This Week in the News

by Norbert Link

We begin with frightening reports on censorship in the USA, Europe and China; continue with the ongoing trade war between the USA and China; as well as Mexico; and address near-fatal and potentially horrible accidents between the USA and Russia, as well as further attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

We speak on the growing alliance of Arabs and Christian churches against Israel; the almost certain election of Boris Johnson as Britain’s new Prime Minister; and we address the terrible immigration situation in the USA and in Europe. We also address interesting speculation and rumors about former Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

(See StandingWatch: “Is Austria’s Sebastian Kurz gay… and Would it Matter?” 

We conclude with an article about abortion and two articles about the Vatican’s clarifications on two misunderstood biblical passages and the “gender” theory, while Catholic schools in Australia follow a different path.

Throughout this section, we have underlined pertinent statements in the quoted articles, for the convenience and quick overview of the reader.

With school sessions completed, days becoming longer, and temperatures warming up, the joy of summertime has picked up momentum in my household. Immediately following our children’s last day of school, my family began spending more time outside and our activities have become more playful. Living in a time of relative peace, safety, and abundance, it’s a joyful time that my family and I have been blessed with the ability to enjoy.

I believe that what has made the time so precious involves the fact that we have simply enjoyed our time together, with one another. The most satisfying moments are the most accessible ones — a walk in the neighborhood; an evening gazing at the stars; an afternoon fishing; sharing stories and bad jokes during dinnertime. All of these experiences have been miniature treasures that cost us only the time it takes to experience them.

Solomon makes comments throughout the book of Ecclesiastes about appreciating the present lives we live. We can see a succinct summary of this notion in Ecclesiastes 2:24, “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the…

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The second commandment describes a prohibition against idolatry. In Exodus 20:4-5, God presents the instruction to Moses, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.’”

Since God presented this commandment in an explicit way following the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, does it mean that it began to take effect at that moment? Or was the commandment in effect before that time? The answer to the question of its existence prior to the proclamation of the Ten Commandments is clearly affirmative, as shown by the evidence in the Bible.

Before beginning to cite evidence for the existence of the commandment against idolatry, it is important to clarify the scope of what it means. There is a clear admonition against creating anything that…

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