Mahomet makes no account of womanwhatever in his polity. The Koran, which,unlike our Bible, was a product and not a Page 10growth, tried to address itself to the needs ofArabian civilization as Mahomet with hiscircumscribed powers saw them. The Arab wasa nomad. Home to him meant his presentcamping place. That deity who, accordingto our western ideals, makes and sanctifiesthe home, was to him a transient bauble to betoyed with so long as it gave pleasure andthen to be thrown aside for a new one. As apersonality, an individual soul, capable ofeternal growth and unlimited development,and destined to mould and shape the civilizationof the future to an incalculable extent,Mahomet did not know woman. There wasno hereafter, no paradise for her. The heavenof the Mussulman is peopled and madegladsome not by the departed wife, or sister,or mother, but by houri--a figment of Mahomet'sbrain, partaking of the ethereal qualitiesof angels, yet imbued with all the vicesand inanity of Oriental women. The haremhere, and--"dust to dust" hereafter, this wasthe hope, the inspiration, the summum bonumof the Eastern woman's life! With what resulton the life of the nation, the "UnspeakableTurk," the "sick man" of modern Europecan to-day exemplify.
Angels Demons And Alex Pdf 19
Woman, Mother,--your responsibility is onethat might make angels tremble and fear totake hold! To trifle with it, to ignore or misuseit, is to treat lightly the most sacred andsolemn trust ever confided by God to humankind. The training of children is a task onwhich an infinity of weal or woe depends.Who does not covet it? Yet who does notstand awe-struck before its momentous issues!It is a matter of small moment, it seems to Page 23me, whether that lovely girl in whose accomplishments you take such pride and delight,can enter the gay and crowded salon with theease and elegance of this or that French orEnglish gentlewoman, compared with thedecision as to whether her individuality isgoing to reinforce the good or the evil elementsof the world. The lace and the diamonds, thedance and the theater, gain a new significancewhen scanned in their bearings on suchissues. Their influence on the individual personality,and through her on the society andcivilization which she vitalizes and inspires--all this and more must be weighed in the balancebefore the jury call return a just andintelligent verdict as to the innocence or banefulnessof these apparently simple amusements.
As Church workers we must confess our path ofduty is less obvious; or rather our ability to adapt ourmachinery to our conception of the peculiarexigencies of this work as taught by experience andour own consciousness of the needs of the Negro, isas yet not demonstrable. Flexibility andaggressiveness are not such strong characteristics ofthe Church to-day as in the Dark Ages.
As a Mission field for the Church the SouthernNegro is in some aspects most promising; in others,perplexing. Aliens neither in language and customs,nor in associations and sympathies, naturally ofdeeply rooted religious instincts and taking mostreadily and kindly to the worship and teachings of theChurch, surely the task of proselytizing the AmericanNegro is infinitely less formidable than that Page 34which confronted the Church in the Barbariansof Europe. Besides, this people already lookto the Church as the hope of their race.Thinking colored men almost uniformly admitthat the Protestant Episcopal Church with itsquiet, chaste dignity and decorous solemnity,its instructive and elevating ritual, its brightchanting and joyous hymning, is eminentlyfitted to correct the peculiar faults of worship--the rank exuberance and often ludicrousdemonstrativeness of their people. Yet,strange to say, the Church, claiming to bemissionary and Catholic, urging that schismis sin and denominationalism inexcusable, hasmade in all these years almost no inroadsupon this semi-civilized religionism.
The desire for quick returns and large profitstempts capital ofttimes into unsanitary, wellnigh inhuman investments,--tenement tinderboxes, stifling, stunting, sickening alleys andpestiferous slums; regular rents, no waiting,large percentages,--rich coffers coined out ofthe life-blood of human bodies and souls.Men and women herded together like cattle,breathing in malaria and typhus from an atmosphereseething with moral as well asphysical impurity, revelling in vice as theirnative habitat and then, to drown the whisperingsof their higher consciousness andeffectually to hush the yearnings and accusationswithin, flying to narcotics and opiates--rum, tobacco, opium, binding hand and foot,body and soul, till the proper image of God istransformed into a fit associate for demons,--a besotted, enervated, idiotic wreck, or else amonster of wickedness terrible and destructive.
Our grievance then is not that we are notpainted as angels of light or as goody-goodySunday-school developments; but we doclaim that a man whose acquaintanceship isso slight that he cannot even discern diversitiesof individuality, has no right or authorityto hawk "the only true and authentic" picturesof a race of human beings. Mr. Howells'point of view is precisely that of a white manwho sees colored people at long range or onlyin certain capacities. His conclusions aboutthe colored man are identical with the impressionsthat will be received and carriedabroad by foreigners from all parts of theglobe, who shall attend our Columbian Expositionfor instance, and who, through the impartialityand generosity of our white countrymen,will see colored persons only as boot-blacksand hotel waiters, grinning from earto ear and bowing and courtesying for theextra tips. In the same way Mr. Howells hasmet colored persons in hotels or on the commonspromenading and sparking, or else acting Page 207as menials and lazzaroni. He has notseen, and therefore cannot be convinced thatthere exists a quiet, self-respecting, dignifiedclass of easy life and manners (save onlywhere it crosses the roughness of their whitefellow countrymen's barbarity) of cultivatedtastes and habits, and with no more in commonwith the class of his acquaintance thanthe accident of complexion,--beyond a sympathywith their wrongs, or a resentment atbeing socially and morally classified withthem, according as the principle of altruismor of self love is dominant in the individual.
I care not for the theoretical symmetry andimpregnable logic of your moral code, I carenot for the hoary respectability and traditionalmysticisms of your theological institutions, Icare not for the beauty and solemnity of yourrituals and religious ceremonies, I care noteven for the reasonableness and unimpeachablefairness of your social ethics,--if it doesnot turn out better, nobler, truer men andwomen,--if it does not add to the world'sstock of valuable souls,--if it does not give usa sounder, healthier, more reliable productfrom this great factory of men--I will havenone of it. I shall not try to test your logic,but weigh your results--and that test is themeasure of the stature of the fullness of a man. Page 284you need not formulate and establish thecredibility and authenticity of Christian Evidences,when you can demonstrate and provethe present value of CHRISTIAN MEN. Andthis test for systems of belief, for schools ofthought, and for theories of conduct, is alsothe ultimate and inevitable test of nations, ofraces and of individuals. What sort of mendo you turn out? How are you supplying thegreat demands of the world's market? Whatis your true value? This, we may be sure,will be the final test by which the coloredman in America will one day be judged inthe cool, calm, unimpassioned, unprejudicedsecond thought of the American people.
2. Angels are nonmaterial and do not marry casts doubt on idea that "the sons of God" = angels who married human wives. Likely that "sons of God" refers to people belonging to God and, like God, walking in righteousness. (Gen. 6:2, Mat 22:30, Deu 14:1, Gen 4:26, Cf. Gen. 5, 5:3)
1. "Satan": head of the demons, God's enemy. (Job 1 :6, 1Ch 21:1, Zec 3:1, Luk 10:18)2. Other names for Satan: "The devil" (NT only) (Mat 4:1, Mat 13:39, Mat 25:41, Rev 12:9, Rev 20:2);"The serpent" (Gen 3:1, 2Co 11:3, Rev 12:9, Rev 20:2); "Be-elzebul" (Mat 10:25, Mat 12:24, Luk11:15); "The ruler of this world" (Joh 12:31, Joh 14:30, Joh 16:11); "The prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:2); "The evil one" (Mat 13:19, 1Jo 2:13)
3. Yet demons are limited by God's control and have limited power. (Job 1:12, 2:6; Jud 1:6; Jam 4:7).Note: We should not think that demons can know the future/read our minds. God alone can know thefuture. (Isa 46:9-10, Mar 13:32; Mat 9:4, 12:25; Gen 6:5; Psa 139:2, 4, 23; Dan 2:27-28)
a. In the Old Testament (Deu 32:16-17, Psa 106:35-37, 1Co 10:20, 1Jo 5:19)i. No clear instance of casting out demons in Old Testament (1Sa 16:23)ii. Worship of demons will regularly lead to immoral and self-destructive practices (Psa 106:35-37, 1Ki 18:28, Deu 23:17)
e. The emphasis of the NT is not on the influence of demons but on the sin that remains in thebeliever's life. Yet, sinning (even by Christians) does give a foothold for some kind of demonicinfluence in our lives. (Eph 4:26, Eph 6:11-12, 1Jo 5:18)
Alex, now male, is later seen with Halfborn Gunderson as they accompany Samirah and Amir Fadlan. Due to Loki's schemes, Sam's grandparents and the Fadlan family have learned about the Norse gods and their connection to Sam, so Sam attempts to show Amir the Bifrost Bridge to better his understanding of their world. As her half-brother, Alex volunteers to be a chaperone to Sam, and he himself is chaperoned by Halfborn. After Amir is shown the Bridge, all of them are invited to meet Heimdall, but Halfborn decides to stay behind. During the meeting, Alex lies on the Bridge and makes "light angels". After learning about the location of Thor's hammer, Heimdall drops all of them off next to the Fadlans' restaurant. Alex joins Magnus, Sam and Amir for dinner as they discuss the consequences of Sam's grandparents learning about the Nine Worlds. Later, Magnus and Alex get back to Hotel Valhalla, but not before Alex wisely asks for a doggie bag to pack up the leftover falafel. 2ff7e9595c
Comments