Posts
Showing posts from March 17, 2018
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2015 at 9:26am · To see the future, we must comprehend the past. Opinion has little value for soap-boxes do not truly make a person taller. This is not a contest of who is right or wrong, for those who confine themselves to such a black and white world will never see the color that brightens the world. Wisdom comes from knowledge, which comes from trial and exploration. To assume you are right and reject any challenge is the mark of a fool, not of wisdom.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2015 at 9:25am · To live is to think, to conform is to surrender your thoughts. It is a willingness to expand the mind and simultaneously to never assume you are right. With each new day comes something new to learn and with that knowledge comes wisdom.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2015 at 9:24am · My thoughts this Morning and my advice to the Young Folks.To Advance, you must explore the world like a child to simply be in awe of everything around you and to embrace the curiosity of wonder, never the assumption of conclusion. To be a non-conformist is the essence of exploration for within that element lies the wisdom to embrace the new and abandon the past.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:33am · No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that, what he desires for himself."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:31am · "Say what is true, although it may be bitter and displeasing to people."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:28am · The most excellent fight is that for the conquest of self."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:28am · "Acquire knowledge, it enables its professor to distinguish right from wrong; it lights the way to heaven. It is our friend in the desert, our company in solitude and companion when friendless. It guides us to happiness, it sustains us in misery, it is an ornament amongst friends and an armor against enemies."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:20am · “The amount of reward is in accordance with the amount of suffering. When (God) loves some people, He tries them (with affliction). He who then is content (with God’s decree) has achieved the acceptance (of God), and he who is dissatisfied (with God’s decree) will attain the anger (of God).
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:13am · "Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever is not kind has no faith."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:12am · "Conduct yourself in this world, as if you are here to stay forever; prepare for eternity as if you have to die tomorrow.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II March 17, 2013 at 8:11am · "Keep yourselves far from envy; because it eats up and takes away good actions, like a fire eats up and burns wood."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Quranic Study Groups [18:28] 1+8+2+8=19 You shall force yourself to be with those who worship their Lord day and night, seeking Him alone. Do not turn your eyes away from them, seeking the vanities of this world. Nor shall you obey one whose heart we rendered oblivious to our message; one who pursues his own desires, and whose priorities are confused.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[18:19] 1+8+1+9=19 When we resurrected them, they asked each other, "How long have you been here?" "We have been here one day or part of the day," they answered. "Your Lord knows best how long we stayed here, so let us send one of us with this money to the city. Let him fetch the cleanest food, and buy some for us. Let him keep a low profile, and attract no attention.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Divine Intervention [18:57] Who are more evil than those who are reminded of their Lord's proofs, then disregard them, without realizing what they are doing. Consequently, we place shields on their hearts to prevent them from understanding it (the Quran), and deafness in their ears. Thus, no matter what you do to guide them, they can never ever be guided. [18:58] Yet, your Lord is the Forgiver, full of mercy. If He called them to account for their deeds, He would annihilate them right there and then. Instead, He gives them a respite until a specific, predetermined time; then they can never escape. [18:59] Many a community we annihilated because of their transgressions, we designated a specific time for their annihilation.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[18:55] 1+8+5+5=19 Nothing prevented the people from believing, when the guidance came to them, and from seeking the forgiveness of their Lord, except that they demanded to see the same (kind of miracles) as the previous generations, or challenged to see the retribution beforehand.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Disbelievers Refuse to Accept the Completeness of the Quran [18:54] We have cited in this Quran every kind of example, but the human being is the most argumentative creature. [18:55] Nothing prevented the people from believing, when the guidance came to them, and from seeking the forgiveness of their Lord, except that they demanded to see the same (kind of miracles) as the previous generations, or challenged to see the retribution beforehand. [18:56] We only send the messengers as simply deliverers of good news, as well as warners. Those who disbelieve argue with falsehood to defeat the truth, and they take My proofs and warnings in vain.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Classification of God's Creatures [18:50] We said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Adam." They fell prostrate, except Satan. He became a jinn, for he disobeyed the order of His Lord.* Will you choose him and his descendants as lords instead of Me, even though they are your enemies? What a miserable substitute! Footnote [18:51] I never permitted them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of themselves. Nor do I permit the wicked to work in My kingdom.* Footnote [18:52] The day will come when He says, "Call upon My partners, whom you claimed to be gods beside Me," they will call on them, but they will not respond to them. An insurmountable barrier will separate them from each other. [18:53] The guilty will see Hell, and will realize that they will fall into it. They will have no escape therefrom.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Classification of God's Creatures [18:50] We said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Adam." They fell prostrate, except Satan. He became a jinn, for he disobeyed the order of His Lord.* Will you choose him and his descendants as lords instead of Me, even though they are your enemies? What a miserable substitute! Footnote [18:51] I never permitted them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of themselves. Nor do I permit the wicked to work in My kingdom.* Footnote [18:52] The day will come when He says, "Call upon My partners, whom you claimed to be gods beside Me," they will call on them, but they will not respond to them. An insurmountable barrier will separate them from each other. [18:53] The guilty will see Hell, and will realize that they will fall into it. They will have no escape therefrom.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Rearranging Our Priorities [18:46] Money and children are the joys of this life, but the righteous works provide an eternal recompense from your Lord, and a far better hope. [18:47] The day will come when we wipe out the mountains, and you will see the earth barren. We will summon them all, not leaving out a single one of them. [18:48] They will be presented before your Lord in a row. You have come to us as individuals, just as we created you initially. Indeed, this is what you claimed will never happen. [18:49] The record will be shown, and you will see the guilty fearful of its contents. They will say, "Woe to us. How come this book leaves nothing, small or large, without counting it?" They will find everything they had done brought forth. Your Lord is never unjust towards anyone.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Important Commandment [18:39] "When you entered your garden, you should have said, 'This is what GOD has given me (Mã Shã Allãh). No one possesses power except GOD (Lã Quwwata Ellã Bellãh).' You may see that I possess less money and less children than you. [18:40] "My Lord may grant me better than your garden. He may send a violent storm from the sky that wipes out your garden, leaving it completely barren. [18:41] "Or, its water may sink deeper, out of your reach." [18:42] Indeed, his crops were wiped out, and he ended up sorrowful, lamenting what he had spent on it in vain, as his property lay barren. He finally said, "I wish I never set up my property as a god beside my Lord." [18:43] No force on earth could have helped him against GOD, nor was it possible for him to receive any help. [18:44] That is because the only true Lord and master is GOD; He provides the best recompense, and with Him is the best destiny. [18:45] Cite for them the example of this life as water that we send down from the sky to produce plants of the earth, then they turn into hay that is blown away by the wind. GOD is able to do all things.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Property as an Idol* [18:32] Cite for them the example of two men: we gave one of them two gardens of grapes, surrounded by date palms, and placed other crops between them. Footnote [18:33] Both gardens produced their crops on time, and generously, for we caused a river to run through them. [18:34] Once, after harvesting, he boastfully told his friend: "I am far more prosperous than you, and I command more respect from the people." [18:35] When he entered his garden, he wronged his soul by saying, "I do not think that this will ever end. [18:36] "Moreover, I think this is it; I do not think that the Hour (the Hereafter) will ever come to pass. Even if I am returned to my Lord, I will (be clever enough to) possess an even better one over there." [18:37] His friend said to him, as he debated with him, "Have you disbelieved in the One who created you from dust, then from a tiny drop, then perfected you into a man? [18:38] "As for me, GOD is my Lord, and I will never set up any other god besides my Lord.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Absolute Freedom of Religion [18:29] Proclaim: "This is the truth from your Lord," then whoever wills let him believe, and whoever wills let him disbelieve. We have prepared for the transgressors a fire that will completely surround them. When they scream for help, they will be given a liquid like concentrated acid that scalds the faces. What a miserable drink! What a miserable destiny! [18:30] As for those who believe and lead a righteous life, we never fail to recompense those who work righteousness. [18:31] They have deserved gardens of Eden wherein rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and will wear clothes of green silk and velvet, and will rest on comfortable furnishings. What a wonderful reward; what a wonderful abode!
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Quranic Study Groups [18:28] You shall force yourself to be with those who worship their Lord day and night, seeking Him alone. Do not turn your eyes away from them, seeking the vanities of this world. Nor shall you obey one whose heart we rendered oblivious to our message; one who pursues his own desires, and whose priorities are confused.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Remembering God Every Chance We Get [18:23] You shall not say that you will do anything in the future, [18:24] without saying, "GOD willing."* If you forget to do this, you must immediately remember your Lord and say, "May my Lord guide me to do better next time." Footnote [300 + 9]* [18:25] They stayed in their cave three hundred years, increased by nine.* Footnote [18:26] Say, "GOD is the best knower of how long they stayed there." He knows all secrets in the heavens and the earth. By His grace you can see; by His grace you can hear. There is none beside Him as Lord and Master, and He never permits any partners to share in His kingship. [18:27] You shall recite what is revealed to you of your Lord's scripture. Nothing shall abrogate His words, and you shall not find any other source beside it.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Connection With the End of the World* [18:21] We caused them to be discovered, to let everyone know that GOD's promise is true, and to remove all doubt concerning the end of the world.* The people then disputed among themselves regarding them. Some said, "Let us build a building around them." Their Lord is the best knower about them. Those who prevailed said, "We will build a place of worship around them." Footnote [18:22] Some would say, "They were three; their dog being the fourth," while others would say, "Five; the sixth being their dog," as they guessed. Others said, "Seven," and the eighth was their dog. Say, "My Lord is the best knower of their number." Only a few knew the correct number. Therefore, do not argue with them; just go along with them. You need not consult anyone about this.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Connection With the End of the World* [18:21]18+2=20-1=19 We caused them to be discovered, to let everyone know that GOD's promise is true, and to remove all doubt concerning the end of the world.* The people then disputed among themselves regarding them. Some said, "Let us build a building around them." Their Lord is the best knower about them. Those who prevailed said, "We will build a place of worship around them." Footnote
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
A Guiding Teacher is a Prerequisite [18:17] You could see the sun when it rose coming from the right side of their cave, and when it set, it shone on them from the left, as they slept in the hollow thereof. This is one of GOD's portents.* Whomever GOD guides is the truly guided one, and whomever He sends astray, you will not find for him a guiding teacher. Footnote [18:18] You would think that they were awake, when they were in fact asleep. We turned them to the right side and the left side, while their dog stretched his arms in their midst. Had you looked at them, you would have fled from them, stricken with terror. [18:19] When we resurrected them, they asked each other, "How long have you been here?" "We have been here one day or part of the day," they answered. "Your Lord knows best how long we stayed here, so let us send one of us with this money to the city. Let him fetch the cleanest food, and buy some for us. Let him keep a low profile, and attract no attention. [18:20] "If they discover you, they will stone you, or force you to revert to their religion, then you can never succeed."
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Dwellers of the Cave [18:9] Why else do you think we are telling you about the people of the cave, and the numbers connected with them? They are among our wondrous signs. [18:10] When the youths took refuge in the cave, they said, "Our Lord, shower us with Your mercy, and bless our affairs with Your guidance." [18:11] We then sealed their ears in the cave for a predetermined number of years. [18:12] Then we resurrected them to see which of the two parties could count the duration of their stay therein. [18:13] We narrate to you their history, truthfully. They were youths who believed in their Lord, and we increased their guidance. [18:14] We strengthened their hearts when they stood up and proclaimed: "Our only Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never worship any other god beside Him. Otherwise, we would be far astray. [18:15] "Here are our people setting up gods beside Him. If only they could provide any proof to support their stand! Who is more evil than the one who fabricates lies and attributes them to GOD?
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[18:12] 18+2=20-1=19 Then we resurrected them to see which of the two parties could count the duration of their stay therein.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[18:11]18+1=19X1=19 We then sealed their ears in the cave for a predetermined number of years.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The End of the World* [18:7] We have adorned everything on earth, in order to test them, and thus distinguish those among them who work righteousness. Footnote [18:8] Inevitably, we will wipe out everything on it, leaving it completely barren.* Footnote
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Sura 18, The Cave (Al-Kahf) [18:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful [18:1] Praise GOD, who revealed to His servant this scripture, and made it flawless. [18:2] A perfect (scripture) to warn of severe retribution from Him, and to deliver good news to the believers who lead a righteous life, that they have earned a generous recompense. [18:3] Wherein they abide forever. [18:4] And to warn those who said, "GOD has begotten a son!" [18:5] They possess no knowledge about this, nor did their parents. What a blasphemy coming out of their mouths! What they utter is a gross lie. [18:6] You may blame yourself on account of their response to this narration, and their disbelieving in it; you may be saddened.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE: THEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION Let us diverge now from the historical aspects of this discussion and examine some of the theological aspects. The whole doctrine of Jesus’ divinity has been thoroughly examined in THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:30pm · 1. A Christian is one that believes things his reason cannot comprehend... 2. He believes three to be one, and one to be three; a Father not to be elder than his Son; a Sonto be equal with his Father; and one preceding from both to be equal with both; he believing three persons in one nature, and two natures in one person. 3. He believes a virgin to be a mother of a son, and that very son of hers to be her Maker. He believes Him to have been shut up in a narrow room whom heaven and earth could not contain. He believes Him to have been born in time who was and is from everlasting. He believes Him to have been a weak child, carried in arms, who is the Almighty; and Him once to have died who only hath life and immortality in himself. -Francis Bacon Share
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:31pm · (WORKS, vol vii, p.410) Lord Francis Bacon, the seventeenth century philosopher and Chancellor of England who wrote these words, was obviously a believer in the Trinity. The essay quoted consists of thirty-four such “Christian Paradoxes” which illustrate his belief that: “The more absurd and incredible any divine mystery is, the greater honor we do to God in believing it....” (as quoted by James Yates, A VINDICATION OF UNITARIANISM, Wells & Lilly, 1816, p. 278). The Trinity has always been a mystery. In fact, it is usually described as a divine mystery. When I was young I asked several good Christians to explain the Trinity to me. I was told that the Trinity must be accepted on faith because we cannot always understand the ways of God. Such an answer requires the acceptance that blind faith is a virtue. The concept of Trinity is that “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God” (as stated in one of the critical statements of the doctrine, the Athanasian Creed). These three are all thought of as uncreated, eternal and omnipotent. You can see why a confused student is told to accept on faith alone! Share
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:33pm · All this seems to have been confusing for early Christians too. Before the controversy over the Trinity came to a head in the Councils of Nicene during the fourth century, there were many different understandings of the nature of Christ, and an even wider range of understandings about the Holy Spirit. There were those who believed that Jesus was just a mortal man who had a very special relationship with God. Then there were those who agreed with Theodotus of Byzantium that Jesus was born a mere man and attained the ability to work miracles at the time of his baptism. Some of Theodotus’ students later believed that Jesus became God after his resurrection. And then there were those known as Monarchians who believed that God and Jesus were one and the same from the beginning of time. Many of those same views are still held today by various groups of Christians Share
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:34pm · SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE What do we know about the early belief in the Trinity? Clearly the strong Jewish tradition among the first Christians slowed the initial development of the doctrine. This is especially true since Jesus never preached it. The only place in the gospels that even hints at the doctrine of the Trinity are the last verses of Matthew: Jesus came forward and addressed them in these words: “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth; go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’” [Matthew 28:18-19]
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:37pm · ‘Almighty’ means by definition that He has all power. There is nothing and no one else with any real power. All power stems from God, and it is not shared by anyone. No one else can ever fit that word! There is only One who is Almighty: I am God, there is no other; I am God, there is none like me. [Isaiah 46:9 .4+9+6=19
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:38pm · The recognition of the Trinity as an innovation started very early in Christian history. Back in the seventh century, the Eastern theologian John of Damascus, in defending his icons, stated that icons were as unscriptural as the Trinity: “You will not find in scripture the Trinity or the homoousion [of the same essence as God] or the two natures of Christ either.” Yet, having acknowledged that icons, the Trinity and the incarnation are innovations, John of Damascus continued to defend them because they were “venerable traditions delivered to us by the fathers.” (See THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE, p. 133.)
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Nicene Creed was originally written in Greek. Its principal liturgical use is in the Eucharist in the West and in both Baptism and the Eucharist in the East. The following text has the additions used only by the Western Church in brackets: I believe in one God the Father Almighty; maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds [God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance [essence] with the Father; by whom all things were made; who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. Share
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 at 2:39pm · The trinitarian doctrine developed gradually over several centuries, through numerous controversies. There were many influences in its formulation and development: the Apostles Creed (around A. D. 160), the Arian controversy (about A. D. 318 to 380), the Nicene Council (A. D. 325), the Council of Constantinople (A. D. 381), the Council of Chalcedon (A. D. 451), and the Athanasian Creed (about A. D. 460) are the major ones. The Council of Nicaea in 325 initiated the Trinity formula in its statement that the Son is “of the same essence [homoousios] as the Father,” even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit. Over the next half-century, Athanasius defended and refined the Nicene formula. By the end of the fifth century, the doctrine of the Trinity had taken essentially the form it has today.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
There was an equally vehement dispute around the Filioque clause which is: “and the Holy Spirit...who proceedeth from the Father and from the son.” This addition of the son’s participation in the Holy Spirit’s existence was gradually introduced starting in the 6th century. It is accepted only in the Western Church. The Eastern Church still rejects it as a theological error. Thus the controversy continues
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Johnnie Ellington II August 21, 2015 at 6:48pm · Happiness Now, and Forever [22:15] 2X5=10X2=20-1=19If anyone thinks that GOD cannot support him in this life and in the Hereafter, let him turn completely to (his creator in) heaven, and sever (his dependence on anyone else). He will then see that this plan eliminates anything that bothers him.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[5:86] 5+8+6=19As for those who disbelieve and reject our revelations, they are the dwellers of Hell.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
[2:38] 2X8=16+3=19 We said, "Go down therefrom, all of you. When guidance comes to you from Me, those who follow My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps