"Issumagijoujungnainermik"

"Issumagijoujungnainermik" is another word for “forgiveness.” It is in fact an Eskimo word.
Yes, Moravian Missionaries to the unreached peoples on the edge of the icy northern polar region searched for a word for forgiveness in the local Eskimo language. That's when they discovered issumagijoujungnainermik, a genuine 24-letter tongue-twister which literally means 'not being able to think about it any more.'
That is what ‘Genuine forgiveness’ is all about! It is much more than just saying 'I forgive you', it's about moving on, refusing to think any more about what happened and in time forgetting about it completely.
It's easy to forgive someone who accidentally stepped on your foot, but what about those who meant to hurt you? . Genuine forgiveness is about moving on and refusing to think any more about what happened.
Have you ever witnessed a friend who continually has an issue with someone and just thought 'they really need to get over it'? Holding onto old hurts just makes you bitter. Paul says, 'Forgive...because the Lord forgave you.' Get over it before it turns into hatred!
So today if there is someone you do need to forgive, please do so but do do it within the full meaning of Issumagijoujungnainermik and give them full forgiveness, forgetting about it fully, and moving on never to revisit that spot again.
Remember, "Issumagijoujungnainermik", may sound foolish to you, but true forgiveness doesn't mean foolishness, not in any language.

When do The Twelve Days of Christmas begin?

According to one Web site, “The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th).”
Thus, “The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide. The Twelfth Day of Christmas is 5 January, with the celebrations of Christmas traditionally ending on Twelfth Night and is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January.”
Wikipedia states: “As in olden days, Twelfth Night to Epiphany morning is then the traditional time to take down the Christmas tree and decorations.”
And for those who don’t know or have forgotten, “Epiphany is a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi or wise men. In the Western church, Epiphany is usually celebrated as the time the Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus (Matt. 2:1-12). Traditionally there were three Magi, probably from the fact of three gifts, even though the biblical narrative never says how many Magi came. In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag). Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.”
So now you know when the twelve days of Christmas are, and when to take down your Christmas decorations and why! And also why some give Gifts on Jan 6th and why others don’t Celebrate Christmas until January 7th. So with that, I will close here by wishing you and yours, a very Merry Christmas, no matter where, when or how you celebrate it.

Ichthus again.

I have talked about this Christian symbol of a fish before but thought it worth looking at again here On Christmas Day.
Although the fish symbol has been used in other cultures before the Christian Community at large adopted it, most of those cultures had had no contact with one another, and it thus these generally "homegrown" meanings, meant different things to the people of these different cultures.
For the Christians, they believe that the link between their religion and the fish symbol is seen in the Greek word for fish (ictus, spelled: Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma). Thus making it an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, of God, the Son, the Savior" [Iesous (Jesus) CHristos (Christ) THeo (of God) Uiou (the Son) Soter (the Savior)].
An acrostic is an "arrangement of words in which the first letter of each line ordinarily combines with others to form a word or words or the alphabet." Put this way, it would read:
Iesous (Jesus)
CHristos (Christ)
THeou (God)
Uiou (Son)
Soter (Savior)
Adding to its common and wide acceptance, the symbol was simple to draw and was often used among Christians as a type of password during times of persecution by the Roman government. If two strangers met and were unsure whether each other was a Christian, one would draw an arc in the earth like: ). If the other were a Christian, they would complete the symbol with a reverse arc: (), forming the outline of a fish.
Thus that is how the fish symbol both came into being and its original usage as a secret sign of Belonging to Christ. However it is now no longer a secret sign and is openly displayed everywhere from letterheads, to Fridge Magnets and stickers for your car.
So now you know both what Icthus and the fish symbol means, what does it mean to you especially now at Christmas? Does it point you to Jesus Christ as God’s son and your Saviour? Or is it just another pretty symbol to you with absolutely no other significance? Just like the Christmas tree and all its baubles – pretty to look at but pretty useless too. Over to you now for true reflection on Jesus and all He’ is as Jesus the Christ and God’s own Son and Saviour.

My Acrostic poem about God.

Another beautiful day in paradise.
But only for those who truly love the Lord God of all.
Come, come and join us now.
Don’t delay.
Escape your past.
Freedom awaits.
Great is your reward in Heaven.
Hell however is horrible.
Individually you must come.
Just as you are, but through the blood of Jesus.
Kinship with God awaits you.
Leave your sin and past behind you.
Move fully into the Kingdom of God.
Now is the hour, and the time to do so if you have not already.
Oh, that you would join us even now.
Please do consider that now.
Quickly and quietly now, while there is still time for the correct decision.
Resistance to God is futile.
So stop resisting now.
Time is at hand, so run to God now
Under His protection, you will be safe forever.
Victory is only for those in the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus.
Why wait?
Xylophones make sweet sounds for the Lord, and so can you!
{Or, Xhosas praise the Lord, why not join them too?}
You must go to Him now.
Zinnias and Zebras display God’s greatness, so why not you too!

Well! I didn’t say it was a good poem! Just that it was mine!
Now it is your turn to see what you can come up with.

Let’s all be Amaranthine in at least one sense?

Don’t know why, but it seems I am attracted to words that appear to have more than one clear meaning.
Amaranthine, the Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 9, 2011, is also one of them as we see by these three meanings:
1. Unfading; everlasting.
2. Of or like the amaranth flower.
3. Of purplish-red color.
Now of course, all these meanings actually revolve around, and arose from, the one source. And that source was and is the amaranthius plant.
Which according to Wikipedia: “Amaranth is a reddish-rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color normally considered amaranth, but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers.
The color amaranth is similar to printer's magenta (pigment magenta) (but redder). It is the color of the flower of those amaranth plants that have amaranth red colored flowers.
The first recorded use of amaranth as a color name in English was in 1690.”
Thus we see that all 3 meanings of being amaranthine is in fact connected to the one source! But today I am not asking if you are a flower. Or even if you are red? No! What I am asking is, are you amaranthine in the aspect of being everlasting and unfading in your everyday life? Or do you come across in fits and starts, and always changing from day to day?
Of course to be really amaranthine, as in unfading band everlasting for evermore, one can only truly do that though through accepting Jesus Christ as your own personal lord and saviour. If you wish to learn more about that, please just ask.
In the meantime, as much as it is possible for you now though, do try to be everlasting and unfading in your everyday life, rather than volatile and ever changing. Again, over to you for now.

Goodbye is a common religious phrase?

Yes, did you know that every time you say goodbye, you are in fact, using a once common religious phrase, and blessing?
According to a popular blog site (Hot blog), “Of the many ways to say farewell — peace, so long, later, skater, ciao — goodbye is the most common. And a form of good-bye has been spoken since the sixteenth century. It comes from godbwye, which is a contraction of “God be with ye.” The phrase was also influenced by good day and good evening, and although an abbreviation itself, it can also be abbreviated further to either, bye, or bye-bye.
Interestingly, a common Spanish term of farewell also now commonly used in English is Adiós. Which also means good bye and is also a contraction of a similar religious phrase.
Thus Adios, is contraction” of ‘A’, which means “to,” and ‘Dios’, which means “God.”
Well that’s your interesting discovery for today. What are some other common religious terms that you know off that are also so common in everyday speak that they have, for all intents and purposes, lost their original religious connections?
Well, till I hear from you that’s all from me, so “God be with you = goodbye”!

A Child of the Manse is not necessarily a Child of God!

In an earlier blog, (Why is a Manse called a Manse?) on my main blog site, I mentioned that any house occupied by a Church minister of religion, and particularly those from a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or United Church background, is called a manse; and even then for only as long as it is occupied by a practising Church minister.
I used Wikipedia for my source material and after explaining all about a Manse, it then added this:
“Many notable Scots are referred to as a "son (or daughter) of the manse", as a parent was a Presbyterian minister, and they were therefore brought up in a manse.
Among those to whom the epithet has been applied are:
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development
Wendy Alexander (sister of Douglas), Labour MSP; former leader of the Labour Party group in the Scottish Parliament (2007–2008); former minister in the Scottish Executive (1999–2002)
John Logie Baird, engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system
Richard Baker MSP, Shadow Justice Minister in the Scottish Parliament
Frankie Boyle, comedian
Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
John Buchan, novelist and Unionist MP, served as Governor General of Canada
Peter Fraser, advocate; former Lord Advocate (1989–1992); former Conservative and Unionist MP
James Gray, Conservative MP
William "Captain" Kidd, pirate
Andrew Bonar Law, former Prime Minister (1922–1923)
Eric Liddell, athlete and rugby internationalist, winner of the 400 metres at the 1924 Olympic Games; missionary to China; portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire
Sheena McDonald, broadcaster
Michael Moore, Liberal Democrat MP
John Reith, founder of the BBC
William Ritchie Sorley, philosopher
David Steel, former leader of the Liberal Party and the Social and Liberal Democrats; former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
William Montgomery Watt, Islamic studies scholar and Orientalist
John Witherspoon, signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence”.
Now when you look at some of those names above (Such as Gordon Brown, William ‘Captain” Kidd, Michael Moore and even William Montgomery Watt, just to name a few, it is easy to see that although they were indeed sons of the Manse, they have not all necessarily followed in their father’s footsteps in regard to both belief and a personal walk of faith in Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and saviour!
Just once again showing that just because your parents or grandparents are/were Christians, it doesn’t mean you are too! No indeed not! In fact, as another old saying says: God doesn’t have grand children! Only Children!”
So it is not enough to be a child of the manse, or of any Christian for that matter! No! Instead you and I, all, need to be a child of God too! And that is a personal thing that not only each one of us must do personally, but also something that only we can do and personally too, if we want to inherit the Kingdom of God.
If you would like more information on how to do that please just ask. Only too happy to help, if I can.