate evil but evil does not tolerate good? …….
These questions are impossible to answer in our present state. As a kid, I used to cry about it at night in my bed. I would get up and run to my dad's study and ask him why God allowed evil in this world. Honestly, I never got an answer that satisfied me. I've had to conclude over time that we just don't understand. It's too horrible sometimes to contemplate. I read C.S. Lewis when it gets to be too much. The Problem of Pain. I love The Great Divorce.
From Sweden here. Thank you Karen for a great article. Could you please elaborate from your neck of the woods on how Biden lost the respect of the world when he abandoned the Americans in Afghanistan? In the West many of our leaders do not understand the concept of respect any more (if ever) and what the consequences are when a whole country loses respect due to its political leaders. Sweden has also lost so much respect around the world due to our political leaders and their decisions. Another comment regarding shared values, many people don’t actually know any longer what those values are – because these have been manipulated by their governments and political parties into nothingness – including with censorship.
This piece, For Love of War, explains what I mean. https://khmezek.substack.com/p/and-so-it-goes
As the leader of the free world the US has a responsibility to set an example of honorable conduct and it's done a bad job. Our enemies into particular lost respect for us.
Thank you very much, I'll read it!
Ideologies die all the time. Remember “divine right of kings “? What happened to that. Also “sisterhood is powerful”. That was a joke on October 10th.
Awesome essay, Karen.
Thank you.
ya have such a gift of clarity, Karen!--in this imperfect world we may indeed--any of us--have ta take that first step, an offensive one, when put on the defensive--and we might have ta do it at great risk to ourselfs too! (as you did in Luxor! as many are doin' in the much-maligned State of Israel) so it's a great analogy--I believe--an' timely now.
It's ironic that many who said that if they were confronted with takin' the clot shots (which are killers) or die fightin' for their bodily sovereignty--they chose the latter BUT these same folks cannot even remotely see the same thing with Israel, fightin' for it's own "bodily sovereignty" --imperfect an' brutal as it is... The only conclusion I kin draw (from all I'm hearin') is that some bodies are valued more than others--kinda Animal Farm like! Jooish bodies are of zero "value" I'm sad ta say--and I see it by them tearin' down posters of the hostages, by the comments I see daily--so these folks refuse ta make analogies EVEN when saner voices like yerz point out the hypocrisy in their words, behaviors (sigh)
The situation is live-or-die/existential an' so many folks don't understand it... they say BB is evil so the entire nation must be destroyed "for their terrorism"... There is no greater evil in the world than Zionism BECUZ it's Satanism they say... I mean how do ya respond ta that--it's near impossible.
But as ya say, if they were attacked an' their own wee babes put at risk, they too would act with the same kind of fierce ruthlessness and yes, violence, to protect their own, to protect their loved ones.
again I'm'a harkenin' back ta Shakespeare... but this time replacin' one word--the word Christian for Muslim (and again, I know many Muslims do not hate all joos but there are so MANY who do that the haters far outnumber the non-haters...)
"Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons (..) a Muslim is? (...) and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Muslim
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Muslim wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.
Written 'bout 500 years ago--funny how some things stay the same with us humans...
Thank YOU fer bein' a truth-tellin' bard yerself even when they're buildin' bonfires in the town square!
Truth never grows old.
Choose your battles wisely.
I would say so
https://newsrescue.com/1868-secret-memoirs-british-spy-mr-hempher-describes-wahhabism-creation-accurately-predicts-effect-islam-today/........ hmmm so many vested interests ,,, super difficult to discern truth
There are certain basic truths that aren't difficult to discern at all. I can see with my own eyes, I can read the Quran for myself, I can look at history, I can listen to the voices of people who have lived under Islam, I can see what is happening right now. I don't put much credence on a "secret memoir", but if you want to find "proof" to support something that you already believe, you can always do it, especially when it comes to justifying the extermination of Jews and spreading the lie that Islam is a religion of peace. Please live in a Muslim country and you will see for yourself.
I grew up with a father who was a highly respected Christian scholar. He gave many sermons on Islam, wrote books about it. I am so grateful to have had that upbringing and to have all his knowledge at my fingertips now.
My family was in Egypt right before the 6 Day War and we barely got out, escaping through Lebanon, and over the mountains of Syria into Turkey 36 hours before they closed the borders. Some others weren't so lucky. I will never forget the fear I had as an almost eleven-year-old (I turned 11 June 6, 1967 in Ankara, Turkey) listening to Nassar's voice scream on loudspeakers in the streets of Cairo, death to America and its stooge Israel. Men with guns roamed the streets. The hatred could not be denied, the lust for war. They were going to obliterate Israel. Of course, they didn't, just as they have lost every war they started against Israel. Besides my own memories, I have my mom's journals so I can be very accurate about this.
Even so, years later, as an adult, I was determined to accept that Islam was a religion of peace, times had changed, and Islam had been given a bad rap. As a result of that determination--to find out the truth for myself because I will go to great lengths to find out the truth of something that I consider to be important--I lived in Luxor for three years. I went with an open heart and mind, completely convinced that my dad would be proved wrong. He was right. I was wrong. The funny thing is, the men there believed they had won the 6 Day War, they have this obsession with Israel, this obsession to prove they are better, they are going to enslave and torment and kill Jews. It is so deeply engrained; it seems to be part of their very souls.
I told part of that story here, but you completely ignore it. You ignore the voices of so many from the region who know what they are talking about because they have lived it, warning the world about Islam. Why do you ignore their voices? Why would you bring up some questionable "memoir" as an argument that the truth is difficult to discern? This is one of the most obvious truths that there is in the world. What is difficult is for people to ACCEPT the truth right in front of their faces.
https://youtu.be/IWogvybxzn4?si=ijm-mxOVd3WPhNmA
" the problem of evil "books depends on who is interpeting , all religous script can and was and is used to justify evil ...my history is in the balkans where there is 3 major religions,,, that the majority were living together as neighbors inter marying , communicating happily, interacting openly honestly no hostilities, shared everything ... then came 1990 and the etrocious war happened because a "s m a l l minute evil minority instigated the war,and now there are at least 4 view points ie the islam ,the orthodox the catholic and the west points of view ... all are somewhat right and somewhat wrong ... as all wars were started by evil minded, "divide and conquer .".. "end justifies means"homocidal goodness hating pshycopaths... wars evil words thoughts and deeds since adam was a boy ... thats why the unseen warfare is with our evil thoughts words and deeds , that is where all evil starts within us then manifests in the world ... in every culture, nation,in every time , era, location history repeates it self [ is there a solution ??? ] the only solution i see is individual and personal and a possible devine intervention of a good higher power .... good God enlighten our darkness by your gracious wisdom ...
You realize you have no right to tell Jews they are not Jews.
You have created this entire narrative, for what purpose, I don't wish to contemplate. I've written enough on the topic that I cannot respond to your comments endlessly. We don't agree so we can leave it at that.
I admire your ability to respond to even the most paranoid, pathetic verbal miasma in the most thoughtful and polite manner, Karen. Thank you for your bravery and knowledge!
It's all thanks to years of martial arts training in self-control LOL! But I did have to block this person at last.
Actually, I think it's someone else I blocked. This person got mad because people weren't responding how he wanted them to and he is gone now.
I've listed facts. Jews have responded civilly to you here. I cannot imagine telling a Jew that they are not a Jew—that they simply do not exist. Especially when they have a long history of being persecuted and killed precisely for that reason. But that is what you are doing here. My father researched all of this extensively. I've put his sermons in my essays. You discount the entire history of Jews. Jews have commented here about how they do not follow the Talmud and it is considered a bunch of stories, it is not in the same class as the Torah.
Of course there are weird sects in Judaism just as there are in all religions. But they are not the norm. But I guess you know better than Jews do. I know one Jew on here told you she took a DNA test. But you discount the it.
However, even this is beside the point. Regardless of whether a person proved their Jewishness by a DNA test or not, it has nothing to do with you. I know too many Jews to doubt that they exist. I mean, you just have to know some Jews to know they are a unique people and God has blessed them and they are a miracle. I am not sure what your obsession is with this topic. But quite frankly, its become distasteful.
GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. 12 tribes. One of my dad's many sermons on the topic. https://youtu.be/khGk9bYjX1k?si=NEUxk7Wbntxa68PY
"I know a lot of pterodactyls..."
You have zero credibilty.
Not all Jews are descendents of Judah, they are descendents of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Your "facts" are incoherent. If you clam to be a Christian, you must recognize that bloodline of Jews as God's chosen people, regardless of any of your "DNA facts." What He decides to do about that is up to Him, not up to you.
"The child born to Jewish parents has nothing special or identifiable from that of any other child born into a different faith." Scripturally, you are just wrong. If you're not a Christian, please don't try to use doctrine or Scripture as argument. You're blasphemous. If you are a Christian, you're remarkably uninformed.
I think you are being very generous by calling it “incoherent.” The entire sentences read as if someone’s brain is inflamed and consumed by severe illness…
You pretend to intelligence or special knowledge. You're a troll.
"Keep going." No, let's not.