http://thetrinityinjersey.org THE Trinity in Jersey - a series of weekly newsletters under the title "info for islanders" linking the Bible, Jesus Christ and Jersey. Immediately after his resurrection and just before his ascension in AD 33, Jesus Christ instructed his key followers to make disciples of all nations. They were to do this in two ways: first, by immersing them into the name (all the attributes and facts about) the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; second, by teaching them to observe and obey all that he had commanded them. THE Trinity in Jersey "info for islanders" seeks to assist in both those ways in making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. en Sat, 20 Apr 2024 06:24:23 EDT http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=857 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret “…A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in h***…” (Jesus’ instructions to his followers when sending them out to tell others. Matthew 10: 24) . . In May the States of Jersey will be deciding whether or not to request the Minister for Health and Social Services to bring forward primary legislation that will permit assisted dying in Jersey. If so, that new Law will require that Minister to establish an assisted dying service - with safeguards as set out in the proposal.Those safeguards only control the earthly operation of the Law whilst the person seeking assisted dying is still alive. None of the safeguards can affect anything at all as soon when that person is dead.Thus, a person seeking assisted dying will be answering the question posed by Shakespeare in his AD 1601 play “Hamlet”: “To be or not to be?” http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=857 Thu, 04 Apr 2024 00:00:00 EDT http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=856 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “Neither; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandal from your foot, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.” (Joshua 5: 13 - 6:2.) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27) Around BC 1350, the Israelites are a vast family of people (descended from the patriarch Israel (alive around 1750 BC), grandson of Abraham) being led by Joshua. They have escaped from Egypt are have arrived in land just to the west of the Jordan river. This land was to be (and now is again) called “Israel”. At that time this land was occupied by other groups which were strong and heavily armed. Then the above incident took place…The awful Israel Gaza war continues as I write. Today, whose side is He, the LORD God, on? Some will rightly point out that the present nation of Israel (from 1947) is not the same as in Joshua’s day. Indeed, Joshua’s people were overtly worshipping YHWH (translated “LORD” in the above extract). Not so today. Also, in BC 1350 these people were all (with very few exceptions) confirmed physical descendants of the man named Israel. Not so today. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=856 Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:00:00 EDT http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=855 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.” [The book of Lamentations, Holy Bible, 1:12] . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you? Easter is almost here again. And, again, an important question remains. “Is it nothing to you?” The man around whom Easter revolves is the person asking the question. He is still asking it – out of love towards those for whom he endured such agony and shame. And rose from the dead. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=855 Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 EDT http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=854 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; …” [Jesus speaking to his eleven disciples the night before his crucifixion…as recorded in John 16: 7-9] . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) Earlier this week there was a sitting of the Superior Number of the Royal Court. That day the Court decided upon the jail sentences of two men. Both of them had pleaded guilty to the crimes set out in indictments, with supporting evidence, which they had received much earlier.Deep down within us all is a strong desire for justice, for wrongs to be righted, for judgment to fall upon the unjust. For us to live in a truthful and just society. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=854 Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=853 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret Now the serpent was craftier than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis chapter 3: 1 Holy Bible English Standard Version) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . . “Do you Adam-and-Eve it?” is Cockney Rhyming Slang for “Do you believe it?” I wonder whether I should believe the above extract – and those below? They’re from the oldest extant written record in the world. They set out certain occurrences from around 5,000 years ago. Let’s have a go…First, the sentences in bold red above. A few problems arise. (a) “Serpent – craftier than all other beasts of the field”? This could describe the Neanderthal species – now extinct although its DNA traces remain in human beings. This beast of the field did not have any life-giving relationship with the LORD God but knew God only as the provider of everything for its needs.(b) The serpent knew of the single prohibition placed on Aam and Eve. It wasn’t onerous. But, on the other hand, to breach the prohibition would break the relationship which Adam and Eve had with the LORD God. That would in effect be death with regard to their life with the LORD God. What could ever persuade them to do that? http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=853 Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=852 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret Now it happened that in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire. (This first registration took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to be registered, each one to his own town. So Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered together with Mary, who was legally promised in marriage to him and* was pregnant. And it happened that while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke’s biography of Jesus, 2: 1 Lexham English Bible) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . .. . A Christmas recommendation for you. “Minuit, Chrétiens” (Midnight, Christians) is the original French-language version of the English carol “O Holy night.” But the original words are far more descriptive of the immense importance for us all of that momentous Christmas event. Below is the original version in italics with an attempted more-literal English translation. The recommendation is that you may wish to enjoy this French original sung (with English sub-titles) on YouTube by Andrea Bocelli.It was recorded at St Paul’s Cathedral in London for BBC Songs of Praise in January 2021. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=852 Thu, 21 Dec 2023 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=851 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Distress awaits you lawyers also in that you load the people with unbearable burdens, and you yourselves do not touch the loads with one of your fingers. Distress awaits you in that you build the tombs of the prophets – in fact your fathers killed those men. In that way you are witnesses to and you approve of the deeds of your fathers, because they indeed killed them, and you build their houses. And, on account of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send out to them prophets and sent-out-ones, and some of those they will kill and persecute,’ with the outcome that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required from this generation, from Abel’s blood to Zechariah’s blood; he perished between the sacrificial altar and the house. Yes, I state to you, it will be required from this generation. Distress awaits you lawyers in that you took away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and you prevented those entering in.” (Luke’s biography of Jesus, 11: 45 My translation) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . .. .. . The year is around AD 30; an unnamed Pharisee has Jesus as a dinner guest. The Pharisees were a religious political party; each and every one was highly respectable, seriously powerful and diligently righteous. The great and the good. Early on, Jesus revealed that distress awaited them. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=851 Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=850 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of plundering and malice. Foolish people! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? Rather grant mercy for those things that are within, and behold, it is all clean for you. But distress awaits you Pharisees in that you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect the justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Distress awaits you Pharisees in that you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Distress awaits you in that you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” (Luke’s biography of Jesus, 11: 37 My translation) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . .. .. .. . The year is around AD 30; an unnamed Pharisee is keen to have Jesus as a dinner guest. The Pharisees were a religious political party; each and every one from the party was highly respectable, seriously powerful and diligently righteous. The great and the good.This Pharisee was astonished because, as everyone who was anyone knew only too well, no-one sat down to dinner without ceremonially indicating their cleansing from the defiling, tarnishing things of the day.The Pharisee was seeing this. But nothing was said.Instead, Jesus said aloud what he was seeing – seeing there while dining. It makes interesting reading. Here it is again.(1) “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of plundering and malice.” If a person is accused of slandering another, one of the principal defences is to claim the truth of what was said. Given the nature of the person who made this statement, it seems very likely that the statement was true. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=850 Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=849 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret “No one igniting a candle puts it in a cellar or under a bowl, but on a lamp-stand, so that those moving near may see the light. Your own eye is the candle of the body. As long as your eye may be sincere your whole body is full of light. But when it may be bad and your body dark, then take heed that the light in you is not the darkness. It follows that your body, complete, full of light and having no dark part, will be complete and full of light as long as the candle in its shining brightness may give light to you.” (Luke’s biography of Jesus, 11: 33 My translation) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . .. .. .. .. . Increasingly across the world State Taxation Authorities are introducing or extending self-assessment. Of course, this has its dangers. Recently, people have accused one another of being “less than candid”, “insincere”, even “disingenuous”. That’s the problem with self-assessments in general. Lies.But self-assessment does have one major advantage – apart from the obvious one of saving government money by employing fewer civil servants. What is this major advantage? It’s that people are assessing themselves are forced (as it were) to make up their own minds as to their own honesty – their own candidness, sincerity, and genuineness – to themselves. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=849 Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 EST http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=848 Bible Jesus Christ Sinner Syvret And he began to speak to them in parallels. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parallel against them. So they left him and went away. (Mark’s biography of Jesus, 12: 1-12, c. AD30) . .. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, c. AD 27)Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you?“Lord God, almighty and eternal Father, we pray that you will guide this Court by your Holy Spirit so that, having your gift of wisdom and understanding, it may do justice to all, rightly judging that the good and the innocent be upheld and protected, and wrongdoers punished and restrained so that the truth of your word may be applied among us, and you may reign here through Jesus Christ Our Lord....” (Royal Court Prayer) ‘The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.’ (Jesus Christ, AD 30, in John’s biography) . .. .. .. .. .. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2: 36-41) Remembrance Sunday for WW2. Remember of Armistice for WW1. Remember Guy Fawkes. How about remembering AD 30?See the extract in bold red above. Jesus was asking the Judean leaders to remember. He did that via a “parallel”. In the parallel, he likened those leaders to tenants of a vineyard. To them, as God’s special people, had been entrusted a promised land. But the national leaders, over many centuries, had failed abysmally to be faithful to the LORD God and to follow Him in the way they lived their lives, and in the way they lived and led the people. So great had been their failures that, in BC 584, the land had been taken from them, first by the Assyrian and then by the Babylonian Empires. After that the Greeks and then the Romans. The national leaders in Jerusalem in AD 30 had no real power. They were tolerated by Rome. Rome had a multi-faith policy throughout its Empire. But that didn’t work terribly well. It isn’t today.When Jesus asked the AD 30 Jewish authorities to “remember” – via this parallel - he reminded them of their treatment of the LORD God’s “prophets” (messengers) over the preceding six centuries. Jesus even told them – via the parallel – what they intended to do to him! Kill him, so as to own it all. http://thetrinityinjersey.org/newsletter.htm?id=848 Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 EST