The Danish Cartoons that shook the world

This is a fairly old topic, just came across it on www.todaymagazine.co.za. This is definatley worth speaking about. Any point of view is ofcourse welcome. Today is a christian living magazine and yet the vote to apologise to the muslims yields the following results :
Yes 19%
No 77%
Undecided 4%

Now, part of the article on the cartoons will be found at http://www.todaymagazine.co.za/explore.php?page=bigissues, but i will be taking out snippets to comment on. The first being : " In northern Nigeria Muslim protesters killed hundreds of Christians and destroyed churches. Christians in the South retaliated by attacking Muslims and burning mosques. " How shocking a reality this is. How does something that happened in Denmark become a Christian in Northern Nigeria's problem? How is it so easy to just punish the innocent, same as the security guard saga happening at the moment, same as the meaningless war's going on across the world, same as Jesus Christ that had to die for our sins. Innocence being the punishment for evil doings. Our bodies are the temple of God, its not our own, so what gives us the right to destroy any other body on this planet? How are we then called to be Christians or Christ Like? Same goes for Moslems, how are they called to be peacemakers? Jesus said "Peace be with you" after He hung and died on a cross, He could still rise again and say "Peace be with you". How often do we forget this crucial statement. We speak about Peace all the time, we speak about freedom of this and that, but yet, do we excercise any of these in the correct way?

"Dire threats of further violence have been made, with one Muslim leader offering a large reward for the execution of the cartoonists." SHOCKING!! How does this solve the problem, its like shooting the messenger! Dont shoot the messenger man!!! Why not use that money for the good and send it to Iraq or Iran where the wars are rife and the people are suffering instead of wanting to fight a battle for blood. How easy it has just become to put a "reward" on a person's head. How easy it is just to, for a few minutes or seconds forget the phrase, "Peace be with you". Moslems and Christians profess that they all believe in God, well if they all do, and just as i do, then my God says that there must be peace on earth, peace amongst all nations??? Am i getting this right, or is this me being "naive"??

"What is an appropriate Christian response to these extraordinary events? Most Christians, I suspect, will find themselves torn between a desire to promote peace and respect for others, and a concern for freedom of speech and religion. " I do agree with this statement, either way is correct, BUT freedom of speech and religion doesnt mean killing! It means speak out against those that protest against you, those who persecute you, it doesnt say, kill those who speak out against you or kill those who protest against you!!!! Dont these people doing this realise what a mockery they are making of their own religion. And then what happens, people tend to remember the BAD of a situation, never the GOOD!! There will forever be a scar on that religion. People already speak about the Muslim religion killing others for no reason or for unacceptable reasons. Now this is already a scar on islam! This is a wrong way of thinking, BUT, who has created this statement or thought??? Actions speak louder than words!!

"Christians are never called to be troublemakers. On the contrary, they are to be peacemakers. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” is the counsel the apostle Paul gave to the believers in Rome (Romans 12:18). In his letter to Titus, he instructed him to “remind the people … to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility towards all men,” (Titus 3:2). The apostle Peter also instructed believers to “show proper respect to everyone,” (1 Peter 2:17)." Isnt this the way the world should go. Why is it, nations dont agree on things, so they decide "Hey, we dont agree, lets go to war and kill those other people that protest against us" What a joke really. Wars only destroy EVERYONE!! Nobody wins with war and famine and killings, EVERYBODY always looses out. So the question then arises, WHY!! Why go to war, why make life a living hell for all of us here on earth???

Arent we all called to live peaceful, happy lives, helping oneanother?? No matter the religion?? Isnt this world supposed to be a world for ALL and not one religion or one point of view??

What wrong will it create to apologise for the wrong cartoons, and yes i believe it was wrong. I am a Christian but i do believe that mocking a religion is one of the most pathetic ways of "being heard". Turn the tables and mock Jesus Christ with something like........... hanging him on the cross and shouting that christianity sux. OOHHH, doesnt that hurt, and that isnt even a real picture, its imaginery. Yet somebody has made a visual of the unthinkable, pathetic i say, absolutely pathetic.

Apologise to the Muslims, nobody has a right to mock a realigion, you are actually making a mockery of your own. PATHETIC!!

Your thoughts......

Sonja
xxx

Jacob Zuma Rape Verdict

All Ive been thinking about yesterday and this morning is this rape trial. We all say a man is innocent untill proven guilty. And that is absolutely how its supposed to be. I dont say i dont respect the decision of the court, we are all forced actually to respect the decision, but we can still always give our opinion, just as im going to do right now.

My opinion in this case is that Zuma isnt as innocent as it all comes across. What still baffles me is the fact that he "willingly" slept with an HIV person WITHOUT using a condom and then showering afterwards stating that this will prevent him from contracting HIV. This is actually shocking and this is what the buzz is all about, and rightfully it should be about this. Here the goverment spends millions on Aids education and our head of South Africa's National Aids Council thinks that showering after having sex with an HIV person will stop him from contracting HIV.

"While deputy president, Mr Zuma was also head of South Africa's National Aids Council and the Moral Regeneration Movement." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4753351.stm

I cant imagine that this act was innocent and it was absolutely immoral. What an image he paints for the young of today, what an image he paints of married life, what an image he paints of our government system. What a joke he paints really! A married "next to be" president sleeps with an HIV person and now she is the demon in it all. She will have to hide her face, his wife and children will have to hide their faces, no matter how they say they will support him and be there for him, do we even know what happens behind closed doors at their home? Its not only that we are all dissapointed in the fact that he did all this, but that we are ashamed to have this man in public office. I dont know whether im more angry about it all or whether im just plain loosing my mind at the thought of it!!!!

At another discussion about this last night, someone told me that if he was found guilty, there would be "war" and i can believe this, Zuma has been a hero for so many people, that they are blinded to the fact that he is human. A guilty verdict would have been catastrophic for SA, absolutely catastrophic. Seems people dont know what to really protest for, what a laughable matter. I know im being quite sarcastic, but id rather be sarcastic than rude really. The news showed clearly last night the people standing in support of him outside the courtroom, DONT THEY WORK!!!! And lets not forget that it was a white judge, now if the verdict was guilty, would this then have resulted in racism?? Ofcourse it would have raised the question. Absolutely, no doubt.

And another thing is that this poor women is now said that she has slept with so many people and that its not the first time she has layed charge to men raping her, well well well, do we now believe the media?? We say, you should not believe everthing we read, then i can say, i dont believe that, seeing as we can have "selective" beliefs about what the media says, just as others will see this as the truth. Just as they will see Zuma saying "concentual sex" as being the truth, i can turn around and say BULL SHIT!! And please lets not forget about the corruption charge in July, that should be interesting.

We have a wonderful democracy, I wouldnt go back for anything, Im glad we are where we are, Im glad that we have a chance to be who we want to be, well not entirely thanks to people, God makes our way!! The sadness about it is that this has happened. We fear rape and robbery and all those things in our neighbourhoods, and so when it reaches up into the top of government, how does the concern then strike us??

And yes we can argue this happened in apartheid, ofcourse it all did, all the time, slaves were rapped, beaten, people of colour were abused, all those, but arent we striving for better now, dont say, it happend then and now that its happening now we are kicking up a racket, we want better. BETTER!

Your thoughts

Sonja
xxx

Wage Strikes

Security guards are out on strike again, they demanding 11% increase but being offered 8%. Now in all fairness to them, 8% is not anything to write home about especially when you earning something like R2000 a month. That gives them a measly R160 increase. That is enough to make anybody unhealthily upset. That R160 might just put them into another tax bracket for instance, and would result in them receiving an even lower net every month than before the increase.

BUT, does this give them the right to violate every act in the book. A few weeks ago we were startled with loud nose, and as I looked out the office window, realised it was gunshots in the main road in Mowbray. All one could see was smoke. About an hour later two of our office guys reports that every car's windscreen, side mirror, back window, side windows, actually just all the glass areas of the cars in the side roads of the waverley had been smashed. And to top that, the security's working were assaulted in their booths. Now this raises the question, "WHY". Those people who were parked in the side roads are not the reason they are not getting their increase. The security guards that are working are working because they know that they need the money to feed their families. And yes, we can argue that if they win and receive the 11% increase that everybody will benefit, but we need to be realistic, not everybody feels the need to act like hooligans, running around the streets and smashing cars and beating fellow workers.

I say these guilty people are pathetic, irresponsible and just uncultured. I don't see the whole of Cape Town running around and protesting every increase that they not satisfied with. I don't see other workers smashing cars that are irrelevant to the cause. Why is it so easy for some people to abuse every act given to them. Freedom of speech or freedom to be heard. Gee, if I had to exercise those freedom's I'd possibly be the president. The reality of having all these acts is so that we can have a better life, that we can be heard with unfairness towards ourselves, towards others. But no, lets just go and smash cars and beat others and call it Freedom of Speech!!

This is a joke really. During workers day these angry workers were breaking down the stage in the Goodhope Centre. Now what did the stage do to them, did the stage say that they shouldn't get the 11% increase. Another thing, they were throwing things at the cameramen, but yet tomorrow they will turn around and say nobody is interested in their problems. They chasing the people away! What is the easiest way of being heard?? Using the media isn't it?? I rest my case.

All this just gets my heart pumping blood faster than it can handle because its unnecessary and stupid really. If they not happy with conditions of employment or with their salaries, why don't they, like other normal people, FIND ANOTHER JOB!!! I mean!

Your thoughts

Sonja
xxx