Mid week update. Nothing to tell anyone apart from that it's a beautiful day and the weather looks like it's going to remain good until Thursday. I came to school this morning with the intention of having a good read of all the topical websites I have bookmarked on my browser, and funnily enough I came across this one. It's interesting because it refers to this website, which tells us the sober truth about what is going to happen out there in the Middle East once Israel has found a final solution to the Palestinian problem. (Here is another interesting webpage that I found showing the mappage of Israel-Palestine throughout the years.)
I thought all this was really interesting as I'm currently reading The Bible and, thus, am thinking more about Christianity these days. It's a funny read now that I'm an adult because I kind of remember one or two of the stories from my childhood. I remember the stories being read to us as primary school children, but back then we didn't understand the value of religion in the slightest so they were placed in the same mental category as stories by J.R.R.Tolkien, or stuff like Dungeons and Dragons. Reading The Genesis, I still find it hard (perhaps impossible) to take such a narrative out of that mental category, but I've got a long way to go with the whole book - I'm still only on The Exodus, which is the second book of many. I've been told that The Gospels are more believable than the stuff of the Old Testament though.
Another funny thing is the many references to places that I've been to in Israel. At the beginning of the book Abraham (or it may have been his son, Isaac) founded the now modern city of Beersheeva, which was the closest city to me when I was living at Mashabei-sadeh. Hebron and some other better known places are also referred to in the early writings of The Bible.
So, what I originally wanted to say was that since I simply cannot subscribe to the idea of 'the rapture' because of real world convictions, I have decided to live it up here on earth while I've got the time. The Rapture, according to it's doctrine, accepts only true believers among those who get to be with God in the safety of Heaven and although I have tried to qualify these prophecies and the possibility of their truthfullness in my head, I have failed miserably.
In other news, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the local park is looking spectacular. Aki and I went down there last night for a bit of carnival food and to watch the old dudes from Iwaki village scream down the microphone and bang their drums. It was a good night.
I thought all this was really interesting as I'm currently reading The Bible and, thus, am thinking more about Christianity these days. It's a funny read now that I'm an adult because I kind of remember one or two of the stories from my childhood. I remember the stories being read to us as primary school children, but back then we didn't understand the value of religion in the slightest so they were placed in the same mental category as stories by J.R.R.Tolkien, or stuff like Dungeons and Dragons. Reading The Genesis, I still find it hard (perhaps impossible) to take such a narrative out of that mental category, but I've got a long way to go with the whole book - I'm still only on The Exodus, which is the second book of many. I've been told that The Gospels are more believable than the stuff of the Old Testament though.
Another funny thing is the many references to places that I've been to in Israel. At the beginning of the book Abraham (or it may have been his son, Isaac) founded the now modern city of Beersheeva, which was the closest city to me when I was living at Mashabei-sadeh. Hebron and some other better known places are also referred to in the early writings of The Bible.
So, what I originally wanted to say was that since I simply cannot subscribe to the idea of 'the rapture' because of real world convictions, I have decided to live it up here on earth while I've got the time. The Rapture, according to it's doctrine, accepts only true believers among those who get to be with God in the safety of Heaven and although I have tried to qualify these prophecies and the possibility of their truthfullness in my head, I have failed miserably.
In other news, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the local park is looking spectacular. Aki and I went down there last night for a bit of carnival food and to watch the old dudes from Iwaki village scream down the microphone and bang their drums. It was a good night.
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